“The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” Episode 2 Review
As Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes moved further into the story that is “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” more characters were introduced and established their roles as episode 2 came to an end. This week there was a lot to unpack, with the Flag Smashers motives, who exactly the new Captain America, John Walker, really is, the past history of Super Soldiers, and the reveal of Baron Zemo at the end.
In Friday’s episode, we finally got to see Sam and Bucky reunite for the first time in the series, and what seemed like the first time since the events of “Avengers: Endgame.” “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” takes place about 6 months after the events of “Endgame,” so it has been quite some time since the 2 have seen each other.
Bucky has a lot to discuss with Sam this episode because Bucky is mad at Sam since he retired the shield. Sam retiring the shield caused the mantle to be pushed onto John Walker, who the government is calling the “new Captain America.”
Walker is a former U.S. Marine with an incredible military record, but the government seems to be using him as more of a symbol than a leader.
Sam and Bucky were also doing some work tracking the Flag Smashers, the villainous group of the series so far, and followed them into Germany where they learned they were stealing medicine and vaccines. As Sam and Bucky tried to stop their trucks from transporting the vaccines, they engaged in combat with the Flag Smashers and learned that they have a lot of members with the Super Soldier Serum.
Bucky also took Sam to see an old friend of his, Isaiah, who was a soldier in the Korean War. Isaiah and Bucky have a bit of a past with each other, because Bucky was a super soldier for Hydra while Isaiah was a super soldier for the US Military, and they even fought each other a couple times.
The only difference being Isaiah, as an African American war veteran, was put into jail where they ran tests on him and then just swept him and his merits under the rug.
Bucky came to tell Isaiah that there were other super soldiers in the world, and he needed to know how and why. Isaiah still holds a grudge against Bucky since he went from a Hydra assassin to a free and celebrated hero, while Isaiah got sent to prison and lives in the shadows.
Isaiah kicked them both out and Sam was really mad at Bucky since he kept this secret from everybody, including Steve Rogers.
As the episode ends, Bucky and Sam meet with John Walker and his partner Battlestar and they discuss how they won’t work with each other. The two duos seem very opposite each other and that they are going to be butting heads in future episodes.
Bucky also has a theory that Isaiah could have referenced Hydra when they went to his house. Bucky and Sam decide they need to go see Zemo and figure out how the Super Soldier Serum got distributed around the world since Zemo knows a lot of Hydra secrets.
Will Zemo team up with Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Will he be an antagonist for them to defeat? Will he tear the 2 apart?
Check back in on Friday for episode 3 to find out or listen to CommRadio’s Marvel Mania podcast on Soundcloud to hear what the Arts and Entertainment members at CommRadio have to say about it.
Sam Roberts is a junior majoring in telecommunications. To contact him, email sam.robertspsu00@gmail.com.
