The start of another Phase: WandaVision series review
Do you want a satisfying journey for a new beginning? On Jan. 15, Disney Plus released the first two episodes of “WandaVision,” the highly-anticipated Marvel mini-series, which marked the beginning of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). This series was filled with twists, turns and emotions, and left the audience coming back for more.
WandaVision is centered around Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth Olsen, and what she has been up to since the events of “Avengers: Endgame.” She has taken over the small town of Westview, NJ and turned it into her ideal world based on popular American sitcoms. She even goes as far as resurrecting her dead partner Vision, played by Paul Bettany, so they can live happily together. Everything from the costumes, dialect, story and even the aspect ratio help the audience immerse themselves into this fictional world.
While Wanda is living in her own fantasy, the people outside of Westview are trying to uncover every detail about how the anomaly was created, who’s stuck inside and how to take it down. Audiences are reintroduced to characters such as Jimmy Woo and Darcy Lewis, played by Randall Park and Kat Dennings, who were seen in “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and “Thor,” respectively. A grown-up Monica Rambeau, played by Teyonah Parris, is reintroduced after her character’s debut as a child in “Captain Marvel.” All three of them now work for S.W.O.R.D, an agency that deals with extraterrestrial threats to the world and in this case, a Hex that has an entire town held captive.
As the series progresses, the audience experiences the emergence of color, aspect ratio shifting and Wanda’s kids. The most important addition, however, is a new song being added to everyone’s playlist, “Agatha All Along.” Who knew antagonists could create such compelling songs and plot evil schemes at the same time? Agatha, played by Kathryn Hahn, is the villain that Wanda needed. Without Agatha, Wanda wouldn’t have known the truth of her power and the story of the MCU would’ve never advanced into such a dark, yet adventurous, path from before.
“WandaVision”’ was well received by audiences all over the world. In January, it acquired more views than the Netflix Original series “Bridgerton” and eventually became the most popular show in the world following the release of episode 5 on Feb. 5. Marvel fans enjoyed seeing Wanda Maximoff and Vision in a stand-alone series while non-Marvel fans suddenly wanted to know more about the world-famous movie franchise. “WandaVision” references multiple MCU movies from Phases 2 and 3 such as “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Doctor Strange.” If you’re inspired to binge the MCU to get a better understanding of Wanda and Vision’s origins, reference this list.
With an outstanding conclusion of a mystery-driven show, it’s always a good feeling to go back and see how the show was created. Following the series finale, Disney Plus is releasing the behind-the-scenes documentary, “Assembled: The Making of WandaVision” on March 12. You’ll get full access on how shows like “WandaVision,” “Loki” and “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” were made from pre-production to post-production while understanding the trials and lengths the crews went to make this series happen. Discover the process of how these series were made with filmmakers and stars–only on Disney Plus.
Eldrick Greenaway is a senior studying film production at the University of New Haven. Eldrick has worked as a contributing writer for the Charger Bulletin...