I went into WANDAVISION as one of those rare guys who doesn’t give a crap about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Honestly, few superhero movies do it for me. The last great superhero film I watched was LOGAN, which I thought was incredible. In the end, I’m more about THE BOYS than the MCU.

Enter WANDAVISION, which I caught on Disney Plus. I knew enough of INFINITY WAR and the other movies to know the very basic setup and that Wanda and Vision were kinda boring characters, which I found a plus as it meant the show creators might be willing to take some chances and deviate from the tried-and-true formula. They did, and I found the show pretty amazing even though I was ignorant of many of the Easter eggs and cameos. I wasn’t looking to recognize the familiar but to see a good story, and I wasn’t disappointed.

In WANDAVISION, super-beings Wanda and Vision live in a small town that is idealized as a TV sitcom from the 1950s, but all is not as it seems. Each episode advances in era, imitating THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, I LOVE LUCY, BEWITCHED, I DREAM OF JEANNIE, THE BRADY BUNCH, FULL HOUSE, and others, even THE MUNSTERS for a clever snippet, until the conceit is eventually dropped in favor of reality. The show does a great job at emulating the old shows and explaining why the conceit was there. As the strangeness continues to seep into the program of Wanda’s life, we slowly discover what happened to the town, her role in it, and the effort to stop it.

The show explores some strong themes related to grief without immediately alleviating dramatic tension with a phoned-in wisecrack. Wanda and Vision develop as deep characters you truly care about without relying on them being shown heavy-handedly as cool. In short, the show takes itself seriously without becoming heavy lifting, keeping what works so well about the MCU while offering greater depth, more surprises, and a strong story that packs consequences.

So I liked this one a lot and would recommend it even for those who aren’t fans of the MCU, though it would help to at least read a synopsis of the last few Marvel movies leading up to the events in the show.

In BARRY (HBO, also streaming on Google Play), SNL veteran Bill Hader stars as a Marine veteran working as a hit man, who while tracking a target ends up in an acting class. Falling in love with it, he sees the possibility of a new life, but getting out of the business will be much harder than he thought. This show could have easily overplayed its hand but keeps the humor constant and subtle while hitting every other note right.

One of the things I loved about PULP FICTION is how it humanized criminals instead of making them 2D villains. In an opening scene, here are two murderous henchmen of a mob boss talking about what they call a Big Mac in Holland and whether a foot massage is technically cheating. You end up finding them charming, and the juxtaposition is often humorous. A lot of movies have tried to imitate this cool but gratingly overplay it, as imitators often do. BARRY hits the mark even better than PULP FICTION in my view, offering truly likeable 3D characters and great humor without laying it on too thick.

Otherwise, the show hits every other note just right–the portrayal of hungry and needy aspiring actors, acting itself, the action–making it a lot of fun to watch. The cast is terrific.

I have to add one of the highlights of the show is Henry Winkler. I’ve seen him in a few things after his iconic role of Fonzie in HAPPY DAYS but have never seen him have as much fun as he’s obviously having in the role of Gene, Barry’s acting teacher. He chews the scenery every time he’s on screen, and I love it.

A recommended watch. No heavy lifting, just fun comedy. On to season 2, and looking forward to season 3 once they can start shooting again.

After publishing my review of THE MANDALORIAN, which I found enjoyable if a bit silly, some said the second season takes off, and they were right. The season season definitely ups the game in terms of world building, characterization, action, and even drama.

First, I’ll say the show continues to suffer from taking shortcuts for time as a way to get past characters easily being able to solve their problems. Characters are overpowered until they’re easily smacked around, a jet pack is discarded right before it’s direly needed, and the like. The Empire continues to show why they lost the war, as they’re utterly incompetent. And the show again leaned heavily on the action movie convention of having bad guys with guns in combat stumble drunkenly toward a hero so he or she can stomp them hand to hand, instead of you know, shooting them. There are a lot of silly, “you’ve seen this trope many times so here you go, that was easy” moments.

That being said, Mando finally demonstrates a genuine (not forced) connection with “Baby Yoda,” who is once again admittedly cute as hell. Their relationship started to finally invest me in the show. The world building is more lavish, and there are again those little wow visual set pieces such as prisoners cleaning up the wreckage of an ancient space battle. The fan service is perfect. The secondary characters are all great, with some solid actors such as Rosario Dawson and Katee Sackhoff making appearances. The battle droids as usual are super cool. And it was utterly satisfying to see Jedi kick ass and show why they are so feared. Episode 5 (“The Jedi”) really shined on its own as an almost perfect episode, delivering real drama and using Western tropes perfectly.

Overall, enjoyed it a lot, and it definitely earned its upcoming third season, which I’ll be sure to watch.

THE MANDALORIAN (streaming on Disney Plus): I just finished Season 1, and while I liked it, thought it was fun, and saw it as having all the elements of a powerful series, it’s so connect-the-dots it feels empty and I ended up with a largely meh reaction.

It’s a great idea. The rebellion has succeeded, the Empire has fallen, and a lone bounty hunter works the Outer Rim. When tasked by a minor warlord who was once an Imperial officer to recover a child (now famous as “Baby Yoda”), he decides to protect it instead of hand it over, resulting in a series of adventures and ultimately conflict with some type of Imperial resurgence.

The series borrows a ton of tropes from old Westerns, films like THE SEVEN SAMURAI, and even a typical heist movie, a fun mashup. I loved little moments like when the Mandalorian sees mangy stormtroopers at his new client’s office, a comical moment between two speeder-riding troopers about whether to bug the commander, some terrific action, and similar cool elements pulled from the STAR WARS series but now showing the aftermath of the Empire. Baby Yoda is awesome, and I loved all the droids. The presentation is solid.

I think where the story became meh for me is in the length. The episodes are around 20 minutes long. As a result, the cool elements become a quick connect the dots with little real tension and heavy reliance on tropes, and I don’t feel anything, especially when I’m supposed to (e.g., “I’m done for. You go on without me.”). Same as every STAR WARS movie since the original trilogy. Maybe I’m showing my age and simply want, I don’t know, gravitas and real wonder from STAR WARS, instead of my favorite numbers repeatedly served hot off the menu.

So overall, I liked THE MANDALORIAN but didn’t fall in love with it. It’s the best STAR WARS showing since the original trilogy in my opinion, but I just found it hard to truly invest in it.