wandavision poster

Directed by Matt Shakman
Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, and Kathryn Hahn
Produced by Marvel Studios
Distributed by Disney Platform Distribution
Rated TV-PG for “action, adventure, comedy.”

Author’s note: This review contains spoilers.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has varied in quality since its inception in 2008 with Iron Man. The cinematic releases have ranged from the gripping, superbly directed Thor: Ragnarok (2017) to the abysmally bland The Incredible Hulk (2009), with a large volume of well-made but repetitive entries in between. On the television front, it is more of the same; Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had some brilliant moments and some mind-numbingly boring ones through its mostly mediocre seven-season run. Agent Carter became unoriginal in its second season in spite of its excellent casting and interesting 1940s setting.

However, “unoriginal” is certainly not a word to describe the MCU’s latest on-demand offering, WandaVision. This is the first MCU series to debut on Disney+, and it takes full advantage of the streaming platform’s greater flexibility (compared to network television) to present a far more interesting product. Instead of the fixed-length episodes of a network show such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., WandaVision has a shorter season with varied episode lengths, determined by the needs of the story, not by scheduling requirements, without the low-budget filler episodes many network shows suffer from.

WandaVision’s first three episodes make for an unconventional start for a superhero show. It begins with Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and the sentient robot Vision (Paul Bettany)—both introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron and the latter killed in Avengers: Endgame—living as a happy couple inside the world of a 1950s sitcom, with no explanation as to how they got there. Each subsequent episode advances the setting forward one decade. The characters remain the same, but the style of the show changes to mimic sitcoms from each era in impressive detail: I Love Lucy for the 1950s, The Dick Van Dyke Show for the 1960s, and so on. The WandaVision episodes are faithfully-produced tributes to those shows, complete with canned laughter for over-the-top (but often still genuinely funny) humor. However, there is an occasional sinister undertone that comes to the surface in disturbing scenes, breaking the mood and hinting at a larger storyline before the sitcom setting suddenly resumes. 

In a time when short attention spans are common and audiences are used to the immediate action of shows such as The Mandalorian and The Witcher, WandaVision is a refreshing change. The viewer must patiently wait through the artistry of the early episodes before his expectations for an MCU show are fulfilled. Designing the show with such a slow-burn approach was a gamble in the modern marketalbeit, one that appears to have paid off from the show’s 91 percent approval rating.1

The fourth episode breaks from the format of the first three, at which point it becomes clear that the sitcom worlds are the creation of Wanda’s own mind made real by her superpowers. This is where the series’ moral themes emerge. In trying to deal with her grief over the death of Vision, Wanda has created a fantasy world and her own fantasy Vision, taking over the town of Westview and all its people to populate her world. It becomes apparent that Wanda’s inability to handle her grief is the main focus of the show. The sitcom settings represent the normal American life she never had while growing up in the war-torn eastern European country of “Sokovia,” watching American television and dreaming of living that life. Rather than moving forward and living up to her potential, Wanda retreats into this escapist fantasy. The series clearly communicates that living a good life requires facing reality—even if it is painful. 

The show also addresses the rights of the people Wanda controls within Westview. At several points, other characters momentarily break Wanda’s control over these people, and they speak for themselves. They immediately protest their loss of autonomy and separation from their loved ones and plead to be allowed to go back to living their own lives. Eventually, when Wanda comes to terms with her evasion, she must deal not only with the hardships of her own life, but also with what she has done to all the people she harmed in the process. At one point, Wanda tries to justify her actions by claiming that she can make them happy in her fantasy world, but they quickly remind her that she has no right to decide this for them. Ultimately, she’s forced to choose between “saving” her fictional Vision and sons (i.e. maintaining her fantasy), and saving the real people she’s effectively enslaved.

Another interesting philosophical question emerges in the final episode, where Wanda’s fantasy Vision faces the reanimated, reprogrammed form of his original robotic body. One is Vision’s mind in a newly constructed body, the other his body with a newly-programmed mind. The two debate which of them is the real Vision, referencing the problem of the Ship of Theseus, which asks whether or not a ship which has had all of its boards replaced with new ones is still the same ship. Although the scene commendably inspires thought about a challenging philosophic dilemma, the two Visions make a frustrating philosophic error when discussing it; they agree that both, and neither, of them are truly him. Neither of them hits upon the fact that the essence of a person is his soul, and therefore it is Wanda’s Vision that is truly him.

The show also suffers from some poorly developed characters, in particular two weak villains. One is a standard off-the-shelf military man bent on using force to solve any problem despite the efforts of sympathetic characters around him to propose other solutions; the other a centuries-old witch hungry to claim Wanda’s superpowers for herself. 

Perhaps somewhat predictably, many of the characters’ conflicts are resolved in an epic, if somewhat overdone, CGI battle sequence in the final episode. Although some of the battle scenes feel like standard MCU fare (in contrast to most of the show), they are interspersed with powerful discussions between the characters about the moral status of Wanda’s Westview creation, her character, and about Vision’s true identity. Refreshingly, the conflict between the two Visions is one of few instances in modern superhero productions in which such a conflict is decided by reasoning rather than brute force.

Although Wanda does face the reality of her decisions in the final episode, she claims that she created her fantasy world unintentionally, and she evades justice for everything she’s done to the people of Westview. This is frustrating considering the several points during the show in which Wanda clearly chooses to maintain her fantasy world when events or other characters make clear what she’s doing. 

On the whole, however, WandaVision is a stand-out piece of television and a real testament to the quality of programming that on-demand streaming has made possible. The show combines established Marvel characters and the stylistic elements of at least six different sitcoms in a thoroughly original story that stands out from other MCU productions. This is an accessible show that anyone can enjoy, whether familiar with the existing MCU canon or not. WandaVision makes the viewer think while also providing a feast of artistic detail and a gripping mystery story. It’s a rare gem in today’s television landscape.

#WandaVision makes the viewer think and provides a feast of artistic detail and a gripping mystery story—a rare gem in today’s TV landscape.
Click To Tweet

Endnotes

1. Josh Wilding, “WandaVision's Final Rotten Tomatoes Score Has Been Revealed Following Friday's Series Finale,” ComicBookMovie.com, 7 March, 2021. Available at:
https://www.comicbookmovie.com/tv/marvel/wandavision/wandavisions-final-rotten-tomatoes-score-has-been-revealed-following-fridays-series-finale-a182991#gs.vavzv1 (accessed 11 March, 2021).

Return to Top
You have loader more free article(s) this month   |   Already a subscriber? Log in

Thank you for reading
The Objective Standard

Enjoy unlimited access to The Objective Standard for less than $5 per month
See Options
  Already a subscriber? Log in

Pin It on Pinterest