WandaVision

laggyteabag

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So, the WandaVision TV show has started on Disney+, with the first two episodes having aired on Friday.

What are everyone's thoughts?

Spoilers, obviously.

The show right now is a slow burn, but im invested. Episodes are about 20-30 minutes long, with the vast majority of the first couple of episodes focusing very heavily on the sitcom gimmick, with this occasional moment of characters acting strange, or things being out of place. It is a very welcome and pleasantly jarring change of tone, that is often honestly quite creepy.

I find the sitcom stuff to be entertaining enough, but im really hoping for a larger focus on the strangeness going forward - even though I really enjoy it as a setting/plot device.

I do think that the series would have benefited greatly from just releasing all of the episodes at once, but im still looking forward to next week's episode. Though I do hope that the show doesn't stretch out its gimmick too much.
 

Phoenixmgs

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So far so good. I really dug the 50s sitcom vibe infused with powered individuals, it gives it a nice twist and those type of jokes that extra layer of humor. As long as the show moves forward and doesn't stay mainly a 50s sitcom, it should continue being a solid watch.
 

Dalisclock

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So far so good. I really dug the 50s sitcom vibe infused with powered individuals, it gives it a nice twist and those type of jokes that extra layer of humor. As long as the show moves forward and doesn't stay mainly a 50s sitcom, it should continue being a solid watch.
From what I can tell, only episode 1 was a 50's sitcom. Episode 2 appeared to be a parody/Satire of Bewitched/I Dream of Genie, and has a number of 60's hallmarks.

So presumably each episode or so will move forward, either until we reach the present era or the show ends or becomes about something else entirely. Or possibly something else. Something weird is going on. I mean, considering Vision is DEAD and all that.
 

happyninja42

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From what I can tell, only episode 1 was a 50's sitcom. Episode 2 appeared to be a parody/Satire of Bewitched/I Dream of Genie, and has a number of 60's hallmarks.

So presumably each episode or so will move forward, either until we reach the present era or the show ends or becomes about something else entirely. Or possibly something else. Something weird is going on. I mean, considering Vision is DEAD and all that.
I suspect it's some kind of Truman Show/Vanilla Sky-esque scenario, as the facade breaks down, which is heavily implied in the trailers I saw. My guess is either it's going to be some kind of Marvel villain has her contained and is trying to glean some information from her through the deception. Or it's going to be a case where, IRL, Wanda had a mental break after losing Vision, and she's been contained by someone on the good guy side, and they're trying to give her some medium to work through her grief/trauma, in a way that doesn't, you know, rewrite all of creation and destroy the fabric of spacetime. :D
 
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happyninja42

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I also suspect, given they seem to be giving Vision a lot more agency than is usually given to another fictional being in a fantasy like this, that they are perhaps, using something like the B.A.R.F. technology, coupled with Wanda's "weird" magic, and memories of him, to recreate Vision, and bring him back into the MCU proper. I base this on that one scene, where you see Vision talking to the lady in the car, and she's clearly acting "off script" and he seems puzzled by this. Usually speaking, in illusion stories, you don't have one part of the illusion, notice another part of the illusion. You have the protagonist notice it. So it seems to suggest, that Vision is not just part of her fantasy, or at least, not ONLY part of her fantasy. That he has some agency of his own, a growing sentience or so.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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I'm not the biggest MCU fan but have at least watched pretty much all the stuff since Iron Man. But also the Bana Hulk one if that counts? Idk. Norton's was after Iron Man IIRC, because of his cameo at the end.

Anyways, the show is interesting in that Wanda seems to be attempting to create a wacky alternate reality as a coping mechanism over her loss of not only Vision, but the life she might have had before "those guys" leveled her village. It's of course just a façade though, and I'm sure each episode as the show moves forward in time will gradually reveal this, leading to some greater realization.

Apparently the show is also spearheading Phase 4 of the MCU plans, whatever that involves.
 
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PsychedelicDiamond

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I've seen it so far. Marvel doing Pleasantville is a pretty gimmicky premise and it being Marvel, I have my reasons to doubt it's building up to anything mind-blowingly interesting, but it's an engaging enough watch.
 

Dalisclock

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Yeah, I'm gonna admit that right now I'm only really in this for the wierd "WTF is going on?" moments and the rest of the SItcom stuff is pretty rote and boring to me. It probably doesn't help I watched too much Nick at Night in my youth so I feel like I've seen every Sitcom plot like 70K times(I have no idea how many times I watched I Love Lucy through) and seeing it again but with Wanda and Vision isn't keeping me engaged much.
 
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Johnny Novgorod

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Can I ask what's the point of the show if everyone knows the whole sitcom-through-the-ages shtick is just a facade?
 

Dalisclock

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Can I ask what's the point of the show if everyone knows the whole sitcom-through-the-ages shtick is just a facade?
Good question. Wanda doesn't seem to know it is, at very least, as she generally seems to sense something is off but then forgets she saw the thing that doesn't belong there. It's like they should have a backstory and at least internal knowledge of their lives before the show started but somehow don't is telling to me, like having a weird type of amnesia. Or like they're "married" but then have to create wedding rings for themselves at the end of the first episode...or how Visions Boss repeatedly asks them very pointedly what's going on, like he's glitching or something "I need Scissors! 61!"

Somebody pointed out that all the commercials so far have clear allusions to their actual lives from the previous films and it's unclear if those allusions are meant for the viewer or Wanda and/or Vision.
 

SilentPony

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So I watched the first two episodes. Over the course of about 2 hours because I can only watch like 5 minutes before I have to stop because its so contrived. Like these are Flintstones plots. And yes I get that that's the point its supposed to be a bad tv show in a make believe world. But its still a bad tv show with slow, boring and dated plots like "Oh no my boss is coming for dinner and my wife burnt the chicken! Typical women am I right studio audience?" and I'm like...no. People in the 50s must have just been so happy they survived WW2 they'd laugh at anything.
The only interesting parts are when the reality starts to break and then I'm like sucked in and want to know more, but its like 4mins total of a 30min run time. It feels like they had enough material for 1 full hour long episode but broke it into 8 30mins with 95% filler. Like the creepiest, best part so far was 30 seconds of a radio asking Wanda what's going on, and that's 30secs of 1 hour worth of show.
 

Dalisclock

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So I watched the first two episodes. Over the course of about 2 hours because I can only watch like 5 minutes before I have to stop because its so contrived. Like these are Flintstones plots. And yes I get that that's the point its supposed to be a bad tv show in a make believe world. But its still a bad tv show with slow, boring and dated plots like "Oh no my boss is coming for dinner and my wife burnt the chicken! Typical women am I right studio audience?" and I'm like...no. People in the 50s must have just been so happy they survived WW2 they'd laugh at anything.
The only interesting parts are when the reality starts to break and then I'm like sucked in and want to know more, but its like 4mins total of a 30min run time. It feels like they had enough material for 1 full hour long episode but broke it into 8 30mins with 95% filler. Like the creepiest, best part so far was 30 seconds of a radio asking Wanda what's going on, and that's 30secs of 1 hour worth of show.
Episode 3 kicks it up a notch. There's a very definite sense by Wanda and Vision that something is wrong, even if they're not sure what. Notably The Pregnacy Wanda had at the end of episode 2 is about 4 months along when the doctor looks at her and the baby is born within the week...and they notice this. So even though the episodes are advancing about a decade per episode, for Wanda and Vision almost no time is passing. As far as they're concerned, they moved in like 2 or 3 weeks ago, but time has advanced from the 50's to the 70's in that same period. There does seem to be the admission the Colorization thing is wierd but so far nobody has noticed the decades are advancing or that their house keeps changing between episodes(it has an Upstairs now where it didn't before).

It's also clear at least one of the of the neighbors know what's really going on, and likely more. The only question for me is how many of them are real people caught up in this and how many are NPCs(if any) made up to keep the illusion going.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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So they’re starting to tie in what might’ve happened at the end of End Game now, when people started rematerializing?
 

Bob_McMillan

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They're really just throwing all the secondary characters from the MCU movies into the show huh?

Anyway, general thoughts:

Super hard to watch, in a good way. I think the actors are having the time of their lives. Bettany and Olsen are pretty damn likeable in the show, instead of essentially being non-characters in the movies. I'd say this is the most acting they've ever had to do in the MCU ironically. That said, the sitcom shtick is getting a little old so I'm glad they ramped up the "real" stuff in Episode 4.
 

laggyteabag

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With Episodes 1-3 basically being the same thing of "period sitcom but with weird moments", im really glad that Episode 4 was more focused on the outside aspect of "what is going on here?", and it raised some really interesting questions.

I honestly can see this being Wanda's creation, but at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if it was some kind of villain.

Im really happy with where this show is going, and im excited to see how this pans out.
 
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Bob_McMillan

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I honestly can see this being Wanda's creation, but at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if it was some kind of villain.
I think its a mix of both. Some villain probably caused it but it's Wanda and her subconscious keeping it going, or something like that.