Rewatch: WandaVision Episode 1

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4iHqXENlAW2lT8GCAiV9YG?si=KINL_UmVTmi1cWKggT92kQ

So we are exactly 10 weeks out from the release of Agatha All Along so now would be as good a time as any to revisit WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in prep for that show since I don't really remember WandaVision all that well besides everyone saying that Mephisto was going to be the bad guy.

I think WandaVision's success (and the possible bad decision to do an Agatha Harkness spinoff) comes from the circumstances around its release. It was the first Marvel Studios release in a year and a half due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was one of the first major big budget releases on streaming in quite some time. Besides this, it also gave audiences something to speculate about since this show was designed to lead directly into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and was also the first major release of the Multiverse Saga that would encompass phases 4-6 of the MCU. Now that the show is out and the movie it leads into is also out, it does reframe how we view this show since we know Mephisto isn't there, we know Reed Richards isn't working for SWORD, and we know that new Pietro isn't related to the Fox X-Men movies. Since we know the show is Wanda processing her grief and it's all just her taking all control of the town of Westview to live out this deranged fantasy, it does reshape how we view the first episode.

That said, knowing the full scope of the mystery does make it obvious from the start that this is all Wanda's doing. Things like Vision questioning what the company he works for does and Wanda bending under the pressure of being questioned regarding her and Vision's relationship show the cracks in the facade immediately. That said, there are moments that don't quite gel right, especially when it comes to the commitment to the visual aesthetic surrounding the style of sitcom it is parodying. While they commit to the way the effects are portrayed, the cinematography feels just a little off when compared to the multi-cam sitcoms of the 1950s. They also don't commit enough to the more unnerving aspects of this warped reality such as using the laugh track at inopportune times or changing the way the scene is shot when the illusion is broken.

I think I stand by what I said three and a half years ago where if it wasn't for the Marvel Studios logo, I probably would have not continued with this show beyond the first two episodes after seeing what it was going for. We will get to episode two next week though.