WandaVision 1×07, “Breaking the Fourth Wall,” gives us some big answers and sets up an epic showdown in the final two episodes. This episode rewards fans for picking up on all the clues after the last seven episodes. It follows through on all of our suspicions and delivers answers we’ve always known to be true but weren’t explicitly stated until this week. In turn, WandaVision stays true to its dedication to look at Wanda and her journey the care and nuance it deserves — never pigeonholing her into a hysterical woman and the villain of her own story. For that, we are eternally grateful.
Agatha Harkness All Along
The reveal that Agnes is in fact Agatha Harkness isn’t shocking, but it is so freaking marvelous. Her The Munsters-inspired theme song says it all with great Agatha flare. It’s also satisfying since fans have been theorizing about this since before WandaVision even premiered. It would be bizarre for Marvel Studios to cast the incomparable Kathryn Hahn in a role that we’d only see in Westview and never again. It’s a testament to her talent that we’d even question Agnes’ true intentions before this reveal.
That’s why it’s not difficult to believe that Wanda assumed nothing of Agatha until now. She’s got her act down to a fine art, and she’s throwing so many curve balls Wanda’s way that Wanda is starting to see herself differently. In a heartbreaking turn, Wanda tells Monica that she may be the villain that Hayward sees her as. The only reason Wanda believes this to be true is because Agatha has been pulling all the strings in that direction. Agatha needs something that only Wanda can help her get, but she’s amiss if she thinks Wanda is going to go along with her plan without a fight.
There are still plenty of questions to be answered about Agatha, her involvement with the Westview anomaly, and, most importantly, her endgame. She’s clearly manipulating everything — including Wanda — to her own liking, but we don’t know why. Hopefully it’s not just for her own amusement because that would be a major letdown. There’s also the questions of who imposter Pietro is, how he got to Westview, why he’s working with Agnes, and why he has the face of X-Men‘s Peter Maximoff.
The fact that WandaVision revealed Agatha’s identity before its final episodes is a sign that something big is on the horizon. They could have pulled that carpet out from under Wanda in the finale, rushing to resolve the story in a single episode. Instead, WandaVision is building towards an epic showdown some fans have been begging for since the first episode. The weight of all of that is extra heavy knowing that Agatha has been right under Wanda’s nose the entire time.
Circling back to “Pietro,” the end-credits scene is another massive hint of where WandaVision is headed. The show has raced through American sitcoms in what Darcy says is a week. We’ve got up to the mockumentary and confessionals of Modern Family and The Office. The use of an end-credits scene at the end of the episode paying homage to those modern sitcoms is a sign that the show is catching up with the MCU. Sitcoms don’t use end-credits scenes, but the MCU sure does. We’re not so sure that wherever WandaVision is headed next week will have a laugh track to break the tension.
A Superhero Is Born
Monica Rambeau has her powers now! This is another inevitable reveal since we know her cells changed after leaving Westview. It’s exciting, nonetheless. The origin of Monica’s powers coming from an epic hero moment is fitting for Monica. She wasn’t going to give up on going into the anomaly to help Wanda. A super fancy space bulldozer couldn’t break through the barrier, but Monica could. The way her cells changed surely has a lot to do with how she got back in, but WandaVision goes out of its way to show that’s not the only reason.
Monica pushed through a forcefield so strong it spit out that S.W.O.R.D. tech. She did that through her own persistence and strong-willed belief that what she’s doing is right. It’s impossible not to tear up when Carol Danvers’ voice comes in with, “Your Mom’s lucky. When they were handing out kids, they gave her the toughest one.” Carol’s right and Monica’s knows it. It’s such a powerful moment, you just have to cheer her on. She even gets a superhero landing later in the episode!
Monica’s a superhero because she has super powers now, but she was a hero well before that, too. She’s one of the few people who have been in Wanda’s corner through all of this. She stands up to Wanda about her manipulation of Monica and the other Westview residents into believing and spreading lies. Monica is willing to see the situation with more nuance than just that, though. This has been true of her since the very beginning. It’s unfortunate that Agatha gets into Wanda’s head before Monica can tell Wanda about Vision. Although, Wanda is the one who found Vision’s body, so she may know more than she lets on. Plus, it may be a good thing that Wanda isn’t focused on Hayward right now. One villain at a time.
Monica consistently stands up to Hayward as a voice of empathy and reason beyond the black and white of any given situation. She stands up to Wanda in order to check her on her problematic behavior but also to encourage her to see there is a way through what she’s feeling. (Once again, WandaVision, please let Monica and Wanda come out of all of this as friends.) Then, without even knowing what she was stepping into, Monica set herself up against one of the oldest, most powerful witches ever. Something tells us Monica will stand against Agatha with the confidence and strong will we’ve seen her face every adversary before with. Hopefully we’ll get to see some slower moments in which Monica can grapple with her newly acquired powers along the way.
Where Do We Go from Here?
Elsewhere, WandaVision very smartly catches Vision up on his pre-Westview life through Darcy’s recollection of the events. Kat Dennings and Paul Bettany are an amazing comedic pair, by the way. This allows Vision to see the nuance that Monica, Jimmy, and Darcy have been standing in defense of all along. Of course Vision doesn’t agree with the manipulation of the Westview residents; they’ve made that clear. That doesn’t mean that he can’t also be empathetic to his wife’s insurmountable grief of having to lose him multiple times. There’s a time and distance to Vision’s memories of all that trauma that Wanda doesn’t have. This revelation puts Vision back on Wanda’s side just when she needs him there the most. Like Darcy says, they’re meant to be together.
Not to mention, Agatha’s involvement reframes everything we thought we knew about Wanda’s control of Westview. We know that Agatha has orchestrated all of this — making her the true villain. Monica’s recollection of Westview suggests that Wanda did have some hand in the manipulation. This suggests that Wanda is right, like assumed, when she said that she didn’t know how all of this started. Things got out of control because Agatha wanted that to happen.
When things shifted out of Wanda’s control, they fell right into Agatha’s control. Agatha’s gets to pull the strings, receive none of the blame, and face none of the consequences. She even presents herself as Agatha Harkness on her own terms. She told Wanda about the basement because she likely wanted her to see her lair. Agatha’s cards are on the table because she wants them to be. That’s terrifying, because we really don’t have any idea of what she has planned next.
We’ve known from the beginning that Wanda isn’t the villain of this story. We’ve seen through the two main villain’s attempts to paint her in the same light as them. They’re ulterior motives shine through as their main motivation for manipulating a hero in her most vulnerable state. While we, as an audience, have been able to see Wanda’s journey through that lens, the same can’t be said Wanda. She’s going through a lot, arguably the most an Avenger has ever gone through. Not one, but two people are using that as a means to their own end. They’ve gotten to her whether she wants to admit or not. She wouldn’t have told Monica that she may be a villain if that weren’t the case.
Wanda’s always struggled with her abilities and what that makes her. Captain America: Civil War shows us her fears of becoming someone who does more harm than good. That doesn’t make her weak or any less of a hero; it makes her human. Wanda is a human with super powers, and sometimes that can get lost in all of the spectacle of the MCU. WandaVision has done a great job at keeping that at the forefront of the series. That’s why we have faith it won’t get lost in whatever’s to come in the final two episodes. Now WandaVision has to tackle the great feat of reminding the most powerful Avenger that she is a hero and she can make it through all of this no matter what Agatha or Hayward say or do. It’s going to be emotional, so we’re going to start preparing now.
Other Dazzling Moments:
- That Nexus commercial was the realest of them all.
- Do Agatha’s powers come from the power stone? Her magic manifests in purple wiggly woos. That has to mean something!
- Can Darcy keep punching S.W.OR.D. agents for our amusement?
- Everyone is in the Hex but Jimmy. We don’t want Jimmy to be alone with Hayward. He doesn’t deserve that.
- Can we find Billy and Tommy ASAP?
- “Vision is made of Vibranium. They literally inherited tough skin.”
- What do we think that creepy old book is? A grimoire?
What did you think of this episode of WandaVision? Let us know in the comments below!
New episodes of WandaVision drop weekly on Disney+!
