LogFAQs > #953149484

Final thoughts: Man, what an uneven show. The action sequences are great, the quipping is well-done, the idea of the plot is interesting. What really lets it all down is the writing and characterization - they clearly wanted to make a morally gray show where every character is easy to both sympathize and disagree with, but the problem is the writing had absolutely no subtlety to it at all.

Sam sympathizes with the Flag Smashers' ideals but disagrees with their methods, and in his every attempt to talk Karli down he just looks hopelessly naive. His idealism sort of pays off when he dresses down the GRC folks at the end, but his entire speech felt more like it was written to be read and not heard, if that makes sense - some of the word choice just feels awkward.

Walker spends the first four episodes motivated solely by his own pride and insecurity, then abruptly left-turns in the final two to being driven by revenge, except in the last few sequences he somehow puts aside his pride and doesn't even challenge Sam becoming Captain America? That strikes me as out of character given as recently as episode 5 he was still insisting that he was Captain America.

Karli oscillates wildly between "idealistic wooby freedom fighter who's in way over her head" to "bloodthirsty murderous terrorist" with absolutely no middle ground. Her apparent schizophrenia makes Sam's attempts to talk her down look completely ridiculous. It's a shame, because I thought her actress did a good job emoting with her face and driving home the inner feelings of the character, from wide-eyed anxiety to steely determination. Really for her plotline and characterization to make sense the show needed another episode or two showing how the GRC was hurting the refugee communities, rather than just saying "GRC bad".

Honestly the only two characters the show handled well were Bucky and Isiah. Both had relatable, understandable arcs and meaningful character development, though a lot of the Isiah scenes suffered from the show's overall lack of subtlety. I applaud Marvel for being willing to tackle race issues in America in such a straightforward manner, but the writing had all the nuance of a brick to the head. All too often it felt like what should have been subtext was just made into text, and the final result felt clumsy.

Overall the show gets a 6/10 from me, probably won't rewatch anytime soon but don't regret the time I spent on it.

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