By Samuel Smith, Staff Writer
The following review is spoiler-free in terms of the overarching plot of WandaVision. The events of the first and second episode will be loosely discussed, but there will not be any enjoyment-changing spoilers.
It’s Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, at 3 in the morning. Disney’s hit streaming service, Disney+, has just released the two-episode premiere of its original series, “WandaVision.” With only the first two episodes released, those alone were worth the lost sleep.
While the actual content of the show has proven incredibly enjoyable, the creation behind the production itself is arguably the most interesting aspect.
“Avengers: Endgame” was released in April 2019, acting as the final movie in Phase 3 of “The Avengers” saga by Marvel Studios, which kicked off with the release of “Iron Man” in 2008. “Endgame” proved to be the No. 1 highest-grossing film of all time, as well as a transitioning point into Phase 4 of Marvel’s movies.
However, with such a strong end to the previous phase of movies, Disney executives had to face the fact that no matter how exciting their next project may be, there is no way that such a project could even come close to matching “Endgame.”
Yet the release of “Spider-Man: Far From Home” in July 2019 as the first movie of Phase 4 – taking place eight months post-”Endgame” – made it clear that fans were clamoring for more from Marvel Cinematic Universe, which was drastically changed by it’s previous installment.
In November of 2019, Disney then launched its own content-streaming service, Disney+. The launch included the announcement of multiple Disney+ original series, all canon within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and all taking place post-”Endgame.”
Soon after Disney+ was launched, COVID-19 spread throughout the world, forcing the global community to quarantine indoors and forcing movie theaters to shut down. This shutdown led to production and release delays of all sorts of titles, including “Black Widow,” which Disney had already been hyping up… a lot.
This hit Disney hard, and hit the Marvel fan community even harder. At that point, the fandom was content-starved and would have taken anything at all to appease their media hunger.
“WandaVision” filled the hole fans of the MCU had within their hearts. It was hyped up, it had a stellar cast, it had promises of being a great next step in the universe of characters movie-goers had come to love and it was… weird.
Really weird.
The weirdness and sheer confusion made the world go wild.
I love reading the comics produced by Marvel, and I have since I was very young. So, anytime I see something that even slightly resembles the comics I enjoy on the big screen (or at the very least my television), I get very excited.
Good friends of mine, who would have no idea what I’m talking about whenever I bring up a fact from the comics I read, also love the show. We may not have the same interests all the time, but “WandaVision” makes everything so incredibly vague, albeit immensely interesting, that just because I know a few facts about the comics and my friends don’t, we understand and obtain about as much information from the show as we would if the roles were reversed.
Finally, discussing the show: It’s funnily weird. The first two episodes alone are spoofs of classic ’50s and ’60s sitcoms “I Love Lucy” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” being shown in black and white and catching the viewer off guard. Despite the references to such old shows, the episodes manage to insert some serious and funny moments into the storylines.
As the show progresses, the mystery of what exactly is going on begins to slowly but surely unfold, with each episode ending in escalating cliffhangers. With each episode comes the opportunity to make more and more guesses and theories, allowing for effectively endless conversational material.
“WandaVision” was the first Marvel Disney+ original series, representing the change from movie theaters and the traditional way of life to quarantined days at home, and it served its purpose beautifully.
I believe anybody can watch the show and thoroughly enjoy it in their own way, no matter how much they know about Marvel going into it. “WandaVision” has something in it for every age, every fandom and every type of viewer. While “WandaVision” isn’t necessarily “Endgame” levels of good, it is definitely up there with the likes of “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
Sophomore Samuel Smith can be reached at 23smithsa22@daretolearn.org.
