It’s no secret that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has not exactly inspired the same sort of internet fervor as its Marvel TV predecessor, WandaVision.
There have been a few memes and theories and one delightful hour-long cut of Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) dancing at the club, but there was also a bit of a struggle to connect with the overstuffed action extravaganza. It was simply not an easy task to give us a delightful buddy comedy and an exploration of the Captain America legacy and a real look at the aftermath of the Blip and commentary on racism in America and the MCU and a set up for whatever is coming next, all in just six Marvel-quality episodes.
The two titular guys (Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan) didn’t even speak in episode one, and then episode two was a bromance-filled delight, but then episode three was a travel show with a mass murderer. Meanwhile, all along, we were forced to stomach a new, much worse version of Captain America while we sympathized with a sort of villainous, sort of heroic group of rebels.
It was just a lot, and it didn’t really all come together until the very end of episode four, when budget Cap really lost it. His partner was killed, and he couldn’t keep it together, using the iconic shield to bludgeon a man to death in public.