Falcon & Winter Soldier

[Techwright]

14 hours ago, Mr. Vee said:

 

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Princess Bar easter egg. Yay?

 

Quite possibly.  Just don't expect anyone with claws hanging around.  😉

[DougGraves]

On 4/2/2021 at 4:58 PM, Techwright said:

Episode 3:

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I'm beginning to think we're going to see Dr. Erskine's dire prediction:  that the serum intensifies what is in the heart of the receiver.  Karly seems to have strongly demonstrated that with that car bomb.  That said,  it sounds like the serum in play is a retro-engineer of Isaiah's serum which in turn is a retro-engineer of Erskine's perfected serum, so who knows what changes have happened.  I'm wondering if Walker will get hands on the serum and forcibly take it hoping to "correct" his shortcomings when compared to Steve Rogers.  As he is already showing signs of strain, that wouldn't be good.

 

 

 

I forgot that bit Erskine said.  Are we seeing that in the Flag Smashers?

[Glacier Peak]

18 hours ago, Mr. Vee said:

So just don't watch the trailers, problem solved 😄

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Princess Bar easter egg. Yay?

 

No problem. They hyped the show with trailers for months before it debuted.

[Glacier Peak]

1 hour ago, DougGraves said:

I forgot that bit Erskine said.  Are we seeing that in the Flag Smashers?

I think I remember the new scientist saying he tweaked it though?

[TemporalVileTerror]

I haven't seen a single trailer for Winter Soldier.  Hell.  I didn't see any for WandaVision either.  I've only seen the one trailer for Loki.

Where are you people seeing these trailers?

[Glacier Peak]

21 hours ago, TemporalVileTerror said:

I haven't seen a single trailer for Winter Soldier.  Hell.  I didn't see any for WandaVision either.  I've only seen the one trailer for Loki.

Where are you people seeing these trailers?

I usually get them in my YouTube feed or as ads embedded in websites I visit. Damn algorithms! 

[TemporalVileTerror]

Ah.

I have those blocked.  Can't stomach 'em.

 

Well, back to the original topic at hand:  Madripoor was nice!  Very cyberpunk.

I'm still waiting for a good cyberpunk (or, dare I dream? Shadowrun) television series.

But Madripoor scratched that itch nicely, for the time being.

[DougGraves]

After not liking the first episode much (except the first action scene) I have liked the rest.  I am looking forward to more.

[Techwright]

On 4/3/2021 at 10:59 PM, Glacier Peak said:

I think I remember the new scientist saying he tweaked it though?

Spoiler

Yep, he did, but I believe he said it was tweaked to remove the cumbersome hardware that surrounded Steve Rogers.  Now they just need to strap someone down and inject them.  Still burns like fire in the veins according to the Flag Smashers.  You might recall that back in the now-canon Hulk movie, Blonsky was told something like he'd be strapped down and injected via the spine (ugh!).  Sounded like a middle step in development.  Of course, Blonsky's serum was retro-engineered by the government, apparently.  I'm wondering why that has not come up in this storyline?  You'd have thought they'd have given it to John Walker.

On 4/4/2021 at 12:01 AM, TemporalVileTerror said:

I haven't seen a single trailer for Winter Soldier.  Hell.  I didn't see any for WandaVision either.  I've only seen the one trailer for Loki.

Where are you people seeing these trailers?

IMDB.com for one, though I believe they've rotated the F&WS trailers far down the list by now.  The "Marvel Entertainment" YouTube channel is another spot, or just type in whatever MCU show you're hunting and add "trailer".  There's bound to be a YouTube channel carrying it (assuming it even exists yet).

[Techwright]

Episode 4 - ...wow.

 

Thoughts:

Spoiler

1.  Nice symmetry:  The episode begins with one super soldier gaining control.  It ends with another losing control.

 

2. Karli's arguments are really getting on my nerves.  The whole "they're not justified in hurting me, but I'm justified in killing whomever I want, because it's a cause" is really threadbare. 

 

3.  I'm surprised to learn that the MCU considers the Dora to be more dangerous fighters than Bucky/Winter Soldier.  Though, as I think about it, Sam never indicated a dominance on a 1-vs-1 level, and there were 3 of them.  That, and they did hold the secret to the cyborg arm, though Sam didn't know that.  I do realize Black Panther is more formidable than Bucky, but he has his own juice, and one of the most powerful battle suits in the world.

 

4. I'm also surprised to learn Zemo did not retain one of the vials for himself.  Other versions of Zemo that I've seen would have accepted the temptation, stating something like it was a sacrifice for the cause, and needing a level playing field to remove super soldiers.  But, I'm intrigued.  There's no way I consider him the good guy, but maybe he just moved to the "chaotic good" slot.

 

5. Though I was sorry to see Walker go rogue and kill (I'd considered that they may have taken him out of action somehow, before I knew of the surviving vial), I was genuinely upset that he used the shield to do it.  Any other part of his costume and arms I'd not have the same reaction, but to use the shield is a desecration.  Steve killed, the MCU doesn't dance around that, he's a soldier, but he never killed one who'd been put in a defenseless position, and was pleading.  I'm wondering how they redeem the shield from that murder.  It almost needs to be melted and reforged as a symbolic purification ritual.

 

6. Battlestar had a dippy nom de guerre, but he was cool.  I'm sorry to see him go. 

 

7. Finally the presence of the boat family starts to make some sense, even if only as a terrorist target.

 

 

 

[TemporalVileTerror]

Lawful Evil, not Chaotic Good.

He has a rule:  No More Super Soldiers.

He follows that rule.  To the letter.

 

And gives Turkish Delight to people.  There's no way he's NOT evil.  I mean, come on.  COME ON.

[SuperPlyx]

Spoiler

Well I was right about new Cap being a bad guy. Altho I missed on Karli being the good guy, altho they trying hard to make her seem like she is justified.

 

[TemporalVileTerror]

Nah.  Not justified.  Just fighting against a bad situation, but in a wrong-headed way.  Her happiest end is probably martyrdom to the good part of her message, with her identity and involvement being scrubbed away.  That's my prediction, at least.

[Mr. Vee]

Zemo holding a whiskey needs to be a meme but it'll prolly get overshadowed by the dancing video.

[Glacier Peak]

Happy with the episode and series. Not a fan of the show using the nation's highest military honor as a point of character motif multiple times (awarded three times?? come on!). I mean new Cap served his country honorably, that should be good enough for the audience IMO. Other than that I'm excited to see where the shield goes now. 

[Techwright]

11 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

Happy with the episode and series. Not a fan of the show using the nation's highest military honor as a point of character motif multiple times (awarded three times?? come on!). I mean new Cap served his country honorably, that should be good enough for the audience IMO. Other than that I'm excited to see where the shield goes now. 

 

I agree, regarding the use of the Medal of Honor, especially in light of episode 4.  To suggest that kind of action from an MoH receiver degrades the real people.  As to 3, however, I'm onboard with that.  There have been 19 recipients of 2 medals of honor (as of 2015, the date of my source), so it stands to reason there's the potential, however rare, for a triple recipient.

 

Regarding the audience acceptance, that's a bigger hurt, and I choose to deal with it in another thread I'll start.

[Glacier Peak]

48 minutes ago, Techwright said:

 

I agree, regarding the use of the Medal of Honor, especially in light of episode 4.  To suggest that kind of action from an MoH receiver degrades the real people.  As to 3, however, I'm onboard with that.  There have been 19 recipients of 2 medals of honor (as of 2015, the date of my source), so it stands to reason there's the potential, however rare, for a triple recipient.

 

Regarding the audience acceptance, that's a bigger hurt, and I choose to deal with it in another thread I'll start.

Well put @Techwright. 

[Mr. Vee]

FYI Ep 5 has a brief mid-credits sequence. I guess last 2 eps are going to be the thing for those.

[Glacier Peak]

5 hours ago, Mr. Vee said:

FYI Ep 5 has a brief mid-credits sequence. I guess last 2 eps are going to be the thing for those.

Oh nice! Good lookin out, I haven't even been looking for those.

[TemporalVileTerror]

Two?   I thought it was only going to be 6 episodes total.  Not that I'm against it being 7, mind you.

Spouse and I are both committed to the series now, though.  This latest episode just really sold us on the whole thing.  The training montage was a bit much for me, but she loved it.

Also, if you care about spoilers, don't watch it with closed captions on.  They totally reveal a major plot point ahead of schedule, probably accidentally.

[Techwright]

Episode 5 released, and a coworker presented a theory that upon seeing 5, I think is plausible.

 

Thoughts:

Spoiler

Finally, the boat storyline makes some sense.   I'd been wondering where they were going with that, as it felt tacked on up until this episode.

 

My attention went way up when I heard "Contessa".  This is something of a spoiler within a spoiler, so read within the box only if you want to know her comics connection:

Spoiler

She's the first sign we've had in the main MCU that Hydra might be alive and kicking.  For those who don't know, the Contessa went by the code name "Lady Hydra" in the comics.  On the other hand, the Contessa might be playing with another team.  More on that in my coworker's suggestion spoiler box.

Isaiah Bradley:  Man, that segment was painful to watch, even knowing it was fiction.  Carl Lumbly should get an Emmy for that role.   I do think, however, that Marvel has not yet played an important card.  If I were to speculate, the part of the American government that imprisoned and experimented on Isaiah was likely Hydra in their post-war "beautiful parasite" guise.  

 

Sharon Carter:  see the coworker's suggestion box.

 

Bucky and Sara flirting was both unexpected and hilarious, as was Sam's reaction.  You may recall from his first movie appearance that Bucky was quite the ladies man, to the point of going tactless and too far with Peggy Carter.  This kinda of showed the old Bucky resurfacing above the brooder.

 

Zemo's arrest scene was very satisfying.  I admit for one moment that I was afraid Zemo would have learned of a backup control word or phrase that Hydra would have implanted should Bucky ever break free of the primary sequence.  The Raft, though. Huh.  Half the Avengers team broke out of there.  I don't expect it to hold Zemo.  Better for them that they imprison him in Wakanda.  Oh well, sorry for them, but glad he's in a position to return.

 

Karli is beyond sympathy from me.  This tearful "boo hoo, we're so persecuted" stuff does nothing to pull heartstrings when she breathes out slaughter in the next breath.  I suppose Sam will find a way to talk her down, he's good at that, but man, I wish Walker had stayed on target. 

 

 

Coworker's suggestion:

Spoiler

My coworker suggested that not only is Sharon Carter the Powerbroker, but she's also not Sharon Carter.  She's a Skrull, and one of the bad kind that Phase 4 is building.  This seemingly makes sense when she seemingly turns on Sam and Bucky by sending Batrock after Sam.  My guess is that bad Skrulls don't just want to control by infiltration, but that they want to pit forces against each other to weaken the planet's resistance.

 

This also could be the Contessa storyline.  They might want us to think she's Hydra regrowing, but ultimately she part of the Skrull invasion, and sees John Walker as a means of furthering their goals.

 

 

[Glacier Peak]

14 minutes ago, TemporalVileTerror said:

Two?   I thought it was only going to be 6 episodes total.  Not that I'm against it being 7, mind you.

Spouse and I are both committed to the series now, though.  This latest episode just really sold us on the whole thing.  The training montage was a bit much for me, but she loved it.

Also, if you care about spoilers, don't watch it with closed captions on.  They totally reveal a major plot point ahead of schedule, probably accidentally.

I watched it with close captioning on before reading this and said whoa nice! Lol

[Glacier Peak]

Spoiler

Did anyone else catch the part where Bucky implied that John Walkers' buddy wasn't dead? Or maybe I misunderstood...

 

[DougGraves]

On 4/16/2021 at 7:33 PM, Glacier Peak said:

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Did anyone else catch the part where Bucky implied that John Walkers' buddy wasn't dead? Or maybe I misunderstood...

 

 

Spoiler

I was confused by that.  I think he said "he didn't kill Lamar".  My wife thinks that Lamar is dead, just that the guy Walker killed was not the one who killed Lamar.

 

[SuperPlyx]

Had to look it up but it is only going to be 6 episodes. Only 1 left in this season.

Glad somebody liked the last episode I fell asleep watching it.