WandaVision Season Recap

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Emily Eslao

Disney+ recently launched the first season of WandaVision!

Faith DeSio, Photojournalist

Warning: The Following Article Contains Spoilers to the show Wandavision

 

On January 15th, 2021 Marvel fans around the world were given a small piece of happiness in these dark times. The first two episodes of WandaVision were launched on Disney+. A whole year without any new Marvel projects shows, or movies made fans extra eager to see WandaVision. The first season was compiled of nine marvelous episodes: Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience, Don’t Touch that Dial, Now in Color, We Interrupt this Program, On a very Special Episode, All-New Halloween Spectacular, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Previously On, and The Series Finale. Each left the viewer wanting to see more. 

 

The series takes place inside of The Hex, or Westview, which was created by Wanda Maximoff. Episodes one through seven take place in a different timeline, ranging from the 1950s to the 2000s. The cast and crew were very particular on the makeup, costumes, hair, set design, camera angles, and editing techniques while creating the show. They tried to make it as authentic as possible for each era. Their hard work and dedication paid off handsomely as WandaVision is currently the most-watched show in the world and has gained a tremendous amount of traction and attention (SCREENRANT).

 

The first two episodes of the series, Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience and Don’t Touch that Dial, take place in the 1950s and 1960s and are all in black and white. In these episodes, tension is built up and characters are slowly being developed. Although these two episodes were great, it was not as popular as expected. Due to the slow-moving nature and simplicity of the early sitcoms, people were not very thrilled. These people quickly realized that there was more to the show after the many fan-made theories came out and a hidden message was revealed. 

 

Moving forward into the third episode Now in Color, which took place in the 1970s, more people started to watch the show because of its Brady Bunch themes and eye-catching colors. This episode got the ball rolling and started picking up the show, as more viewers were impressed to see the action scenes and plot of the story. 

 

The next episodes gave the audience more details about what was really happening in the town of Westview. While Wanda is tending to her newly born twins, the organization S.W.O.R.D. cracked down on the personal information of the people inside Wanda’s self-created reality. It started to become more clear what was going on. We see what happened after the Blip and the effects on the victims. We learn that Monica Rambeau’s mother died while she was “snapped” and the timeline had skipped five years. Episode four also re-introduces fan-favorite characters such as Jimmy Woo from Ant-man and Darcy Lewis from Thor: The Dark World. We also see Wanda Maximoff throw Monica Rambeau out of The Hex and into the real world.

 

In a Very Special Episode the viewers are shown what a “regular” day in The Hex is like from rapidly aging children to dog-killing neighbors. During the beginning of this episode Wanda’s neighbor, Agnes, tries to hold the crying babies, and Vision freaks out. Vision can sense that something is unusual about Agnes and does not want her to hold his twins. Then Agnes “breaks character” and asks Wanda if she wants her to take that again like an actor talking to a director. This could be referring to how Wanda is controlling everyone in the town and wants things her way. Throughout the episode, Tyler Hayward and his S.W.O.R.D team are trying to contact Wanda and see what is happening. This leads to Wanda venturing out of the safety of The Hex and telling Tyler Hayward and his S.W.O.R.D team “This will be your only warning. Stay out of my home. You don’t bother me. I won’t bother you” (WandaVision). Meanwhile, Vision is starting to figure out that all of this is fake and people are in desperate need of help. This leads to Vision getting in a fight with Wanda but they are interrupted when their doorbell rings. Once Wanda opens the door she sees her dead brother, Pietro Maximoff. Surprisingly, this is not the same Pietro that fans saw in Avengers: Age of Ultron; this version of Wanda’s brother is Enen Peters’ Quicksilver from the Fox X-men movies. The ending of this episode sent fans into a panic creating theories about why this character is now in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

 

Episode six, The All-New Halloween Spectacular, starts off with a theme song and intro that closely resembles the early 2000s show, Malcolm in the Middle. This episode is packed with mysteries about the town of Westview, Pietro being alive, and S.W.O.R.D getting to the bottom of the strange situation. The kids, Uncle Pietro, and Wanda all go out for a pleasant Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating, while Vision decides that he will do some investigating on his strange “home town.” Vision discovers that towards the outside of the town people are “glitching” and acting very strange. He thinks that the residents of Westview are suffering and in pain and he needs to help them. He tries to venture out of The Hex but is torn apart. His body was ripping itself apart when he got outside of the Westview border as if the town did not want him to leave. Wanda’s son, Billy, tells his mom that he can sense his dad dying. This sends Wanda into a full panic, causing her to expand the borders of Westview. Doing this absorbs everything in its path—including cars, buildings, and even most of the S.W.O.R.D employees. Viewers were left with another huge cliffhanger. 

 

Episode seven, Breaking the Fourth Wall, closely resembles shows such as The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Modern Family. In this episode, we can see that Wanda is depressed, stressed, and going a bit crazy. Agnes offers to take her kids off of her hands for a while and heads over to her house. Meanwhile, Vision is still trying to get back home with Darcy Lewis’ help. We see Jimmy Woo and Monica Rambeau are still trying their best to reach Wanda and the others inside of The Hex. Monica ends up having to force herself through the near-impenetrable walls of The Hex. Her body absorbs the cosmic radiation and she gets her own powers, becoming Spectrum. Wanda eventually finds her way to Agnes’ house to retrieve her twins but finds out they’ve been taken hostage in the basement. This leads into a short song that explains “it was Agatha all along,” confirming that Agnes is Agatha Harkness. Fun fact: the short song Agatha All Along reached No.1 on iTunes just days after release! 

 

Episode eight, Previously On, came with a whole roller coaster of emotions. Agatha Harkness has her own powers, but she wants to become as powerful as Wanda.  

Because of this, she takes Wanda down memory lane, focusing on Wanda’s most emotional and traumatizing memories that have led her to become who she is. Agatha carefully examines every scene. She is trying to figure out how Wanda became so powerful. We also learn that Hayward edited the security camera footage to make it look like Wanda stole Vision’s body. The last shot of this episode shows Agatha Harkness holding the Maximoff twins captive and trying to get Wanda to break. Agatha delivers the very last line of the episode, saying “This is Chaos Magic Wanda. And that makes you the Scarlet Witch.” MCU fans have been waiting years to hear this. 

 

The season finale aired on Disney on March 5th, 2021. This episode featured incredible fight scenes and bittersweet moments. Agatha and Wanda have a huge fight but Wanda outsmarts Agatha by using her own spells. Wanda also gets help on the ground level of The Hex from Tommy, Billy, Vision, Monica, Darcy, and Jimmy. All of these events lead Wanda to destroy her own world and everything she created, including her Vision and twins. This moment was especially hard for Wanda because when she finally got what she wanted it was all destroyed again. The episode ends with Wanda leaving Westview once and for all. Although the madness did not stop there, a huge post-credit scene was found. In this post-credit, we can see Wanda getting tea for herself inside of a secluded cabin in the woods. Then the camera leads into another room of the cabin where another version of Wanda is studying spells and getting knowledge from the Darkhold. This left fans with so many unanswered questions and room for more fan theories. 

 

Overall, WandaVision is a fantastic piece of film. One student who is a new fan of the show, Abigail Alexis Alcoseba (10), said “I was hearing a lot of good reviews from my friends and eventually it made me want to watch it myself. It’s definitely a must-watch for Marvel fans!” The show demonstrates the attention to detail, high level of intelligence, patience, character development, cohesiveness, and talent of Marvel Studios. The television show is a remarkable way to start off Marvel’s phase four and to kick off their other projects. This series is sure to be treasured by families and fans around the world for years to come.