WandaVision

I imagine that when everything starts locking into place, the first episodes will take on a new meaning. Until that happens, WandaVision’s debut is an intriguing, visually captivating world with a lot of question marks, one that’s full of potential but also requires a bit of patience.

“WandaVision” may ultimately be seen as a fascinating experiment, but right now—only three episodes to judge— it’s mostly just superheroes playing house within sitcom constraints and marginally amusing at best.

Odd does not, by itself, equal good, and on the evidence of the three episodes made available for review, the eccentricities of “WandaVision” are mostly just weighing it down. It feels as if we’re still waiting for the real show to get started, and even with half-hour episodes (reminiscent of the hit Disney+ sci-fi serial, “The Mandalorian”) that’s a long time to wait.

“WandaVision” seems likely to entice die-hard, movie-starved Avengers fans in pandemic lockdown. It may also frustrate others to distraction, or the bailout point, just as things have a shot at getting interestingly good.

It’s difficult to tell where “WandaVision” is going to go based on the series’ first three episodes provided for review. Each half-hour installment is so defined by allusions to classic TV like “I Dream of Jeannie,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Bewitched,” “I Love Lucy,” and “The Brady Bunch” that its titular characters seem sidelined in their own series.

If you’re deep into this universe and have been keeping up on all the creator and staff commentary “explaining” what they’re aiming for, you’ll get more out of “WandaVision” than any casual viewer. The end product on the screen is comedically wan, the double-takes broad and all the Olsen/Bettany/Hahn charm squeezed into those tiny dabs of screen time doesn’t add up to enough to make the whole worth the investment in time, even if you change shows as the endless closing credits start.