First Impressions: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier

After a long wait, today sees the day that the first episode of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier hits Disney+ and I watched it this morning and here are the biggest points I took from it and how it sets the stage for the show. 

Has film level of action scenes.

The show starts out with a big action set piece involving Falcon and it is fantastic, it really is film level quality and is easily the best action set piece that we have seen involving Falcon yet in the MCU. After WandaVision it seems like these Marvel Disney+ shows are going to have a huge budget and thus give these maybe smaller characters a chance to shine. 

Steve Rogers is Dead 

This has been rumoured for a while but early in the episode there is conformation that Captain America himself Steve Rogers has passed away. Obviously, this is a huge moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and gives on of their biggest characters an ending, even though it is clear his legacy will play a huge part of the show. 

Sam Wilson gives up the shield

After he was handed the Shield at the end of Endgame it seemed like Sam Wilson would naturally transition into Captain America but this show takes things into a different direction. Sam gives the Shield to the US government, claiming that there is only one Captain America and he is dead, though that isn't the last we see of it. 

Bucky is dealing with PTSD from his time as The Winter Soldier

The real interesting part of the episode for me was Bucky's story and how it really deals with PTSD and the trauma that has come to him spending all those years as a Hydra assassin. We see him in Therapy and trying to do good deeds for the people that have been affected by his past but you can just tell he is struggling. 

Sam & Bucky share no screen time in this episode

Probably the most surprising part of the episode is that the two titular characters never share a scene together. It is addressed that Sam has tried to contact Bucky but he is ignoring him, obviously, the two are going to be bought together and it has to be soon, with only six episodes the show needs to move at a big of a faster pace. 

Bucky's story is way more interesting then Sam's

Even though I think Falcon is meant to be the real protagonist of the show, I actually found his arc in the episode a bit dull. I didn't really care to see him try and save his family boat and his whole family drama. But the stuff dealing with Bucky's PTSD is fascinating and deals with some heavy stuff that treads into interesting territory. 

No Zemo or Sharon Carter in the episode

We know that both Zemo and Sharon Carter are going to have a large presence on this show but neither of them are to be seen here and it seems like that is the right decision. With the focus being on Sam and Bucky's individual stories it was probably best to save them for future episodes. 

There is a new Captain America

The big twist at the end of the episode is one that was widely known and that is the US government decide that there is actually place for a new Captain America and announce him to the public. Now there are really interesting directions they can go with this and lets hope they do them. 

Overall

Overall, this is a fine first episode, some really good action scenes and interesting plot points with Bucky. But the show needs to get the two characters together and get into the main plot and this could be a good show for sure.