Gin and Tonic

I genuinely have no idea how I feel about any of this. One the one hand, I feel like I will agree with all the likely criticisms: somewhat of a retread, not being able to let Tennant go, potentially very unfair to Gatwa. On the other hand, Tennant and Tate are sparkling and spectacular in these roles and seeing them get a happy ending was really satisfying. It also reminds of me thematically of one of my favorite moments in NuWho: when Nine is in the church in Father’s Day, talking about the simple and sublime of two people meeting and falling in love. Some sort of reboot was probably necessary after the Disney deal. Ultimately, I’m not sure how I’m going to feel about this overall. One thing I am sure of is that Gatwa is charming as fuck and I’m looking very much forward to seeing more of him.

Yes, this exactly! Whew. I’m glad they recognized the problems with the pacing and writing of that particular storyline. Welp. So close.

I agree, and in fact isn't it used in Game of Thrones and Witcher? As a non-comics reader, I have to say "White Wolf" is completely meaningless to me. Is it supposed to be something more than a Wakandan nickname? When it was used in the show and movies it never seemed like anything more than a name Bucky was given for indeterminate reasons. I've learned through google that there is a different character in the comics called White Wolf, but becoming the White Wolf doesn't have the same cachet as Sam becoming Captain America. "Captain America" is an established symbol that could be explored through Sam's journey accepting the mantle. Bucky screws up, as he did in this series by hurting Ayo and Wakanda with Zemo, but he's also the antithesis of a summer solider or sunshine patriot. Winter Solider is a perverse name given to him by Hydra, but it can also reference Bucky's loyalty and steadfastness.

He still needed to practice his Russian in his hotel room during Civil War after killing that guy, so perhaps “continued to learn” would be more accurate than “took up.” Regardless, reading Pushkin while in prison somehow feels very in keeping with these writers’ interpretation of his character. “We’re free birds in truth; it is time, brother, time!”

Overall, I think I enjoyed the show more than you did, but I agree that it was kind of all over the place. I felt like the writers took a lot of shortcuts, and a lot of the emotional beats succeeded because Mackie and Stan are so good, not because they were earned by the storytelling. Zemo apparently took up Russian after Civil War. He had a book of Pushkin in his cell.

Everything of note that happens to Sharon Carter happens off screen. I’ve never read the comics, so I have no preconception of what Sharon is supposed to be. Her introduction was fine in CA:TWS. Making Natasha was the female lead was the right call as far as I’m concerned, and I’m sure it sucked for the actress to have her role reduced so significantly, but she was a solid supporting player. She again had very little to do in Civil War, but everything we did see was that she was a moral person and her actions were driven by doing what she thought was right. But now she’s a villain? Yes, being on the run and forgotten about can change a person, but as a viewer it is wholly inconsistent with what we had seen of her previously. I can’t even really call it all tell and no show because they barely even tried to justify it with dialogue. I feel for people who would’ve preferred a more comics-like Sharon. I wish they would at least stop under writing her and give her meaningful characterization and motives. As it is, they’ve given me so little reason to invest in her, that I don’t even care she’s a villain now.

There was a lot to recommend this episode, but overall I’m still a little unsure how I feel about it. I think the season suffered from a lot of pacing issues and this episode did as well. The scene with Yori felt too short, especially because that particular memory/storyline was supposed to represent Bucky moving through his trauma. I would’ve liked more catharsis if that is meant to be Bucky’s closure to that part of his history. I’m not actually sure I even like that being the end or him giving up the notebook. I don’t want “trauma manpain Bucky” in every iteration we see of this character, but his trauma does feel like something he would continue to carry with him. To the extent the notebook is symbolic of his history and attempts to make amends, it would make more sense to me to keep the notebook but put it away. The healing doesn’t come from divesting yourself from the past, but integrating it into your present in a healthy way. Sam is a joy. I love to get to see him being a big damn hero. Him making sure to honor Isaiah was so fantastic. As is his taking up the cap mantle on his own terms despite knowing the racist backlash that will ensue. In keeping in with my feelings toward her in her previous 2 movies, I still do not care at all about Sharon Carter. Finally, if there is another season I would like it to center completely around BBQs with the Sam and Bucky while they hang on the docks being super attractive and cute with the kids. I will also accept vacations in New York where Uncle Bucky (step-dad Bucky?) takes them all to a ballgame and spends the whole time bitching about the Dodgers moving to L.A. of all places.

I’m such a soft touch for domestic stuff. I’d watch an entire season of this show that consists of Sam and Bucky fixing boats while occasionally beating up bad guys. Add in Bucky flirting with Sarah and being cute with kids and Sam having emotional catharsis and community building, and I’d watch 100 seasons.

I know it didn’t take place in Wakanda. I mean part of the reason T’Challa extended the the invitation at the end of Civil War is because of T’Challa’s involvement in Civil War where he was trying to murder an innocent Bucky.

The first line from the embedded video is: “Bucky doesn’t think of that arm as a piece of Wakandan technology that was given to him so that he could be helpful in an upcoming fight for global survival.” If this is the writers’ perspective I don’t think they’ve done anything in this episode or any other to textually support this interpretation. When T’Challa brought him the arm, he took one look at it and said “Where’s the fight?” And he looked sad as hell about it. He’s still having nightmares and flashbacks about what he did as the Winter Soldier and the arm is a huge part of the body horror/torture that we went through. He uses the arm. It’s useful in a fight. But it’s only been six months for him. There’s no way he’s forgotten about how he got that arm or what it represented. Likewise, the references to colonialism are accurate regarding the shield - similar points were made in Black Panther and Age of Ultron. But his arm? Was given to him in Wakanda by the king of Wakanda where he was an invited guest. There’s also something really weird about presenting the arm as some resource advantage. His arm and shoulder were chopped off after he was captured in a war zone. And unlike many other American conflicts, it wasn’t even one that was primarily about American colonial expansion. Ayo implied that Bucky owes Wakanda for removing his conditioning like rotten fur, and it’s reflected in some commentary about the episode. But there’s something really weird about making the help a victimized person received transactional. I get why Ayo came for Zemo and confronted Bucky and I understand her feelings of betrayal. I even get why she went for the kill switch in the arm. But the idea that Bucky owes them anything but his gratitude doesn’t sit right with me. It also ignores that the only reason Bucky was in Wakanda in the first place is because T’Challa was straight up trying to murder him. Like, complete first degree murder of an innocent man. As Bucky said, he’s grateful for what Ayo and Shuri did for him, but Wakanda owed some amends to Bucky too.

I think she said, “Bast damn you, James.”

Ayo literally disarming Bucky makes me wonder what he really thinks about the arm. In Infinity War he was exhausted and depressed to see it because it meant another fight. But he obviously kept it afterward. Is he happy he’s got the most advanced prosthesis, or is it a constant reminder of the body horror he went through? He was stunned Ayo could disable it and take it off. Was he unaware it could be could be removed at all (meaning when he put it on in Infinity War he was accepting putting it on again, forever)? Sam continues to be the absolute best. He’s just fundamentally decent and caring and I love that about him. Easy to see why Steven thought Sam should be the new Cap.

I think ultimately part of Bucky’s journey is going to be that he’s not defined by the skills he learned during his captivity and conditioning, but that they’re a part of him. The big difference now is that he finally has the agency to choose where and how he applies them. Whether that means taking on another persona like the White Wolf or becoming more of a free agent or what remains to be seen. But going into Winter Solider beast mode in defense of his friends or values - something he can choose - seems like it will be on the table. He was distressed by the violence in this episode, but it was also about the loss of control as we see from the gross scene with Selby. I think Sharon’s resentment is very human, but completely misplaced. Sam and Bucky didn’t make her choices for her. I can see Sam and Bucky’s pardon/reintegration being fast-tracked because they fought Thanos, but they were around. And hasn’t it only been six months? The whole “there’s a difference between ‘was’ and ‘is’ on the run” might be more impactful if Sam was out there living the high life for years but it’s really only been a hot damn second in the midst of global shock.

Yes! This is what I mean by feeling like the references were a little generic. It also juxtaposed 40s music against Marvin Gaye and his exploration of the African American experience which was clunky to me because there was plenty of pre-war music that did the same. It wouldn’t be believable to me to have Bucky start discoursing about Strange Fruit (nor would I want to see it) but it did exist. The Hobbit reference worked much better for me because in addition to learning something about Bucky, it was a reminder that culture and life didn’t start in the post-war era. I felt the same way about Sharon’s comments about Bucky believing in the Stars and Stripes and all that bullshit. Other than recently in Wakanda, the last time he was a fully realized person he was fighting in the European theatre! He remembers Pearl Harbor! His experiences with nationalism and patriotism are going to be wildly different than almost anyone left alive. And that’s before you add on his trauma and his complicated relationship with Steve. None of that means his attitude shouldn’t be critiqued or that Sharon was necessarily wrong, but I wish that we got more of a sense that Bucky is shaped by being from a specific time and not just the “past.”

The deliberate dark sensuality of the scene where Zemo was offering up Bucky, and the kind of ... resignation? familiarity?... toward that kind of rhetoric on Bucky’s part was super dark. I do wish the show would move past the superficial references to Bucky being out of time and dig deeper into things. It’s unsurprising that Bucky prefers 40s music. (I now like to think he and Steve are the Brooklyn boys in Hot Time in the Town of Berlin). Of course he likes culture he grew up with! I’d like to hear more about what it was like growing up during the Great Depression and how it’s affected him now that type of scarcity is over, or any number things that would have shaped him as a person and are now unmoored from peoples’ experience. Sam continues to be wonderful. His repeated checking in with Bucky demonstrate how much he cares about Bucky and about people. He’s gonna be a great cap because, for all his flaws, he’s a good man.