WandaVision Interrupts This Program To Blow Your Freaking Minds Away. But To Also Give Monica Rambeau and S.W.O.R.D. a Sort Of Origin Story.
This week’s episode of WandaVision quite literally interrupted their regularly scheduled programming to provide a recap of Eps. 1-3 through the lens of both Monica Rambeau and S.W.O.R.D. This week’s episode picks up mere seconds, maybe minutes after Hulk’s snap in Avengers: Endgame which brought back everyone snapped away by Thanos five years prior, including Monica Rambeau herself. Not only do we get a much better detailed and horrific look at how everyone was brought back from The Blip, and the chaos that ensued.
In the midst of this chaos and after some new key information regarding The Blip is revealed we learn that WandaVision takes place a mere three weeks after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Which begs the biggest question of them all. What happened to Wanda in those three weeks that made her go apes*** and conjure up this alternate reality she is living in and broadcasting to the world as a sitcom.
We also learn that Monica’s mother, Maria, Carol Danver’s best friend died within those five years. More specifically, Maria Rambeau died of cancer two years after Monica disappeared or in other words snapped away by Thanos. I feel like this could’ve and should’ve been information we had prior to the introduction of an adult version of Monica alas Captain Marvel in Endgame. Especially if Monica was snapped away. This would’ve given Captain Marvel more depth as she joins The Avengers in the fight against Thanos. As opposed to just having her there to fight solely because Nick Fury was snapped away.
Something we also learn about Maria Rambeau during this time is that she played a huge role in the formation of S.W.O.R.D. and how Monica essentially grew up here. This was her home. This is cemented by S.W.O.R.D. acting director Tyler Hayward.
As Hayward gets Monica up to date on what’s happened in the world and with S.W.O.R.D. during the years she was “dead”. He reveals that S.W.O.R.D. refocused its agenda from manned missions to working on robotics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and sentient weapons. Hence the name change from the comics over to the MCU.
One interesting detail is that S.W.O.R.D. was potentially creating sentient weapons of destruction themselves while also exploring imminent threats from outer space. Seeing how The Avengers had encounters with the Chitauri, Loki, Thanos, Skrulls, and The Kree. In Hayward’s eyes space is just full of threats and they need to be assessed.
While in Monica’s eyes, due to her relationship with Talos and his family, the good Skrulls, Monica believes that space is also filled with allies. Another interesting subtle topic of conversation between Hayward and Monica was the astronaut training program.
We can only assume that this was a program that was either started by Maria Rambeau or Monica Rambeau herself. Hence Monica’s reasoning for asking. Hayward reveals that the crew’s numbers are now dismal and that half that remains are unnerved. This could be Marvel’s way of potentially introducing and/or setting up the introduction of the Fantastic Four. More on that later.
Monica is then tasked with helping FBI agent Jimmy Woo who we last saw in Ant-Man and The Wasp. Jimmy Woo is in Westview, New Jersey looking into a missing persons case. Who the missing person is has yet to be revealed but if we take a closer look at the board below, there’s a key resident within Westview who is missing, Dottie.
While introducing himself to Monica, Woo demonstrates that he has now mastered the card trick Scott Lang was trying to teach him back in Ant-man and The Wasp. Woo then catches Rambeau up to speed on what’s happening and introduces her to these two Eastview cops who seem to have some sort of amnesia and don’t believe Westview actually exists.
Monica and Woo try to further investigate Westview from a distance using a drone since Woo can’t seem to get into the town. As the drone disappears, Monica goes in for a closer look and ends up unintentionally sucked into the bubble/alternate reality created by Wanda.
Here we finally see the return of Darcy Lewis who is now an actual doctor in astrophysics as she is called in by SWORD along with a small group of doctors all specializing in different areas to assess this anomaly that is surrounding Westview.
Here we learn that the energy field surrounding Westview that is being caused by Wanda is also generating a broadcast signal, while also emitting a heavy amount of cosmic microwave background radiation or CMBR.
It is noted that the CMBR being emitted is causing amnesia within a five-mile radius. This could be one of the reasons those Eastview officers had no idea what or where Westview is and why Monica seems a little out of it as she got close to the barrier prior to getting sucked in.
Additionally, going back to director Hayward, who is all too familiar with CMBR, he reveals that the radiation being emitted is similar to the radiation emitted by the Big Bang. Now, this could be a reach but if we want to connect this to anything, we can possibly take his knowledge of this kind of radiation and the Big Bang to those missing astronauts from space that they have yet to find. Fantastic Four anyone?
Additionally, seeing how radiation is being emitted from Westview, could Wanda be one of the benefactors in the creation of mutants in the MCU?
Seeing how the Mind Stone gave Wanda and Pietro their respective powers. It would be too far off that the cosmic radiation which resembles the Big Bang emitted by Thanos, Hulk, and Iron Man could also be the catalyst in the creation of mutants and Wanda’s powers could simply awaken the latent X-gene in those whose mutation wasn’t awakened in those four snaps (two snaps by Thanos, one by Hulk and one by Iron Man).
Us the viewer watching Jimmy Woo, Darcy Lewis, and S.W.O.R.D. try to piece together this puzzle gives us this weird but delightful look from the outside in as they are asking themselves the same questions we have all been asking ourselves each and every week since the series launched.
- Why the hexagonal shapes?
- Where is Westview actually located?
- Who’s behind this? Is it Wanda? Is it Agnes? Is it Mephisto? Is it the Skrulls?
- Is this happening in the same time and space?
- Is Vision truly alive?
- What has Wanda done with Visions body?
All questions that need answers. Which we’ll get obviously. There are a few things that also standout during this sequence of events before we see what happens to the beekeeper from episode two and who he is in the real world.
Back to the board and SWORD (more like Darcy and Jimmy) are slowly identifying each resident of Westview seen in Wanda’s broadcast. While each resident is identified as a real life person who lives in New Jersey. Their real-life names are mostly tied to the crew member who worked on this series.
There are three standouts during this sequence and that is Norm, Dottie, and of course, Agnes. While Agnes has not been identified as anyone in the real world. Dottie is missing from this board entirely. While online speculation is that Dottie is actually Clea, who’s currently rumored to appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. My personal theory is that Dottie is the missing person Jimmy Woo initially come looking for.
We all know and have had been speculating that Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness, the Salem witch who serves Mephisto hence why she hasn’t been identified. But there are some creepy details about Norm who’s real name is Abhilash Tandon.
“Abilash [Norm’s real name] expresses concern for his father and sister,” the file says. “This information was obtained when Vision awakened him. Is Wanda controlling a whole town? Physical safety of residents is now in question. When Vision releases him, Abilash becomes Norm again.”
Now this is not an event we have yet seen happen in the actual series but it begs to question the same questions being posed by SWORD and the FBI. Is Wanda controlling the whole town and everyone in it?
Simple and direct answer might be yes. Wanda is indeed in control, what if she isn’t?
When we first meet Monica Rambeau in episode two of the series, she doesn’t know why she’s in this town or who she is until Wanda touches her and she introduces herself as Geraldine. Now going back to Darcy watching the broadcast live, she finds Monica (Geraldine) in a scene we as the viewers had never seen before.
Additionally, during those final minutes of last week’s episode when Wanda yeets Monica outside the bubble due to her mentioning Ultron. While we see that play out fully in this episode, while Darcy is watching in the real world that specific moment of the broadcast is cut out. As in someone else cut that moment out and not Wanda.
While it could’ve been Wanda since we see her fixing the walls of her home after throwing Monica out that’s not entirely confirmed.
Before we move on I do want to also highlight that in this episode we learn the true identity of the beekeeper. He is S.W.O.R.D. Agent Franklin who was sent inside via the sewers to get inside Westview and try to make contact with Wanda. We see the end of episode two play out from the beekeeper’s perspective but we have no idea as to what actually happened with Agent Franklin when Wanda rewound time.
One missable detail from the whiteboard Jimmy Woo was writing was that he noted that two agents were missing. Now he could be referring to Rambeau and Agent Franklin but only one of the two was actually sent in to make contact with Wanda and that was Agent Franklin, not Monica Rambeau. This could further confirm that Dottie is the missing person or “agent” Woo is searching for.
As Darcy examines the video broadcast from Wanda there’s another detail that might’ve gone over everyone’s heads. If you pay close attention to Darcy watching Wanda give birth. She mentions that Wanda had twins. But in the background, you only hear Monica speaking to Wanda and talking her through labor.
Going back to episode three, Wanda gives birth to the second baby after Vision arrives not while Monica is helping her out. Could this also be a sort of manipulation from Wanda or from whoever is actually censoring this broadcast?
We also get a new version of Vision asking about Geraldine after Wanda yeets her out of Westview. Although her response to Vision remains the same, Vision’s appearance isn’t. Vision is now a walking corpse ala The Walking Dead with the Mind Stone missing from his forehead.
It was a scary thing to look at as a viewer but even more haunting for Wanda who has to quickly stabilize her mental perspective of Vision to make him normal again.
Vision takes notice of Wanda’s fear and urges her that they don’t have to stay in Westview and that they can move somewhere else. Wanda declines and tells Vision that this is their home and she has “everything under control”.
Vision has a daunting sense of fear after he hears the words uttered by Wanda and rightfully so. But to make matters even eerier, Wanda and Vision take a seat on their couch to watch television. Vision is visibly shaken and nervous and fearfully looks at Wanda from his side peripherals before looking at the camera directly as if silently screaming for help.
We also get Monica’s first words after being ejected from Westview, “It’s Wanda. It’s all Wanda.” But is it really all Wanda? That’s still the lingering question.
WandaVision has received a lot of backlash for its “slow pace” and “lack of action” but I think viewers in general are forgetting that this is the start of a much bigger story that is being fleshed out in not just this series but over the course of two movies after the fact.
WandaVision undertones of despair, grief, and desperation, a sort of cry for help is what makes it such a joy to watch week to week. And these lengthy articles and podcast episodes we release to cover every second of every episode just add to the luxury of being able to watch WandaVision’s events unfold.
Make sure to check out the rest of our WandaVision pieces right here. You can catch WandaVision every Friday streaming exclusively on Disney+
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