'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier' Episode 1 Review: Anthony Mackie-Sebastian Stan show off to thrilling start
Spoilers for 'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier' Episode 1 'New World Order'
'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier' is Marvel's brand new series after the immensely successful 'WandaVision' and brings with it a ginormous amount of nostalgia and some slambang action. The Disney+ series hit the ground up and running and the episode with a runtime of 50 minutes and borrows the same tonality as 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'. The series starts off with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) doing the same thing that Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) did for SHIELD— work solo missions.
Of course, he had Black Widow for company, but Sam has Redwing and there's no SHIELD, so it's just him working on missions with the military. The episode reintroduces Batroc (Georges St-Pierre) who as we see in the opening ten minutes is a massive throwback to Steve and Batroc's face-off on the Lemurian Star, with some minor differences— this fight is on the air and two, Sam can seriously fly and kick ass.
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The scene then moves to James Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) who is now living in the shadow of Steve and is pardoned, presumably after his contribution in helping the Avengers defeat Thanos. However, it does appear that his brain that was once put in a blender, is still in major recovery mode as he suffers from guilt, PTSD and coming to terms with the present post-blip world.
What the series does in the pilot is quickly establish some key storylines that will play a massive role in the episodes to come. Not just does it explore Bucky and Sam's personal lives, but also shows a world which no longer looks at heroes as gods. Sam tries to help his sister make ends meet and save his family's legacy, while Buck is still trying to decide what he is. He knows one thing and that is needing peace. Whether the series sees him get redemption, is still a question.
There's also a new Captain America on the block after Sam relinquishes the shield that was passed over to him by Steve. He believes the only man worthy of being a symbol and wielding the shield was Steve himself, but the government seems to think otherwise. In the final minutes of the episode, there is a new Cap played by Wyatt Russell, much to Sam's chagrin.
The villains get some screentime too. The mysterious Flag Smashers seem to be the new villains on the block and a glimpse of their ruthlessness is shown, but those who expected a Sam-Bucky reunion and camaraderie will be disappointed. That said, there are still five episodes to go and we can rest easy knowing there's more scintillating stuff to come.
'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier' Episode 1 is available for streaming on Disney+