Falcon and Winter Soldier Season 1, Episode 2: “The Star Spangled Man” (SPOILERS)

[Dark Raven]

John Walker looks a bit like Matt Salinger's Captain America from the 1990 film. Is he going to eventually be called US Agent?

Now that Red Wing has been destroyed, this is the best opportunity for Sam to get a real bird.

Truck fight was cool. This week's episode was more interesting and better paced than last week. Nice to hear a new rendition of the Star Spangled Man theme.

 

[Zarex]

While I liked Episode 2 - it was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The cool part is there was so much unspooling going on. There's was lots of action and I laughed my ass off a few times with the Bucky/Falcon banter, especially after what happened to Red Wing and Bucky's ensuing "I've dreamt of doing that." The bad part is because of the unspooling things seemed a bit forced and inorganic with no room to breathe - like "Oh look it's that guy from Marvel comics volume and wow now there's that guy I remember him!". The Isaiah Bradley scene was among it's brightest, but honestly - what would he know about the Flag Smashers? He's been hiding away for decades.

It was odd for Bucky to use Isaiah as a source given he's been out of commission, though I liked introducing him as a former sparring partner of TWS. I'm thinking that the super soldier serum Bradley got was the same Reinstein formula pumped into Blonsky in TIH. And the Power Broker could be a high ranking US government official, maybe even Ross.

I'm curious to see if they continue to play with the heavy handed racial stereotypes every single episode.

I don't recall any racial stereotypes in use during the episode. If you are referring to the cops racially profiling Sam, blue isn't a race despite what the Blue Lives Matter folks have told us. Personally, I am glad Feige and company have the nads to put real world issues in their superhero TV show.

 

[chamber-music]

They've taken a slightly different approach with John Walker, with just a bit of dickish attitude resembling his comic book counterpart.

They certainly toned down Walker's abrasive attitude from the comics.

You can see them laying the seeds for Walker cracking under the pressure of being Captain America. I don't think they will go full suicidal 'burn people alive' type crazy like his comic counterpart.

I was thinking specifically of the likes of Ben Shapiro, who would hate it because he'd accuse it of demonising the police and kowtowing to the "cultural Marxist" agenda of BLM and of being anti-American.

The American government treating minorities badly and police being hostile to African American males isn't exactly unheard of. Denial of those issues is why the U.S has struggled to further improve race relations. Only showing the government and law enforcement in a positive light seems more un-American. Authoritarians and fascists are the types who believe not challenging the powers that be.

 

[chamber-music]

I feel like I missed the power broker announcement since I had no idea he was also in the show.

I have a feeling Zemo has a hand in current events. A master manipulator and tactician like him could probably orchestrate things from a prison cell.

 

[Donner]

 

[Silvermoon]

Loved the episode, as I fully expected to I loved the sniping and snarkiness between Sam and Bucky, but I also love that as soon as they're around Walker, they shove whatever issues they have with each other to the backburner and present a united front against this guy that they don't think deserves the shield. Loved the 'couples therapy' session, I hope, though, that even though he's no longer "required to" that Bucky still continues to see his therapist (not necessarily something we need to keep seeing, since we only have 4 episodes left, but just an "in world" thought).

So many have already spoken to the power of the Isaiah scene, I whole heartedly agree. One other thing - maybe more minor and off to the side that I noticed about the scene with Isiah/ Bucky made the comment that they met in 51 and Isaiah mentioning that it was because they had heard that "he" was in Korea and they sent him in when the other men they sent to take 'him' out failed. Now, obviously, it's not they they knew it was Bucky Barnes himself that was in Korea, but that it was the Assassin The Winter Soldier.. Bucky fell from the train in 1945 - so a mere 6 years later Hydra had already gotten him to the point not just that they were sending him out on missions and assassinations, but to where he had already gathered a serious reputation. Like I said, just something kind of off to the side of that scene that struck me.

The Isaiah Bradley scene was among it's brightest, but honestly - what would he know about the Flag Smashers? He's been hiding away for decades.

The way I saw it, Bucky didn't go to Isaiah because he thought he knew about the Flag Smashers specifically, more that he went to him to see if Isaiah had any knowledge about where the Super Soldier Serum could've come from - even outdated information on the serum could be a starting point for their search, not necessarily their search to stop the FSs (though finding the source of the serum could help them gain more knowledge of the FSs), but a search to put a kibosh in whatever supply of serum there could be to stop anyone else from taking the serum that really shouldn't have it.


(sorry if none of that made sense, some of it was just stream of consciousness type writing )

 

[RockSP]

Looks like there were already quite a few things to introduce with the flag smashers, Walker and Johnson and Bradley. Definitely looking forward to Sharon and Zemo asap, hopefully both next ep.

Hoskins, if you mean Battlestar

 

[dominick1216]

The audacity of John Walker to call Sam & Bucky Steve's wingmen!

 

[psylockolussus]

I thought it was a boring episode. I can just see if Sharon Carter appears in the neXt episode, it would be in the final seconds of the episode like they did with the new Cap and Zemo. I feel like they are stalling.

 

[Batmannerism]

My only question is how is Sam able to take those hits and not have some chest or joint complications. And why was Bucky having such a difficulty? Isn't he somewhat on level with Steve so he should have held his own against them.

My take on that was:

1) Sam is wearing body armour which absorbs some of the hits

2)Bucky was fighting at least 2 super strong opponents at once- AND he's trying not to hurt anyone seriously ( remember his conversation with the Dr), so I reckon he's holding back, especially as they were unarmed.

I have a theory that at some point late in the series Bucky will have to go into Winter Soldier mode to save Sam or someone else, and cause absolute carnage ( like that flashback from episode 1).

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Ep 2 down and THIS is what I want from a show about the MCU.

To be entertained. To be engaged. To laugh. To actually care about what all the whiz bang VFX battles are supposed to be about.

As someone that was reading Cap during Gruenwald's run, I like that they are taking a "real" approach to all the characters involved. I echo all the Hypesters that have noted that Walker is not being presented out of the gate as a *****e who is obviously not ready to take up the mantle. He may well turn out not to be but so far he seems on the up and up and frankly... Sam and Buck are treating him like **** and it took a while for him to snap back at them. And our heroes doing that... Is completely understandable. No one is really in the wrong. Which makes for great drama in my opinion.

@flickchick85 You really thought the VFX in the truck fight was bad? The thing that kept going through my mind was that this must have been filmed with the same method they used on The Mandalorian it looked so good to me. A slight step below feature film level? I'll grant that but saying that the truck sequence was better looking than some MCU film's set pieces from just a few years back and on a streaming show at that.


I was curious as to how they were going to bring in Bradley and the scene worked. I will say... While I get what they were going for in the arrest scene and I LOVED that they so far aren't running away from the realities of race in America, that it ended with Bucky's arrest... They were going for.... Something, but... I'm not sure exactly what. There's obvious commentary at the start but I don't quite think Bucky getting carted away (or either of them actually) was the way to end that scene, but a minor nit pick. Very minor.

Mackie and Stan's chemistry is off the charts and I think the reason these two guys have so much friction isn't because they are so different. No, these guys are very much the same. They were the indeed the Wingmen that had the swagger and sanguine attitude to Steve's stoic idealistic personality. When either was with Steve there was no clash but a compliment of opposites. With them toghether... It's swagger vs swagger.


The story is flowing very nicely and getting Zemo back next episode is a treat. No waiting for some tense scenes between our heroes and one of the MCU's best bad guys. I wonder what Zemo thinks of the time of the vanishing and the aftermath as well as the death of Tony Stark and the end of Steve's run as Cap? Hopefully they touch on that.

This series is a lot of fun to me and I can't wait for the next episode now.

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

Maybe it's because I just watched the Watchmen series for the first time a few days ago, but so far this series' treatment of race is seeming kinda overly simplistic by comparison.

And between that, and the casting of Enfys Nest as the masked rebel leader, it sorta feels like I've seen this before.

In general, the show is kinda bland so far tbh. IMO the comedy isn't really hitting, perhaps because of the actors, and it just feels like it's taking away from the mood. I sorta wish they just kept it more serious, giving us a more grounded Jason Bourne-tone.

 

[samsnee]

My take on that was:

1) Sam is wearing body armour which absorbs some of the hits

2)Bucky was fighting at least 2 super strong opponents at once- AND he's trying not to hurt anyone seriously ( remember his conversation with the Dr), so I reckon he's holding back, especially as they were unarmed.

I have a theory that at some point late in the series Bucky will have to go into Winter Soldier mode to save Sam or someone else, and cause absolute carnage ( like that flashback from episode 1).

God I hope you’re theory is right. I want bad-ass WS who is like a Terminator in pursuit of his target.

 

[javonstokess]

I'm seeing a lot of people on here talking about how Marvel is handling the Racial topics and I'm curious how many of you are minorities? I'm asking because it doesn't sound like many of you are.

The scene with the kid calling Sam "Black Falcon": I've literally heard black people call Falcon that in my lifetime.

The scene with Sam/Bucky and the cops: I promise you, in that state, if two men, one black & one white, are arguing in the middle of the street, the police will show up and they will treat the black man more aggressively.

Marvel isn't perfect, but they are nailing the racial topics very. These aren't stereotypes, it's real life.

Also, FWIW, the reason why Black Panther resonated so well the the Black community is because they did an amazing job.

 

[Shuri]

I have a theory that at some point late in the series Bucky will have to go into Winter Soldier mode to save Sam or someone else, and cause absolute carnage ( like that flashback from episode 1).

I hope so.

 

[Shuri]

Ep 2 down and THIS is what I want from a show about the MCU.

To be entertained. To be engaged. To laugh. To actually care about what all the whiz bang VFX battles are supposed to be about.

As someone that was reading Cap during Gruenwald's run, I like that they are taking a "real" approach to all the characters involved. I echo all the Hypesters that have noted that Walker is not being presented out of the gate as a *****e who is obviously not ready to take up the mantle. He may well turn out not to be but so far he seems on the up and up and frankly... Sam and Buck are treating him like **** and it took a while for him to snap back at them. And our heroes doing that... Is completely understandable. No one is really in the wrong. Which makes for great drama in my opinion.

@flickchick85 You really thought the VFX in the truck fight was bad? The thing that kept going through my mind was that this must have been filmed with the same method they used on The Mandalorian it looked so good to me. A slight step below feature film level? I'll grant that but saying that the truck sequence was better looking than some MCU film's set pieces from just a few years back and on a streaming show at that.


I was curious as to how they were going to bring in Bradley and the scene worked. I will say... While I get what they were going for in the arrest scene and I LOVED that they so far aren't running away from the realities of race in America, that it ended with Bucky's arrest... They were going for.... Something, but... I'm not sure exactly what. There's obvious commentary at the start but I don't quite think Bucky getting carted away (or either of them actually) was the way to end that scene, but a minor nit pick. Very minor.

Mackie and Stan's chemistry is off the charts and I think the reason these two guys have so much friction isn't because they are so different. No, these guys are very much the same. They were the indeed the Wingmen that had the swagger and sanguine attitude to Steve's stoic idealistic personality. When either was with Steve there was no clash but a compliment of opposites. With them toghether... It's swagger vs swagger.


The story is flowing very nicely and getting Zemo back next episode is a treat. No waiting for some tense scenes between our heroes and one of the MCU's best bad guys. I wonder what Zemo thinks of the time of the vanishing and the aftermath as well as the death of Tony Stark and the end of Steve's run as Cap? Hopefully they touch on that.

This series is a lot of fun to me and I can't wait for the next episode now.

I knew you were looking forward to this show and I have been waiting for your review since the first episode. Glad you liked it.

 

[legendkillin]

I have a theory that at some point late in the series Bucky will have to go into Winter Soldier mode to save Sam or someone else, and cause absolute carnage ( like that flashback from episode 1).

Would be cool to see Bucky put the mask back on but it wouldn't look the same with hair cut.

 

[legendkillin]

I wonder if the government is going to try and form their own Avengers? They Cap a sidekick in Battlestar. I wouldn't want to see either show up in a movie yet but if the government tries to force an Avenger group or tell him to show up where the current Avengers are it could be interesting.

 

[Kev4000]

​

With this credits we can tell, who will appears here. There are some spots who are free:

Sebastian Stan / Anthony Mackie
Emily Van Camp (obvious)
Wyatt Russell
Erin Kellyman
?
Danny Ramirez
Georges St.-Pierre
Adepero Oduye
with Daniel Brühl
and Don Cheadle

The question I have is who will be my question mark? With "longing rusted seventeen daybreak" it has to be someone of Hydra?

 

[Dark Raven]

​

With this credits we can tell, who will appears here. There are some spots who are free:

Sebastian Stan / Anthony Mackie
Emily Van Camp (obvious)
Wyatt Russell
Erin Kellyman
?
Danny Ramirez
Georges St.-Pierre
Adepero Oduye
with Daniel Brühl
and Don Cheadle

The question I have is who will be my question mark? With "longing rusted seventeen daybreak" it has to be someone of Hydra?

Do they reverse the pictures for Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie from week to week? Because Stan was first last week but Mackie was first this week, and obviously if they kept it the same the names wouldn't match the images.

 

[MurkeNyou]

I'm curious to see if they continue to play with the heavy handed racial stereotypes every single episode.

Jeez...

 

[Kev4000]

Do they reverse the pictures for Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie from week to week? Because Stan was first last week but Mackie was first this week, and obviously if they kept it the same the names wouldn't match the images.

They swap it like Wandavision with Olsen and Bettany. But in this the pictures swaps with the names so it still matchs.

 

[metaphysician]

My take on that was:

1) Sam is wearing body armour which absorbs some of the hits

2)Bucky was fighting at least 2 super strong opponents at once- AND he's trying not to hurt anyone seriously ( remember his conversation with the Dr), so I reckon he's holding back, especially as they were unarmed.

I have a theory that at some point late in the series Bucky will have to go into Winter Soldier mode to save Sam or someone else, and cause absolute carnage ( like that flashback from episode 1).

Yeah, that seems plausible. Bucky spent decades training and practicing fighting skills. . . to kill everyone around him with maximum ruthless efficacy. Trying to *not* fight that way would probably be difficult.

 

[The Caped Knight]

So apparently it's been confirmed that the marching musical rendition in the opening is a remake of the classic USO "Star Spangled Man with a Plan"!

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Was a bit disappointed in this episode personally, thought it was a step down from last week and not as compelling.