WandaVision Review: What Is WandaVision Even About?

What is WandaVision? Is it a loving pastiche of classic TV sitcoms? Is it a deep exploration of Wanda Maximoff’s grief? A look at Vision’s trauma stemming from his incredibly toxic relationship? The origin of Monica Rambeau, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s newest hero? A way to bring back fan favorite characters like Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo and continue their stories? WandaVision is all of the above and yet it is not really about anything.

Full Spoilers for ‘Breaking the Fourth Wall’ follow. You have been warned.

It seems WandaVision is dedicated to the worst inclinations of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As with the worst film installments, this series does not wish to surprise viewers nor does it wish to tell an interesting, cohesive story about its characters. Instead, we are stuck with a number of plot points made watchable only on the backs of a phenomenal cast.

Make no mistake, the cast is phenomenal. Even the big reveal that everyone saw coming¹ was made swallowable by Kathryn Hahn, who has been a welcome presence every episode. Of course, said reveal still feels weightless because it is not clear what it means. Sure, Agnes has been hanging around, influencing the events of the previous six episodes, but how much? The strange Agatha All Along montage/theme song could be read as everything being her fault or Wanda having done al the heavy lifting and Agnes simply influenced events. I suspect it is the latter.

Removing any fault from Wanda would be huge mistake. It would render what little character development that has occurred moot. Nothing in the show thus far would have mattered. I suspect the creators are smarter than that, though plenty of MCU films lack meaningful stakes so we shall see.

Unfortunately, the other “monumental” scene of the episode also fell flat. When Monica forces her was into the Hex, it is clearly meant to be her big moment where she overcomes…something and uses her newfound powers to force her way into Wanda’s quickly deteriorating world. What is she overcoming exactly? There are all these lines from her and her mother that are heard, but why? What is that supposed to tell me about Monica or her situation? It feels like a scene that knows what usually happens in this kind of scene but not why they work.

On a positive note, the series seems to have finally given up on the sitcom thing. This episode features another bad theme. More importantly, while several scenes are shot with Modern Family’s visual language, the format is almost entirely dropped. It is honestly a relief.

Despite the idea of telling a story via homages to classic sitcoms being the most interesting premise in MCU history, the creators clearly never had any interest in actually imitating the stylings and structures, simply borrowing the aesthetics so that it is more visually appealing than the typical MCU project. One need only look at the scenes outside the Hex to see how successful that endeavor has been.

Also, Evans Peters shows up briefly and he is a delight, even if I cannot tell if he is meant to be menacing or friendly².

Where does the series go from here? Presumably, the next episode opens with an explanation of what has been going on. It seems Agnes may have some level of control over Wanda so she may have to fight her husband. That could be interesting. Hopefully the final two episodes delve into Wanda’s motivations for creating this entire town, why it is like various US sitcoms, Vision’s interiority, and whether Quicksilver was plucked from an alternate universe. Also, some stakes would be nice, but it might be too late for that.

 

¹I admit I dismissed this theory, not because I thought it was obviously wrong, but because I wanted something more interesting.

²I’m thinking friendly.