WandaVision Episode 5 Review: The Game Changes - /FILM

Hello all, and welcome to your weekly recap of whatever wildness occurred on the latest episode of WandaVision. These are meant to be read after watching, so they will go deep into spoiler territory. You have been warned!

Last Week on WandaVision…

Last week’s episode broke the show wide open and delivered us the phenomenon of Westview from the perspective of SWORD and Monica Rambeau, not to mention returning Marvel Cinematic Universe faves Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo. This effectively ended the surrealistic mystery aspect of the series, but as this week proved, WandaVision is not all done surprising us yet…

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This episode is packed with major events, but thematically it focuses on the impossibility of just skipping the difficult parts of life, which can be a literal choice for Wanda Maximoff. The episode begins where we ended two weeks ago, with Wanda and Vision as new parents to twins. But two screaming babies can be a lot to handle, and even with the help of nosy neighbor Agnes, the kids won’t sleep – “I’m looking for your dark liquor. Not for me, for the kids. What kind of babysitter do you think I am?”

When silence does finally fill the house, it’s not because the babies fell asleep, but because they aged themselves into toddlers. Later, when Wanda tells them they can’t have a dog until they’re ten, they age themselves further, trading a significant chunk of childhood for a furry friend. But when the dog dies, Wanda warns them not to age themselves away from feeling the pain of losing their friend. They sort of turn this advice back upon her by asking why she can’t just bring the dog back to life, the same way a commercial for Lagos paper towels teaches you how to easily wipe away your messes.

Wanda Maximoff: Hero or Villain?

It’s a good question because that’s precisely what Wanda has apparently done with Vision. After all the mystery of Vision’s resurrection, it’s almost hilariously blunt when we learn Wanda simply stole and reanimated his literal dead body, making sure to wipe away all memories of his pre-Westview life.

In a fun bit of dialog, by the way, we learn this theft of Vision’s body goes against both his living will and the Sokovia Accords, leading one to ponder what else is in that document. It seemed like just a law document when it was introduced in Captain America: Civil War, but now I wonder if it has a section dedicated to superhero tidbits and tips like “Don’t hit on Captain America” and “Don’t tease the Hulk” along with “Don’t ever steal Vision’s body.” My point is, Marvel should be selling copies.

This episode, and probably every episode to come, breaks back and forth between the show’s two realities. And while the SWORD scenes here do probe questions about how real things are in Westview, the primary argument concerns whether Wanda is a straight-up villain or not. Rambeau thinks she’s just troubled. Her superior, Director Tyler Hayward, believes she needs to be treated as hostile. We’re also reminded that she almost single-handedly killed Thanos, so good luck with that, dudes with guns.

We like Wanda because she’s an Avenger, but Hayward does have a point. Wanda did apparently kidnap a whole town’s worth of people. When they send an armed drone into Westview, it provokes a radical response from Wanda, who pops into our reality – complete with her typical outfit and accent – long enough to threaten SWORD. Nevertheless, since defending Wanda comes from our point-of-view character Rambeau, I don’t think WandaVision is setting out to subvert Wanda’s heroics longterm.

With a Special Guest Appearance By…

There is only so much mind manipulation Vision can handle. After accessing a co-worker’s actual personality (but then immediately restoring the one Wanda set up), Vision asserts his questions about the nature of Westview, questions Wanda tries to avoid by rolling credits on him and moving on. This time he won’t let her, however, and the two almost come to blows before a doorbell interrupts them.

Wanda did not expect this interruption. And when she opens the door to a white-haired fellow, we think we know who it’s going to be. But we’re only partly correct. It is her dead brother Pietro, except he’s been recast. Instead of Aaron Taylor-Johnson from Avengers: Age of Ultron, it’s Evan Peters, who – as I’m sure just about everyone exclaimed to their significant other – played the character in Fox’s X-Men movie universe. It’s wild. Even better? He puts a Fonzie-like spin on the character, keeping him firmly within the sitcom realm in a pretty great way. He’s basically Poochie, which does make me wonder how long he will last.

What’s On Next?

WandaVision is officially over halfway done now. We have four episodes left to go, and my assumption is that after one more like this week, the series will spend significantly less time in Wanda’s world. Next week should bring us into the ‘90s and an exploration of what Pietro’s “return” brings to things. Above all, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the brewing Wanda versus Vision fight teased this episode.

And while I’m sure many of you hated my theory last week about Darcy and Jimmy acting like television characters, I am still convinced something is up with the MCU portions of this show. I feel as though there is a slight naturalism missing from these performances indicating a possible show within the show, like episode nine will reveal this has all been WandaVision’s take on Agents of SHIELD or something. Look, as Wanda teaches us, it’s fun to have fun, even if you are making that fun up from scratch.

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