As always, Critical Notes are after the breakdown.
ONE
Oh, the sitcom homage is going to be The Brady Bunch this time. The title card has that groovy font, and the living room is all brick and wood. Wanda is pregnant and Vision is styled like Peter Fonda. It’s pretty funny. Geraldine has a large afro and Agnes has Marsha hair.
TWO/THREE
Exterior of the house, looking very ‘70s ranch style, and then inside as the doctor listens to Wanda’s belly. Laugh track at the birds-n-bees jokes. However, Vision is seriously trying to ask about the suddenness of this pregnancy. As he walks the doctor out the door, he asks if the doctor can keep the whole pregnancy quiet for now. And the doctor is headed away for vacation.
FOUR
The neighbor, Herb, waters his yard hedge, but then when we look back he’s taking an electric saw to the cinder block wall. Oh, it’s the hedge trimmer, cutting through concrete. Herb smiles as he continues to slice. When Vision returns into the house, Wanda’s pregnancy has grown from four months to six.
She magically paints and arranges the nursery while Vision sits in the rocking chair and reads a pregnancy book. Unexpected magical events happen as she gets excited. They argue over names: Billy or Tommy? Based on the growth rate, Vision calculates that the baby will be born in three days.
Wanda begins to have Braxton-Hicks contractions, which send the kitchen into disarray. The sink bubbles up, the mixer runs on its own, etc. Lots of laugh track. Power in the neighborhood goes out. And then Wanda wonders if the people have discovered their secret. She says it in that normal, sitcom way, but Vision takes it more seriously. He mentions Herb’s behavior and thinks there’s something wrong here. A beat on Wanda, who looks genuinely worried, and the scene backs up. Vision replies again, but this time without his serious concern. His response is now sitcom-friendly, too. They have a typical romantic moment and the audience track goes “Aww”.
Then Wanda has a big contraction and Vision elevates from it. Apparently his calculations were wrong. Her belly is definitely bigger. As they breathe through it and relax, rain starts falling in the house. Oh, her water just broke. (Oh, dear. That’s really on the nose.)
SWITCH
Cut to commercial: Kitchen disasters. A ball tossed into the breakfast cereal, the dog peeing in the corner (!), a burnt meal. The announcer asks the woman (in a brown Farrah Fawcett wig, lol) if she needs a break. It’s a Hydra Soak ad. “Find the Goddess Within” is the tag line, while the woman takes a bubble bath. Oh, and the product has pale blue Hydra squid heads as its box graphic design.
FIVE
Back to Wanda and Vision hiding under the dining room table while the rain continues. It stops, Wanda stands, and she creates a strong wind to dry everything. It’s time, she says, knowing that she’s ready to give birth. Vision magically dashes out for the doctor. Labor-breathing, Wanda hears a strange noise from the nursery. No idea what it is. The doorbell rings, and she pulls a coat from the closet in order to hide her bulge. Here’s Geraldine. She’s come to borrow a bucket to bail out her own house.
In the kitchen looking for a bucket, Wanda’s hit by large contractions. Her coat changes with each one, ending in a mink. She tosses it aside and grabs a fruit bowl to hide the belly until her visitor leaves. Instead, though, Geraldine settles on the couch. A stork appears behind her. She goes on about her job while the bird walks behind. Wanda keeps trying to disappear it, but her magic isn’t working. She ends up throwing an orange at it. Geraldine hears its annoyed chattering as it runs away, and stops with her story. She becomes more serious as she asks what that sound was. Nope, she’s back on her highly animated anecdote.
More sitcom antics when Geraldine goes into the nursery to look for office supplies. The stork camouflages itself. It’s all set-up and misdirection during this sequence. Finally Wanda gets hit with a big one and doubles over. She says, “The baby’s coming.” Geraldine says, “You’re pregnant?!” (Okay, that was actually funny.)
Meanwhile Vision arrives at the doctor’s house. Dressed for his vacation, doctor tinkers under the car hood. Vision grabs him and carries him piggy back, magically rushing off.
Geraldine helps Wanda lie down behind the couch while the appliances run by themselves. We see Wanda’s face in comedic pain, pictures on the wall twirl, and Geraldine dashes about. Wanda says she can’t do this and Geraldine, between her legs, acts as coach and midwife. The vacuum explodes and Geraldine rises from behind the couch, a newborn in her arms. As she passes the baby to Wanda, Vision dashes in with the doctor.
Geraldine takes the wobbly-legged doctor into the kitchen to give Vision and Wanda a moment. Vision holds “Tommy”, giving the baby Wanda’s name choice, and she starts screaming. It’s another birth. “Billy!” Dissolve on Olsen’s very nice molar display as Wanda wails.
It’s all over. The doctor holds one of the babies, Wanda stands normally, and Geraldine admires from the couch. Vision, placing his baby in the crib, walks the doctor out.
SIX
On the stoop, Vision says he hopes the doctor can still make his trip. Close on the doctor as he says no. “Small towns, so hard to escape.” Vision looks curiously at him. As he turns to go back in the house, Vision waves at Herb and Agnes, talking over the wall. They seem deep in conversation. It’s suspicious, but Vision can’t find anything wrong. As he heads back, Agnes asks if Geraldine’s inside with Wanda.
SEVEN
Cut to the two women inside, admiring the babies. Wanda pauses, then says, “I’m a twin. I had a brother.”
EIGHT
A long look at Geraldine while Wanda hums a lullaby. Then Geraldine says, “He was killed by Ultron. Wasn’t he?” It’s as if Geraldine might be remembering something. Wanda, tearing up, asks, “What did you say?”
Back to outside as Agnes tells Vision that Geraldine’s new to town. No family. No home.
Back inside. Wanda’s focused in like a laser beam on Geraldine. “What did you say?” Either Geraldine forgets, or she sidesteps, because she goes back to baby talk. Wanda, serious, says she should leave. We get an insert of Geraldine’s pendant.
Outside, Vision asks, “What do you mean she has no home?” Herb stammers, then answers, “She came here because we’re all –” He can’t finish.
Inside, Wanda points at the necklace. It’s a teardrop with in inverted cross. Wanda becomes more intense as she questions her. Geraldine is definitely nervous. Babies cry in the background.
Crosscut as no one can finish a sentence.
Vision, completely confused and worried, comes into the house, changing into his metal self. Wanda’s alone with the babies. Where’s Geraldine? She had to rush home.
NINE
Cut to the town sign: Welcome to Westview. A rumbling sound, a power surge, and then Geraldine flies through the air and rolls on the ground. The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” begins while SUVs and a helicopter surround her. Pull out and we see she’s landed next to a mobile military installation. The camera rotates to show a bank of lights shining on a ground-to-sky virtual wall. Cut to a “Please Stand By” television screen. Credits while the music continues.
CRITICAL NOTES
Once again, the sitcom episode is painful. Should these Wandas have two Enneagram structures, one for the pretend episode and one for the real? Would that even be possible? Wanda wants to give birth without the neighbors becoming suspicious; that’s the pretend plot. Strangely, she succeeds, although that has nothing to do with the action. It’s just random. Agnes the nosy neighbor never comes in, which is a first. Geraldine does, but she’s connected to the other, real plotline. Much of Geraldine’s part could’ve (and should’ve) been written for Agnes. It’s only at the end, when she mentions the brother’s death, that Geraldine is specifically needed. If we’d had Geraldine at the Two and at the Eight, that would’ve worked much better. We should be suspicious of her, just as Agnes is. Her reveal when she’s tossed from Westview gives us real world information that we’ve craved. Build up the mystery. By writing her as an Agnes for most of the episode, the showrunners weaken a key moment. A little rivalry throughout the episode — who’s Wanda’s bestie — would’ve at least given a structure to this thing. Put all three women in the room together and see what they want to say.
Another problem: the doctor calls out to be the Three/Six. It would be a great choice, but that’s not what happened. He’s in at the Two (which should’ve been a Geraldine) rather than at the Three, while he’s successfully out at the Six. Wanda’s pregnancy is actually not the Trouble, Geraldine’s real-life reaction is. We don’t need fetal heartbeat monitoring at the Two.
I’m also a little uncomfortable with a Nine that’s so intriguing. The Nine is the wrap, the setting of the world at the end of the story. This Nine is more of a One. I wish they’d incorporated the last impact of Geraldine’s mystery into the proper Eight. It may have only taken a beat, a moment of Geraldine on the ground after being ejected, where we see her reaction. What does she think? Does she know where she is and what’s happened, or is she shocked and confused? Then bring in the cars and lights. The Eight, a confrontation between Geraldine and Wanda, between reality and pretend, hasn’t resolved without that beat on her face after she lands in the dirt. They’ve rushed through an important five seconds that needed a pause.