Main cast: Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff), Paul Bettany (Vision), Kathryn Hahn (Agnes), Asif Ali (Norm), Teyonah Parris (Geraldine), Emma Caulfield Ford (Dottie), Jolene Purdy (Beverly), and Debra Jo Rupp (Mrs Hart)
Director: Matt Shakman
Sigh, Wanda and Vision sleep in separate beds, just like husbands and wives do in sitcoms back in those days, and when this episode opens, a tree aspiring to be the one from Evil Dead has them realize that they could sleep in the same bed. So, in many ways, this episode is practically pornographic by the standards of the 1960s sitcoms this show wants to pay tribute to. Wait… does Vision even have a working pee-pee? Maybe he just plugs a vibrator down there and… uh, yeah, sorry, I get distracted by the opening scene of the second episode of WandaVision.
In this episode, Wanda and Vision take part in the neighborhood talent show fundraiser event. Fortunately, Vision isn’t singing—he’s opting to do a magic show instead. By now, the dynamic in the relationship is set: he is the affable, bumbling fellow while she is a more sensible one that sets him straight most of the time when he’s being silly. Well, things get a little more interesting in this cringe-filled premise when Wanda discovers an object with color in this black-and-white sitcom—a toy helicopter. What does this mean? Is Captain Marvel 2 coming to Disney+ this year? Is true that Brie Larson is finally getting her wish to see fewer white people in lead roles, when they boot her out to let a proud, black woman to take over as the new Captain Marvel? Oh, I hope so, as that silly woman lacks the charisma and charm to really shine in that role.
This episode highlights Wanda’s dissociation from normalcy, as she tries to fit in among the ladies in Westview and ends up bonding with Geraldine, as she seems to be the only ones that share Wanda’s feeling of being out of place among the ladies. Likewise, Vision isn’t actually doing well when it comes to acting like every other normal guy at his workplace. More intriguing, however, is how things are shaping up to suggest that the whole thing is likely some kind of alternate reality of Wanda’s making, as she has the ability to try and change things around if things weren’t being to her liking, and even more interestingly, elements from the outside world are slowly creeping into her perfect paradise. Perhaps she can’t truly run away from reality, hmm?
At any rate, Don’t Touch That Dial is alright, because it’s less cringe-clogged than the previous episode. The hints it drops for things to come are far more interesting than anything Wanda and Vision are doing here, however, making this one of those filler episodes that one needs to watch solely in order to get to the really good stuff later into the series.
