Honestly, I really wanted to love this show. There are aspects of it that I totally enjoyed. In a day and age where the MCU and superhero stuff in general is has become overplayed and stale, I was REALLY digging what this show was doing.
Putting Wanda and Vision in a TV Sitcom land with all kinds of references and parodies but played earnestly gave the show a few things that separated it from normal "cape shit". It gave the show a weird and off beat feel that no other MCU project to date really has. It felt like a Twilight Zone miniseries where something weird was happening, so the mystery kept me engaged while I was also enjoying the weirdness of the situation.
Unfortunately, the plot had to kick in around episodes 4 and 5, spoiled the mystery, become one massive plot dump after another, and put the show into "typical MCU' territory and undercut what I was really enjoying. The SWORD stuff was pointless shoehorned material put there for the sake of doing what the MCU always does: 1) Connects to other movies, 2) Set up other movies and 3) Give excuses for action set pieces. I don't want to sound like I'm crapping on the MCU, because I'm not. Its just that we're at a point where the MCU is in "Been there, done that" territory, especially after the grand climax of Endgame. The TV show stuff gave me hope that there was more creativity left in the MCU, but they just went back to doing what they always do.
The last episode in particular was a giant mess. Too much action, too much of a CGI laser lights show, and cramming everything and every character in there. I mean we had three fights all going on at once (Wanda/Agatha, Vision/White Vision, and Rambeau/Fake-Silver) and then they did that Incredibles moment where the family fights the military (seriously, they even did the pose!). It all just felt bloated. Agatha, unfortunately, got reduced to just explaining stuff that's happening right in front of our eyes. Its a shame too because her reveal was one of the show's big highlights (that damn song was fantastic, lol) but in the end, she kind of got reduced to "Bad guy go grrr and qup and blow stuff up!".
And parts of it felt underdeveloped. I mean Stuffy Government asshole with SWORD (I didn't bother trying to remember his name). What exactly did he do that was illegal? Kat Dennings was all like "Have fun in jail!" but for the life of me, I can't think of anything that he did. He shot at fake kids? Made a new Vision which, as far as I can tell, isn't illegal. He's, at worst, a dickhead. Again, if you cut out all the SWORD stuff to begin with, you don't have this problem.
And Monica was a lot better when she was the friend in the sitcom. When she became super powered (how did she get powers again?), she became all about spouting generic platitudes, some of which make no sense. (Saying "Don't let him make you the villain" when Wanda already enslaved an entire town of people seems a bit off, doesn't it?).
It sounds like I'm crapping on the show, but I didn't hate it. Before getting into the stuff I liked, I wanted to point out the issues I had. It kind of felt like this show was at war with itself. It wanted to be this cool off beat and weird thing that enhanced two of The Avengers, while also adhering to the strict and rigid guidelines of what is expected from an MCU project. There was some fat that needed to be trimmed from this.
The stuff I liked? The TV show worlds that were created were fantastic. The sets were great, the feel of each show they referenced was pitch perfect, and the actors played it wonderfully. Elizabeth Olsen in particular nailed it. In the movies, she seemed like she was just somebody doing an accent and going pew pew with CGI magic, but here, she feels more like a fully fleshed out character. Her performances in the sitcom world being created was top notch. And the way they revealed Wanda's backstory and what those old shows actually meant to her really enhanced Wanda's character for me. And Paul Bettany as Vision is ALOT more charming here than he is in the movies. He fits in naturally in the sitcom worlds, and was great as kind of the moral compass of the show. Also, since he has no clue what's going on, he SHOULD have been the audience surrogate that tries to uncover the mystery...a shame they revealed the mystery midway through.
The idea of Wanda enslaving a town to live in her sugar coated sitcom fantasy was dark and tragic and for all the guff I gave the finale, that part of it worked out well. And it was heartbreaking to have her say goodbye to the family she created. But it was also appropriate that she had to leave that behind as well. I was worried they were going to have her live in the sitcom world in a self contained house in a "have their cake and eat it too" type of ending, but thankfully they didn't do that.
I'll say this. In the movies, I felt almost nothing for both Wanda and Vision, who always felt like bit players in The Avengers, and largely just there to go "pew pew" at the bad guys. Here, I felt alot more for them as a couple and as individuals, so the show achieved that for sure.
And I can't say enough how much I enjoyed all the sitcom weirdness. The theme songs, the commercials, the Agatha reveal (she was outstanding by the way), and all the uses of standard sitcom cliches from each time period was charming and fun, but also a nice cover for the darkness lying underneath.
Basically, if they had done the following things, the show would have been fantastic:
1) Drop the SWORD stuff almost entirely. It wasn't necessary. If that means losing Stuffy McDickhead, Nega Vision, and Super Powered Monica, then so be it.
2) Don't do the big revelations until the tail end. Have hints throughout. For example, I would have liked Kat Dennings' inclusion alot more if she just popped up in the show at some point and we all go "Hey, she was in the Thor movies..." and then do the reveal at the end. Let Vision trying to uncover the mystery be the payoff at the end...not a stupid fight with Nega-Vision (I know that's not his name, but I'm calling him that....or maybe even Reverse Vision. Whatever). Every episode should have been a sitcom episode of some kind until the end.
3) Basically make the Penultimate episode the last episode. Do the stuff with Agatha walking through Wanda's life with all those reveals, have a wizard's duel between her and Wanda (have the cool Rune trick at the end, but lose the CGI flying fight stuff). Then Wanda says goodbye to her family like in the finale and walking away from the fake world, and reveal that SWORD has been trying to get in the whole time but couldn't (which accounts for Monica and Darcy showing up in the sitcom).
