The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is the second Marvel Studios show to be released in 2021 following up the successful WandaVision. The show stars Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan as the titular characters coming to terms with the new world post blip. Following the reveal of the new Captain America a.k.a. John Walker played by Wyatt Russell, the crew is forced to work together to combat a wave of terrorism brought on by a radical group known as the Flag-Smashers. While WandaVision focused heavily on the fantastical side of the MCU, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is a gritty action series that tries to recreate the themes present in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and even though the grounded nature of the series is a good change of pace, sadly the show does not recreate the same magic that was present in the aforementioned Captain America film.

Now The Falcon and the Winter Soldier starts off promising enough, with an interesting premise and setting up of characters. Bucky Barnes remorse for his actions committed as the Winter Soldier was very intriguing and I liked the direction they were taking his character, however after the second episode he more so just becomes the stock hero type and while his arc does see a bit of a resolution at the very end of the show, it just doesn't feel as strong as it could have been. That notion of satisfactory achievement is the main issue I have with the show, it never felt like it lived up to its own potential. There are plenty of moments throughout the six episodes that could have been poignant and impactful but rather felt surface level and rather hollow. Take for example the show tackling social injustice in America; while that is a theme that would be fairly new to the MCU and something that could be quite enthralling, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier doesn't do a whole lot with it to make it as impactful as it could have been. I can appreciate the inclusion of those themes however they felt rather lacklustre and like the filmmakers weren't as invested in making those themes of race and relations anything more than superficial.

Beyond that, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier suffers from a lot of downtime, where characters sort of meander about before the next action sequence, making for a series that felt a little boring at times. The only real character or story arc I was interested in, was the plotline with John Walker, as the introduction of a new Captain America and him trying to live up to Steve Rogers with only having a very casual understanding of the man. It was a storyline that felt fresh for the MCU and although I am not totally in love with what the writers did with the character at the end, he was easily a highlight for me during the series.

All in all, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is a series that is going to end up being quite forgettable in the grand schemes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While it does set up the next iteration of Captain America, I feel like the viewer could skip this whole series and easily figure out what's going on in the next MCU releases. With that, there are some interesting moments within the series, however, if you're a casual viewer I don't totally recommend this series even with it being a brisk mini-series of only six episodes. Although I was expecting to like this series more, I am excited to see what is in store for Falcon and Bucky Barnes as they transition into more of a central role within the universe. For now, though, The Falcon and the Winter Solider remains a series that could have been greater than what was presented and for that reason, I am giving it a 5.5/10.