WandaVision finally premiered after months of anticipation and avoiding as many spoilers as I possibly could. I am a big fan of Vision and learned a lot throughout the years about Wanda, also known as the Scarlett Witch.
Mind you that this article is very spoiler heavy so proceed at your own risk!
WandaVision origins
During Avengers: Infinity War Wanda was tasked to guard Vision while Shuri was trying to extract the Mindstone from his head. The Avengers were trying to stop Thanos from getting all six stones and extracting and destroying the Mindstone was the plan. Their attempts failed and Wanda at joined the battlefield.
Vision however ran into Corvus Glaive who mortally wounded him. While Vision lay dying he managed to convince Wanda to take out the stone using her powers that at that point had been enhanced by the Mindstone that was carried by Vision.
While Wanda was succesful in extracting and destroying the Mindstone, it was Thanos who used the Timestone to piece it all back together and killing Vision for a second time right in front of Wanda. Thanos now possessed all the Infinity Stones and snapped his fingers and wiped out half the universe including Wanda.
Five years later during The Avengers: Endgame the Avengers managed to reverse Thanos’ decision and brought back half the universe including Wanda. Vision was presumed dead and that also meant that he couldn’t be resurrected as he died before the big snap.
Wanda’s first sentence on screen was; YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME! And they fought with Wanda not holding back using her powers.
Now for a normal person losing the same person twice is unbearable. Add to that everything you had had been taken by the snap and you have been dead and in limbo for five years, that would make someone go mad. And that’s what I think Wandavision is; A big nervous breakdown of Wanda Maximoff also known as the Scarlett Witch.
Wandavision episode 1: A tribute to the 1950s sitcoms
We see Wanda and Vision as newlyweds in the first episode. The episode is completely in black and white and while I watched the episode in 4k and the screen itself is 4:3. Which I think is part of the tribute to the 1950s TV shows that were aired in 4:3.
We get to meet Vision and Wanda in the suburban 1950s and they are concealing their identities by pretending that they are happily married but ofcourse there are things that are off that are obvious to the viewer but not the rest of the cast. Things that are off are like an empty fridge because nor Wanda eats or Vision. Or Vision who doesn’t seem to know what to do on their first anniversary. At the office he tries to remember what it is and while it is obvious, I guess for an android it is anything but. But then he is reminded by his boss Mr. Hart that him and his wife are coming over for dinner at WandaVision’s house. And ofcourse, the first thing that Vision says is: Ofcourse, that’s what that was!
Mr. Hart is played by the wonderful Fred Melamed who starred in so many shows in the past four decades. Mrs. Hart is played by none other than Debra Jo Rupp of That 70s Show fame.
Meanwhile Wanda is getting marital advice from neighbor Agnes, played by Kathryn Hanh of Parks and Recreation fame, on how to seduce Vision for an evening of hanky panky. Hey you can’t have hanky without the panky. They read the magazines, that mostly look like the old adverts from the 1950s comics might I add, and come up with a plan. So when Vision comes home bringing the Harts with him they are surprised by a half nude Wanda. Hilarity ensued and Vision struggles to come up with a perfect excuse as to why Wanda is dressed to kill. “My wife is Sokovian…they all do this at home” was the funniest one in my opinion.
And the scenes with Mr and Mrs Hart are also the ones where you can see how big the struggle is for both Wanda and Vision to maintain the appearance of how normal they are. The empty fridge was a big indicator at the start: If the Harts’ are coming over for dinner and Wanda’s supposed to cook dinner then why did she only come up with breakfast from an empty fridge? The answer ofcourse is Wanda’s magic made the food and the even bigger answer is: They are not able to maintain the appearance.
During dinner, Mr Hart accidentally chokes on a piece of food and almost dies of suffocation. But Wanda asks Vision to help out but using a tone of voice that basically said: drop the act, save this man’s life! And he did use his phasing powers. All under the watchful eye of Mrs. Hart who didn’t even bat an eye or mention anything. With Mr. Hart thanking WandaVision and immediately leaving the house the episode comes to an end. But not before we see someone in the shadows of what appears to be 2021 watching TV or observing WandaVision. But for what purpose?
Episode 2: The oddness continues
The second episode of Wandavision moves the plot a little forward; Wanda and Vision continue to pretend to live a normal life, which is anything but. But the oddities continue to pop up: there is a static noise that can be heard while Wanda is alone in the room and outside there is something going on as well.
Wanda decides to check out the noise and it turns out to be a helicopter. Since the show is still in a 4:3 format and in black and white, it is odd that the helicopter is in color. While Wanda observes, she is startled by Agnes, the neighbor who is there to pick her up. While they walk over to the women’s meeting place, Agnes talks about what the ladies can do for Wanda and Vision like getting country club memberships and the best schools of the districts.
After the meeting Wanda helps cleaning up the plates and Dottie, one of the women present at the meeting, chats up Wanda about how she does not believe that Wanda and Vision are real but before she can the two of them are interrupted by the radio who asks what is going on and calls out Wanda by name a couple of times.
Wanda freezes up and so does Dottie and Dottie holds the glass so tight that it breaks.
Meanwhile Vision goes to the public library to talk to the fellas at work. Vision is unintentionally funny and the fellas get him to eat a piece of bubble gum, which on an android has the same intoxicating effect of alcohol. So Vision is essentially drunk. The animation of his innerworkings was quite amusing.
So a drunk Vision and a confused Wanda are participating in a talentshow where Vision actually forgets to act like he is normal so he lifts things that are supposed to weigh a ton and performs the disappearing act of what was supposed to be Wanda disappearing into thin air instead made one of the wives of Vision’s colleagues appear. The two win the talent show and were honored with a big prize and praise “We have never seen anything this good on this talentshow”.
When WandaVision come back home, out of thin air , the two actually have kids and a third one underway as Wanda got pregnant from the moment she got home and the mention of kids which in real time was nothing but a one minute conversation.
But then that crackling sound was heard again and Vision decides to check it out. And from under the manhole cover comes a beekeeper but we still can’t see his face clearly because it is dark. Wanda realizes that her dreamworld has been distorted and about to be interrupted which means she will lose Vision again who is technically speaking already gone.
So instead she uses her reality altering powers to reverse time and makes it so that the scene that we just witnessed never happens. When she touches Vision his faces turns into color and then so does the rest. The colorization process was beautifully done in CGI. Wanda’s outfit turns out to be the same color scheme as she has in the comics: Red with pink and Wanda is a redhead. While I was under the impression that Wanda was a blonde but could just be wishful thinking on my part ;)
WandaVision comicbook connection
After watching the first two episodes I couldn’t help but think that WandaVision was based on the prelude of what turned out to be the Vision quest where a depressed Wanda created a magical life for her and Vision and the kids were actually demon shards that played into her deepest and darkest desires.
While I initally thought that this Wanda was mindcontrolled as well like she was in Avengers: Disassembled , this Wanda seemed to be perfectly in control and becomes complete and utterly ruthless when anyone tries to invade her reality.
On several forums people, like myself, are hoping that the Disney+ TV shows are going to be connected to the movies in a sense that it will deepen the storylines in upcoming movies without having to have watched the movies. We are also hoping that the current show will lead to the big crossover called House of M. House of M is where Wanda used her reality altering powers on an infinity stone level and uttered the now famous phrase: No more mutants! The crossover is one of the best in recent comicbook history and here is hoping that they will turn that into a movie.
Notes
- I loved the 1950s sitcom setting and appreciated the 4:3 screen format of the TV show. The tribute was well done!
- At the end of the first episodes the mysterious figure covered in shadow as if he was observing WandaVision
- Wanda and Vision pretend to live a normal life but normal stuff is missing such as a stuffed fridge.
- There is a voice coming through the radio calling out Wanda’s name several times and asking what is going.
- Vision can be intoxicated when he eats a stick of bubblegum. Maybe there are more things that can happen if Vision eats something?
- Wanda becomes ruthless when she feels her reality is threatened.
- What are these 1950s vintage commercials all about?
- The commercials mention Stark Industries and the von Struckers.
So those are the notes for this week. What did you think of WandaVision? Did you like it? Or is the show going too slow for you? Let us know by dropping a comment!
