‘The Falcon & The Winter Soldier’: Before The Action Buddy-Comedy Begins, Sam & Bucky Grapple With Identity [Episode 1 Review]

*This review will contain minor spoilers from “The Falcon & The Winter Soldier,” but those sections will be marked.*

“The legacy of that shield is complicated,” Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) says warily, his inner turmoil churning away, early on in “The Falcon And The Winter Soldier,” Disney+’s new Marvel Studios limited series. Captain America’s shield—bequeathed to him at the end of “Avengers: Endgame” by a-now-aged Steve Rogers—should be a gift. But the symbol—all it stands for and the man who gave it such gravity— means so much to Wilson, both personally and professionally. In the superhero’s uneasy eyes, the shield and all it represents, is more a spiritual burden he feels like he can’t possibly live up to. Rarely is any of this spelled out, of course, though it’s all read on Wilson’s pained face. But the advantage of Marvel’s serialized storytelling is that in knowing these characters so well, a deep subtext is easy to glean.

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The one line, and its simple, solemn performance, says so much. Can I live up to the standards set up by the good soldier Captain America? Should I even try? And maybe, is there even space for a Black man in America to take up that mantle? These personal and social struggles are the heart of Marvel’s latest show, shaped by head writer Malcolm Spellman (“Empire”) and directed by veteran filmmaker Kari Skogland (“The Walking Dead,” “The Handmaid’s Tale“).

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In “The Falcon And The Winter Soldier,” splintered heroes aren’t kicking ass and taking names (at least not yet); they’re grappling with identity. Set six months after the events of ‘Endgame,’ Sam Wilson seems happy with who he is—the quippy, cocky, and crime-fighting superhero known as the Falcon—but whenever the mantle of Captain America and the shield everyone assumes he would shoulder comes up, the hero bristles, the anguish around his eyes begins to betray his otherwise happy-go-lucky demeanor.

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Elsewhere, Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), is in court-appointed therapy, a provision of his pardon. His personal struggle is different, but very real, and also tethered to his fractured identity. Barnes is torn apart by shame and guilt from his time as a Hydra pawn when he was the mind-controlled Winter Soldier. Barnes has blood on his hands, and his journey is about making amends and atoning. But this goal, like Wilson, said earlier, is complicated (which means some well-intentioned, but misguided attempts to befriend some of the family members of people he murdered in the past).  His no-bullshit therapist (brilliantly played by Amy Aquino), knows Barnes is haunted by his sins in nightmares, bears a guilt complex, and carries other ideas of self-loathing. But he’s also a vault, and getting to the heart of his locked-up emotions is a mission impossible task.

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As Barnes says, he had a moment of tranquility in Wakanda (see ‘Infinity War,’ and “Where’s the fight?” a brilliant little subtle character moment the show’s writers seized on). But his entire life has been a series of battles, going from one fight to the next, with little reprieve. He’s tired of being exploited as a war machine tool and says he just wants peace, but his therapist doesn’t believe soldiers who’ve endured that much trauma can just sit on the sidelines without suffering further emotional costs.

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This is “The Falcon And The Winter Soldier,” or at least its first episode. Not much of a traditional superhero show (so far anyhow), and perhaps akin to more of a prestige drama ala “The Americans,” or “Homeland.” Yes, the series opens up with a big action set piece—the Falcon doing the bidding of the U.S government overseas, covertly (which presumably has ramifications later)—but it’s the least interesting element of the show, frankly. The set-up of Episode 1, investing the time to show the emotional state of where these characters are at and how they are struggling, is really compelling stuff that allows both actors to really shine without saying all that much.

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“The Falcon And the Winter Soldier” has been described as Marvel’s riff on a buddy action-comedy, but if that’s true, it’s not at all indicative in Episode 1. In fact, neither hero interacts with one another, and all that’s said about their relationship via Barnes’ therapist, is that he has been ignoring Wilson’s reaching-out texts.

On a plot level, a new terrorist organization is on the rise; a group called The Flag Smashers, who apparently believe that life during the Blip—when half the world was snapped out of existence—was better than it is now. Wilson is on their trail via one of his U.S. intelligence agents in the Middle East, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), but the full extent of their plan (or how it eventually connects to Daniel Brühl’s Baron Zemo character) is unknown.

Episode 1 is obviously just setting the stage for the full story to unfold, but it does terrific character work of where Sam and Bucky in the post-Blip, post-Steve Rogers era. The entire show seems built upon the premise of their comedic bickering and bantering interactions first seen in “Captain America: Civil War,” but none of that is seen here. The series is also built around their connection to Captain America is or was—both of them best friends of Cap from two different times, both men seemingly lost and unsure of their place in the world without him.

*Minor spoiler coming up*

While Barnes’ struggle feels like the weightier of the too at first—he’s a former killer with great remorse after all and kudos to Stan’s internalized performance— the issues that Wilson grapple with are two-fold. Wilson simply can’t accept Cap’s shield, graciously turning it down at a press conference and the government thank him and then place it in the Captain America museum we’ve seen several times in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Afterward, he debates his decision with James Rhodey, aka War Machine (Don Cheadle), and the question comes up, why didn’t you take up the shield? But the great subtext of the scene is—and it’s spoken about indirectly is—yeah, I get that it’s heavy, but didn’t you think about your responsibility to represent in the role?

*Minor spoiler ends*

Later on, the human struggles get even more real, down to Earth, and untethered to heroic wings. Wilson returns to Lousiana and the family’s shrimp boat; his sister, Sarah Wilson (a solid Adepero Oduye), struggles to pay the bills and make ends meet. She wants to sell the boat, but to Wilson, that’s legacy, and one that he can’t give up on (a nice theme that’ll come together later, surely). That leads to a terrific sequence in a bank where the Falcon is essentially begging for a loan. Without spoiling, ‘TF&TWS’ excels in its ideas of being Black in America, while also being a superhero—something the MCU hasn’t really had time to address before. What Wilson experiences, painfully, humiliatingly, is dehumanization and akin to the way America loves its all-star Black athletes when they are making big plays on the field, but could really care less about them off the field. The moment is searing, and all these ideas of racial inequality end in a greater emotional gut-punch in the finale when the government reveals they have essentially tricked him, and done him dirty.

One can’t speak to the entirety of “The Falcon & The Winter Soldier,” based on one episode. There’s surely big MCU action, comedy, and more traditional elements to come. Still, episode one is terrifically promising, a rich and layered entrée into the notions of identity, legacy, and the difficult-to-swallow reminder that no African-American is exempt from the challenges of being Black in America. Not even a superhero. [B+]

“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” debuts on Disney+ on March 19, with new episodes arriving weekly.