WandaVision: A New Hero And A Villain Revealed

The sitcom theme of the week is Modern Family which doesn’t come off quite as well as earlier spoofs such as Bewitched. It’s the following morning and Wanda wakes up alone in bed where she’d just as soon spend the day. Conspicuously absent is Vision who Wanda released so much energy to protect. One would think she’d have rushed to his side immediately. This follows an opening Title Sequence which is all about Wanda, Wanda, Wanda, Wanda. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. When she goes downstairs to make some breakfast (yes, her refrigerator is full for those who think people in Westview don’t eat, a popular theory on line). But then we see things in Wanda’s world start to fizzle. Her almond milk turns into regular milk, the boys’ video game changing and other things like the staircase, curtains and walls–switching from present to past and back. Luckily, friendly neighbor busy body Agnes comes by and offers to take the kids over to her house so Wanda can have some much needed time to herself.

Vision begins his trek home and comes across Darcy chained to a truck and frees her. Her memory of the outside seems gone till Vision zaps her with a little electric shock. They find a truck and leave the circus set up and head for Wanda and Vision’s home.

Monica Rambeau is determined to re-enter the Hex even though she’s been told doing so has re-written her DNA twice. This time, she suits up and uses a S.W.O.R.D. vehicle to push through the Hex. But Wanda has fortified the barrier making it much harder to penetrate than when Monica first entered. The S.W.O.R.D. vehicle pushes hard but the barrier pushes back. Monica is forced to abandon the vehicle just before it gets tossed across the field. Monica perseveres and decides to enter without the vehicle. It takes all her strength and nearly tears her apart but she makes it inside. And the first thing she sees before her eyes adjust is the town broken down into various photon spectrums (like how I did that? Ha!).

We may be seeing here a rewritten origin for Monica’s super hero identity from the comics, Captain Marvel (taken), Photon, Spectrum. If they even bother to give her a super hero ID I think they may go with Photon because it was her mom’s nick-name in the military. But my guess is she won’t get a name, at least not in this show. Look how long “Wanda Maximoff” has been in the MCU and the Avengers’ roster still reads Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Vision, Wanda Maximoff. I’d really like to know why super hero films and TV shows don’t like super hero names or even costumes sometimes.

Well, Wanda is not too happy to see “Geraldine” again and tries to throw her out of town again but Monica fights back. Just check out this next picture that screams “super hero stance” all over it.

Agnes drops by just in time to break up the confrontation. She and Wanda head back over to Agnes’s house. She tells Wanda the kids are playing in the basement so Wanda heads down there, totally unprepared for what she sees. Instead of a normal basement she finds what is best described as a Medieval Dungeon.

Agnes, holding her rabbit, pops out and says “Wanda, Wanda, Wanda. You didn’t think you were the only magical girl in town, did you? The name’s Agatha Harkness. Lovely to finally meet you, dear.”
Queue musical number: Peppy Music plays against past Agnes scenes going back to the first episode.
Male Chorus: “Who’s been messing up everything?
Woman: “It’s been Agatha all along”
Male Chorus: “Who’s been pulling every evil string?”
Woman: “It’s been Agatha all along!”
Male Chorus: “She’s insidious”
Woman: “Ha-ha!”
Male Chorus: “So perfidious that you haven’t even noticed. And the pity is…”
Male: “The pity is…pity, pity, pity, pity…”
Male Chorus: “It’s too late to fix anything, now that everything has gone                                    wrong. Thanks to Agatha”
Woman: “Ha!”
Male Chorus: “Naughty Agatha”
Woman: “It’s been Agatha all along!”

This episode just seemed off for me, as well as dropping the pace from the last episode. But here’s the thing…I loved the musical number revealing Agatha at the end, however, it drives me nuts when Marvel takes the name of a well established comic book character like Agatha Harkness (the Fantastic Four’s nanny) and then guts the character and creates someone entirely different. The worst by far was Mantis from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 but we also had recently on Hulu, Helstrom, featuring Daimon Hellstrom (yes, there are 2 “L”s in his name) who had nothing whatsoever in common with the comic book. They couldn’t even get the pentagram birth mark on his chest right. Also, Cloak and Dagger, The Ancient One, and many more. So I am torn. I love WandaVision but I also really liked Agatha Harkness who played a critical role in the comics in defining The Scarlet Witch’s powers. Marvel should learn it is ok to have older actors in their cast as well.