I have been thinking about FATWS a lot and I want to contribute to the (somewhat lacking) discourse around one of the central themes of the show :-
Bucky knew Steve as Steve before Steve as Captain America. Sam knew Steve initially as Captain America. He may have gotten very close with Steve but he will never know Steve without his moniker. So, for Bucky, Steve makes the shield. The shield is symbolic only of Steve Rogers. Whereas for Sam, it has always been more of a merger. He knows the shield for the icon it is but he also knows the person who made it an icon. Both Bucky and Sam know Steve as both Steve and Captain America but their difference is routed in what they knew him as first. Actually, the only reason Bucky even cares that the shield is passed onto Sam is so that he knows Steve's judgment is not flawed. He hates Walker on sight because to him, only Sam is supposed to hold it because Steve willed it so. It is all about Steve first.
Sam wants to ensure that Steve's Legacy is not impaired and put to good rest by retiring the shield. He knows what symbols can be. He knows what that symbol, divorced from Steve, already is - a symbol of a country that has not always been on his side. Not at all. He goes against Steve's wishes and does what he believes to be the right thing (again, a great testament to his character that will make him a GOOD CAPTAIN AMERICA - he does what HE feels is right even against his direct predecessor, mentor and best friend's wishes) and retires the shield because he thinks the shield should not hold more meaning than what Steve assigned to it. He values the symbol as much as he does Steve and hence is protective of it. Sam and Bucky know that Steve makes the shield. But their execution of that ideal is different due to their differed relationships with Steve.
On the other side, Walker only knows Steve as Captain America. Unlike Sam, he never got to know Steve as Steve. He probably only knows Steve through media reports and news coverage. A hero. A controversial one but a hero. A soldier. He is trying to live up to just that. He knows about the grenades but not the ideals behind Steve's actions. He is trying his best to live upto misguided expectations. Somewhere along the way, he got the idea of Captain America wrong. Walker is not a bad guy, contrary to chats here - he is a conflicted character. (I also think he is excellently written as to show why he feels like a decent dude but also OFF - calling Sam and Bucky wingmen, the sirens just after Sam got profiled, calling Bucky an asset. He doesn't know what he is doing wrong but WE do.)
The entire fulcrum of the series, to me, is : Are the Legacy of the Shield and Legacy of Steve Rogers, one and the same? What makes what? Can they be seperated? Will one tarnish the other? Will one honour the other?
Zemo echoes this when he says symbols take on lives of their own. They overlook the human representing it who are ultimately, naturally, obviously flawed. When did the legacy of Steve Rogers become the legacy of the shield? Shouldn't they be one and the same? How come they are different?
Sharon, another person who knew Steve as himself and Cap, is disillusioned by the cost of protecting a symbol. She did it for Steve but Steve and the symbol failed her. More importantly the symbol, as Steve was on the run as well. She is jaded. She believed in the shield once, twice but she paid for it. The stars and stripes won't stand for her when she stood for it. She thinks it is not worth it. She is angry at Steve and Cap. She believes in neither people nor symbols. Right now, the one offering her help is the person - Sam. Not Captain America.
From the trailers, we are going to see Karli address this too.
I am very nervous but excited for the next 3 episodes because it seems like A LOT has to be covered in a relatively short span. And I genuinely am curious as to the middle ground all these characters or at least the story arrives at - if at all there is one. This series is really make or break depending on the next 3 episodes. It has set up so many excellent questions and ideologies that if it delivers, it will be a very unique and relevant standout entry from marvel and even this genre. Talk about potential waiting to be tapped and exploited justly.
But as of now, the case stands for Sam Wilson to be the most deserving candidate to be Cap. He knows Steve Rogers. He knows Captain America. He is the only one that knows them both equally well together and apart (Bucky knows more of Steve than Cap. Bucky was never in a position enough to see the icon that the shield itself has become.) and he is the only one who can rest Steve's legacy and honour the legacy of the shield. The shield thus will continue to be represented by not a perfect soldier, but a good man. And there is more than one good man in the world. Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, and more around and more to come.