WandaVision was one of the Marvel shows that when it was first announced that I was initially not excited for. While I think Wanda has been the unsung MVP of many of the Avengers battles, I don’t have the strongest ties to her character outside of her involvement in one of comic’s biggest moments. Vision was…there. So needless to say a show about these two characters was not at the top of my list. I softened a bit once I heard about the weird tone and started seeing the supporting actors that they would be bringing on.
The first three episodes of the series are what I would consider icing without the cake. Icing is delicious and as someone with a big sweet tooth I often request the piece of cake with the most icing on it. However, the episodes themselves are just sweet confections. This is not a knock on them so much as its an acknowledgement that you will definitely have to wait until the final minutes of the third episode for something “big” to happen and that Marvel is very keen to draw the mystery out. I can 100% see the series completely changing after about episode 5 (there’s 9 in total).
What I think WandaVision does the most right, and what will carry the show, is let an incredible ensemble of actors sink their teeth into different genres and acting styles. Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany are nice centerpiece performances, but I was thrilled to see Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Paris, and Debra Jo Rupp tear into some juicy material. Hahn is especially delightful as she’s an actress that can play drama and comedy and there’s not an era she doesn’t fit in.
Overall, I think this is an interesting experiment for the first Marvel show out of the gate. I appreciated the stylistic commitment they made and look forward to what comes next.