WandaVision (2021)

Since Disney+’s once-a-week episode model has returned us to the sensibility of water-cooler television consumption (albeit without the physical water coolers,) it might feel behind the times to only be talking about WandaVision now. Like many, I’ve spent the past two months watching the new episode every Friday and then reading/listening the latest hot takes on blogs and podcasts. But I’m all right with chiming in late. It was worth it for me to take the time to see the whole shape of the piece emerge (premise spoilers.)

Wanda Maximoff and her husband the Vision have just moved into the quaint little suburb of Westview. In many ways they’re like any other couple – fretting when the boss comes over for dinner, trying to fit in with the neighbors, looking toward starting a family. But there’s also the small matter of Wanda’s telekinesis and powers to bend reality and Vision’s existence as a phase-shifting AI made out of Vibranium and powered by an Infinity Stone. As Wanda and Vision balance superpowers with suburban life, something creeping at the corners of their world begins to peel back the way things aren’t what they seem.

I’ve liked Wanda as a character since her debut in Age of Ultron, and while Vision didn’t grab me quite as much at the start, there were always these little moments of him that kept me interested. However, as has been pointed out online, the pilot of WandaVision offers more screentime for these two characters than they’d had in the MCU to date, and there are eight more episodes that follow. Simply that, having that space and those scenes, open up Wanda, Vision, and their relationship in a phenomenal way. I love this miniseries for the opportunity it takes to dig deeper into Wanda’s psyche and past, and it’s wonderful to see Vision emerge as a real character in his own right.

I probably wasn’t the only person who came out of End Game and Spider-Man: Far from Home wondering whether the next phase of the MCU would continue to spark my enthusiasm the same way that the pre-End Game films did. But now, after the pandemic disrupted the schedule and we’ve gone more than a year without any new Marvel properties, WandaVision is simultaneously like saying hello to an old friend and heading off in brand-new direction. The show offers some good twists and turns, with several big-time end-of-episode cliffhangers, and it unrolls larger aspects of the post-Blip world of the MCU while also telling a very personal story about Wanda and Vision.

I’m on record as someone who appreciates it when Marvel takes big swings and steps outside their formula, and WandaVision is probably their most ambitious property yet in that regard. The trippy sitcom set-up allows it to play in multiple sandboxes of a novel genre for them. While MCU films are known for their humor and quippy dialogue, this miniseries is a whole different ballgame, and it’s a superpowered masterclass in the evolution of the American sitcom. I love seeing the sets, costumes, film techniques, jokes, and acting styles morph with each episode, and seeing how Wanda and Vision’s powers are given their sitcom twists for the various eras is a lot of fun. And yet, for all the technical prowess on display and the addition paid to this gimmicky concept that really works, the character stuff isn’t lost in the shuffle. Each episode, in addition to laughs, references, and smart send-ups, reveals more about the world and moves both the story and the characters forward.

I can’t say enough about how great Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany are here. I knew Olsen would bring it, and she traffics in different sitcom styles like a champ while also maintaining a grounding focus on who Wanda is as a character. And Bettany is just utterly winning here as Vision. He’s funny, charming, heartfelt, and romantic, by turns affably flailing and steady as a metronome. The miniseries also features returns from a few familiar Marvel faces, namely Randall Park’s Jimmy Woo (love him) and Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis from the Thor movies. Wanda and Vision’s neighbors include characters played by Kathryn Hahn (great in general, but she really pops as a mercenary campaign manager on Parks and Rec and she’s aces here,) Debra Jo Rupp (Kitty Foreman from That ‘70s Show,) and Emma Caulfield (Anya from Buffy.) Plus, the show debuts the adult version of Monica Rambeau, played by the wonderful Teyonah Parris, who I loved as Lysistrata in Chi-Raq. Parris has me super excited to see more of Monica in the MCU, and my only complaint is that there’s not enough of her in WandaVision.

Warnings

Violence, suggestiveness, drinking, language, and thematic elements.