WandaVision

[Casual Shinji]

I like the concept more than the execution of this show. Something like this feels like it needs rumination, but the show appears to just race through everything to get to those sweet, sweet reveals. I will say it's nice to see Elizabeth Olsen have more to do other than playing the tortured, psychic girl. She actually gets to play this bubbly suburbanite, and she does so with a lot of charm.

 

[SilentPony]

So I watched the newest episode and I'm now convinced this TV show was a mistake. This was not the way to tell this story. I was suspicious after the first 2 episodes were total filler episodes that didn't amount to anything. But since then for every 25mins worth of filler there's maybe 5 minutes of actual plot per episode, with the exception of the SWORD base stuff, which in the case of Wanda giving birth, is literally pulling the plot out of Wanda so it can finally do something.
Adding the horrible X-men reboot universe Quicksilver was a huge mistake.
We still haven't gotten a main villain, we got the only lady who claims to be the big bad, and maybe Wanda is in on it or not, and maybe Vision is really back, and maybe the X-Men reboot is here to say, and maybe this and maybe that.
And its episode 7 of 9, and not in a sexy one-piece with those star trek bras that gave everyone DD cups. There's 1 hour of show left, of which half will be comedic filler, and it all has to resolve in a way that doesn't just go "To be continued in 2 years in Dr. Strange and the Scooby Doo Adventure after you've forgotten everything"

In my opinion they should have just taken this entire House of M storyline and used that for the plot of Dr. Strange 2, and with that you could have brought in James McAvoy or Patrick Stewart and actually had an "Oh shit!" moment. Instead we have this barely passable TV show that's 90% trying to be other tv shows at the cost of actually being about its own story.

 

[Buyetyen]

Been enjoying the ride so far. The first few episodes got as close to David Lynch as I've seen anyone get without actually being David Lynch. Also, I had forgotten just how much I missed Kat Dennings (lovelorn sigh).

 

[SilentPony]

So WanadaVision episode 8, and shocker of shockers turns out I was right. They have no intention of wrapping this story up in WandaVision, and the entire thing is just a prequel to Dr. Strange 2.

Spoiler

Want to know who the big bad guy is? So do you because they're still not telling us! Want to know how X-men Quicksilver is here? Jokes on you, he's not even from an alternate universe he's just a dude from the town who got cast as Quicksilver. Want to know how all of this crazy Hex got started? Wanda...sneezed, and poof it just...happened. Is the Mind stone back? Lol no. Is Dr. Strange in it? I mean maybe, they hint at it in the post post credit scene, but that's probably a set up for Dr. Strange 2. It would really spit in the eyes of fans that the surprise cameo we've all been waiting for is the one everyone guessed the day Dr. Strange 2 was announced July 2019.
Is Hayward evil? Maybe, still unclear. Is Agatha evil? Maybe, still unclear. Is Wanda evil? Maybe, still unclear. Are the kids real? Maybe, still unclear. On that point probably would have made Wanda's desperation to save her kids more relatable if the kids weren't A. 3 days old, B. we had any real time with them, and C. it wasn't obvious they weren't Wanda's kids from the beginning. These kids were either not around or babies for most of the show's run time, and now we're expected to care a witch is holding them hostage? I was watching like "I don't care. You haven't done anything with them. They're not characters, they're plot points."
Also White Vision yay! I look forward to them introducing and killing a new character in the same episode, or leaving it as a cliffhanger to be brought back years later after we've all forgotten.
Seriously this show might as well have been called Red Herring for all the hints and teases that end up being nothing. Like the whole aerospace engineer who Monica calls a guy and we're all like oh could they name drop Reed Richards? LOL! No, its not even a guy silly, its just some random lady, but thanks for the free YouTube advertisement that it could have been interesting. Actually writing this out, that's a perfect subtitle. Marvel's Red Herring: Could have been interesting.

What an absolute let down of a show, and a sad mismanagement of what could have been a good movie.

 

[Hades]

I think they might have needed an extra episode. It seems a struggle to wrap up all three plot points they set up in just one episode.

 

[SilentPony]

I think they might have needed an extra episode. It seems a struggle to wrap up all three plot points they set up in just one episode.

I'm convinced one of three things is going to happen:
1. Most likely there is no wrap up, no conclusion and the whole thing ends with a "To Be Continued in Dr. Strange 2 in a year and a half"
2. There is a secret 10th episode, which like maybe?
3. This is just WandaVision Season 1 and the ending credits will say "WandaVision Season 2, Winter 2021."

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Considering we had a longer episode this week, its entirely possible the finale will be much longer. Hopefully enough to have a satisfying conclusion. Makes you wonder though, if Wanda always had magic that was amplified, what was Pietro's deal?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Considering we had a longer episode this week, its entirely possible the finale will be much longer. Hopefully enough to have a satisfying conclusion. Makes you wonder though, if Wanda always had magic that was amplified, what was Pietro's deal?

He's very fast until plot says otherwise.

 

[SilentPony]

So WandaVision director Matt Shakman says fans will absolutely be disappointed with the finale because there isn't nearly as much going on as fans have theorized that there is.
So...what was the point of all this? Just to keep actors under contract and in shape while they figure out what Phase 4 is going to be about? Because its starting to look like they never intended to do much with WandaVision, they've introduced all of 2 new characters, one of which is probably gonna die and the other is a tertiary character in Captain Marvel 2 in a few years and the plot itself is just a 9 part commercial for Dr. Strange 2.

 

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[Dalisclock]

So WandaVision director Matt Shakman says fans will absolutely be disappointed with the finale because there isn't nearly as much going on as fans have theorized that there is.
So...what was the point of all this? Just to keep actors under contract and in shape while they figure out what Phase 4 is going to be about? Because its starting to look like they never intended to do much with WandaVision, they've introduced all of 2 new characters, one of which is probably gonna die and the other is a tertiary character in Captain Marvel 2 in a few years and the plot itself is just a 9 part commercial for Dr. Strange 2.

I don't know what I expected going in and have regarded it as a fun little experiment that turned out to be better than it has any goddamn right to be. Probably the most substantial thing we've gotten out of this was some character development for Wanda and finally some exploration of what it was like for people after everyone got blipped back after Endgame.

It might end up being a catalyst for Marvel to put Mutants/Inhumans/whatver offically into the MCU(because of a bunch of wierd legal and licensing issues where Marvel lost the ability to use the word Mutants because of the Xmen being licensed out to FOX and apparently mutants are part of that deal because reasons)but considering it's not an avengers movie I'm not expecting much in the way of grand reveals or epic turning points.

It's still a hell of a lot more interesting then Agents of Shield was(at least as much as I saw of AoS). I had high hopes for that and it felt like it never did anything interesting with it's premise.

One thing that does kinda irk me when they keep bringing up Wanda lost her accent. I mean, it's true but she hasn't had the generic Eastern European accent since "Age of Ultron". IIRC, she didn't bother affecting it in every appearance after that and nobody really cared or noticed until now but they've had like 2 references to it except it doesn't go anywhere. I'm assuming the actress doesn't want to keep faking an accent she doesn't have and I'm fine with that. Why keep bringing it up?

 

[Bob_McMillan]

One thing that does kinda irk me when they keep bringing up Wanda lost her accent. I mean, it's true but she hasn't had the generic Eastern European accent since "Age of Ultron". IIRC, she didn't bother affecting it in every appearance after that and nobody really cared or noticed until now but they've had like 2 references to it except it doesn't go anywhere. I'm assuming the actress doesn't want to keep faking an accent she doesn't have and I'm fine with that. Why keep bringing it up?

I think they just wanted to make it canon that her accent changed. I think it is a nice touch to be honest, letting her accent creep in when she's emotional. Slipping in and out of accents is more common than people think, I don't think it needs to really mean anything.

 

[SilentPony]

One thing that does kinda irk me when they keep bringing up Wanda lost her accent. I mean, it's true but she hasn't had the generic Eastern European accent since "Age of Ultron". IIRC, she didn't bother affecting it in every appearance after that and nobody really cared or noticed until now but they've had like 2 references to it except it doesn't go anywhere. I'm assuming the actress doesn't want to keep faking an accent she doesn't have and I'm fine with that. Why keep bringing it up?

In Age of Ultron in the deleted scenes and a little in the movies Natasha is sorta looking out for Wanda as the other formerly evil female redhead of Eastern European nationality in the group. And then in Civil War they're doing surveillance together undercover. So I just assumed Natasha was working with Wanda to hide her accent to allow her to fit in more naturally and travel safer. And that just worked for me, I just went with their training. I mean Wanda has no formal education to speak of, wouldn't be a stretch to have Shield, or Tony or Bruce or Vision or Steve be teaching her on the side, basic reading, writing, math, maybe some history, and part of that is the accent.

As far as WandaVision and the references, the show really is just a big red herring. Or more accurately since they don't have Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye anymore, Thor is fat, and the Hulk is smart none-smashy Hulk, Black Panther is dead, no one really likes Captain Marvel, and Dr. Strange is an unlikable ass. They have no where to go in Phase 4. No central character or story. Remember the early marvel movies, Iron Man 1-2, Hulk, Captain America and Thor were filled with call backs, references and hints of shit that just never came to anything because they were still feeling it out. So too with WandaVision and Phase 4. They don't really know what they're doing so just make a bunch of references and maybe one day we'll pull on one or two for a movie idea.

 

[Eacaraxe]

Three thoughts about this. Where the Devil-Mouse is going with WandaVision is pretty clear.

First, they're laying the groundwork for X-Men and Fantastic Four coming back into the fold. The cat's already out of the bag Kang is going to be set up to be the MCU's next Thanos, which means they at least need to fast track FF's entry into the MCU. Putting Agatha in WandaVision is a dead giveaway for it since she was historically closer tied to FF than Scarlet Witch herself.

First and a half, bringing in Kang is fucking stupid and there's one reason they'd do this (but more on that on point three). The far cannier play for phases four and beyond would have been to bring in Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil, where instead of The Avengers 5 being the tie-in movie, do Masters of Evil where phase four and five's big bads team up. Half the Masters of Evil are already in the damn MCU, and the other half already have ground work laid for their introduction.

Doctor Doom would have been perfect to introduce at this point. He's a sorcerer in power armor, when Doctor Strange just ate a big fat nerf having lost the Time Stone and Tony just, you know, died. Doctor Doom would have been an ideal foil for Strange, being a serious contender for Sorcerer Supreme against a (somewhat) depowered Strange, while simultaneously rubbing salt in fans' wounds by being an evil Tony Stark. Then bring in Fantastic Four to stop Doom.

Second, it ain't about the damn X-Men. This isn't going to be House of M like most of us thought it would. Back in 2014 Marvel Comics retconned Scarlet Witch, so she was "never" a mutant to begin with and neither she nor Pietro were related to Magneto; Wanda was "always" a witch (that whole stupid Nexus Being shit), and if I remember right she's the one who gave Pietro his powers. Now given the time of the comics retcon it was pretty obvious it was a play by Disney to shore up Scarlet Witch's role in the MCU and avoid lawsuits by Fox, but now that risk is over Disney seems to be looking to tie Wanda more closely with FF than X-Men.

Third, this is about setting up the Young Avengers in the long run. Disney pretty clearly learned their lesson bringing in actors in their late twenties and thirties to play roles for a decade or more, especially ones with established names with more bargaining power than Disney is entirely comfortable with. Devil-Mouse wants an MCU roster it can lock in at an early age, and before actors have name recognition beyond the MCU to leverage for better contracts. And all these Disney+ shows and phase 4 movies are linked to Young Avengers characters, however obliquely in some way.

...and that's why Kang is the next Thanos. Because Kang is Iron Lad.

 

[SilentPony]

So Paul Bettany now admits he was trolling fans when he said there was a Mandalorian Luke Skywalker level surprise cameo with an actor he's always wanted to be act with. Turns out he meant himself because now he's playing 2 Visions. Get it? He lied to hype up a pretty subpar show, got fans excited for something cool, and then it turns out nah, nothing cool is happening. LOL right guys?
What a miserable, lifeless show this ended up being. To paraphrase Jenny Nicholson "nothing is worse than a story that makes you feel stupid for being excited."

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

So Paul Bettany now admits he was trolling fans when he said there was a Mandalorian Luke Skywalker level surprise cameo with an actor he's always wanted to be act with. Turns out he meant himself because now he's playing 2 Visions. Get it? He lied to hype up a pretty subpar show, got fans excited for something cool, and then it turns out nah, nothing cool is happening. LOL right guys?
What a miserable, lifeless show this ended up being. To paraphrase Jenny Nicholson "nothing is worse than a story that makes you feel stupid for being excited."

What is disappointment if not love persevering?

 

[SilentPony]

What is disappointment if not love persevering?

God I remember that line, it was so cringe. No idea why anyone thought it was some great, deep line.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

God I remember that line, it was so cringe. No idea why anyone thought it was some great, deep line.

Because they're not used to great, deep writing.

 

[SilentPony]

You know what I hate more than being right? Being right incredibly early. I had guessed this show wasn't going to have much to say after the second episode in a row didn't say anything. And it turns out yeah, they didn't have anything to say.

Spoiler

Wanda is the Scarlet Witch. That's it. That's the big spoiler. Wanda Maximoff, known as the Scarlet Witch in the Marvel comics, is now after 4 MCU movies officially confirmed to be...the character she was based off in the first place. I know she's technically a mutant and during Age of Ultron they didn't have the rights to the X-men but jeez Marvel, talk about an end zone victory dance. This whole TV show could have been summed up and done with 60 second flash back in Dr. Strange 2.
Oh and speaking of the Sorcerer Supreme, we get fuck all! The dude who is "protecting your reality, douchebag" doesn't show up for the huge reality breaking throw down. I guess its true New Yorkers never go into Jersey. And its kinda Marvel world breaking he doesn't. Protecting reality is his big thing, this is a reality break less than 100 miles from him and he's just having that tuna on rye he never got in Infinity War I guess.
Basically nothing happened in this story. Wanda is Scarlet Witch, Rambeau is Spectrum and...and that's it. Is Vision dead? Yes, but also no because White Vision is clearly going to take over. Are Wanda's kids dead? Yes, but also no because they're still driving her crazy in the post credits. Is Agatha evil? Yes, but also no because she's trying to get Wanda to let the towns people go because they're innocents. Is Quicksilver from the Fox world? This is a big no, because he's not even a mutant, he's a guy named Johnny Penis. I wish I was joking. The big twist in some epic crossover between the X-Men verse and MCU is a set up for...a dick joke. That's it. That was the huge clever big brain writing that saw them cast Evan Peters early in development. They wanted that 11th hour, in the middle of the final battle, dick joke.
And in keeping with Marvel fucking the duck, that male aerospace engineer Rambeau needed to get into the Hex is...a girl Skrull. Fucking great Marvel, you took the worst part of Secret Invasion, ie everyone is a Skrull so we can retcon the characters, and just went for it, retconning even pronouns from within a show. And what does the future have in store for Spectrum? Who the fuck knows, she's been summoned to Captain Marvel 2 with her role based solely on how she's received by fans.

Writing this out I realized what WandaVision really is. Its an in-universe 9 part retcon of Wanda's character. They needed her to be the villain in Dr. Strange 2, but she already turned good 4 movies ago, so they just decided to turn her evil again...so we can do another redemption arc where Wanda learns the magic of friendship again. Oh I wonder if they're going to bring in Hawkeye to give her a pep talk and then have a slowmo reveal scene where she joins the Avengers in time to fight a big bad. Way to go Marvel, you wasted all our time and 4 movies worth of character development to make sure you got your money's worth from the X-Men purchase.

Overall 1/10, watch the final episode to get caught up for Dr. Strange 2, the rest is just filler.

 

[laggyteabag]

Overall, I liked the show, but the finale seemed abrupt.

My biggest issue is just how many plot points weren't given that final what/why explanation, and just kind of ended - like, was Hayward really just a asshole? Was Evan Peters' "Pietro" really just there to make a dick joke? Monica Rambeau went back into the Hex, got her superpowers (which I think she kept?), and then... just stood around doing nothing?

I think it could have benefitted from an extra episode, or spent less time pissing about with the sitcom gimmick, at the beginning.

I'd say it was a good show, and I really enjoyed my time watching it, but it is definitely one of those "about the journey, not the destination" things. I also expected more from how the show would shake up the MCU going forward.

Also, this is the second time that the MCU has cock teased the multiverse, and I no longer think it is funny. Doctor Strange 2 The Multiverse of Madness had better actually be about the multiverse, or im never going to trust Marvel again.