S01.E04: We Interrupt This Program

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Monica Rambeau, tasked with a special assignment regarding sentient weapons, goes missing.

Dropping Friday, January 29, 2021.

[Kromm]

About what I expected. 

The bad: Randall Park is good in a straight comedy. Here?  Not so much. 

The good: Corpse Vision

The in-between:  a few good reveals on SWORD, but nothing truly earthshaking. 

[Guest]

I love this show. That opening shot of the dusted returning was incredible. Then the ending with dead Vision was so creepy. The idea that Wanda is playing house with Vision’s corpse is so disturbing. I guessed that might be what was happening in some capacity but wasn’t prepared to actually see it. 

Loved the introduction to Monica and seeing Woo and Darcy again. On the whiteboard Agnes was the only one who didn’t have a real world ID.  Dottie wasn’t on the board at all. Who’s censoring the show? I still feel it can’t all be Wanda.

Woo is asking the same questions as us. Why hexagonal shape? Why sitcoms? Is Vision alive? 

It’s interesting that there are more episodes than we’ve seen. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Guest

[vb68]

10 hours ago, Kromm said:

The in-between:  a few good reveals on SWORD, but nothing truly earthshaking. 

I thought it was pretty good actually.

Great way to start off with Monica and all the callbacks with "Lt. Trouble", her mom, and of course, the Snap. That first sequence in the hospital was really well done IMO.

Also surprisingly nice to see Darcy.  Also nice to see her being competent and that she doesn't need Jane. I am surprised neither Jane nor Dr. Selvig got a name check.

I never developed any affinity for Jimmy. He was just kinda there. They needed somebody. Once they realized it was Wanda and Vision, why didn't they try and contact other Avengers... Bruce? Or Sam or Clint, maybe?  I was also convinced we were going to see some version of Fury or at least Maria Hill.

This episode was very talky. But it did explain a lot, and I thought it was a nice changeup.

Edited January 29, 2021 by vb68

[Chyromaniac]

Fun episode, in a “so that’s what the Others were doing on the other side of the island” sort of way.   I think it’s coming at the right time too- I’ve had a couple of conversations with friends who aren’t hardcore fans, and they were starting to get confused- hopefully this will provide some context to help explain some of the weird stuff from the previous three episodes.

[Kromm]

18 hours ago, Dani said:

On the whiteboard Agnes was the only one who didn’t have a real world ID.  Dottie wasn’t on the board at all.

Dottie simply hadn't appeared yet. 

Them not being able to identify Agnes will matter, I think. Then again, SWORD may get distracted by Monica's reveal that it's all Wanda.  They may stop looking at other people. And I think that while Wanda is definitely the baddie here (I called it from the original previews and Avengers: Disassembled) there's certainly layers left to peel.  She didn't come up with this idea all by herself, I think. It was dangled in front of her by someone. 

18 hours ago, vb68 said:

I never developed any affinity for Jimmy. He was just kinda there.

Randall Park is good on sitcoms. 

That's all. 

This isn't a sitcom (at least the parts with him). 

18 hours ago, Dani said:

It’s interesting that there are more episodes than we’ve seen. 

They don't outright say it, but yes, it's implied. I mean was Geraldine on a bench in the 50s?  I don't remember that. 

[phalange]

I can only imagine how chaotic it was when people returned from getting snaptured, so that opening scene was well done. Poor Maria Rambeau and poor Monica, how awful that would be to think her mom was getting better only to find out she got sick again and Monica never got to say goodbye.

So Westview is just completely created by Wanda. And who exactly is this missing person that Agent Woo is looking for? It appears all the town residents are being held there against their will, but I'm curious about how Wanda went about gathering all these people.  Really curious about Vision, too. I assume Wanda seeing him appear dead means he's actually there, which is...creepy. And even when it went back to the 70s, the film stayed in widescreen, so Wanda's struggling to keep things together. 

And it's definitely suspicious that all of the missing people had real names listed except for Agnes. I'm still not 100% sure she's a bad guy, but she knows more than she's saying.

I like how all the things that would be incongruous are changed to make more sense. The drone is changed into a helicopter, the agent in the hazmat suit is dressed like a beekeeper, and his harness becomes a jump rope when he crosses the barrier. (Side note: that jump rope is identical to the ones I remember from elementary school, and man did those plastic beads hurt like hell if you whapped yourself in the ankle!)

Speaking of the agent, what happened to him when Wanda rewound time? It's weird that whenever Wanda shorts out the radio or rewinds time Darcy and the others can't see it. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Kromm said:

They don't outright say it, but yes, it's implied. I mean was Geraldine on a bench in the 50s?  I don't remember that. 

That was new. I think it has been confirmed because there were details written on the white board that we haven’t seen. (I wouldn’t recommend reading those details if you don’t want to be potentially spoiled. The one I saw was significant.)

44 minutes ago, phalange said:

So Westview is just completely created by Wanda.

Westview was a real town. The ID’s shown were all for people who lived there. Whatever is happening has somehow erased the town and it’s residents from people’s minds. 

1 hour ago, Kromm said:

Dottie simply hadn't appeared yet. 

I know. I was pointed out that we doing know if Dottie could be identified or not. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Guest

[Kromm]

One event which I think may get overlooked is what ultimately happens with the "Eastview" cops. 

Beyond their inability to seem to even SEE the Westview sign, what freaked me out was that the cop car drove TOWARDS Westview.  But the car wasn't shown disappearing.  The camera shows the car passing the Westview sign, then we get a reverse angle camera shot. The next shot of the road we get, there's no cop car. Neither Monica nor Jimmy seems to notice this, but since they're conversing in real time, not enough time passed for the car to have driven out of sight (it's only about 25-30 seconds). Do we conclude they DID enter the Sitcom Zone and our two characters simply don't notice, or is even MORE weirdness going on?

I mean does Eastview actually exist and Westview is being blocked from them, for example, or are those actually Westview cops who's minds have been totally overwritten?  That scene just leaves more questions...

[Featherhat]

Wow, so that happened!

TP was clearly the MVP of this episode as well as KD. I loved getting another slice of how chaotic it was when the snap (not calling it the blip) happened and how devastating it also was when people can back only to realise they’d missed 5 years of their lives.

Maria Rambeau founded SWORD! And had faith her daughter would come back. Well she would know all about that I suppose.

So the crashed helicopter was a SWORD drone, not a miniaturised chopper that brought Monica in. She was just sucked in instead.

Randall Park knows how to do a lot with a little. He’s goofy in a very straight laced well. He had a poster of Elliot Ness on his wall, heh. Some of it was cringey other parts I thought worked well. 

Darcy became an actual astrophysicist!? And she was the one who figured things out. She’s come a long way, even though I always liked her a lot more than some others seemed to.

So Woo is like us – why the hexagons? Why sitcoms? Is it real? Who are all these people? Haghah I see what you did there guys!

So creepy beekeeper only became creepy beekeeper inside Wanda’s Vision Reality.

Darcy is invested in the sitcom, me too Darcy, surprisingly. They saw the commercials but didn't comment on them...

So Wanda was still pretty scary in the full clip of her banishing Monica. I don’t think she knew about Ultron all along but once the spell was broken she certainly seemed to wake up and have enough knowledge of what’s going on to realise that Geraldine doesn’t “belong” in her sitcom land and got rid of anything that broke her fantasy. 

They identified Herb, hmm. But suspiciously absent were Agnes and Dottie. Both appeared but neither identified. There’s still something else going on besides just Wanda creating a happy alternative reality where everything is solved in 22 minutes.

The “episodes” also seem to be moving by pretty quickly on the outside world, as if we were binge watching reruns and there were more than we had seen. 

Ugh, Zombie!Vision at the end. That can’t be what Wanda has animated can it? I mean it might well be but that was disturbing,

Since it’s only episode 4 I don’t think “it’s all Wanda” but she clearly is controlling some of it and has some awareness that maybe comes and goes about how real this is and she’s desperately and literally trying to paper over the cracks.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Featherhat

[Kromm]

33 minutes ago, Featherhat said:

They identified Herb, hmm. But suspiciously absent were Agnes and Dottie. Both appeared but neither identified.

The sequence where they were pinning up the photos was before Dottie appeared in Sitcomland. We've no idea whether they could identify her or not. 

[Featherhat]

5 hours ago, Kromm said:

The sequence where they were pinning up the photos was before Dottie appeared in Sitcomland. We've no idea whether they could identify her or not. 

They identified "Beverly" as being played Isabel Matsueida and her first scene was with Dottie. We saw scenes glimpses of scenes that we weren't show so plenty of time to go "Harold AND Harriet Copter" if they wanted to eliminate her as a suspect. They have "Agnes's" picture up on the board but didn't identify her either - no driving license pinned up. I don't know if there's a big in universe reason (like working with Mephisto) why they couldn't identify Dottie but it was deliberate to exclude her from the "real people living in WestView " ID parade, to keep us wondering. 

Also potentially significant was not finding out who Woo was hiding in WITSEC.

Also I was getting really weird vibes off the Director of SWORD because he blew off Monica's concern about the "creation" of sentient weapons but how or if he and/or parts of SWORD/AIM are involved remains unclear. 

Interesting that WestView itself was given a "perfect suburb" makeover in Sitcomland but in real life it looked a little run down from what we could see. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Featherhat

[arc]

51 minutes ago, Kromm said:

Beyond their inability to seem to even SEE the Westview sign, what freaked me out was that the cop car drove TOWARDS Westview. 

It's not clear from what we see onscreen, but I took the squealing tires to mean those cops did a quick u-turn and drove back the way Monica came.

TBH I've never watched Thor 1 & 2 but I feel like I might need to now. Darcy was delightful. I did go back and rewatch some of the Vision/Wanda stuff from Infinity War. (And rewatching that, I had forgotten that they had lined up on opposite sides in Civil War).

Agent Woo wasn't awful, but this was a pretty thankless role this ep.

I think the more recent Marvel movies have all standardized at 2.39:1 aspect ratio, which was also what almost the entire episode was here. The "reality" aspect ratio.

This episode was super fascinating even though I was expecting (and very much wanted) to see the 1980s episode.

 

[Kromm]

Quite appropriately, the Episode title is apparently "We Interrupt This Program". 

[Spartan Girl]

Maria died of cancer while Monica was blipped?!!! NOOOOOOO!😭😭😭😭😭At least tell me Carol was with her at the end!!

Yay Darcy! No longer an intern but a doctor in her own right! Love her and Woo together, getting invested while snarking on all the sitcom cliches.

Corpse Vision was freaky. Okay so Wanda is definitely running the show but I’m starting to wonder if “Vision” is more than he seems.

[Linny]

As much as I've enjoyed the sitcom stylings of WandaVision, pulling back the curtain on the larger context of the show was a welcome change. I think it's important that the timeline is set just a few weeks after the return of those Thanos snapped; I'm guessing that everyone in WandaVision was one of the blipped, brought back and then into this bubble with Wanda. They, like Monica, were formatted to fit the sitcom scenario, but for some their real memories are bleeding through. That would explain Agnes and Herb's weird conversation with Vision in episode three and how they recognize that all is not right in this world.

Darcy/Kat Dennings was a delight here. I loved how quickly she became invested in WandaVision, because SAME. Woo, on the other hand didn't hit the mark for me. All his jokes landed with a thud (thinking that Darcy was asking if he wanted kids instead of if he wanted chips, oof). I guess we needed a straight man to play against Darcy's effortlessly cool nerdy chic, but he made me cringe more than anything.

Wanda's glimpse of Vision's lifeless dead face was equal parts creepy and sad. I'm so curious how Wanda is going to be extricated from this situation and mentally recover. She's holding on to this fantasy for dear life and I worry about how she'll respond when it finally begins to crumble.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Linny

[Jediknight]

Jimmy Woo learned a magic trick!  He accomplished his goal!  Seriously, I had such a huge smile when he pulled off that card trick.

And, I'm kind of shipping Darcy and Woo.  They worked great together, and Dennings and Park have chemistry.  Their interactions seemed so effortless.

Still think that Mephisto is ultimately in control of this all.  Wanda looked shocked when she yeeted Monica, and I don't think they'd have the payoff to the mystery be half way through the season.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

2 hours ago, arc said:

Agent Woo wasn't awful, but this was a pretty thankless role this ep.

He finally learned close magic, though. When Monica first approached him at the Westview sign the cops couldn't see, he pulled a business card out of nowhere. Nice callback to Ant Man.

39 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Maria died of cancer while Monica was blipped?!!! NOOOOOOO!😭😭😭😭😭At least tell me Carol was with her at the end!!

That was my first thought too!!! "Please tell me Carol was there since Monica couldn't be."

Darcy! "Okay, I need a TV. An old one, that's not flat." Heh. I wonder if she ever got her coffee. "What? I'm invested." Heh again.

So in the real world this takes place after the undoing of the Snap. Darcy must have been part of SWORD before that (and presumably didn't get blipped) since she recognized both Vision and Wanda on their 'sitcom'. Though didn't the doctor tell Monica that it had been three years, not five? It's a minor thing, but it stood out to me.

I liked that they showed what happened after Wanda showed Monica the door, that she had to rebuild part of the house to cover the damage because she literally punched a hole in the bookcase and the wall behind it. "You are trespassing, and I need you to leave." Would Monica have known who Wanda actually was, beyond the construct? Darcy did, but since Monica fell victim to the Snap and I guess Darcy didn't that might have kept her from being aware. Because the energy field around the town was the same kind that flowed from her hands when she gave her the boot. They even had a name for it.

[dkb]

4 minutes ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

So in the real world this takes place after the undoing of the Snap. Darcy must have been part of SWORD before that (and presumably didn't get blipped) since she recognized both Vision and Wanda on their 'sitcom'. Though didn't the doctor tell Monica that it had been three years, not five? It's a minor thing, but it stood out to me.

 

I thought the doctor said Maria had died 3 years ago, after 2 years of Monica getting blipped/missing. 

 

I liked Agent Woo, I thought he was funny and his jokes with Darcy were funny. Agree @Jediknight Randall Park and Kat Dennings have great chemistry.

I gasped when we see dead Vision, was not expecting that at all.

[Featherhat]

4 minutes ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

So in the real world this takes place after the undoing of the Snap. Darcy must have been part of SWORD before that (and presumably didn't get blipped) since she recognized both Vision and Wanda on their 'sitcom'. Though didn't the doctor tell Monica that it had been three years, not five? It's a minor thing, but it stood out to me.

I liked that they showed what happened after Wanda showed Monica the door, that she had to rebuild part of the house to cover the damage because she literally punched a hole in the bookcase and the wall behind it. "You are trespassing, and I need you to leave." Would Monica have known who Wanda actually was, beyond the construct? Darcy did, but since Monica fell victim to the Snap and I guess Darcy didn't that might have kept her from being aware. Because the energy field around the town was the same kind that flowed from her hands when she gave her the boot. They even had a name for it.

It was three years since Monica's mother died and 5 years in total the doctor said. 

Wanda was a public person before the snap. She was part of the Avengers and then one of the reasons the Sokovia Accords existed in the first place and then on the run as a public enemy, so people would know who she was. And since Monica was part of SWORD she has professional reasons for knowing as well. 

21 minutes ago, Jediknight said:

Still think that Mephisto is ultimately in control of this all.  Wanda looked shocked when she yeeted Monica, and I don't think they'd have the payoff to the mystery be half way through the season.

I don't think they'd have the big mystery revealed mid season either. But I wonder if SWORD will take Monica's word for it and launch an operation or offensive against Wanda because she's theoretically holding a lot of people hostage as well as potentially causing damage with that radiation that Darcey said might get more dangerous at the beginning. And in the last ep we find out Mephisto is the big spider in the web.

[Chaos Theory]

I am enjoying this even though I can’t name check a lot of these people like some people probably can.   It is still interesting to watch.   I like watching everyone on the other side try to figure out what is going on.  It was fun watching.       I didn’t recognize Jimmy Woo but I did recognize Darcy and loved how she was the one who put everything together.   

I am curious where and how Wanda is getting the people for her town.   If they are innocents or something else and if it is really her pulling the strings or if she is a victim in this as well.

I never watched the movies she was in in full but I did fast forward through her scenes especially the Ultron movie and even then she never really struck me as a villain but as someone in a lot of pain with no place to put it.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Chaos Theory

[Keywestclubkid]

31 minutes ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

 Though didn't the doctor tell Monica that it had been three years, not five? It's a minor thing, but it stood out to me.

 

It had been 3 years since  Monica vanished that her mother got sick again and 2 years after that she died  or flip that 2 years gone 3 years later she died ...but the time line adds up Monica was  gone 5 years

Edited January 29, 2021 by Keywestclubkid

[AimingforYoko]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

Maria died of cancer while Monica was blipped?!!!

Poor Maria, both Carol and Monica disappeared on her under mysterious circumstances. But Carol came back, so I guess that's why she had faith Monica would too.

Spec: Wanda created Westview, but some other entity (Mephisto?) is taking advantage.

[VCRTracking]

ZombieVision had me:

Loved seeing the return from the Snap from Monica's point of view. Her mother. I want to believe Carol at least saw her again. Awesome that she founded S.W.O.R.D.

Great to see Jimmy Woo(who fimallu learned how to do card tricks) and Darcy Lewis(who got her PHD).

[swanpride]

First of all: The first scene was amazing. Honestly, I expect that they will keep referring to the implications of the snap without getting too dark about it.

 

Second: We were pretty good, weren't we? The only thing off was the helicopter was a drone and not a real helicopter.

 

Third: What the heck happened to the guy in the hazmat suit?

 

Four: So...no match for Agnes, right? None of the Mail man either I guess???? Or did I miss it? Have to look again...

 

Five: Did Darcy change majors? She used to be a politics major, not an astrophysicist....not that I disapprove of the notion. She is fun, especially in the way she sees through all the BS.

 

Six: Guess all the cool Agencies in the MCU have been built by women.

 

Seven: So Wu just stood before the city and never tried to enter? weird. Also, who exactly is in the witness protection program? Apparently not Wanda, or he wouldn't have been that surprised to see her.

 

Eight: I really hope that this was just a memory and Wanda is not literally sitting beside the corpse of Vision

 

Nine: So, I guess we are still in 2023? Doesn't sound like it is long after Monica came back...hopefully Carol ensured that there is still something for her to come back to.

 

Ten: Doesn't look like Monica has any abilities yet...though I am not quite clear why she got sucked in but nobody else apparently did....

[johntfs]

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

I am enjoying this even though I can’t name check a lot of these people like some people probably can.   It is still interesting to watch.   I like watching everyone on the other side try to figure out what is going on.  It was fun watching.       I didn’t recognize Jimmy Woo but I did recognize Darcy and loved how she was the one who put everything together.   

I am curious where and how Wanda is getting the people for her town.   If they are innocents or something else and if it is really her pulling the strings or if she is a victim in this as well.

I never watched the movies she was in in full but I did fast forward through her scenes especially the Ultron movie and even then she never really struck me as a villain but as someone in a lot of pain with no place to put it.

Wanda got the people for her town from their town.  Westview was a real place with real people, before Wanda came there (with Vision's corpse in tow, apparently) and dragged the place and everyone in it into her TV dimension.

Pain can cause somebody to be a villain.  Consider Ghost from Ant-Man and the Wasp.  For that matter consider Vision's statement from Age of Ultron: "I don't want to kill Ultron.  He's unique and he's in pain, but that pain will roll over the Earth like a wave, so he must be destroyed."

6 minutes ago, swanpride said:

Ten: Doesn't look like Monica has any abilities yet...though I am not quite clear why she got sucked in but nobody else apparently did....

The cops were from Westview so they didn't try to get in (due to being compelled not to) and they probably didn't let Woo in.  Plus the place radiated a "Keep Out" vibe that kept others out.  Monica got sucked in because she was the first one to actually touch the energy border.  After that nobody else (aside from still-missing Agent Franklin) touched the border to get sucked in.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by johntfs

[tennisgurl]

Well we finally got the answer we all wanted...did Agent Woo finally learn card tricks?! I am glad that those online tutorials finally paid off!

As much as I have loved the sitcom world, I am glad that we went to the real world for a bit, and we did finally get some answers as to what is going on, but we are still left with a lot of unanswered questions going forward. Its great seeing grown up Monica, even if we also find out that Maria has died during the time skip (please tell me that Carol was with her at least!) and I love seeing Jimmy Woo and Darcy (who is now DOCTOR Lewis, thank you) again. You can tell that Randall Park and Kat Dennings are pulling on some of their sitcom experience here, their scenes were a nice comedic double act, they had really nice chemistry throughout. I especially loved them and SWORD basically being us while watching the show trying to figure out what is going on and putting the pieces together. What's with the hexagons? Why sitcoms? How is Vision here? 

While Wanda does seem to have some level of control here, I don't think its all Wanda. I definitely find it interesting that Agnes hasn't been identified in the real world yet, despite being a major "character" in the sitcom world. My current theory? Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness, Wanda's witch mentor from the comics. And that Mephisto is involved in this somehow. Also, who in the town was it witness protection?

That shot of Visions dead corpse was horrifying, as are the implications that Wanda is basically playing house with her dead boyfriends corpse. Have we not learned that bringing back dead people, even robot people, is a bad idea? 

The opening with Monica being snapped back (I refuse to call it the blip on the grounds that it sounds stupid) was really great, a very harrowing look at the chaos that would naturally follow half the population of the universe coming back all of the sudden. 

[blugirlami21]

I thought this episode was great. Loved the beginning with the real world and the reveal of who Geraldine really was. Very cool. The one thing I absolutely love about Marvel is how tightly woven and connected it is throughout. 

Woo finally learning that close up magic is a nice callback to Ant-Man 2 and Monica bring Maria Rambeau's daughter is also fantastic.

I knew all along that this was Wanda's doing. She seemed unaware of all of the implications of it though. I think she had totally blocked out Vision actually being dead until this episode. It's prob easier that way. She was also visibly surprised by what she did to Geraldine.

Now whether she is pulling the strings is another story. We saw Wanda after the battle at the funeral and she was sad but not delusional. 

And I don't consider her a baddie. Misguided perhaps but she's not intentionally hurting anyone and she didn't kill Monica she just kicked her out of the simulation.

My guess is that her powers are being used by something or someone and this show is a nice distraction for her to keep her happy and compliant.

Edited January 29, 2021 by blugirlami21

[Cobalt Stargazer]

2 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

I am curious where and how Wanda is getting the people for her town.   If they are innocents or something else and if it is really her pulling the strings or if she is a victim in this as well.

My theory is that some of the 'residents' of Westview are there for the same reason Monica was, they messed around with the barrier either accidentally or on purpose and got dragged in. Because Agent Woo was telling Monica to be careful right up to the second she disappeared, so I think they didn't know the barrier could pull others into the construct, just that it was keeping the town hidden. If Wanda's not entirely responsible for the invisible wall, she must know its there, because 'trespassing' must have been deliberate word choice.

 

29 minutes ago, johntfs said:

  After that nobody else (aside from still-missing Agent Franklin) touched the border to get sucked in.

I noticed that the agent coming in through the pipes had a tether on his belt, that it was being fed in behind him as he crossed through the barrier, but it got disconnected once he crossed over. The SWORD director guy (can't remember his name) was looking at the loose end when they pulled it out of the pipe. Still doesn't explain the bees, though.

[Keywestclubkid]

3 minutes ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

 

 

I noticed that the agent coming in through the pipes had a tether on his belt, that it was being fed in behind him as he crossed through the barrier, but it got disconnected once he crossed over. The SWORD director guy (can't remember his name) was looking at the loose end when they pulled it out of the pipe. Still doesn't explain the bees, though.

the tether that passed the barrier turned into a jump rope and his hazmat suit turned into a beekeeper with bees because it was part of her "fantasy world" that was time period appropriate for television

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I am not invested in the Marvel Universe. I've only watched three of the other tv shows and maybe four of the movies so I have no idea who most of these people are or what the hell they're talking about. I didn't hate this episode because it was nice to see what was happening on the other side of the sitcom, but watching this also reminded me why I quit watching Agents of SHIELD after three seasons.

As much as I enjoyed the curtain being pulled back, I can't wait to get back to the sitcoms next week!

[Kromm]

Quote

 My theory is that some of the 'residents' of Westview are there for the same reason Monica was, they messed around with the barrier either accidentally or on purpose and got dragged in.

So I now think it's possible that Herb was going to say "dead" rather than "trapped". More in the Speculation Topic about that. 

I will admit though that conflicts with what I think happened with the Eastview cops, who's vanish from the location still seems weird (one person speculated the cop car turned around but then why the sudden reverse camera angle?) 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Kromm

[FnkyChkn34]

So clearly I need to watch some of the movies again... 🤣  I recognized Agent Woo but it didn't dawn on me until later that he was in Ant Man and the Wasp.  I didn't recognize Monica/Geraldine at all.  But, then again... please don't make me watch Captain Marvel again.  It just wasn't good...  At least I knew Darcy/Kat immediately!  I even yelled "Kat!" at my TV.

I did love this episode though.  I thought it was the perfect time to see the other point of view and learn more, rather than continue to see only the sitcoms from Wanda's point of view.  This episode answered a few questions but created just as many more!  It was really good (even if I didn't understand Monica until I came here and was reminded).

[Chicago Redshirt]

19 minutes ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

So clearly I need to watch some of the movies again... 🤣  I recognized Agent Woo but it didn't dawn on me until later that he was in Ant Man and the Wasp.  I didn't recognize Monica/Geraldine at all.  But, then again... please don't make me watch Captain Marvel again.  It just wasn't good...  At least I knew Darcy/Kat immediately!  I even yelled "Kat!" at my TV.

Back in Captain Marvel, Monica was like 9, so no reason for you to have recognized her. Her mom, Maria, was more prominently featured.

[blugirlami21]

She was a child in Captain Marvel so there's really no need to watch it again.  I will admit that one is not one of my favorites.  I think if you wanted to see more of Maria you could revisit but their parts are small.  

Yea I agree that the residents of tv Westview seem to be people who lived there.  It seemed like they became a part of the program because they were already there.  That doesn't mean that some of them can't be implants from who is pulling the strings.  

I'm not sure how fun this show is for people who aren't invested in the movies.  The little stuff like Woo returning or Darcy showing up won't really mean anything.  To each their own.  I do think the show is strong enough to be interesting enough on its own.

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Well we finally got the answer we all wanted...did Agent Woo finally learn card tricks?! I am glad that those online tutorials finally paid off!

I think it is funny that now that he's learned "magic," he has come face to face with actual magic.

1 hour ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I am not invested in the Marvel Universe. I've only watched three of the other tv shows and maybe four of the movies so I have no idea who most of these people are or what the hell they're talking about. I didn't hate this episode because it was nice to see what was happening on the other side of the sitcom, but watching this also reminded me why I quit watching Agents of SHIELD after three seasons.

As much as I enjoyed the curtain being pulled back, I can't wait to get back to the sitcoms next week!

I'm curious: what attracts you to the show? I would think WandaVision would not have much to recommend it if one wasn't familiar with or didn't care about the MCU or the main characters. 

[QuantumMechanic]

5 minutes ago, blugirlami21 said:

I'm not sure how fun this show is for people who aren't invested in the movies.  The little stuff like Woo returning or Darcy showing up won't really mean anything.  To each their own.  I do think the show is strong enough to be interesting enough on its own.

The only MCU movies I've seen are the two Guardians of the Galaxy movies and I'm greatly enjoying WV.  Of course, as someone who grew up in the 1970s and 80s and thus has seen (even if reruns) plenty of 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s sitcoms just that part alone is a total blast.  And the mystery part is fun.  Though as a comics reader in the 70s and 80s and into the early 90s I do know a bunch of backstory from that angle (so I know about Hydra, the names of the twins didn't surprise me, I know who Harkness and Mephisto are if they indeed show up, etc.)
 

Edited January 29, 2021 by QuantumMechanic

[Keywestclubkid]

Monica having the clothes from inside the town and the tether that stayed a jump rope when it was pulled back out does that mean  that anything from her fake world can pass the barrier and remain what they were?

[swanpride]

I quite like Captain Marvel. And I think it is kind of great how the show fits in, even though it is really sad that Maria died.

 

 

[vb68]

28 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Back in Captain Marvel, Monica was like 9, so no reason for you to have recognized her. Her mom, Maria, was more prominently featured.

Basically you  just need to know that Monica did have a bond with Captain Marvel, who nicknamed her "Lieutenant Trouble."  Monica was also  aware of aliens from that early age and that some were indeed allies. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by vb68

[swanpride]

I wonder if she is okay...I mean, even if Wanda didn't outright kill her, she was thrown through multiple walls (or whatever are walls in Wanda's mind). By all rights, that should at the very least shattered her spine…..

[bettername2come]

I love seeing the snapback. It hadn't occurred to me that we didn't really see that before. Poor Monica. Poor Maria. Surviving cancer only to have her daughter disappear. God, after her best friend had disappeared years ago. This is a bad habit. And she's hardly the only one to have to go through that. 

Agent Woo learned a little closeup magic! And he's on the FBI softball team. I love him. 

Darcy! I love Kat Dennings. And I love that she's now an astrophysics person after all her time with Jane. And Dr. Lewis made me smile.  Yeah, makes sense since 12 years have passed in-universe since her intro. And now she's competent with technology instead of just smacking it! Offscreen character growth! Love that she was the one watching the broadcast. Way less ominous than it appeared. I love the way they explained getting in through the old-fashioned broadcast signal. 

The production values had such a cinematic quality, especially after everything's been in black and white and 70s style. 

Dead Vision was terrifying. 

[Kromm]

9 minutes ago, swanpride said:

I wonder if she is okay...I mean, even if Wanda didn't outright kill her, she was thrown through multiple walls (or whatever are walls in Wanda's mind). By all rights, that should at the very least shattered her spine…..

I have close to zero doubt they're going to handwave the possibility of any serious injury away.

Why? 

While it's perfectly feasible to have the character crippled, even knowing she's in Captain Marvel 2, it would basically put her out of the rest of THIS story and it was too deliberate showing us so much of her backstory to only have Monica present after that just for a setup to banish her from the series. 

[Gregg247]

I've enjoyed this show up to now, but this episode is definitely the best!  I really feel like it's kicking into high gear now, and I was really surprised when the credits came up.  I couldn't believe the half hour had passed so quickly! It was nice to see characters from Ant-Man, Thor, and Captain Marvel show up, and I like that everyone (so far) is competent, hard-working, and focused on the mystery.

The first 3 episodes were kind of fun and nostalgic, but now we're really getting into the meat of the story.  I can't wait until next week!

[tennisgurl]

31 minutes ago, vb68 said:

Basically you  just need to know that Monica did have a bond with Captain Marvel, who nicknamed her "Lieutenant Trouble."  Monica was also  aware of aliens from that early age and that some were indeed allies. 

I wonder if they are setting up some friction between Monica the new head of SWORD, the exchange between them where the head SWORD head said something about how the universe is full of threats and Monica added "and allies" and he kind of gave her a "yeah right sure" look, it seems like that could be setting some kind of conflict. What exactly does "sentient weapon" mean exactly? Because calling someone a "sentient weapon" doesn't really sound great, especially after the registration clusterfuck. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by tennisgurl

[lovett1979]

2 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I wonder if they are setting up some friction between Monica the new head of SWORD, the exchange between them where the head SWORD head said something about how the universe is full of threats and Monica added "and allies" and he kind of gave her a "yeah right sure" look, it seems like that could be setting some kind of conflict. What exactly does "sentient weapon" mean exactly? Because calling someone a "sentient weapon" doesn't really sound great, especially after the registration clusterfuck. 

In Civil War, comparison is made between the super powered beings (Thor and Hulk specifically) and nuclear bombs. So I think "sentient weapon" means our dear Avengers and the like.

[Jediknight]

3 hours ago, swanpride said:

Seven: So Wu just stood before the city and never tried to enter? weird. Also, who exactly is in the witness protection program? Apparently not Wanda, or he wouldn't have been that surprised to see her.

Jimmy mentioned that he hadn't tried to go in because of a feeling that the town didn't want him to.  Monica's first instinct was to send a drone in.  They both felt something, like they weren't supposed to attempt to enter.

[Featherhat]

28 minutes ago, swanpride said:

I wonder if she is okay...I mean, even if Wanda didn't outright kill her, she was thrown through multiple walls (or whatever are walls in Wanda's mind). By all rights, that should at the very least shattered her spine…..

People in this franchise literally fall through sky portal, get thrown through walls, off buildings, are in space without any life support, beat each other up with powers/equipment etc and survive with nothing but an aesthetically pleasing scratch. Unless you're Rhodey and are the CW sacrifical lamb. Granted most of them have suits on at the time but I doubt she'll have any lasting damage. 

[bmoore4026]

Oh, my God, Monica was one of the people taken during The Snap.  Holy crap!  Loved the hospital scene with people just returning.  We only got to see a bit of that in Spider-Man: Far From Home, but this did The Return much better, in my opinion.  And I loved Teyonah Parris'  acting when she finds out about her mother and that she was gone for five years.

Glad we got more Monica this episode.  She's been a favorite of mine in the comics and I'm really liking her in this show.

Randall Park.  Always nice.  And I'm surprisingly liking Kat Dennings' character.

Not going to lie, I rather like this "Under the Dome" situation.  It's intriguing. 
 

Spoiler

 

OK, the beekeeper man is beginning to make sense, and the helicopters, and the hexagon shape we kept seeing at the end of the previous episodes.

OK, so Wanda is actually screwing with energy dating back to the Big Bang?  So, a more appropriate code name for her would be Scarlet Goddess, am I right?  And we finally get to see what happened between Monica and Wanda.

It kind of hurts that Wanda is the villain protagonist of this series.  And seeing Vision's reanimated corpse for that brief moment was chilling.  I hope they explain how she got it.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by bmoore4026

[Amethyst]

This was a great episode.  Glad they finally revealed some of the workings behind SWORD.

Love Teyonah Parris as Monica.  Marvel's so good at casting.  I feel so bad that Maria died when she had disappeared.  But its about time they showed something about what happened after the snap because Spiderman Far from Home really glossed over it.  All those people materializing back together must have been terrifying.  And it confirms that they only felt the passing of 20 minutes, rather than 5 years.

It was really satisfying to see Darcy introduce herself as Dr. Lewis.  Go Darcy!  She's still the same person, too.

Not that familiar with Jimmy Woo (still need to watch Ant-Man 1 and 2) but I didn't mind him as the straight man.  Darcy has enough personality for the both of them.

I get that Wanda is clearly grieving, but if she really is behind Westview, then she has to be stopped.  Looks like all the citizens are trapped in her simulation, and it's even worse if they're all victims of the snap.  Puts Mrs. Hart's begging Wanda to "stop it" in a whole new light.

Vision may be dead, but some part of him is coming through.  I think he knows the people are trapped which is why he told Wanda that they could go anywhere they want.  Like in Endgame, Vision knows that their time is up.

After Monica got sucked into Westview, how long was she there?  Darcy and Woo were watching the sitcom on the TVs, but they watched every episode in one night.  Time is really distorted there.

Also, when all the surveillance was set up to watch Westview, they were sending in drone after drone, and none of them returned.  Westview should be littered with the drones by now, whether they look like actual drones or the toy helicopters.