Disney has recently premiered their new Marvel series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” exclusively on Disney+. The show picks up not long after the most recent Avengers movie, “Endgame”, where countries are recovering after what they call the “blip”, when everyone who disappeared 5 years prior suddenly returned. Although it wouldn’t be a Marvel series without a new apparent villain rising to the world scene, I’ll get into more details later on. Season one only being 6 episodes may seem a bit short, but the storyline would be hard to draw out with the progression of each episode. 

Interview/Discussion with Sean Johnson

I watched the first few episodes of this series with Bothell junior, Sean Johnson (‘22), during spring break and we both agreed that each episode kept us intrigued and waiting for the next week’s episode. I asked Sean what made him excited for new episodes, “One of the main reasons I loved this show was because every episode had a cliffhanger. On top of that the cliffhangers were not forced so I was always looking forward to a new episode on Fridays.” I then followed up asking Sean what he thought about the characters, and if the story sidetracked in a bad way, “The character development, in my opinion, was one of the worst aspects in this show. They didn’t really explain much about the new people introduced. As for sidetracking, there was next to none. For the screen time given they produced episodes very well.” We both talked about the MCU storyline and if this series fit into it. This was an easy yes, seeing as they picked up recently after the end of “Endgame”. “The show was able to show how difficult not only everyone returning back after 5 years is, but also the absence of Captain America. Both Bucky Barnes and the Falcon were struggling since the first episode to figure out their lives without Steve Rodgers.”

My thoughts

This show was a great addition to the MCU and could possibly mean more mini-series for Marvel seeing as “Wanda Vision” recently finished as well. If you’ve seen all major Marvel movies thus far, the different characters and groups brought into this series fit perfectly. I agree with Sean in that the new people introduced in this show did not get that much introduction, they were just forced onto the screen, but fit where they were needed. It wouldn’t be a Marvel production if they didn’t have an end-credit scene foreshadowing something, and this series provided that. So be sure to watch the credits on the last episode. 

Conclusion/Hopes for a next season?

It’s hard to tell exactly what a new season could look like, if they will even make one. The last episode left off in an interesting spot so it is now a waiting game if Marvel announces anything. I doubt we’ll hear anything soon though as the series just finished. But if they do come out with a new season, I would love to see more lesser-known characters brought in, and developed more. It’s hard for newly introduced characters to be given the spotlight, especially in a major movie, so a smaller series like these would be a perfect spot for it.