Wandavision (Non-Spoiler) Series Review: An Exciting and Thrilling Beginning For MCU'S Phase 4

 

Ever since the initial announcement of WandaVision, and the numerous of trailers that have hit the web, this brand new miniseries from Marvel Studios has very much been high on my radar. Not only does it mark the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 4, but also their first venture into the TV world as a newly release Disney+ original property. It's safe to say there was a lot of anticipation riding on this one given that this also marks the studio's first release in nearly two years, given how the Covid 19 pandemic has largely affected the release dates of many projects in the industry. 

And it brings me great joy to report that while not perfect, through all of its nine episodes, WandaVision always remained a wildly entertaining, an often thrilling, and inventive piece of entertainment that is also a great beginning for the MCU's Disney+ TV shows. 

One of the biggest selling points for WandaVision for me was how the series was clearly being built as very much a homage to classic sit-coms from many different decades. At the beginning of the series, we see that Avengers members, and superhero couple Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), and Vision (Paul Bettany) are somehow living a very suburban lifestyle in the city of Westview, New Jersey through likely an alterative reality which the show plays with a very sit-com centric tone. It's played for a lot of great laughs particularly within those earlier episodes, and as someone who grew up watching many sit-coms, I was totally eating up all of the clear homages. But these first initial episodes also set-up a wonderful mystery as to what is really going on here and how our two main characters ended up where they are. It's essentially Bewitched meets The Twilight Zone. And I loved that, as these early episodes especially gave this series a very distinctive feel compared to other MCU projects. But, even as this series progressed into the more traditional MCU storytelling we've come to expect with later episodes, never once did this insanely entertaining show manage to lose me, because what followed those more sit-com & mysterious earlier episodes was a surprisingly mature & emotional character study, particularly for the character of Wanda. 

I can not rave about this cast nearly enough. Elizabeth Olsen has always been a very gifted actress I've greatly admired, including her previous performances in the Avengers films as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlett Witch, but getting the chance to be very front & center through nine episodes of WandaVision, she gives easily some of the very best work of her entire career. It is such a terrific showcase for her because these episodes give her the opportunity to pull off so much more range than she has in this role in the past, but it's also at times a really heartbreaking performance in the very understated ways her work beautifully conveys the apparent grief this character is very much experiencing. I know it's still early in the year, but Olsen should absolutely be in strong consideration for an Emmy nomination with her brilliant work here. Paul Bettany has always been such a criminally underrated actor whose consistently provided entertaining work in the past as Vision. This series though also allows for him to do so much more with the role, he provides much of the best comedic moments, but also gives the character the gravitas and surprising vulnerability he needs. These two have always been great actors, but finally with WandaVision, we see both performers being used to their full capabilities. I enjoyed both Wanda & Vision as characters well enough prior to this show, but ultimately by the end of this series, I grew so much more emotionally attached to this relationship than I ever imagined I could. The chemistry is perfection and the obvious heart of the show.

The supporting cast surrounding our two excellent leads are no slouches either. Kathryn Hahn (one of the most underrated character actors of today) provides such scene stealing work as the nosy & mysterious neighbor Agnes. Teyonah Paris is also another major standout and provides a star making turn as Monica Rambeau, a fierce & exciting new character who I can't wait to see so much more of in other future MCU projects such as the upcoming Captain Marvel 2. We also see the return of two other previously established characters with Randall Park's Agent Jimmy Woo, and Kat Denning's Darcy Lewis. I've always greatly enjoyed both Park & Dennings as actors, and think they both carry great comedic chops, but in previous Marvel films such as Ant-Man & Thor, these characters couldn't basically feel any more useless. That's thankfully not the case here though, screenwriter Jac Schaeffer wonderfully manages to perfectly utilize the comedic abilities of both while still giving both characters critical inclusion in this story. I grew to finally love both of these characters so much that I found myself wanting only more of them by the end.

Now, nothing's perfect, and WandaVision isn't an exception to that. As with any TV show, there are certainly episodes that are much stronger and more memorable than others, but even with that, these episodes always remain consistently entertaining and just a whole lot of fun. I do feel as the story progressed with later episodes, it does start to lose a bit more of that creativity presented in the earlier episodes. And I think that's largely due to the SWORD organization storyline, which I did still very much enjoy and was thoroughly invested with especially given these great actors present, but at times I did want to see more of what was going on within the crazy shenanigans of this Westview world. But frankly, these are all very minor nit-picks in an otherwise always engaging series. 

At the heart of it, WandaVision was always meant to be about Wanda & Vision obviously, but it is also a surprisingly poignant story that tackles themes such as grief and one character in particular having to come to terms with that. And where this series ultimately takes its two lead characters, I don't think the journey couldn't be any more emotionally satisfying than it was. Given how I was really only moderately attached to Wanda & the AI android Vision prior to this, I couldn't believe the amount of times these two characters nearly brought me to tears on dozens of occasions. That's a testament to not only the strong writing, but even more so the brilliance of Elizabeth Olsen & Paul Bettany as actors. 

Without diving into spoilers, I'll just say I very much thoroughly enjoyed the series finale (as the episode is literally titled) of this. I know reactions across the board on social media are all over the place, as many fans clearly went in with particular fan theories that did not exactly pan out. For me, that fact is honestly refreshing. My biggest fear heading into this finale was that the show would leave too many unanswered questions left dangling in order for those to be resolved in future MCU films or other shows, but for the most part I think this finale managed to smartly avoid that by wrapping up the show's most crucial story threads with satisfying conclusions. I can't say I'm in love with everything that happens in this finale, but it felt like an organic conclusion for the show and a satisfying one that still obviously sets things up for the MCU's future with two great post credit sequences. By the end of it, I was pretty emotional.  

Overall, WandaVision is a hugely entertaining, very funny, consistently thrilling, and inventive addition to the ever expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe. It gets me not only excited for the future of the MCU's Phase 4 slate, but also all the other upcoming Disney+ TV shows that Marvel currently has in the pipeline. In two weeks, their second show "The Falcon & the Winter Soldier" is set to premiere and I can not wait for that one to drop to say the least. Regardless though, WandaVision is very much a triumph for Marvel. Hats off to director Matt Shakman, show runner Jac Schaeffer, the wonderful cast, and everyone at Marvel Studios for pulling this one off in spades.

Final Letter Grade: B+