Say what you like about the value of Marvel to the greater world of cinema, but they undeniably know how to turn out a well crafted product. I pretty much like them all. That's exactly the first thing that impressed me end-to-end for WandaVision: the production values are Marvel movie-quality and at a completely different level than their TV predecessors like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, even Agents of Shield. Here they've taken two unique characters in the Marvel universe and have given them the development and the center stage that they always deserved, and it's great. There are loads of other superheros with various combinations of strength, speed, super-energy, flight, etc., but Scarlet Witch and Vision stand apart from that pack. It's great to see them getting more attention.

The second big thing is just how far this series travels from beginning to end in just 9 relatively short episodes. Even though there really is just one through-line for the story -- which is Wanda's processing of grief and lost love after all the events in the past four Avengers/CA movies -- by the end of the series it feels like we are in a completely different place than we began. I'm not going to worry too much about giving away spoilers because if you've read anything at all about WandaVision you'll already know the basics. In Episode 1, it's an innocent-looking little homage to the early TV sitcom era complete with the boxy little screen ratio and in black-and-white with just the barest hints of something darker and deeper. But by the end of the final Episode 9, we're fully in the big-scale MCU and Wanda has been transformed into a Major Player in the Marvel mythos. If I have any real complaint, it's along the lines of trying on TOO much material. The series takes on a huge agenda -- episode-by-episode homages to half a dozen different classic sitcoms from different decades; turning two familiar though second-tier MCU characters (Wanda, Vision) into major leads; introducing new characters that we will obviously see more of in future Marvel movies; littering practically every scene with perfectly fitting Easter Eggs for the fans; and managing a complex storyline with twists and turns that keep us guessing and constantly threatens to go off the rails. And if you aren't familiar with the Avengers/Captain America/Captain Marvel/Ant-Man/etc. Backstories, I don't know how you will make sense of any of this. But if you are, then WandaVision is 100% worth it. I given the producers big marks for ambition and for incredible attention to detail.

And I'm amazed by the carefully crafted progression in sheer style from one episode to the next. The actors, most of all Elizabeth Olsen, literally change the way they act to keep up with the decadal changes in sitcom style and presentation. At the beginning we're in the ambience of the Dick Van Dyke Show, and the next week Bewitched, on to Malcolm in the Middle, Family Ties, Modern Family, all with styles of their own. One episode I particularly loved was "Breaking the Fourth Wall" which indeed has the key characters talking right to the screen, but in places it veers off beyond that into full-out surreal. And the Finale really does close up all the plot threads while giving us the big-screen Marvel action scenes that really deliver the kick we've been waiting for. Sit back and enjoy. I will just say though that the storyline pulls its usual trick of tossing the baton forward to the next Marvel productions including Doctor Strange 2 and Captain Marvel 2 (no MCU movie has ever been truly stand-alone).

The leads Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen are predictably excellent and play their roles with conviction. I'll say a bit more on the first couple of episodes because those got me immediately hooked: they are uncannily accurate stylistically, and they're brilliant. Wanda and Vision's house in suburbia with the white picket fence. The nosy, brassy neighbor. Vision's day job as an office clerk with the gruff boss. Neighborhood events like social planning teas with the wives and the local 'talent show' fundraiser. The husband (Vision) who's a bit of a bumbling doofus and the more competent wife (Wanda) who subtly gets them out of all their scrapes. There's an undertone of peculiarity and menace lurking just behind the curtain though, and we clearly sense this is headed for bigger, darker territory. Most of all, the charm is in the spot-on behavior of all the roles, both the snappy dialog and the sheer physical movement. Elizabeth Olsen -- who is a very, very good actress - is amazing in these episodes as she is in all of them. She's got every little bit of the early-sitcom ambience down pat. Notice her bright, forward voice and watch the way she's in constant motion, flouncing around the house trading sassy banter with Vision, or merely walking across their living room or front yard with arms and hands held in the PRECISE posture they used to employ back then. (Full disclosure here -- I was a kid back in the heyday of those shows and remember them well.)

I've seen all the MCU movies but for a complex interlocked storyline delivered with high quality and incredible attention to detail, I have to say that WandaVision beats them all. It sets quite a high mark for their next TV series to compete with. Some extra thoughts: