Bombs have been dropped! Episode 4 of WandaVision, “We Interrupt This Program,” answered so many of our burning questions about what’s going on in Westview, and from the MCU as a whole. It also, of course, brought about a whole new slew of questions and killed a few of my theories, but not all of them.
This episode saw very little of Wanda and Vision and a whole lot of the other characters we’ve been wondering so much about — mainly Kat Dennings’ now-Doctor of Astrophysics Darcy Lewis and FBI Agent Jimmy Woo played by Randall Park. We also got a closer look at Monica Rambeau, how she got to Westview, and who she really is (I was half correct in my theory about how she got there.) Buckle up! We’re going through exactly what happened in this episode and just what it might mean for the rest of the series.
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ‘WANDAVISION’ BELOW!
This episode really set out to make it known that Wanda is in control of this alternate reality, which of course loosely follows a comic course from the House of M series where Wanda loses control after the loss of her children and creates an alternate reality. We watch along with Darcy as she views the “broadcast” version of WandaVision and it’s easy to spot the erasure of some very important scenes that we’ve seen thus far in the series — Agent Woo reaching out to Wanda via the radio in episode 2 and Monica’s expulsion from Westview at the end of episode 3. However, this almost seems too easy (and early) for all of this week’s reveals to be the complete truth. More on that in a moment.
Another key element to this episode was the identifying of missing persons as S.W.O.R.D. and the FBI begin matching faces in Westview to those of missing people — Agnes and Dottie are not identified. We’ve been formally introduced to very few people thus far in Westview, so this is no small element. What’s also interesting is that Phil Jones, Dottie’s husband, was identified as a missing person, but not Dottie. When Mr. and Mrs. Hart were seen on the screen, they were located in the database as a missing married couple, so why didn’t this transfer over to the Jones’ as well? Also, in a flash you can see Agnes has a photo on the wall on the S.W.O.R.D. identifying sheets, but she’s never spoken about nor does she have an identification underneath her “character” photo. This continues to track with the theories regarding Agnes and Dottie not being at all what they seem, which we now know would be a missing person.
I’m still continuing to theorize that Agnes is Agatha Harkness. This is still on track and nothing new has happened to make me feel otherwise. And Dottie I’m still maintaining is Mephisto. Yes, that’s right, even after all of this I still think Marvel’s devil is involved. Should what follows be absurdly wrong, at least we had a good time, right?
First, this moment after Wanda throws Monica from Westview is almost a look of complete shock, which is why I don’t buy this is all of Wanda’s design. Elizabeth Olsen is exactly the caliber actor to put a subtle hint like this into her portrayal of a character she likely knows better than all of us, and Marvel is sneaky enough to hide it in there for a watchful eye. (Or, I could have a really soft spot for Wanda and can’t pull myself to believe she’d do this even if it is comic canonically correct. You decide.) Should this theory prove true, it would be because someone is using Wanda to create this reality because she’s the only Avenger (and known human) who possesses enough power to be able to do this. Cue, Mephisto!
Mephisto is a bad dude and he has ties to Wanda (with his soul being what she formed her twins Thomas and William with) and Doctor Strange, and we know Wanda and WandaVision have ties to Doctor Strange 2. There have been many casual mentions of the devil in the series so far, and at this point it’s too many to call coincidence. Mephisto has a slew of powers at his disposable, he’s one of the most powerful beings after all, but the ones I want to mention now are reality manipulation, magical manipulation, shapeshifting, and hear me out … the art of the Mystical Deal.
Let’s start with the easy one, shapeshifting … into a pretty blonde woman named Dottie to blend in. She has no known identity outside of Westview, yet she’s the queen of Westview. Marvel could very well be stringing us along on her but, right now I’m following the scarce evidence that I have. Two, reality and magical manipulation fit really well into what’s going on in the suddenly wiped off the map town of Westview. What leads me to believe a more sinister power is at work here is that it isn’t just the town’s inhabitants that have forgotten Westview, it’s seemingly everyone who’s ever had contact with it. Magical manipulation gives Mephisto the ability to control magical energy, which is Wanda’s powers, and could be the explanation for her shocked look at her hands after throwing Monica out of Westview.
Now, the art of the Mystical Deal, I’ll admit this is a reach and outlandish but we’re all here to have a good time. When dead Vision flashed at the end of the episode my first thought was that being shown to Wanda as a warning that what’s being given to her can be taken away. Did she make a trade for Vision back? Possibly. It would be impossible for her to escape, and everyone else there as well. The more morbid answer to the flash of dead Vision? She’s somehow manipulating his corpse …
And, going along with not believing Wanda is completely behind this is the last time we’ve seen her in Avengers: Endgame. I’ve briefly touched on this before, and while it could be something we still have yet to see which will prove me wrong in 10 seconds, Marvel wouldn’t leave this plot hole. Wanda was perfectly fine the last time we saw her, which we now know was a maximum of three weeks after the Avengers defeated Thanos at the Avengers campus. We know the show is obviously heavily based around Wanda’s traumas, and she’s had many, so there’s a chance she finally broke, but I think it’s more of a manipulation at this stage in the series.
And finally, what the heck is going on with Vision? Who knows. I still haven’t ruled out that whoever is doing this (Mephisto) is actually walking around looking like Vision, Wanda somehow got Vision back (making a deal), he’s actually from an alternate universe (probably not), or he’s just a figment of this alternate reality. He’s obviously catching on to something being awry and has been since the beginning of episode 3 when he noticed Herb hedge trimming the cement fencing, so to say he’s completely under the control of the reality’s creator can almost be debunked. If he was a complete figment he’d be playing along with the ruse flawlessly, but he isn’t.
To me, right now it’s looking like the only person who can help S.W.O.R.D. is Doctor Strange, which would be an incredible cameo in the series. Other than that, who has what it takes to battle Wanda in a bout of magical ability?
Check back next week to see how wrong (or right) these are and for an updated version on what is happening in Westview after episode 5 next week!
WandaVision‘s first four episodes are currently streaming on Disney+ with episode 5 arriving Friday, February 5.
