Initial Thoughts on WandaVision - Episodes 1 and 2

WandaVision is here! This is the first Disney+ series featuring characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe from Disney/Marvel. You know, the cinematic 24 movie series (we are also counting Black Widow, which is all finished but not released yet due to COVID-19) that we’ve been watching for the past 10+ years.

This series is about Vision (Tony Stark’s AI JARVIS that got uploaded into Ultron, then later manifested itself as Vision) and Wanda Maximoff, aka The Scarlet Witch, and their relationship. Yes, a witch and an AI machine fell in love and now have their own show. Or do they?

The thing about these first two episodes is that we don’t really know what’s going on right now, as we’ve been dropped into the middle of a story within a story, with only a couple of hints and easter eggs for reference point. If you were a fan of the ABC TV show LOST in the early 2000’s then so far this show (so far) is very similar to that one with the vague hints and clues as to what is really happening.

The story so far is that Wanda and Vision have married and are now living in suburban Westview with neighbors who just pop in whenever they want and give you love and cooking advice. The first episode is shot in a 1950’s style sitcom with a storyline straight out of that era’s TV shows. The second episode is a little further along in the 1950’s, maybe 1960’s style, style of TV shows and is very reminiscent of the early Bewitched TV show. Based off of the promotional posters leading up to the series’ debut, each episode will take place in a past decades style of TV show. So expect to see episodes based off of a 1960’s style, then a 70’s style, 80’s style and so on. While we do have these nostalgic and cheesy storylines, it’s very obvious that there is more going on than what we are seeing right now.

A red and yellow helicopter in a black and white world?

It’s just at this point, we don’t know what that is and what the context of the whole situation is. I would hope that the bigger picture soon starts to be revealed, as the show is intriguing and it is great to see the characters, Wanda and Vision, together and interacting; quite frankly the show is boring at this point. I’m all for world building and setting up the overall plot and that is why I’m still interested, but things need to get moving along, especially if it’s only an 8 episode season. I’m enjoying the show and find it intriguing and am looking forward to the next episode.

The reports indicate that this show will lead up into the feature film Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (aka Doctor Strange 2), so there is a direction and overall story planned out so I am confident that it will get interesting soon. I imagine that once we get a better view of what this overall story is, then we will be able to go back and watch these first two episodes with new context and they will be a little more interesting than they are now.

Make sure to check out our podcast review for a more in depth discussion about the show and how The Nerds think this show fits into the rest of the MCU.

Click here for our audio podcast review of Episode One review of Wandavision!