After last week's double feature debut of 'WandaVision' on Disney Plus, episode 3 has since arrived...along with even more questions to be answered. The conclusion of episode 2 left viewers excited for what was to unravel next, as the days of black and white television in the show came to an end. It seems pretty evident that the immediate future of the MCU is going to have a big impact on the town of Westview. Some of our questions and theories were addressed in our review of episodes 1 and 2. Let's dive right into the latest action, shall we?
Before the premiere of episode 3, one of the promotional pictures posted on the official 'WandaVision' Twitter account showed Vision sitting on a swing set with Wanda. Despite Vision's normal maroon face being on display, Paul Bettany's regular white skin was seen on Vision's exposed forearm. Fans believed this to be a simple mistake on Marvel's part, but come on...they don't make those. You knew exactly what Marvel was doing here; this picture alone seems to be a microcosm of Vision's role in this episode specifically.
Corey: Yet again, we get a new 'WandaVision' intro, this time in the style of 'The Brady Bunch,' signaling a shift into a 1970's TV setting. The beginning of the episode starts off somewhat slow, as Wanda and Vision are preparing for the arrival of their new baby. We see the two getting the baby's room ready, as well as Wanda using her powers to both build the crib and paint an image of a stork with the baby. The two also discussed boy names, with Wanda wanting to name the child a traditional American name, 'Tommy;' Vision was in favor of 'Billy.' As is the case with every father-to-be when a baby is coming soon, Vision is nervous and tells the couple's doctor to keep Wanda's pregnancy a secret. It's also worth noting that the timeline of the pregnancy is vastly different than that of a normal one. Rather than being with child for 9 months, Wanda's powers ultimately speed up the process to bring her to full term in less than a day. Imagine if it was that quick in a real world setting?
Our first big moment happens shortly afterward, as Vision begins to piece together the confusing puzzle that is Westview. Wanda experiences a contraction that sets off her powers to the point where all of the house's appliances begin to go haywire and the neighborhood loses power. Vision checks in on their neighbor, Herb, who was last seen sitting in the crowd at the town talent show. Herb is "accidentally" cutting the brick wall separating the two properties with a power saw, but insists that everything is fine. As Vision walks back into the house, he explains to Wanda that something isn't right, between the strange dinner with Mr. & Mrs. Hart and Herb cutting through the brick wall. It's at this point that Wanda again stops time, rewinding the scene to where Vision tells his wife that everything's going to be okay. The couple continues to work on breathing exercises to help Wanda deal with her contractions.
The show then goes to another of its faux commercial breaks, where we see a Mom dealing with hectic home life, including their dog peeing on the floor and her daughter burning dinner. The narrator says "Don't you want to get away from all your troubles? Escape to a world all your own." The scene then cuts away to that same woman relaxing in a bathtub, seemingly off in her own world. I noticed that the two actors from the commercials in episodes 1 and 2 returned for this one; could this imply that the actors are somehow related to Wanda in some way? Nevertheless, the final scene of the commercial reveals that the product advertised is 'Hydra Soak Luxury Bath Soap,' once again implying that HYDRA is somehow involved in this reality world of Wanda's creation.
Anyway, back to the "show," as Wanda's pregnancy has progressed to the point where she's begun having more contractions. Eventually, her water breaks...but, possibly for comedic effect, this is displayed in the form of rainfall inside the Vision residence. I'll admit that I got a pretty good kick out of this scene and how clever it was. Once the rain stops, Wanda tells Vision that she's about to give birth and to get the doctor, who's supposed to be going on vacation to Bermuda with his wife. Vision rushes out of the house and, shortly afterward, Geraldine (a.k.a. Monica Rambeau) arrives at the front door. Geraldine is chit-chatting about work while Wanda tries to hide the fact she's pregnant by wearing a coat. But as Wanda is frantically panicking, her rain jacket changes into a fur coat. Wanda then hides her noticeably big bump with a bowl of fruit while Geraldine continues to talk about work. Two storks then begin to walk around the house and, although Wanda tries to use her powers to make the storks vanish, that doesn't work. Wanda tries her best to distract Geraldine, but eventually, she drops the fruit bowl and Geraldine notices her obvious pregnant belly.
Geraldine lays Wanda down on the floor as her powers begin to go crazy again, between the chandelier falling, pictures swinging around on the wall and appliances throughout the house being set off. Meanwhile, Vision grabs the doctor from his driveway and runs at warp speed back to the house; I don't know why, but I thought this sequence was hysterical. Geraldine helps Wanda through labor, as she casually gives birth to a baby boy. No blood or crying, nothing! Vision and the doctor walk through the front door before Wanda begins contracting again -- looks like TWINS! This time, it's Vision who helps Wanda give birth to another baby boy. So much for the doctor being there, he's going on vacation, damnit!
As Wanda puts her newborn children into their crib, Vision walks the doctor out and apologizes for the inconvenience. The doctor then replies, "It's hard to get out of a small town." Now comes the huge conclusion that's had everyone buzzing over the last week. Vision notices Agnes and Herb holding a conversation over by the newly repaired brick wall. While Vision is suspicious as to what's going on, he plays it off casually. As he heads back inside, Agnes asks if Geraldine is inside with Wanda. We cut back to Geraldine and Wanda, who are watching over the newborns, Tommy and Billy. Wanda explains to Geraldine that she was a twin herself and mentions her late brother, Pietro (remember, Pietro was Quicksilver in 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' and sacrificed himself to save Hawkeye. Geraldine then asks Wanda, "He was killed by Ultron, wasn't he?" By the way, why the hell would she say this now?
We then go back to Vision outside with Agnes and Herb, as they tell him that Geraldine isn't a normal neighbor -- she doesn't have a home or a husband. The two then explain that nothing is as it seems; Herb begins to reveal more information, saying, "she came here because we’re all..." until Agnes steps in and stops him. Agnes and Herb then carry on with their day as if nothing happened. Back inside, Wanda doesn't appreciate what Geraldine said about Pietro, pressing her on how she knows about his death before finally noticing the S.W.O.R.D. necklace around her neck. I have to give myself a pat on the back, because in our last review I theorized that Monica was already an undercover spy for S.W.O.R.D.
Vision walks back into the house and asks Wanda where Geraldine went. "Oh, she had to rush home." Suddenly, Monica flies out of a huge force field and falls to the ground. Now, we are in what appears to be a real-world setting and we see the Westview sign. Helicopters and cars rush to the scene and surround Monica to end the episode.
We now know that Westview is an actual town and it's quite evident that S.W.O.R.D. is attempting to destroy this pocket reality that Wanda has created. If you noticed, the laugh tracks always seem to stop when Wanda is experiencing a scene unraveling before her very eyes. The widescreen also transitions back to full screen when Monica is thrown out of the force field reality, suggesting we're no longer in a sitcom. Vision is about to play a huge role in Wanda's show; while he's ultimately a supporting actor, he's beginning to understand that something is very wrong. Wanda stops him each time this happens and rewinds the scene to make the sitcom better, along with disguising his powers when things don't go as planned. I have to wonder if this version of Vision is simply a simulation of Wanda's memory. Then again, technically, she created two babies and this entire world of hers, so who's to say she didn't also make herself Vision 2.0, if you will? I can only imagine what will happen to this version of Vision when he finds out the "real" him is dead.
The scene where Agnes and Herb are about to tell Vision who they really are and why Geraldine is here is the most important piece to the puzzle, in my opinion. Herb saying, "she's here because we’re all..." either means that everyone in the town is an undercover spy for S.W.O.R.D. or that they're actual citizens of Westview who have become trapped inside Wanda's reality. However, this can be debunked due to characters like Dottie, who seemingly have no idea what's going on and are simply stuck in this alternate reality show. For some context here, Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness, a powerful witch and one of the original witches from the Salem Witch Trials. As to why she's in this universe is yet to be determined, but could Herb be a possible S.W.O.R.D. undercover spy if he knows what's going on?
It seems to me that the reason why Wanda purposely chose to have twin boys was out of spite for Pietro's death in Age of Ultron. She lost her twin brother, her parents and her boyfriend, but somehow brought Vision back to life through her memory. Could this mean that Pietro (a.k.a. Quicksilver) is one of the babies, if not both of them? Is Wanda recreating her troubled childhood? Either way, this episode was the best out of the 3 released thus far. The scene where Monica's thrown out of the force field will now set the tone for rest of the show, as S.W.O.R.D. must go back to the drawing board to stop the now extremely powerful Wanda. Episode 4 can't get here soon enough!
Austin: Wow, this episode was great and absolutely blew me out out of the water. Like the first two episodes, I loved how perfectly they matched up the time period this portion of the program was supposed to be based in. And, I mean...that ending was just...wow! I didn't expect Monica (Geraldine) to just get thrown out like that. The fact that we're going to see Wiccan and Speed, potentially leading us to a new Young Avengers show or movie, excites me as well. I can't wait until the next episode so we can see what's in store, as well as who may be controlling Wanda. How is this going to shape the MCU going forward?
One theory of mine is that, by the end of this series, we'll see Evan Peters' version of Quicksilver from the FOX X-Men franchise appear. Wanda will have made it so that mutants have always existed in the MCU, perhaps via the multiverse, which is how Marvel Studios will introduce them. I also feel like this could tie in to how we'll see all of the reported crossovers for 'Spider-Man 3,' between past versions of Spider-Man and accompanying villains.
Mark: There's a lot to unpack here, but since Corey has addressed a ton of it so well already, I won't make my contribution redundant here. I absolutely loved the final scene of this episode, it reminded me of Jazz getting tossed out of the Banks house in 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' (ironically enough, this was revealed to be Monica Rambeau's favorite TV show in 'Captain Marvel'). It's clear to me at this point that, similar to a body's immune system fighting a virus, Wanda is expelling any perceived threats to this reality that she's created. Between literally throwing Geraldine/Monica out of it, altering Vision's behavior and inflicting harm on figures such as Mr. Hart and Dottie when they question her, Wanda clearly desires a particular result.
What I keep coming back to, though, is...are we sure that Wanda is in control of her own actions? I keep thinking back to Jimmy Woo's comments from the radio in episode 2, "Who's doing this to you, Wanda?" We know just how powerful Wanda is by now -- she was seconds away from ending Thanos without a single infinity stone, after all (I mean, she technically got her powers from one, but you know what I mean). So, because Wanda's so exponentially powerful, perhaps someone or something is trying to weaponize her abilities. I don't think S.W.O.R.D. has any hostile intentions, but could Agnes? Or could her husband 'Ralph,' who we conveniently haven't met as of yet? There's going to be a twist that throws us all for a loop, I just know it. Maybe we'll get another clue in episode 4 and I can't wait to see it.
- Corey (@celticshive), Austin (@anakinstan79) & Mark (@MarkPiselli13)