WandaVision: On a Very Special Episode... Review

WandaVision "On a Very Special Episode..."

The Lopezes deploy a kitschy 80s theme song. The Maximoff kids continue rapidly growing, and gain and lose a dog named Sparky. But the cracks in Wanda's sitcom reality are ever more pronounced, and "On a Very Special Episode..." starts twisting the knife on Wanda's culpability in holding the people of Westview hostage, and ends on a whopper of a twist.

In Avengers: Endgame, a wonderful sequence saw the Avengers figuratively cast in the roles of screenwriters in a mind-numbing story-breaking session. They hashed out the mythology of the movies in order to formulate how their plot would go forward. As last week's episode of WandaVision established, Darcy, Jimmy, and Monica are cast in the roles of viewers, if not fans of the MCU in general. So we hear Monica's argument that Wanda would've won in one-on-one combat against Thanos if he hadn't called a bombardment from his ship. It's a righteous moment of vindication for Wanda's heroism as established in the movies - and Wanda sure needs it because a judgmental eye is cast on her actions in this show.

The episode continues to frame Wanda as almost the villain of her own show. We see footage of her stealing Vision's lifeless body (is this a step removed from necrophilia...?) for use in Westview. The party line from S.W.O.R.D. regarding her history with the Avengers is not flattering for her (even though as viewers we rightfully take Wanda's side in, for instance, the Lagos incident). Most disturbing of all, Vision unlocks the suppressed personality of his coworker Norm, held hostage as a marionette in Wanda's fantasy town.

Vision is more and more skeptical of his wife's role in fabricating their situation, and the two almost come to uncanny blows. Shortly afterward, the doorbell rings, and in walks Wanda's brother, played not by the MCU's Aaron Taylor-Johnson, but Evan Peters, who filled that role in three X-Men movies.

It's a stunning moment, opening the door for a multiverse officially bringing the X-Men into the MCU, and not only that, but potentially the very versions of those characters from movies like Days of Future Past and Dark Phoenix. I'll likely get more into this in the future, but this is a can of worms. Yes, I'm excited by the metaconnectivity and the opportunity for those actors to continue in their roles. But that's potentially outweighed by my protectiveness of the MCU's "purity". The quality control that's defined the MCU doesn't extend to the last 20 years of X-Men movies. Additionally, is the average viewer supposed to have seen multiple movies from an entire other cinematic universe for this twist to fully land?

Reservations aside, the shock appearance is a statement of intent that WandaVision's metanarrative knows few bounds. And with Wanda appearing outside the bubble for the first time, in her iconic outfit no less, the ground is laid for more and more action in this wonderfully strange season of television. 7/10.

Stray observations:

- This is the first time Captain Marvel's superhero name has been spoken in the MCU. On that subject, attention is drawn to the fact that Wanda doesn't have a superhero name, likely setting up the deployment of the Scarlet Witch moniker later. I've enjoyed the absence of that title to date, so we'll see how that goes.

- The scene where the boys implore Wanda to resurrect the fallen dog Sparky reminds me of the Nora Ephron movie Michael. William Hurt (the MCU's erstwhile General "Thunderbolt" Ross) demands John Travolta use his angelic powers to resurrect a dog who was killed in an accident.