House of TraumaVision

In June of 2014, I received a phone call stating that my father had a massive heart attack. Despite not grasping what’d happened until several days later, it still weighed on my mind. When I finally saw how serious this was, a pit formed in my stomach. For three months, whenever I heard my mother discuss the situation and start crying, I felt like the worst was yet to come. My anxiety also shot through the roof, and my appetite decreased. I was a mess the entire Summer, essentially.

I mention this as context for Disney’s newest MCU series, WandaVision. I’d been anticipating it for some time, especially given the numerous delays that arose due to the pandemic. Additionally, it was tackling a storyline that its lead actress, Elizabeth Olsen, had been looking forward to for a while: House of M. If she was excited, why shouldn’t I be?

Now, this’ll contain some light spoilers. I’ll try to be general, but some will still creep through. Also, my thoughts are subjective. In other words, don’t take them too personally. Lord knows that’s been a problem in the past...

Taking place shortly after The Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision follows Wanda Maximoff and Vision in the suburbs of Westview, New Jersey. Initially, they play out their “perfect” lives in a TV format, but it’s soon revealed that something’s amiss. Wanda has, in actuality, taken control of Westview, held its citizens hostage mentally, revived Vision and is using sitcoms to cope with trauma. Additionally, we start to understand, and sympathize, with why she’s done this. Ultimately, though, Wanda has to make a tough decision: should she live in her utopia at the expense of others, or give it up and lose everything?

I’ve never seen a David Lynch movie, of which this pays homage. I have nothing against him, but he’s never piqued my interest. I’m also averse to mind-trips that make you to suspend cohesion at the expense of narrative, which so many stories like WandaVision do. So while I was excited and interested in seeing this, with that came with some trepidation.

Fortunately, the show, while trippy, is grounded. Despite being a run through decades of sitcom history, we soon discover that Wanda’s avoiding her past. This is someone who’s witnessed her parents die as a child, her older brother die saving Sokovia and her lover die first at her hands and then the hands of someone who obliterated her from existence. She was also experimented on by The MCU’s equivalent of Nazis. She has issues that need addressing, but is instead retreating into her mind. Under normal circumstances, her takeover of Westview would make her the antagonist. But since we sympathize, that never becomes an issue.

It’s not like she’s absolved of consequences. We routinely see the damage Wanda’s causing, and it’s made clear that she’s wrong. Even Agnes, who’s later revealed to be a witch named Agatha, states that she’s been mentally enslaving people in order to live out her dream of being a housewife. So while she’s worthy of attachment, she’s not innocent. It’s a refreshing take in a world where antiheroes are frequently botched.

It also plays into themes of grief and coping with loss. Ignoring my dad and his near-fatal heart attack, I’ve felt my share of loss. We all have, and coming to grips with it isn’t easy. It’s how we deal with it, however, that matters. As Vision says: what is grief, if not love persevering?

And the episodes themselves? They range from good to great, though the homages are the best parts. I was born long after the TV sitcom boom, so I absorbed everything through osmosis, but I appreciated the references to past shows. I liked, for example, how the opening for Episode 2 paid homage to Bewitched with its animation, while Episode 6 riffed on Malcolm in the Middle. Even the in-show commercials fit their respective decades while simultaneously progressing the narrative. This is stuff you’d catch even if you aren’t an MCU fan, although there’s still plenty there if you are.

I’d like to call out the music. Written by the songwriters for Frozen, each of the opening themes, and the villain song that appears in Episode 7, are appropriate for their respective episodes and incredibly catchy. My two favourites are “The Wanda Samba” and “Agatha All Along”, but anyone can pick out favourites. Them all sharing the same, four-note leitmotif is a bonus.

There are other details that I really enjoy. I like that Kat Denning’s Darcy has something to actually do, something missing in the first two Thor films. I also like that Wanda defeats Agatha by besting her at her own game, while that Vision wins his fight with a philosophy debate. And while I’m not a huge fan of fake-outs, I thought the Quicksilver gag was funny.

That doesn’t make this show perfect, though. Not only was Monica under-utilized, but the secondary antagonist was another “generic bad guy in a suit”. I also found the climactic fight to be another “MCU explosion” battle that didn’t distinguish itself from other, better-executed ones. Oh, and the second end-credits scene revealed too much too early.

But those are all minor quibbles. The MCU’s gotten to a point where you can find better examples of its concepts in other stories, but also worse examples. It’s not a revolutionary take on grief and loss, but it does it quite well anyway. And it goes back to my piece about damaged heroines, of which Wanda qualifies.

Now then, about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier…