WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM RECAP
The episode starts in a mind-blowing sequence that had me confused for about a minute, I should not have been confused because on my second watch the first thing we see is matter (dust) coming together to form Monica. Monica awakes in a chair beside an empty hospital bed, she immediately leaves the room confused and we see that others are reappearing all around her. The scene is total chaos and I felt unnerved watching it. Monica finds her mother's doctor who tells a confused Monica that her mother is dead. Monica learns from the doctor that she has been missing for five years and her mom died three years ago. That is the opening scene, then we get the typical Marvel Studios logo. We are then being introduced to the S.W.O.R.D. headquarters (which looks cool in a very N.A.S.A. kind of way). Monica is trying to enter a secure area with her I.D. badge, and it does not work (she has been gone for five years). The acting director of S.W.O.R.D. Tyler Hayward comes to greet her and addresses her as Captain Monica Rambeau, he takes Monica inside. Monica pauses to see a memorial plaque for her mother Maria "Photon" Rambeau who was the previous director before Hayward. Hayward tells her she is the first to report back it has been three weeks since people reappeared. Monica asks about the astronaut training program and Hayward says dismal, half disappeared, and the other half lost their nerve. Hayward says it has not been the same since she was up there (in space?), that they shifted away from manned missions to focus on robotics, nanotech, artificial intelligence (A.I.) and sentient weapons. Hayward says space if full of unexpected threats, Monica responds with always was and allies. Hayward tells Monica her first assignment is to assist the F.B.I. with a missing persons investigation, the F.B.I. needs to use one of S.W.O.R.D.'s imaging drones and she is there to be a chaperone. Monica dislikes the assignment, Hayward says she is grounded, terrestrial missions only, this was a protocol her mother set up. The protocol was designed for when vanished agents returned; Hayward says the protocol exists because Monica's mother felt she would return.
Monica arrives in New Jersey and meets agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) who produces his card via a magic trick saw Scott Lang do in Ant-Man and the Wasp. The missing person is apparently a witness who is in the witness protection program. The know associates of the missing person were contacted and none of them had ever heard of the missing person. When Jimmy got to Westview, he ran into a problem the local cops say there is no town of Westview even though there is a billboard behind them announcing Westview, the cops are from Eastview. Woo tells Monica he has not gone into the town to investigate because the town does not want you to. Monica then releases the drone (which looks like a more advanced version of the miniature helicopter Wanda found in episode two. The drone takes off and then disappears and the image the done sends back stops. Monica approaches the town and notices there is a weird looking energy field. Monica puts her hand in and her hand shimmers, she then falls into the shimmer and disappears. We next see Darcy Lewis (played by Kat Dennings), we last saw Darcy in Thor: The Dark World, Darcy was Jane Foster's research assistant. Darcy is now in a van with other people, when she asks who they are one of them replies we are not supposed to talk to one another. They talk and all of them have a different scientific background, Darcy realizes that S.W.O.R.D. has no idea what threat they are facing so they are bringing a variety of experts. A small base has now been setup outside of Westview, Darcy does an assessment and picks a lot of cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). Darcy realizes there is a weird wave coming through, she asks for an old television to pick up the wave. Hayward is on the scene and is sending in an agent in a biohazard suit into a manhole in the hope that the agent can enter the town via the sewer system (beekeeper guy from episode two).
Darcy's plan with the television worked, she and the research team are now watching episode one of the show, they are obviously confused by what they are seeing as Darcy points out that Vision is dead. The CMBR is relic radiation dating back to the big bang, Darcy noticed that underneath the cmbr there a broadcast signal. Hayward sees what is being broadcast and announces he needs to get back to headquarters. Agent Woo takes charge and decides to identify the other people on the broadcast, agents start identifying the characters on the broadcast. Darcy then sees Monica on the show, Darcy and Woo try to figure if Monica is aware what is happening. Darcy then sees an opportunity to try and communicate with Wanda using the radio in Wanda's kitchen. We see the scene from episode two where Dottie and Wanda are talking and Jimmy's voice comes through the radio, though on Darcy's end of the broadcast it glitches and skips past Dottie cutting her hand on the broken glass. We now see the agent in the biohazard suit crawling through the sewer and as he crosses into the town his biohazard suit changes to the beekeeper suit. The rope that was attached to him disconnects and when the rope is brought back up it is now a jump rope. Darcy and Jimmy watch as Monica helps Wanda give birth, but catch Monica say Ultron to Wanda. They watch as Wanda looks menacingly at Monica and then the broadcast glitches to the end credits.
Wea are then taken back to episode three and we watch the confrontation between Wanda and Monica, but this time we see Wanda's hands glow red and watch as Monica is blasted out of the town. Wanda surveys the damage to the house, and she uses her powers to fix the house. Visions returns, but before we see his and Wanda's exchange, we are brought back to Monica now lying on the ground outside of Westview. Vision asks where Geraldine (Monica) went, Wanda replies, and she turns to look at Vision and she sees him as he was after Thanos removed the mind stone from Vision's head killing him (grey). Wanda is upset by Visions appearance, but she regains her composure and when she looks at him, he is normal again. Darcy and Jimmy go to Monica and Monica says it is all Wanda, as the episode ends.
ENDINGS AND RUMINATIONS
I am going to say episode four was my favourite episode yet, but I think the best is yet to come for Wandavision's final five episodes. As much as episode four answered some of our questions, there are still many more to be answered. Wanda might be the reason everything is happening but is there another force at work too. Another question that was answered was when this is happening, approximately 21 days after Avengers: Endgame. We saw that Monica Rambeau was one the people that disappeared after Thanos' snap at the end of Infinity War. The episode starts with Monica Rambeau returning to where she was when she disappeared, at her mother's bedside at the hospital. We next see Monica return to S.W.O.R.D. which we are told was 21 days after she returned. Both Monica and Wanda are dealing with the death/loss of loved ones, this might be a key theme to the show. Also, Wandavision is the first MCU property to explore the darker/sadder side to those who returned. In Far From Home the returning people was played for laughs, while in Wandavision it is showing to be chaos and in Monica's return it is tragic. This episode showed the chaos and confusion that would be created by all these sudden people returning. The people who were snapped out of existence by Thanos are returning five years later, but for them no time has passed. The returning people are confused and the people who have been around for the past five years are confused. The opening scene is definitely one of the best scenes in the MCU, it is up there with Iron Man's sacrifice, Cap wielding Mjolnir and Lebowski Thor.
Another aspect of the episode I liked was that Jimmy Woo and Darcy were investigating what is happening inside Westview and they were asking the same questions we the viewer have been asking for the first three episodes. It was a good choice to have the new lead characters of the episode feel like us the audience. Geraldine telling Wanda she knew her twin brother was killed by Ultron has me wondering if Wanda brings her brother back too. I would be very happy to Pietro (Quicksilver) again, I liked what Aaron Taylor-Johnson did with Quicksilver. I think even a cameo appearance by Johnson playing Wanda's brother who comes to see his nephews could be fun but also quite emotional. The director of S.W.O.R.D. is another character of interest. I have a feeling his character will be revealed to be a bad guy, but what kind of a bad guy. Could he be someone who just does not want to give up the power, is he a more nefarious bad guy like A.I.M. or is he a Kree sleeper agent. Monica walking back into S.W.O.R.D. with Hayward as her guide, they have an amiable conversation but Monica challenges Hayward a few times and he seems annoyed by it, but he is playing nice. I am interested to see where things with Hayward lead, this could be solved by the end of Wandavision or it could be part of something bigger in phase four of the MCU. I think Hayward is a bad guy, maybe not the bad guy of Wandavision, but a bad guy in the MCU, time will tell if I am correct.
I liked the chemistry between Jimmy and Darcy, they were a lot of fun, but they both showed they better than the versions we saw in the first appearances in the MCU. Darcy is now an astrophysicist and she is the one who figured out a way to see inside of Westview. Jimmy Woo also took charge and decided to try and identify who the characters of the broadcast were in the real world. Monica will now join Darcy and Jimmy in the investigation, there is a good chance they are the ones who solve the issue. I wonder if from now on we spend part of each episode inside of Westview and what is happening outside of Westview. I also hope we get to see more of S.W.O.R.D., I want to know more of its history and a better idea of what they are currently doing. Some people are suggesting Hayward saying half their astronauts were missing is a reference to the Fantastic Four, I do not believe it is. Though I think Hayward saying they were looking into sentient weapons is a possible hint of MODOK (Mental/Mobile/Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing), I have a feeling I might be right. Join me next week as I deep dive into episode five.
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