"WandaVision" is Marvel's most ambitious project to date! It's investment into the extension of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is worth your time as it places important puzzle pieces throughout the series, laying the foundation of Marvel Phase 5.
If you’re like me, you were probably also initially hesitant to invest in Marvel’s first spin-off TV series built for the Disney+ Streamer, “WandaVision”. You’re not wrong. The first glimpses of the super-hero spin-off referenced old sitcoms with limited scenes flashing back to reference the events following "Avengers: End Game". There was also a lot of questions regarding the timeline of the series, including when the series was supposed to be taking place within the Marvel Universe. Lastly, the series featured some pretty under-utilized characters from the Avenger’s Saga: Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olson) and Vision (Paul Bettany). Not saying they are uninteresting characters, but they were definitely not the names of the super-heroes that encouraged the masses to attend the final saga.
These were probably all reasons why you initially didn’t watch, but they should not be the reasons that continue to prevent you from watching. If you are a Marvel Fan and are interested to see where Marvel extends to Phase 5, “WandaVision” is a must watch and proves to be an important puzzle piece to discover what is next for the MCU.
Important, there will be spoilers (pretty big ones) about the series below. If you do not want to read and are interested in investing into this show, I could not recommend more! The 9-Episode Series is slated out over 30 minute episodes, releasing one every week. If you are a fan of any of the Marvel comics, please do yourself a favor and tune in! Also, if you are thinking about investing in the series, I would recommend at least watching the following films to really grasp the storyline: “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: End Game.”
WARNING SPOILERS BELOW:
The series spans over nine, thirty-minute episodes. They are released on a weekly cadence and Episode 6 is the latest to drop. The first two-episodes, purposefully, play out like a very standard 50s/60s sitcom. There is a laugh back track, silly antics and ridiculous sub-plots that lend themselves very similar to actual sitcoms like “I Dream A Genie” and “I Love Lucy.” Don’t be alarmed if you are scratching your head during the first two episodes, they are meant to make you question what you are watching and why.
While each episode spans over a separate decade, 50s/60s/70s/80s/90s, we see Wanda and Vision living a somewhat perfect, suburban life in the small, quaint town of Westview. Until mysterious visitors and messages begin to be exchanged in episode 2. While Wanda is attending a garden party, we hear static from the radio start to reach out, with one simple message:
“Wanda, are you there? Can you hear me?”
The message is clearly intended for Wanda to hear, but when the camera spans out to Wanda, we see the initial fear in her eyes, but why? Who is reaching out to her and why?
Now, let’s dive into the details shall we. The series operates in separate timelines, as we find out in the third episode. In one timeline, we see Wanda and Vision residing in the town of Westview, living their lives together. In the second timeline, we see S.W.O.R.D., a spin-off organization of S.H.I.E.L.D that has been founded to investigate supernatural occurrences in the field. This is where we link back to "Avengers: End-Game" where we see Agent, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) waking up in the hospital after the “snap” where she is brought back nearly 5 years later.
After re-integrating back into her old job, she is summoned to the town of Westview with fellow agent, Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) to investigate the disappearance on an entire town. The town of Westview is real and there is an invisible barrier around the city being controlled by Wanda. As Monica investigates, she also gets sucked up into the ploy and is transported into Wanda’s version of Westview that she is operating as her own personal sitcom where the people of Wet View are under intense mind-control while Wanda and Vision continue to live out their suburban inspired fantasy.
Confused yet? Hang with in there!
As you might remember in “End-Game” Vision is killed before the “snap”, killed by his love, Wanda. Since Vision, the first human synthezoid, is destroyed prior to the snap, he did not come back. Consumed and overwhelmed with grief, we discover that Wanda is unable to live with herself under the realization that she was the one who killed Vision. Instead of choosing to live in a world without him, she constructs her own alternate reality, holding an entire town of civilian’s hostage, to do so.
The series is…gripping, binge-worthy and entirely ambitious! After you get through the first two episodes, you begin to see faces of familiar characters that have been featured in smaller roles throughout the Marvel universe like astrophysicist Darcy (Kat Dennings) from “Thor: Dark World” and Monica Rambeau a young child in the 90s era “Captain Marvel.” With some surprising visitors (thanks for the Disney/Fox acquisition), the series is sure to have important consequences that play out in the upcoming Marvel Phase 5 Series like: “Doctor Strange In the Multi-Verse of Madness” and “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
Please do yourself a favor and check it out. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.
And that’s the sitch!
Commentaires