WandaVision Episode 4: Wanda Goes Full Villain and the Vision Corpse Reveal

Wanda went full villain in WandaVision episode 4, and Monica's line at the end of the episode made it clear: "it's wanda it's all wanda." Wanda isn't only doing this, she's fully aware that she's doing it. It's a choice, maybe because she's crazy. The biggest reveal of all was that she's playing house with Vision's animated corpse.

Wanda's villain turn is a departure from the comics, kind of

As Darcy would say, what a twist. This is a bit of a departure from the comics, kind of. In the original stories this is based on, Avengers Disassembled and House of M, Wanda was a secondary character, which is kind of sad, because she wasn't the star of her own story and we never really explored what was going on with her. Here it's all Wanda, which Monica says quite cinematically at the end of the episode.

This now calls into question everything Wanda has ever done. When we first met her in the end credits of Winter Soldier, she was nuts, which was awesome, and then that seemed to go away. But did it? When she caused that explosion and made the mistake that led to Civil War, was that because of this? Is Kevin Feige that smart? I won't believe it if he is. That's incredible. It's really fascinating to think about.

Not only is Wanda confirmed to be behind this, but Neighborhood of M is confirmed too. That's what I'd been calling it, and I love it. There's also no stone here. We'd been wondering whether everyone was trying to get their hands on the stone in Vision's head, but there's just a crater, and his head is still kind of falling apart. She's playing house with his corpse in every sense of the word creepy, and I think it's so great. It reminds me of gothic romance stories, which I'm a huge fan of, and of some of the darkest, scariest Batman stories, like the reveal of what happened to Robin in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. It's that level, and I love to see it in the MCU.

The episode was too short and the acting was uneven

This episode was still ridiculously too short. I also think the actors here aren't at the same level. Some are super TV and some are more cinematic, and it isn't even divided between Wanda's world and the real world, because Teyonah Parris is also a very good actress, so when she's interacting with her coworkers it doesn't always quite work. It's like Marvel is trying to evolve, but "old jokey Marvel is still fighting to be alive in here." I like the darker, more cinematic stuff.

I also feel the show is falling a bit behind us in terms of the mystery. When Jimmy Woo asks why hexagons, I'm like, "keep up jimmy," because that was a question from about three episodes ago. Give us some new, helpful information.

Monica's return from the Blip was powerful

We open with a very powerful sequence, and I thought it was really well done because at first you weren't quite sure what was happening. Monica had just been ejected from Neighborhood of M at the end of the last episode, so you wonder whether Wanda is doing this to her, whether it's magic. Then you realize she's blipping back. Maybe it was because it was three in the morning, but I was moved. She blipped in her sleep, so she never had any idea it happened, which had never occurred to me and which I found really fascinating.

She comes back in a hospital where other people are also blipping back into existence all around her, and I love that the doctor says they can't help her because they're over capacity. It reminds you of the pandemic and hospitals reaching capacity. Then comes the horrifying reveal: Monica thought her mother was doing better, but during the five years she was blipped, Maria Rambeau's cancer returned and she died, two years into the Blip. To go from thinking everything had turned around to learning she lost her mom and didn't get to say goodbye is so sad. It's just good writing.

Maria Rambeau may have built SWORD the way Peggy Carter built SHIELD

Her mother's legacy still lives on at SWORD headquarters. The acronym stands for Sentient Weapon Observation Response Division, although it's still heavily alien oriented, which doesn't make sense to me. The headquarters looks like it could be in Florida, with all those launch pads, which is where we last saw Nick Fury in the end credits of Spider-Man: Far From Home. But it could also be Louisiana, which is where Maria Rambeau was located the last time we saw her and where Monica grew up. Apparently Monica also grew up at SWORD.

It seems to me that perhaps Maria Rambeau started SWORD, maybe with Nick Fury, after realizing there are aliens among us. I love the idea that Peggy Carter built SHIELD and Maria Rambeau built SWORD. Girl power. We missed both of those accomplishments, but still. And Monica always wanted to be an astronaut, and now she's become a super astronaut, though she's grounded.

The SWORD lobby looks like an airport terminal, and it looks fake and super digital to me. Usually I think these backgrounds are real places, but here I wondered whether even the extras were real, as if we were in one of Wanda's fake worlds. I don't think so, that's too crazy, but you never know with this show. I lost a little faith in the show's ability to craft the mystery. I'm not 100 percent feeling that the architects are in control anymore, and I feel this episode they lost their footing a little bit. I hope they pull it all together.

The TV screens in the lobby cover the Blip bringing back loved ones and the Pope set to speak, and I can't believe Spectrum got that kind of product placement, since it's odd they'd be playing New York One news in Louisiana or Florida. I love that Monica's badge doesn't work after five years. The plaque for her mother feels a little light on information and legacy; I think it could have said director or founder of SWORD, and I would have preferred an older picture of Lashana Lynch. I do feel bad, but somewhere Hayley Atwell and Lashana Lynch are together, and they've gone on to great projects, Mission: Impossible and Bond, so good for them. The directory had nothing interesting, not even a cafeteria or gift shop.

Tyler Hayward and what SWORD is really building

Tyler Hayward is a new character, not in the comics anywhere, and he's only acting director, which means he isn't officially promoted. Monica could still push him out and get that job, maybe by the end of the episode. I'd be angling for it, because it's her legacy. He explains that after the Blip and some problems sending people into space, SWORD is focusing on robotics, nanotech and AI. Are they competing with Stark Industries? Maybe that's what they mean by sentient weapons, which means they'd be interested in Vision. Did Wanda steal Vision from this facility? And where do aliens and powered beings come in?

Monica points out that he didn't say creation. At first I thought maybe they'd created Monica and given her powers, but I think she means they're building a lot of tech instead of just observing and reporting on it, which is so shady. I don't think she has her powers yet. After she got attacked, I think she would have used them, even without her memory, because it would have been instinctual. I think she'll probably get her powers, maybe by the end of the series.

When Hayward says space is full of threats, she says also allies, because she grew up with them. Her necklace later turns into a SWORD necklace inside Neighborhood of M, but to me it doesn't look like a SWORD logo; it looks more like the photon symbol for her mother, which is very sweet. In his office, he tells her she's grounded because her mom said anybody who blipped back would have to be grounded for a while, so even from beyond the grave her mom is telling her what to do. Behind him, I first thought there was a visual of an AI like Jarvis or Ultron, but I think it's actually a star system, which is less cool.

Westview may not have existed, and neither may Jimmy Woo's witness

We cut to New Jersey, where the original comic takes place, and there's even an off ramp for Westview, which is interesting because Westview doesn't exist. Unlike the idyllic town inside Neighborhood of M, the real place is run down, and they say it never existed at all. There's an Eastview, so maybe this used to be Eastview and it's been renamed, because I don't see why Wanda would bother otherwise. Again, my confidence in their mystery building is a little shaken, because some of this isn't set up well enough to solve.

Jimmy Woo was looking into this because of a witness in witness protection. Is that witness Hydra related? Did Wanda go looking for him for revenge or for answers, and is that what drew her here? But when Jimmy checked, the witness's contacts said they'd never heard of him. Maybe it was a cry for help from inside Neighborhood of M. It's all very oddly set up.

Then there's the drone, the ugliest, most low tech looking drone I've ever seen. I think Wanda improved it. Monica breaks science 101 and touches something, but if scientists didn't make mistakes we'd never have a show, and sure enough she gets sucked in, which advances the plot.

Darcy cracks the sitcom signal

Darcy's introduction is cute, but I was disappointed we never saw those scientists again. We're so short on time, so don't waste any of it. At the SWORD response base outside the fake town, I like Darcy's interactions, even though I feel Kat Dennings' delivery is a little off. When an agent says what he's seeing is classified, she pauses and realizes he can't see anything, and she doesn't do it in a jerky way. I thought that was great.

She discovers frequencies coming out of there, some of them a TV broadcast, and we learn she was the one seeing it all at the end of episode one, asking whether Vision isn't dead. Some people asked if Darcy was blipped, and I don't believe she was. Others also pointed out that it was there to remind us that he didn't blip, that he's dead, and that really beautifully telegraphed the ending. That was great. She needs different TVs because apparently she can only pick up the signal with a TV from the era it's broadcasting from.

I'm starting to question whether this whole sitcom approach was a good creative choice, because it makes the show too meta and takes me out of it a little bit. I have mixed feelings. I did like it when someone asks why she colorized the helicopter and she says she didn't. But why aren't they paying attention to the commercials? The commercials are incredibly important. They're supposed to be FBI and SWORD.

A hazmat suit becomes a beekeeper suit, and Dottie seems afraid

As we suspected from the previews, they send a man in a hazmat suit down into the sewers to get Monica, and it turns into a beekeeper suit, with bees included. His rope becomes a jump rope that looks like it's from the 70s, not the 60s. I love seeing the scene from his perspective, with Wanda and Vision as shadowy figures at night, which also has a gothic romance look, and in that wide shot you can see Vision is already protecting his baby. Wanda's "no" does sound different, but I don't know why. I wonder what happened to this guy when she rewound; I guess he's just wandering around Westview.

Jimmy's board of information is useless again. Why would scrolls be first on the list? We learn the shape around the town is a hexagon, which might just be for her hex power, a bit of a letdown since it's such an obvious clue. I guess Wanda's favorite color is red and her favorite shape is hexagons. The board lists New Jersey residents, not Hydra or SHIELD agents, and there's no ID for Agnes, because she's a special person, which I'm sure we'll learn more about. Dottie isn't on it because she hadn't shown up yet in the episodes they were covering, so we can't confirm our theories that she's Agatha.

Monica shows up on the show as Geraldine, and I liked Darcy saying she got upgraded to a speaking role, though it also kind of takes me out of it. I think Jimmy Woo and Darcy are a nice team, and some people are already shipping them. They do the radio trick, as we suspected, but suddenly Dottie seemed genuinely scared. That makes me wonder whether she's an interesting player or just locked in there too. Jimmy says she's a regular person. Is that a misdirect, or an assumption that's wrong?

Wanda drops the facade with Monica

I loved when Wanda dropped the facade, and it was very scary. Elizabeth Olsen killed it. Jimmy and Darcy wonder whether they're about to see Monica get killed, and it jumps straight from Wanda's menacing look to credits. They rush to their saved copy, then there's a perimeter breach, but we go into the television to see what happened, and it gets really good.

Monica begs her not to kill her and insists she's her neighbor, and Wanda says "you're not my neighbor and you're not my friend." The fact that Wanda so casually mentions Ultron shows she totally knows who he is. She realizes this is someone trying to mess with the fantasy world she's created, and the way she uses her powers, she seems so much like a witch and very much like a villain. She sends Monica hurtling through the walls, which was such a great shot, and the point of view shots were extremely effective. There are giraffes in the living room and the nursery; is that because of Wakanda, where Vision died? Then she doesn't ask Vision for help. She cleans up her mess and gets rid of the evidence like a true villain.

The Vision corpse reveal will stick with people

Wanda looks at her babies, then Vision runs in and she sees his corpse, because Monica disturbed her illusion. "I will never get over the surprise of seeing that." I'd put it up there with the Robin reveal in Return of the Joker. She looks away in horror, composes herself, and he's fine, which is so creepy. When he says "we don't have to stay here we can go anywhere we want," it's touching and scary that she says no, that this is their home, and "don't worry darling i have everything under control."

He knows something's wrong, so he's playing along. Is his soul in there? What did she reanimate, and if he's a reanimated corpse, how can he have any of his own thoughts? That messes a little with the logic of the mystery. I love that the aspect ratio changes and turns ominous, putting them back in their TV box, a confined space where everything is perfect, written, fictional and controlled by Wanda.

What I wondered might come next

At the time, I thought Vision would probably start challenging her more, so Wanda's world would start to unravel. I wondered whether Agnes, Mephisto or Dottie, or all three, might offer her an alternative, remembering there are three figures on Agnes' brooch. I also wondered whether, like Kingpin in the animated Spider-Verse movie, Wanda might rip open the multiverse to find a living Vision or living children. Some people bet she'd say no more Avengers instead of no more mutants, and I liked those odds.

The show felt both very light and very dark, a weird combo, but I like the dark stuff, and I thought things were going to get dark fast.

What did you think of WandaVision once it moved outside Wanda's bubble?