Mikey Zee: Picture for me, if you will, two ComicsXF writers, smiling, outlined in pencil. First, we paint in one Mikey Zee with watercolors… going through family photos and seeing him grow from being but a wee babe to the adult he is now–wait! Austin! Not yet, they haven’t finished painting me in yet! Oh, bother…
Austin Gorton: Don’t worry, they’ll finish soon enough. After all, what would we be (baby), without us (sha la la la…)? Mikey, I am beyond excited to be here to discuss this very special episode filled with life lessons underscored by twinkly piano music galore, like “if the babies won’t stop crying, just age ‘em up!” or “if your robot lover dies at the hands of a mad alien conqueror, resurrect him, then build an entire community out of hostages to craft a perfect world for your continued existence!” This is a wild episode on a number of levels, and I can’t wait to dig into it.
MZ: Absolutely–without further ado, let’s dig in.
Billy & Tommy’s Excellent Age-venture
MZ: So, speaking of these babies that aren’t babies for very long… I did love the literal situation comedy aspect of Vision a) not understanding binkies, and b) the babies being so unsatisfied with the binkies that they fly up in the air before the babies keep crying. There’s a lot that goes on just at the beginning of this episode, and to be honest, I don’t know where to start with it. So I’ll toss to you, Austin, and ask what you thought about the twins, as the laugh track conveniently goes off.
AG: Obviously, this series has played with a variety of different sitcom tropes and styles already, but I am especially familiar with the ones on display in this particular episode, as well as the concept of “Very Special Episodes” suggested by this episode’s title, a specific style of TV episode in which the usual narrative is disrupted to varying degrees in order to impart – usually ham-fistedly – a lesson to the audience. “Very Special” episodes certainly predate the 80s and can be found outside sitcoms, but that decade and format represent their heyday, with most of the well-known & oft referenced examples being found therein.
All of which is to say, this business with the twins at the start is textbook 80s sitcom: the doofy dad positively befuddled by babies, the crying infants who are said to be awake (and crying) a comically long time (Wanda says they haven’t slept in days), the whacky neighbor making herself entirely too familiar, the obvious laugh track and audible “aws” from the audience: this is all the kind of stuff that was a staple of, for example, the show for which Elizabeth Olsen’s own older twin sisters became famous (even the presence of the twins themselves is reflective of a maxim in TV, in which children were often played by twins due to child labor laws, though of course, the series is working off the comic book source material with Tommy & Billy here first and foremost). But this is also WandaVision, so it isn’t long before the strange circumstances of the world Wanda has (seemingly) built interrupt the TV pastiche, as happens here when Wanda is unable to use her powers to make the twins fall asleep (which seems significant) and Agnes, fresh from aerobics class & having heard the twins crying from outside, attempts to quiet them down only to seemingly flub a line and ask to take it from the top. It’s the latest example of the show-within-the-show’s carefully constructed veneer breaking, and the latest (but not the last) such break to arouse Vision’s suspicion. But before he can interrogate her further, everyone gets distracted when the twins suddenly age themselves up five years. It’s presented as yet another weird thing within the context of the show, but this sort of thing is actually fairly common in sitcoms (albeit less directly textual), with infant characters ageing up to similar degrees between seasons (Chrissy on Growing Pains is a well-known example of the phenomenon).
Woof, Mikey, I feel like I’ve been prattling on; anything more you want to say about the twins and the cracking veneer of Westview before the Family Ties-style opening credits kick in?
MZ: I actually didn’t realize the uncannily aging children was a trope too, so thank you for that Austin! Before we get into Agnes, I just wanted to shout out how much I loved the costuming in this episode: Wanda’s awful floral denim vest over a ribbed turtleneck, the twins’ wearing clothes in their “color” (reflective of their comics costumes!) to tell them apart, Agnes’ neon-colored Jazzercise attire… it’s all so good!
Also, I feel like I’d be remiss not to mention that I absolutely dressed Tommy and Billy the same way when I played the Maximoff household in the Sims 4 a year ago.
I think it’s time for the credits… and there’s so much to unpack here too. I hear you’re a fan of Family Ties, Austin?
AG: Yes! Family Ties is a show we’ve reviewed a few times on the podcast about Very Special episodes I cohost, including specifically the episode the WandaVision creators have cited as an inspiration for this one, the “drunk uncle” episode in which Tom Hanks drinks vanilla extract in search of a buzz and gets surprisingly physical with Michael J. Fox’s Alex P. Keaton. But while this episode’s allusions to that one are relatively indirect (we’ll get there, I’m sure), the opening credits – specifically the paint brush filling in the family portrait – are pure Family Ties. But there’s tons of allusions to other sitcoms in these credits as well: the family portrait itself is common to sitcom openings, as is the “family pictures showing the cast growing up” bit. Even the fast zoom in on the family running across/picnicking on the grass of a big park recalls similar stagings in the opening credits of stuff like Full House.
MZ: I had no idea that the whole “dark liquor” bit was a reference! See, sometimes very special episodes do teach you something after all..
Risky Agnes
MZ: I also feel like we learned a lot about Agnes. We mentioned her uncanny “let’s try that again” bit… and Wanda’s reaction to that I found even more interesting. I’ve gone back and forth in previous episodes on whether Wanda’s fully in control here; I was originally very in the “she’s being manipulated” camp, and then last week had me doubting my initial read. But I do have to say, I’m feeling very validated this week, as it seems even if she does have some control, there’s definitely something else pulling the strings. But I’m curious to know your read on all this too!
AG: I am right there with you! I was suspicious last week despite Monica’s assertions that “it’s all Wanda” – it just felt too early in the season for that to be declared so definitively – and there were numerous bits in this episode which seemed to underscore the fact that while Wanda clearly has some agency within Westview and control over some things, she is not in total control. Her powers didn’t work on the infant twins, and Agnes seems to have an awareness of things that surprises even Wanda: her “breaking” in the cold open, certainly, but then her entry with the doghouse later, and, of course, Agnes is the one who finds the ill-fated Sparky, (allegedly) eating her azalea leaves. There’s a sense that Agnes knows more than she’s letting on, but it’s also possible she’s trying to push things in certain directions (it was first and foremost a gag, but it’s worth noting that the twins aged up for the first time shortly after Agnes doused them with her lavender spritz). Where are you at with Agnes: hapless bystander, or secret controller?
MZ: I’m almost wondering if Agnes isn’t somehow a mysterious Other “cast” to play a role in all of this. I don’t know who that Other could be comics-wise, frankly; there’s too many characters that deal with manipulating minds, energy, or even literal TV (looking at you Mojo) to pin it down. But whoever it is, I think has some ulterior motive in both powering Wanda up, and uh, hurting the poor New Jersey residents that are under this spell.
(Though personally, I’m pulling for a Lady Mastermind-type character…)
Also, can poor Sparky catch a break? From what I understand, he died in the Vision series by Tom King too… though that book is a lot darker than our lighthearted sitcom tone.
AG: Yes, it seems Sparky is destined to die an unfortunate death regardless of the medium. As for Agnes’ identity, Agatha Harkness, the one-time Fantastic Four nanny and teacher-of-mystical-arts to Wanda, has been the popular pick since before the series began (“Agnes” being comprised of the first two and final three letters of “Agatha Harkness”), while Mephisto and/or some other demonic-esque character has been another popular pick (I, for one, love your idea of Mojo!). But I still think Agnes, while definitely Up To Something, hasn’t displayed quite the right vibe to be the true villain of the piece (unless it turns she actually killed Sparky…).
MZ: If she did kill Sparky, she’s in my bad book forever.
Lethal (Sentient) Weapon
AG: Let’s take a step outside the Hex (it’s catching on!) for a moment, as the show does, to catch up on some happenings in the real(er) world. I don’t know about you, but I was suspicious about Director Hayward last episode; those suspicions get confirmed here, as he immediately labels Wanda a terrorist over Monica’s protestations (and later tries to take her out with a drone strike). One of his key pieces of evidence is the revelation that just a few days ago (show-time), Wanda fought her way into SWORD and retrieved Vision’s body (in a scene visually reminiscent of a similar discovery in West Coast Avengers #43), revealing (after the big creepy hint last episode) that the Vision we’ve been watching thus far is, in some manner, a re-animated corpse.
MZ: (Called it!)
AG: Hayward frames this as a selfish act that may be informing Wanda’s actions in Westview, and it’s noted that what Wanda is doing is in violation of both the Sokovia Accords and Vision’s Living Will to not be used by someone else as a weapon. However, Hayward is being very cagey in his framing of this event: he highlights the fact that Wanda retrieved the body just nine days ago; but what was SWORD doing with his body in the five years between now and when Vision died (and Wanda was snapped out of existence)? It seems very likely they were the ones violating Vision’s express wishes (especially with the more morally-upright Monica Rambeau similarly snapped out of existence for that time), making Wanda’s actions as presented here a liberation of sorts. What did you make of Hayward in this episode, and all things Vision that we learned?
MZ: I totally agree that SWORD is up to no good with Vision’s body. If Hayward was really as concerned with Vision’s will as he appeared to be, I don’t think Vision would’ve been in pieces with cables strung between them, being tended to by a small legion of SWORD research staff.
Agent Woo is also really uncomfortable with Hayward’s handling of all of this, but it seems like SWORD outranks the FBI here, so he just has to put up with it. I think it’s going to get really interesting once we get closer to whoever Woo’s missing person is.
And then there’s Monica. Blank X-rays, blood tests gone awry? Blood doesn’t just go missing, after all… in the comics, Monica Rambeau is Photon, a take-no-prisoners hero who can transmute her body into any form of electromagnetic energy. The X-ray results seem to indicate that Monica is pure electromagnetic energy herself. I’ve seen a lot of people speculating that this is due to the Hex transforming her, but I’m not so convinced she didn’t have this ability before, or at least a lesser version of it. She seems very practiced at dismissing the medic’s confusion.
AG: That’s a great point! It definitely seems like that whole business with the X-rays and blood samples was meant to be a setup for future Photon/Captain Marvel business with Monica, but you’re right that she seems nonplussed by the news and well-practiced at avoiding these kinds of questions, which suggests her powers aren’t a result of contact with the Hex/Wanda and something pre-existing.
Speaking of the Hex, we get a little more info about how “reality” works inside it in this episode, as Monica realizes all the set dressings and props aren’t just Wanda-induced telepathic illusions, but physical matter reorganized by Wanda (which is a huge power jump for her, further suggesting some additional outside force interfering in some way): the groovy threads Monica was wearing when she was ejected from the Hex turn out to be made from the same material as the Kevlar vest she was wearing when she first entered it. This gives Monica the idea to send in an 80s era drone in to talk to Wanda (because the tech would match the current era of the “show”, Wanda won’t manipulate it into something else like she did the initial SWORD drone). But while Monica’s intentions are good, Hayward’s are…not, and the attempted drone conversation turns into a failed drone strike, as Hayward tries to take out Wanda remotely. In addition to providing further evidence that Hayward is Not Great, this prompts a confrontation between SWORD and Wanda, as Wanda storms out of the Hex in full superhero regalia, dragging the drone behind her.
MZ: Okay, before I dig into this scene, can I just say: GOSH THIS SCENE WAS GOOD.
I love seeing Wanda be angry and empowered to defend the people she loves, and I love how this show continues to give her agency, even if she might be manipulated on some level. Unlike similar comic book storylines (Avengers Disassembled, House of M, even some of The Vision and the Scarlet Witch), she’s aware of what’s going on, she’s doing it for a reason, and she’s not going to let Hayward or any of the rest of the US government hurt her loved ones again. She slips back into her Sokovian accent, absent all of the sitcom scenes except when she spoke about Pietro, and told SWORD in no uncertain terms that no one will ever take what she wants away from her again. She also, uh, manipulates a whole squadron of armed SWORD agents, which is way more than we’ve seen her do before too.
Wanda always stuck out to me before as someone who was barely in control of her powers. Sure, she had the hand gestures to help her channel them, but the way they were acted out, the way she’d contort her whole body when controlling something especially big or powerful–it reminded me in a way of kids just learning to play video games with a controller. You turn your whole body, as if that will have any impact on your performance in the game itself. Those desperate hand gestures, someone who had some level of power but maybe not as much as she’d like… and even less control, came to the finest point in the Lagos scene, when her lack of control wasn’t enough to keep people from dying, and in fact was responsible for even more deaths.
Here, we see none of that; she is exactly as powerful as she needs to be, she is fully in control, and she doesn’t hesitate. All shyness and hesitation is gone. I think that, more than the display of the scope of her powers, is what stands out to me about the Wanda we see here. All of that didn’t come from nowhere. And as much as it pains me to say it, I don’t think it came from gaining experience during the few scant months between the events of Avengers: Endgame and this show either.
It’s no surprise that this confrontation is immediately followed by a commercial about Lagos-brand paper towels…
AG: That Lagos paper towel commercial (“for when you make a mess you can’t clean up”) lays bare the context for all these various commercials: they’re inspired by all the bad things that have happened in Wanda’s life (the Stark bomb killing her parents, being manipulated by Strucker and Hydra, her lack of control in Lagos that led to the Sokovia Accords), as if she’s pushing all those bad memories onto the fringes (the commercial breaks) of the new life she’s created (the ongoing TV show).
But in terms of Wanda’s power levels, there’s a great metatextual discussion in this episode about Wanda’s power and how she went toe-to-toe with Thanos in Endgame (something I wrote almost verbatim in my pre-show Scarlet Witch/Vision fun facts article), and you’re right that both what we’re seeing here and what we saw there was a new magnitude of control and power for the character. It seems to suggest Wanda’s emotions play a larger role over her powers than previously suggested: in Endgame, her grief & rage over Vision’s death made her the most (or possibly second-most) powerful single Avenger; perhaps the burst in power here, the ability to make illusions physical reality, is similarly being goosed not by an outside force (though clearly, there’s still something hanging around trying to take advantage of it) but by Wanda’s sorrow and fervent desire to craft a new life for herself, Vision, and their new family.
MZ: I love your read of both the commercials, specifically pushing those elements to the fringes, and the influence of Wanda’s emotions on her powers. Frankly, dealing with grief seems to be the theme of this Very Special Episode… which provides a perfect segue to talk about Vision.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
MZ: Poor Vision has a hell of a time this episode, doesn’t he?
AG: In the grand tradition of sitcom husbands/dads, he seems hilariously out of the loop through most of the episode, but it quickly turns to mounting existential horror for the poor synthezoid.
MZ: First, he’s confused and obviously distraught by the sudden appearance of Agnes, even though Wanda tries to convince him it’s fine, which while annoying, isn’t terrible. So he starts keeping his “mask” of a human face on in case Agnes invites herself in again, which she does with a weird level of genre-savvy. Then, at work, they get email… which leads to all his coworkers reading an email from SWORD in eerie unison. He seems to remember he has mind powers, and uses them to disrupt Norm’s “programming,” leading to the man screaming and pleading for help. He has no idea how long it’s been, and he has family that he’s being kept from.
“She’s in… my head… none of it is my own. It hurts… it hurts so much… just make her stop. Just make! Her stop!”
He comes home to find his boys distraught over the loss of Sparky, after a conversation where Wanda impresses upon them what dying is… and the boys try to convince her that she can fix anything, even the dead. (Anyone else get flashbacks to Touched by an Angel there, by the way?) Vision confronts Wanda about her manipulation of their reality, and she tries to dismiss him, even rolling credits and a laugh track over the conversation. Vision disrupts the credits, however, and the ensuing confrontation has him angrily admitting that he can’t remember his life before Westview, or who he is. We also learn there’s no other children in Westview, which is sobering, to say the least. Wanda is insistent that she doesn’t know how any of this started, and right as she’s trying to convince him–
AG: The doorbell rings! Wanda swears she doesn’t know who it is, and when she opens the door, it’s none other than Billy and Tommy’s uncle Quicksilver, Wanda’s brother, Pietro. But he looks a little…different. As a thunderstruck Darcy spells out for us, he’s been recast. But not just via any old actor – while the Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s iteration of the character died in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Quicksilver lived on in another universe of films featuring the X-Men, and who is at Wanda & Vision’s door now, but actor Evan Peters’ version of the character! It’s wild, and trippy, and metatextual (recasting sitcom characters in the course of a show’s run is another trope with which this episode is playing), and it has a ton of possible implications for the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, but also, it’s just lots of fun, and, seemingly, a big turning point for Wanda. Just after she gives her boys a lecture about death being final (a very “do as I say, not as I do” parenting moment, given Vision’s status) in the episode’s most overt “Very Special” moment (it’s even underscored by the traditional twinkly piano music that tells the audience a lesson is being imparted), here is her dead brother (or a version of him, at least), standing on her doorstep.
MZ: Gosh, it’s so good. I don’t know if Pietro, or even Vision, can exist outside of the Hex, so I at least don’t think this is a full Fox X-Men crossover. As you said, I think it’s playing with the sitcom nature and the metatextual element more than anything else! At least for now though, they’re with Wanda, and she has to reckon with what this means. I’m so excited to find out how we deal with this next episode, especially as the show moves into the modern era. And we still have half of the season to go!
This is the end of our very special episode though, and I can’t think of a better special guest to join me. Audience, let’s all give Austin a round of applause!
AG: Thanks Mikey, it was my absolute pleasure to be here!
Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him on Twitter @AustinGorton
