WandaVision Episode 4 just came out, and it looks like we finally have some answers to a lot of burning questions from previous episodes. The latest episode takes a break from the sitcom style of the older episodes and tells us the other side of the story.
Titled “We Interrupt This Program..”, Episode 4 finally explains WandaVision’s timeline in MCU and also gives reasons behind all the strange incidents that were happening in the earlier episodes.
I will talk about everything that Episode 4 explains further in the article in a bit but before that,
Now sit tight, and read on.
1. The “Real” Geraldine
As it turns out, Geraldine is actually Monica Rambeau, who was previously seen in Captain Marvel as a child. She is the daughter of Maria Rambeau, the founder of SWORD Organization. It wasn’t exactly a secret as there were rumors about Geraldine being Monica, but Episode 4 brings an on-screen confirmation about the rumor.
Episode 4 begins with Geraldine–uh, Monica re-materializing in a hospital, revealing that she was touched by the snap and vanished during the Avengers: The Infinity War. The snap apparently happens right after her mom, Maria Rambeau, is undergoing surgery.
Unfortunately, Monica is gone for five years and in this time Maria’s cancer resurfaces, and she passes away. So when Monica wakes up to the chaos and finds out that her mother passed away in her absence, she is left shocked. Yikes.
2. WandaVision Setting and Timeline
Monica returns to work at the SWORD Office three weeks after re-materializing from the snap. Thus, putting WandaVision directly after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
Upon returning to work, she meets with SWORD’s acting director, Tyler Hayward, who breaks it to her that she was grounded – which meant she would only work on terrestrial missions. It was a protocol set by her mother to ensure the safety of those who have returned. Yeah, her mom grounded her. Lol.
Monica’s then assigned to help the FBI with a missing person’s case from Westview village. As it so happens, Jimmy Woo calls it a Missing Town’s case.
Monica asks Jimmy why hasn’t he just gone inside to inspect. He then implies that the town doesn’t want him to enter. In an attempt to gather some information, Monica sends a drone helicopter towards Westview. But the helicopter disappears in mid-air and Monica and Jimmy are left stunned.
A curious Monica takes slow steps toward the town till she reaches an “energy field” and touches it. The field lures her in (literally), leaving behind a very baffled Jimmy. Why was it Monica and not Jimmy remains a mystery like so many other things. But considering Monica was later “rejected” and thrown out of Westview by Wanda puts things in balance once again.
I will explain these events further in the article.
3. Westview’s Existence
Westview is clearly hiding secrets from SWORD and the outside world, what with the invisible energy field that seems to act as a barrier.
When Monica asks some cops about the missing person’s case, they say that the person doesn’t exist, let alone the town of Westview. It implies that either Westview didn’t exist in the MCU reality or people have been made to forget the town because we can clearly see a signboard in the scene.
Either way, Westview is a false reality that Wanda has created for herself, where she can live a normal life with Vision. At least this much was clear to us from the beginning. Inside this town, the residents are forced to “act” certain roles. We see Dr. Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo confirm the real identities of people who “played” various characters in earlier episodes.
Please note that Jimmy and Darcy didn’t reveal the identities of Agnes (and her husband) and Dottie. Are they not residents of the town? It smells quite fishy and could be significant plot points in the coming episodes.
We also see Jimmy scribble down the same theories and questions that we have been speculating for nearly a month. It is still unknown why Westview (or Wanda’s reality) is hexagonal in its boundaries.
4. S.W.O.R.D.’s Efforts to Infiltrate Westview
Upon learning the existence of Westview, SWORD is looking to figure out just what the heck is up with the town. They invite certain specialists to figure out the problem and we see the return of Dr. Darcy Lewis, who first appeared in ‘Thor’ and ‘Thor: The Dark World.’
She is hired by SWORD as an astrophysicist. Upon inspection, she explains that the town of Westview was surrounded by high amounts of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR). Tyler Hayward described it as “relic radiation dating back to the Big Bang.”
After playing with frequencies and wavelengths a little, Darcy is able to find a way to keep tabs on the happenings inside the Westview with an old TV set.
The TV broadcasted scenes that were happening inside the Westview, and SWORD agents are shocked to find Wanda and Vision (whom they imply is very much dead) as they look like they were a part of a sitcom.
i. The Colored Toy Helicopter
Before Darcy worked to provide the visuals of the inner happenings of Westview, SWORD agents kept sending drone helicopters inside the energy field to get some kind of information. Which, well, was in vain since the helicopters lost connection with the controllers once they reached inside.
One of the helicopters must have landed close to Wanda’s home. It changed shape and color upon entering, and Jimmy commented that it was “to go with the production design” of the sitcom.
ii. Jimmy Woo Talking Over Dottie’s Radio
In Episode 2, we hear someone trying to reach out to Wanda over the radio after a meeting at Dottie’s. It turns out that Jimmy Woo (Randall Park), previously seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp, speaks over the radio.
Darcy suggests that they can try to communicate with Wanda using radios present around her in the sitcom. The mission, unfortunately, ended in a failure because the connection could not be kept up for very long.
iii. The Beekeeper From Episode 2
SWORD tries to infiltrate Westview by sending in some of their agents through the sewers. Jimmy raises credible doubts about whether this “energy field” extended underground or not. Apparently, it does. An agent named Franklin enters the sewers wearing a radiation suit and a cable attached to his waist, which was “supposed” to hold onto him from the outside world.
But as Agent Franklin enters the energy field, the cable gets “rejected” and is transformed into a comical jump rope. His radiation suit is also transformed into that of a beekeeper’s. As he crawls out of the sewer hole, Wanda’s stern “No” resets everything back as if Franklin’s entry into Westview never happened.
The current whereabouts of Agent Franklin are (sadly) unknown.
5. “Zombie” Vision
After Wanda is done yeeting (literally) Monica out of Westview, Vision walks back into the house and asks for Monica. In that instant, Wanda catches a glimpse of a very pale and very dead Vision, with a hole in his head. The hole was obviously created after Thanos stole Vision’s mind stone back in Avengers: The Infinity War.
The glimpse is horrifying and implies that Wanda is not really in complete control of her reality despite saying otherwise.
The scene also confirms that Vision remains dead in WandaVision after he suggests that they left Westview. But Wanda denies the suggestion with tears in her eyes. It also gives us an idea that Vision will not stay alive outside of Westview.
6. The End Credits Song “Voodoo Child”
At the end of the episode, viewers can hear 1968’s song Voodoo Child (Slight Return) by Jimi Hendrix when the end credits are rolling. The song has an iconic lyric “Well I stand up next to a mountain, and I chop it down with the edge of my hand.”
The next few lines of the song fit quite accurately with Wanda’s situation in the show. “Well I pick up all the pieces and make an island, might even raise just a little sand.”
Wanda literally does that. She picks up the pieces left in the wake of the destruction caused by Thanos and builds herself an “island” or a safe place called Westview.
7. Other theories
- The CMBR waves that Darcy detects around Westview dates back to the time of the Big Bang. The infinity stones were also formed around the same time, so it might not be a stretch to say that the grey Reality stone is involved in the existence of Westview town.
- Monica was supposed to help Jimmy locate a missing person, who, according to Jimmy, was under a Witness protection program. Now, what would you say if I were to suggest that Agnes’s husband (we’ve not seen a glimpse of him yet) is the one they were looking for?
- Maybe Agnes (and even Dottie?) will have bigger roles to play in the upcoming episodes. When Jimmy and Darcy were pinning the real identities of people on their whiteboard, they seem to have conveniently missed (or ignored?) both Agnes and Dottie.
- There is a possibility that someone is after Wanda’s twins. If comics are to be believed at this point, the twins would grow up to be Wiccan and Speed, who would join the Young Avengers team.
- When Jimmy tries to reach out to Wanda through the radio, Darcy notices something weird but brushes it out saying that it was nothing. We know it was more than “nothing.” So it’s either that Darcy is hiding something, or that there is a bigger picture that is yet to be seen.
- There was no mention of the Strucker Watch and Stark Toaster commercials. What else are we missing?
The next episode of WandaVision will air on February 5, 2021, on Disney+ Hotstar.
8. About WandaVision
WandaVision is a Disney+ MCU miniseries created by Jac Schaeffer featuring the Marvel Comics characters Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and Vision. Cast members include Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Randall Park, Kat Dennings, Evan Peters, Debra Jo Rupp and Fred Melamed.
The series takes place three weeks after the events of Avengers: Endgame, Wanda Maximoff and Vision are living an idyllic suburban life in the town of Westview, New Jersey, trying to conceal their true natures. As their surroundings begin to move through different decades and they encounter various television tropes, the couple suspects that things are not as they seem.
No Comments on WandaVision Episode 4 Explained: It’s a Missing Town’s Case