Disney + has dropped a new documentary to help with the withdrawal pains from having no WandaVision this Friday.

I have to say that this week has been nowhere near as electric as the last eight weeks because I did not constantly think about the week as sections that brought me closer to seeing WandaVision. So having this new show, called Assembled, arrived on Disney + as a bridge from the epicness of WandaVision to next week’s debut of Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Assembled went behind the scenes of the making of WandaVision and had interviews from many key cast members including Elizabeth Olson, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Kat Dennings and Randall Park. But we also had a chance to hear from the director of the entire series, Matt Shakman, who also appeared last week on Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardan’s show Fatman Beyond. We heard from the creators of the theme songs for the different decades, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, who were Oscar winners for their work on Frozen and Coco.

The show talked about the use of a live studio audience for the recording of the early sitcom episodes and how that energy both helped and frightened the cast. They spoke with Debra Jo Rupp about her character and she said how excited she was to be able to do some of the work associated with Marvel movies.

It would have been nice to have heard from Kevin Feige about the show, which had been described as his “baby” but we did hear from the creator/showrunner of WandaVision, Jac Schaeffer, Schaeffer was also the head writer of the show.

This doc was just a fun look at a set with a group of people who clearly loved what they were doing. The passion from everyone was obvious and there is no wonder why this show became such a cultural icon over the last couple of months. Assembled filled that void nicely, giving me something to satisfy that itch until the MCU returns next Friday to Disney +.

SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION EPISODE 9

Let me start with the rant.

When the director of the show has to come out the week before the finale and say to the fans of the show that they may be disappointed in the finale because of all the theories and fan speculation that is going on online, there is something wrong. Simple fact is this… speculation is fun, but because the show does not go the way you have imagined that it should inside your heads or on your reaction videos, that does not make it a failure or a “piece of garbage.” You can dislike what they do, but you cannot be angry because there is no Mephisto in the show. I saw a video entitled “WandaVision Better Bring Us Mutants or We RIOT!” Now, I did not watch the video, so maybe that is just a clickbait type headline to get a view, but, if not, how pretentious. After I saw that video headline, I was ecstatic that mutants did not show up. Have fun rioting, kiddos.

This is the biggest issue on the internet among the reactors and the commentators. You can’t speculate what they are doing, pick out specific details in the background and believe that meant something. If you judged what the show gave you and you did not enjoy it, then fine. You have a right to your opinion. But if you are crying about what you thought was going to happen and didn’t, then you should reexamine your priorities.

Enough of the rant. The finale was entitled “Series Finale” and it kicked off where we left off, with Agatha holding Wanda’s kids captive and Wanda confronting her on the street outside their home. Best moment… When she realized that Agatha was absorbing her magic when she used it, Wanda hit Agatha with a car. That was a funny moment and a great homage to the Wizard of Oz.

Let me talk about the biggest issue most people have with the episode. That is the Evan Peters Pietro/Ralph Bohner reveal. I was not a huge fan of it either, but I was not offended by it. As much as I would have liked this to have been FOX X-Men Quicksilver, that is not what they wanted to do. Now, admittedly, the use of the actor Evan Peters was simply a crappy thing for Marvel to do. It was just trolling the audience as they must have known how the fan base would have reacted. It is obvious that Marvel wanted the debate to rage online and that the bit of casting Evan Peters was stunt casting.

After that, I loved just about everything else that happened. The battle between Wanda and Agatha was tense. I will admit that the CGI battle between the witches felt kind of DCish because of the reddish background. Still, as Wanda wound her way to becoming the Scarlet Witch and gaining the comic accurate costume. I was invested in the battle. This was the benefit of having Elizabeth Olson and Kathryn Hahn as the actresses. They have been knocking their performances out of the park all year long.

There have been some people wondering whether or not SWORD Acting Director Tyler Hayward was a villain. That was pretty clear here as Hayward showed his hand. Heck, he got out of his car after his armed forces breached the barrier and he tried to shoot Billy and Tommy. I mean… what a jerk. Thankfully, Monica was able to prevent the bullets from hurting anyone. And Darcy stopped Hayward from trying to run the kids down with his vehicle. As Darcy said “Have fun in prison” Hayward.

The Vision vs. Vision battle was great, but I especially loved how it ended up in a theoretical discussion about what makes Vision a Vision. White Vision did take off pretty quickly after Wanda’s Vision reignited his memories. One has to wonder what is next for the white android.

The scenes with Wanda and Vision back at their house as the Hex was closing up was devastating. The writing in that scene was tremendous. The absolute best parts of WandaVision has been the quiet moments between Wanda and Vision. This attempt to say their goodbyes was punctuated with yet another great quote from Vision, “I have been a voice with no body. A body, but not human. And now a memory made real. Who knows what I might be next? We have said goodbye before, so it stands to reason-
Wanda: We’ll say hello again.“

The two post credit scenes set up these characters for future Marvel Studio projects. We know that Monica is heading to Captain Marvel 2 and the appearance of the Skrull with a message from a “friend of her (Monica) mother” shows where our newest hero is headed. Monica Rambeau was a huge success in this series and I have more of a connection to this character than I ever had for the character in the comics. Marvel did a fantastic job of creating Monica Rambeau and give me a reason to root for her.

The other post credit scene sets up what will be happening with Wanda, as we see her isolated in a cabin in the wilderness while her astral form reads the Darkhold. What was even more compelling was how we heard the cries of Tommy and Billy, who had apparently been wiped away with the Hex in Westview. What does that mean moving forward? I don’t know, but I cannot wait to find out.

Other things:

• Jimmy Woo and his “flourish” quote was epic as he picked the handcuffs that Hayward had him in.
• I would have loved to have more with Darcy, but her final line was pure sass.
• Before people complain… I do not need to know what happened to the Beekeeper.
• Agatha surviving is great and I love the “prison” that Wanda found for her.
• It was cool to see the whole family (Vision, Wanda, Billy, Tommy) in an Avengers/Incredibles pose and fighting together.
• The scene where white Vision was going to crush Wanda’s head was intense.
• Two super hero landings in one episode!
• Jimmy Woo and his bluff!
• Sorcerer Supreme name drop
• The townspeople turning on Wanda when they were awake was painful.
• The Scarlet Witch “crown”… whoa

Now that WandaVision is over, I am not sure what I am going to do. I totally loved this series and I literally planned my week until I was able to see the next episode of WandaVision. I have been a huge MCU fan, but this show took it to new heights. Elizabeth Olson, Paul Bettany and Kathryn Hahn deserve so much credit and all of the awards for their pitch perfect performances. The new Scarlet Witch outfit is beautifully designed. The show gripped my emotions and made me feel for these characters more than I had ever done before. This has been an epic eight week adventure that I am so grateful that I got a chance to see.

Okay Disney +… bring on The Falcon and Winter Soldier.

SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION EPISODE 8

“What is grief if not love persevering”” -Vision.

*SOB*

WandaVision episode 8, titled “Previously On”, breaks from the sitcom style to provide a flashback episode, looking at the past of Wanda Maximoff and all of her tragic events of her life. This included the quote above, which was stated by Vision in one of my absolutely favorite scenes of the series. It was a quiet moment between two characters and it showed how great they are together.

Speaking of that scene, it took place at Avengers Compound in Wanda’s room, probably sometime around Civil War. Wanda was alone and watching The Brady Bunch when Vision came in to speak with her. Their dialogue within the scene was beautiful, intimate and dealt with loss and grief. We got to see Wanda grieving for the loss of Pietro, which is something that we had not gotten to see before. The quote about grief above nearly broke me. It is such a deep and lovely thought and it showed how human the character of Vision truly was.

This scene was one of the flashback scenes that Agatha Harkness was forcing Wanda to relive in an attempt to get her to provide Agatha with the answers of how Wanda has been doing what she has with the Hex.

With this flashback episode, WandaVision hits some of the best emotional beats of the series. Another major emotional moment was when we see Wanda head to SWORD HQ to get Vision’s body. She wanted a funeral, but Hayward was not going to give the body away. $3 billion dollars worth of vibranium, he said. So, of course, this is where Wanda steals Vision’s body as he said she did several episodes ago, right?

Nope. She leaves after touching his head and saying that she “…can’t feel him.” We find out that Hayward lied about Wanda stealing Vision’s body. He still had it and he’s been trying to manipulate this situation. And in the mid-credit scene, we see the white Vision from West Coast Avengers, all because of Hayward and his machinations.

Of course, last episode revealed that it was “Agatha All Along” and we are confirmed that Kathryn Hahn is truly playing Agatha Harkness. This episode begins with a flashback to 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts where Agatha Harkness is being led to a stake by a group of women. We all believed that this was the Salem Witch Trials, but the show swerved us by making this Agatha’s coven. Her coven was ready to destroy her because she had done some dark magic, but Agatha drained the magic and the lifeforce from them (including her own mother) instead… much like a certain shark that was feeding on Yo Magic.

Back to Wanda, another flashback finds Wanda’s first exposure to the Mind Stone where we thought she got her powers… or did she? We got another flashback to the Stark Missile scene originally told by Pietro in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but the show hints at little Wanda using a probability hex to stop the bomb from exploding instead of it being a dud. So when the Mind Stone is in contact with Wanda, it amplifies her magic instead of giving it to her. Oh.. and by the way… we see a female form in the Mind Stone that sure looks like someone in a comic version of the Scarlet Witch costume.

At the episode’s end we get Agatha stating that Wanda is using chaos magic. She also claims that Wanda is a creature that was supposed to be a myth, but who had powers of creation, and she called her The Scarlet Witch. It was a jaw-dropping moment and absolutely sets the stage for where Wanda is heading in the MCU. It sounded as if The Scarlet Witch was a title given to a being of immense power within the chaos magic and Agatha was really jealous of Wanda’s capabilities.

I feel as if I have jumped all around this episode, but it is also how I felt when I was done watching the show. And, I swear, the episode was 40+ minutes, but it felt like 15. When it was over, I screamed out thinking that there was no way it was over yet. However, it was actually the longest of the series so far. WandaVision has done an amazing job of leaving us in a situation every week that makes us want more. It flies by and those end credits are like a punch to the gut. I sat on my couch this morning wondering how I was going to be able to wait until next Friday for the finale. Marvel has done a fantastic job at keeping us on the hook and getting us talking about WandaVision.

It seems that I say this every week, but Elizabeth Olson, Paul Bettany and Kathryn Hahn all deserve Emmy Awards for their work in this series. No excuses, Academy. Don’t pull that “it’s a super hero show” crap. This is next level work and they deserve everything.

What else did I miss?

• Hayward is a dick. I mentioned it earlier, but I am not sure I made enough of a comment.
• “Fietro?” : Fake Pietro… Agatha made a comment about him.
• And where is Fietro and Monica? After their appearance in the mid credit scene last week, we do not see them this week. They’ll be back next week.
• Agatha has a bird-eating rabbit.
• Oh, and that bird? It was the cicada from last week transmutated into a bird by Agatha. Was that meant to squash the “Mephisto first appeared as a fly” bit?
• The show confirmed that Wanda has been a life long fan of sitcoms, watching them back in Sokovia not only for entertainment and escapism, but to learn English.
• The deed that seemed to appear in Wanda’s car seat was another heartbreaker. The deed appeared to be from Vision and was the plot of land in Westview where they could “grow old in” and signed by V.

• Not sure when this deed came into play but it was what triggered Wanda to create the Hex. And she did it on her own.
• We see the pre-Hex people of Westview, and they do not look happy. Maybe Wanda helped them after all?
• They do not mention the magical book in Agatha’s basement this week.
• The bomb that killed Wanda’s parents was shown and it was a horrible moment of shock for me. Did not expect it.
• Agatha’s mother has a certain magical crown…hm.

This is the end of the penultimate episode of WandaVision. I am not sure how they can wrap it all up in one more episode. I am not sure how I am expected to do anything this next week until the finale arrives next week.

SPOILERS for WandaVision Episode 7

This week’s WandaVision had two major disappointments, one that was built up by the fans and one that was a misunderstanding. The first disappointment was the fact that this was not an hour long. There were comments online that the last three episodes of WandaVision were going to be an hour in length. That was an amazing announcement so when it ended after about 30 + minutes, I was shocked. I should have known not to trust the internet.

The second disappointment was the reveal of the aeronautic engineer. Online speculation ranged from Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four to Hank McCoy of the X-Men to Blue Marvel. When it turned out to be Mayor Goodner, I couldn’t help but be disappointed. That is my own fault. I allowed the speculation to become out of hand. I never believed that it would be Reed, but the no name major was surprising. My belief is that she will be revealed as Skrull Talos’ daughter from Captain Marvel all grown up. That may not be as sexy of a pick as Reed and Sue, but it makes a lot of sense.

Starting the episode off, it was clear that episode 7 was going to be the homage to Modern Family, The Office and Parks & Recs. The episode was entitled “Breaking the 4th Wall” and it featured these characters talking to the camera in the documentary style. Wanda seems to be feeling down and depressed. The use of the talking head style works really well here with Wanda, Agnes, Vision talking directly to the camera.

Monica has a big week this week. She is such an awesome character and WandaVision has done a magnificent job of creating her and giving us a strong woman to follow. Her dedication to find her way into Westview to help save Wanda was the height of a hero. Watching her force her way through the Hex field and gaining her new powers was dramatic and epic. The character of Monica, whether she winds up being Spectrum or Photon, has a bright (no pun intended) future ahead for her.

And how about that super hero landing? No practice needed!

The other major reveal this week was the fact that it was “Agatha All Along.” Agnes was shown to be who we all thought she would be…Agatha Harkness, and that she was behind everything that had happened, from the arrival of Pietro to the death (now murder) of Sparky. The show gave us a fun and catchy theme song at the very end of the episode to show us how she has been manipulating Wanda and all of us. Last week when it looked like she was scared of Wanda and trying to escape in the car, we know now that it was all an act to mess with Vision. We see her basement, which is decked out as a frightening witch’s lair, including a book that sure made me think about the Darkhold, last seen in Agents of Shield (or was it the Runaways?). Agatha has done something with the twins, Billy and Tommy as well- some of the online speculation being massively traumatic (ate them?). We knew she was Agnes was Agatha, but the reveal was so well done that it still felt like a gigantic shock.

Now will we find out that Agatha is working for someone else? *Cough* Mephisto *Cough*

The commercial this week was huge. It was for a depression medication called Nexus. In Marvel Comics, The Nexus of All Realities is a cross-dimensional gateway which provides a pathway to any and all possible realities. In the comics Man-Thing is the guardian of the Nexus. I don’t think we’ll get Man-Thing (I think…) This is huge! My immediate thought was that it was possible (I have learned that any sort of theory about this show could be wrong) that Pietro was actually the Quicksilver from the FOX universe after all. I was convinced he was not, but now..

And, after the appearance of the first ever mid-credit scene in WandaVision, and the return of Pietro to speak to Monica… “Snoopers gonna snoop.”

Although the purple eyes on Monica at this point may indicate that Pietro is actually involved in the magic, which could mean he is Mephisto or Nightmare or whomever.

Other Moments

• The twins have trouble with their game.
• Vision frees Darcy from the Hex’s spell and they team up. These two are great together.
• Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olson are brilliant.
• Dottie made a return appearance for a second. Why? Is she important? The mailman too seems to have more of a role than what it seems.
• #JusticeforSparky
• Director Hayward preparing to make an assault. We find out his motive is to get his hands on a weaponized Vision.
• The cicada on the window of Agatha’s house… Mephisto first appeared in the comics as a fly. Coincidence or is Marvel just messing with us?
• Wanda’s power seems to be glitching more. Is the Hex too big?
• Funnel Cakes!!!!!

WandaVision has become what I look forward to the whole week. When I get home from work on Thursday, I know that the next thing I am going to be able to do is watch WandaVision.

Spoilers for WandaVision Episode 6

Where to start?

There are so many places that I could start. Maybe we start with the big cliffhanger from last week that seemed to break the Internet… the arrival of Pietro, Wanda’s brother, but played not by Aaron Taylor-Johnson as it was in the Age of Ultron, but Evan Peters, who played Quicksilver in the Fox X-Men movies. Theories abounded about what this meant for the MCU, for mutants, for Evan Peters himself. We still do not know what exactly this guy’s deal was, but he absolutely rocked the comic accurate costume with the unbelievable hair.

We see Pietro using his powers all throughout episode six, but is he truly Pietro? The show addresses the fact that he looked different, explicitly from Wanda herself and Pietro says he does not know. He does seem to know a lot about what his sister has done here, going as far as saying he was impressed with what she did. There were times that he felt like he was the MCU Pietro (like the time that he referred to their childhood or when he talked about getting gunned down in the street), but there were also a bunch of times where he felt as if he were pumping Wanda for info and doing things intended to gain a reaction from her.

Either way, Evan Peters was absolutely fantastic here and played the part of the fun-uncle in the 1990s/early 2000 sitcom perfectly. There were several times when Pietro himself commented on the tropes of the fun uncle within the dialogue of the show as if he knew what was happening. It is a brilliant piece of writing that continues to tie the show into the world of sitcoms.

Which, by the way, this week’s episode is honoring Malcolm in the Middle, from the theme song through to the changes in the camera work that was brought into by that show. We also had the twins, Billy and Tommy, both turning to the camera and talking about what was happening, just like Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) would on Malcolm in the Middle.

Speaking of the twins, Billy & Tommy gain their powers this episode as comic fans know will lead to them being Wiccan (Billy) and Speed (Tommy) in the Young Avengers. I’m not saying that these kids will be in those plans, but there is certainly a possibilities. Both of the young boys do an amazing job of acting in this episode. Julian Hilliard played Billy and Jett Klyne played Tommy and they have a couple of tough scenes and they bring the goods, which is important since Elizabeth Olson and Paul Bettany are consistently exceptional in WandaVision.

That brings us to one of the darkest moments in MCU history. An animated commercial for Yo-Magic yogurt. Yes, the commercial this week takes a bit of a turn and features a young boy stranded on a deserted island. The boy says he is hungry, and things look bad for him. However, a shark swims up to the island and offers the boy some Yo-Magic in a container. The boy tries to open it, but he cannot get his fingers to open the foil on the top of the container. We see a progression of time as the boy continues to try to get to the Yo-Magic, until he dies of starvation and is left behind as a skeleton, still grasping the yogurt container.

It was shocking watching the commercial. There a a ton of theories about what this commercial represents. As the previous commercials all pointed to trauma and bad experiences in Wanda’s life, this could represent the people of Westview, or Vision or Wanda herself. The magic can not be reached and the kid dies slowly because of it. Could this be a reference to the “big bad” that helped give Wanda the power to take over Westview, a power level that she had never displayed before? Is the shark a specific metaphor for something else in the story (I would say for sure)? No matter what, the commercial is quite sinister and devastating.

This week is the first week that I believed that SWORD Director Hayward had some ulterior motives in the story. I still do not believe that he is any sort of a maestro of what has happened to Wanda, but he is definitely looking to track Vision. I have seen a cool theory about Hayward being the person to create Sentinels in the MCU and that he was using the technology of Vision to do it. Hayward clearly had a grudge against super powered people, which he let slip in an argument with Monica Rambeau. There is something hidden behind his final firewall that Marcy had not breached yet. What is Project Cataract?

More points of interest this week:

• What is going on with Agnes? Is she more than what we think or not? The meeting with Vision in her car seems to have thrown the theories of her being connected to the big bad into chaos.
• Monica’s cells are being re-written? Is this how mutants are coming?
• Vision being ripped apart by the Hex was horrifying
• So was the image of zombie Pietro with bullet holes.
• Jimmy Woo is good for more than just getting coffee!
• Darcy gets swallowed by the Hex. What will happen to her?

• Monica’s “guy” is still coming. Who is this aero engineer? Blue Marvel? Reed Richards? Her skrull friend? etc.
• The Hex turned SWORD agents into clowns. Ha Ha Ha. Wanda throwing shade.
• There are kids everywhere now. Where did they come from? Did Wanda have them “tucked in their beds until she needed them”?
• The single tear of the woman frozen in place was heart wrenching.
• As Vision is getting torn apart, he thinks of the people trapped in Westview.
• People on the outskirts of town seem to be nearly frozen. Could it be that the farther you are away from Wanda, the less you are able to do?

I can not wait until episode 7!

This week…on a very special episode of WandaVision….

[EDIT: Here is something wild. I wrote this before I was aware that the title of the episode was actually “On A Very Special Episode.” When I saw that, it blew my mind. Obviously, they did a great job of working in that trope about special episodes of sitcoms because that is exactly where my head went.]

SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION EPISODE 5

At least, that is the way it felt. As we moved into the 1980s style comedy heavily influenced by Family Ties, things are starting to crack in Westview. And we get a massive “recast.”

Vision is beginning to see things the way they are. It started with a strange encounter with Agnes and their crying babies (who…by the way… appear to be immune to Wanda’s magic). The moment where Agnes asks Wanda if they should “take it from the top” continued to plant the seeds of confusion in Vision that started last episode.

He discovers even more as he “freed” Norm for a moment while at work, revealing his true personality away from Wanda’s control. Paul Bettany is masterful as he portrays the confusion and the feeling of betrayal while still having deep feelings for his family.

His family, which includes the twins, Tommy and Billy. The twins age twice in the episode, once to stop crying constantly and once to keep the dog that they found outside. Sparky is named after the dog from the Tom King Vision series, though that one was a synthezoid as well. Tommy and Billy end up as ten-year old children.

This is the basis behind the “very special episode” comment I made earlier. When Sparky winds up dead (in Agnes’s arms…hm), Tommy and Billy have to deal with the death of a loved one, and they, quite rightly, think their mom could fix it. Back in the 80s, many of these sitcoms handled these deep subjects in, what would be referred to as, a “very special episode.” That was the feel given off here. Sparky’s entire presence here felt outside of Wanda’s control and she appeared to be uncertain about what happened. She does prevent the twins from “aging up” again, saying that people cannot run from their grief. Ironic.

This episode also contained two major confrontations. The first was with Wanda and SWORD outside of the Hex (thanks Darcy). Wanda let it be known that any further interference from Director hayward would not be tolerated. This scene gave us a bunch of tidbits, including the idea that Wanda brought Monica into Westview (as we saw last episode) as a way to get help.

There was a high level of stress with this standoff. Understandably, Wanda was ticked off. Hayward had sent a 80s style drone into the Hex to take out Wanda. It failed, of course, but it directly led to Wanda coming outside of Westview to warn him. The way she redirected the agents who had their guns set on her to direct the guns on Hayward instead was frightening. I really thought she was going to finish him off right there.

Then the second confrontation was between Wanda and Vision as he told her about Norm and how he knew she was behind this. Vision had said that Wanda could not control him and she implied that she could. This tense war of words were interrupted by the doorbell and the arrival of Evan Peters as Pietro. Darcy, watching on the screen, was surprised and said “she recast Pietro” confirming that Peters was not the MCU Pietro. We know he appeared as Pietro in the FOX movies, but there had been a ton of speculation about what his role would be here in WandaVision. Wanda seemed as surprised as anyone leading one to think that there might be more to this than we think.

This was a fantastic episode with so many things happening Things I did not include in the write up”

• Monica’s weird reaction to the comment about Captain Marvel
• Wanda’s use of magic in front of Agnes
• The credits rolling when Wanda wanted the show over to avoid the argument with Vision
• New commercial connecting to Lagos. Paper Towels- for cleaning up the mess you didn’t mean to make
• Confirmation that there has been no “Scarlet Witch” name in the MCU as of this moment
• Vision’s ability to break Norm out of Wanda’s control (although Norm never says Wanda by name. She only says “she”. Could it be Agnes?)
• Wanda’s line to the crying babies “Why won’t you do what I want?”
• Bulletproof vests
• No children in Westview
• Wanda doesn’t “know how this all started”
• Wanda steals Vision’s corpse.

This was a tremendous episode. I felt myself tearing up a bit when Sparky died. You know they have got me.

SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION EPISODE 4

“We Interrupt This Program“

WandaVision took a turn this week and it was glorious.

This week, the show’s point of view flipped a couple of times. There is no sitcom this week (and I honestly missed it a bit) and the show focuses on Monica Rambeau, Jimmy Woo and Darcy Lewis. It shows you the strength of the MCU when you can bring in a group of characters like this and feature them in the middle of your superhero show.

This episode reminded me of LOST more than any other episode so far. When we first meet Desmond Hume in “Man of Science, Man of Faith,” we flashback over everything that had happened before, but from his point of view. We get the same concept in episode 4 of WandaVision.

The first point of view is with Monica and this cold open was just amazing. We see Monica coming back from being snapped and the chaos that ensued with the people appearing from nowhere after the blip. That truly emphasized how wild and traumatic that situation could be. Spider-Man: Far From Home showed the blip in a comedic manner but this feels how that situation, people being dead for 5 years suddenly being there, would play out.

Plus, the show gave us a painful reveal as we find out that Monica’s mother, Maria, who we met in Captain Marvel, died of cancer during the time when her daughter was snapped away.

We also are told that Maria founded SWORD. Monica is a captain in SWORD as well.

The arrival of Jimmy Woo and Darcy Lewis (that is Dr. Lewis, by the way) was awesome. This was actually my favorite use of both of these characters. I enjoyed Darcy in Thor, but was never a fan of Jimmy Woo. They worked so well together and brought some wonderful interactions. Darcy was the one who figured out what was going on with this Westview Abnormality and she did it with humor and showed how competent she was. It’s been a long time since she could not pronounce Mjolnir.

As they went through the episode, we see a great deal of what happened in the mysterious first three episodes. We find out for sure about the scene of the TV sets at the end of episode 1, the voice of the person asking “Who’s doing this to you Wanda,” the truth about Westview and several of the citizens, the beekeeper, the toy helicopter, and how much Wanda is in control.

Technically, that last one may still have some questions about it. Monica came out of the dome saying that it was all Wanda. However, I still believe that there may be someone whispering in Wanda’s ear, helping direct what is happening. Could it be Mephisto? That is still my belief, but it might be too much to introduce to the general public.

We still did not get any revelation of Agnes. Is she Agatha Harkness? I think so, but it could be a swerve.

Oh, by the way, the image of Vision that we get at the end of the episode is frightening and gives us a hint that Vision may not truly be alive.

This episode was tremendous and is going to send this series into the next act.

SPOILERS (of course) for WandaVision!

After seeing the first three episodes of Marvel’s first Disney + show, WandaVision, I, as a comic book geek, feel that I am at a point where I believe I can make a few inferences on what is happening on the show.

Understand, I could be completely wrong. That is one of the wonders of this show. It clearly has a plan in place for where they are headed, but it could be any number of places. However, I feel as I am ready to make some educated guesses on the core mysteries of the show.

#1. What is going on?

I believe that after the events of Avengers: Endgame, Wanda was feeling lost and alone. She had seen the death of her brother Pietro and her great love in Vision. It is at this point where she either is approached by or approaches a certain being for help. My guess is that Mephisto, Marvel’s “devil”, is the character involved here. It makes sense considering how important the character of Mephisto was in the comic storyline upon which this series is loosely based. Mephisto convinced Wanda that he could help her reunite with Vision and give her everything she ever wanted.

#2. What is the motive?

Why is Mephisto doing this? I do believe, as in episode 2, the reason is “for the children.” Much like the comic series, Mephisto wants Tommy and Billy as a way to steal Wanda’s reality warping powers for himself.

#3. Who is in control?

Wanda’s powers are what has created the sitcom world that she lives in with Vision. She has created this world and maintains it. I do not think she is consciously doing it, or, at least, realizes that she is doing it. I do not think that it is a coincidence that all the times when the outside world sneaks into the situation, Wanda has had some emotional moment. When Mr. Hart is choking, he had been pressing Wanda for answers about her past, which she did not know. I believe she subconsciously caused him to choke, and it wasn’t until her inner hero came out that she had Vision help him. Another example was from episode 2 with the arrival of the Beekeeper, mere moments after she discovered that she was pregnant. In episode three, the comment by Geraldine (aka Monica Rambeau) about Pietro being killed by Ultron came after Wanda was reminiscing about her brother while watching her twins sons. Elizabeth Olson has been brilliant in these scenes portraying Wanda’s confusion over these contradictory moments.

#4. What about SWORD?

In the MCU, SWORD stands for Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division. In the comics, the W actually stands for “world.” In the comics, SWORD is based mainly as a space observation unit, but the MCU version feels as if it is more than that. I do believe that Wanda could be considered a “Sentient Weapon” and that SWORD has been watching her. They are not sure what has happened, so that is why they were trying to get Wanda to tell them “Who is doing this to you?”

#5. What about the town?

I am convinced that the town of Westview is a real town that existed in the MCU and was taken over by Wanda in an attempt to recreate her fantasy world. The people of the town are enslaved by Wanda’s powers but they do have some flashes of understanding of what is happening to them. I do think Agnes is more than what she seems (and maybe Herb too). I think it is clear that the people of Westview are not happy (and rightfully frightened) that they are being forced into living out this happy fantasy by Wanda.

#6. Why a sitcom (and ads)?

I would assume that Wanda, growing up a young girl in Sokovia, watched a lot of sitcoms as a youth and this embellished her understanding of a happy life in America. The ads are references to the most emotional/tragic moments of Wanda’s life. Thus, the connection to Strucker, the beeping bomb from Stark that tormented her and her brother as children, and Hydra. Plus, the Hydra Soaks soap does look considerably like the Tesseract. Another online theory that I live is that the two “actors” in the ads, who are the same in all of them, is actually Wanda and Pietro’s parents. That would make these ads all the more relevant inside Wanda’s potentially fractured mind.

#7. What is Vision?

I truly believe that this series is heading toward ripping our hearts out at the end because I do not believe that Vision is real/alive. He is a construct of Wanda’s mind and we are being set up to grieve his loss once more. I sure hope I am wrong about that. There are some hints in episode three that Wanda is able to subconsciously bring inanimate objects to life with her. We see Wanda’s magic give life to the butterflies over the crib and the stork from the painting on the wall. In fact, after the butterflies come to life, Wanda says “Oh, did I do that, I didn’t mean to.” I think that is an important piece of dialogue that I have not heard anyone talking about. So maybe she really did reanimate the dead body of Vision and he is truly back. Her power is based on the same energy from the mind stone that gave Vision life in the first place.

These are just some of my thought on the show. I have really loved WandaVision so far. As a huge fan of the classic sitcoms, I am enjoying seeing them play with the tropes and adapting them into this story that is way deeper than what it appears to be.

SPOILERS for WandaVision Ep. Three

If you haven’t watched the third episode of WandaVision on Disney +, then you do not want to read this article. We will be discussing some of the specifics from “In Color”

After two episodes in beautiful black and white, WandaVision finds its way into color, and takes a huge step forward in showing us exactly what is going on.

Episode three is clearly based on the 70s sitcoms. The setting of the house this week resembled the Brady Bunch homestead and the music is distinctly The Partridge Family. We also have the song “Daydream Believer” which seem to be giving us a hint about what is going on as well.

And one episode after discovering that she was pregnant, Wanda gives birth to twins.

Tommy and Billy.

Comic fans knows the relevance of the twins in Wanda and Vision’s life and their rapid development gives us an idea that things are happening.

This episode also featured “Geraldine” heavily. She is featured in much of the show’s most creepy-feeling moments. One of the biggest being how, after Wanda tells Geraldine that she was a twin and she had a brother named Pietro, Geraldine says to her that he had been killed by Ultron. This led to Geraldine being rejected from the sitcom world.

Other signs that Geraldine (who we know is to be a grown up version of Monica Rambeau, whom we met in the movie Captain Marvel) include:

• Geraldine has a necklace with the SWORD symbol.
• Agnes tells Vision that Geraldine has “No Home” or no family
• Agnes and Herb nearly revealed something to Vision
• Agnes clearly seems unnerved by Geraldine
• After she is rejected from Westview, Geraldine is surrounded by a military looking group (probably SWORD)

The moment of memory about Pietro was a powerful one for Wanda. She was conflicted at this point but the attempt at inserting the idea of Ultron in the show by Geraldine breaks that momentum for Wanda.

This week’s advertisement was for Hydra Soak, bubble bath, and, of course, a tie to the villainous Hydra that Wanda had worked for with Baron von Strucker.

Things seem to be firing up and next Friday cannot get her soon enough.