Action-packed and full of reveals. I’m happy that the overall story moves forward with strength and purpose.
But I don’t care if the costumes are canon, lol. They’re hideous.
ONE
Immediately the show opens with the fake credit sequence. One of the boys is running a video camcorder. Fast edits, sped up footage.
The boy (Billy?) talks directly to the camera, bringing us up to date. He’s dressed in a costume. The brother (Tommy?) is obviously the cool one. Teasing and jokes go by, but no laugh track now.
Pietro naps on the couch, then wakes and speeds about. He’s a creepy uncle. Wanda comes downstairs in a Halloween costume that references her first comic superhero outfit (I think). Billy gives meta-commentary: “Mom’s been weird.”
TWO
Now Vision in his own superhero costume comes downstairs.. He’s on his way to help with the neighborhood watch. Wanda says, You didn’t tell me. The tension between them is uncomfortable.
THREE
Billy speaks to the camera: Mom and Dad are . . . different.
FOUR
Pietro does a comedic bit with shaving cream. We get it. He’s a troublemaker, a rebel, and completely relaxed around Wanda.
Outside the Hex, the military camp has Wanda’s missile, still glowing red from her magic. Monica is angry with Hayward, carrying over their interplay from the last episode. They argue over Wanda. Monica is sympathetic, Hayward wants to take her out. Insults are thrown, and Hayward has Monica, Woo, and Darcy removed from the base.
They escape custody, grabbing SWORD ponchos so they can sneak about.
Wanda and Pietro, surrounded by costumed people in the street, stroll the neighborhood. When Wanda tries testing his memory, he says, “I know I look different.” Why? “You tell me,” he answers. His clarity about Wanda — her power and her control over the town — is refreshing.
As Pietro super-speeds the boys through the town creating mischief, Wanda talks to Herb. He’s on patrol, but Vision is not. When Wanda looks confused, and possibly upset, Herb asks, “Do you want something changed?” Again, we get that little bit of honesty, that feeling that the town isn’t right.
And then it’s amplified. Vision walks the outskirts of town. People decorate their yard, but they only use small, repetitive motions. Close on the woman who’s glassy-eyed, a tear slipping down her cheek.
Cut to commercial. It’s a claymation of a boy on an island. In surfs a shark who hands him “Yo-Magic”, a single-serve yogurt container. The boy can’t get the carton open as day turns to night, and he wastes away into a skeleton. “Yo-Magic, the snack for survivors.”
Back to town at night as Wanda and Pietro walk about. Again, they test each other. What happened to your accent? He says, I heard you calling me. And so he came to her.
Tommy suddenly speeds by, showing a superpower. As he zips around, Wanda reaches out and magically catches him. Take your brother, she says. And don’t go past Ellis Avenue.
SWITCH
At the military camp, Darcy, Woo, and Monica have snuck into Hayward’s tent so Darcy can hack his computer. He runs a program that tracks Vision within the town boundary. People around Vision also show up. Darcy notices that those near the edge barely move.
FIVE
It’s now night, and Vision walks the outskirts. Mid-action, nobody moves. Lights flicker, and dogs bark in the distance. His costume updates and he flies as his current self. The center of town is lively, the edges are dead. At a far intersection, brake lights flash. When Vision flies up, he sees Agnes, almost robotic, at the wheel. She took a wrong turn and got lost, she mumbles, tears in her eyes. Touching her head, he wakes her. You, she says. You’re Vision, one of the Avengers. What’s an Avenger, he asks. (Yikes.) Agnes wants to know if she’s dead. “Because you are,” she screeches with laughter. After Vision touches her head again, she gives her trademark, “Okey dokey.” Cheerful, she pulls a U-ey at Ellis Avenue. Close on the sign as Vision walks across the street and into an empty field.
Meanwhile, Darcy shows Monica a file from Hayward’s computer. He has your bloodwork. Because Monica’s been twice through the Hex, her cells are being rewritten. Monica shrugs it off. She’s going back to help Wanda. However, Darcy is staying with the computer. This last firewall must contain something big.
Outside, Monica and Woo take a humvee.
Back to Wanda and Pietro, sitting at the busy center of town. “Where were you hiding these kids?” he asks. Up until now the town was all adults. He admits that he’s impressed by her show of power. How’d you do all this, he says, gesturing to Westview. I don’t know, she says slowly. I only remember feeling completely alone. Empty. Endless nothingness.
Then she turns and sees him dead, gun shot wounds marking his chest. Blink, and he’s normal again
Breaking through the firewall, Darcy finds a file called “Cataract,” which she emails to Woo. At the Hex, Hayward and his team park at the wall. Vision’s tracker shows him near. We see his POV as he approaches the static of the Hex. With difficulty, he pushes through. Everyone, including Darcy, watches him lean forward while the Hex sucks him back. He wants out, Hayward says. Instead, he starts to come apart, pieces of him disintegrating.
SIX
Billy, in town, hears Hayward’s pronouncement.
SEVEN
He reaches out, as his mother did, and stops his speeding brother. Mom! I hear Dad in my head. He’s in trouble, Billy tells her.
EIGHT
Darcy, in handcuffs, screams for someone to help Vision.
In town, Wanda asks where Vision is? Pietro says, It’s not like your dead husband can die twice. Wanda tosses him across the street, then turns to Billy. Focus. He sees soldiers in his mind. “They think he’s dying.”
Wanda’s hands go red and everyone in the town square becomes motionless. Her eyes turn red, and the Hex pulses.
Checking the rear view, Monica in the humvee sees the Hex expand. It’s moving. Go, go, go! They speed away from the wall coming toward them. Hayward also drives away.
Darcy, though, is chained and can’t escape. She and the rest of the camp are captured by the expansion. A helicopter in flight becomes a hot air balloon. Soldiers become clowns, and the military tents become circus big tops. A SWAT van becomes a Funnel Cake truck.
Our last view is Hayward, speeding just out of reach of the Hex wall. He escapes.
NINE
Close on Wanda’s eyes as they lose the red and return to normal.
Please Stand By. Credits roll.
CRITICAL NOTES
I’m thrilled to see clarity and doubt from the characters. The Eight is really good. Just a few things strike me as confusing.
In past episodes the commercial has worked well as the Switch. Why misplace it this time? I don’t get the joke, beyond claymation being a thing in the 80s. I don’t find this effective as a story beat or as an Easter egg.
When Vision enters the episode he’s already decided to leave the family on Halloween and do some investigating. I wish we’d seen a little bit about this moment. Why now, and why like this?
The episode’s conceit — the television homage — really drops away. It’s a regular show after the opening minutes. Every now and then Billy will address the camera, but it feels very awkward and ill-planned. I don’t know which show they’re imitating, but they could’ve probably chosen something more suited to the tension and drama this episode brings.
One last complaint: I’m gutted that I didn’t recognize Wandavision had a Halloween episode just as I rotated to reviewing it. My post missed the date by a week! So untidy.