hopelessfangirl | TFATWS 1x04

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier 1x04

Just seeing "Wakanda" come up on the screen bruhhhh 😭 Like coming home

When did old man Barnes upgrade his phone, he had a flip phone and now he's checking out trending topics on a full touch screen like a pro. Did Andy Lincoln upgrade too, what is the world coming to??

Why tf is Zemo making so much sense re: supremacists. I don't like Zemo making sense.

"There's never been another Steve Rogers" YOU'RE RIGHT BUT THERE'S THIS GUY WHO'S PRETTY CLOSE THOUGH AND HIS NAME IS SAM

KIDS. RULE NO. 1 DON'T TAKE CANDY FROM STRANGERS 🤦🏻‍♀️

So Karli and Sam have both said the shield should be destroyed, interesting and... can't say I disagree. Also - Sam: "I understand your helplessness" FML 💔

Bucky: "He's not my partner~~, he's my husband~~"

Zemo running the Baker Street Irregulars now

Walker barging in on Sam and Karli talking, ughhhh fuck I hate him

BUCK GET OFF SAM'S BACK ABOUT THE SHIELD. You and Steve literally didn't care about the shield this much before your own selves!!!

LMAO so I was rooting for the Dora to kick all their asses, including Bucky and even Sam tbh XD Like menfolk can u pls not get involved, mind your business

Ayo: "(Speaks Wakandan) James" - can someone who speaks Xhosa translate that pls. (Although I caught "Bast" in there so "God help you, James" or something to that effect maybe?) I'm very disappointed in this development tbh bc I was hoping Bucky was either in on it with the Wakandans or he at least factored them in when breaking Zemo out with the intention that they would take him into custody when they were done, but that wasn't the case and now the whole thing is (rightfully) taken as dishonour to them. I really liked Bucky being Wakanda's honourary white boy and he messed that up when it didn't have to be that way. 🙁 I think he needs to add them to the amends list and I hope he fixes it before the end of the show.

"They weren't even super soldiers." Yeah but you went up against Black women, why do you think you stood a chance

No one came up to Steve looking for autographs all the time, give me a fuckin break. AND ESPECIALLY NOT IN LATVIA OR WHATEVER NON-US COUNTRY. XD

U G L Y. The end of this ep was UGLY. Completely foreseeable and also the point, but fucking ugly and I resent them ever making me see that visual of the shield like that. They almost had very screechy and disorienting Winter Soldier-esque music for Walker at the end there too. 🤢

Sidebar rant: So after this I really don't want to hear another word from butthurt fake Steve fans who hated his ending and trash the man at every opportunity. (I hate to even let it bother me at all but the fandom is a landmine of Steve hate now and it's reminding me why I nope'd out of MCU fandom many pre-Endgame years ago until Sam and Bucky dragged me back in against my better judgement. I'm truly too old for this shit but it makes it pretty hard to even casually enjoy fic or art or the fun parts of fandom when the character dearest to you for a decade now is suddenly vilified for no good reason.) The man never did anything fucking sick like this and it's warped to even try to equate his decision to retire after laying down his life time and time again for everyone, right down to when he was the last one standing, earning his peace and making one single decision for his own happiness for once as something appalling and traitorous. Steve is not responsible for everyone in his life. He didn't do anything unequivocally wrong like some people try to make it seem. (And please embrace logic because Chris's contract was up and he'd be gone no matter what way you'd wish he stayed!!! That's... THE POINT!!!... it was titled.... ENDgame!!! lol.) Save the hate for a character who earned it and really did disrespect his title like John Walker. Jeez.

So I noticed the credits have slowly been filling in with actors' names whose graphics didn't seem obvious to their characters at first (ie: Florence Kasumba's name is next to the Winter Soldier trigger words for reasons we now know, Emily's and Bruhl's were obviously there but blank until Sharon and Zemo showed up, etc), so now all of the bits I assumed were just generic title cards are possibly way more significant to specific people and makes me VERY INTERESTED to see who the hell these ones could be for 👀

(After Erin Kellyman/before Florence Kasumba) Someone blipped... 🤔

(After Florence Kasumba/before the next one) 👀👀👀 ...... IF THIS IS CHRIS.......... (look I'm 99.99999% sure he has nothing to do with this show but what am I supposed to think???)

(After the previous/before Adepero Oduye (Sarah)) Power Broker probably. But the sword? Doesn't quite look like S.W.O.R.D. but... idk?? Also there's a bunch of French there, specifically what looks like "[...]nemi d'état" which is probably ennemi d'état = enemy of the state? (Also I can't remember if Batroc died and this could somehow be him)

(After Daniel Bruhl/before "Marvel Studios Presents") This one's last after Bruhl so someone worthy of a "with ____" credit, AKA: someone huge?? Maybe this is actually Power Broker, or it's someone else altogether

Okay, main rant: Honestly, I had my nagging worries last week but they are legit fears and realizations now that I'm not going to get nearly what I wanted from this show. 😓 Where is the focus on Sam? On exploring - at this perfect opportunity - what comes with being Black in America and struggling with the idea of representing a country that disrespects and devalues you, but is your home? Isaiah? We've only got two episodes left and even if/when they finally (surely???) get into it next week, it's not enough. It should have been the A-plot of this series, not the B- or even C-plot it feels like that this point. I love Bucky, but why are we getting so many more glimpses into his backstory and emotions (territory we technically already know even if we hadn't already seen) and none of Sam's? He had to explicitly say that he used to be a counselor in this ep. What about showing us a time when he did that before, a time we haven't seen, that might be a relevant parallel to this? What are his issues with his parents that drove him to service? Riley? ANY actual scene from his past?? We're getting more insight into Karli and Walker, or even Zemo. I'm just feeling resigned and let down at this stage. They made such a big deal in the media promotion for the show about it being Sam's time to shine and we're not seeing it 2/3 of the way through this. I actually would have expected what we're getting had they not raised my expectations like this. Like my girl and weekly F&WS-watching buddy Sarah said, it feels like we were catfished. 🤡 This international storyline is a distraction from the real story they should be telling about Sam here and I can't decide if I'm surprised or not that the very wrongs the movies committed (sidelining Sam) that I expected them to right in this show just seem to have continued. I know Bucky is co-lead of this show and fandom's boy but I'm so fucking exhausted of focusing on his trauma in-universe and outward into the real world engagement with this show and yet none of Sam's head-on which is generational, lifelong, and ongoing. HE'S A VETERAN TOO so it's not even like they don't have a lot of those issues in common, yet it feels like the narrative of "soldier with PTSD" is being given to Bucky alone. I'm not downplaying that the Winter Soldier is a hugely life-altering and horrific thing to happen to someone, but the fact that they're not showing both of their main characters as having a lot of heavy stuff that they're both dealing with is mind-boggling to me. Just because Sam has a sunnier disposition doesn't mean he's carefree or has his shit together. In fact that's famously what people do to deflect and cope, trying to make it seem like everything is fine when it's not. And we can't forget that currently Bucky is getting over something, but Sam is getting into something. His issues lay behind and ahead of him. I can guarantee you Sam needs a damn hug too.

And tangential to that, I'm disappointed we're not seeing the development with Sam and Bucky I was hoping for either. Bucky still has such a chip on his shoulder about Sam not taking the shield and it's driving me bonkers at this late stage bc ALL OF US should know very clearly by now what Sam's reasons are, and Bucky should be learning, growing, and bettering himself from this in the process, as a white guy who has racial blind spots and can use his privilege as an ally, and also as a super lonely curmudgeon who needs a friend. It's 2/3 through and they don't feel any closer to being on the same page as they did at the start. The only remotely heart-to-heart conversation they've had was Bucky projecting all his own issues onto Sam and Sam not expressing his own. That's definitely not good enough. I was so looking forward to seeing them grow a genuine affection for each other on their own outside of Steve. They do have them both being loyal to each other which is good, but still always at an arm's length no reason — but can you blame them, the lack of development justifies it! Again, there are two eps left to course-correct some, but I feel like already we've wasted too much precious time. I'll still be glad when/if they finally get on each other's level, but I don't think it's going to feel as earned.