Last time: WandaVision entered the 70s as Wanda’s pregnancy progressed at hyperspeed. Wacky hijinks ensued as she first tried to hide her pregnancy from neighbor Geraldine as well as the fact labor was causing her magic to go haywire. Eventually, Geraldine helped her give birth to her first son Tommy while Vision arrived with the doctor in time to witness the birth of Tommy’s twin brother Billy. Agnes and Herb then tried to warn Vision about the truth of Westview while Geraldine mentioned Ultron when Wanda noted she had a twin brother. That made Wanda suspicious and when Vision returned into the house, Geraldine was gone. As he and Wanda settled down with their twin sons, “Geraldine” was found lying on a grass field as the military closed in around her.
It seems we’ll get some answers this time though knowing Marvel, those will likely be accompanied by more questions. And given that both Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen have been teasing a surprise cameo in future episodes, maybe today will set the stage for that cameo?
Let’s find out!
Flying away on a wing and a prayer/Who could it be?/Believe it or not/It’s just SPOILERS!
We open in a hospital room as the person we’ve come to know as “Geraldine” rematerializes after the Avengers undid Thanos’ Snap in Endgame. She looks at the hospital bed beside her and freaks out when she finds it empty. Heading out into the hallway, she finds chaos as people keep returning and trying to figure out what’s going on. She makes her way to the nursing station and starts asking for her mother – Maria Rambeau. Yes, this is little Monica all grown up!
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| (Back from the snap) |
A doctor finds Monica and is amazed to see her. Monica asks about her mother, saying she nodded off but that her mother doesn’t appear to be back from surgery yet. The doctor has to tell Monica that her mother died but Monica refuses to believe it, saying that the surgery had been a success and her mother was supposed to be in remission. The doctor says that Maria did go into remission but the cancer came back. Monica keeps arguing against that until the doctor stuns her by revealing that Maria died three years earlier, which was two years after Monica disappeared.
We next see the headquarters for SWORD (Sentinel Weapons Operation and Response Division), which seems to be an organization like SHIELD. Monica enters as big screen TVs continue to show the aftermath of what is being called “The Blip,” as loved ones are reunited and people try to resume their lives. She tries to swipe her security card to enter the facility and security calls her over. Monica says she doesn’t know what’s wrong and that she works there. The guard snarks at her that her card would work then but someone shuts him down, saying that she’s Monica Rambeau and he should know her.
Monica looks up and greets Director Hayward. He escorts her in and promises to get everything sorted out for her. She says that since her mother is gone, she believes Hayward is the best replacement and he replies that he was the only replacement. Not sure if that’s his own arrogance or a comment on how many agents were lost to the Snap. But Monica seems to agree so maybe it’s just fact.
Haywood and Monica meet in his office. She insists she’s fine after the Blip and is ready to return to work. However, Hayward informs her that she is grounded. Monica doesn’t take it well and asks why. When he informs her that her mother put the policy in place in case anyone came back, Monica seems to quiet down. He then says that the FBI has asked to use one of their drones in a missing person case and he’s sending Monica with the drone. While she’s not pleased, she’s glad to have an assignment.
So Monica drives to New Jersey and arrives at Westview. She parks and is greeted by FBI agent Jimmy Woo, who explains that he had someone in the program and was unable to get in touch with him. So he came to check on him and found something strange. Jimmy asks the two sheriff deputies about Westview and they tell Monica that no such place exists despite the fact that we can see the town sign right behind them. She asks them where they live and they reply “Eastview.” Jimmy thanks them and as they leave, he tells Monica it’s more than a missing person case but a missing town. She asks if he went into town to investigate but he says that he can feel he’s not welcome there.
Monica sends a drone to the town line and watches as it disappears. Her screen only receives static and she wonders where it went. She approaches and finds a forcefield comprised of red hexagons. Jimmy warns her to be careful as she touches it. When she tries it again, she gets sucked in by the force field as Jimmy yells her name.
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| (First rule: Don't understand it, don't touch it!) |
We next see an armored car drive down the road and we cut inside to find four people inside. One of them is Kat Dennings, who is reprising her MCU role of Darcy Lewis. She asks what everyone’s specialties are and it’s determined they all study some form of science. Darcy is intrigued as they arrive at what is now a temporary base camp set up by SWORD to figure out what happened to Monica. Drones are being sent into Westview but don’t appear to be doing much good.
Darcy is escorted to one station. She asks for coffee but the soldier just wants her to do her job. After plugging in one of her readers, she’s shocked by what she’s seeing by way of Cosmic Background Radiation. The soldier worries that they are in danger but she assures him the levels are safe for now. She then spots something else with the radiation and pulls out another instrument with a screen. Darcy tunes to read the waves come out of Westview and we see scenes from the first episode of WandaVision. She asks for a TV – an old one, meaning “not flat.”
So we know who was watching Wanda and Vision at the end of the first episode – it was Darcy! And just like the rest of us, she has no clue what's going on either:
Darcy and Jimmy watch the TV show. She points to Vision and confirms that he was dead, not “blipped” but dead. Jimmy and Haywood do confirm that. They can’t figure out why someone is forcing two Avengers to star in a sitcom. But with Darcy filming all the shows broadcasting out of Westview, Haywood leaves to do something else while Jimmy and Darcy decide to start identifying the people in the show.
Jimmy also writes some theories down on a white board (Krulls?) while they pin up the driver’s licenses of the people they identify, including the Harts, Norm, Jimmy, Herb and the mailman. So far not identified: Agnes and Dottie. They still, though, aren’t closer to solving the mystery.
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| (Everything still revolves around these two) |
Also, who is Jimmy’s witness? Is he in Westview? Have we seen him? Or is he just a background person?
Like Monica starts out as. Darcy spots her in an episode we didn’t really see – or maybe from a vantage point we didn’t as she appears in a shot with Agnes and Wanda as they walk down the street. Wanda appears in her Laurie Petrie-esque outfit from Episode 2, though Monica isn’t dressed as Geraldine in that episode. She’s in a rather plain dress and is just reading the newspaper. Darcy calls over Jimmy and Hayward, who take note of it.
Hayward sends an agent in through the sewer system, feeling it’s their best way to get past the barrier and not get sucked into the sitcom. The agent is wearing a radiation suit so I think we all know where this is going. Meanwhile, Darcy suggests that when Wanda is around a radio – her best bet is when Wanda washes the dishes once an episode – they try to use it to communicate with her. Jimmy agrees.
We then see Episode 2 and Darcy notes that Monica now has a speaking role. She then spots a radio by the pool and tells Jimmy to start broadcasting. He calls for Wanda and we hear what we heard earlier – him asking her if she can hear him and asking who is doing this to her. Darcy notes something seems to be happening but then it jumps and we cut to when Dottie was asking Wanda about how to get blood out of white cloth. Darcy doesn’t know what happened but tells Jimmy that it didn’t work.
Meanwhile, the agent crawling through the sewers makes past the barrier and transforms into the black and white beekeeper. He climbs out and we see Wanda react to him, though we still don’t know what happened to him.
Jimmy and Darcy continue to watch the TV show and get to the last episode we saw, where Wanda goes through pregnancy in the course of one episode. She asks Jimmy if he wants one of her chips and he thinks she means babies, saying he does want to eventually have children. Then he realizes what she meant and takes a chip.
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| (That awkward moment when...) |
She wonders if there’s a reason why they keep going through different decades – 50s, 60s, and 70s – because it can’t be just for her enjoyment. Darcy is then moved when it is revealed Wanda and Vision had twins. Jimmy gives her a look and she admits she’s invested now.
They then see Monica interacting with Wanda, especially the part where she mentions Ultron. That catches their attention and they worry when they realize Wanda is not reacting well. But then there is clear interference with the transmission as they cut from a menacing Wanda to her and Vision sitting on the couch with their twins as the credits play. Darcy tries to rewind to see if any of her recordings caught what happened but they all show the same thing. She realizes someone is censoring the broadcasts and they wonder who is doing it and why.
We then return to the part of that episode even we didn’t see. Wanda asks “Geraldine” who she is and “Geraldine” insists that she’s Wanda’s friend. But Wanda doesn’t think so. She doesn’t know who “Geraldine” is and that makes her a stranger. As she talks, she starts to gather up her full Scarlet Witch powers and “Geraldine” starts to worry. Wanda then demands that “Geraldine” leave and uses her magic to expel her not only from her house but from the town itself, forcing her out past the barrier.
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| (Danger!) |
Once “Geraldine” has been expelled from Wanda’s utopia, Wanda uses her powers to quickly fix the giant hole she blew into the house. Vision rushes inside and Wanda cries out in surprise. For a moment, we get to see what she sees – dead Vision with lifeless eyes and the giant hole in his head from when Thanos removed the mind stone. He asks what’s wrong and she recovers. She insists that Westview is their home and no one can change that.
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| (Creepy!) |
She then picks up one of the twins and asks him what they should watch that night. Vision pauses for a moment before picking up the other twin and joining his wife on the couch. He turns on the TV and they cuddle together, Wanda smiling happily as she feels her happy ending has been preserved.
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| (A happy family) |
Back outside the barrier, everyone surrounds Monica as she recovers from the shock of Wanda’s powers and no doubt the return of her real memories. As the camera focused on her, she mutters a very ominous line.
“It’s Wanda. It’s all…Wanda.”
So no surprise cameo yet. Randall Park and Kat Dennings had already been confirmed to be in this series. Now we know what brought Jimmy Woo and Darcy Lewis together – trying to find Monica Rambeau and solve the “Westview Anomaly.” And we know at least two good guys are watching the sitcom Wanda and Vision are living.
It still doesn’t mean that there isn’t some villain or nefarious organization behind this though.
Because I don’t believe Wanda is the complete answer. I think she’s only part of the answer and there’s a lot more to this than meets the eye.
The question, though, is if Wanda went to create a perfect life for her and Vision but someone manipulated her powers for their own end? Or did someone use her powers for their own purposes but Wanda figured out how to manipulate the situation to suit her own purposes?
It’s great to see some more connections to the wider MCU and I wonder if we’ll see more. After all, there’s speculation this series will connect to the next Doctor Strange movie. Who knows?
Next time: Westview jumps to the 80s as the sitcoms continue.
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