WandaVision

 

A Wanda-ful Vision of love and loss

(Spoilers for everything in the MCU preceding and including WandaVision)

They do make an unusual (yet endearing) couple. That was never in question.

WandaVision was amongst the first projects announced for Phase 4 of the MCU, and a seemingly unique take on pre-established characters; as a Disney+ show no less. More so than most this show was shrouded in mystery; the others announced alongside it such as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki seemed far more clear cut, at least in terms of the characters and the representation of said characters. The issue with WandaVision is the Vision part. Because he's dead. Definitively, stone cold dead since the closing moments of Infinity War. The early promises were that the show would be the most "out there" thing that the creative teams have ever done, and would pay homage to classic sitcoms in a novel way. Oh yeah, and it's a sitcom. 

It was also evident from the first wave of Disney+ announcements that for the most part the shows would be given to secondary or even tertiary characters who have largely gone woefully underdeveloped in the films in which they've featured. Captain America, The Guardians of the Galaxy, even Iron Man were all mostly unknowns before their films, now they're beloved. So why not try to do the same for other heroes who haven't had the spotlight, especially considering the transitional period we are in with the MCU where some heroes are stepping down or have been killed off. There's plenty of headway for new main liners. The prevailing issue prior to any of the shows releases lied in their premise. They weren't focusing on the heroes we love, but some of the ones we felt mostly meh on. If they aren't getting their own big films, doesn't that say something about their worthiness of our time in a show format? 

It's particularly interesting when considering the initial intended release order for the projects in Phase 4. WandaVision was not meant to be the kicking off point, it was meant to come fifth. By the initial plans, we were meant to have already seen Natasha Romanoff's swansong in Black Widow and already have been introduced to both Shang-Chi and The Eternals. A year later and we have only gotten WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which were meant to come fifth and second respectively. With Coronavirus delaying shoots, a super out there show like WandaVision being the reignition for a franchise with both ravenous fans and a pre-built in break post Endgame was a major risk. But realistically it couldn't have paid off better and in my opinion is the best possible way things could have turned out. It would be fascinating to see the alternate reality where this did come out as initially intended (a month before Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, to which WandaVision is built as a direct precursor, set to release early 2022) and to read the communities reaction. As said though, I feel the misfortune of the pandemic led to Marvel putting their best foot forward and demonstrated out of the gate that post-Endgame MCU would be bold and different (compared to more retrospective projects like Black Widow and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier).

They're far from perfect parents, yet I feel they are the most deserving of happiness

Doing the characters justice comes better late than never

It's widely known amongst the community, as producer Kevin Feige has confirmed it himself, that Phase 4 amongst other things is heavily focused on representation. An overdue decision, and one that is simultaneously narratively cohesive as, as previously mentioned, many heroes from the Infinity Saga are gone. What better way to kick that off than with a emotional story centred around a complex flawed female hero, the equivalent of two films worth of character development (in terms of the shows running time), the introduction of a black female superhero who instantly resonates with fans; all the while ingeniously paying homage to the very format it was designed for. Having the first Marvel show be about shows is smart, makes creative/narrative sense within the context provided (so long as you do the usual leaps of logic for the superhero genre) and eases in a perhaps newer audience who are more comfortable with television as opposed to cinema. Don't have 2-3 hours to sit down and watch a film in any given week? Well here's a 20-30 minute episode of WandaVision to entice you. The only problem is WandaVision is naturally very reliant on the viewer at least having seen Infinity War/Endgame to contextualise some of the events discussed; but this is mostly a mute point in my opinion, as anyone interested in the show would know about the nature of the MCU by this point and would inherently understand what they were letting themselves in for should they go in blind. On that same note however, I do feel the show does a good enough job by the time it wraps up of giving you some of that context and therefore being a complete, engaging and understandable product in its own right, detached from its wider connections. 

For those of us with a even vague knowledge of the comic book origins of the character, we knew that Wanda has been the least accurately portrayed hero (to no fault of Elizabeth Olsen, it's more a creatively driven translational decision), but also the one with perhaps the most untapped potential for potential narrative arcs. She hadn't even assumed, or earned, her classic title of 'The Scarlet Witch'. One could even argue it may as well have been a different character up until this point. The same goes for Vision. Other than a couple interesting albeit brief conversations in Age of Ultron, very little has been done with him; his conception as a WMD and subsequent disillusion and later rebirth into a synthetic hero has widely been looked over. They have both been background characters. I think this is in large part due to their overpowered nature; a recurring problem within the MCU as of late, as the more recent additions to the roster are much more powerful than their predecessors and therefore are harder to steer them clear of being the macguffin in a team-up film, or from creating a lack of stakes in a solo adventure. WandaVision fantastically skirts around this issue by driving Wanda to become a pseudo-villain, using her powers for her own benefit to the detriment of innocent people around her, including her magically manifested incarnation of Vision. At the same time, the narrative context incites Wanda to keep her powers withheld for an innovative reason; to not break the sitcom reality she is building to help cope with her grief. She has lost her brother and then watched her lover die in front of her, twice. 

As more of the mystery is revealed, we begin to understand that this facade cannot be sustained. It isn't healthy for Wanda's mental health or the general health of those entrapped by her magic. And for an MCU project to breach the topic of mental health and give it the grace and ability to breathe that it deserves is refreshing for the genre and furthermore something I had never considered ever seeing being part of these characters journeys. It humanises those in the show that are inherently outlandish more so than regular human characters we have encountered in the MCU up until this point, which is a remarkable achievement. As her children are introduced, and Kathryn Hahn's role (who turns in a iconic if not predictable nosy neighbour turned villain) starts to increase in importance a simultaneous plot plays outside the hex, mainly revolving around Teyonah Paris' Monica Rambeau (who we previously encountered as a young girl in Captain Marvel), Randall Parks' Jimmy Woo (from Ant-Man and the Wasp) and Kat Dennings' Darcy Lewis (from the Thor films). This is my one criticism of the show, as this plot retains around half of the running time and feels far inferior in terms of pacing, character development, viewer engagement and, unfortunately, the performances. Whilst all have their moments, particularly Teyonah Paris in the second half of the season, most of the interactions on their part feel ironically more television, with many overly meta jokes and stitled interactions that pale in comparison to their co-stars inside the sitcom. Wanda's children also don't make a huge impression, but are a necessary element to allow their older incarnations to join the Avengers down the line. Another who suffers a similar fate is Evan Peters. For anyone who doesn't know, it's a complicated matter to get into but long story short; he played a character in the X-Men films who is Wanda's brother in the comics, her brother in the MCU is as aforementioned dead, so fans assumed when he showed up looking like the character... he was that same character brought in through the multiverse. We know the multiverse IS coming, so fair assumption. Spoilers: he's not. It was just another meta wink to the audience. The weekly release sparked conversations and theories in a far more visceral manner than gaps between cinematic installments ever had, and it backfired. It irked others a lot more than me. It did feel like a wasted opportunity I have to admit, but after a decade of rock solid storytelling and compelling character development I have (and will continue to) put all my chips on Kevin Feige's board.

Starting Phase 4 with a reality shattering bang

Wanda's moment gaining her 'ultimate form' was a long time coming

The one and only downside that I have to learn to live with in regards to these Disney+ shows is that Feige has confirmed, understandably, that the mainstream audience will be able to follow the storylines in the MCU just by watching the film installments. This by proxy requires that nothing of massive consequence or substance can occur within any of the shows, so expectations must be set going forward. As the first foray into televised storytelling the audience ran wild with weekly gaps between episodes causing speculation, theories and assumptions being built up in a way previously unseen, even within the MCU. And while many assumptions were correct and expectations were met, there were some let downs. No Dr Strange appearance, no Aaron Taylor Johnson, no *cough cough* Mephisto. With fervour tempered for future streaming projects, even The Falcon and the Winter Soldier which immediately followed WandaVision's finale, it seems to be working well and causing shows to exceed those lowered excitement levels. 

As previously stated, the shows work best as character studies and development platforms for both the leads and new and pre-existing supporting casts. With sizeable budgets and the same level of narrative planning as their cinematic brethren, the shows stand poised to overtake their siblings in popularity, conversation pieces and awards contenders. With an exciting new take on underdeveloped characters and plenty of setup for future payoffs, WandaVision smashes it out of the park and shows Disney and Marvel aren't messing around with providing compelling and competitive content to further expand their monopoly of the entertainment sector. A lot of people in my life jeer at me for being fanatical about this fictional world, and for placing "blind faith" in the creative teams behind the franchise; but can it really be blind faith when they have been consistently producing content of such high quality for many of the formative years of my childhood?

The MCU may be going on too long for some, and WandaVision not exciting or action packed enough... But what is WandaVision, if not storytelling persevering?

The family scenes throughout the show give it real heart and wholesomeness

SH