When Marvel first announced their many series coming to Disney+, I was pretty concerned. I wasn’t a huge fan of Flash, Arrow, or Supergirl so I didn’t have much hope for these to be much better. Especially with Wandavision, I really had no idea how they would turn these concepts into a fully fleshed-out television show. However, after finishing the series, I feel very hopeful for the future of Marvel shows.
Before 2021, Wanda and Vision seemed like some of the characters I felt the least connection with among the many Marvel entourage. Don’t get me wrong, I liked their characters and I thought their romance was sweet, but I didn’t feel very strongly for them compared to the others like Iron Man or Captain America. Wandavision allowed Marvel writers to fully expand their relationship and really express to the audience the importance of these characters within the MCU. The show starts in this alternate television-show reality (that we later figure out Wanda is creating) that allows Wanda and Vision to live their dream life. This is, of course, a lie, since Vision died in Infinity War. It turns out that Wanda was actually creating her own version of Vision so that she could pretend to live out her days with him. Although it’s an extremely twisted idea, the writers did an excellent job of slowly revealing to the audience why all of this was happening and really made us feel for Wanda as a character. Even though Wanda was doing a terrible thing—enslaving dozens of people so she could spend more time with her lover—we didn’t feel bad for her. The last few episodes of the series especially emphasized the trauma she had been through and all the people she had lost throughout her life. No wonder she was driven to do such a terrible thing.
The other thing I loved about the show was how they only released one show a week. If it was streamed like a normal series, everyone would be able to binge it within a day and there wouldn’t be much wondering about what was coming next. By releasing only one new episode a week, it allowed for a ton of conversation and speculation. I spent hours over the span of the series discussing what was going on and what might be happening behind the scenes. This made the show so much more fun and engaging as we watched our hypothesis either come true or get debunked later on.
I will say, however, that some people’s criticisms of the show are justified. The first two episodes are a little slow, especially if you’re not super familiar with these characters. The last episode also loses some of the original feel of the series. It includes a few bland CGI fights that detract from the overall story and slow the pace quite a bit. For how experimental this show was, however, I believe that Wandavision accomplished a lot more than it failed at. Although it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, there’s no denying that Wandavision is one of a kind. It’s probably the most creative thing Marvel has done for a while, and it gives us fans a lot of hope for the future of Marvel and Disney+. I do have to warn you, however: if you do decide to give it a watch, prepare to have the soundtrack stuck in your head for weeks on end. “Agatha All Along” is a bop like no other.
Spoiler Alert is an Opinion culture column used to give reviews for movies, television shows, or other related media.
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