Review: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier – New World Order s01e01

Hot on the heels of the Wandavision finale, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier lands with its first episode, ‘New World Order’.  The big question is whether it can follow up the success of Wandavision and give us more insight in the MCU.  *Warning! Spoilers Lie Ahead!*

The first impression that this series gives is that things are a bit fragmented, and that this opening episode doesn’t cement a direction or solid base.  This would be fine if there was a second episode immediately available to watch, which would complete the opening section of the story.  Here though, that isn’t the case, and after years of people getting used to Netflix style releases, where a whole season appears, Disney have reverted again to the old traditional weekly episodic schedule.

Keeping the pacing of a ‘season release’, but reverting to the old-style release schedule, leaves the show high and dry, without a follow up.  Wandavision realised this and gave us two episodes in quick succession, so that we could acclimatise properly to what they were trying to do.  In ‘New World Order’ for instance, Sam/Falcon (Antony Mackie) doesn’t even have a single scene with Bucky (Sebastian Stan), and their stories are completely separate.  They really needed something to unify the show somewhat and not leave it hanging, although as it stands, it will probably work better on a re-watch when all the episodes are available.

While it is disjointed a little, what do they establish here?  Set after the events of ‘Avengers: Endgame’, the world is still struggling to cope with the reappearance of billions of people after ‘the blip’.  Sam is working with the Air Force on various covert missions, while also struggling with being handed the mantle of Captain America.  This is undoubtedly going to be the main theme for Sam for most of this season, with both sides of the coin being examined.  Not only does he feel that Steve Rogers is the only person that should carry the shield and the moniker, but that there are difficulties in trying to “represent a country that does not represent him”.

Bucky meanwhile is experiencing a much more under the radar existence in ‘New World Order’ and trying to make amends as part of his pardon agreement with the government.  For Bucky this is quite stifling, and he is unused to having to work within certain guidelines.  Bucky has rarely had any peace for over 100 years, so it will be interesting how they open up the character and examine the impact of his traumatic life.  Already in this opening episode, Bucky is visiting a psychiatrist, Dr Rayner (Amy Aquino) who is trying to get him to talk about his nightmares.  The layers of guilt and shame won’t be uncovered very easily, so we can expect that this will be a familiar part of the show.

Away from their ‘superhero’ identities, both Sam and Bucky grapple with normal life too.  In Sam’s case that involves reconciling his disappearance in the blip with his sister Sarah’s (Adepero Oduye) experiences trying to keep the family business afloat; literally.  For Bucky that is probably harder, as he hasn’t exactly had a normal life since the 1940s, although he does manage to have a date with Leah (Miki Ishikawa).  Surprisingly it isn’t a disaster, until of course he wanders off half way through due to being reminded of his guilt concerning his friend’s son, who he killed previously.

It seems that nothing is going to be easy for either of them throughout this series, and it will be as much about the threat they will face, as the problems within their own lives.  Like Wandavision before it, this will hopefully prove to be an illuminating and interesting look into MCU characters that don’t always get as much screen time as others.

Although they haven’t brought it together yet, that big threat would appear to be a terrorist group called ‘The Flag Smashers’.  This seems to be an anti-nationalist group that preferred life during the blip, and who we see here operating with remarkable organisation, creating a flash mob as a distraction during a robbery.  At the centre of that is a mysterious figure who appears to have either extreme natural strength or superpowers of some kind.  Based on the name of the group, this is likely to be Karl Morgenthau or someone like him, who appeared in the Captain America comics.

It’s all very early days though, and a lot of things still need to be established.  Pretty much most of the episode is scene setting and not a lot happens to be frank.  This isn’t necessarily an issue in the long run, as it may work as a whole, but for an episodic release it’s a big misstep.  It’s a surprising mistake too, as you would have thought it was obviously going to be an issue.

What we do get however is interesting and bodes well for the rest of the episodes.  ‘New World Order’ does put things into a context and hints at the main threat to come.  The details we get about their lives that would normally be too mundane for a film are also useful backstory, and certainly lay down some groundwork for emotional conflicts in future episodes.  It’s a slightly rocky start, but with enough promise to hint at good things to come. 

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is showing on Fridays on Disney Plus