WANDAVISION:
RETRO-STYLE SUPERHERO SITCOM EMBRACES THE SILLY SIDE OF THE MCU!
By Nico Beland
Show Review: *** out of 4
DISNEY+/MARVEL STUDIOS
Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in WandaVision
Due to the lack of a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie release in 2020, I’ll be doing something a little different that will hopefully help fill the void, a review of the new television series set in the MCU, WandaVision which premiered recently on Disney+. Unlike other Marvel shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, or even the Netflix Daredevil series, WandaVision gives a more retro look inside the MCU in the same vain as classic sitcoms like Bewitched, The Honeymooners, and even the 1998 film Pleasantville which revolves around two people who mysteriously end up in the world of a 1950s sitcom, WandaVision kind of does the same sort of thing with a little bit of a Truman Show vibe as well.
At the time of this review, the series is only 3 episodes in, and I have to say this is probably one of the most original and unique things to ever come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe whether we’re talking movies or TV shows. It doesn’t try to cram in as many Avengers references as possible nor does it rely that much on franchise or cinematic universe building, or even action focused for that matter, it’s just a fun, lighthearted love letter to 1950s television with a few Marvel twists and surprises stitched in there and it’s done very well.
The series follows Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen-Oldboy, Godzilla (2014), Ingrid Goes West) and Vision (Paul Bettany-A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code, Margin Call) happily married and living a suburban life in the town of Westview and trying to conceal their powers from the world. However, when the superpowered couple begin to notice strange occurrences in their neighborhood such as entering new decades, becoming aware of television tropes, and the most shocking experience since Thanos’ snap…PREGNANCY! They start to realize that things are not as they seem.
The series also stars Debra Jo Rupp (Big, That ‘70s Show, Friends) as Mrs. Hart, Fred Melamed (A Serious Man, In a World…, Get On Up) as Arthur Hart, Kathryn Hahn (Crossing Jordan, Step Brothers, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) as Agnes, Teyonah Parris (Mad Men, Chi-Raq, Captain Marvel 2) as Monica Rambeau, and also features Kat Dennings (2 Broke Girls, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Defendor) reprising her role from Thor and Thor: The Dark World as Darcy Lewis and Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat, The Interview, Aquaman) reprising his role from Ant-Man and the Wasp as Jimmy Woo.
Overall, WandaVision is a very interesting extension to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and definitely one of the strangest things in their catalog. The first two episodes while extremely funny in their satire of 1950s sitcom tropes are a bit of a slow burn as the plot doesn’t really take off until around the halfway point of episode 2 and the majority of episode 3, but by the end of the third episode I was completely onboard for this series.
Without giving away any spoilers, it seems like WandaVision will be going a similar route as the 1998 Jim Carrey film, The Truman Show where at some point in the show Wanda and Vision will realize they’re stuck inside a TV show and have to find a way to get out, the stingers at the end of episode 1 and especially episode 3 make it perfectly clear that something is definitely up with this happy-go-lucky town they live in and I can’t wait to see it explored in later episodes.
Plot and possible theories aside, what really impressed me about this show was how funny Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany are. In the previous films, they felt more like very secondary members of the Avengers that just exist and are frequently pushed to the side for Captain America or Iron Man and for the most part Olsen and Bettany portrayed their characters seriously, with occasional goofy moments like Vision lifting Thor’s hammer in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Here on the other hand, because of its cheesy 1950s comedic tone, Olsen and Bettany are allowed to show off their funny sides and found myself laughing hard many times during the three episodes. The humor sort of adds a new layer to Wanda and Vision as characters, despite it mostly revolving around cheap sitcom hijinks.
Aside from the minor pacing issues I had between the first two episodes, I found WandaVision to be a very enjoyable watch and one of the most unique projects in the entire MCU history, I’m definitely looking forward to watching more. It sets the stage for an interesting and bright future for the franchise in both television and film, swoop on in and see for yourself.
