Tuesday, March 9, 2021

A WEEK OF WANDAVISION: OPENING GAMBITS

WANDAVISION is a great show to watch when thinking about openings. 

Within the first couple lines, most of the episodes signal clearly what will be the  central question or conflict of the ep. So 101 starts with Wanda looking at a calendar and realizing she forgot something; the episode is all about them trying to figure out what that is.

102 starts with Wanda hearing a strange banging coming from outside, and then the ep is all about something outside of Westview that keeps trying to get in. 103 starts with the town doctor examining Wanda and declaring, "Yep. Definitely pregnant," and Vision mystified. "How did this happen?" The episode watches him start to wonder about exactly that.

In many cases the initial dilemma of a WANDAVISION episode also links tightly to the next episode. 102 was all about fear of invasion, which Wanda thinks she resolved, but then 103 is about both the sudden invasion of the twins and Monica, who Wanda will discover is an invader into Westview.

Likewise, 103's opening question How did this happen? sits pretty close to where we meet Monica both in terms of Westview and the Blip. 

It's very unusual to see openings linked in this way. And I'd say perhaps I'm just  giving the show an overfirm dose of English Major, except the links between openings serve an important story purpose. The entire series has Wanda fighting to keep control over the bubble world she's created. Having conflicts or questions from one issue bleed into the next is a way of signalling that she is failing. 

So: in 101 she has this one question she can't answer nagging at her, and she resolves only to start 102  with a new question. In 102 she keeps out the intruders, only to open 103 with babies suddenly inside her growing by the minute, and another intruder soon to be discovered. In 105 wants a chance to rest (aka for everything to calm down), and in 107 we open on her finally asleep, but only as a means to try and hide from the chaos now almost completely out of control.