WandaVision

After Avengers Endgame left audiences feeling predominantly satisfied with how this section of the MCU ended, it was up in the air how Disney/Marvel would continue moving forward after such a benchmark. Their first next step was a slate of tv shows released on their then new streaming service, Disney+, based around characters that hadn’t been given proper spotlight yet. While there was hesitation about creating projects that were on an exclusive service as opposed to cinema screens, the trailer for their first show, WandaVision, had people intrigued. Everything from the idea, to how it appeared to recreate several famous sitcoms, to how it had what looked like a Black Mirror/Twilight Zone atmosphere from its writing and production value, to how it tackled two characters that were largely underdeveloped in Wanda and Vision, got people feeling optimistic. When people got around to seeing it, the responses were definitely interesting. In an undisclosed period of time (to begin with), it appears that Wanda Maximoff (played again by Elizabeth Olsen) has found herself in a different reality where the environment seems to emulate a bygone time period and The Vision (played again by Paul Bettany) has returned to life, allowing the both of them to live out their dream as husband and wife. While things seem to be all ‘’peachy clean’’, it doesn’t take long for Wanda to realize that something is incredibly off, with her neighbors acting strangely horrified one minute and robotically hypnotized the next, and an unknown outside trying to call to her. That outside is an operation where government agents are trying to rescue a city that has been engulfed in Wanda’s magic and is holding them against their will. While Captain Monica Rambeau (played by Teyonah Parris) believes Wanda could be reasoned with, the head in charge of the operation, Tyler Hayward (played by Josh Stamberg) believes her to be a terrorist and wishes to eliminate her. With this fantasy world giving her everything she wanted that was taken from her, will Wanda be willing to give it up? The initial response from the public was incredibly mixed, with critics mostly enjoying it, but audiences being heavily divided on the parts they enjoyed and the parts they hated. As a show, it is a very messy project, with the stuff that works shining brightly and the stuff that fails crashing down hard.

As an initial concept, travelling through several different eras of famous sitcoms and tying it into a story of escapism and tackling grief is an incredibly strong and interesting idea. Whenever a product manages to tackle a mature and real-life dilemma in an intelligent but also creative way, it works all the better for it. and this is radically different from anything that Marvel had ever done previously, with the first three episodes delivering something that carries this comedic and uplifting atmosphere yet is underlined with sinister and creepy undertones. The manner in which the show equally makes fun of the tropes of the various sitcoms, while at the same time showing a clear appreciation for the craft and the people who worked on them, allows the show to balance between feeling like a loving tribute and a unique platform to deliver a modern story about how escapism of this manner can be just as much as hindrance as it is blindly blissful. The main director for this series was Matt Shakman, who not only worked on dramas series like Game of Thrones, Succession, The Boys, and Mad Men, but also several comedies like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Psych and Everybody Hates Chris, so he’s a perfect fit for a show that wishes to combine both elements into one. Episodes 3, 5, 7 and 8 are the strongest episodes of this nine-episode long series, being the best written, directed, feel the best paced and genuinely leave strong memorable impressions on the audience. It’s a show that really banks on its mystery and its unclear motivations and surprises, wanting to keep the audience in suspense and forcing them to ‘’stand by’’ until they can discover what is truly hiding behind the curtain. But that unfortunately comes with its own issues, as the more the show reveals, the less interesting it becomes. It’s tragic that the show lays its seeds so expertly because when it’s revealed they only grow basic flowers, the realization is pretty disheartening. What’s going on outside the hex feels like an entirely different show in almost every possible manner; the writing, the pacing, the tone, and even the themes surrounding the characters, it doesn’t even feel like the same show anyone and is one that isn’t anywhere near as engrossing or intriguing. The two start to clash extra hard due to their conflicting styles of storytelling, going from the hex’s slow, visual, and metaphorical stance on giving details and clues, to the real world’s blunt, exposition-heavy narrative dump which feels like a means to explain everything that’s going on as quickly as possible. This all results in a final episode and climax that becomes way too ‘traditional’ Marvel and leaves the series on a not awful, but underwhelming note.

For a show of this calibre, it’s fitting that for a subject and atmosphere this weird and ambiguous, you pick two of the most otherworldly characters from Marvel’s line-up. If there is anything that this show nails, it’s how it makes Wanda and Vision infinitely more interesting than they ever were before. Throughout most of the MCU, they just existed as toys with impressive powers; they weren’t unlikeable in any way and said powers were pretty cool, but they never stood out. WandaVision does a great job at dissecting these two, showing what makes them who they are, why they are, how they are now, and the possibilities of what could happen to them later on. This is especially true for Wanda as her traumatic past and extreme grief are front and centre in this show and is displayed very effectively, with her pain actively suffocating the people around her and technically forcing them to feel her pain in order to keep herself in ignorance. Her pain runs this show and the fact that they don’t sugar-coat the awfulness of her actions (entirely) and even give her a dark side who is willing to keep being selfish and twisted in order to stay happy is very fascinating, it makes her a wonderfully tragic character. Vision’s contribution also fuels a lot of unexplained questions that are given satisfactory answers, mainly explaining how the two fell in love and why they are great for each other. The two share some genuinely great chemistry together and feel like a solid couple, which is also helped out by both Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany really showing off their acting chops, bringing a new appreciation to their emotional and especially their comedic timing. Bettany’s sophisticated yet quirky delivery can make almost anything humorous, and Olsen’s ability to replicate these sitcom actress’ mannerisms and speech patterns is truly impressive and completely unexpected. It does wonders for both of them and lets them and their characters shine. A majority of the acting is quite good in this, especially the people in the hex who get to play these people who have their real identities smothered under this trance which causes them to be mindless smiling puppets of each era, it’s as amusing as it is demented especially from actress Kathryn Hahn, who does wonderfully as the noisy neighbour and is clearly having the time of her life. However, like the rest of the show, the people outside the hex are nowhere near as interesting or enjoyable to watch. A majority of them are just basic government agent cut-outs and even the main squad the show follows aren’t any better. Monica isn’t a bad character and is acted fairly well, but she’s nothing special, Randall Park has proven to be funny in other material, but he’s extremely useless and flat here, and Kat Dennings remains as annoying and pointless as she did in the Thor films, so it’s not a strong enough cut-away from the actual engaging material to make it feel worthy.

The show had a great look to it from the initial trailer as it seemed to bounce between multiple different eras of sitcoms throughout various periods of human history, from the black and white early-50s feel for shows like Bewitched, I Love Lucy, and The Dick Van Dyke Show, to the more chill and flavourful 70s-80s feel with shows like Growing Pains, The Brady Bunch and Family Ties, to the more modernist, less idealistic, and more grounded feel of the 2000s like with Modern Family, Malcolm in the Middle and The Office. Each bring something new to the table and are portrayed very effectively through a fantastically composed production that breathes life into each variation very effectively. The production design by Mark Worthington, the cinematography by Jess Hall, the set decoration by Kathryn Orlando, the costume design by Mayes C. Rubeo, the musical score by Christopher Beck, the opening jingles and theme songs written by Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and even the dialogue feels very much akin to what they’re replicating but still feels distinctly their own and never like a blatant rip-off. It brings a timeless as well as authentic feel to the overall show. The writing on the show teeters between pretty ingenious in concept and well-written in dialogue to being pretty messy and ill-fitting in story structure and payoff. The head writer and creator for this show was Jac Schaeffer, whose writing credits consist of Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, The Hustle, and the 2009 film, Timer (which she also directed and produced). This is arguably her best screenwriting job as there are pieces that are really effective, but the cracks do show up from time to time, especially whenever it bounces between the two forms of storytelling. This is clearest in the handling of its message. Portraying Wanda’s grief through a sitcom-like environment is very clever and works on multiple levels, using the way real-life immigrants used the sappy consequence-less framework of American sitcoms to adjust and cope with their situations as a nice crux for the series, but the show flip flops between vaguely addressing this concept through symbolical visuals to verbally dissecting her issues like a counselling session. Both are good in their own right, but how the audience perceives them are so different from each option that it could come across as underdeveloped in the first section, or overly developed in the last.

For a first step into a new era of the MCU, WandaVision succeeds in delivering something that stood out and gave something people definitely held onto after viewing. With the passage of time, WandaVision is seen as the show that did good things, but also tripped at the finish line, and left a little too much of a bad taste in the mouths of some to make up for it, but this show does have a lot of great things to offer, and it is definitely more than just a failed experiment. The side story outside of the hex is poorly handled with clunky exposition, boring characters and a tone that only proves to mess with the rest of the show, but on the other hand, the concept is intriguing, it talks about grief and trauma very maturely and with respect, Wanda and Vision are made much stronger characters, the acting is top-notch and while it did just become another CG-filled climax by the end, it’s still nowhere near as terrible as Marvel has shown previously with their worst works (or even where they would go in the future). Might leave some people disappointed, but worth checking out for what it does right, WandaVision has the spirit and the passion for something truly magical.