In Wandavision, former Avengers Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch (played by Elizabeth Olsen) and the Vision (Paul Bettany) move to a small idyllic town to live in anonymity. But something is very off. The world is operating according to rules of sitcoms throughout the years, including black-and-white episodes and laugh tracks. Also if you saw the end of Avengers: Endgame, there is another large glaring question about this whole situation.
I absolutely loved the show. After the tremendous finale to all the films in the Infinity Stones saga and some main actors exiting, I was afraid that Marvel could've exhausted itself or not know where to go next. Wandavision completely proves me wrong. It is a unique and creative combination of sitcoms and The Twilight Zone. On one hand we get some really spot-on odes to several nostalgic comedies, right down to the styles, sets, filming techniques, and aspect ratios. On the other hand, we get the next big "mystery box" show as we're slowly introduced to what is going on. This is the first MCU to actually go scary (main MCU not the TV branch like Hellstrom). It also givea Inifnity War/Endgame a run for their money for darkest entry. However, the show never quite violates the general audience feel that the Marvel films are known for.
As weird as the show gets, it never loses the human touch and is actually one of the more emotional entries in the MCU. It's nice to get time to fully focus on Wanda and Vision. They've really only been in a handful of films in which they were never the leads. Yet, the characters were strong enough that you quickly began to root for them. Now they finally get their due. This is primarily Olsen's movie as Wanda, and she absolutely kills it in what is an Emmy-nomination-worthy performance. She nails all the nuances of each acting style of each era absolutely and the emotional segments. Bettany also gives a great performance, though do to a lot of this having him act like a TV dad, he doesn't have as many times to be as eloquent as he has been in the films. (Though when he does, he's wonderful.) Best new face award goes to Katherine Hahn as Wanda's neighbor Agnes. In fact, this show just has a great supporting and recurring cast overall. There are a few faces I'd like to talk about, but I don't want to spoil anything if you haven't heard about them.
I've already mentioned how the show went to lengths to recreate the sitcom feel, but even the non-sitcom stuff looks great. Like The Mandalorian, this show has a large budget and almost looks film quality. Each sitcom includes its own theme song written by Frozen's Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, all which do a wonderful job of fitting their respective time periods. Also, we get a good ending theme and credits, which is a nice surprise in an era where they don't get much love.
Now, some viewers may have trouble with the first few episodes if antiquated television pacing isn't your thing. But rest assured, the show focuses more on the reveals and less on sticking to format as the show moves on. Surprisingly, prime fodder for nineties sitcoms, like Full House or Family Matters, aren't used. Also due to the large number of faces in this, some of the characters don't get enough time as you like. Also, I think that one or two characters' screentime may have been cut due to possible scheduling conflicts or not wanting to take health risks after production was paused due to COVID, which is definitely unsatisfying.
I highly recommend this, especially if you're a Marvel fan.
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