Hello all, and welcome to your weekly recap of whatever wildness occurred on the latest episode of WandaVision. These are meant to be read after watching, so they will go deep into spoiler territory. You have been warned!
Last Week on WandaVision…
In what ended up not being all that big a deal, Wanda “saved” an escaped Vision by significantly expanding Westview’s borders, transforming everything caught in that expansion into a television-friendly version of itself. She also shot Pietro across the town square for making a wisecrack about Vision’s death.
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
This particular episode of WandaVision was filled with plot, sporting an A story, a B story, and even a C story. And then there’s Pietro, whose absence was sort of a storyline in and of itself. It would seem that Wanda’s violent behavior to him last week was not just an emotional reaction but an actual rejection of his entire existence. This is made pretty clear when Wanda tells her children, “Don’t believe anything that man says. He is not your uncle.”
We later learn she’s right. Pietro’s appearance was just (I refer you back to the spoiler warning above if you still haven’t watched this episode) Agnes, messing around with Wanda for the lulz. Nevertheless, one wonders what this means for the character’s future. He’s gone, but as the mid-credit sequence tells us (and yes, this episode does have a stinger) he’s not gone gone. Agnes, your mischief has bridged two movie studios, and now we’re all stuck figuring out the consequences!
Wanda’s Quarantine-Style Staycation
This week’s main story takes the Modern Family aesthetic (though the credits, which almost totally remove Vision from the equation, are more inspired by The Office), which allows Wanda to finally tell us what she’s feeling via her confessionals. WandaVision has spent every episode thus far coopting but also poking fun at sitcom tropes of the past. Here, it does so with television that still feels very modern, illustrating that even with a documentary style and missing laugh track, these newer shows are still just sitcoms like all the others.
It turns out Wanda’s having a rough go of it, so instead of getting dressed, she’s just going to eat cereal in her pajamas all day. Vision is off trying to oppose her reality, her brother ended up being an imposter, and she accidentally swallowed up an entire SWORD battalion. It’s no wonder she wants to take a day off. It’s also no wonder her home is cycling through eras. The walls of her fake world are clearly beginning to crack. Luckily, Agnes comes over in the nick of time to take the kids off her hands for the afternoon.
Meanwhile, outside of Westview, Rambeau’s aerospace engineer friend has arrived and it is…not Reed Richards. But this new character, Major Goodner, does have a space rover, which Rambeau uses to smash her way into Westview. This does not go well, so she just shoves her way through instead. This goes much better, though it appears to rewrite her DNA a third time, turning her into a superhero (Photon, Spectrum or Pulsar – depending on how Marvel chooses to name her). But right now she just has fancy eyes that can see the electrical information within Westview.
Rambeau immediately makes a bee-line to Wanda to warn her of what she’s doing and inform her of Hayward’s intention to recapture Vision. Wanda, of course, does not want to hear this. Luckily, Agnes comes over in the nick of time to whisk her away from the confrontation. That Agnes, such a good friend!
Vision, the Clown
Just as Wanda stalls Vision’s return home this episode, so does the show. We’re just not ready for their big confrontation yet, so instead we get a little wheel spinning from this story, as Darcy tries to fill the android in on basically the entire MCU. People who’ve had to do this for their family members can probably relate. Vision learns of his bizarre history and even more bizarre double-death and is left wondering what he currently is. Which…same, to be honest. After absolutely killing it with the confessional humor, Vision suddenly remembers he’s Vision and flies off to see Wanda, something we’ll just have to wait until next week to see.
A Villain Finally Emerges
And finally, WandaVision revealed this week that its villain is not actually Wanda but her neighbor Agnes, aka Agatha Harkness, a powerful witch who has frequently tussled with Scarlet Witch in the comics. (Though, it still has to be at least a little bit Wanda, right?)
The idea here is that every aberration within Westview that Wanda did not understand was Agnes’ doing. Her character gets a great, nefarious song illustrating these events but leaving the motivation or deeper implications of her deeds for next week. A lot of it seems more mischievous than evil. Up until she kills the dog and brings back Pietro, that is. And where are the twins?
What’s on Next?
Agnes’ introduction will pull a lot of things into focus since we’ll all have a clear antagonist to oppose, but things are still going to remain complicated in Westview. Wanda’s not getting out of this totally without consequence (one hopes, anyway). Vision probably has a lot he needs to get off his chest, and Agnes’ minion Pietro now has Rambeau in his clutches, though maybe she’s now more than he can handle. With only two episodes to go, are we now all done with the sitcom format? Tune in next week to find out!
The post On This Week’s Very Modern ‘WandaVision’, Things Start to Unravel appeared first on /Film.
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