The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

[touchingcloth]

Ah yeah, good point. I'd forgotten what all the zappy chamber stuff was for. Plus, vita-rays DO sound rather hokey nowadays... (even if they did retain them to use in a movie from just ten years ago!).

I don't remember the name, but I remember Steve going into the chamber of zaps in the first Captain America film. I'd always assumed that Bucky must have gone through the same process, but maybe he just injected / injected.

[The Culture Bunker]

I don't remember the name, but I remember Steve going into the chamber of zaps in the first Captain America film. I'd always assumed that Bucky must have gone through the same process, but maybe he just injected / injected.

As I remember, Howard Stark had to plug into the New York power grid to get enough juice to provide the Vita-Rays, so I would guess Zola  didn't have that option when he was experimenting on Bucky, if he even knew that about that part of the process in the first place.

[The Culture Bunker]

Something I did wonder: whatever psych tests they gave Walker prior to awarding him the Captain America title, they can't have been much cop or it was the work placement kid doing then.

And not sure if it's a bit wrong that I'm finding Zemo the most sympathetic/relatable character so far.

[mothman]

The best baddies are the ones who don't think they're bad. And he was certainly able to justify the things he did, to himself anyway. And he did everything he set out to do, except kill himself when he was finished. So it remains to be seen whether he is still "bad."

[mjwilson]

Well he is presumably still planning to kill Bucky and Isaiah Bradley, so I'm not putting him on my Christmas card list just yet.

[SteveDave]

Despite being not bothered about this series after episode one, we watched two to four in one big chunk last Friday and it was a bit engrossing.

Poor Wyatt Russell with that horrible mask.

[frajer]

I'm generally enjoying this too and thought the most recent ep was the strongest yet. It hasn't exactly soared though (haha soared like a falcon soars). But still solid and engaging.

I'm half-convinced they gave Wyatt Russell an ill-fitting knock-off mask because his character was never a "good fit" for the role of Captain America. But might be overthinking a misguided costume decision.

[SteveDave]

If Disney thinks I'm going to watch a whole TV series about Jeremy Renner though they've got another think about a thing coming.

[touchingcloth]

I have a theory about these Flag Lads.

[greenman]

I'm generally enjoying this too and thought the most recent ep was the strongest yet. It hasn't exactly soared though (haha soared like a falcon soars). But still solid and engaging.

I'm half-convinced they gave Wyatt Russell an ill-fitting knock-off mask because his character was never a "good fit" for the role of Captain America. But might be overthinking a misguided costume decision.

Its maybe not as bad as the first time we see in it episode one but yeah that does definitely come to mind, they deliberately made it look like he doesn't fit in the uniform.

[mothman]

I have a theory about these Flag Lads.

[SteveDave]

The Flag Shaggers masks remind me of the Orcs having the hand of Saruman on their faces in "Lord Of The Rings"

[kalowski]

[Mister Six]

I thought he was one of the supersoldiers.

Does Karli%u2019s accent seem to be doing the rounds of the British Isles to anyone else? The actor is from Tamworth, but although she%u2019s had a Midlands twang in the past couple of episodes, she%u2019s been more London at other points. Maybe they filmed the latest episodes first and then had her grime it up a bit.

I really like the character, but there%u2019s something about the way it%u2019s been directed which makes it tonally adrift from the others. There%u2019s something about the way she%u2019s being played which smacks of CBBC in that kids-drama-before-Neighbours way.

Yeah, her line deliveries are totally flat, in this episode especially. Given that she's going up against properly charismatic Hollywood celebs (and the bloke who plays Bucky), I just kept wondering why the hell she was hired. Or was she asked to tone it down? Even then, I'm not getting anything from her other than being a bit miffed - no undercurrents of rage at an unjust world, no mad gleam of someone using righteous causes as a cover for exercising power, no anguish at having to do bad things to innocent people because it's the only way the worse people in charge will give a shit. Nothing.

Anyway, thought that was another fun episode, and I'm enjoying how many different pieces are all knocking around although I worry they won't be able to resolve all of this in one season, and suspect the Power Broker, at least, will remain off-camera until a later season/movie.

It is nice to have a Marvel thing that isn't boiling down to world-ending threats or cosmic powers throwing bolts of light and vortices at one another though.

[greenman]

Yeah, her line deliveries are totally flat, in this episode especially. Given that she's going up against properly charismatic Hollywood celebs (and the bloke who plays Bucky), I just kept wondering why the hell she was hired. Or was she asked to tone it down? Even then, I'm not getting anything from her other than being miffed - no undercurrents of rage at an unjust world, no mad gleam of someone using righteous causes as a cover for exercising power, no anguish at having to do bad things to innocent people because it's the only way the worse people in charge will give a shit. Nothing.

Anyway, thought that was another fun episode, and I'm enjoying how many different pieces are all knocking around although I worry they won't be able to resolve all of this in one season, and suspect the Power Broker, at least, will remain off-camera until a later season/movie.

It is nice to have a Marvel thing that isn't boiling down to world-ending threats or cosmic powers throwing bolts of light and vortices at one another though.

I find the character is reasonably believable in terms of intensions but buying her as a head of a group of international freedom fighters/terrorists is perhaps pushing it a little up against the Marvel charisma big guns.

To be fair I think the Russo's first couple of films were covering similar ground to this just with a few massive CGI action sequences bolted onto them but it is nice to have Marvel return to that kind of level.

[mothman]

Marvel are being coy about the possibility of further seasons; even confirming there might be could be considered a spoiler. It appears the main narrative of this series will be would up in the next two, but I suppose something like the PowerBroker could be left an unresolved mystery, someone in the background - like Thanos was for most of the phase 1-3 films.

[Mister Six]

Never occurred to me that they would bother with a season two of any of these shows - I figured they'd pick up any threads in further Marvel movies. But I suppose the Covid gap will have delayed any such plans even if they existed.

[The Culture Bunker]

but I suppose something like the PowerBroker could be left an unresolved mystery, someone in the background - like Thanos was for most of the phase 1-3 films.

Maybe,

Spoiler alert

though I'm half-expecting it to be Sharon Carter. She does seem to have access to considerable resources.

[close]

[mjwilson]

If Disney thinks I'm going to watch a whole TV series about Jeremy Renner though they've got another thing about a think coming.

Don't worry, that'll probably be all about

Spoiler alert

him handing over to a different Hawkeye

[close]

.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I find the character is reasonably believable in terms of intensions but buying her as a head of a group of international freedom fighters/terrorists is perhaps pushing it a little

There was that bit in the second or third episode when the ponytailed bloke was giving a rousing speech, concluding with the call "One world", to which she was but one of several giving the response, "One people". That certainly didn't look like she was the one in charge.

Don't worry, that'll probably be all about

Spoiler alert

him handing over to a different Hawkeye

[close]

.

The question is,

Spoiler alert

Donald Sutherland or Alan Alda

[close]

?

[greenman]

Marvel are being coy about the possibility of further seasons; even confirming there might be could be considered a spoiler. It appears the main narrative of this series will be would up in the next two, but I suppose something like the PowerBroker could be left an unresolved mystery, someone in the background - like Thanos was for most of the phase 1-3 films.

I get the sense this time they might not be trying to bring absolutely everything together as with Thanos and the Infinity Stones, maybe room for several big bads operating on different kinds of levels of power. Somebody more earthly who Bucky, Sam, the woman Hawk trains and maybe Florence Pugh's Black Widow can take on long term.

Seems like something well suited to continued Disney+ as well in terms of scale.

[touchingcloth]

Yeah, her line deliveries are totally flat, in this episode especially. Given that she's going up against properly charismatic Hollywood celebs (and the bloke who plays Bucky), I just kept wondering why the hell she was hired. Or was she asked to tone it down? Even then, I'm not getting anything from her other than being a bit miffed - no undercurrents of rage at an unjust world, no mad gleam of someone using righteous causes as a cover for exercising power, no anguish at having to do bad things to innocent people because it's the only way the worse people in charge will give a shit. Nothing.

My starting point is always that actors are competent at their jobs and anything like this has to be laid at the feet of production teams. People laugh at some of the dire, dire performances in the Star Wars prequels, but you have to hold Lucas largely responsible.

Maybe they wanted an English actor and she was asked to tone down her accent but kept getting directed in ways that led to a bad performance by a crew who aren't familiar enough to know what naturalistic British acting looks like? That's a very charitable interpretation, though - somene has fucked up somewhere along the line for a performance like that to have made it on screen given the budgets in question.

[Mister Six]

That's a much fairer view of things. I've not seen her in anything else, so she might well be able to turn out a storming performance in other circumstances.

Does make me wonder what the head honchos saw in her audition, though, and whether they think that's still being carried across here.

[mothman]

Others have commented before on her previously playing a thematically-similar character in Solo. It's certainly an odd coincidence, but may be just that - coincidental.

[mjwilson]

Just Disney enforcing the three-film contract she signed.

[mothman]

Just Disney enforcing the three-film contract she signed.

You reckon? As in, "soz, no Solo 2 or 3, but play a similar character in a MCU TV show and we'll let you off?"

[mjwilson]

No I was just joking.

[mothman]

Ah, sorry. But you could actually be right!

[touchingcloth]

Do you think at any point we'll see what happened to all the people[nb]And elephants, fish, aliens, plants, one has to assume. [/nb] that Thanos dusted at any point? I keep assuming there's a story missing somewhere about the Quantum Realm, and its relevance to time travel and blippies.

[mothman]

Did anything happen to them though? They just ceased to exist. And then that got undone and they came back.

There are so many stories you could tell about the Blip, both those who went and then came back and this who remained. The people who were able to move on with their lives, build new ones even - and then all of a sudden the people they lost are back with nothing having changed for THEM. The ones who came back to find loved ones couldn't live without them, so... didn't. And what about the people on moving vehicles when they blipped? Did they retain that momentum when they returned? Did the skies rain people who'd been on airliners 5yrs before, killing people on the ground below, unblipped and returned alike?

But the science of the blip? Nah, just put that down to wibbly-wobbly woo. The more you poke at that the more it falls apart. These seven stones, they're like the cornerstones of the universe but you can actually destroy them and just get lightly singed doing so? Seems a bit sus to me.