With the earlier events of “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and “Black Widow” covered, it’s time to move the spotlight onto the official beginning of the multiverse saga. In WandaVision, we follow Wanda Maximoff and Vision as they go through a series of sitcom, slice-of-life adventures in a suburban neighborhood. At least, that’s what it appears to be. With each episode, we get more hints that everything is not as it seems, making the audience constantly question what is real or fake. 

Pro/Con #1: The Beginning

One reason I absolutely love this show is that, right off the bat, we’re hit by a whole bunch of mysteries! For instance, since this series takes place right after “Avengers: Endgame,” the premiere’s opening theme alone raises so many questions. How is Vision back? Why does everything look like an old sitcom? What is going on here? However, the mystery deepens by the end of the first episode, where the dinner scene with Vision’s boss raises some eyebrows. As the man chokes on some food, we get a bizarrely long focus on the character gagging, his wife constantly smiling and repeating “stop it,” and then Wanda coldly commanding Vision to help the guy. And I haven’t even mentioned how someone turned off a TV monitor, which displayed Wanda’s show, just before the real-world end credits rolled. All of these elements just draw the viewer in, immediately hooking them in as they have to wait an agonizing week to find out more. This feature is especially enhanced with the additional hints they sprinkle throughout each new episode, not too much to reveal the plot but just enough to clue us in and draw our interest even more. 

However, if there’s one problem with this premise, it’s the overall theme that the show tries to utilize. More specifically, it’s the rather unique choice to blend a sitcom setting with the serious and action-packed world of the MCU. Now, don’t get me wrong, I actually did enjoy this approach and it didn’t ruin my overall experience. But at the same time, when I first watched these episodes, I had a hard time focusing on the sitcom elements with my mind constantly elsewhere. For instance, I kept wondering where this was all going, considering Endgame and the other previously mentioned questions. Plus, with all the Easter Eggs (Strücker or other important characters in commercials) and mysterious elements (the colored toy helicopter or the beekeeper from the sewers), I kept forgetting that this was supposed to look like a light-hearted comedy. While the show eventually elaborates the significance on this choice of theme, the more serious elements question its worth. After all, if superhero fans (especially ones riding off the high of Endgame) are gonna watch this mini-series, then why would they pay attention to something that doesn’t fit in a universe like the MCU?

Pro/Con #2: The Characters

One attribute of this show that got me pumping my fist was the fact that they not only brought back familiar faces, but incorporated them so well into another hero’s story. For example, we see Monica Rambeau all grown-up, but then we find out she blipped and what all has happened to her and her mom since “Captain Marvel.” In addition, we also get pleasant surprises from Jimmy Woo (“Ant-Man and the Wasp”) and Darcy (the “Thor” franchise)! Each character gets an equal amount of time to shine, displaying their desires to not just help her but fight for what’s right. However, it’s not just the cameos that WandaVision excels at, because all the other characters were written so amazingly. Wanda, for instance, was phenomenal! At first, she came across as creepy or even terrifying when she let her facade slip to regain control of her world. But after we find out how she made the Hex out of her own grief, it forces you to think about everything she’s been through and feel bad for her. Vision, on the other hand, was also done right! At first, Vision seemed to be a goofy but happy “family man.” Later, we find out that Vision wasn’t even real, but none of that ever mattered. As he kept noticing the “glitches in the matrix” and saw people in need of help, his character shone through as he investigated deeper into the Hex to save everyone. As far as the audience is concerned, he might as well have been the real deal. 

Still, with this many aspiring character attributes, there are just as many flaws. Specifically, the one issue I have is with the antagonists of this show. Take Agatha Harkness, for example. It’s pretty mind-blowing how she was behind a lot of the mishaps of the show, and she’s the overall opposite of Wanda in personality and power. So why wasn’t she the main villain? Why was the focus mainly on Director Hayward? I understand the foreshadowing and secrecy, but Hayward had way more of a presence than Agatha. Plus, with the story mainly focused on Hayward trying to take Wanda down, it’s just hard to see how Agatha and her secret plot fits into all this. Plus, Agatha was just not a remarkable villain in my book. Sure, she was a step ahead of Wanda and really kept her on her toes, but she’s still not a huge threat. After all, Loki was a step ahead of everyone, and even had all of Asgard and NYC on their knees. He never won, but at least he had a higher chance of winning than Agatha ever did. In addition, Agatha was just overall annoying and her quirky personality was a bit too much for my taste. Not many villains these days can measure up to the ones from the Infinity Saga, but Agatha doesn’t even make it in the Top 10. 

Pro/Con #3: The Ending

If there’s one thing I love more than a good mystery, it’s the fulfilling rewards that follow them! In other words, for every question posed in an episode, the mind-blowing plot twists and reveals make the weeklong wait worth it! For example, the background on Wanda’s Hex in the fourth episode provided a lot of context, but still gave us more questions than answers. Wanda may have been in grief, but it’s still hard to believe that she stormed S.W.O.R.D. headquarters and stole Vision’s corpse to resurrect it. That is why the next-to-last episode on Wanda’s life story was so amazing, because we find out she never forced her way in nor stole Vision’s body, but found out the Vision we saw was made by her this whole time. In addition, we get a more personal glimpse into Wanda’s early life, how her magic powers began to manifest long before the Mind Stone, and how she made the Hex in Westview completely unintentionally. But one of the real kickers is not only that Hayward brought Vision back, but also the fact that Fake Vision defeated White Vision with pure logic! That discussion about the Ship of Theseus is undoubtedly one of my favorite Marvel scenes, because so many profound points were made and it helped bring the real Vision back (in a sense).

Yet, while the finale did overall tie up every loose end in the show, there are still several headaches that simply can’t be ignored. One such headache is how certain plot lines were either forgotten, abandoned, or mishandled. Take White Vision, for example. In both a post-credit scene and the beginning of the final episode, it was made clear that he was designed to combat Wanda. However, all he does is squeeze her skull before Fake Vision comes and fights him, and then he suddenly focuses on Fake Vision for the rest of the episode. I’m sure there’s a good explanation for this, but it just seems too much of an abrupt and lazy change from what was previously established. Aside from that, we need to acknowledge the elephant in the room: Fake Pietro. When I first saw that scene with Evan Peters’ return as Quicksilver, I was jumping out of my seat! After all, this presented a major opportunity in that we might get a true tie-in to the multiverse by bringing in a Pietro from another world, adding more emotional and mental turmoil for Wanda’s character. But nope. Instead, we get some random loser named Ralph Bohner, who Agatha enchanted to pose as her long-dead sibling. Talk about a major disappointment, because even though the X-Men prequels weren’t the best, Quicksilver was an overall amazing character with equally amazing powers. So to see that potential completely tarnished feels like a slap in the face for movie and comic book fans everywhere. 

Conclusion

Overall, this was an amazing start to the multiverse saga! I must admit I had my doubts when I first heard the announcement, but this turned out to be one of my favorite MCU series made in recent years. In fact, if it weren’t for “Falcon and The Winter Soldier” or “Moon Knight,” this would probably be my favorite show.