Spoilers WandaVision discussion thread

Phase 4 begins in less than an hour.

 

Oh, it was nice to hear the Marvel Studios Fanfare once again.

The first episode was just a straight take on the old style 50 sitcom with superpowers as advertised. The only hint of anything odd was in the very end of the episode as we saw a brief shot of the outside world watching in.

Given that, I'm happy to say that it was indeed genuinely funny. I got my first genuine laugh in the episode's "opening credits" sequence.

I've waited all the way to the end to see if there was an end credit sequence, but there is not.

On to episode 2.

 

Love the Bewitched style credits for the second episode.

This one was a little less straightforward than the first as elements of the surrounding mystery come into play. Wanda finds a SWORD drone that is in full color amidst the rest of the black and white. And Wanda hears the mysterious message coming from the radio, "who's doing this to you Wanda?", that we have heard in the previews. Though he's not listed in the credits, it sounded like Randall Park's Jimmy Woo. And then there was the red blood. Very disturbing was Wanda rewinding time when "The Beekeeper" from outside intruded upon her reality.

Whatever is effecting the reality is obviously also affecting their perception of said reality. Wanda's spontaneous pregnancy and their casual acceptance of it was weird.

We meet more of the cast in this episode, including Teyonah Parris and Emma Caulfield.

Also interesting is how the outside world, presumably SWORD, is watching what's going inside the same way we the viewers are, as old sitcom episodes.

While this isn't giving me the same "holy crap I can't wait for the next episode" feeling that The Mandalorian gave me, it is still very intriguing. Obviously at this point they are just setting the table. I expect that the anticipation will rise as the stakes do as the mystery is revealed.

 

I wonder if they just introduced A.I.M. We see a guy in a beekeeper outfit and the it foot soldiers are called Beekeepers. The commercial for the watch ad is for a brand of watch called Strucker and it says Hydra on the watch. Strucker created A.I.M., a branch of Hydra.

Or is that reintroduced them? Weren’t they mentioned in Iron Man 3?

 

I don't know what the hell's going on, but I enjoyed it. Intriguing, funny and peculiar - just my sort of thing. Great to see Kitty aka. Debra Jo Rupp again.

Certainly enough to hold my interest; looking forward to seeing where it leads.

 

Well, that was a bit strange.

Moderate Marvel "experts" know of possible influence of the comics with the Avengers Disassembled storyline that continued into House of M, where Wanda is losing her mind and creates an alternate reality - this might be the MCU version of it but then again the MCU is known to play with and twist expectations and make their own version of it. It is an interesting concept but i found the initial two episodes somehow off - might have been the setting (50s style US sitcoms are neither funny nor interesting to me) but the few drops of actual plot were not enough to really fill two episodes.

It is intriguing though i think those two episodes could have been condensed easily into a single episode but the stage is set and i'm curious to see how this plays out - there are so many questions open which is what a pilot episode should do.

 

Just a side note.
The screen time amount of fanfare logo and end credits is staggering and skewing the perceived episode length (not counting the opening credits, as they are (meta) part of the story.

 

I like it so far. Hope we get more outside clues in episode 3. They did a good job if recreating I guess you could say shows that reminded me of I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show and Bewitched. The boldest thing about these two episode isn't the unique setting or premise but the fact they just did two episodes of a new MCU show that is going to usher in a new phase and new way to tell MCU stories ( streaming and not just movies) without even one action scene.

J

 

"You move at the speed of sound and I can make a pen float through the air. Who needs to abbreviate?!"

So far so wonderfully bizarre. A great mixture of humor, classic TV sitcom tributes, Marvel mysteries, and Wanda and Vision just trying to enjoy life. The first two episodes are relatively straightforward with the sitcom pastiches but I'm sure things will change as the cracks from this false reality continue to break through more.

I loved the little commercial cutaways and it looks like they'll appear once each episode with the same two actors/characters with some kind of kind direct MCU nugget (Stark, Strucker/Hydra...). I wonder if they'll become more elaborate further along the season?

I know nothing about SWORD and AIM so I appreciate the commentary here to help fill in the gaps. I'm guessing the logo we keep seeing is SWORD's?

I can't wait for next week's

 

AIM was Killian's company in IM3. I don't think there were any hints of them being in any way related to any older villainy so they presumably weren't intended to be a hydra offshoot, but that could likely still be changed fairly easily.

 

Yeah, I was shocked when I hit the end credits of the first episode and there was still more. I kept expecting there to be something more to it.
I'm a big fan of these kind of old shows, so I loved it. They did a great job of capturing the feel of those old shows, but with just a few hints of whatever MCU stuff is going on in the background.
It definitely looks like this is going to be a bit more of a slow burn with whatever is going outside of the town than I was expecting, but I'm enjoying the sitcom stuff enough that I don't mind.

 

Yeah.. don't think this is for me. I don't like cheesy sitcoms, never mind American ones and never mind ones from the 50s. Actually skipped through most of ep2 as I couldn't stand it anymore.
I know you could say "what were you expecting?" but just not that for the entire length.
I don't get who this is aimed at. But hey ho, each to their own.

 

It's good wacky fun. Don't really have much else to say at the moment.

 

Anyone else notice that in the new fanfare/logo sequence they have both Tony and Steve's image fade to monochrome? I presume that's to symbolise those characters being officially "retired"? I wonder, if they're going to actually replace those images with Carol and Sam at some point down the line?

Also, pretty sure all of the clip footage was from Phase 3.

 

The beekeepers are classic AIM so that is who has them.

I honestly did not enjoy that much - the 1950s and then 1960s sitcom concept was good for maybe five or ten minutes maximum but stretched across two episodes? no.

 

It’s very clever so far. My 13 year old daughter (who went through a Marvel phase but seems to have moved on) seems a little wary of it but I actually think my wife, who tolerates Marvel at best, might actually enjoy it. It’s a bit of a slow burn but I think it’s going to be one to stick with.

 

Don't think the beekeeper is AIM, what with his having the S.W.O.R.D. logo (also seen at the end of episode 1) on his back and everything. I mean, meta-visual reference to the classic AIM outfits; sure. In-universe AIM? Probably not given the MCU already used them, and it really wouldn't make much sense for Killian's thinktank to make a comeback here and now .

 

It was nicely done, and cute if not actually funny. Apart from the diagram of Visions innards.

I enjoyed it and am moderately engaged in seeing where it goes, but think it should probably have let just a smidge more slip about what's going on. Just a smidge...

 

I forgot to mention this before but I really loved how in the second episode, already steeped heavily in Bewitched pastiche, acknowledged how that show started off in black and white and eventually went to color when the episode ended with Wanda converting everything into color.

Yup, that's what I thought, too, for the first time, but definitely by the time of the second time.