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I have some things to say abt #TFATWS 
. Finale spoilers, so mute me or the tag. I cannot lie: I am deeply disturbed about what Sam does to Isaiah in the finale, to the point that it, coupled with his treatment of Bucky during the whole series, has made me dislike him.
. Finale spoilers, so mute me or the tag. I cannot lie: I am deeply disturbed about what Sam does to Isaiah in the finale, to the point that it, coupled with his treatment of Bucky during the whole series, has made me dislike him.
#TFATWS In Episode 5, Sam and Isaiah Bradley have a conversation about what Isaiah endured after being injected with the pre-cursor to the super soldier serum & going on a rogue mission to save trapped compatriots who have essentially been given a death sentence by the US gov’t.
In Episode 5, Sam and Isaiah Bradley have a conversation about what Isaiah endured after being injected with the pre-cursor to the super soldier serum & going on a rogue mission to save trapped compatriots who have essentially been given a death sentence by the US gov’t.
#TFATWS For those who don’t know, Isaiah Bradley is Marvel’s analog to and character used to provide commentary on the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study, carried out by the US gov’t on unsuspecting Black men from 1932 to 1972. In the annals of US institutional & medical racism —
For those who don’t know, Isaiah Bradley is Marvel’s analog to and character used to provide commentary on the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study, carried out by the US gov’t on unsuspecting Black men from 1932 to 1972. In the annals of US institutional & medical racism —
#TFATWS — the TSS is in the Top Ten. In short, Isaiah has real world analogs that, if they were to be invoked at all, should have been so with utmost care and compassion.
— the TSS is in the Top Ten. In short, Isaiah has real world analogs that, if they were to be invoked at all, should have been so with utmost care and compassion.
#TFATWS In Ep 5, Isaiah recounts to Sam a story of DECADES of imprisonment, experimentation, and physical and psychological torture. He is finally freed from all of it when a nurse, alone among the government and medical professionals working w/him, takes pity on him.
In Ep 5, Isaiah recounts to Sam a story of DECADES of imprisonment, experimentation, and physical and psychological torture. He is finally freed from all of it when a nurse, alone among the government and medical professionals working w/him, takes pity on him.
#TFATWS She fakes his death, which is how he is able to escape. Let me repeat that: they had to PRETEND ISAIAH WAS DEAD TO GET HIM OUT OF THERE. The implication in Ep 5 is that he no longer even goes by his given name. He explicitly tells Sam that he does not —
She fakes his death, which is how he is able to escape. Let me repeat that: they had to PRETEND ISAIAH WAS DEAD TO GET HIM OUT OF THERE. The implication in Ep 5 is that he no longer even goes by his given name. He explicitly tells Sam that he does not —
#TFATWS — want to go public because he is legitimately scared that if anyone were to learn he was alive, he would be killed to prevent the disclosures he could make. He says this to Sam. It is not implied. It is explicit in the text.
— want to go public because he is legitimately scared that if anyone were to learn he was alive, he would be killed to prevent the disclosures he could make. He says this to Sam. It is not implied. It is explicit in the text.
#TFATWS DESPITE being told this & after invoking Isaiah’s trauma to Sarah to explain, in part, why he will take on the mantle of Cap, Sam takes Isaiah’s story to his contacts at the Smithsonian and gets an exhibit dedicated to Isaiah WITHOUT FIRST OBTAINING ISAIAH’S CONSENT.
DESPITE being told this & after invoking Isaiah’s trauma to Sarah to explain, in part, why he will take on the mantle of Cap, Sam takes Isaiah’s story to his contacts at the Smithsonian and gets an exhibit dedicated to Isaiah WITHOUT FIRST OBTAINING ISAIAH’S CONSENT.
#TFATWS Let’s be clear that Sam essentially doxes Isaiah. He goes public with Isaiah’s story, with Isaiah’s real name attached, when Isaiah EXPLICITLY told him he had a very real fear that if this got out, it could be life-threatening to Isaiah & presumably his remaining family.
Let’s be clear that Sam essentially doxes Isaiah. He goes public with Isaiah’s story, with Isaiah’s real name attached, when Isaiah EXPLICITLY told him he had a very real fear that if this got out, it could be life-threatening to Isaiah & presumably his remaining family.
“But LaT,” you say, “the exhibit probably includes the fake death information, so no one would know the real Isaiah Bradley is still alive.” That doesn’t matter. Sam did this without asking Isaiah if Isaiah was OK with it, even when presented as if he’d actually died.
#TFATWS The lack of consent is galling, especially for someone whose boundaries and consent were ignored for THREE DECADES. Sam absolutely should know better than to do something like this without talking to Isaiah first, and it is NUTS of him AND the show to act like —
The lack of consent is galling, especially for someone whose boundaries and consent were ignored for THREE DECADES. Sam absolutely should know better than to do something like this without talking to Isaiah first, and it is NUTS of him AND the show to act like —
#TFATWS — the real problem here is that no one knew the truth - and not that Isaiah deserves more in the way of reparations than a museum exhibit he didn’t agree to and knew nothing about until seconds before he walked into it.
— the real problem here is that no one knew the truth - and not that Isaiah deserves more in the way of reparations than a museum exhibit he didn’t agree to and knew nothing about until seconds before he walked into it.
#TFATWS Sam steamrolling over Isaiah’s boundaries - and the way the show has no problem with it & indeed acts like it’s A Good Thing Actually - is consistent with the shitty way he treats Bucky for much of the series’ run.
Sam steamrolling over Isaiah’s boundaries - and the way the show has no problem with it & indeed acts like it’s A Good Thing Actually - is consistent with the shitty way he treats Bucky for much of the series’ run.
#TFATWS Let’s be really clear about something: it does not matter whether you like or care about Bucky Barnes. What Hydra did to him is unconscionable. If you can recognize that about the US gov’t’s treatment of Isaiah, you should be able to recognize it about Hydra’s of Bucky.
Let’s be really clear about something: it does not matter whether you like or care about Bucky Barnes. What Hydra did to him is unconscionable. If you can recognize that about the US gov’t’s treatment of Isaiah, you should be able to recognize it about Hydra’s of Bucky.
#TFATWS Throughout the series, Sam makes all these little digs and ~ jokes at Bucky, the punchlines of which rely on an invocation of his history as a victim of kidnapping and mental torture. Bucky never pushes back, b/c part of the show’s ethos is that he deserves —
Throughout the series, Sam makes all these little digs and ~ jokes at Bucky, the punchlines of which rely on an invocation of his history as a victim of kidnapping and mental torture. Bucky never pushes back, b/c part of the show’s ethos is that he deserves —
#TFATWS — to constantly be castigated for things the Winter Soldier did. Sam ribbing Bucky on the axis of his trauma would be questionable even if they were good friends. But as I said the other day, in a stretch it could be read as the kind of roasting friends do of each other —
— to constantly be castigated for things the Winter Soldier did. Sam ribbing Bucky on the axis of his trauma would be questionable even if they were good friends. But as I said the other day, in a stretch it could be read as the kind of roasting friends do of each other —
— when (1) it’s established and understood that you ARE friends in the first place and (2) the rest of your relationship is MUTUALLY loving and supporting. Regardless of what FANDOM has head-canon’d Sam and Bucky’s relationship to be in the years since CACW —
— it is clear that #TFATWS does not consider them to be more than workplace colleagues at the start of the series. So Sam’s little digs at Bucky - calling him a cyborg, agreeing that he’s ‘crazy’ - don’t read to me as friendly ribbing; they read as mean, as unkind.
does not consider them to be more than workplace colleagues at the start of the series. So Sam’s little digs at Bucky - calling him a cyborg, agreeing that he’s ‘crazy’ - don’t read to me as friendly ribbing; they read as mean, as unkind.
Bucky didn’t just go through some goth or punk phase that made him insufferable to be around for a time. He was physically and mentally tortured for 70+ years and used as a weapon against people without his consent. HE can make jokes about that if he wants to. But —
— people who are supposed to be super caring and kind would probably recognize they should tread lightly in this regard. Sam doesn’t, and it’s unnerving coming from someone who used to be a trauma counselor and who was, at least when we first met him, good in that role.
#TFATWS With both Isaiah & Bucky, Sam displayed a startling lack of sensitivity around the issue of their trauma and what bringing it up to them in ways they clearly disliked (Bucky) or did not ask for (Isaiah) would mean for and to them. It was jarring and dislikable.
With both Isaiah & Bucky, Sam displayed a startling lack of sensitivity around the issue of their trauma and what bringing it up to them in ways they clearly disliked (Bucky) or did not ask for (Isaiah) would mean for and to them. It was jarring and dislikable.
