Back in 2021, MCU fans got a heavy dose of Wanda Maximoff and her cybernetic husband in the Disney+ series WandaVision. The latter is, somehow, brought back through Wanda’s magical powers. That already sounds a little crazy but, for the time being, let’s go with it. Anyway, it seems like the whole series is based around Wanda creating this fantasy world that she concocted with her powers and imagined her perfect life with her robot husband and kids. Pitching that idea to any studio would almost certainly be a hard sell. Maybe it’s not impossible, but it’s very hard to sell and shop around with an idea like that.
The series received critical acclaim from critics and audiences for its nostalgia, performances and visual grandeur from a Marvel series. Despite having rave reviews and seeming like a worthy entry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the series does seem to be overrated by the people that reviewed it. I’m not saying that it’s a terrible series in the Marvel Universe, but, like everything, there is room for improvement and to understand if critics and audiences were blinded by its glossy marketing. I could be wrong but let’s stroll down memory lane for this Marvel romp.
Reminiscing about the past
One thing that people will notice about the series is that it pays homage to the television decades from the 1950s to the 2000s. Each episode is a decade that represents a pivotal point in tv history. That sounds interesting, but when you think about it, it sounds more chaotic and uneven. Rather than having a cohesive and consistent tone, the show opts to be somewhat scatter-brained and rattle off a few different ideas for the first couple of episodes as it zips past a formal narrative.
All of this, by the way, is coming from Wanda’s own imagination, which makes it strange when you think that one person would be powerful enough to have this ability.
Something Strange This Way Comes
Speaking of strange, having one woman build a community where she gets to live out her fantasy with her pretend family seems like something out of an L. Frank Baum novel or a Steven King short story. When given the absolute formula that has been in the MCU’s DNA for a while, it definitely seems like something out of the ordinary.
It almost sounds like the writers were pulling things out of their butt just to get something on the platform. Phase four has admittedly received a lot of criticism for its rushed plots and sidelining of more notable characters, but this series seems like it sticks out in its execution like a sore thumb.
MCU Filler
For the most part, the series feels like a filler about a lonely, tormented woman romanticizing what her life could have been with a family that doesn’t even exist. Let’s ask ourselves this: If this series didn’t exist, would we be missing any valuable information that was imperative to the MCU? Probably not.
I’m not saying that the series is bad, but it does have its faults and that shouldn’t be glossed over like a sponge in place of unanimous praise. That’s just my two cents.
