"I feel it. The stares, the judgment. And there's nothing I can do to change it. Yet, I'm still here. No super serum, no blond hair, or blue eyes. The only power I have is that I believe we can do better."

Marvel's second tv series in the MCU follows Sam Wilson allying himself with Bucky Barnes to embark on a series of international adventures to thwart the activities of the Flag-Smashers, an anti-patriotism terrorist cell. Over the course of their mission, they test their abilities and patience. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier had us all hyped up following the success of WandaVision. Maybe my hopes were too high, or maybe it's just the show, but in the end I felt letdown. That's not to say I didn't like the show because I did look forward to the new episode each week. It definitely has its issues with story, but it brings the action that we all love to see with each Marvel installment. Firstly, the acting is great. Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan are quite fun together. They gained character development off of each other that couldn't be gained on their own. Fun jokes and disagreements are made along the way for our entertainment. We also get dramatic tension that questions both the characters and us as an audience on where we stand on the matter. It's a little strange to see Sam accepting everything at the end of Endgame and returning to a state of unwillingness, but I can understand even with the small period of time after which it takes place.

When it comes to villains, this is where it becomes a little unstable. The Flag-Smashers were poorly written. Their motives were too surface level to see as an actual threat. Karli, the leader, felt very underdeveloped and could've been such a good antagonist. Part of this is because of plot taken out due to the pandemic, but still much more could've been done. John Walker is one of the more interesting antagonists in the MCU. Wyatt Russell plays him so well and good for him. Literally, I've never seen a character hated so much in the small amount of time we knew him within the first episode. His arc is good and I'm glad to see how unhinged they went.

As for story, this is the root most of the problem. The story is good, but nothing special. This story isn't anything new or groundbreaking. Marvel likes to milk all they can out of each character or story from last installments, and this felt like one of the cases where ideas ran low but hyping it up made us all want more, not like we weren't going to complain about it though. Earlier I mentioned that some plot was taken out due to the pandemic, and the same happened to WandaVision. Another episode or two would've benefitted the series. The first episode took a slower approach, which I liked. But the next two episodes were still setting up which felt weird considering that was halfway through the series. The last three episodes go by fast and are better than the first half. Still, plot was missing. We were introduced to ideas that never reached a fair conclusion. The announcement of a potential second season does make sense in this case. With WandaVision there's not more to be said, but in the case of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier more could be added to reach a proper conclusion. I wouldn't mind seeing more because it's a fun show to watch. There's really good action, a fun duo centering it, and Zemo dancing in the club! In later episodes, I'm glad that Marvel took to serious topics and not ignore issues within the world today and spanning decades ago. Finally, the conclusion with Captain America is such a great choice and anyone who disagrees is wrong. The Falcon and the Winter Solider may have left me wanted I more, but I'll take what I can get.