Marvel Studios makes a long awaited return with WandaVision

Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany spoke at the 2019 San Diego Comic Con for WandaVision at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. CREDIT: GAGE SKIDMORE ON FLICKR LICENSED UNDER CC BY-SA 2.0.

WandaVision is a tough show to write about. Not because it wasn’t well acted, well written, or well shot. On the contrary, WandaVision is all of those things. It’s hard to write about because it completely subverted any expectation I had of a Marvel Studios production since the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

WandaVision is a love letter to the history of television, fans of the MCU, and fans of Wanda Maximoff (a.k.a. The Scarlet Witch). WandaVision is also an examination of grief, love, loss, and overcoming destiny; it’s about subverting expectations.

A brief synopsis before we get going: WandaVision is about Wanda Maximoff and Vision who live out the suburban American dream as a newlywed couple in the fictional town of Westview, New Jersey. In the style of classic sitcoms throughout the decades, we follow Wanda and Vision through a variety of shenanigans while they try to keep their supernatural abiliALLAN SLOAN

Mild SPOILERS for WandaVision, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.

ties hidden from the local population.

One thing to note: WandaVision is not the comedy show you might think it is after watching the first few episodes, which are presented as typical ‘50s and ‘60s sitcoms a la Bewitched or I Dream of Genie.

Throughout the course of the show, viewers are treated to “live studio audience” sitcom scenarios, complete with a laugh track, beginning with the aforementioned Bewitched style, and going through the decades of television until we reach the mockumentary of Parks and Recreation and the Modern Family sitcom format.

This progression helps frame the story of Wanda Maximoff after the death of Vision during the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers Endgame, in which Wanda goes through several stages of grief and the discovery of a destiny she didn’t know she had.

Elizabeth Olsen shines as Wanda Maximoff throughout the series. Her command of Wanda’s subtle emotion and deep seated grief as she playfully banters with Vision (Paul Bettany) adds a haunted, if not subtly uncomfortable, air to the show's lightheartedness early on.

Olsen perfects the constant sadness seen in Wanda’s eyes as situations slowly unravel towards the show’s climax. Bettany’s performance as Vision is spot on, just as it has been since his introduction in Avengers: Age of Ultron, creating a familiar consistency that the Marvel Studios brand is known for.

The other side of the story sees Randall Park, Teyonah Parris, and Kat Dennings (last seen in Thor: The Dark World), as FBI Agent Jimmy Woo, S.W.O.R.D. Agent Monica Rambeau, and Darcy Lewis, respectively. The show inserts another lovely cameo (that is best left to experience on your own) and it doesn’t disappoint.

The true crux of the entire cast, however, is Katheryn Hahn’s Agnes. Always present, and commanding in every scene she appears in, Hahn’s comedic abilities only serve to amplify Olsen’s performance, making the hollow and haunting laugh track in the early episodes hit that much harder when a particular plot point comes to light.

While WandaVision episodes stuck to the traditional sitcom format of half an hour, the run times were a little more fluid when dealing outside of Wanda’s perspective. Episodes would run longer when other characters were the focus, and the final two episodes played out like the climax of a Marvel Studios feature film.

WandaVision is a cliffhanger machine. While the conflict of the episode would usually be resolved by the time the credits roll, something quick and dirty would happen to remind you that this isn’t a funny sitcom.

WandaVision, despite its weekto-week release per episode, is a show that was meant to be binged, it’s meant to be viewed as a whole, and being left on a “please stand by” screen only to have to wait a week to find out if the bee keeper coming out of the sewer is actually important to anything, is endlessly frustrating.

This is doubled when you take into account that the entire show is a set-up for one of Marvel Studios upcoming films Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in which Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff is confirmed to be playing a large role.

Last year was the first since 2010 that a Marvel Studios production had not seen the light of day. With COVID-19 impacting movie theatres across the country, many projects like Marvel’s Black Widow have been delayed until sometime in 2021; WandaVision was the first that project-hungry Marvel fans have been able to get their hands on since then.

WandaVision is a love letter to both Marvel fans and the history of television sitcoms, though it may not have the typical action-filled superhero flare that you expect out of a Marvel Studios production.

WandaVision has a very important purpose in the greater MCU, and while it may take some time to get there, it gets there in a very satisfying way. If this is a sign of what's to come, then it’s very clear that Marvel Studios is only just getting started.