Spoiler Review - WandaVision Episode 4: A Boost of Energy
This episode contains spoilers for WandaVision.
What a way to start off an episode. While Spider-Man: Far From Home gave us our first real glimpse of The Blip happening in the wider MCU world, it always felt more like a comedic bit--one that didn’t really do justice to the gravitas of the situation. Now WandaVision has come along to fix that, showing us a true moment of absolute chaos as half of the world starts to reappear out of thin air; including none other than Monica Rambeau.
The tone this opening scene set was done terrifically, perfectly capturing the utter mayhem that must have occurred around the world that day. On top of that, it served as quite the powerful introduction to Monica Rambeau--not this fake Geraldine we had been following up to this point. We get to see the daughter of the founder of S.W.O.R.D. (Maria Rambeau clearly went on to do great things since we last saw her in Captain Marvel) get reintroduced to the world, as she, in turn, gave us our first look at the mysterious S.H.I.E.L.D. like organization.
Classically in the comics, S.W.O.R.D. is a primarily space-based operation, aimed at protecting Earth from extraterrestrial threats. As it is seen here, it would seem that isn’t their current focus--though it is alluded to that it was at one point, and where that stands now wasn’t really elaborated on. The Snap certainly had wide-reaching effects, and it seems that one of them was grounding this division. All of this information also alludes to the fact that S.W.O.R.D. existed prior to the events of Avengers: Infinity War—so who knows when Maria Rambaeu actually founded them.
Monica really did do a lot for this episode, as she finally brought with her an overarching story for the show—something that’s great to finally have. Even the little hints of things being awry weren’t enough to paint any sort of picture of what the actual story of WandaVision may be. With “We Interrupt This Program”, viewers were all but injected with nothing but information, giving context as to the mystery of Westview. This information didn’t come out of nowhere though.
On top of our formal introduction to S.W.O.R.D., we were also greeted with the arrival of known characters in the forms of Darcy and Jimmy Woo. It’s been a while since we’ve seen either of them. It’s strange to think about how this episode served as a sort of team-up for side characters from different films--but hey, that’s what the MCU is all about. While it was certainly great to see these two smaller characters take on a bigger role, I couldn’t help but feel that their performances were just a little wooden. Especially seeing as for most of the installment, they were just unloading exposition onto the audience.
I can only imagine that this downside will alleviate in time as we spend more time with these characters. I will say though that Woo had one of the standout scenes of the episode: when he is asking the cops about Westview, with the sign of Westview just behind them. Easily the best laugh of the episode for me.
Speaking of standout scenes, how unsettling was that dead Vision reveal? A truly horrifying look behind the curtain, and further proof that everything in Westview is entirely fake. Now the question, as disturbing as it potentially may be, is the Vision we are following now is truly his reanimated--half-destroyed--body walking around? That may seem like the obvious conclusion to draw; however, there is another possibility. What if what we saw was Wanda’s trauma causing her to see things and that what she was seeing was simply a mental trick and not a literal interpretation?
As you can see, with as many questions as this episode addressed, plenty remain. It would seem that there really isn’t any other explanation for this whole Westview incident than it being entirely under Wanda’s control. This episode really wanted to make that clear, while also further nailing home the fact that Wanda wants to protect her made-up world as best she can.
What that doesn’t address, however, is the why. Why is she doing this? And why does she seem to also get sucked into obliviousness just like everyone else? There are plenty of theories out there about the likes of Mephisto being involved or some other higher power, but honestly, I’m not too sure how they would play into it. That being said, It’s hard not to think that there is something much bigger afoot than Wanda simply playing make-believe.
“We Interrupt This Program” finally injected a bit of adrenaline into WandaVision’s veins. The slow pace of the opening three episodes was starting to drag things out, so it was about time we actually were able to add some context to what we were watching unfold. Furthermore, it’s great to finally be able to catch-up with Darcy and Woo, along with properly being introduced to new characters such as Monica and Director Hayward.
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