Marvel’s “WandaVision” S1E4: Maggie’s Review
Streaming now on Disney+ is the fourth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe mini-series “WandaVision.” Marvel Studios’ teased the episode, entitled “We Interrupt This Program,” with an extended trailer showing the woman Wanda met as Geraldine back in her role as Captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) as she examines a mysterious energy field. The clip also reveals the origin of the voice that Wanda heard over the radio in Episode 2: “Don’t Touch That Dial” as Agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) who first appeared in “Ant-Man and the Wasp.”
“We Interrupt This Program” opens on a hospital in chaos after the sudden reappearance of the people snapped out of existence by Thanos in “Avengers: Infinity War.” We discover that the woman Wanda met as Geraldine, is actually Monica Rambeau, daughter of Maria Rambeau (“Captain Marvel”), before arriving at the headquarters of S.W.O.R.D., whose logo has appeared in various places throughout previous episodes of the series. After her five year disappearance, Rambeau ventures to Westview, New Jersey where she discovers that the people inside the town cannot be reached and those outside are not able to perceive or remember it. “We Interrupt This Program” brings an appearance from Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings), and an explanation of the helicopter, the beekeeper and the entire sitcom frame of “WandaVision.”
This is the series pivot point where “WandaVision” returns to the MCU as we know it. While it was disappointing to not carry on with Wanda and Vision in a new sitcom of the week, Dennings and Park are both charming enough to fill the banter quota established by the series’ first episode. This episode caught all of the loose ends from the beginning of the series and neatly wove them together and, while the callbacks were a little ham handed, viewers won’t begin the second half of the show with any lingering confusion. I have some doubts about the timing of this episode within the series. With more than half the season left, it feels too early for a “big reveal,” but too late to meaningfully develop any new conflict. While convenient, “We Interrupt This Program” seemed a much safer installment than the rest of “WandaVision,” and I look forward to the return of the risks and weirdness next week.
Related Post: WandaVision Episodes 1-3
