by Mack Olmstead

WandaVision is not your typical Marvel television show. In fact, it’s not a typical tv show at all. It is so confusing that even the characters aren’t sure about what is going on. This is the first Marvel content since Avengers Endgame besides Spiderman: Far From Home. Fans have been waiting over a year to see what their favorite characters are up to. When fans finally get to see their favorite characters for the first time in twenty-one months, they are greeted by them in black and white inside a 1950’s sitcom. Going into the show, I thought this would be annoying, but I was surprised. It was actually a lot of fun. As episode one unfolds, I would not call this a superhero show. I would just call it a sitcom. It’s hilarious. When the Vision started to sing “Yakety Yak”, I couldn’t help but laugh. But at the end, we did see that Wanda and Vision are being watched.

Going into episode two, I had a better idea of what the show would be. Yes, there are funny moments here and there, but I don’t know if it’s enough to make a Marvel fan come back next week. There wasn’t really any explanation about what is going on, but now we hear a voice calling out to Wanda trying to reach out to her.  I think this show is cool because, yes, the viewers are completely clueless about what the heck is going on, but it seems as if the protagonists aren’t completely sure about the situation either. 

The show shifts from black and white to color in episode 3. WandaVision seems to be taking us through the decades starting with the 50’s and 60’s. Now we’re in the 70s. I thought this episode was the funniest one out of the three so far. It was a lot of fun to see all the different corny ways Wanda was trying to hide her pregnancy. And seeing Vision more nervous than her about the new child or children was also just overall a fun time. At the end of the episode, a neighbor is at the house talking to Wanda about her newborn children when all of a sudden she mentions Ultron, the villain of Avengers 2. Because this neighbor mentioned something from the “real world”, she is pushed back by Wanda and is sent outside of West View.

Finally, in episode 4, we’re back into the regular Marvel universe. This episode answers some questions about what’s going on, but it also raises new ones. The episode begins in a hospital where a woman is returning from Thanos’ snap. It is chaotic as the hospital doesn’t know what to do with all of these new returning patients, and we follow this one woman who is revealed to be Monica Rambeau. Rambeau was the little girl from Captain Marvel. We follow her as she goes back to work and her normal life as a government agent. She is now an agent of S.W.O.R.D. She gets an assignment to go to Westview, N.J. It was really cool to see an expansion of how life was like once they returned from the snap. It was also nice to see a returning character like Monica Rambeau. There are also two more returning characters from past movies: Agent Jimmy Woo from Antman and the Wasp and Darcy Lewis from the first two Thor movies. I think it was great to incorporate minor characters from the films as main characters in the television show. It was fun to see them interact with each other. This episode answered questions and showed what’s been going on in the Marvel universe since Endgame.  I feel like episode 4 felt more like a traditional Marvel show than the previous three episodes.

Episode 5 begins with a Family Ties style opening and we are introduced to Wanda and Vision’s babies, Tommy and Billy. But don’t get too comfortable with the infants because they rapidly age and turn five within the first five minutes of the episode. It is really strange to watch the sitcom side of things, but then we jump back to the S.W.O.R.D. camp and see what the aftermath was from Wanda pushing out Agent Rambeu from the Hex.  Agent Woo and Darcy Lewis check up on her and that’s when they discover that whatever they put into the hex changes to fit the decade that the Hex is mimicking. For example, an iPhone might  turn into a rotary phone.  Meanwhile, Wanda deals with a sitcom situation where her kids get a dog, lose it, and it dies. S.W.O.R.D sends in a drone from the 80s which works and Wanda gets upset. She comes out of the Hex and pretty much threatens everyone then she walks back into the hex.  I  don’t really think the sitcom part is necessary anymore because it’s like we’ve seen what’s behind the curtain now. However, the end of the episode was very interesting with Vision questioning everything that’s going on

We are now in the 2000’s as this crazy show continues. Taking place on Halloween, Vision goes to investigate the town and try to figure out what exactly is going on. Meanwhile, outside the Hex, Agent Woo, Agent Rambeau and Darcy Lewis try to figure out what Director Hayward is really up to. I thought this episode was great. It continued to balance the Wanda and Vision story with the agents of S.W.O.R.D. plot. In this episode Vision attempts to walk outside the Hex, but he starts to break apart piece by piece, so Wanda decides to expand the Hex. Now the show raises such questions as “How much of the Hex is under Wanda’s control?” and “Is Vision even real outside the Hex?” I think my favorite part of the show is that the characters in it are asking and wondering the same questions as the viewer. It makes you feel like you’re part of the show. If the show continues this way, I think it’s going to be a remarkable part of the Marvel Universe. 

As we get closer and closer to the finale, more and more questions get answered. The seventh episode of WandaVision is a Modern Family style sitcom episode where Wanda wants to be left alone to try and figure out what exactly is going on. Vision is with Darcy Lewis, and she gives him a crash course on the history of his life since he doesn’t remember anything prior to Westview. As Vision and Darcy try and make their way to Wanda, they keep meeting obstacles along the way that stop them. Meanwhile, Agents Woo and Rambeau try to break inside the Hex. When they fail, agent Rambeau believes she can go inside without protective equipment. When she tries to break inside of Westview, we get to witness one of the coolest superhero origin moments. When Rambeau is inside the walls of the Hex, we see her push forward as there is a spectrum of colors surrounding her. Then she absorbs some of the colored light, and her her eyes began to glow blue. This is the moment Monica Rambeau is transformed into Spectrum. Inside Westview, Agnes takes the twins so Wanda can have a day to herself. When Wanda goes to Agnes’s house, the twins are nowhere to be seen. Wanda then goes into Agatha’s basement and discovers that Agnes was a witch and has been behind everything all along. I think this episode was great for the most part. I like how Marvel and Disney are handling this show and focusing more on the story rather than having an action sequence every two minutes. And although they kind of made it obvious that Agnes was up to something, they joked about it in the song at the end of the episode which made up for it.  

It was Agatha all along. The eighth episode is definitely the slowest one in the series. It picks up where we left off and Agatha and Wanda take a trip down memory lane to figure out how the Hex started and where Wanda’s witch abilities came from. There’s not much to say about the episode. I didn’t like it that much because it was really just two characters walking and talking. Although, this episode did answer every question I had about the show and what was going on. The episode ends with Tommy and Billy getting captured by Agatha as Wanda looks like she’s about to take her down. And then a post- credit scene shows a white vision waking up in the S.W.O.R.D. base. This might have been the most boring and slowest episode, but it sets up an action packed season finale. 

In the finale episode of WandaVision, we get the final battle between Wanda and Agatha and also a battle between Vision and the White Evil Vision. The season finale was the most interesting ending to a Marvel conflict. It was very interesting how both of the main battles came down to conversations between the antagonists and protagonists. There is plenty of action and violence too, but it was really nice to see a conflict end with a conversation rather than a battle to the death. WandaVision was a great addition to the Marvel universe, and I look forward to seeing what Wanda and the other characters are up to in future Marvel releases.