Review — WandaVision. The first Marvel Cinematic Universe…
By: John Sherrod
Tags: Marvel, TV, Movies, Culture, Television

Review — WandaVision

The first Marvel Cinematic Universe television series was a consistent crowd pleaser, but it raised some disturbing questions about one of its heroes. John Sherrod Mar 7·5 min read

Spoiler warning: We’re talking about everything here, so don’t read this unless you’ve completed the series!

This show had a lot of work cut out for it. It was the first television series set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (No, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Netflix Marvel shows don’t count.) It also focused on the two Avengers super heroes I liked the least going into it in Wanda and Vision. And lastly, the trailer promised us something very different from the typical MCU fare.

Honestly though, that last point was one of the best things about WandaVision. The MCU is one of the greatest cinematic triumphs of all time. They’ve released two dozen films over a thirteen year period, and none of them are bad. Even the weaker films in the series are watchable. But if there’s a drawback to them it’s that they’re all kind of the same in many ways. They’re like a can of Coca-Cola. You’re going to get something that is consistent in quality and flavor each time, but you’re also never going to get anything different. WandaVision, though it did at times veer back toward the familiar MCU template, was frequently something very different, and I found that really refreshing.

The early episodes in particular were like a tour through the history of American TV sitcoms from the 1950’s to today. In-universe that’s because Wanda grew up watching all of those shows, and when she molded the city of Westview, New Jersey and it’s citizens into her fantasy world, she lived out all of those sitcom tropes. The sales pitch for this series must have been an interesting one, because no one could have predicted the first MCU show would be anything like this. My wife and I grew up watching all of those sitcoms as well, so of course we enjoyed it. But to my surprise even my kids (all ten and under) enjoyed those first two black-and-white episodes of the show and even went back and watched them again. It made for a really fun and unique format for hanging the plot of the series on.

Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bethany got more opportunity to shine in this series than they had in the MCU films, and they were both great in WandaVision. As I said, going into this show these were my two least favorite MCU characters. That’s probably still true, but the show at least made me more interested in them, due in large part to the work the actors put in. Kathryn Hahn put in the best performance of the series as Agnes/Agatha, the ancient, evil witch who posed as Wanda’s neighbor so she could learn how to gain her powers. Hahn did a great job shifting between comedic and menacing. I also really enjoyed Randall Park’s character, FBI agent Jimmy Woo. Though Ant-Man and the Wasp did a better job of letting him display his comedic chops, it was good to see the character return, and master the card trick we’d seen him struggling with in the aforementioned film.

But now let’s get into some of the controversy with this show. Who’s the villain of this series? As the episodes went along people were wondering if Agnes was going to be the big-bad, or if it would be Hayward, the bureaucratic leader of S.W.O.R.D., or if it would be some other character who would show up at the last minute. But honestly? The real villain of this show is Wanda herself. Sure, Agnes and Hayward proved to be adversaries of Wanda, but it was Wanda herself that enslaved and transformed an entire town for weeks on end. That’s nearly 4,000 people who were forced to do Wanda’s bidding, and who were mentally tortured by her as well. I kept waiting for the show to reveal that maybe it wasn’t really Wanda who was doing it, but nope. It was her. All throughout the season, as much as I was enjoying the show, I kept asking, “Wanda should totally go to prison when this is all over, right?” Maybe send her to the Raft where all of the superheroes on Captain America’s side were sent after Civil War. For like, many years.

In response I’ve seen several people say, “You can’t send her to prison. She’s way too powerful.” Ok, but that doesn’t leave a lot of great options…, right? It certainly makes Hayward’s decision to assassinate her by drone somewhat understandable, yet Hayward’s the only one who gets sent to prison at the end of this show! Plus, Wanda was already imprisoned at the Raft, so maybe it’s possible to contain her there?

I’m also not sure how the creators behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe want us to think of Wanda. She volunteered to work for Hydra and helped Ultron, mentally enslaving multiple people including members of the Avengers before switching sides. Although I’m “Team Cap” all the way with respect to the Sokovia Accords, she certainly violated those both during the events of that film and then again by setting up “the Hex” in WandaVision. And then in this show she was responsible for enslaving an entire town. But the show itself doesn’t really play out in such a way that it necessarily wants you to draw the conclusion that she’s a bad guy. But… she’s totally a bad guy, right? I’ll be curious to see how the next few MCU films deal with her. Will she continue as an Avenger, or be a villain they have to take out? There needs to be some justice for the people of Westview.

My issues with Wanda’s character aside, I really enjoyed this show, as did our whole family. I went into it not knowing what to expect and came out of it ready for the next dozen shows Marvel has planned for us on Disney+. And we don’t have long to wait before we get The Falcon and the Winter Solider.

Miscellany: