They didn't do Bucky a disservice AT ALL. Bucky has a LOT to work through after everything he's been through, and this is just the beginning of his journey to feeling truly human again. The show portrayed his inner turmoil to adjusting back to the real world so well, trying to work through his trauma and make amends for what he did as the Winter Soldier. To end the show happy, equals and partners with Sam? It's a great stepping off point for the rest of his journey back to being a hero, and Sebastian Stan is having the time of his life playing Bucky, there's no way he's walking away from it. Especially not now that he gets to work with Mackie more on a movie (presumably). Seb is the biggest Bucky fan out there, he's living his best life getting to develop Bucky for longer than 15 mins of screentime. The show wasn't perfect by any means but it was a lot better than what I'm seeing some people say on this board.
Well, hafta disagree with you.
IMO Bucky working though his issues I thought was appropriate; and Episode 1 I think handled that well.
But, considering Bucky's skill set, and history - he's a SNIPER, for one thing. All the way back to TFA, that scene where he is backing Cap, picking off targets. Methodical, calculating. Thinks fast, reacts fast. Even being pretty out of it in CW, he had a hidden bug out bag and an escape route. And just sayin' Bucky DOESN'T shoot Tony at least a couple of times in CW, when someone might have. He picks out a rifle to use. Even as little as Bucky showed up in IW; 3 shots, 3 Outriders go down. Might be silly but even grabbing Rocket is someone who can calculate and think fast. Outrider takes him down and he's got a knife out. Bucky shot Fury through a wall - and you'd need to calculate and line up those shots, and the Barrett is a big, heavy rifle.
This show pretty well tossed that out the window, having Bucky just charging after an unknown group of an assailants with his arm
. IMO it's just not something a trained assassin might do, and the former Asset sure didn't need Sam telling him how to take people out (that was laughable, all things considered
). Think he'd be a lot more calculating - one way or the other. Then there's the bit where u've got a couple of super soldiers holding Bucky by the arms - ok, but IMO as fight choreography goes, out of character. 'Coz Bucky doesn't react instantly; he just sort of stands there and makes a joke. Assuming Bucky's got some PTSD besides his training; he's gonna react instantly to someone hanging onto him like that. Super soldiers or not; the former Winter Soldier wouldn't be able to take out a couple of kids? After doing cage fights with Hydra's death squad
?
So, lots of plot service as far as the fights go; but except for the flashback scene Bucky's treated more like a bruiser re the the fights; maybe that was supposed to be part of his therapy (be nice; no guns; no knives; no putting people's eyes out etc). But he just didn't come off as SHARP, considering what Bucky knows how to do. Unless the implication is that the dusting caused him to lose brain cells.
Tho, I think a lot of this is the fight choreographers anyway. Outside of the flashback and some of the stuff with Walker, there's nothing that interesting about it. Even the Madripoor stuff - so a trained assassin being shot at runs down a fairly open street in a straight line? Just - no. The bar fight is edited so poorly and it's so murky; you can't even tell what's going on.
Did like him engaging with Ayo tho, brief as it was. But, a trained assassin is carrying a pistol, finally, but he's not carrying an extra clip? Srsly? Even an extra pistol? I'm even on the fence about the fight with Walker; Bucky can be beaten, and Walker is a highly trained soldier; but, Bucky has literally decades of experience. But, plot service; and they needed to have Falcon involved anyway.
IMO technically speaking, the whole plot line of this fragmented group in back alleys would've been more Bucky's thing anyway; which meant you could've done a lot of this show without Sam at all. Whether Bucky was softened up make a try at making peace with his past; or just to make Falcon look more in command and leadership material, dunno. Or whether it was just having people on board who didn't put their backs into it or just weren't very good fight choreographers. This show was pretty frustrating with its moments of brilliance, combined with absolute OTT lameness
. (And not even gonna go down the road about Falcon, since I ended up with moments of actual dislike.
)
Overall for me this show was a (painful) expensive missed opportunity in lots of ways; including even getting an interesting Bucky fig out of it. HT is including a rifle he didn't even use; and for me it would be the third time around
. No Madripoor diorama stand or interchangeable jackets. Think this is one of HT's quick efforts; but they didn't have much to go on from the show costume designers anyway. Don't see much hope for the character going forward
unless new writers and crew are brought in, so I am really gonna CHERISH what I already own. But now I can get the Avengers Cap