WandaVision Episode 6, “All-New Halloween Spooktacular!” Recap and Review
THE MORE WE LEARN, THE MORE THE PLOT THICKENS AS THINGS GET WEIRD IN WESTVIEW.
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
After last week’s $71 billion reveal, it is easy to say that “WandaVision” audiences demanded answers. While this week’s episode manages to answer a few of them, it is the tease of the outlying answers that anchors Episode 6, “All-New Halloween Spooktacular!”. Consider it MCU foreplay.
The answers we seek are dangled in front of us as we are given a steady drip of clues intravenously. There remains, still, a veil of doubt surrounding the information that we are given that causes you to question everything to the point of borderline madness. But then again, that’s the point of “WandaVision”, to gaslight the audience into ignoring every instinct we have about these characters that we already know so well.
As is expected, the era skips forward again, this time to the noughties with a very “Malcolm in the Middle”-style opening, and fourth-wall-breaking exposition from Tommy and Billy. After Pietro plays fun uncle with the twins, Wanda comes down the stairs in her comic-accurate costume, as a Sokovian Fortune Teller for Halloween of course. After more fourth-wall-breaking and a cutaway gag, Vision joins the family in his own comic-accurate Mexican luchador costume. The family is content for only a moment before Vision tells Wanda about his plans with the neighborhood watch for the evening. The conflict between the two is obvious to everyone, including Billy. Uncle Pietro smooths things over for the moment and dons his own classic costume, matching Tommy’s. Outside the Hex, Director Hayward and Captain Rambeau clash over their intentions with Wanda, leading Hayward to have Monica, Jimmy, and Darcy all removed from the base. They escape custody, unsurprisingly. Back with Pietro and Wanda, the twins go off to “raise hell” with Uncle Pietro, and Wanda asks Herb about the patrol.
As the hell-raising commences, Wanda learns that Vision is not on duty with the Watch tonight. Vision is in-fact exploring the neighborhood, as he does so he comes across a woman acting strangely, she is in a loop of hanging a Halloween decoration. Not only that, but a tear rolls down her cheek. Here we get a commercial for Yo-Magic, the snack for survivors. When returning to Pietro and Wanda, they start questioning each other about how they each got there. They are interrupted by Billy and Tommy who suddenly has super speed like his Uncle. On the S.W.O.R.D. base, Darcy and the group break into the base’s computer servers. They learn that Hayward is tracking Vision through his vibranium signature as well as the other Westview residents. They notice that the people at the edge of the city don’t seem to be as active as those in the center, closer to Wanda. Vision sees all of this as well, people frozen in the street, unresponsive to his inquiries. Vision seems to no longer believe the false reality, as he changes to his normal self and flies to the edge of town where he finds Agnes frozen in her car, seemingly mid-drive. Vision uses his abilities to free her mind as he did with Norm once before. She panics and pleads for help from Vision, to be rescued from Wanda, but he learns the truth from her. Vision learns that he is dead.
Vision reverses his mind effect and vows to fix everything. He sets his sights just beyond Ellis Avenue. Back on base, Monica and Jimmy are about to head to meet someone about a way back into the Hex, but Darcy stops her. Darcy shows Monica her bloodwork and how the Hex has re-written her cells twice. It doesn't deter Monica, she and Jimmy head out and Darcy stays behind to find out more of Hayward’s secrets. Wanda and Pietro reminisce again but things get strange when Pietro starts digging for specifics about what is happening in Westview. Pietro even encourages what she is doing. Wanda begins to believe in Pietro, even so far as to see a vision of him dead. Vison reaches the edge of the Hex and pushes through. Hayward and the rest of S.W.O.R.D watch as Vision emerges and fights the pull of the Hex. At this moment Billy manifests his own powers, seeing Vision in his mind’s eye and stopping Tommy in his tracks. The pull of the Hex is ripping Vision apart. Billy runs to Wanda and tells her of Vision’s peril. Pietro makes the mistake of making light of the situation and Wanda launches him into the decorations. Wanda takes control. She pushes the Hex outward and it engulfs the entire S.W.O.R.D. base including Vision and Darcy, and just as it transforms the base into a traveling Circus, Wanda stops.
The view clears up for Vision (pun intended). He is on a mission to understand and fix what Wanda has done. As for Wanda, she seems 100% aware of and in control of the situation, most of it anyway. If Vision were connected to Wanda’s sub-conscious as I’ve speculated, then that would mean that she has some sort of split personality or is being full-on possessed by someone. Though that would be interesting to attempt, my theory complicates more than it solves. As for Vision’s investigation, he sees weakness in Wanda’s mental grasp of Westview. She seems to have a weaker management level of the residents further from her, from the woman stuck in the loop to an entire area being straight-up frozen. But one thing we learn about Vision is that he is connected to the Hex in a deeper way than we thought. It seems like he is a part of the Hex, and without it, he could die. This will probably set up the emotional crux of the finale, but for the time being it confirms that he is not truly alive again.
Then there is Pietro and Agnes. As the episode progressed, my excitement about the melding of the MCU and X-Men Universe grew into suspicion about Pietro. He not only dodges all of Wanda’s tests and speaks in generalities about their past, but he also makes light of his and Vision’s deaths. Pietro died saving Hawkeye and a child while escaping Sokovia, and Vision died trying to prevent Thanos from universal genocide. He seems out of character, aside from appearing and acting like a completely different character. My knowledge of the X-Men Comic Book Arc The House of M, one of the series’ influences, gives me a competitive advantage against the mystery. In the arc, it was Quicksilver who manipulated Wanda into creating a similar situation. I believe this is where the two stories parallel. One question that arises from this is what is his motivation? If he is actually an alternate version of Pietro then why do all this, and if not, then why show up as a different Pietro in the first place. Those questions can lead down a rabbit hole of speculation so I’ll leave it for now.
As for Agnes, I still don’t trust her, but that can be attributed mostly to Kathryn Hahn’s great performance as either a second or possibly third villain or a very convincing red-herring. I could speculate about how the revelation about Captain Rambeau’s bloodwork leads to the creation of Mutants in the MCU, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll keep it small scale. Monica will be a superhero. In the Comics, she has gone by many names including Captain Marvel but is commonly known as Spectrum. Placing emphasis on the change in her cells is just a signpost that the MCU will expand its roster of heroes very soon. Speaking of new superpowers, I am once again surprised by Billy and Tommy. Not only do these kids exist outside of Wanda’s control, they now have superpowers. They could be a big part of the future of the MCU, or they could be attached to the Hex like Vision. It would be heartbreaking if they were.
After this episode, the only concrete fact that I know is that “WandaVision” is great. The dedication to style when it comes to the style of the Hex “broadcast” is impressive. This week’s style could have nestled in nice and snuggly in any channel’s Thursday night Prime-Time lineup. It’s used in obscuring the reality of the story very carefully. The showrunners framed the characters inside the Hex in a way that eccentricity could easily be confused with nefarious intent which affects everyone including our main character. We don’t want to believe what we see, and the writers use that to their advantage, presenting evidence for both possibilities, thus sucking us into the mystery even further. Every moment inside the Hex can be torn apart and speculated upon in numerous ways and yet there remains a feeling of clarity in what is going on. That throughline of clarity comes from having direction. The series always feels like it is going somewhere fast, and while we may not know where, we can feel the urgency to get there. It is as if the creators are just as eager to reveal the whole picture as we are to see it. That is a great feeling to have.