The critics have spoken: WandaVision, Marvel Studios’ first Disney Plus television project, is hit. Immediately following the two-part January 15 premiere, critical consensus brought the series to a 97% “Fresh” rating on the Internet review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, ComicBook.com reports. In its first weekend on Disney Plus, WandaVision has become the single highest-rated media property to be associated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, according to ComicBook.com. The show’s first couple of episodes narrowly beat out the 2018 blockbuster Black Panther, which, nearly two years after its premiere, has held onto its 96% aggregate rating.
The new series is centered on auxiliary Avengers Scarlet Witch A.K.A. Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen, Sorry For Your Loss) and Vision (Paul Bettany, Dogville): “Marvel Studios’ inaugural TV series… brings back Olsen and Bettany in their respective MCU roles– only this time, instead of battling Ultron and Thanos, Wanda and Vision are living life straight outta Nick at Nite’s 1990s lineup, by way of their own sitcom,” via TV Line.
Paste Magazine‘s TV editor Allison Keene interpreted WandaVision‘s divergence from Marvel’s house style by looking at it in context of the events of Avengers: Endgame and comparing it to the phenomenon of maladaptive daydreaming in her pre-release review. “What makes WandaVision so emotionally devastating [is that] we are watching woman psychologically break so she can live in a fantasy world where she has erased the pain and grief of her past to only focus on the happy future she wishes she had… It is absolutely devastating to see her spinning as fast as she can to keep this all in place, to stay ahead of her trauma, when we know that ultimately it won’t change anything. Vision is dead. This is all a lie,” she writes. Keene built on her original review on her Twitter, where she praised Marvel Studios for honing in on what she identified as specific strengths of the television medium, namely big-picture character writing and formal stylization.
The first two episodes of WandaVision are available to watch on Disney Plus, priced at $6.99 a month. Subsequent episodes in the show’s inaugural season will be released separately on weekly basis until March 5, Paste Magazine reports.