The Falcon And The Winter Soldier – It’s The Best Show Ever Made

[geektalk]

The Falcon And The Winter Soldier – It’s The Best Show Ever Made

 

Truly, Falcon and the Winter Soldier stunned me with its fantastic writing, great performacnes and social commentary that never felt forced or heavy handed. Join me as I explore this wonder of modern TV.

The Critical Drinker

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falcon and the winter soldier is a

charming romantic comedy about two

likeable misfits that have to learn to

work together to save the family

business

they don’t always see eye to eye but

gradually they learn to appreciate each

other’s abilities and their plucky

can-do attitude eventually inspires the

whole community to lend a hand

and the show ends with the two of them

standing together as firm friends

looking out on a job well done oh and

there’s a subplot about a ginger girl

that likes blowing stuff up i don’t know

i wasn’t really paying attention

the point is that falcon in the winter

soldier is simply the greatest show

that’s ever been made

every aspect of it is literal perfection

from start to finish

from the writing to the pacing to the

casting to the subtle messaging that

starts important conversations

without ever becoming intrusive you’ve

got to do better senator and i can’t

wait to talk about

it so let’s dive right in shall we the

show picks up about six months after the

events of avengers end game

sam wilson has been handed captain

america’s shield by steve rogers himself

but he’s like nah i don’t want it so he

hands it right back

now you might think that’s kind of

ungrateful and disrespectful to the man

who basically dedicated his entire life

to his country you might even think it’s

weird and illogical when sam gets mad

that the government decides to give the

shield to someone else

when he never wanted it in the first

place but bear with me dear viewer

because all will become clear

with his work as an avenger done sam

goes back to his hometown to reconnect

with his sister but it turns out to be

more difficult than he thought

she’s mad that he wasn’t around to help

out with the family fishing business

because he literally got erased from

existence for five years

it’s just any excuse with this guy isn’t

it meanwhile bucky barnes is trying to

make a new life for himself and put the

winter soldier behind him

by going to sensitivity training and

talking about his feelings

thrilling stuff indeed but when a new

terrorist

sorry activist group called the flag

smashers

begins peacefully blowing up buildings

and killing sorry

liberating innocent people the two men

are forced to work together to take them

down but they can’t do

something like this alone so they bust

baron zemo out of prison to help them

out

you remember him don’t you the

mastermind that almost tore the avengers

apart through sheer cunning and

intellects

well now he’s back and he’s ready to

party hard

[Music]

oh and the new captain america is hot on

their heels only this time he’s being

played by a toxic white male named

john walker a man who had the audacity

to fight for his country in afghanistan

and selfishly devoted his life to

protecting america

what a bastard look at the way he just

marches into foreign countries to

apprehend international terrorists with

nothing more than an official mandate

from his government to justify

it of course it’s totally fine when the

dora mullet

magi marmalade

the bald black ladies from wakanda do it

though because international law doesn’t

apply to them dora milaji have

jurisdiction wherever the dora milari

find

themselves to be

i especially love how three lightly

built women armed with spears are able

to subdue a cybernetically enhanced

super soldier with decades of combat

experience

a highly trained u.s special forces

operative and one of the avengers

all at the same time truly there’s no

end to what these wakandans can do

now you might be wondering what exactly

does the terrorist

sorry activist group in this show

actually wants

well the flag smashers are angry you see

because they were given loads of free

stuff that wasn’t needed when half the

world’s population vanished during the

blip

but now that everyone’s been restored

they’ve been forced to give back the

homes and positions that weren’t

actually theirs to begin with

i know right how unfair can you get so

they’ve done the logical thing and begun

a campaign of bombings and kidnappings

to force the world’s governments to

change things back to the way they were

how exactly do they expect to make half

the population of planet earth disappear

again

don’t think about it just eat the bugs

and live in the pods

wait what truly the flagshmasters are a

genius representation of today’s culture

because of course you should expect

homes food

money and material goods to be given to

you free of charge

even if they belong to someone else and

you should absolutely feel entitled to

blow up buildings and burn innocent

civilians alive to get back the stuff

that you didn’t actually earn or own in

the first place

it just makes sense the thing that makes

the flag smashers a real threat here

is that they’ve all been dosed up with

the same super soldier serum that was

given to steve rogers

but drinker you malefluent maestro of

media manipulation i hear you say

surely that serum was destroyed during

the war that’s why they were never able

to create more super soldiers like

stephen bucky

ah but the show has a brilliant

explanation for this inconsistency you

see

another guy figured out how to make it

anyway moving on now another thing i

really appreciate about this show

is the way that it expertly subverts

your expectations

see when you think of super soldiers in

the mcu you probably imagine

tall powerful god-like beings enhanced

to the very peak of human developments

that’s why steve went from this to this

but that’s where the show’s genius comes

into play you see

giving us a short dumpy teenager with a

ginger afro

[Laughter]

this is carly the leader of the flag

smashers and what’s an antagonist she is

able to seamlessly deliver every line of

dialogue like she’s reading it off a

teleprompter with no understanding of

the context or emotional tone

and expertly put on a mask so that a

stunt woman can be conveniently subbed

in for the fight scenes

i mean look at this fighting technique

on display

but of course everyone knows that the

real antagonist here is

john walker the toxic white male who was

unfairly given the title of captain

america

not only does he arrogantly offer to

work with sam and bucky

instead of apologizing for his existence

and refuses to bow down before the bald

wakandan spear ladies

but he selfishly doses himself with the

super soldier serum in order to fight

other super soldiers on equal terms

he even kills one of the peaceful

protesters at one point when all they

did was murder his best friend in front

of his eyes

can you believe this guy luckily his

wife’s able to steer him back to the

right path

now some people might think it’s

inconsistent and nonsensical

that walker goes from psychotic vengeful

murderer on the verge of complete

emotional breakdown

to laughing and smiling hero in the

space of literally a few minutes

but clearly those people are just

nitpickers and toxic fanboys

so we can safely ignore them the thing

that really surprised me about

this show is just how elegantly it works

in subtle undertones and ideas

in a way that feels completely natural

and organic like when sam and bucky

travel to a black neighborhood and sam

gets into an argument with a young black

girl about whether

his name should be black falcon and then

they meet an elderly black super soldier

who got written out of the history books

because he was black

and then they get into an argument on

the street and sam almost gets arrested

for being black

no you might have missed the subtle

undertones here but i didn’t

clearly this show is exploring the

growing sexual tension between sam and

bucky

speaking of which the development of the

two main characters is one of the best

emotional journeys you could ask for

by the end of this epic show sam is

ready to take up the mantle of captain

america

bucky’s been rehabilitated and zemo’s

back in prison

so basically everything’s exactly as it

was at the end of avengers end game

the character arc in this is so strong

that it actually becomes a character

circle

that’s the hallmark of great

storytelling you see where everything

ends up

exactly as it was before so it’s like

the story never actually happens

also credit to the writers here sam

delivers some of the best speeches ever

committed to film

especially in the final episode where he

instructs the world’s politicians to be

nicer to poor people

and recognize their own privilege genius

stuff

that’s what real heroes do when faced

with complex political issues in today’s

world you see

just march right in there and tell

people to do better without providing

any workable solutions or ideas of their

own

that’s something we could definitely use

more of these days and when i think

about

it i guess that’s the real purpose of

this show the moral message

and man did i learn some real lessons

here such as

it’s totally okay to burn innocent

civilians alive

and murder u.s servicemen as long as you

want free stuff

national borders and international laws

are bad

except for wakanda rules don’t apply to

them never wear the stars and stripes

without first asking yourself the

question

do i really want to be this evil we all

need to do

better what exactly does that mean in

context and how can it be specifically

measured

don’t know now this is all great but you

may still have some lingering questions

about this show

such as why would a beat cop fail to

recognize sam wilson literally one of

the most famous

people on the planets why did sam need

to apply for a bank loan when a single

phone call to pepper potts would have

provided all the money he could ever

needs

why is selena meyer in this show and why

does she talk like a 14 year old with

adhd

why did sam waste time fighting batroc

during a ticking clock hostage situation

when he could literally fly right out of

there why do the flag smashers put on

masks to fight people that have already

seen their faces

why did the wakandans take zemo to the

raft rather than wakanda itself to face

justice for murdering their king

how is sam able to survive a high impact

collision with solid steel pipes and

lift an armored truck weighing at least

10 tonnes despite not being a super

soldier

why does sam struggle to use cap’s

shield during his training montage

despite using it proficiently in his

conversation with bucky just minutes

earlier

why did marvel keep trying to make

sharon carter happen but clearly

these questions are meaningless and if

you find yourself asking them then you

need to check your privilege and do

better

ultimately for me falcon and the winter

soldier truly is the best show on tv

and if it’s any indication of where the

mcu plans to go

in terms of writing quality and social

activism then combined with a year-long

gap between movie releases

and an absolutely sterling lineup of

phase 4 films that everyone’s excited

about

i just can’t see this going wrong anyway

that’s all i’ve got for today go away

now

[Author]

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