The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: One World, One People

 "I'm Captain America!"

In the end, I think this series has been good but not great. The concept works well, bt the chracterisation (despite superb acting) falls a little short. It's only in the final two episodes that the series catches fire. Still, this makes for a strong finale.

In theory this is about Sam and co finally defeating the Flag Smashers, with Karli getting the death she probably deserves after such fanatcal willingness for so many others to die for her beiefs. It's about Bucky learning how to truly atone for his past misdeeds. It's about the shocking revelation that Sharon is the Power Broker, a proper baddie- and, with the newly restored Agent Carter, the US Government has a cuckoo in its nest. It's about John Walker finding some small redemption, and a new costume ("It's the same, but black(!)" as the US Agent, courtesy of the splenid Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra La Fontaine.

But mostly this is about Captaim America, and what it means for him to be black. Sam's entrance, with his new costume, and announcing himself, is a huge moment. So is Bucky calling him Cap, and the nod from Walker. So is his rather awesome speech about idealism and not being dicks to refugees, words that certain British politocoans, some of whom bully their civil servants, would do well to heed.

And the moment with Isaiah is sentimental, yes, but just about earned. There's a hell of a big history of racial oppression behind all this, and not only in the United States. In the end, I think, the script tries hard to address this enormous subtext but doesn't quit hae the eloquence. But, as Isaiah sort of says to Sam, not everyone can be Martin Luther King.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Truth

 "There will never be a Black man be Captain America."

So far this series has been consistently good, but has never reached greatness. Its been enjoyable, well-structured and well made with a great cast but, I think, the dialogue has never quite taken flight. That changes here: this penultimate episode, at least, whatever happens in the finale, achieves greatness.

The whole thing is, of course, a meditation on what it means for Sam to be, quite transparently, on the cusp of being the first Black man to be Captain America. The meeting with Isaiah is necessary: Isaiah stands for the many crimes against Black Americans over the centuries, the burning crosses, the Jim Crow laws, the unspeakableness of slavery and its lasting scars, the continuing unspeakableness of voter suppression and mass incarceration- although we non-Americans cannot smugly assume that we do not have similar sins of our own, particularly after the Windrush scandals and the racist attacks we've seen in the last couple of days aimed at three brave young men. It is not only in America that racism is institutional and has tendrils that get everywhere, no doubt including my own subconscious.

That said, I like the handling of John Walker here. Yes, he has done a terrible thing, but it was the disturbingly military-worshipping culture of the USA that made him a monster, and seems to betray this damaged man who has only become what they made him. So it's intriguing to see Julia Louis-Dreyfus, with an outageous accent, approaching him as Valentina Allegra La Fontaine, a very retro character from the days of Jim Steranko. It seems, from the closing credits, that US Agent will be appearing soon.

However, this is about Sam, about his family, his sister, and their boat- all symbolising their heritage. There's a lovely bit of flirting between Bucky and Sarah, but an equally lovely scene between the two friends as Bucky admits he failed to appreciate what he was asking Sam to do in being the first Black man to take the shield, and taking some good advice. But the groundwork is laid as Sam prepares for his new role. 

We end with the Flag Smashers about to strike for the finale. But, quite rightly, this episode was not about such things. A superb piece of drama.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: The Star-Spangled Man

 "Time to go to work..."

An impressive, and very different, second episode here in which Sam and Bucky finally meet up again and immediately, action sequences or not- and the action sequences are good- have great comic chemistry as the kinds of friends who constantly insult each other. I particularly love the extended riff on Sam's theory about "androids, aliens or wizards", and Bucky's boast about having read The Hobbit... in 1937.

This episode also gives us our first look at this version of John Walker- from Custer's Grove, Georgia as Mark Gruenwald originally wrote him but this time less of an obvious redneck, although he's still something of a jock and naive square jawed conformist type. It's notable how this version of Lemar Hoskins is considerably brighter than this John Walker.

There's lots of tension between all of these characters. As we find out at the end, Bucky resents Sam for spurning the shield as Steve Rogers' hand-picked successor and, of course, both of them are wary of the initially friendly new Captain America and Battle Star. The subtleties of this awkwardness are well handled. There's some nice political subtext, too, in the context of American racism- Sam is only not abused by racist cops because of who he is, and we meet Isaiah, a black super soldier from the Korean War who seems to have been treated abominably by his country.

And the learn more about the Flag Smashers- this time most certainly not a bloke but an organisation much less organic, and its leader is a young woman (with a nice bit of misdirection as we meet her) called Kari Morganthau. Her "imagine there's no countries" ideology is channelled through "the Blip" here, and the whole gang appear to be super soldiers. This is very interesting, as is the mention of Gruenwald perennial baddie the Power Broker.

This isn't quite up there with WandaVision, or indeed Gruenwald's splendid run on the Cap comic. But it is, nevertheless, very good.