Following the events of Endgame where Steve Rogers entrusted Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) with the shield and mantle of Captain America, Sam has yet to adopt the mantle and continues his missions under his current identity and eventually reluctantly retires the Shield and the Captain America name to the government for display in the Smithsonian. Meanwhile James "Bucky" Barnes (Sebastian Stan) the former Winter Soldier has been pardoned for his assistance in fighting Thanos and tries to make amends with his troubled past and the people he wronged. When an anti-patriotism group known as the Flag Smashers lead by Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) begin fighting against the Global Repatriation Council that is trying to forcefully relocate several "Blip" survivors, Bucky and Sam team up to try and stop the Flag Smashers and their violent activities across Europe. Meanwhile matters are further complicated by the emergence of John Walker (Wyatt Russell) as the new Government sponsored Captain America.

Another standalone mini-series focusing on secondary characters in the MCU similar to Wandavision, much like Wandavision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier saw massive viewership and solid reviews from critics and audiences even if the pacing was sometimes subject to criticism. Malcolm Spellman pitched his take on a series focusing on Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson with Feige interested in exploring these characters due to their popularity with audiences in the Captain America films and the series would be used as a springboard to properly set-up Sam Wilson as Captain America following Endgame's retirement of Steve Rogers. While The Falcon and the Winter Soldier certainly feels big and epic falling in line with the level of quality seen in the Captain America films, it also feels like it's slightly more unwieldy and unfocused and would've worked better as a film than a series.

To start off on a positive note Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie continue to be great as Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson respectively, and the show does a good job of setting up and exploring the void left in a world without Captain America and the weight that is placed on Sam's shoulders as a result. You really do get a sense of Sam's hesitance at adopting the Captain America mantle especially in a world that post Blip has reverted back to its worst aspects. We also get some solid follow-ups with Bucky Barnes who still carries the weight and guilt of his Winter Soldier days and the fact that both characters have a connection to Steve Rogers' Captain America with both having been best friends with him makes for a solid connecting point that allows for good character moments between the two. The action is really on point for a TV series with many of the action beats being just as good as presented in the Captain America films and there's a nice level of grit and impact to the action sequences in comparison to some of the more CGI heavy entries in the MCU.

I think however despite the show having some really good ideas and a pair of charming an engaging leads, the story does feel its shift in writing from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely of the Captain America films to Malcolm Spellman in that while Spellman tries to manage a large ensemble in the same manner as Markus and McFeely, he doesn't balance the large ensemble as well with the narrative often feeling cluttered with a lot of points that don't feel as cohesive as they should. While I liked the idea of the morally conflicted setup that felt like a thematic continuation of ideas presented in Winter Soldier and Civil War, I often felt as though there were too many characters and tangents in the story that made the experience feel less streamlined than it should've been. This particularly shows in characters such as Erin Kellyman's Karli Morgenthau and Wyatt Russell's John Walker/Captain America who feel lost amongst the shuffle when considering other parts like Sam Wilson's family, former super solider Isaiah Bradley, a returning Zemo, and several other MCU tangents that not only bloat out the story, but really only serve to be launch points to other stories.

I liked The Falcon and the Winter Soldier well-enough, but it's the kind of thing that feels like it should've been a movie instead of a series. With Wandavision, it felt like it used an episodic format to its advantage in being a meta commentary on sitcoms intertwined with a The Prisoner-esque mystery, but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier feels like a good story that's overstretched and overstuffed. Still enjoyable, but not without flaws.