If, wherever you are in the world, you heard the frantic tip tap tip tap of a keyboard it was likely me smashing my keyboard trying to get a timely and relevant post out after watching Episode 4 of Wandavision because frankly it was huge! It ties into some theories and thoughts I had last week’s blog as well as potentially disproving some but also adding credence to others… that said, everything below will be very deep within spoiler territory so DO NOT venture further if you are yet to view it unless you are okay with spoilers.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Right so welcome back and oh boy what an episode!

We actually got some clarity around S.W.O.R.D, Monica and the setting of the series so I will jump into that in a sec. I am frantically writing this now while I still remember it so there will be bits I missed and I will re-address in another later post bringing it all together, once I have watched it again and read some of the other fans thoughts and impressions.

Setting

So this episode breaks the sitcom element that we had seen from 1 – 3 and throws us straight in to seeing Monica being un-blipped. At first I thought this was us seeing her powers in action of the bat but it quickly became apparent that this was post Iron Man click (RIP) and very shortly after the battle. Three weeks later (thanks Twitter) we see Monica at S.W.O.R.D headquarters about to be sent to Westview. So we know that Wandavision exists within the reality of the MCU so far and not an alternative universe, and we know that it is set during or after Far From Home. We also know that S.W.O.R.D was set up by Monica’s mum, Maria Rambeau from Captain Marvel, before Infinity War as Monica was already an agent prior to being blipped out at the end of Infinity War. So timeline is sorted and reality is sorted. It’s also great to see MCU tie ins Kat Dennings and Randall Park reprising their roles as Darcy Lewis from Thor and Agent Woo from Ant-Man respectively, serving to tie Wandavision into the wider universe.

We also know that Episode 4 starts prior to Episode 1 and takes place parallel to 1 – 3, as we see the helicopter (S.W.O.R.D drone) sent in to land in Wanda’s garden, the hazmat suit become the bee keeper and Woo’s voice through the radio as theorised by the internet. It’s also great to see Darcy’s meta commentary of the episodes so far as they too refer to it as episodes but it does beg the question as to if it is live all the time or not. I am inclined to say it isn’t as the Agent refers to the episode as just airing and there are clearly parts which the agents don’t see. We don’t see Monica ejected for example as well as other bits where Wanda ‘drops the guise’ suggesting she could well be in two minds – the happy, best life that is televised and then the upsetting reality that she is struggling with which is hidden away.

Westview

The existence of Westview as well is solved in a way. We know that it existed before but thanks to Wanda it has been removed off the map. The cop’s selective amnesia suggests reality bending at work as well as the infrastructure in the form of telephone numbers etc not working. The fact that S.W.O.R.D can identify the real people that are living within the reality means that, as discussed last week, these are people that have been altered and trapped within this reality and not purely constructs of Wanda’s world. Curiously, when they were identifying the people, I didn’t see Kathryn Hahn’s character up there… many are suspecting she is Agnes Harkness who is a witch within the Marvel Comics who is responsible for wiping Wanda’s memories but also mentoring her. The fact Hahn’s character isn’t identified (unless I missed it) suggests that she has a key role to play in this reality.

We also don’t know the identity of the person in Witness Protection that drew Woo to the location in the first place and I think that this will have implications on the story too. It could be Hahn’s character and that would tie into the fact that she has a further role to play but I would also like to think that Woo would have been able to identify her. More likely, I think it is someone we haven’t seen yet and it could well be the mastermind behind all of this. A theory is that Mephisto is Agnes’ husband so it could stand to reason that he could also be the person protected by the FBI. Given that the agents are seeing all that we see, and haven’t yet seen either the husband or the witness it ties up quite nicely.

Wanda

A lot of this then crucially ties back to Wanda. We know the where and we know the when and we also sort of know the how. Seeing more of the confrontation with Monica as well as the confirmation from Monica herself that it is Wanda suggests that Westview is, largely, Wanda’s own creation. You see the lapse in character when questioning Monica where we see the anger and sadness in talking about Ultron for example. And then we also get an idea of what Vision is when we see his dead form briefly as Wanda struggles to maintain the focus and control over the reality. If this is actually Vision’s body reanimated or simply her flash of reality bleeding into the world remains to be seen but either way she clearly knows that her control over the world slipped slightly as she corrected it. On top of that, she also tells Vision that they can’t leave and this is likely because she knows that if they do then both the Vision and her twins will cease to exist.

I believe that there could be another hand at work here, either Agnes or Mephisto, but it does appear that Westview is a reality created and controlled largely by Wanda. She fixes the walls after ejecting Monica and she recomposes herself after it all transpires but it doesn’t look like she’s been reset… it seems like at best a subconscious decision to reset and restart. She also seemed happy when dealing with the bee keeper (although we don’t actually know what happened to him… is he dead?) and she looked very serious ad angry after dealing with Monica. It is easy to see her becoming a villain herself and it would be interesting to see if in the future, say Dr Strange: Multiverse of Madness she has much more of an antagonist role. She clearly is working through a lot and this reality created by her is a way of dealing with it, from creating her dead lover to building a family she is clearly living through her dream life but at the expense of a whole town. It certainly sets her up for an interesting character arc going forward, whether she is fully responsible or not.

This is largely my first stab at what I drew from this episode and I need to dig a lot deeper into the nitty gritty of it all – from the whiteboard they use in identifying the residents of Westview to the background rockets etc when walking through S.W.O.R.D’s hanger. And of course I would love to hear what you spotted and what I missed that draws into this. This episode marked a huge turning point in giving us a better understanding of where the second half of the season is heading and who the key players are so there is likely a lot to unpack here.

Tweet me, comment on here and let me know what you think! Off to watch again!