Television Review

WandaVision: Limited Series (2021)

Two newlyweds begin to suspect their perfect suburban life together might not be all that it seems…

Having conquered the worldwide box office with $20BN in grosses after 23 movies, Marvel Studios now sets its sights on the small-screen. WandaVision benefits from a glut of new stories thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Fans haven’t seen anything from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) since Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) premiered; not that Marvel needs help generating interest in their wares. But did their blockbuster formula translate to something intimate and experimental, or is the intention just to bring big-budget visuals to a long-form medium?

WandaVision certainly doesn’t worry about easing us into things gently. The first episode is bereft of explanations for why we’re immediately watching a black-and-white 1950s sitcom, evoking memories of I Love Lucy (1951–57), with a newlyweds Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) moving into the small-town of Westview. There’s even a touch of Bewitched (1964–1972) because Wanda retains her magical…