Disney+ - WandaVision our review of the first two episodes

By Mulder, 15 january 2021

The new Marvel WandaVision Studios series is now available exclusively on Disney+. WandaVision is an American television mini-series in streaming created by Jac Schaeffer, based on the Marvel Comics characters Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Vision. It takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the franchise's films. The series takes place after the events of the movie Avengers: Endgame (2019). Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany return to their respective roles as Wanda Maximoff and Vision. In September 2018, Marvel Studios is developing a number of limited series for Disney+, focusing on the supporting characters from MCU films such as Scarlet Witch and Vision, with the expected return of Olsen and Paul Bettany.

At first glance, a first detail calls us in this new series taking place after Avengers Endgame, indeed Vision (Paul Bettany) is killed by Thanos in a definitive way so it is unlikely that he is back without any real information given to the fans of comics and the Marvel universe in cinema. In the same way, the screenwriters leave the doubt on the fact that the universe of Wandavision is very real or is a simple world created by Wanda Maximoff to find Vision who is the man of her life. Passing over this destabilizing detail for true Marvel Comics fans, we have to admit that Wandavision turns out to be an excellent surprise because this series turns its back on the very concept of Marvel Studios productions that we have been able to discover and love in movies.

As today's society has entered a world that is permanently connected and, in a desire, to give viewers what they expect from a series or a movie, Wandavision is a tribute to the black and white sitcoms of the 50's that reflected the idyllic American side by showing a perfect American home with a housewife and a husband who had to work hard to allow his wife and himself to live comfortably. One will thus strongly think of the series I love Lucy broadcast in the United States between 1951 and 1957. In the same way, Wandavision pays homage by imbuing its universe with magic to another series from the 50's that became cult over time, Twilight Zone. As the creator of this series said, Jac Schaeffer WandaVision is a love letter to the golden age of television. Its illusory simplicity tells us in the first episode the arrival of Wanda Maximoff and Vision in the town of Westview and their desire to blend into the landscape of this small American town.

While Marvel Studios' films had impressed us with spectacular and epic action scenes, Wandavision seems to be taking a different direction to bring iconic Marvel Comics characters to life. Thus, the first two episodes are mostly in black and white except for some color passages and thus refer to this period of the 50s and these series perfectly calibrated for homes discovering television for the first time for many. The careful direction of the first two episodes that we discovered created a real spell to the point of being immersed in this series which has everything to impose itself both with the critics and the numerous subscribers.

Another major inspiration for this series seems to be the numerous Marvel comics such as the House of M series but also Vision and the Scarlet Witch. This approach can be seen in the editing of the episodes whose scenes easily resemble pages being shot. While the Marvel comics were criticized in Logan (2017) in one of the best scenes of this film, the characters created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby Roy Thomas and John Buscema find here an interesting extension following their appearances in films devoted to the Avengers.

These first two episodes also seem to show that Wanda Maximoff has recreated an illusory world in which she can live again with Vision but that she is not in total control as shown in episode 2 and the appearance of colored elements such as blood or simple objects. This mini-series of nine episodes turns out to be a success, certainly not complete but attractive enough to be watched and to be able to judge it as a whole to see what revelations will come to better explain the gaps in memory of Wanda Maximoff and Vision as to their common past or not.

Synopsis :
Set after the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019), Wanda Maximoff and Vision are living the ideal suburban life in the town of Westview, trying to conceal their powers. But as they begin to enter new decades and encounter television tropes, the couple suspects things are not as they seem.

WandaVision
Created by Jac Schaeffer
Based on Scarlet Witch by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Vision by Roy Thomas, Stan Lee, John Buscema
Directed by Matt Shakman
Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Teyonah Parris, Kat Dennings, Randall Park, Kathryn Hahn
Composer : Christophe Beck
Executive producers: Kevin Feige, Jac Schaeffer
Cinematography: Jess Hall
Production company : Marvel Studios
Distributor: Disney Media Distribution

A review written by Boris Colletier

(Source: press release)