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A Review of “WandaVision (2021)”

 

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WandaVision is the first in Marvel’s line of TV streaming shows. Wanda and Vision haven’t been in the spotlight since Age Of Ultron, so a series fully dedicated to these two were very interesting. “Set three weeks after the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019), Wanda Maximoff and Vision are living an idyllic suburban life in the town of Westview, New Jersey, trying to conceal their true natures. As they begin to enter new decades and encounter television tropes, the couple suspects that things are not as they seem”. I’m a big MCU fan and after Endgame Vision was still pretty much dead so this series bringing him back alive piqued my interest. So is this a great start for MCU TV shows or a big slip up for Marvel?

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Firstly, the concept of a Superhero Sitcom with a bit of mystery is such a unique concept for the Superhero genre. Marvel is one of the biggest names nowadays and they make very entertaining movies, but it can feel a bit formulaic. However, WandaVision takes a risk by doing something drastically different and it executes it marvellously. I’ll admit I’m not the biggest fan of Sitcoms but some great moments gave me quite the chuckle. WandaVision goes through multiple eras of sitcoms from “The Dick Van Dyke Show” to “Full House” to “Malcolm in the Middle” to “The Office” and they replicate it very well. The showrunner knew their Sitcoms and WandaVision conveys this.

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Additionally, I love how they use different cameras, different colours and different resolutions for what Sitcom era they are on or changes to a cinematic look for characters outside the Sitcom stuff. There is also clearly a lot of work put into the set design and costumes to replicate these eras as well. Near the last couple of episodes when it goes full Marvel movie there are some great VFX for the action set-pieces as well.

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The characters in this series are also all great. Wanda (Elisabeth Olsen) returns and is a lot more on edge compared to the movies. Likewise, Vision (Paul Bettany) was always the cool but slightly awkward Robot guy in the movies but here feels a lot more personality than we have ever seen before. Both Elisabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany did a great job with these characters in the movies but here they genuinely give some of the best performance I’ve seen in any Marvel project. Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) returns from the Thor movies and is now more than just a side lady who quips a lot but feels more knowledgeable and helpful albeit still very funny. Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) returns from Ant-Man and the Wasp and gets to be more on the heroic side and does some cool stuff.  Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) returns from Captain Marvel and is now all grown up and played by a different actor who does a phenomenal job in giving a cool, badass character. Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) is a new supporting character who is very funny as the nosy neighbour with a high libido.

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The story is also very engaging with the subtle weirdness that occurs in each episode. I won’t go into spoiler territory but there is some great twist in this series. Some emotional moments were very effective in hitting me in the core, especially the last couple of episodes. I also really love that there are adverts that were created specifically for the series that adds another layer to the titular character and the story.

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Nonetheless, I have some minor gripes with the series and that it is a very slow burn of a series. It takes quite a while for it to kick into gear in my opinion. The first 3 episodes don’t have much happening and it is understandable because the series meant to start more on the sitcom side of things but it does get to points where you’re hoping whether something will happen or not. There are also some things in the story near the end that were kind of underwhelming. Without spoiling it is a revelation of a certain character and another character who just appears and then mysteriously disappears for some reason. It just raised a lot of eyebrows in my opinion. Additionally, there is one supporting character I just feel is very weak in terms of character and motives. Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg) is the acting director of S.W.O.R.D who just has vague reasons for what he does and I wish they gave more backstory and depth to him because in the end he just feels like an obstacle. After all, the plot needed it to be.

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Overall, this is a great start for MCU TV streaming shows. WandaVision does something new with the genre and delivers on it. It also successfully makes us love Wanda and Vision even more. Like most Marvel movies, the ending leads to a lot of interesting possibilities. I thought that Endgame might be it for me for the MCU but WandaVision manages to convince me to continue to keep track of the MCU. If this is the quality of Marvel TV shows then I am looking forward to the next one.

 



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