TV review: ‘WandaVision’
Published 2:30 pm Wednesday, January 20, 2021
- Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany star in “WandaVision” on Disney Plus.
It’s been a year and a half since we had a Marvel Cinematic Universe property to stick in our eyeballs. Given the amount of time that has passed it’s easy to feel downright giddy when you see the Marvel Studios title card pop up with that iconic music.
Then “WandaVision” starts and you may be left wondering, “what is going on?”
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It is a complete departure from everything the MCU has produced up until this point the series sets up a world apart from reality.
This is nothing new in the comic book realm, alternate universes, realities and storylines are common, but this is the first look we’re getting of something different on screen.
The first episode starts with a jaunty tune reminiscent of those classic ‘50s multi-camera sitcoms like “I Love Lucy” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and by episode two, we jump forward to the ‘60s “Bewitched”-style. Everything including the aspect ratio, sound and color design, sets, “commercial break,” even down to the speaking cadence characters enriches the aesthetic they’re trying to achieve. This means the show sometimes feels too proud of itself, but it has enough of a mystery to keep you hooked in.
There are a lot of theories as to where the mini-series is going and many of them point to something to do with the House of M storyline in the comics, where Wanda creates an alternate reality to deal with the trauma of losing her children (though the show is probably utilizing her trauma of losing her brother and Vision in earlier films).
The first two episodes didn’t hook me the same way that something like “The Mandalorian” was able to do, but this is the first time the MCU has gone to television (other Marvel-based shows are not technically connected to the film universe) and so being left waiting a week to find out what happens next is unusual.
But I have faith in producer Kevin Feige and his team at Marvel that they know exactly what they’re doing. At least, I hope they do.