WandaVision Episode 2 Spoilers, Review, & Breakdown: The Cast Has Bewitched Us!
WandaVision’s second episode, which premiered on the same day as Episode 1, is certainly bewitching. Not only because the style and intro are designed to model after the 60s sitcom Bewitched, but because it was mysterious, humorous, and unexpected – just what WandaVision is. Episode 2 captured all the magical & comical aspects of the Marvel series.
Wait a second! Before you proceed forward, if any of the readers have not yet watched WandaVision, I’ll put up a big SPOILER ALERT now so the show’s plot isn’t ruined for you!
Episode 2 starts out with a theme very similar to Bewitched. The animation style is a copy, just used for different characters! Even the cursive font is the same! Here we see, of course, Wanda and Vision sitting on the couch eating popcorn (in later reference to Wanda’s suggestion to give the children popcorn) with their neighbors behind them. Peeking through the curtained window, there are two of Vision’s co-workers, a blond woman who could be Dottie, Herbs, and, in the middle: Monica Rambeau! Also, that nosy neighbor Agnes is separate from everyone else, signifying she may have a different purpose than the other friendly neighbors.
Oh, that bed scene is hilarious. Upon hearing sounds outside, Wanda awakens and Vision is wearing an eye mask (to protect his vision!) and pajamas for the first time ever in the MCU! And then Vision finally wakes up to check outside when the sound strikes again. But….. wait a minute…. he’s scared? Jumping onto the bed and hiding under the covers, genuinely afraid, we see that at least this version of Vision isn’t very fearless at all. What will happen in the battle? I hope he doesn’t shrink back and let Wanda do all the fighting.
In their black-and-white home, Wanda and Vision are apparently preparing for a town fundraiser, a talent show. Analyze the pattern on the box: here’s an easter egg right here on the Cabinet of Mystery! The pattern looks a lot like the Mind Stone with the beams of light radiating from it. Then, Vision decides to join the Neighborhood Watch to make sure that everything is going right before leaving to participate in the show. Wanda also leaves to attend a women’s conference before the fundraising event.
On the way out, Wanda notices something in one of her shrubs – what is it? It’s a helicopter in color, that’s right, not black and white like the rest of the world. Also notice the S.W.O.R.D. symbol on the side. Is SWORD involved in this whole thing? We find out later what this means: make sure to read our review for Episode 4!
Okay, coming back to the episode now. Agnes’ arrival interrupts Wanda’s puzzlement of the colored SWORD helicopter (like always. That nosy neighbor!). This time, she gives Wanda her pet rabbit, Senior Scratch! Why is this necessary? We don’t know just yet, so stick around. Then, she starts explaining about how Dottie is the key to winning the Talent Show and how to impress her. Of course Wanda doesn’t like being told what to do, though. Deciding to be herself is a great idea. But what if you’re someone who’s pretty abnormal if compared to Westview residents?
At the get-together, Wanda is everything but proper. Eating cookies when Dottie is speaking, clapping at the wrong time, chatting with Agnes and a new neighbor (we’ll talk about that in a moment) don’t really help you to fit in with the neighborhood. And, like we said, we would discuss who that new neighbor is. Name reveal: It’s “Geraldine”! No, no, no! Who’s Geraldine? She’s not part of the sitcom! Many of you probably recognized her as Monica Rambeau, last seen as a little girl in Captain Marvel. She’s also supposed to be a S.W.O.R.D agent in the later part of the show. But, she needs to disguise to escape Wanda’s observant eye for people out of the ordinary.
Unexpectedly, the radio starts to talk. Listen closely and even replay the moment if you need to: It’s the voice of Jimmy Woo – yes, that Asian FBI guy from Ant-Man and the Wasp. After the message, the entire machine explodes and a shard of glass cuts Dottie’s hand. But again, something in color: red blood! This signals to us that all of the residents of Westview are real people. If they were fake, their blood would also be in grey tones.
It’s commercial time, and today we’re getting Strucker watches. At first you may think, “Who’s Strucker and why does it have any meaning? This doesn’t bring back ANY of Wanda’s memories!” But yes it does. Examine the inscription on the watch’s face. Not only does it have numbers and clock hands, but an octopus symbol with the name Hydra to the left and 1000M to the right. Does that ring a bell now? If it doesn’t, here’s the breakdown. Hydra was the facility that captured Wanda and her superpowered twin brother Pietro Maximoff as test subjects. And Strucker is the last name of Wolfgang von Strucker, the guy who first thought of the idea of testing the twins. Plus, that octopus logo assures us that this is real Hydra here.
Our theory: Agnes, actually an evil witch, is causing all these commercials to happen to traumatize Wanda, bringing her back to her miserable reality without Vision, without her loved ones, and without her Avenger allies. After all, that’s probably why Wanda created the sitcom in the first place: a getaway from her life that she had to go through alone.
During the men’s gathering for the neighborhood watch, Vision is offered a piece of gum and can’t resist to say no. After all, he and Wanda want to do everything they can to fit in – and so many people are so addicted to chewing gum nowadays (pardon me, the 60s). More Bewitched animation comes into play when the episode shows the inside of Vision’s body and the gum getting stuck in the gears. This will cause his absolute failure during the magic show…. when you’re a robot, stuff getting crammed in your mechanism can cause you to spin out of control.
Here comes the talent show we’ve all been waiting for. Vision, still with the gum stuck in his gears, is acting funny by tripping up stairs, purposely revealing how the magic trick is done, and throwing playing cards everywhere on the crowd. On the other hand, Wanda’s trying to make their performance perfect so they can fit in with the rest of the Westview residents.
In the end, it turns out to work but only with Wanda’s reality-warping powers to suddenly make “Geraldine” appear in the Cabinet of Mystery. And guess what? The final act ends up pleasing the crowd, or is it something else causing them to? What if it’s Wanda’s mind control over everyone to applaud her?
Backstage, Wanda asks Vision what was wrong during the show. She knows that he’s way more reasonable than that in real life. Using her telepathic powers she gained from the Mind Stone in Age of Ultron, she senses Vision has gum compressed in his cogwheels, then takes it out. Ta-da: it’s normal Vision again!
Hey, something for you guys who watched WandaVision Behind the Scenes: Assembled: Remember how Wanda’s magician outfit was red and black? That gives us a little look into her wardrobe and her reality as Scarlet Witch. Red and black are, of course, the signature colors of Wanda’s Avenger character.
Back at home, Wanda and Vision are so relieved to be done with the magic show. Hiding your powers and having a husband who’s ruining their demonstration of their talents isn’t easy, after all. But the happiness doesn’t last long at all…
A beekeeper. Or what looks like one. Why is he here? Look at the giant S.W.O.R.D. logo on his back, giving us an obvious clue to where he’s coming from and his purpose. It seems that he came from a hole on the ground that could lead to a sewer, so those bugs hovering around his face may not be bees. Why would there be honeybees underground anyway?
In the final scene, Wanda is revealed to be pregnant (how so quickly?) as she hadn’t been previously. To get away from her fear of the beekeeper and seeing her reality, she quickly changes the decade to the colorful 70s to continue her perfect sitcom life. And see the outfits in color now! Again, Wanda’s notable Scarlet Witch-themed colors are shown to dominate her choice of clothes, even when she’s trying to avoid coming back to her real life. Vision’s businessman outfit is also very similar to his Avenger colors in Age of Ultron – yellow, green, a little bit of turquoise, and some grey. Stick around to see what happens in Episode 3!
