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Monday 16 September 2024

Wandavision "Breaking The Fourth Wall" Review


We are now just a few short days from the release of the latest MCU Disney+ TV series Agatha All Along. As such it was only about right that I review something from the show from which the character of Agatha Harkness first makes her debut and well with a certain song that also bares the name of Agatha All Along also debuting in this very episode it only made sense that this be the episode that I do a review for and so then join me as I review that introduced the world to a surprisingly catchy song with the episode in question being called simply just "Breaking The Fourth Wall" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is with her grip on Westview slipping Wanda goes to extremes to make sure everything stays just the way that she wants it to all the while something truly evil emerges from Westview something which threatens to change everything forever. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty (I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad with the plot of this episode doing a really good job of building up the overall plot of the show as a whole whilst also throwing in some twists and turns that make the plot of this episode feel new and different whilst also being the kind of plot that you'd expect to see in a show like this one as well with this being helped by the fact that the plot of this episode really does feel like the kind of plot that you'd expect to see in shows like Modern Family and the American version of The Office albeit with a Marvel twist that oddly makes sense for these characters which also makes the plot feel more refreshing , new and different then as well with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.


Starring in this episode is Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff , Paul Bettany as Vision and Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau. Also starring in this episode is Evan Peters as Ralph Bohner , Randall Park as Jimmy Woo , Debra Jo Rupp as Sharon Davis , Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis , Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness /Agnes , Julian Hilliard as Billy Maximoff , Jett Klyne as Tommy Maximoff , Josh Stamberg as Director Tyler Hayward , Emma Caulfield Ford as Sarah Proctor , Jolene Purdy as Isabel Matsueda , David Payton as John Collins , David Lengel as Harold Proctor , Asif Ali as Abilash Tandon , Alan Heckner as Agent Monti , Rachael Thompson as Major Aly Goodner , Selena Anduze as Agent Rodriguez and Amos Glick as Dennis The Delivery Man.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Which really isn't all that new as the acting for this show is genuinely really good and heck the acting in this episode even got praise for being as good as it is with alot of that being down to the fact that some of this episodes actors are reprising their roles from other Marvel Cinematic Universe movies as well as the fact that alot of this episodes actors are a bunch of really good actors in there own right with it being clear as day that this episodes director Matt Shakman really does know how to get a good performances out of his actors which is something that does help to raise up the overall quality of this episodes acting and make it alot more better then what it really had any right to be with the acting that's in this episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance really will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.


Doing the CGI for this episode is Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies and the legends and the greats that are currently over at capital T. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good as they use CGI in the way that it was meant to be used that is to extend and enhance what was already there on the day in this case making the Circus look alot bigger then what it was and while yes they do use it in order to create The Hex that's keeping them in Westview that's a case of that they had to to use CGI there as there's no way that you could do an effect like that in live action and to be fair it is an effect that does look good for most part as this is a TV show and as such the effects budget does have to be spread out alot more then what it would have to be in a feature length film and as a result of that is the fact that we do get some effects that don't look that good with the scene where Wanda lifts Monica in the air using her powers looking a little bit to fake and while it is something that would be a passable effect ten years ago it's also an effect that doesn't look as good as it perhaps should have done.


As alot of you know this is the episode that introduced the world to the song "Agatha All Along with the song itself being written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. The song itself is still surprising catchy with the song echoing sitcoms of the past most notably The Munsters something that is featured in the songs guitar and theme tune as well as the text that appears on the segment where this song appears which does make sense as a character like Agatha does seem like somebody who would've watched The Munsters at some point in her live but at the same time the song isn't all that good either as it's a song that hasn't been built up at all and isn't written all that well either as it doesn't have that many lyrics to it and as a result of that s the fact that it comes across like a TV jingle that you'd hear over an advert and not like the TV show theme song that it's pretending to be and heck it doesn't really go all that far into the fact that it is basically a TV show intro theme song which is something that it really could have done both in the visuals and in the actual song like it would have been funny if the episode had listed who was starring in this version of Agatha All Along and they even could have listed Agatha Harkness as being the creator of the show and the song it self could have had a bit more of punch to it this is despite the fact that the song is as to be expected from these writers still a really well written song that's performed really well by Agatha Harkness actor Kathryn Hahn.

Something that was to be expected from this show is the fact that this episodes sends up certain era of sitcoms in this case it's shows like the American version of The Office and Modern Family. Which is something that does date this episode as even when this show was being aired those kinds of shows were on the out and the world of sitcom was returning to being filmed infront of a live studio audience but at the same time it is still fun to see this episode send up aspects of those shows like the fact that Wanda does have a chat with the fictional director something which both disturbs her and serves as a key plot point in the episode as it lets us the audience now that somethings going on right now even if it is being one is a rather subtle way but at the same time it is something that does take away from the episode as well as those kinds of shows really do find away to spotlight everybody and give all of the characters something funny to say or do something which this episode really doesn't do and heck it's only Wanda and Vision that talks to the camera when it would have been funnier if we got to see more of the cast take to the camera as well which is something that really would have played really well into the sitcom aspect of this show whilst also not really taking away from the drama aspect of this show either.


Out of all of the characters that are in this episode it's Monica that gets alot less screen time then what she really could have gotten. As her breaking back into Westview is a key part of the shows finale and yet it's not given alot of attention instead she just arrives at an of sight army base and suddenly knows how to get back in after basically crashing a car and that's really it none of which is built up really well and all of which is something that could have been built up if she was given alot more screen time to fully develop that plot line but in doing so that would have taken from the main plot line and Vision's subplot of getting back to Wanda as well both of which are key plot lines and as a result of that is the fact that it does make it hard to fully judge which plot lone should either have been removed all together or cut down in order to give the other plot lines the time that they needed to fully breathe and develop more with this not really being helped by the fact that what little of Monica we do get in this episode really doesn't tell us all that much about her as a character which does make sense given how late into the show this episode is but at the same time since there very clearly trying to set up as a main character for future movies going forward then alot more effort should have gone into showing us what her personality is like in all of her scenes including her scenes in this episode as that would have made her a more developed character and that's something that can't be done with the fact that this episode really doesn't show her all that much.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly thirty four minuets and forty one seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this shoe and while this episode really does have more then enough there in terms of plot to really cover that amount of running time that running time is also the episodes biggest problem as it does mean that plot lines really do have to be rushed at an almost unnatural pace as the episode has to rush along to the next plot point instead of just letting plot points come across organically which does leave you with questions like couldn't Vision just fly back to Wanda at the start of the episode of when he and Darcy where stuck at the traffic light since Vision himself even noted that he knew that this was Wanda's doing and yet those gaps in logic are things that could have been covered over with if the episode took the time that it so desperately needed in order to reach to those plot points more organically instead of just rushing to them without explaining anything at best all of which does make the episode come across as being rushed at times when this is the point in a shows run when they should be slowing down a little bit just so they can explain more about what's going and heck even the sitcoms that this show is sending up do more often then not take there time in telling there stories and thus reach there plot points more organically this is despite them having a twenty two minuet running time but I will admit that this episode really does have some really bad pacing to it tho.


So now then as this is still a comedy as this point in time that really does mean that I have to actually talk about thew actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As the episode does have some really funny moments in it which given that this episode does have Kat Dennings in it does make alot of sense as does the fact that she and and Vision that get alot of the episodes best jokes just because of the fact that it's so funny seeing these two characters that wouldn't normally spend time together now instead being forced to spend time together all the while Wanda is sending thing after thing to stop them from reaching her which is a funny idea and while Wanda herself doesn't get that many funny moments in the episode the few that she does get very early on in the episode do come across as being quite funny even if they are jokes that this version of the character really wouldn't make it's just a shame that the makers of this episode only give Kathryn Hahn only one joke in the whole entire which is still a funny joke but at the same time they could have given her a few more jokes like maybe her jokes get darker and darker the more the episode goes on just to sort of hint that things aren't quite what they seem with Agnes but the joke that she does get about being bitten by a kid was a really funny joke in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.


Overall while this was still a really fun filled episode it's also one that's not as good as it really could have been either with the episode really falling under the weight of it's self enforced really short running time but at the same time this episode really does show that the makers of this show really do know how to set up things that become important later on in the shows run in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now the i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a really grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all pf the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Disney fandom wiki page and the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what'd think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.