WANDAVISION Blurry

 Article first published as TV Review: WANDAVISION on Seat42F.

WARNING: This review contains spoilers from the first two episodes.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first television show, the highly anticipated WANDAVISION, dropped its first two episodes yesterday on Disney+. Set in a fantasy sitcom world, the series is slow to reveal the mysteries at its heart, instead dwelling in the neighborhood that has been constructed, and not giving viewers many clues as to why or how these characters are here. It’s a strange, surreal comedy that touches every cliché of decades past, with a dark undertone for what will surely be revealed as the season unfolds.

Elizabeth Olsen reprises her role from the films as Wanda Maximoff, while Paul Bettany returns as Vision. This premise is immediately suspect as, last we saw Vision, he had been utterly destroyed by Thanos. Yet, here he is, happily married to Wanda and in a suburbia that never existed. This isn’t just a reimaging, as the presence of a beekeeper (a familiar symbol of AIM to comic book fans) and a garbled radio broadcast asking Wanda what was done to her make it clear there is a life beyond this constructed one. So the question seems to be, who captured Wanda and what kind of experiments are they doing on her that has left her locked in this dream with her deceased lover?

WANDAVISION could easily just be Wanda-centric, given she is possibly the only one truly existing here, but the title and the way the story unfolds gives equal weight to both heroes, hinting that perhaps something of Vision has survived the removal of the Soul stone from his lifeless physical form. Given that Vision started in the MCU as an A.I., it is reasonable to think perhaps he can continue as such, even as fans (including myself) may hold out hope for him to rejoin the rest of the Avengers in the real world eventually.

I could easily see WANDAVISION as a film instead of a nine-part series that presumably will run about four and a half hours. It lingers so, so much in the fake scenario, going through entire stories in each of the first two installments. The premiere is about Vision having his boss and his wife over for dinner, and of course Wanda isn’t prepared and things go wrong. This one looks like the ‘50s in a The Dick Van Dyke Show house. Yet, as the second episode begins, they’re shifted over to a 1960s Bewitched format (with no comment on the change) for a talent show scenario involving the local women’s club. Each are stand-alone entries of slightly different styles, but there are small hints at reality trying to bust through. As enjoyable as these are, I began to quickly grow impatient to get to the larger narrative. Though a Pleasantville-style occurrence in the second installment indicates the pacing might speed up a little soon, and the ‘commercials’ are definitely leading to something.

Despite my wish that WANDAVISION not move so slowly, there are many familiar faces to help it along and make the wait go easier. Kathryn Hahn (Transparent) is fantastic as nosy neighbor and friend, Agnes. Debra Jo Rupp (That ‘70s Show) delights as Vision’s boss’s wife, Mrs. Hart. Emma Caulfield Ford (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is perfect as the mean lady that heads the local ladies. Teyonah Parris (Mad Men) is immediately magnetic as Geraldine. There are many others, as well, and if there wasn’t a mystery box waiting to be opened, this could be a fun throwback sitcom outside of Marvel.

One of the actors above has been confirmed to actually be someone who exists beyond this, and was played by someone else in an MCU film, though to avoid spoiling, I won’t say which one. Additionally, other performers from the MCU movies have been tied to this production, they just haven’t shown up yet. I’m anxious to get to those reveals.

I liked WANDAVISION, but I do wish, because they’ve chosen the drag the story out over 9 episodes, that they’d just released them all at once for us to binge. It’s frustrating and hurts my enjoyment to not get much towards the big picture in episodes 1 and 2. After this much anticipation, I feel like we needed a little more payoff. Let’s hope the ensuing weeks make up for that (and I suspect they will). I can’t help but think most of the glowing reviews are from those that have seen more than has been released to the public at this point.

WANDAVISION streams weekly on Disney+.

Looking for MANHUNT: UNABOMBER

Article first published as TV Review: MANHUNT: UNABOMBER on Seat42F.

Discovery Channel’s newest series, MANHUNT: UNABOMBER, premieres this week. Unlike most of the programming on the network, this one is completely scripted, with a cast of familiar actors playing the roles of actual people, rather than interviews with experts and historians. I’m not sure why Discovery needs scripted shows, but given the focus on forensic linguistics, a practice largely dismissed at the time of the events depicted, this makes sense as the type of program that their core audience will likely be interested in.

Sam Worthington (Avatar, Clash of the Titans) stars as Jim ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald, the FBI agent who gets inside the head of serial killer Ted Kaczynski (Paul Bettany, The Avengers movies) and brings him to justice. Fitz is a loner himself, smarter than most people, and he comes to understand Ted in a deep way that is, at times, disturbing. As Ted complains about how society is changing, Fitz can’t help but see his point, which does allow him to save lives, but screws up his own pretty completely in the process.

Worthington’s performance, full of complexity and nuance, is worthy of a feature film, and the style and tone of the program seems to bend that way as well. While watching the two-hour premiere, I couldn’t help but feel like I was at the theatre, similar as MANHUNT: UNABOMBER is to films in the genre. In fact, other than its clunky title, it seems like a pretty quality feature.

The supporting cast helps, too, with Keisha Castle-Hughes (Game of Thrones), Chris Noth (Sex and the City), Elizabeth Reaser (Twilight), Jeremy Bobb (The Knick), Brian F. O’Byrne (Aquarius), Mark Duplass (Togetherness), Brian D’Arcy James (Smash), Lynn Collins (John Carter), and Jane Lynch (Glee) making for a pretty formidable ensemble. And that’s not even a full roster.

But where MANHUNT: UNABOMBER suffers is where it differs most from a feature film: the running time. At eight hours, it is too long, telling a story that would have been hard to cram in two, but isn’t interesting enough for a full miniseries. Yes, I make that claim after having only watched twenty-five percent of it, but the amount of wasted screen time in those initial two hours is why I feel comfortable saying it.

A lot of time is given over to Fitz begging his bosses to let him use his talent, do his thing, and his bosses refusing him, telling him to just follow orders. Now, I like the point this makes, as Ted’s whole thing is about not being blindly obedient to the system. But it could have been told in one scene, not many. It started to feel pretty repetitive by the third time it happened. And it’s not like seeing it over and over built much suspense because, given the framework story, even those who didn’t follow the case as it was playing out know that eventually the higher ups will listen to Fitz.

I didn’t care for the framework story in general, either. Showing us what happened to Fitz later on, starting just before he goes to talk to Ted, who is awaiting trial, could be an interesting tale. But it’s a different tale than most of the rest of the episodes are telling. It gives away an ending unnecessarily, and is actually quite a bit less interesting than the investigation itself. Maybe it would have worked if it was saved for the conclusion, showing the arc of growth over time, rather than revealing it right away. But what’s here just doesn’t feel all that well planned out.

So, I like MANHUNT: UNABOMBER for its cast, performances, and style. But I probably won’t finish it because the pacing and story just doesn’t engage the way it should.

MANHUNT: UNABOMBER premieres this Tuesday at 9/8c on Discovery.