Marvelous TV Club

How many children can Bucky lift? What are the best locations for a fight scene? Did the Flag Smashers' plan make sense? Why was John Walker treating the Senate hearing chamber like an H&M dressing room? 

All of these questions and many more arose from the season finale of Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Jesse Taylor and Marc Faletti strive to answer them all for you on the one and only PonderVision.

Sam Wilson isn't just a new Captain America, he's redefining what it means to be Captain America. But did Sam do justice to Isaiah Bradley's story in the end? 

Meanwhile, Bucky starts making genuine amends while John Walker can't wait to pat himself on the back for one half-decent decision. Karli, Sharon, and Zemo all factor into a jam-packed episode, too. 

On the MTVC's Charactercast, Kristine Kippins joins Marc Faletti to evaluate where our heroes and villains landed in the season finale of Falcon and the Winter Soldier. 

If there is a pat moral to this story, it's this: there are no pat morals to the American story. 

The season finale of Falcon and the Winter Soldier stages its final battles between nationalism and patriotism. It also asks the difficult question of how best to reckon with past sins, especially when their impact in the present is a matter of life and death. Sam and Karli present opposite ends of the spectrum, and we interrogate their competing beliefs on Storycast!

Join Amanda Marcotte, Maeve Adams, and Marc Faletti for a deep dive into the big ideas of this series and how they reflect on our current moment.

From a mysteriously acquired fingerprint to the extent of Steve Rogers's blind spot on race, Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 5 cracked open a ton of interesting questions.

Jesse Taylor joins Marc Faletti to explore all of them and more in the way that only PonderVision can.

(Bonus: if you've ever wondered what the parenting policy should be for playtime with vibranium weaponry, well, we have thoughts!)

Isaiah Bradley's story has a lot to teach Sam, and also the audience. Meanwhile, in Delacroix Sam and Bucky each take meaningful steps towards personal growth. The same can't be said for Walker or Karli, though, whose personal warpaths continue to threaten everyone's safety. And somehow Zemo's the person most at peace?

Kristine Kippins joins Marc Faletti to talk about all of this and—of course—the mutual emergent thirst between Sarah and Bucky. (Sam, get out of the way, please! This Charactercast has no time for overprotectiveness. Let Sarah have her fun!)

Heroism is powerfully interrogated by the fifth episode of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which is also one of the best hours of Marvel content ever made.

John Walker thinks there's heroism in empty vengeance, whereas Sam and Bucky find a much more meaningful version in the little things. The Delacroix community finds it in the goodness of the Wilson family, which they reward with their own small acts of heroism. But Isaiah Bradley's story is a monument to the hard truth that many heroes never get the chance to tell their own stories; instead, they're tortured and exploited by cowards in power. 

Join Amanda Marcotte, Maeve Adams, and Marc Faletti for a compelling look into the themes that arise from this exploration of heroism and other works of literature and film with similar ideas.

This week, we tackle challenging topics like: How does the ending of this episode relate to ongoing cop violence in America? Was Lemar's death narratively justifiable? And why doesn't Sam's therapy background make him a better friend to Bucky?

But we also take time to find the joy in questions like: Why is Bucky afraid of holes? Could the Dora Milaje have gotten away with icing Walker? And what kind of Zemo candy would've worked on us as kids?

On this PonderVision, Jesse Taylor and Marc explore the twists and turns of these two very different paths. Join us on the emotional roller coaster, won't you?

Zemo manipulated heroes into fighting amongst themselves again. John Walker just became the most hated man in the world. And Bucky learned just how ungrateful and vulnerable he really is. 

The fourth episode of Falcon and the Winter Soldier delivered some exhilarating highs and devastating consequences for our characters. Kristine Kippins joins Marc to assess the fallout on the MTVC's Charactercast.

The super soldier serum = fruit from the Tree of Knowledge—and some characters are extremely bad at resisting its temptations. 

The fourth episode of Falcon and the Winter Soldier tells a positively biblical tale about that temptation and its corresponding corruption.  The show also wrestles with the perils we suffer when there's inequality in our bodies, our wallets, and our systems of justice.

Amanda Marcotte and Maeve Adams join Marc to break down all of that and more (Steve Rogers = Aslan?!) on the Marvelous TV Club!

Jesse Taylor joins Marc to debate the best Madripoor theme bars and the best supervillain lair to keep on ice while in prison. We also get into the meaning of the heightened violence in this series and what it means for Zemo (the guy who killed T'Chaka) to be weighing in on the Black experience in America. Also, there seem to be multiple flavors of One World Government taking root. Which one is least bad? Grab a jalapeno popper from Jesse's new Madripoor joint and join the conversation!