TV Review: WandaVision Episode 5

WandaVision Episode 5: “On a Very Special Episode…”

Director: Matt Shakman

Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Randall Park, Kat Dennings, Evan Peters, Julian Hillard, Jett Klyne, Baylen D. Bielitz, Gavin Borders, Josh Stamberg, Amos Glick, Asif Ali, Alan Heckner, Selena Anduze

Rating: TV-14

Runtime: 38 minutes

Major Spoilers Follow:

The Marvel multiverse is here.  Probably.  That’s the message WandaVision sends with the shocking end to this week’s episode.  The doorbell rings, interrupting a tense argument between Wanda and Vision.  When Wanda opens it, she’s greeted by her brother, sort of.  Instead of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who played Pietro in Avengers: Age of Ultron, it’s Evan Peters, who played the X-Men films’ version of Quicksilver, starting with a scene-stealing part in X-Men: Days of Future Past.  Darcy, still voicing the audience’s questions, asks if Wanda “just recast Pietro?”  Wanda herself is even taken aback.  She assures Vision that she didn’t cause this before answering the door and she at first seems confused at the appearance of Peters’ character before seeming to accept it, calling him Pietro and embracing him.  If this means what it appears to it is easily the biggest contribution WandaVision has made to the Marvel Cinematic Universe overall so far.

For those that don’t know, the idea of a multiverse posits that alternate realities consisting of entire universes exist separate from our own.  In comic books this idea has been used to explain the plethora of continuity discrepancies that arise from decades of continuing storytelling and both Marvel and DC have depicted characters traveling the multiverse, allowing them to encounter versions of themselves and their peers that are often radically different.  The concept is mentioned in both Spider-Man: Far From Home and Doctor Strange but in the former it was a red herring while in the latter it was only really used to create psychedelic visuals.  But given the sub-title of the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel, which is said to be a continuation of plot points from WandaVision, is in the Multiverse of Madness it can be assumed the concept will be explored more thoroughly going forward and WandaVision is a logical starting point.  A lot of theories have sprung up from viewers who think Peters isn’t exactly playing his X-Men character but instead a slightly different version or even someone else entirely simply masquerading as Quicksilver.  I’m not seeking to entirely refute those ideas, although I do think it really is the X-Men Quicksilver, just modified to fit the world of Westview, but even if it’s not, the casting of Peters rewards viewers of those movies which establishes at least a loose link between them and the MCU.

It’s definitely the biggest deal but the Quicksilver scene is far from the only significant thing that happens here.  “On a Very Special Episode…” is WandaVision‘s busiest installment so far but it handles all its various story threads excellently, which results in it quite possibly also being the best episode so far, or at least the best since the first.  As Wanda struggles to figure out how to properly mother Billy and Tommy, who are aging with supernatural speed, Vision’s investigation into what’s really happening in Westview threatens to tear the family apart, and a foolish decision by Hayward nearly leads to open war between Wanda and Sword.  Wanda’s fantasy is close to completely falling apart and it could hardly be any more thrilling or devastating to watch.

The sitcom stuff starts with Wanda and Vision struggling to get the infant twins to sleep.  Even Wanda’s powers are unable to soothe them, and Agnes ominously states at one point that “Children are the one thing you can’t control.”  Meanwhile, Vision’s suspicions about Westview continue to grow, leading to tension between him and Wanda, who continues to try and brush past his concerns.  Vision is especially uncomfortable with Agnes, particularly how she always seems to know what’s going on in their household and show up saying or having exactly the right thing.  This leads him to respond to her in a way she wasn’t expecting, after which Agnes asks Wanda if they should “take it from the top,” which only makes Vision more disturbed.  Before Vision can really confront Wanda about this, however, everyone is distracted by the boys disappearing from their cribs, before they walk out of the kitchen, now seemingly around five years old.

In the real world, Monica is debriefed about her experiences in Westview, with a Sword doctor also noting that her medical test results are very unusual.  Hayward convenes a conference where he shows security footage from several days ago of Wanda breaking into a Sword facility to steal Vision’s body.  Hayward is quick to label Wanda a terrorist, which both Woo and Monica object to.  Hayward nonetheless continues with his militaristic approach and seems to display some prejudice against people with powers.  While examining the clothes Monica was wearing in Westview, she, Darcy, and Woo figure out that anyone or anything that enters the town transforms to better fit in the time period the sitcom is currently in.

Back at the Maximoff house, the boys find a stray dog.  When Wanda says that they’re too young for the responsibility of having a dog they age-up again, now seeming to be about ten.  Agnes doesn’t bat an eye to any of this strangeness and Wanda is becoming increasingly lax about hiding her powers from her, which upsets Vision.  Vision is later even more disturbed by a frightening sequence of events at work.  While helping his co-worker Norm (Asif Ali) set up early Internet on his desktop computer, Vision notices the screen is suddenly displaying a memo Darcy emailed to a colleague about the Westview situation, which his coworkers all start reciting out in unison, before the computer returns to “normal”.  A concerned Vision phases his hands into Norm’s head, which frees the real person being forced to play “Norm”, who then freaks out and tries to call his family before he desperately tells Vision to “stop her.”  Vision then phases his hands back in, restoring “Norm”.

The boys are picking up on the tension between their parents but Wanda assures them that they’ll always love each other, just like they’ll always be each other’s brothers.  They then ask if she ever had a brother, and Wanda says yes but he’s far away now, which makes her sad sometimes, setting up the Pietro reveal.  This conversation is interrupted, however, when an appropriately 80s-era Sword drone flies up to the house.  Woo and Darcy point out that the drone is out of frame in the broadcast and Monica tries to communicate with Wanda, with no success.  Hayward then orders another agent to fire a weapon loaded on the drone, before the drone’s broadcast cuts out.

The agents then notice shifts in the energy barrier, and Wanda then marches out in her superhero costume, with the ruined drone in her hand, glowing with her red energy.  Wanda turns the soldiers’ guns on Hayward and tells them that is the only warning she will give Sword to stay away from her home.  Monica tries to talk to her more compassionately, reminding her that she must trust her to some extent because she allowed her to help her deliver her children despite knowing who Monica really was.  Monica says she wants to help Wanda, but Wanda says she doesn’t need help as she has precisely what she wants and goes back through the barrier.

The title likely refers mostly to Pietro’s game-changing appearance but the episode also evokes the kind of tone that “very special episodes” from sitcoms usually use.  For the 80s WandaVision seems to mostly be paying homage to Family Ties but it downplays the comedy in favor of the simplistic but emotional pathos sitcoms employ when they get serious.  When Agnes finds the boys’ dog dead in her bush Wanda uses the experience as a way to teach the boys an important lesson.  Billy and Tommy point out how Wanda can seemingly fix anything and ask why she can’t “fix dead.”  Wanda is startled by this and explains how death is something permanent that you just have to accept and refuses to try to resurrect the dog and tells the boys not to age themselves up again.  Olsen does a great job of putting a subtle look of recognition in her eyes here that suggests that, on some subconscious level, Wanda realizes the deep irony of what she’s saying. It’s subtle, but it’s one of the most important scenes in the series and handled excellently.

When Vision comes home he confronts Wanda about what he experienced with Norm and tells her she can’t control him like she’s doing to anyone else.  Wanda replies with an incredulous “Can’t I?” before reminding him that everything she’s doing is for them.  She says Vision should just let her handle it but an outraged Vision yells that that’s not her choice to make for him and even starts floating, seemingly ready for a fight. Wanda raises herself up too but eventually, they both calm down and the discussion takes a more somber tone when Wanda says she honestly doesn’t know how the whole fantasy life started.  This, and her initial surprise at seeing Pietro suggest that as much responsibility as Wanda must bear, someone or something else is also at work.  Paul Bettany has shined brightest when showing off his comedic talents on the show so far but this scene is a reminder of his emotional range.  The argument features easily his most impassioned work in the role of Vision so far.  And Elizabeth Olsen’s work on this show really can’t be praised enough.  She continues to switch from sitcom silly to bone-chillingly frightening on a dime but this episode also featured the most instances of true vulnerability from Wanda yet and she makes those key moments deeply touching.

The black and white cinematography of the first two episodes will always be missed but “On a Very Special Episode…” uses style and form in ways equally creative to the premiere.  The “audience” reactions are used in deliberately uncomfortable ways throughout, with a laugh track following Agnes’ off-putting “take it from the top,” moment, and applause greets Pietro’s arrival despite Wanda’s confusion and the tense argument that came right before.  This gives the ominous impression that something is attempting to draw Wanda and Vision’s attention away from the weirdness so they once again become immersed in their fantasy lives.  This is emphasized by one of the show’s most ingenious stylistic flourishes so far.  Partly through Wanda and Vision’s argument credits begin to roll over the screen.  In sitcoms, pretty much all problems are resolved by the end of a given episode but Wanda and Vision’s problems can’t be and the visual of them continuing to argue despite the image of the credits, which all TV viewers are trained to associate with the resolution is WandaVision‘s most striking so far and signals that something is deeply wrong.  The light-hearted part of WandaVision, if there ever really was one, is over. Wanda will soon be forced to confront reality but there may be an even greater threat to her family that could fundamentally alter the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Notes:

• The X-Men’s Quicksilver was named Peter, not Pietro, so the fact that he accepts the latter name is another sign everything is not right with him.
• Also regarding Quicksilver, those who haven’t seen X-Men: Days of Future Past, really should.  Peter’s awesome part is only one of the absolutely wonderful things about the movie, which is one of the all-time great cinematic comic adaptions and features great use of the themes at the core of the X-Men franchise.  The subsequent installments Peters appeared unfortunately diminished in quality, though they still had their merits.
• This week’s commercial was for a Lagos brand of paper towel.  Lagos, Nigeria, is where Wanda accidentally considered several civilians while saving Captain America’s life.  The commercial’s motto states the towels are meant for unintentional spills, much like Wanda spilled blood without meaning to.
• Monica tersely dismisses Woo’s mention of Captain Marvel, suggesting there will be some tension between “Lieutenant Trouble” and “Auntie Carol” when they next meet, presumably in Captain Marvel 2, which Teyonah Parris has already been cast in.
• Agnes is clearly intrigued to hear about whether Wanda can or can’t bring back the dead.  This might lend more support to the “townspeople are dead” theory or suggest that she’s lost someone.
• As a devoted fan of both, I feel obligated to mention that introducing the multiverse in live-action is one instance in which DC beat Marvel to the punch. The CW’s Arrowverse DC franchise has been exploring the multiverse since The Flash‘s second season more than five years ago and this culminated in the epic Crisis on Infinite Earths event from 2019 and 2020, which even connected the television and film sides of DC.