WandaVision (1.4): The Beauty of a Promise Delivered

The promise of WandaVision from its first episode was the combination of the classic sitcom format with Marvel cinematic universe. To this point, the show certainly delivered on the first but it was missing much of the charm of latter. That changed with this week’s episode. The fourth episode of the miniseries brought together those two promises and delivered on them wonderfully. Rather than have the audience wait for answers to the many questions the show has inspired so far, we started to tie up those loose ends in this episode. Starting from the very beginning.

The show picks up with Monica Rambeau (“Geraldine” in the previous two episodes) returning from the “blip,” immediately situating the timeline to pick up right after the events of Avengers: Endgame. From there, Monica realizes she had been gone for 3 years, and more importantly, that her mom had passed away in that time. We move quickly through the more formulaic aspects to the episode – such as Monica’s return to S.W.O.R.D. and her first assignment in the field that sends her to Wanda’s location. It is at this first field assignment that Monica gets sucks into the WandaVision’s sitcom world we find her in episode two.

While this means that we don’t get much more time this episode with Monica Rambeau, it also means that more time is spent exploring the intersection between the Marvel universe and this invented sitcom world. In fact, our primary cast this week (featuring two sitcom veterans in Kat Dennings as Darcy and Randall Park as Jimmy Woo) gets to experience WandaVision in the same way we did the past three episodes. It’s a bold storytelling technique that could easily succumb to exposition and rehashing exactly what happened the past three episodes we have just watched. Instead it invites us into this world, the ‘real world’ of WandaVision. We try to figure out the mysteries of this disappeared town just the same the characters do. We figure out who some of these residents are (notably missing the identities of Agnes and Dottie). We find out that it was Jimmy’s voice – aided by Darcy’s work – coming through the radio at Dottie’s party in the second episode. As each of these mysteries starts to unfold before our eyes, we are indelibly connected to Darcy and Jimmy (and Monica when she gets ejected from WandaVision’s sitcom world). We aren’t chasing answers in the same way following this episode. We are along with the journey to repair wounds. This is especially poignant as we have confirmation that the manufactured world is, as Monica says, all Wanda.

In previous recaps, I have mentioned how important form was, especially as the sitcoms changed eras. Toward the end of this particular episode, the show really starts to have fun with it. The aspect ratio changes three different times as we move from the world of Marvel into WandaVision and then finally into another era of WandaVision sitcoms. It is a fun little tick in a show full of them demonstrating how enjoyable watching such a show over again could be (the Jimi Hendrix “Voodoo Chile” segue into the credits was another nice touch).

Along with format, an oft repeated refrain when it comes to this show has been that the constructed reality is cracking. WandaVision was giving way to something more. Episode four again grappled with such a notion and flipped it on its head. It is not the form of the universe that is cracking. It is Wanda herself. Grief is starting to overcome her just as images of Vision’s decomposed body have started to probe the boundaries of this world. WandaVision is not the idyllic sitcom of yesteryear but a prison of Wanda’s own pain.