If you were looking for a breakdown of that insane Evan Peters as Pietro cameo, then check out our analysis here. If you’re looking for a deep dive into everything else in this episode of WandaVision, then you’ve come to the right place!
After last week’s digression out into the real world, WandaVision now returns to its regularly scheduled programme. Well, kinda. It’s the 1980s in “the hex” (look Darcy, it is catching on!), but we’re now cutting back and forth between Wanda’s TV land and the real world.
Let’s dive in…
| Season 1 | Episode 5: “On a Very Special Episode…” | 42 minutes |
| Director | Matt Shankman | Writers | Peter Cameron and Mackenzie Dohr |
| Wanda addresses Vision’s worries when we grows suspicious of the neighbours’ strange behaviour. |
- First up… Why you gotta play us like this Marvel Studios? Are you telling us that Wanda is even controlling the “Previously on…” segments of the show? How else would you explain this discrepancy?
- Why can’t Monica be scanned by any of the hospital equipment? Last week we spoke about how the Monica of the MCU doesn’t have any superpowers, did her little adventure into “the hex” change her in some way? Did Wanda make her a “mutant?”
- Monica Rambeau knows an aerospace engineer who can help? Just who did she text? If it’s Reed Richards, we might just lose our collective minds. Then again, could it be Talos’ daughter all grown up?
- When Acting Director Hayward tells the team about Wanda’s incursion into S.W.O.R.D. headquarters, they used footage of what was supposed to be the post-credits tag of Avengers: Endgame. Looking at that footage has us questioning just what S.W.O.R.D. was up to dissecting and experimenting on a “sentient weapon” like Vision. God knows his body wasn’t in pieces when we last saw him in Avengers: Infinity War.
- What’s more, when Wanda steps out of “the hex” to confront S.W.O.R.D., she refers to Hayward as “Director,” and says that “no one” will ever take what she wants from her again. She seems to know exactly who Hayward is and what shenanigans he’s up to. This would also explain why he was so trigger happy and ready to “missile” her at the earliest convenience. What do we think? Is Hayward a big old sneaky bad guy? Or just an overzealous government stooge?
There is also a comic book callback here to the John Byrne run on The West Coast Avengers. See for yourself.
- Wanda’s Sokovian accent also returned when she was out of the confines of “the hex.” We haven’t really heard her speak like such a “foreigner” since Captain America: Civil War. Was it a high stress situation that made her drop the more generic neutral accent she had developed over the years?
- We quite liked the back and forth between Darcy, Jimmy, and Monica about who could singlehandedly beat Thanos in a fight? It’s a cute callback to all of the schoolyard debates we used to have over who was the strongest superhero.
- Speaking of which, why is Monica mad at Captain Marvel?
- Strangely, the aspect ratio of this week’s episode wasn’t in line with how TV shows were shot in the 1980s. The entire episode, including the scenes in the WandaVision sitcom, were framed using modern 16:9 dimensions. This wouldn’t be at all accurate for an 80s era sitcom as televisions only adopted this wider aspect ratio en masse in the early part of the 21st century. For a series that has been so accurate with its tropes, references, and callbacks, this can’t just be an oversight.
We think that this may be a sign that Wanda is losing her grip on the reality that she’s created. Either that, or she’s beginning to slowly regain some agency over whatever it is that’s making her do all of this. We’ve seen her be less inclined to hide her powers in front of Agnes. Her control over Vision is weakening. And she seems to have no sway over either Tommy or Billy. She couldn’t put them to sleep as babies. And they are completely in control over their own bodies, ageing themselves upwards at will. At the end of this week’s episode, she also seemed unable to hit rewind and stop a suspicious Vision from pursuing his line of questioning.
- Here’s a frightening thought. What if Wanda isn’t controlling all 3892 residents of WestView? What if we’re mistaken in thinking that all of them are still alive? What if someone, or something, killed them all and Wanda is actually reanimating the whole town? Now hear us out. As there are quite a few signs that point in this direction.
- The theme of this “very special” episode was death, with Wanda teaching her boys about accepting the fate of their dog by telling them that she can’t just fix their feelings by bringing Sparky back to life. The look on Agnes’ face when she asks, “You can do that?”, was quite telling.
- This also ties into what Herb and Agnes were trying to tell Vision at the end of Episode 3. We assumed that Herb was trying to tell Vision that everyone in the town was under Wanda’s control. But what if he was trying to say: “… we’re all… dead!”
- What’s more, Wanda’s proclamation at the end of this week’s episode also felt a little defensive. Was she trying to gaslight Vision from the truth by making his accusations sound preposterous?
Do you really think that I am controlling everything? That I am somehow in charge of everybody in Westview? I’m walking their dogs, mowing their lawns, getting them to dentist appointments on time? I mean, I… I don’t know how any of this started in the first place.
- There is also this week’s fake ad within the fake show which was for a brand of paper towels called Lagos. The catchphrase: “Lagos, for when you make a mess you didn’t mean to.” Lagos also being a reference to Wanda’s screw up at the beginning Captain America: Civil War which lead to the death of innocents and the trigger for The Sokovia Accords.
- And then there is that insane cameo. You can read all of our speculations on just what Evan Peters’ appearance means for the MCU here. But for the purposes of this particular argument, Pietro’s return makes for yet another resurrection in Wanda’s life. Is it one more dead person in a town full of dead people?
- So what do you think? Are we on to something? Have we cracked WandaVision?
Other Easter Eggs and Wild Speculations
- This week’s set was directly inspired by the greatest 1980s sitcom of all time, Family Ties (don’t @ us!), with Wanda’s and Vision’s living room and kitchen closely mirroring that of the Keaton’s.
- The theme song, on the other hand, is a little bit of a mash-up. The duet is a callback to the opening theme of Family Ties, but the visual cues borrow from both Growing Pains and Full House.
- The lyrics to this week’s WandaVision opening theme are:
You wander the world with a vision
Of what life could be
But then the years come and teach you
To just wait and see
Forces may try too pull us apart
But nothing can phase me
If you’re in my heart
Crossing our fingers, singing a song
We’re making it up as we go along
Through the highs and the lows
We’ll be right, we’ll be wrong
We’re making it up as we go along
And there will be days
We won’t know which way to go
But we’ll take it higher
You’re all I desire
When the going gets tough
When push comes to shove
We’re making it up
‘Cause we got love
We got love
We got love
We got love
Baby, we got…
WandaVision
- “The hex” She’s a witch. Geddit? Heh.
- That said, during Agent Woo’s briefing, Acting Director Hayward makes a special point to note that Wanda doesn’t yet have a comic book moniker of any kind. She’s hasn’t been referred to as The Scarlet Witch in the MCU.
- The title, “On a Very Special Episode…,” is a popular sitcom trope in which the lead character is forced to confront a highly emotive or sensitive issue: death, drug abuse, school shootings, eating disorders, sex, etc. There is often a powerful message in the episode and its general tone will be a lot more serious than usual.
- Tommy and Billy’s dog also has a comic book history. Albeit a pretty sordid one. You can read about that Sparky in Tom King and Gabriel Walta’s brilliant Vision limited series. In that story, The Scarlet Witch brings the dead Sparky back to life.
- As we now know, EVERYTHING in these episodes mean something. Even the seemingly random numbers that we see during fleeting scenes.
- The names at the end credits of the sitcom episode are shout-outs to real people on the MCU production team. A quick search on IMDB turned up the following:
Carly Plasha is assistant to director Matt Shakman.
Taylor Noland is an Office Production Assistant.
Jimmy Gadd works in post-production at Marvel Studios.
Matthew Ellena is a First Assistant Editor.
Jeremy Simser is a Storyboard Artist.
Leeann Patrick is a Post-Production Coordinator.
Brandi Hawkins does Extras Casting.
Virginia Burton is a Costume Supervisor.
Scott McPhate is a Visual Effects Production Manager.
Crawford Norman is assistant to Teyonah Parris.
Temple Tucker is a Set Production Assistant.
Michael Webber was the First Assistant Editor on Thor: Ragnarok.
Anele Onyekwere is a Supervising Music Editor.
Sarah Eim is a Visual Effects Supervisor.
Lacy Hudson is a Prop Person.
Kate Pulley is a Staff Additional Second Assistant Director.
Jason Petty was a crew member on Black Panther.
Anedra Edwards is a Visual Effects Editor.
Mariam Yacoub is an Assistant Production Coordinator.
Patrick Haskew is a Visualization Supervisor.
Courtney Young is a Dialect Coach.
The names we couldn’t identify were: Laura Monti, Ankush Khemani, Sergio Vega, Alex Moordian, Jon Weaver, and Jo Ann Land.
- And finally, an homage to the most famous Jersey resident, The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen.
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