Directed By: Matt Shakman

Starring: Elizabeth Olson and Paul Bettany

Release Date: January 15, 2021

MPAA Rating: PG

“WandaVision” has been one of my most highly anticipated shows in all of 2021, and while the first 3 episodes may have been confusing at times, I would still say that the show has not disappointed. The show is not very similar to your typical Marvel show or movie, replacing the action filled drama, with a late 1960s early 1970s sitcom. 

The website, TheRinger.com, puts it perfectly when it says, “Through two episodes, ‘WandaVision’ had strayed far from the traditional formula that Marvel has built a cinematic empire off of. It took a decidedly different approach to the superhero genre by bringing the extraordinary powers of the witch and the Infinity Stone–wearing robot from the movies and placing them in the ordinary setting of decades-old sitcoms.”

The show evolves through each episode, and mimics different sitcoms that progress through time as the season does. However, this doesn’t mean that there are no callbacks or references to previous Marvel comics and movies that foreshadow what will happen later on in the season.

“WandaVision” is a show about the Marvel characters Wanda Maximoff (played by Elizabeth Olson) who is more commonly known as the Scarlet Witch and Vision (played by Paul Bettany) living what seems like fake life based on the old sitcoms such as “The Brady Bunch” and “Bewitched”. Basically, each episode has an important event or conflict that has to be dealt with, and throughout the show, Wanda and Vision comedically try to solve the conflict without being figured out that they are actually superheroes and are different from everyone else. Throw in a couple references to the old comics and other Marvel movies and you have yourself the average “WandVision” episode.

Each episode though has had something strange happen that makes you think the reality in which Wanda and Vision are living in is an illusion, and that everything going on is actually a lie. 

Episode one (Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience) had an instance at the end where the camera zoomed out and showed a man watching on a television. Episode two (Don’t touch that Dial) had an instance where a man in a bee keeper suit came out of a manhole and Wanda was able to somehow rewind time, which caused Vision to forget about the instance. In Episode three (Now in Color), the craziest thing happens where all of the citizens act weird and when Vision questions them about what is going on the act as if it is nothing, but then one of the citizens named Monica Rambeau talks to Wanda about her brother and how she died while she is in her house, but suddenly as Vision enters the house she is gone, and in the last scene of the show she is seen being shot out of what seems like a rip in the fabric of reality.

All of the references to Hydra (a villain organization in the Marvel universe), Sword (the successor to the secret organization Shield, who invented the Avengers), and instances from the Scarlet Witch comics give the viewer a lot of things to talk about and research to go deeper into the show and find out what is really going on. This has interested me especially because I have been doing lots of research and been watching lots of videos about the easter eggs and things that are easy to miss in the show. One of my favorite parts about television is not just being able to watch the show, but to be able to research deeper into the show to find deeper meanings and make connections to previous episodes or movies. This is why I am such a big fan of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).

Jeremy Jahns, a Youtuber with 1.75 million subscribers, says that episode three gave him at least at the end, “what I was really wanting in the [first two episodes] of WandaVision.” 

This resonated with me because I felt the same way. Episodes 1 and 2, at least the first time I watched them, were rather boring and confused me, but episode 3 kind of explained at least a little bit about not only what was going on in those first two episodes, but also the direction the series is headed.

In episode three, the big surprise is really that you begin to understand that the main character Wanda, may not be the biggest protagonist of the series, and may be more of an antagonist. 

This surprise absolutely hooked me to the show and the little cliffhangers at the end keep me waiting and excited for a new episode each week. So far, the only knock that I have on the show is that I wish that the episodes were longer so I could experience more of it.