WandaVision

[HaemishM]

I definitely think Quicksilver's hair is just an homage to his terrible comics look, especially considering he, Wanda and Vision were all wearing the most literal interpretations of their classic uniforms. I love that Tommy and Billie were both wearing the costumes of their Young Avengers appearances. There were so many good comic nerd nods in this episode. That's one of the things that makes it difficult to gauge what's a red herring or what's an actual hint about the ultimate reveal - all the nods to TV tropes, sitcoms, and comic references are so much overload that it's very easy to miss one in the flood, and it's hard to point to one as dominant because there are so many.

[Threash]

Yo-Magic Yogurt, “Yo-Magic. The snack for survivors": If this represents anything we've seen on screen before WandaVision, I can't imagine what it is. There's no name associated with it, the whole thing is an allegory for a Faustian bargain, the shark is nameless, the little boy dies in claymation grotesqueness. In an episode littered with deeper meaning and references behind everything, this is completely disconnected. Pretty sure it has to represent what happened with Wanda after Endgame.

Wanda made a deal with someone or something, and it's both exactly what she bargained for and a hellish nightmare.

--Dave

Could just be about survivors guilt, the next traumatic event in Wanda's life is Pietro's death. Maybe she feels she could have saved him with her magic but she wasn't strong enough.

[MahrinSkel]

Another thought: What Vision sees when he's away from Wanda (simplified behaviors, looping, static poses) is a lot like what we do in games with NPC's when the players aren't nearby, no point in burning cycles on stuff that won't be seen.

Is this connected to "computational forms"? Is Vision also involved in operating the pocket universe?

--Dave

[Khaldun]

I think if it comes down to it,

[NowhereMan]

Another thought: What Vision sees when he's away from Wanda (simplified behaviors, looping, static poses) is a lot like what we do in games with NPC's when the players aren't nearby, no point in burning cycles on stuff that won't be seen.

Is this connected to "computational forms"? Is Vision also involved in operating the pocket universe?

--Dave

I read that more as simply Wanda is directing people and those who are outside areas she's focused on are just kind of left in neutral to provide background e.g. the neighour cutting through the wall when he was hedge trimming because Wanda was distracted. I don't really think the computational work thing was necessarily a clue so much as it tied into Vision's nature and the sitcom joke about no one ever having a 'real' job. Hell they pretty much state Wanda sends him to 'work' when he needs to be distracted. I think she's being manipulated but I think it's more along the lines of setting her up to break her as a person somehow rather than using her current power to achieve something.

Also having gotten through all the episodes so far this week, the first three definitely work really well as a binge. I think it would have been kind of frustrating watching them each a week apart.

[eldaec]

I thought Billy was dressed as that male Scarlet Witch guy whose name I can't remember. Not Dr strange.

[Velorath]

Remember how folks said "well, they're never going to deal with the Snap again" and wow, did Feige & Co set out to show us that we were wrong about that.

Did they? It was played for comedy mostly in the Spider-man sequel, and informs some of Monica's character here, sure. Thanks to Covid we've barely had any MCU product since Endgame and unless something odd is going on Black Widow should be pre-Snap, but for the most part I still haven't seen anything that suggests that they're really doing anything to show the ramifications of 50% of the world being erased and coming back 5 years later. The world in the MCU seems like it's largely back to being close to the present day real world (with superheroes and all that comes along with but you know what I mean).

I mean... 50% of the population. 1 out of every 2 people should be going through what Monica is, but it doesn't come across like that here.

[Abagadro]

Director Douchebag went pretty long on the issue in this last episode.

[Velorath]

I thought Billy was dressed as that male Scarlet Witch guy whose name I can't remember. Not Dr strange.

If you mean Dr. Druid or something, nah Haem is right. It's clearly meant to look like his outfit as Wiccan in Young Avengers.

[eldaec]

Turns out I do mean wiccan.

Who is also Vision and Wanda's son Billy.

[Khaldun]

Ah yeah, I forgot he had the Wiccan headband, just remembered the Dr. Strange-ish cape, which he also has as Wiccan.

[Velorath]

I actually took a look the other day to see if they ever explained how Billy and Tommy came back in the comics and it turns out, no so much.

[Khaldun]

Kinda sorta but it's a fucking mess of the worst kind.

[HaemishM]

I thought Billy was dressed as that male Scarlet Witch guy whose name I can't remember. Not Dr strange.

He was dressed as the character Wiccan from Young Avengers - which was a character that was later confirmed to be the reincarnation of Wanda's children that she imagined into existence, whose name is Billy.

[MahrinSkel]

Well, since dimensional incursion is heavily hinted at, both in show and in talks of Doc Strange 2, we should expect the masters of the mystic arts to show up sometime. Maybe Strange himself, maybe Woo, but it's probably going to be some variation on a dimensional horror having used Wanda as a stalking horse to make a beach head in our reality.

--Dave

[Velorath]

Didn't like the reveal at the end of the episode. Hopefully they at least do something interesting with it.

[MediumHigh]

And predictably we get the multiheaded scapegoats to salvage Wanda's hero persona. I mean it was either that or face the consequences of endangering/ruining the lives of millions of people because your sad  . I would be genuinely surprised if there was any actual blowback for this other than a vehicle to explain why some characters have powers.

[eldaec]

The reveal seemed like a good idea, but suffered from not really having any sneaky things to reveal.

Thinking about it though it had to be her. They did a decent job of making us think it might be anyone else.

[Riggswolfe]

I wonder if this is a double fake out. I looked up Agatha Harkness after I watched it and she's never been a villain from what I can tell. So could we have yet another manipulator behind her? Or is this just a case of the MCU changing a character.

[eldaec]

I doubt it.

We still don't know what Agatha wants or how it fits into what sword guy wants though.

And wouldn't rule out a final episode post credits scene reveal of how it fits into someone's larger plan.

[Velorath]

Could be another fake-out, but to what end, especially with 2 episodes left? Either way if you’re only just introducing your villain 3.5 hours into a 4.5 hour story that’s a bit of a problem.

[MahrinSkel]

I think you guys missed the mid-credits scene. There's definitely more to it than "Agatha All Along."

--Dave

[Velorath]

No, I saw it.

[MahrinSkel]

No, I saw it.

The one with 'Pietro'? Or just the bit between the Agatha credits and the Wandavision credits?

--Dave

[eldaec]

There is definitely more to explain I just don't see it being another villian.

[Velorath]

The thing with Monica and Pietro. It’s too brief to really offer up any substantial hint. The larger hint of bigger goings-on was the Nexus commercial.

[eldaec]

Yes, seems likely Wanda and Agatha are both nexus people and Agatha is going to explain this next week.

[Riggswolfe]

The thing with Monica and Pietro. It’s too brief to really offer up any substantial hint. The larger hint of bigger goings-on was the Nexus commercial.

I didn't know about the nexus stuff but looked it up. Looks like in the comics Wanda is a "nexus being" and can access all realities or something? I'm guessing that WandaVision is indeed going to be used to bring the X-men into the MCU. I'm thinking the mid-credits scene is a partial misdirect. We're supposed to assume Pietro is working for Agnes but he's really just as curious as Monica is about what's going on. Perhaps Wanda's blasting of him last episode freed him from Agatha's control or something.

It's also possible that the X-men version of Earth is being destroyed by the hex and he's there to save it but that seems like a lot to throw into only 2 episodes unless this isn't a one-off as I assumed and there will be a season 2 of WandaVision.

[Khaldun]

I already went into the Nexus thing about four episodes back. It's not Wanda. It's a place in the Marvel Universe, normally in the Everglades. They moved it to New Jersey, apparently.

That's what's in Agatha's basement--the doorways you saw. The Nexus is a gateway to other realities/universes. In the Marvel Universe, among other things, it has had a portal back to Howard the Duck's universe.

Wanda doesn't normally have any special multiversal powers--but she's frequently been possessed or targeted for possession by powerful interdimensional beings, and she's had at times powers to change all of her own universe's reality.

I'm one hundred percent certain that Agatha came here to get access to the Nexus or she already was its guardian--and that something beyond one of the doors or portals in the Nexus drew Wanda to the Nexus when she was gripped by despair and anger over SWORD messing around with the Vision's corpse. I still think is a good candidate for that something, but would be another. I guess if they're going with the Nexus, the third possibility would be  whose M.O. is pretty well given away by his name--.

[HaemishM]

Since we've now confirmed that the Nexus is involved, it gave me another thought. I'm pretty sure this will NOT be happening but it'd be an interesting twist.


I love a show that gets me invested enough to come up with nerd theories.

[Khaldun]

 definitely fits the TV motif, so why not--he could just as easily fit the role of "powerful extradimensional being who came in through the Nexus", with a slightly different motivation than

[Threash]

I seriously doubt that they are going to throw in another "bad guy nobody has ever heard of" into the mix at this point. Everyone is acting like the whole Agatha Harkness reveal was obvious but 99% of the people watching have never heard of her. Stop thinking like comic book readers.

[eldaec]

Also worth saying the MCU has never really gone in for super clever endings.

There is likely to be a focus on running and explosions from this point on with limited screentime for exposition.

[Riggswolfe]

Also worth saying the MCU has never really gone in for super clever endings.

There is likely to be a focus on running and explosions from this point on with limited screentime for exposition.

Counterpoint: The MCU has also never done anything like Wandavision before. I think that means all bets are off for this show. Though you're probably right.

[Khaldun]

Here's the things that have appeared in this show so far that no one but comic nerds had ever heard of:

SWORD
Billy and Tommy aka Wiccan and Speed
Quicksilver from another reality
Photon/Spectrum (Monica Rambeau's superpowered alter ego)
Agatha Harkness
(Probably) the Nexus of All Realities (another reason to think it's the Nexus: the swampy tendrils on the walls on the way in)

etc.
hardly seems like "Oh my god, they would never do anything throw a bad guy in that no one has ever heard of".

That said, I think this is why the Dormammu guess is still a pretty good one and makes this an effective lead into the Doctor Strange movie. (I will also not be at all surprised if Strange shows up in the last episode.)