The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (TFATWS) is the next in Marvel Disney+ TV shows. While the previous show, WandaVision, did something new with the Superhero genre, TFATWS aims to bring the Captain America movie style to a TV show format. The premise is "Six months after being handed the mantle of Captain America at the end of Avengers: Endgame (2019), Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) teams up with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in a worldwide adventure that tests their abilities and their patience". So does this series live up to the mantle or drops the "shield" completely?

Firstly, I like the idea of the series. Having a series focused on Sam and Bucky who for the most part in the MCU movies are just Captain America sidekicks as the main focus for the show is great. Also having the series revolve around the legacy of the shield and Captain America is an interesting idea. They also explore interesting themes such as racism, refugees and corrupt governments while still retaining the core elements of the MCU movies.

Sam is the main focus in the show and his struggle with the legacy and the responsibility of the shield is a great story. Throughout the show we see him explore what it means for a black person to take up the mantle and what Captain America means to the people. By the final episode, seeing Sam fully come into terms with his role is very fulfilling. Bucky is the secondary protagonist and he is struggling with his past as the Winter Soldier and a world without his best friend Steve. There is an exploration of his trauma and him trying to do right to all the victims of his past which is a nice story for his character. By the final episode, he finally knows what he needs to do and it's quite sad yet satisfying. The best part of the show is the banter between these 2 and their buddy cop antics are absolute highlights in the series.

Another highlight in this series is John Walker played magnificently by Wyatt Russell. He is the new Captain America that is chosen by the government. Wyatt manages to perfectly make him hateable and that is quite the testament to Wyatt's performance. He isn't an outright villain though and they do give him a fair amount of sympathetic qualities with a character arc of sort for him as well. Another great support character is Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) who has some great moments that add some weight to Sam's story. Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) returns from Captain America Civil War as a sort of wildcard for Sam and Bucky. His return is great as we get to see a more fun side to him while still being quite the manipulator. His interactions with both Sam and Bucky add another level of tension to the dynamic. Additionally, he wears his iconic costume from the comics which is nice even though it doesn't make much sense for him to do so. Daniel Bruhl single-handedly stole every scene he was in thanks to his amazing performance.

The cinematography by P. J. Dillon feels very "movie like" and I didn't get the TV show feeling when watching the series. There are some parts in the series where the visuals are quite gorgeous with an example being episode 3 where they are in Madripoor. Henry Jackman who scored Captain America Winter Soldier and Civil War returns to score and while none of the soundtracks is memorable, it does a good job in representing the scene without being overly distracting. There are great action scenes that utilize the power of the super soldiers and the flying suit of Falcon. Some fights are quite brutal and very memorable.

Nevertheless, I have some issues with this series and the biggest one being the slow pacing. There are a lot of moments where it feels like not much story progression is occurring. This is most noticeable in episode 5 where the majority of the episode is just a lot of sitting around. For a series that is only 6 episodes, it is quite weird that it can still drag like this. There is also a lot of moments during the series where it seems to be more focused on building future stories which are mildly distracting from the main story. The final episode also handles John's final story arc in a really weird way that just feels completely sudden and it also contains a very cringe resolution that doesn't fit the series.

I also have an issue with the main villain Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) who is the leader of an anti-patriotism group the Flag Smashers who contains some members with super-soldier serum. The motive of the group is fine and understandable as they want to have open national borders. The problem is the leader of the group Karli is just not believable. She is extremely bratty and murder crazed that I do not understand how people look up to her. The actress Erin is okay but her performance is constantly outweighed by the better antagonist of John Walker and everyone else. It also baffles me how they are somehow able to fight on par with Bucky when he has literal assassin, military training and a vibranium arm but okay. Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) returns but I have mixed feelings about her. She is a lot darker as a character and doesn't resemble who she was in the Captain America movies which are mildly jarring. Her still being on the run from the government despite all the other Cap supporters being pardon makes no logical sense. Despite being blipped, she is also somehow able to build a massive fortune and completely change her personality doesn't feel believable. However, she is a lot more interesting than just being Peggy 2.0 so there is that.

Overall, the series doesn't land all its shots but it certainly delivers on the epic scope you expect from Marvel. It has mature social commentary, hilarious moments, thrilling action sequences and great chemistry between Anthony and Sebastian that just meshes together like a charm. I'm interested in what this series leads to whether it's another Marvel movie or a second season and I want to see more of Sam and Bucky in the future.