Patience, Arthur. They’re setting up their story. Let them tell it.
I was really excited for this series. I think that Wanda Maximoff and Vision are two of the more interesting characters introduced in Phase 2 of the MCU and I loved that the movies embraced the way the two characters developed a relationship in the comics. So, I saw enough about this series to pick up on the basic premise, which is that it’s Wanda & Vision in a reality that mimics TV sitcoms and I avoided everything else I could see about it. I feel like I still went into the series knowing a little more than I wish I did because I’m familiar with House of M, the storyline in the comics where . . . um, look, am I going to do spoiler tags for this series of reviews? I think maybe I am. I know this series has been out for almost a year now, but the proper way to experience it really is unspoiled, so I’m going to do spoiler tags, even for speculation.
Anyway, House of M. It’s the series where Vision dies and Wanda creates a reality where he’s still alive. Of course, Vision died in Infinity War, so it seemed pretty clear that this is where WandaVision was going and I thought that had a ton of potential.
So, anyway, how am I supposed to even review this episode? As a Marvel property, it’s unbelievably weird. It’s literally just Wanda & Vision starring in a pastiche of the Dick Van Dyke Show, which I grew up watching on Nick at Nite, back in the olden days. What I find most amazing is really that this isn’t just a spoof of the Dick Van Dyke Show and sitcoms of that ilk; it’s just a full-on, played almost entirely straight episode of a show like that. The episode has one moment of Twilight Zone-esque weirdness near the end, but otherwise, this one is completely straight with the premise. I love that the MCU has been around long enough that it trusts its audience this much, that it takes this much time to just really live in this sitcom reality. I mean, there’s a version of this show where they’re like, “Okay, so this is a great premise, but we’ll need to move fast, so we’ll like do the first three types of sitcoms in the first episode and also get to a big fight of some kind.” But, no, they just live in it; like this is the show. Everyone’s really good. Bettany and Olsen had chemistry in the movies and this episode just expands on that chemistry and reveals hidden talents that we didn’t get to see in the movies. It’s a joy and I can’t wait to watch this carefully curated reality crumble around them. 4 stars.
tl;dr – a great premise executed to flawless perfection and featuring excellent performances; what a deliciously weird episode of television, precisely because its so traditional. 4 stars.