Recap: ‘WandaVision’ Season 1, Episode 3 “Now in Color” is a Bundle of Joy & Mystery
Things are clearly not going well in Westview as more and more mysterious happenings continue to occur around the happy couple, Wanda and Vision. We’ve been introduced around the town to Agnes the neighbor, Dottie the who’s who of Westview, and the mysterious Geraldine, who seems just as confused as Wanda is about her past. The end of episode 2 brought our world to color, so here in episode 3 it’s welcome to Techincolor!
The episode begins with another fantastic opening credits scene with a brand new theme song to represent the era of television we’ve been transported to — the 70s. Complete with a montage guiding us through a mundane and magical day, with a very pregnant Wanda and Vision with the most fantastic hair we’ve ever seen; we see the pair shopping for their incoming new addition, eating ice cream, and even riding a tandem bicycle through the town. Ah, a beautiful day for a beautiful and totally normal couple. Of course this wouldn’t be WandaVision without a glimpse into our heroes’ true selves which we get with Wanda vacuuming her floor with nothing but a flick of her finger and Vision preparing a grilled barbecue meal at super speed.
Doctor Nielson is at the Vision residence (which has gotten a makeover to reflect the times) checking in on Wanda and her growing little bundle. Vision is still rather startled by the news, mostly that it’s been 12 hours and Wanda is already four months along. The doctor goes through the fruit to fetus size correlation for them — papaya for five, grapefruit for six, and so on — until Vision interrupts with asking which fruit it should be after 12 hours, requiring Wanda to play some defense. She shoos Vision to show the doctor the door while she gleefully cradles her rapidly growing baby bump.
Wanda and Vizh’s neighbor, Herb, is outside as Vision sees Dr. Nielson out, which implores him to beg the doctor for confidentiality regarding Wanda’s current … status. The good doctor assures him “mum’s the word” before excitedly heading off to his vacation in Bermuda. Vision then suspiciously turns to Herb, ensuring he’s still in the dark about the impending arrival, and Vizh finds him hedge trimming through the cement fencing separating their properties. Bizarre … Vision jokingly makes a reference to Herb’s careless mistake, but even though Herb acknowledges his error, he doesn’t correct himself, he just continues to cut through the cement. Vision, completely confused, heads back inside.
When he gets back into the house, Wanda has already grown bigger in a matter of minutes. She hadn’t noticed, turning quickly and knocking over the bowl of fruit on the table. Vision races over at a speed only he is capable of snatching the papaya in midair (Wanda must now be five months, according to the doctor and this incredible little hint).
I can’t wait … [laughs] … to be a proud papa-ya. -Vision, dad joke extraordinaire.
It’s time to get the nursery ready, since at this rate this baby is going to arrive in mere days. Wanda is quickly and efficiently putting everything together just as you’d expect she would, with a flick of her finger, as Vision reads up on their next big journey. Wanda feels a kick, which cues Vision in to the fact that now, again within a very short period of time, Wanda is six months along. As she describes the feeling — a fluttering — the butterfly mobile she’d just hung suddenly springs to life, with the butterflies flitting joyously around the room. Oops, she didn’t mean to do that … The two bicker about names. Vision wants Billy, after William Shakespeare, and Wanda is team Tommy, a classic American name; they better hope it’s a girl to settle this debate! Wanda continues to paint a beautiful portrait of a stork on the wall of the nursery (with her mind of course) as Vision calculates baby Tommy/Billy to be due in three days on Friday afternoon.
With the arrival of their baby creeping up so quickly, Vizh quickly gets to work practicing his diaper changing skills on a doll while Wanda experiences her first Braxton-Hicks contraction, putting her into the third trimester, or month seven. Vision quickly takes the opportunity to show Wanda some breathing exercises to help her through labor and then suddenly she keels over in discomfort, causing the house to erupt into chaos. The faucet begins to run, the lights flicker as the electric mixer whirs to life, and the ice maker on the fridge starts dropping ice cubes on its own until the pair escapes the hazard, seeing their washing machine sending suds overflowing onto the floor on their way to the sitting room. Then, the power in the house goes out. In a quick flash to Dottie and Phil’s home, we see the Vision residence isn’t the only house affected by the outage either, the whole block is out.
Wanda becomes concerned that her true labor will do more than set off the power on the block before admitting they’ve already had a few close calls with their neighbors discovering their super-secret. Vision agrees as he sits down beside Wanda on the couch, recalling the strange dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Hart and his odd experience with Herb just that morning and he confesses he thinks something is wrong. The scene blips, bringing us back to seconds before, but this time when Vision sits his concerns lie with the new adventure they have before them in being parents. Someone has changed the narrative …
As the name debacle comes up again, Wanda gasps, it’s a real one, it’s go time! Vision floats into the air in a panic as Wanda chastises him for getting the expected due date very, very wrong as they both begin their breathing exercises, hee hee hooooooo. Then, Wanda’s water breaks, and rain begins to pour in the living room.
A quick commercial break brings us into the busy life of a stay-at-home mom in need of a break. “Escape to a world all your own, where your problems float away. When you wanna get away, but you don’t wanna go anywhere. Hydra Soak, find the goddess within.”
The rain continues to pour in the Vision house and when it stops Wanda quickly sends in a jet force of air to dry them and their house before another contraction hits. Vision sets off to try and catch Dr. Nielson before he jets off to Bermuda, leaving Wanda alone. Mere seconds after Vision closed the front door a strange sound chatters from the nursery, but before Wanda has a chance to investigate, the doorbell rings. In a panic, Wanda tries to disguise her nine-month pregnant belly with a heavy winter coat before answering the door. It’s Geraldine.
Geraldine needs a bucket to help with the water flooding her house after every pipe in her ceiling broke (Wanda…) so Wanda sets out into the kitchen to get it for her before Geraldine catches wind of her predicament. Contractions keep hitting and with each one Wanda’s coat changes, ending on a rather fabulous fur. Geraldine comes in to help as she hears Wanda crying out in the kitchen, and as Geraldine makes her way around the kitchen island Wanda grabs a bowl of fruit to hide her very large midsection. Geraldine helps herself to an apple before heading to the door, much to Wanda’s relief, but then Geraldine has a question for her and she takes a seat on the couch. As Geraldine begins to tell Wanda about something that happened at her temp job that week, Wanda discovers the source of the chattering in the nursery right before Geraldine’s arrival — a living, breathing stork.
As Geraldine tells her story about her triumph at her job Wanda tries to get rid of the stork to no avail, somehow it’s impervious to her magic. Geraldine hears the stork chattering and panics, but Wanda passes it off as her new ice maker built right into the fridge. As Geraldine continues, the stork pecks at the fish print on her pants before she finally gets it to retreat to the nursery as she exclaims, “Gravity Os, launch into your day, the right way.” Relieved, Wanda hears out the end of the story where Geraldine ecstatically tells her that she’s officially been hired! Which means she needs some office supplies, and she remembers that Wanda keeps some in her spare room and heads over to look. But the spare room is now a nursery and has a live stork walking around in it.
Thankfully, the stork is perched in perfect mirrored position with the painting on the wall (that probably bore it) as Geraldine finds herself in the nursery, Wanda now carrying a vase of flowers to hide her belly. But the facade falls as a contraction hits hard and sends the vase shattering to the floor and the secret out. This baby is coming now.
In a stroke of good fortune, Dr. Neilson is having car trouble and hasn’t left Westview yet. Vision finds him in his driveway and quickly grabs him before taking off at his super speed to make it home to Wanda. Back at home, Geraldine is helping Wanda get comfortable as she searches the house for anything that will help, a house that’s currently alive. The fire place lights in a flash of fire, the paintings spin on the wall, and the chandelier falls from the ceiling as Wanda screams through her pain, and thankfully, Geraldine is too distracted by Wanda to really have time to care about the bizarre nature of her environment. In a moment of sincerity, Wanda confides in Geraldine she doesn’t think she can do this, and Geraldine assures her that she can before telling her it’s time to push.
The house calms, and Geraldine comes out with a little a boy wrapped in a blanket. Will it be Tommy or Billy? Moments later, Vision arrives home with Dr. Nielson, sad that he missed the birth of his son. Geraldine and the doctor retreat to the kitchen to give the two new parents some privacy, where Wanda insists that Vision meet his son for the first time as himself, and Vision drops his human disguise before giving in to Wanda and agreeing on the name Tommy. Then, Wanda screams again. There’s another baby! And it’s Billy.
Both boys are healthy, and Vision sees Dr. Nielson out, where the doctor tells Vision he won’t be able to make his trip after all, saying these small towns are so hard to … escape. Vision takes a moment to collect his thoughts when he spots Agnes and Herb chatting by the cement wall. They’re whispering about something between themselves and then Agnes asks suspiciously if Geraldine is inside with Wanda.
Wanda and Geraldine are left inside and Wanda tells her friend that she was also a twin — she had a brother named Pietro. Wanda begins to sing a lullaby in Sokovian to her boys as Geraldine heads deep into thought, then, she asks Wanda if Pietro was killed by Ultron. A tear falls from Wanda’s eye as she asks Geraldine to repeat herself …
Back outside, Herb and Agnes are airing their suspicions about Geraldine to Vision — she’s new to town, no family, no husband, no home. Vision starts to get concerned.
Again, Wanda asks Geraldine to repeat what she’s just said, her voice harsher this time. Geraldine snaps back into her persona, repeating what she’d said before mentioning Pietro, that Wanda is such a strong lady. Wanda doesn’t buy it, and asks her to repeat what she said about Pietro. Geraldine questions the name, then quickly changes the subject to offer her help rocking the boys. Wanda tells her she should leave before spotting a familiar symbol on Geraldine’s pendant; it’s the same symbol from the helicopter and the beekeepers uniform — the sword.
Herb is struggling to tell Vision the truth about Geraldine outside while Wanda questions Geraldine about her pendant and asks her who she is, and Geraldine mutters “I don’t remember…” Herb is finally ready to spit out the truth before Agnes quickly stops him. Wanda stalks toward Geraldine as she stutters, unable to answer Wanda’s questions and Agnes leaves Vision abruptly, as does Herb. Vision heads back inside and Geraldine is gone. When he asks Wanda where she went, she just tells him that Geraldine left, she had to rush home, as she stares lovingly down at Tommy and Billy.
On the outskirts of Westview, something is sent flying out of a large force field — Geraldine — with Wanda’s signature red magic tendrils surrounding her. As she opens her eyes, vehicles surround and a helicopter flying above shines a spotlight down onto her. An entire base has been set up along the edges of this massive force field.
The first three episodes of WandaVision are streaming on Disney+ with episode 4 arriving Friday, January 29.