“WandaVision”: Your Serotonin Dose
As someone who has been home since March 2020, I thrive and survive off of two things: virtual social interaction, and escapism through media. Cue Marvel dropping new Disney+ shows, starting with “Wandavision”. Coming off the end of “The Mandalorian” season two and staving off Marvel fans as films like “Black Widow” are pushed back multiple times, “Wandavision” follows character Wanda Maximoff (known as Scarlet Witch in the comics) as she deals with the grief of losing her partner.
The new show continues to follow Disney+ precedent for original shows, dropping one episode a week. Every Friday we are dropped into Westview, a town controlled by witch-like powers it seems that Wanda has created to cope with watching her partner Vision die. In this bubble of sorts, Vision has been reanimated, and they both create their own family through a sitcom-like show they inhabit. Each week’s episode is dedicated to a different decade, a black and white 50s husband wife duo, a chaotic rambunctious 90s episode surrounding a Halloween night that’s narrated by their kids. Alongside Westview’s own timeline is another plot where SWORD (another governmental agency) seeks to suppress and destroy Wanda’s bubble that is harming all the citizens who live within it. More characters are introduced here: Darcy from “Thor,” Monica Rambeau, daughter of Maria from “Captain Marvel,” and the newly beloved Jimmy Woo who made his first appearance in “Ant-man & Wasp”.
The show is a lot of fun! When the series first started, many fans were skeptical about the direction it was taking- the first two episodes don’t feature the SWORD narrative, and instead fully immerse us in a sitcom. Though this was a new tone set for Marvel, they went all out on aesthetic and nods to the different decades they embody, and I would’ve been fully content with a happy made-up reality between the couple. Sure enough, the action angry Marvel fans wanted came, gloriously, and constantly left us on cliff-hangers. It’s what this show does best, giving us enough information for us to take guesses and have theories for the next episodes, but not closure for those answers until another week passes. Many people have taken to social media to pitch their theories, common ones including the possible presence of Mephisto, the multiverse, the introduction to new superheroes like Photon, Reed Richards, and Verity Willis. The worst part? All of these are possible, so even following the theories make the cliff-hangers just as convoluted and up in the air as when you began.
“Wandavision” is also a great show to watch with friends, preferably ones who are just as big into Marvel as you. I have been watching with my dear friend Kayla Edmunds ‘21, where we text and scream at each other about the wild twist and turns and reveals the show creates. It’s always the highlight of my week. Between episodes, there is still so much content to sift through, whether that be me realizing new connections between films and the show, or sending new Tiktoks to Kayla. She had the following to say about the program:
“Being able to watch “Wandavision” with friends near and far for the past month and a half has been a treat, not only has it been great to have a steady stream of MCU content (unlike the one movie every six months to a year we had gotten used to), but discussing theories, freaking out over zoom watch sessions, and rooting endlessly for the trifecta that is Jimmy Woo, Darcy Lewis, and Monica Rambeau has been a grand stress relief. Plus, I cannot get that new theme song out of my head (iykyk).”
Please watch the show, it’s so fun and you never know where it’ll go. If you’re missing out on movie theaters and watching Marvel films on opening night, this is the closest we’ll get for a while. And once this series is done, get ready for “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” starting March 19th!