Original release date:  Episode 1 aired January 15, 2021 / Rating: TV-14 / Length: Eight episodes, 29 to 49 minutes per episode

Review:

Before I even start, let’s lay down the basics… there are spoilers here. Lots of them. Maybe they spoil a Marvel movie you haven’t seen yet. Maybe they spoil beginning episodes. Maybe they spoil major character development. If you haven’t watched Wandavision yet (and maybe “Avengers: Infinity War”), you should not read this if you don’t want to be spoiled.

Ready?

Okay.

I went into “Wandavision” out of curiousity. Truthfully, I am a bad Marvel fan. I haven’t seen half the movies. I couldn’t have picked Vision or Wanda out of a lineup despite having seen “Avengers: Infinity War.” I fell so behind in the lore and and now I just want to watch it all chronologically, which so far has resulted in me watching two movies in about eight months. Oops.

The begin the spoilerfest, Wanda and Vision both played a key role in “Avengers: Endgame,” where Thanos did the big snap and killed a lot of people including superheroes. Vision was one of those snapped to death. Wanda survived.

The first episode of “Wandavision” is certainly a unique piece of television. It’s black and white, features a live studio audience, and largely mimics sitcoms like “I Love Lucy.” It pays a fine tribute but you can tell there’s something just a little… off. Wanda (played by Elizabeth Olsen, now the coolest Olsen sister) has magical powers and Vision (portrayed by Paul Bettany) is, well, this robot guy. The episode also introduces wacky side characters like Vision’s coworkers as well as wacky neighbor Agnes (portrayed by Kathryn Hahn. It’s a quirky little episode… one that seems more odd at the very end when it is revealed somebody is watching the show on a television.

Episode two moves up to the 1960s, paying homage to “Bewitched.” The black-and-white continues as does the wacky hijinks, however not all is right. A slight moment of blood shows in actual red. A radio voice calls out to Wanda. Wanda becomes inexplicably pregnant…. and moves time forward to color television and the 1970s.

We hit color television and the 1970s in the third episode with a “Brady Bunch” style and things continue to spiral a bit further away from just being a sitcom. Besides a very quick birth to twins, we meet Geraldine… who reveals knowledge of Wanda’s battles against Ultron very much outside of the current television reality. This gets Geraldine cast outside of a wall of static that seems to be surrounding the entire town and into widescreen modern times. What in the world is going on?

Wanda’s facade is unravelling quickly, that’s what. As time and episodes roll on, we meet characters outside of the “Wandavision” television show and find out that Wanda is controlling the show, the events of it, and the entire town and its citizens. Vision is still dead and instead a new version without knowledge of the original created by Wanda, the twins are aging incredibly fast, an alternate universe version of her brother Pietro appears, and we learn S.W.O.R.D. is trying to get into the blocked-off town and stop Wanda. Geraldine is actually Monica, an agent of S.W.O.R.D.

We also meet Darcy (Kat Dennings), a fan of the show and someone helping crack the code of what is going on, as well as Jimmy (one-time Jim Halpert himself, Randall Park). Both are great characters and hopefully will reappear somewhere in the Marvel universe.

Eventually we get to the point where Vision realizes everything is not normal and goes off to search for facts while Wanda becomes overwhelmed with… everything. Most of all though, Kathryn Hahn continues to be excellent as we learn that Agnes has been Agatha all along, the villain of the series who has been making bad things happen (and she killed Sparky, too.) This leads to a thrilling conclusion that sets everything… well, still not right. And leads into the next step of the Marvel Universe and back into the movies.

As I said earlier, I went into the series out of curiosity. Every episode drew me into the world and into caring about the characters. Now I have, as I do, ordered Funko Pops of my favorites. I want to go back and watch the movies and learn about Vision and Wanda. And I need more Agatha immediately.

The acting is well done. Olsen and Bettany do a GREAT job not only portraying their main characters but weaving in and out of the various styles of the sitcoms Wanda drives the story through. Hahn is an absolute all-star as both Agnes and Agatha. The music of the series is also fantastic.

However, unlike most series, we don’t know if and when we will get a second season or if this is a “one and done” deal. The stories goes back into the movies now, most likely the world of Doctor Strange. It would be a few years before the characters would weave back into television. Meanwhile, we’re already set to debut another new Marvel series based on movie characters and expanding the universe a week after “Wandavision” ended.

Extras:

So far we just have two trailers and a “first look,” though a documentary on the series is coming soon to Disney+.

Should you watch it?

100% yes. It does help to know the characters but you can also go in blind like I did and “get it” as most of it is told to you as you go.