Main cast: Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff), Paul Bettany (Vision), Teyonah Parris (Monica Rambeau), Kathryn Hahn (Agnes), Randall Park (Jimmy Woo), Kat Dennings (Darcy Lewis), Evan Peters (Pietro Maximoff), and Josh Stamberg (Director Hayward)
Director: Matt Shakman
On a Very Special Episode… is another episode that cannot stand on its own, and hence it is hard to review this episode objectively on its own merits. Just like the last few episodes, I’m giving this one three oogies, but do keep in the mind that the rating for the final episode of this season will likely be the true overall ranking of this entire show.
This one sees Wanda attempting to continue her charade, this time rebooting WandaVision to the 1980s and rapidly aging the twins from one to five and later ten in the blink of an eye once managing the twins at a certain age becomes too much for her. Outside of Westview, Monica and Director Hayward begin to butt heads, as Monica thinks Wanda isn’t a terrorist, but Hayward brings up Wanda’s past and her taking hostage an entire town as reasons to justify treating her as one. Worst of all, Vision begins to fully realize just what Wanda is doing to him and the people around him, and he doesn’t like it. Oh, and the uglier version of Pietro Maximoff shows up, ugh. Why can’t the hot one come back instead?
With that out of the way, I have to say this: I am warming up to Wanda. I know, it’s odd, as many people claim that Wanda in this show is unlikable. Well, here’s what I say to that: since when had Wanda been likable? She’s had a horrible childhood, and spends far more time being a villain than a hero. If anything, this show is slowly humanizing her, and I like that.
While I still don’t buy her romance with Vision, it’s still heartbreaking to see how everything she has done here is just an attempt on her part to get some kind of happiness in her life. Even then, it’s becoming more and more apparent that it’s a kind of happiness that she thinks she wants, because she’s seen it on TV or something, but she keeps magically changing things anyway because eventually, she will feel that she has messed up and have to redefine the kind of happiness that she thinks she craves. While her method of finding herself is hardly commendable—but then again, since when is this MCU version of Wanda supposed to have some kind of moral compass anyway?—it hits my heart hard at the oddest moments when I see how she just keeps trying to keep things together. For what it’s worth, she tries to be the perfect wife as well as the perfect mother, but it’s also clear that she’s still trying to understand how to go about doing it.
This also explains the cringe-inducing comedy of WandaVision: she controls these characters’ conversations as well as actions, and boy, she should never try to write scripts for sitcoms once this gig of WandaVision is over.
Wait, or does she really have full control over what happens in Westview? The appearance of Pietro as a more height-challenged version of Fonzie suggests otherwise.
Still, that’s something that will be answered in the next few episodes. They have to get people to still tune in, after all, and keep the Disney+ subscription going. Don’t judge me, but I am actually looking forward to finding out what will happen next.
