WandaVision Episode 7, “Breaking the Fourth Wall” Recap and Review
The curtain is pulled back, and we see who is really pulling the strings in an episode anchored by a major reveal.
WARNING: Spoiler Alert
After watching this week’s “WandaVision” episode, “Breaking the Fourth Wall”, I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed. Everything that seemed to build up to reveals in this episode gave me hope for a momentous and glorious moment of revelation. But when it finally came, I couldn’t help but feel like Dorothy, who had traveled through the strange and mysterious land of Oz to the Emerald City in hopes of meeting this great and powerful wizard, only for it to be just… some guy. I exaggerate of course, but not by much. It’s not the showrunners’ fault: the reveals should have been glorious, but after weeks of speculation and dissection the reveal felt all too familiar.
The episode begins in the era of modern television and in the style of “Modern Family”. We join Wanda and the boys on a typical morning being interrupted by atypical problems. Various items around the house are glitching out and reverting to their forms in different eras and Wanda is struggling to control them. “WandaVision” then gives us opening credits in the style of “The Office”, complete with a very familiar sounding theme song. Outside of the Hex, S.W.O.R.D. is still picking up the pieces after the Hex’s sudden expansion, but inside the S.W.O.R.D. agents and the base itself has transformed into a circus. Vision investigates the circus and finds Darcy, now an escape artist.
At home, Wanda starts losing her composure, even turning against Uncle Pietro after his comments about Vision on Halloween. Cued by Wanda’s stress, Agnes arrives to help Wanda and take the twins off her hands for a while. Agent Woo and Captain Rambeau head out to meet her contact, while on the way they learn that Director Hayward’s true goal is to resurrect Vision, and Wanda’s actions are the closest they have come to success. Jimmy and Monica arrive at their meeting with an acquaintance of Monica’s from the Air Force. They give her a space rover that they think can withstand the Hex, and allow Monica to re-enter safely. Vision releases Darcy from the Hex’s hold and they finally, truly meet. They decide to leave and escape the circus in a funnel cake truck.
Meanwhile, Wanda is still dealing with the glitches in her house. She breaks the fourth wall, speaking to the camera in the same type of recorded diary style of “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation”. Wanda confesses her stress and lack of control over the situation, when a voice from behind the camera asks, “do you think this might be what you deserve?” We cut to a commercial for Nexus antidepressants for escaping your reality, or any reality. When we return, Agnes is busy taking care of the twins when Billy, who is still learning his psychic powers, notices how “quiet” Agnes is on the inside. Outside, Captain Rambeau suits up, boards the S.W.O.R.D rover and attempts to re-enter the Hex. She gives it all she has, but the Hex refuses, and spits the Rover back out as Monica barely escapes it. Refusing to be denied, Monica runs head first into the Hex and pushes her way in. She struggles against it and the Hex begins to literally pull her apart, but though sheer force of will she controls her reality and enters the Hex.
Monica seems to have gained something in the process. Her eyes glow bright blue and she sees the world through a new spectrum of light and energy. She shakes it off and heads out into Westview. As Vision and Darcy drive, she catches him up on everything she knows, including his death. As Vision works through his existential existence, and after a series of strange delays, Vision suspects that Wanda is delaying them on purpose. Monica finds Wanda at home and tries to reason with her, but Wanda is having none of it and attempts to eject her from the Hex again. But Monica’s new abilities save her and she attempts to reason with Wanda again. Agnes interrupts them, almost on cue. She whisks Wanda away to her own house and Monica follows them soon after. Darcy and Vision continue to be hilariously delayed when Vision finally gets fed up. He remembers he can fly and leaves Darcy alone in the funnel cake truck.
Now in Agnes’ house, she does her best to comfort Wanda, but Wanda is far from comfortable. Wanda starts noticing strange things about the house and inquires about the whereabouts of the twins. Agnes leads her to check the basement, where Wanda finds what looks to be a medieval chamber decorated with items of the occult and a strange looking book. Agnes finally reveals her true identity to be the witch Agatha Harkness: through her own theme song, we find out that she has been controlling aspects of the Hex, created the twins, controlled Pietro, killed Sparky, and was the one behind the camera. She uses her purple magic and pulls the magical veil back over Wanda’s eyes. We then get the first mid-credits scene of “WandaVision”, in which Monica snoops around Agatha’s house before being found by Pietro.
“It was Agatha all along,” sang the theme song. It was a jaunty tune that perfectly fit my excitement for the big reveal: it was as exciting as a ‘50s era sitcom theme song could be. The reveal itself, however, hit me like a pool noodle: fun, but no water balloon. Agnes’ involvement was clear from the beginning, but her full reveal should have hit harder regardless. None of this is Kathryn Hahn’s fault - she has been exceptional in every scene - but it’s more to do with how Agatha Harkness is virtually unknown to audiences, but familiar relative to the MCU. Agnes was speculated to be Agatha since the start of the series, but she still lacks the recognition relative to others like Mephisto. So if she is not immediately recognized, then the audience has to piece together her identity from what we are given which is her name and that she is a witch. That’s it. This brings up an old trope of the MCU: in most solo outings, the villain is a mirror of the hero. Captain America and Red Skull were both super soldiers, Iron Man and Iron Monger both wore armored suits, Thor had his brother Loki, Ant-Man had Yellowjacket, etc. Now, we have Scarlet Witch and Agatha Harkness, a literal witch. The formula is familiar for the MCU’s audience, and that familiarity may have taken the wind out of Agatha’s sails.
The Hex almost ripped Captain Monica Rambeau apart, but her previous trips through the Hex must have primed her for the change she goes through this week. Emerging into the Hex with glowing eyes and an ability to defend herself against Wanda, Monica’s abilities are still vague otherwise. This will most likely lead her to the name of Spectrum: they even teased her new persona with a compression shirt hidden underneath her space suit that resembled her comic-book costume. The emergence of Spectrum will no doubt factor into Captain Marvel 2, and her relationship with Carol should be interesting following Captain Marvel’s extended stay off planet. But for now, she has to deal with Pietro, or not-Pietro. Agatha has muddled the use of Evan Peters’ Quicksilver. Chances are that he is not the same character from the X-Men movies and is just a creation of Agatha, same for the twins. I am interested in seeing the how and why this fits into Agatha’s plan, but I am driven less by intrigue than confusion.
This is the first episode where my confusion does not match the show’s intent. This reveal episode is relatively light on events in the first two-thirds of its runtime, with the episode’s biggest moments coming at the very end. Aside from Monica’s superpower changes, Agatha’s reveal was intended on anchoring the episode to make up for the slow moving beginning. But the reveal felt too expected: it being Agnes, Agnes being a witch, Wanda being under her control. None of it was particularly surprising, which is a shame. All the pieces are now set for next week’s penultimate episode, however, and there is no reason to expect it won’t be up to the standard that Jac Schaeffer has created. Even a lacklustre episode of “WandaVision” relative to the show’s own standards still makes for great television.