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From the opening chords of its TV Land–ready theme song, Disney+’s WandaVision delivers flawless sitcom magic. The 1950s costumes and hairstyling is impeccable, the crinkly audio is adorably nostalgic, and the show’s eponymous characters merge surprisingly well with the genre’s trademark slapstick comedy. If someone with no knowledge of WandaVision’s place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe were to stumble upon this show’s first episode, they could be forgiven for assuming it was a genuine and likable relic of television’s golden age.
It’s not though, and therein lies the problem. WandaVision’s sitcom bona fides are, as fans have guessed since the first trailer dropped, a smokescreen obscuring something sinister lurking underneath Wanda and Vision’s suspiciously idyllic lives. The mystery of WandaVision — why two Marvel heroes, one of which is canonically dead, appear to be acting out the tropes of throwback TV programs — is clearly the point of the show. That promised point is what will feed into the greater MCU and give WandaVision a place within the franchise, but the three episodes provided for review seem more interested in the joys of replicating old shows than providing a compelling reason to watch this new one.
While Disney+’s strategy in dropping the first two episodes of WandaVision on its premiere day is clever, some of the show’s charm has already worn off by the time the credits roll on episode two. Both episodes are short, with the longest clocking in at just over 30 minutes, but they are nearly identical to each other: Wanda and Vision are stock characters in a black and white sitcom for some reason, predictable Bewitched-style hijinks ensue, and the episode ends with a hint that something is rotten in their town of Westview. Those hints don’t build to anything significant by episode three, at which point the need for something, anything to happen is overwhelming.
WandaVision arrives as a bold, experimental anomaly with the unfortunate job of scratching a yearlong MCU itch it was never created to soothe.
Part of the reason WandaVision’s slow detour through television history inspires such impatience is the fact that anyone who has paid attention to the trailers already knows to expect a big reveal. Fans have seen clips of Wanda and Vision in their comic book costumes and using their powers in this show; no one needs three or more episodes to catch on to the idea that something funky is going on here. At some point, the cute sitcom plots begin to feel like a gag gift, one where a big, beautifully wrapped box contains a smaller, equally beautiful box and so on until the fun of unwrapping is usurped by annoyance. It’s been a year, WandaVision, what did you get us?
And speaking of that year, it’s likely that the unexpected gap and subsequent shuffle of Disney and Marvel’s film and TV schedule is responsible for some of WandaVision’s awkwardness. Not only did the effects of COVID-19 leave fans of the MCU hanging since 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, but it also changed the expected premiere order of Disney+’s Marvel shows. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, seemingly a more action oriented and traditionally Marvel-ish show, was meant to premiere months before WandaVision and perhaps would have delivered a more potent hit of the sweet, sweet hero stuff fans have been craving. Instead, WandaVision arrives as a bold, experimental anomaly with the unfortunate job of scratching a yearlong MCU itch it was never created to soothe.
There is little doubt that WandaVision will reveal its secrets, get to the point, and deliver what’s expected from a project emblazoned with the MCU’s big name by the end of the season. In the meanwhile, its mystery box presentation is a delightful showcase for Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen’s obvious chemistry and the costume department’s limitless budget. It would be easier to enjoy those things if the drip-feed of plot didn’t come at such a leisurely pace, but it’s not entirely WandaVision‘s fault that waiting for important things to happen feels especially irritating these days. Like the classics Wanda and Vision emulate in their bizarro TV world, WandaVision was created for a different time.
WandaVision premieres on Disney+ Jan.15.