Starring
Elizabeth Olsen
Paul Bettany
Kathryn Hahn
Teyonah Parris
Randall Park
Creator: Jac Schaeffer
CNET Watch Order: 23
I’ve never bothered to get into any of the Marvel spin-off series before. I didn’t even have a Disney+ account before this year, despite the Baby Yoda memes lurking in every corner of the internet. But seeing trailers for WandaVision and Loki finally convinced me to bite the $6/mo bullet. WandaVision specifically sparked my interest for its cutesy sitcom throwbacks, and how it would fit into the MCU (is this happening before Endgame? After? Will it tie into the Doctor Strange sequel??). And of course their heartbreaking story in Infinity War made me emotionally invested in seeing the two have their chance at happiness. Still, I had no idea how much I’d love it. So in an exception to my movie-only Marvelthon list, I’m adding this in here.
Likes
- WandaVision is full of homages to American classic television and Marvel Easter eggs. Even the fake commercials were loaded with hints and cultural stylings of the time. It’s a fascinating examination of how sitcoms have evolved over the decades.
- In modern times, streaming services can decide whether or not to release their shows all at once or piecemeal like the good old days. Although being forced to wait an entire week to see what will happen next made me want to flip a table in frustration, it was just another aspect of the show that contributed to the classic feel.
- Part of the fun with the episodes being weekly was seeing how the fan theories evolved over time. It was a salve for the shortness of the episodes to hypothesize all the ways the series could go, or notice how the same actors were in all the commercials when you mashed them together (the Lagos commercial is my favorite for making me laugh out loud with its tagline).
- Kathryn Hahn has cemented herself in my mind for her stellar performance in Step Brothers, and her scene-stealing supporting role in WandaVision only made me love her even more.
Dislikes
- When I first learned of Marvel’s Master Plan to release numerous interconnected movies over several phases, it seemed impossible. Now that their quest for world domination has shifted in part to Disney+ series, it feels even more daunting. It was fun to see the Easter eggs and MCU film references in WandaVision, but at some point, people are going to get fatigued, right? Eventually there will be too many movies and tie-in series and a generation of people who just can’t be bothered to keep up. As the years stretch into decades, some movies will fall by the wayside, and others may continue to stand out. As great as this show is for condensing American television into each time period, when I take off the rose-colored glasses I see a bridge between Endgame and Multiverse. Not a standalone series. But who knows? Maybe time will prove me wrong.
