Guest Posting

Marvel Studio’s “WandaVision” S1E6: Maggie’s Review

Spoiler note: I can’t write about this episode without spoiling some major plot points from the first half of the series, so proceed with caution if you are not caught up with the first five episodes.

Paul Bettany as Vision and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff in Marvel Studios’ WANDAVISION exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Streaming now on Disney+ is episode 6 of “WandaVision” – All-New Halloween Spooktacular.   The previous installment of the series concluded with Vision confronting Wanda about the pain and suffering her constructed reality is causing for the people of Westview stuck in her bubble, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Wanda’s twin brother, Pietro, who died in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Pietro has been, as Darcy says, “recast” with Peter Maximoff, Pietro’s mutant counterpart in the Fox Studios “X-Men” universe (remember when there was only Ironman and life was simple?). Peter/Pietro (played by Evan Peters, because this whole thing needed to be more confusing) arrives at their door just in time for Wanda and Vision’s twins’, Billy and Tommy’s, first Halloween. The sitcom setting of the week has jumped to the 2000’s a la “Malcolm in the Middle,” while tensions mount outside the bubble as Monica Rambeau, Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo butt heads with the S.W.O.R.D. agents running the base. While Wanda, Pietro and the twins go trick or treating, Vision explores Westview, discovering some of the chilling human set pieces of Wanda’s illusion and finally has an honest conversation with Agnes.

Kathryn Hahn as Agnes in Marvel Studios’ WANDAVISION exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2020. All Rights Reserved.

While “WandaVision” has slowly merged sitcom reality with the outside world, this is the first episode where the two are truly aware of each other and try to communicate. Wanda’s hold on the picturesque world she’s created starts to slip as Vision and Pietro force her to reckon with the cruelty of her grief-induced simulation. As an audience, we now have a clear enough understanding of Westview that the jokes and gags in Wanda’s staging land as truly chilling. This episode does bring to light a great Easter Egg for fans of Marvel Comics: Billy and Tommy’s Halloween costumes. Tommy, dressed in a version of his uncle Peter’s Quicksilver costume, and Billy, dressed as a combination of Thor and Scarlet Witch, seem to be revealed to be Speed and Wiccan, twins who are members of the Young Avengers. The appearance of a Fox Studio’s mutant, along with the introduction of two Young Avengers hint at some pretty significant expansions and shifts to the MCU.

 

Maggie Sharpe

Maggie is a high school math teacher in South Los Angeles. She is a huge fan of comic books, Star Wars and all things Disney.

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