Not even the advance promotion by
Marvel Studios and Disney+ could quite prepare audiences and MCU fans from what
to expect with “WandaVision,” the first series of the superhero franchise’s
Phase 4 myth arc. Seeing Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany’s Wanda Maximoff and
Vision, living in a sitcom setting that changes aesthetics by the decade, while
a contemporary crew watches the proceedings from “outside,” was a dose of meta-fiction.
With the series concluding this Friday there is a mood to celebrate. On NBC’s “The
Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” the host and Olsen engaged in a hilarious
spoof chronicling decades of late-night shows, and sending up both “WandaVision”
and COVID-19.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the March 4 episode of “The
Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” featured actress Elizabeth Olsen, aka Wanda
Maximoff the “Scarlet Witch” of the MCU. But before getting to the interview
she and host Jimmy Fallon kicked things off with an introductory spoof called “FallonVision,”
in which he and Olsen lampshade how late-night TV talk shows were like on some
of the decades portrayed by the Disney+ MCU series “WandaVision.”
It starts with a show intro
styled in 1950s black-and-white, with Fallon respectfully introducing Olsen as
a “lovely lady.” The actress herself is dressed glamorously in a black dress
and pearls. The disconnecting clue is that instead of being in the show set
with Fallon, Olsen was in another location via split-screen. A voice then eggs
Fallon to snap out of it before the screen glitches and the show restarts, now
with a 1970s motif and the now-groovy host calling Olsen a far-out young
artist.
When a suddenly wary Olsen
questions why they are not in the same set, the show jumps straight into the
1990s. This time the actress manages to jog Fallon’s memory: how his
frustration at the pandemic preventing live-guesting on “The Tonight Show” made
him wish for earlier, simpler days. When he owns up to it, the show restarts
one last time, with the current show title, and Fallon acknowledging that Olsen
was joining him via Zoom. The screen glitches anew however, and the “true”
culprit reveals herself: “WandaVision” costar Kathryn Hahn, aka nosy neighbor
Agnes aka the witch Agatha Harkness.
All in all, it was a nice parody
by Jimmy Fallon and “The Tonight Show” of how “WandaVision” has intrigued
viewers throughout its two-month run. One can only hope the finale does not
drop the ball with this tense excitement. Elizabeth Olsen stars in “WandaVision,”
concluding March 5 on Disney+.
Image courtesy of The Direct
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