WandaVision

Jaime Garcia, Entertainment Writer

After a month of delay due to Covid-19, “WandaVision” has finally released on Disney+ and it will be releasing one episode every week on Fridays. 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has now delved into shows, which they haven’t done yet and I have to say my expectations were kind of low since all they have done is movies. After seeing the first two episodes, I can say I’m very confident on where this show is heading. It being part of the MCU, you know there’s going to numerous references to past movie plots or old and new characters in every episode. 

The show takes place in the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame where we last saw Wanda attending Tony Stark’s funeral. We now know that it takes place almost a week after it. However, we don’t know how the alternate reality was created or how it works yet.  

The show is all a fabricated reality created by Wanda who is played by Elizabeth Olsen, Vision played by Paul Bettany and so far, confirmed returning characters who are Jimmy Wong from Antman and The Wasp, and Darcy Lewis from Thor. I’m sure that there will be more returning characters from past Marvel movies. 

The first two episodes left us with a ton questions. The show leaves out many details like why exactly is it happening or isn’t Vision dead, the last time we saw Vision was in Avengers Endgame but he died on screen and didn’t see him come back. I am sure we will get those answers soon enough. I won’t talk much into detail about because It deserves to be watched with mystery, so we are all left with shock and awe.  

WandaVision” starts us off in the first sitcom era of the 1950’s, where everything is black and white, and the comedy is very scripted. It’s not a bad thing that the comedy is sounds scripted, it’s just how the shows in the 1950’s wereThe comedy in the show is superb and the actors do a wonderful job playing with that. I enjoyed that they actually have a live studio audience to show more of an authentic 1950’s look and sound. 

In the second episode, it’s in the 1960’s and the producers do a splendid job on the set pieces as it has changed to a new era. It’s practically the same as the first episode but in the 1960’s. In this episode we’re introduced to a vintage cartoon intro to the show. We got to see the all the characters that are involved in this sitcom.  

I loved the way they have approached this show. It is quite obvious that they have worked diligently to match the quippy humor of the old sitcoms, the clothing, and set pieces to convince the viewers that they’re actually made in those eras. To help with that, they brought in people who actually worked on beloved sitcoms before, like Kathryn Hahn who worked on Parks and Recreation as an actress and Debra Jo Rupp who played Kitty in That 70’s Show. Since they have actually worked on sitcom shows before they’re able to bring in insight on how they work and what is needed to be one. 

The show is aware that it’s a show. It’s very unusual but it’s refreshing to see something new being done with the sitcom shows. The idea isn’t totally out of the ballpark, but it’s played very well with the cast they have. 

The show’s creators has drawn inspiration from a comic book event and transferred it to a show. The comic book is one of Marvel comic stories “House of M,” an event in the comic books where the world sees Wanda as threat and should be eliminated due to her being powerful and unstable. The MCU hasn’t had same setup of characters involved in it, so it can’t exactly do that. The only thing related to that is the distraught Wanda creating an alternate reality to have people trapped in their fantasies to forget about her as a threat. I’m glad they didn’t really go for an exact adaptation because it wouldn’t be original.  

As we move up in the episodes, episode three has come into color! In this episode, we’re shown a common plot that many sitcoms usually handle that takes place in the 70’s., however I won’t say what it is because it’s major plot point. In this episode it’s really weird, I mean the whole show is but this has some more oomph to it. There were name drops to characters of the past and see how Wanda can influence and change people’s memories to her advantage. To top it off were left with a cliffhanger showing us of glimpse of what’s happening outside. Overall the episode did a wonderful job progressing  our characters through showing us the emotional toll that Wanda’s reality has taken upon them in a very subtle way. 

In the fourth episode distinguishes itself by showing new elements in the show. We’re are shown what’s happening outside of Wanda’s reality. We’re shown the blip, an event that has people coming back after they were snapped in Avengers: Infinity war by ThanosWe’re introduced to a character we last saw as kid in Captain Marvel all grown up. She and Jimmy woo, the parole officer from Ant Man and the Wasp, have been tasked to investigate a disturbance at a town unbeknownst to them that it’s Wanda’s reality. I like how when were introduced to Jimmy Woo again he’s learning how to do close up magic tricks as Scott Lang tricked him by doing simple magic, has now learned to do the tricks himself. The whole episode is just an outside perspective of what’s been happening the past three episodes.  

The fifth episode shows so much, that it’s hard to process of what is to come now in this show. The episode starts off within Wanda’s reality and then switch to outside of it, we know have two point of views in this episode and the ones to come. The surprises that they have done in this show was executed so well that in can not really be compared to the other episodes. It combined the unnerving presence from episode 3, the tense reality of what’s happening on the inside and outside from episode 4 all in one episode. We can assume that one of the recurring characters popping in the show is actually self-aware and pulling some strings. 

They do a wonderful job with reintroducing characters from past films because most movies or shows will bring back characters just to have shock value and get the ratings up as a fan service but not make them have a reason to be in the plot. In this show, they’re all given a key role and so far it’s worked perfectly. Also in the episode they manage to answer mostly every question that they left us wondering in the episode and gave a whole lot more to ponder about.  

They are still more characters to be seen because of the elusiveness of the agency introduced in the show called S.W.O.R.D which is similar to S.H.I.E.L.D. They are practically S.H.I.E.L.D, but they’re just on a galactic scale. They identify super beings and see if they pose a threat and help with off world problems that deal with earth. The agency was created by Maria Rambeau who we last saw in Captain Marvel. It was created after they dealt with the skrulls and other being with similar powers to Captain Marvel. Why bring this up? I bring it up because the show will be revolved around S.W.O.R.D and their future presence in the MCU. Their presence in the show so far is to monitor Wanda’s reality and see to it that they end it before leaves damage beyond repair to Earth and the universe. 

So far my rating 10/10 due to the fact that they have managed to keep the audience engaged in every episode, having the tone setup what’s to come in the next phase for the MCU. Like I’ve said before they do amazing job with putting the details inside of possible thing from, the way they talk and walk to the themes they’re set in. I have yet to notice anything that they have done wrong, I tried to see if the timing of events were off or if this character said something that was wrong but no, everything is correct. For the things that are left unanswered or left your head scratching, it has answered or given the clues to answer those questions.  

It’s a much watch show due to the fact that it will set up the new Marvel movies coming out soon, and how significantly different it is from anything Marvel has put out.