“All-New Halloween Spooktacular”
Welcome to the 21st century, folks! The newest installment of Marvel’s sitcom-style dystopia appears to have jumped forward another few years. Key differences between this episode and previous ones emerge as the Halloween costumes flood the streets worn by children, who, up until this point, appeared nonexistent in Westview.
WandaVision has been borrowing themes from other eras in television, and episode six is no different. The introduction is a rendition of Malcolm In The Middle’s and the parallels between the Fox sitcom and the likes of Wanda Maximoff’s reality are too great to ignore. With rambunctious Billy and Tommy wanting to try anything and everything, Wanda’s life has become a blur, and the arrival of her newly-recast brother, Pietro, is only driving their behavior.
Costumes are a large part of any Halloween special, there’s no doubt about it. While Wanda kept it simple and dressed as a “Sokovian fortune teller,“ an obvious pointer to her childhood, Vision, Billy and Pietro all dressed similar, if not identical, to the comic books they came from. Pietro and Billy, matched with their Quicksilver X-Men blue and white outfits, take on the town on a quest to get all of the candy. Vision’s curiosity got the best of him as he wandered to the outskirts of town after noticing the people of Westview in a trance-like state.
Vision’s discovery of Agnes, the sarcastic neighbor, going out of her mind at a stop sign, tips him over the edge to go beyond the barrier, signaling to Billy, who later warns Wanda, that he’s in trouble. On the outside of the barrier, tensions run high after a series of disagreements leading to the removal of agents Rambeau and Woo.
Breaking through the barrier was previously thought to be impossible except at Wanda’s discretion, Vision changed that, but the cost was too high. Going through the Hex is easy, but only from the outside. For Vision to do the same from the illusionary world Wanda has culminated quite literally tore him apart, calling into question what would happen to every person created by Wanda’s magic: Billy, Tommy and Pietro.
It’s known that Wanda’s power came from the Mind Stone, one of the six infinity stones, but audiences always assumed there would be a limit to those powers. Wanda seems to be erasing any doubt surrounding her abilities as she expanded the already-enormous barrier to swallow even more people, federal agents included, in an attempt to save Vision’s life.
The next three episodes will each be an hour-long, meaning anything could change at any given moment. Theories regarding the future of WandaVision range from more Marvel characters to Reed Richards from The Fantastic Four. Theories aside, the future of Westview is uncertain; it really is Wanda’s world and they’re all just living in it.
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