Have you ever had one of those days where you just didn’t want to get out of bed because you knew the day ahead of you was going to be nothing but problems? Welcome to the world of Wanda Maximoff. WandaVision Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen, Ingrid Goes West) had the right idea from the start, as things began to spiral further and further out of control the second she took off that Halloween costume and attempted to adjust to her new normal, still unaware of the person pulling her strings until it was too late.
That’s right, WandaVision Episode 7 finally brought us a big reveal, confirming weeks of speculation that Kathryn Hahn’s Agnes was actually the Marvel Comics character Agatha Harkness, a powerful sorceress who is sometimes a friend and sometimes a foe of Wanda in the comics. Careful viewers had suspected this magic wielder was “Agnes’” true identity from the second she burst on the screen, thanks to a broach that is a signature of the character and the fact Agatha is so deeply tied to Wanda’s comics story. However, given her morally ambiguous history in the comics, whether Agatha was friend or foe (caught in the simulation, humoring her friend, or orchestrating it all behind the scenes) has been an open question for weeks. We still do not have all the answers, but it is clear that Agatha has been using her own magic to manipulate various events and, as she cackles with glee in her admission that she killed the family pup, she clearly is not a friend.
Kathryn Hahn has been the MVP of this entire series, effortlessly slipping in and out of various versions of the broad neighbor character which has been both a staple of and roving target for sitcoms of every era. She also has been very effective in brief moments of ominous anxiety or dread, much of which now appear to have been Agatha’s attempts at misdirection and manipulation. However, her crowning achievement of the series thus far has to be the musical montage that ends WandaVision Episode 7. Set to the theme of The Munsters (a live-action Addams’ Family sitcom knock off from the 1960s about an unconventional nuclear family made up mostly of allusions to classic Universal monster movies), the musical montage takes Wanda and the viewers on a tour of Agatha’s machinations, all seemingly devised to drive a wedge between Wanda and Vision and to continue to see Wanda’s and the kids’ powers escalate. Not only is this a greatest-hits of her amazing looks from the entire series, but this montage also features fantastic vocals from Hahn herself as she teases us with images of her various exploits. “Nice to finally meet you” indeed.
Before we get to this point, however, we cover quite a bit of ground this week in WandaVision Episode 7. From a series that began with an episode featuring two simple plotlines focused on our leads which merged into a single story by the third act, the series has quietly evolved into an ambitious web of story threads that all seem to be barreling towards each other as we race to the climax. Thread #1 picks up on Hayward (Josh Stamberg, The Affair) and his SWORD cronies just outside of The Hex. Mercifully, this piece is limited to a single scene this week, as our one-note bureaucratic baddy reaffirms that he has survived the expansion of The Hex, and he has called in reinforcements to prepare for a full-scale siege of Westview. I mean no disrespect to Josh Stamberg, but his character feels so dull and one-note, and he lacks the ability to elevate the mediocre material that they are giving him. He’s purely an obstacle meant to escalate the plot and impede our heroes. It is challenging to make that interesting, and thus far the show has failed in that respect. I’m sure he’ll factor in quite a bit during next week’s penultimate episode, but for now, I appreciated the reprieve.
Speaking of those heroes, Thread #2 in WandaVision Episode 7 is anchored by our gal Monica (Teyonah Parris, If Beale Street Could Talk). Fans may have been disappointed by not getting to meet this unnamed astrophysical engineer friend of Monica’s this week, but no one can deny that this was the strongest thread of this week’s episode, as we see Monica truly come into her own as a hero. Her space rover plan completely fails, but, undeterred, she risks her life and her sanity by tossing her helmet and running straight into The Hex for one of the more harrowing superhero origin story moments in the entirety of the MCU. In the comics, Monica has been known as Photon, Spectrum, and even, for a while, Captain Marvel. As she crosses the barrier into The Hex, Monica can hear moments of connection with her mom ringing through her mind. She hears her mom’s voice as she decides to join Carol Danvers in her fight during Captain Marvel. She hears Carol speaking her praises as a daughter, and she hears her mother’s doctor inform her that she has missed her mother’s death due to The Snap. All of this love and pain mix together into a sea of emotions, giving her the strength to unify her fractured consciousness and return to Wanda’s world with the power to see through the mirage.
It’s a remarkably effective moment in its own right, as Teyonah Parris sells what should be complete sci-fi nonsense as a powerful moment of self-actualization through guilt, pain, and self-confidence. Through all of that, however, it is her fearless empathy that is her true superpower this week, as Monica confronts Wanda. She’s willing to risk death in order to speak the truth she knows Wanda needs to hear, because its the truth she needs to hear in that moment as well. This brings us to Thread #3 in WandaVision Episode 7: Wanda. After blasting “Pietro” at the end of last episode and saving Vision’s life by expanding The Hex, this week Wanda is grappling with the ramifications of her actions and the apparent emptiness of her attempt to recreate the perfect family she never had with Vision by having a gently comedic breakdown.
It is only fitting then, that this week her home is styled after The Dunphy’s of Modern Family. Elizabeth Olsen does a strikingly accurate Julie Bowen impression this week, as she channels Claire Dunphy’s high strung, slightly frazzled, collapsing type-A energy with exceptional ease. It never ceases to amaze the way Olsen is able to maintain the integrity of her character Wanda while running through the lenses of these iconic sitcom actresses, from Mary Tyler Moore to Elizabeth Montgomery to Florence Henderson, all the way to Julie Bowen. Would Claire Dunphy accidentally allow her children to be kidnapped by the evil witch down the street? Honestly, I’d be lying if I said that I was confident that was never actually a plotline at some point across the series’ eleven seasons.
With Wanda at her wit’s end and the twins in Agatha’s clutches, we finally settle into Thread #4: Vision. This week, Vision (Paul Bettany, Solo: A Star Wars Story) teams with Darcy (Kat Dennings, Thor: The Dark World), who he nicely liberates from the effects of The Hex fairly quickly, to finally catch up to where the audience has been this whole time. Wiping Vision of his memories has a long precedent in the comics and has been an effective way to delay some revels and slowly build tension between him and Wanda. However, with just two episodes to go in the series, it’s past time that he finally figures out at least as much as we know about what’s going on in the series. I can’t say this corner of the show was my favorite this week, but I do think that Bettany sells a few very funny lines with the type of face acting I would think might be quite challenging while wearing the kind of makeup he is saddled with. I also really appreciated that, once he fully understood what his beloved has endured over the last month, his feelings of confusion and frustration (and even betrayal) over Wanda and her actions inside The Hex faded to the background, and he was left with a deep reserve of love and compassion for a woman he loved dearly who was clearly in pain. His choice to “walk-off” of the confessional and fly off to save her felt like one of the most lowkey romantic moments between these two as a couple.
Questions still remain as we head into this final stretch of the season. We know that Agatha brought Evan Peters’ “Pietro” to Wanda’s door, but we still really don’t know what his deal is (and a mid-credits scene showing him discovering Monica trying to break into Agatha’s basement only adds fuel to that mystery). We know Agatha has been pulling strings behind the scenes, but exactly why and to what end remains unclear. And we know we are headed to some sort of showdown featuring our three leading ladies, our favorite super-powered synthezoid, and SWORD, but what shape that conflict will take and how it will impact the long term future of the family Wanda has fought so hard to create for herself is anyone’s guess. And let’s not forget that exciting cameo the stars have been teasing and the impending Doctor Strange connection.
All of this is fun to consider and theorize about as we await our next installment of the story. However, before we get too distracted with our pet theories and try to unlock this series’ mystery box, let’s take one more moment to compliment creator Jac Schaeffer, director Matt Shankman, and this incredible cast for flawlessly traversing the sitcom sands of time while telling a coherent, emotionally rich story about grief, loss, and the way we lose ourselves inside of the fantasies our culture sells us every day which have never been (and will never be) able to cross that televisual divide and manifest in a lasting way.
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