MCU: 10 Sitcom TV Tropes In Episodes 1-2 Of WandaVision

WandaVision follows the comedic escapades of newlywed couple Wanda Maximoff and Vision as they adjust to life in the seemingly idyllic town of Westview. Set shortly after the climactic end of Avengers: Endgame, the longer the couple stays in Westview, the more they begin to sense that something may be very, very wrong.

Filled with decades of sitcom references and TV tropes from I Love Lucy to Bewitched, the first two episodes of WandaVision brilliantly balance familiar sitcom plotlines with a delightfully unsettling sense of impending doom. Making its debut on January 15^th, WandaVision is the first of the slew of Phase Four Marvel television shows lined up to premiere on DisneyPlus, and will be followed in mid-March by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

10 Just Married

Many old school sitcoms are focused heavily on family and the married life, and that includes plenty of newlywed shenanigans. Episode 1’s opening theme has a cute throwback to a familiar trope with a bridal carry gone wrong when Vision attempts to carry Wanda over the threshold.

WandaVision puts a superpowered twist on the trope that might usually involve tripping or smacking her head on the doorframe, as Vision phases through the doorway, accidentally dropping his new bride.

9 Forgotten Dates

It doesn’t matter if it is the 1950s or if it’s 2020, there is one piece of relationship advice that lives on through the ages – do not forget birthdays, anniversaries, or anything other special relationship dates, or there will be an entire episode of television about it.

Usually followed up promptly with the popular “well, if you don’t know what day it is, then I’m not going to tell you” argument, WandaVision playfully references the familiar plot when the happy couple discovers a heart on their calendar, and neither of them remembers what it means.

8 Laugh Tracks

The Hank McCune Show was the first series to be filmed with a laugh track in 1950, and it is still used in sitcoms today. Though some television shows were filmed in front of a live audience, many were not broadcast live.

Instead, they relied on the infamous, pre-recorded laugh track to let the audience know that it’s time to laugh, and sometimes even tricking them into thinking that the slapstick humor was funnier than they realized. WandaVision uses this classic concept as an homage, rather than a necessity.

7 Sleeping Single

Wanda and Vision are seen sleeping in separate beds at the beginning of Episode 2. Also known as the “Two Twin Beds” trope, a married couple sleeping in separate beds was popularized by shows like I Love Lucy.

This is because, back in the Golden Age Of Television, it was considered risque and inappropriate to show a man and a woman together in bed, even if they were married. It was even difficult to show pregnancy in television until some years later.

6 Unhappily Married

Another timeless sitcom trope is the unhappily married couple that inexplicably is still together. Fred and Ethel, Raymond and Debra, these couples are always married for years, but they probably shouldn’t be.

Characterized by partners (often the wife), talking about how stupid, clumsy, or annoying her husband is, Agnes fits this sitcom cliché to a T. Every episode she makes jokes about her mysterious husband Ralph, even going so far as to wishing that he would magically disappear during the talent show.

5 Dinner With The Boss

Everyone has seen it. A boss has unrealistic expectations of his employees, and it is heavily insinuated that he will be fired if some outside of work event doesn’t go smoothly. As remarkably common in television as it is remarkably illegal, the “dinner with the boss” trope goes hand-in-hand with the “George Jetson Job Security” trope.

WandaVision brings it to life again when the couple realizes that they are supposed to have Vision’s critical boss over for dinner, and everything seems to go terribly wrong.

4 Cringe Comedy

So far, the series seems to be exploring a decade of television every episode. The first two episodes focus on references to television series of the 1950s and 1960s, times characterized by black and white hues and slapstick humor that involve pratfalls and dreadfully awkward moments.

The first few episodes of WandaVision don’t shy away from the awkward. Wanda and Vision make repeated, sometimes cringey, but amusing attempts to fit into a town that they clearly don’t, and the audience doesn’t mind laughing at their expense, despite being on their side.

3 Cope By Pretending

The biggest and most frequent trope explored in the series is the fact that Wanda and Vision are clearly pretending that they are something that they are not. The “coping by pretending” trope can extend to individual moments or to major plotlines from aliens pretending to be humans to super-powered humans attempting to fit in to a new city.

Whether they are hiding that they have superpowers, or Wanda is turning back time to ignore beekeepers coming out of storm drains, they are constantly pretending in a world that clearly won’t let them pretend for long.

2 The Big Competition

Almost every classic sitcom has a “big competition” plot that goes terribly wrong, only for the characters to realize that their goofs were actually amazing, and their friends now love them even more for their silly mistakes.

Wanda and Vision find theirs by trying to fit in to Westview by joining the annual talent competition as a magician act, and it follows exactly the same format. In episode 2, Vision is not at all himself due to accidentally swallowing a piece of gum that gets stuck in his gears, and Wanda is constantly trying to hide their powers with, well, more powers.

1 They Live Where?

Also known as “Where The H*ll Is Springfield”, some 30-minute comedies like to play with the idea of the main characters living in an unknown location, often giving conflicting clues as to where the city really is located.

Wanda and Vision move into the blissful suburb of Westview, but unlike I Love Lucy, they don’t ever say exactly where Westview is meant to be as far as geographical location. Is it in the United States, an alien planet, or maybe it’s in an alternate reality?

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