WandaVision is the debut Marvel Studios superhero TV miniseries drama streaming on the Disney+ platform. Of course, we have had Marvel TV series like Daredevil, Jessica Jones etc on Netflix, Agents of SHIELD on ABC and so on. However, this time around, WandaVision is effectively spinning off the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) characters of Wanda Maximoff and Vision into a TV miniseries. Thus far, Disney+ has released the first two episodes of the miniseries and its fair to say that WandaVision is quite different from what MCU fans may be used to in the hit movies.
Last time we saw Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) – in Avengers : Endgame – she was at Tony Stark’s funeral and mourning the death of Vision (Paul Betthany) at the hands of Thanos in Avengers : Infinity War. But in WandaVision, Wanda and Vision (very much alive) are in a bizarre black-and-white world fashioned after a 1950s-styled situation comedy.
This change of scenery – without any explanation whatsoever – can be jarring especially for MCU fans so used to the movies being closely linked. Presumably, the events in WandaVision will ultimately tie up with the MCU but at the moment, the two episodes released thus far, get very confusing.
Which is probably why it would have been better if Disney+ had dropped the entire 9-part miniseries on the platform (like Netflix) then perhaps this sense of confusion would not leave diehard MCU fans hanging in suspense. Without any hint of what is going on in reality, Episode 2 especially gets wearisome very quickly. The novelty of Episode 1 loses its value the longer the miniseries stays in this mode without clarity.
Thus, at this stage, we have to say that WandaVision is a disappointment. Although there are hints that Wanda is controlling her made-up existence with Vision and that someone from the ‘outside’ is trying to help Wanda, there is not enough of the ‘real’ world to keep the viewer engaged. Hopefully, Episode 3 remedies this flaw.
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