What lies beneath the settled dirt?
4/5
Spoilers
Imagine the scenario: you have created one of the biggest and most successful franchises of all time. You have woven the narratives of all of your movies together into a complex tapestry, redefining cinematic story telling. You've upset Martin Scorsese who cannot see the irony in his complaints. And you conclude this first arc with the (sometime) biggest film of all time. What do you do now?
Before 2021 began I wasn't certain how Marvel could upend and alter their cinematic universe, how they recreate and aim to match the thrills of The Infinity Saga. Then came their bold new gambit, Disney+ and miniseries. Bold indeed, but potentially risky. The first roll of the die brought us WandaVision, a series I felt completely reimagined how superhero tales could be told. A great initial success in launching this new saga. Although little of the 'fantasy world' that is the Marvel cinematic universe was upended, the storytelling was fresh and exciting, promising the potential for great things to come and change.
The follow to this, The Falcon and Winter Soldier aims to achieve something different. The storytelling is fairly conventional, almost movie like. The plot moves along familiar beats, finding small twists and turns on a journey to catch the bad-guys. It is, in a good way, reminiscent of the Captain America: Winter Soldier film its origins stir from.
What the series does upend is the Marvel universe itself, at least, this universe's Earth. Endgame showed an Earth just about coping with the blip, when half of all life vanished, and Far From Home showed everyone enjoying being back. Is this realistic though? F&WS says no, it isn't. The new post-blip Earth is fragmented and unbalanced. In one sense the plight of the Flag Smashers, the so-called terrorists fighting to end national borders, suggests Thanos got it right. From the international to the domestic, this Earth is not the MCU Earth we are used to. The positivity has faded, the gleam worn off. Our new MCU has brought us fresh conflict to feed a host of upcoming programmes and films.
As Earth tries to find its purpose, its citizens trying to find their purpose, we find Sam Wilson confused by his purpose. With the Black Lives Matter movement making strides in our society, all art forms are trying to respond. The film industry has brought us a slew of BLM inspired narratives of late; sometimes the message is heard clearly, sometimes it feels rather heavy handed, often it can miss the point. This plot, following Sam's movement away from being Captain America, through his betrayal by America and meeting Isaiah Bradley, to retaking the mantle were well handled though. In such a big, popular franchise as the MCU it would have been easy to gloss over such his race and what that means when handed the shield. But Sam's conflicts in being a black man and the face of an America that has persecuted his people for centuries are prominent and poignant. His success at the end presents a moment of hope, even in its fictional setting.
It would be easy to gloss over Sebastian Stan in reflecting on the series. His story of purpose, finding a role in a century not his own, in a heroic guise he feels unearned, did occasionally slip behind the myriad of other ideas fighting for attention. Yet this was an important story in understanding his character and allowing Stan to take some ownership of the Winter Soldier persona for future projects. He has definitely moved the character from tier three to someone I look forward to seeing more of.
At times the pacing ran a little slow, at times the array of ideas overwhelming. But this series was clearly designed to set up broader plots for the oncoming MCU slate. It dangled ideas and characters, showing that we can look forward to some very closely woven narrative from now on. No longer should we merely expect, or accept, Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury rocking up in a post-credit scene - we deserve continual interconnectivity. Some may find that disjointing when looking at films/TV shows independently of one another. But, 12 years into the Marvel project, independence is not the name of the game and you should know that by now!
Director: Kari Skogland
Writer: Malcolm Spellman, Michael Kastelein, Derek Kolstad, Dalan Musson, and Josef Sawyer
Composer: Henry Jackman
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Emily Van Camp, Wyatt Russell, Erin Kellyman, & Daniel Brühl
Currently available to stream on Disney+
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