WandaVision Review: Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience / Don’t Touch That Dial (Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2)
WandaVision Season 1 Episodes 1, “Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience,” and WandaVision Season 1 Episode 2, “Don’t Touch That Dial,” transport us into the hilarious sitcom that is WandaVision. The set up is as if we’re watching a show starring Wanda and Vision, and as the end of Episode 1 reveals, someone is watching…and taking notes.
Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany shine during the two-episode premiere, showcasing their wonderful comedic chops. They deliver some hilarious moments that have you laughing out loud, and it’s impossible not to find yourself grinning as you watch this wacky, wonderful show.
It’s a lot of fun seeing Wanda and Vision this way. We’re used to the more doom and gloom of the Avengers movies. There’s not a lot of time for levity, aside from a couple of quick sarcastic remarks.
However, WandaVision allows us to bask in the happiness of Wanda and Vision’s domestic, married life. It’s filled with laughter as the two of them attempt to pass for normal, boring humans who most certainly do not use magic to prepare a meal or unpack a household.
WandaVision excels at executing TV sitcom tropes — again, kudos to Olsen and Bettany’s acting — and delivering homages to some of our favorite classic sitcoms, such as I Love Lucy and Bewitched.
The new theme song and opening credits of each episode add to the charm. All of it fully sells the TV sitcom aspect that WandaVision is going for while delivering some nostalgia.
Wanda: Well it’s our anniversary!
Vision: Our anniversary of what?
Wanda: Well if you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you!
The show takes it a step further by throwing in a commercial during each episode.
It is a whimsical addition that also allows WandaVision to drop in some references — Stark Industries making toaster ovens and then the Strucker watch, referring to the high ranking member of HYDRA who used the mind stone to experiment on Wanda and Pietro, giving them their powers.
WandaVision does a fantastic job at delivering two stellar TV comedy episodes that succeed on those merits alone. And then, the show has moments that are either super strange (“Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience”) or more noticeably concerning (“Don’t Touch That Dial”).
Those moments remind us that we’re still in the Marvel Universe, which means there’s something more sinister afoot. Like Wanda and Vision, we’re lulled into a false sense of security, and just when we have really settled in, the powers that be remind us not to get too comfortable.
The dinner scene on “Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience” introduces a feeling of unease, but then it vanishes. However, the interruptions on “Don’t Touch That Dial” are hard to ignore and sweep under the rug, and as an audience, we are back in investigative mode, attempting to figure out what WandaVision is trying to tell us.
I have a feeling that as the season progresses, we will be like Wanda, not wanting whatever is going on out there to interfere with the lovely, happy life that Wanda and Vision have built for each other. It’ll be an interesting bit of tension to explore, and it will most definitely end in pain.
Now it is time to dive into some theories.
After the ending of “Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience,” my thought is that someone has placed Wanda inside a TV show, similar to what happened to the Legends on Legends of Tomorrow Season 5 Episode 14, “The One Where We’re Trapped on TV.”
And while that still could be true, Wanda has power over some of what happens there, as the ending of WandaVision Season 1 Episode 2 proves. She rewinds time, making it so she and Vision don’t discover the creepy beekeeper in the middle of the street (side note: what’s up with him?!).
Mr. Heart: Any skeletons in your closet, Vision?
Vision: I don’t have a skeleton, sir.
This makes me think that Wanda has concocted this dream world for herself and Vision. She could be trying to give them their (well-deserved) happily ever after and/or trying to keep part of him alive, if there is any trace of him left after Infinity War. Because there’s still the question of how he is alive in the first place.
Wanda clearly doesn’t know everything that’s happening in this world, or what is bleeding through from the outside world, because she wants to tell Vision about the weirdness she experienced before the talent show. Later, however, in the face of a very creepy beekeeper, she steps in to prevent whatever he is from ruining her life with Vision.
And then there’s Agent Woo’s transmission, “Wanda, who is doing this to you?,” which suggests that whatever is going on, there aren’t any obvious targets to point the blame at.
It could also be a bit of both options. To reference another show, Amanda on Nikita made Alex think she was living this whole series of events, but in reality, Amanda had Alex strapped to a chair and was messing with her mind.
Maybe Wanda is trapped somewhere, and her captors have created this world to keep her docile, a world that Wanda no longer wants to leave, so she is fighting to protect it.
Also, anyone else notice how when the things switch from black and white to color that the magic bringing the color has a tint of red, similar to Wanda’s magic? It adds credence to the theory that Wanda has some control over this world/dream/thing that Wanda and Vision find themselves in.
There are a lot of ways the show can go, and as you can see, there are multiple theories bouncing around in my head. What are your theories?
What did you think of these episodes of WandaVision? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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New episodes of WandaVision premiere Fridays on Disney+.
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Allison Nichols
Allison is in a love affair with television that doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. Slightly damaged fictional characters are her weakness. She loves to spend her free time curled up with a cat and a show to binge-watch. Allison is a Tomatometer-approved critic (Rotten Tomatoes).