The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series thoughts
This show felt so lifeless. The series villains, Karli and the Flag Smashers, never felt clear what their real goals were or why they felt justified in murder after murder yet the producers still tried to portray them as sympathetic - Karli blew that building of people up for no obvious goal, and killed Battlestar in a way that every other character has been hit and not killed, so are we supposed to think she's not trying to kill everyone or that this was the only accident? Every MCU hero has hit non-powered people that hard once or twice that should have killed a normal person yet doesn't. It also gives the brown villains plenty of comeuppance while letting the white villains (John Walker and the Power Broker whose reveal makes no sense given what Sharon was doing in her earlier episodes) totally off the hook while Zemo still gets what he wants and really doesn't seem to mind his temporary fate.
There was a lot of ping-ponging about, going from place to place to get another piece of information and another action scene, it felt very rote. Zemo became the only likable character whose convictions were consistent throughout. Bucky would be the second-best character in my mind, he got a real character arc, but his storyline lost thrust too early. Sam seemed to want to have it both ways, deal with the issues that black people are suffering in this world while also not answering questions about how he expects to get a loan without an income - that was framed as some sort of societal injustice but the writers couldn't get there at all, and it loomed over the whole series as he vaguely tried to save his sister's business. I guess that was just a backdrop for him to montage his way into becoming the new shield-slinger, and then thankfully he didn't have to do an ounce of work on the suit since some random entity who has no reason to just hands him a new Falcon-as-Cap suit anyway. I didn't mind for a moment the Dora Milaje "disarming" Bucky, though, he's an unknown quantity who seems mentally fixed but could still be a sleeper, he doesn't even know for sure, it's only reasonable that when they give him a weapon they might want to build in a failsafe. This show also had more endings than Return of the King.
As for other shows...
Netflix's
Disenchantment is finally starting to find its footing and speak with more of its own voice. It's not the must-see of Futurama or the first decade of Simpsons, but it's finally something I actually want to go back to instead of just feel obligated to suffer.
Got HBO Max and fell in love with
Doom Patrol, but unfortunately my girlfriend also likes it and is putting a lot of time into her college studies so I'm only up to ep 10. Great show though, really comic booky.
I'm not sure if I've given up on
Superman & Lois, but I notice I have zero drive to watch more miserable teen drama and adults complaining about paying the bills, so it's probably gonna be summer filler for me which sucks.
The Flash is now the dumbest thing on television. They literally saved the day with the power of love, that was going to be their big finale for last season but got held back for this season due to COVID. I hate-watch this show almost as much as Grant Gustin hate-acts on it, you can tell he desperately doesn't want to be there.
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?