You should give 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier' another watch

I've been rewatching all the MCU projects directly relevant to "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," which means, last on the list, was "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" (TFATWS).

I'll be honest, going into this rewatch list, I was least excited to revisit TFATWS, despite having only seen it through once before. When I first watched it in spring of 2021, there were a couple negative impressions I took away with me that kept me from enjoying the project as a whole:

1. Sam gets way more development than Bucky, despite sharing the show title.
2. Sharon's arc is a bummer, and ruins a character we'd spent two movies learning to like and trust.
3. Sam's big speech at the end misses the mark.

I took just three days to watch all six episodes this time, and I really enjoyed myself this time, and after watching it, I've come to terms with two of these three negative impressions, and even feel that the show does a really nice job with each of them.

First, some context. The full rewatch list to prep for BP2 was:

1. Avengers: Age of Ultron
2. Captain America: Civil War
3. Black Panther
4. Avengers: Infinity War
5. Avengers: Endgame
6. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

The state of the world hit way better coming directly out of "Endgame." When this first released, we'd already had a Spider-Man film a pandemic and "WandaVision" to sit through. "Endgame" was already starting to feel pretty distant, but for the people in this world, the Blip is raw, and the fallout is happening right now.

HOW TO WATCH IT

If you rewatch this yourself, do yourself a favor and rewatch "Endgame" right beforehand. It hits way harder.

But the biggest change in my consumption then and now is that I watched it in quick succession, rather than as weekly, episodic releases, and this show works way better as a 5-hour movie than as a 5-week, 1-per-week 45 minute session.

There are only three main characters in this show: Sam Wilson, James Barnes and John Walker. I know Karli Morgenthau, Sharon Carter and Helmut Zemo occupy a lot of screen time, but they are pieces of the stories of those other characters, not really their own stories. If you binge this show, that becomes clear. When this released in real time, we had to spend 7 days after these middle episodes that focus heavily on Zemo and Sharon, and that tricked us into thinking that their developments were as important as what was going on with the other three. They aren't. They matter, but mostly they only matter within the context of Bucky and Sam.

BUCKY'S STORY MATTERS

Why am I bothering to claim that? Because I think it fixes this problem of the storytelling balance between Sam and Bucky. When you realize that all of Zemo's story is actually informing Bucky's story, the scales start to equalize a lot. Whether it involves the Super Soldier Serum, the Winter Soldier program or the Wakandans, everything that's happening with Zemo is impacting or as a result of Bucky, way more than it is Sam.

Sharon's piece of the story is a little more evenly split between them, but if you're wondering why Sam seems to get so much more development here, it's actually because overall, more of the story revolves around Bucky's history than around Sam's.

That said, Bucky gets a bunch of development here too. Even separate from Zemo. His status with the Wakandans is clarified, his redemption arc is completed, his beef with John is resolved, he develops a genuine friendship with Sam. And all of that feels paced a lot better when you watch it back to back to back instead of having to wait 168 hours for the next 45 minutes.

THE SHARON ARC

I hated Sharon's arc when this first came out. Part of that was because of the rampant online speculation that essentially spoiled that she was the Power Broker before it was wholly obvious to me, but another part of it was it just felt like a bit of a slap in the face to both Steve Rogers and Sharon. Last time we saw her, she was putting everything on the line to give Steve a chance to save Bucky. Now she's done a complete heel turn. She scoffs at everything she once stood for, and only looks out for No. 1. She is, in fact, a criminal arms dealer, and one of the main villains of the series.

That will probably feel bad to any Sharon fan, but one thing is clear: she is never subtle about her change of heart. She admits to the lads right out the gate that she doesn't subscribe to any of that thinking any more, and they (like much of the audience at the time) simply choose to ignore it, or write it off as meaningless venting.

We have to keep another thing in mind. "Captain America: Civil War," the last time we saw Sharon, came out in 2016. Endgame came out in 2019, and the plot takes place 5 years after that + another six months between the Battle for Earth and the events of TFATWS. How different is your life today than it was eight years ago? A lot changes in that span of time under even normal conditions. I, for example, have moved twice and had a kid in that duration. Imagine how much it might change if you happened to also be an international fugitive with espionage and combat skills who has been all but forgotten by her previously very powerful friends. I think her arc here is totally plausible, maybe even probable, just tough to swallow.

EPISODE 5 IS GREAT

Episode 5 was my least favorite episode when I first watched it. Now it's my favorite part of the whole show. In case you forgot, this is the one where we get the fallout from John killing the Flag Smasher guy, and we get a lengthy piece where Sam goes back, helps his sister fix up the boat, Bucky joins him, and the two men finally come to terms on everything.

This is a slow-paced episode. It's low on action, and generally not in keeping with the high-octane nature of this show. If you just waited 7 days for the next piece, and this is what you got, you'd feel probably pretty bummed too. Who cares about this damn boat?

But as the calm before the big storm in a 5-hour movie, this episode is perfect. We get a bunch of necessary resolutions and conversations here. We get everyone right where they need to be mentally before the attack on the GRC committee. We (and our heroes) get to catch our breath and process the brutal events of the last part of this play.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• John's arc is the best part of the show. Put into this role that you aren’t the best guy for, alongside your best buddy. Working hard to make the most out of it. Resistance at every turn, even from the people who should be making your job easier. Best buddy gets killed. Serum coursing through you, which of course you took because you are trying to make the most out of this impossible situation. It's like he was set up to fail.
• Was John set up to fail? Val as good as admits that she orchestrated a major piece of the final action here. And is in cahoots with Zemo. AND is possibly the person Sharon is speaking to on the phone. Has she been orchestrating all of this, including John's downfall, from the start? Maybe more to come there in Thunderbolts.
• The Bucky-Sam-John fight over the shield in episode 5 is excellent.
• I don't think we're going to see any Bucky in BP2, based on Ayo's parting shot there: "It would be prudent to make yourself scarce in Wakanda." That's sort of a shame. It could be said that they never fully capitalized on the Bucky-Wakanda relationship, but it's also possible that the drip feed we've gotten is all we were ever really going to get.