R E V I E W – S E R I E S
Shudipto Dip
Superhero flicks, as a playground for easter egg hunters, always left layers to be speculated for the geeks. But for the general audience? Overlooked, forgettable, and unbothered. Sure, they play a decisive role for future world building, but what do we make of subscribers of reality-warping action? Catching at the last straw, hoping it is an easter egg and not a past reference? And drowning in the tint of That 70s Show?
Hexagon is apparently still in fashion, with The Brady Bunch inspired intro, spitting out its obvious connection with the still-obscured plot. Blatantly notifying of its tetrachrome feature raises a lot of questions and emotions. The relief of the audience who are used to scintillating intergalactic hues is outshined by the implication that colour in television was such a great deal then. Whether episode 3 was an eye candy or not is still debatable with its overly saturated colour grading. And quite literally animating the inert murals and toys adds a pinch of surrealism to the exuberance of the set.
Still, well within the range to be called a sitcom, the mystery element screen-time is stretching in a linear fashion. While the vivid portrayal of a young couple in a lately liberal neighbourhood warms some hearts, other hearts yearn for a jump into the plot as long as the time leaps in this reality. And the proliferating use of puns and incessant laughter tracks may just aid their cause.
A good chuckle every now and then serves as a bonus as we witness newer powers of our beloved super duo. Can Wanda actually create life though, no matter how small? Sure, this is her warped reality. But scarily enough, this idea can be passed off as an armor of unacceptable plot holes in the upcoming episodes. Confounding superpowers are not the only stuff we are given to latch on to. Acknowledging the existence of the reality outside this one was conciliatory and we got our first look at the MCUniverse. Wanda singing in Sokovian added a stirring effect to the plot of this particular episode. Subtle detailing is what made the character development a minor success.
The section below contains mild spoilers of the same. Continue at your own risk or skip to the last paragraph.
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SPOILERS •
Delivering newborns without prior experience is a trope used in sitcoms and rom coms to portray trust among the characters in question. Slipping in this skit with a sprinkle of Marvel fiction is clever, yet not exactly laudable. Switching it up by banishing Geraldine is appreciable enough, and is a very Scarlet Witch thing to do. Vision’s new super speed and the commoners’ reaction to its exposure already leaves a plot hole. More surprising to us than them evidently. Digestible still, since he is an android with inconsistent and inexplicable attributes to begin with. But to think that his existence is subject to Wanda’s memories of him only makes it all the more eerie.
Personifying Vision with Pietro’s superpower, spacing out on hearing his name, and Ultron’s — makes her all the more vulnerable. Multiple events of trauma induced passive aggression including trivial ones like addressing Monica Rambeau as Geraldine illustrates her denial and mental collapse. Add that to giving birth to twins like she herself is — and we got a well written psychological mystery. Fans are crossing fingers about the twins Tommy and Billy. Circumstantial to their existence and the time leaps in the show, the characters hold potential to start off a much anticipated Young Avengers arc.
At its core, WandaVision episode 3 is everything about family. And still nothing about the uncanny commercial breaks. The last five minutes were climactic, with the shortcoming of a great score — a typical Marvel problem. Although advertised to sound promising, the final episodes with all the intensity may just not work as the show’s arcane conclusions are sublime so far by dint of the contrast in buildup. Post credits with the length of an action film continue to be of annoyance in a sitcom length episode. And to draw the curtains with a fun fact:
Paul Bettany was there to kick off each MCU phase with Iron Man, Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War, and WandaVision. And it’s about time we get a kick-off to the cryptic plot in the latest one.
Shudipto is a replicant with the emotional range of a labradoodle.