The Falcon and the Winter Soldier -- Okay Show

Disney+ has released its second limited Marvel series: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier -- this time centering around the Captain America side of the universe.

Overall it was decent, but the first three episodes had me concerned. After a strong opening with a fun chase involving planes, canyons, and plenty of explosions, things slowed down to a crawl -- possibly because it spends a lot of time setting the stage. At one point I thought of Beastmaster 2 with its strong opening followed by nothingness.

Also, I was getting annoyed with the chess-piece setup and movements -- where everyone feels like a pawn without much character, and many people exist only to help move the Falcon and the Winter Soldier along the story line -- giving the one clue they needed to push forward.

I also got a little confused with all the jumping around the world, while trying to stay awake.

Or maybe I was just spoiled after the strong and hilarious Wandavision. 

And then when I was about to give up, a major plot twist turns the whole show around, and the last three episodes ended in a satisfying manner. Even the events from the first three episodes started coming together and making sense.

So, the plot? The Falcon doesn't want to be Captain America and gives away his shield to be put up for display. But then the shield goes to a new Captain America -- a patriot with no super powers, but a very capable and determined soldier. Not knowing this was going to happen, the Falcon regrets giving up the shield.

At the same time, a group of terrorists -- the Flag-Smashers -- people who had lived during the difficult five years after Thanos, only to be displaced by people returning and reclaiming their lands -- threaten to kill a lot of people. 

With both of these plot lines, we get a healthy dose of "refugee" and "civil rights" politics -- some of which is a little heavy-handed, but yet reasonable and organic within the story.

And just like Wandavision, it appears to be setting the stage for further story telling in this universe.

My advice -- if you're a Marvel fan, this is required watching. It's worth soldiering through the first three episodes so you can get to the good stuff. Now I'm ready for the next installment -- whatever's coming next.

Legend of Korra

I finally finished it: The Legend of Korra, a sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender. You can read my first impressions here. 

I had started watching it from the beginning and made it partway through the third season until Nickelodeon suddenly stopped broadcasting it. For some reason they moved it to their own Nickelodeon streaming website, which didn't work very well on our television, so I just stopped watching. A few years later, I noticed -- here it is, so I finished it out.

After Ang the Airbender dies, Korra, the water-bender, becomes the next Avatar. During the peace that Ang had brought, the people of the four nations had increased their technology and built Republic City -- kind of a steampunk version of an Asian New York City.

Korra comes to Republic City to learn her final skill -- air bending, but immediately finds herself in the middle of the City's life and politics. Someone is taking away the powers from benders, but Korra is young, impulsive, and inexperienced. Can she stop this new enemy?

Overall, I enjoyed all four seasons. They were fun to watch, with epic battles, beautiful scenery, and good development for most characters. However, at the end, it seemed to pale in comparison to its predecessor, Avatar: The Last Airbender.

I think it's because the older series felt much more planned out. The fire nation was the one big enemy, and Ang still had to learn how to control all of his added powers. With Korra, each season (or book), was a whole new enemy, which had more of a "villain of the year" feel, with no overarching plot. Perhaps this is because it was only intended to be a one-season show -- and that first season taking on the bending theif was pretty awesome.

The second season gives us a glimpse of the spirit world and explains how the avatars work.

In the third season, Korra takes on some super-powerful benders.

In the fourth season, which might have been the weakest, story-wise, she takes on a tyrant.

Each of these seasons felt rushed near their ends (while some of the episodes leading up to each finale were sometimes slow).

It was all good and worth watching, but I think I was looking for more of an overreaching arch. It has a lot of good moments, and always seemed to get me to look forward to seeing more episodes. So -- give it a try.

Up next: a live-action version of Avatar -- it's just gotta be better than the movie. And possibly more movies and series coming from the newly formed Avatar Studios. It'll be interesting to see what comes next.