Series Brilliant work of off-putting horror (spoiler free)
I love horror. It's one of my favorite genres for how creative and interesting it can be. WandaVision is one of the only things recently to give me legitimate chills, in combination with the mystery that's drawing me in. My favorite brand of horror is the subtle and unsettling stuff- where you just know something is very wrong- the Uncanny Valley stuff. This series, so far, excels at that sort of thing.
Sure, it'll throw in a Jump Scare or two. And occasionally, the horror will be much more in-your-face. But the show runs on being extremely unnerving and everything just being slightly off. The commercial segments are surreal and linger just long enough to feel off-putting even when nothing's going on, in addition to their psychological elements. The sitcom elements can lull you in to a false sense of safety and familiarity, which gets ripped away as soon as the show reminds you that everything's going wrong. Even the intro scenes for each "episode" have elements that are just strange enough to evoke a bit of that horror.
That's not to say the entire show is scary, but that's what makes the horror even better. The less-scary bits can be genuinely funny, cool, and mystifying, which helps make the horror elements all the more jarring. When you don't know where the next bit of creepiness will be coming from, they're all the stronger, and it makes the show even more interesting.
All in all, good show, and makes good enough use of my favorite horror and meta tropes to make it something I, personally, am loving- at least at the time of this review being posted. Hey, I just caught up with it all and it's on my mind- let me get the gushing out of my system :P
Series Wandavision is unwatchable. 📺 ❌
Wandavision is unwatchable. 📺 ❌
I have zero good feelings about sitcoms from the 60s and 70s, so there's that.
But sitcoms are supposed to be funny.
Meta-fail on every level.
Agents of Sword now repeating the Agents of Sheld Framework arc, except much worse. Not engaging, not funny, no characterization, no arc... very disappointing.
I understand that others may have differing opinions and that's fine. I'd offer to update my review of Wandavision after viewing more except I won't because I immediately cancelled my Disney Plus after seeing the first two episodes.
That's two hours I can't get back and two hours of enduring a boring parody of a boring era of boring television.
There's lots of good "mindfuck serialized fiction."
Wild Palms, Tekwar, Max Headroom, Lain, GITS SAC, Twin Peaks, Black Mirror, Altered Carbon, Stranger Things, Dolls, Lost until it jumped the shark, Highlander likewise, Nikita, Westworld etc.
Wandavision just doesn't happen to be one of these good serialized weirdness shows.
Short review after watching eps 1 and 2 Jan. 17, 2021. Updated due to feedback January 18, 2021.