The first new Marvel content since Spider-Man: Far From Home, over 18 months ago, thrusts the viewer into the world of the 1950s era TV shows. In “WandaVision”, the new Marvel Disney+ series, Wanda Maximoff and Vision are suddenly immersed in this world, with no explanation to us. Wanda and Vision seem aware that they are new to this town of “Westview”, however make no mention of their previous lives with the Avengers. Speaking of that, the last time we saw Vision, Thanos violently ripped the mind stone out of his head, killing him. After the Avengers undid Thanos’s snap in “Endgame”, Vision was not present in that final battle, signaling his death was permanent. So this should immediately bring the town of Westview into question before the series even begins.

Throughout the first 2 episodes, several moments point at what may be happening here, but lets examine those as we recap. As I mentioned, Wanda and Vision are thrust into the town of Westview, appearing to be around the late 50s/early 60s. Each episode seems to be emulating the humor and style of previous eras of TV shows gone by. And although the humor can sometimes be a bit goofy or cringe, it is a very clever concept as the town and people in the town evolve with the changing styles. The first episode is meant to give off the vibe of “The Dick van Dyke Show” or “I Love Lucy”, set in all black and white and filled with typical humor tropes of that time period, with the twist of Wanda and Vision being who they are. For example, one of the opening shots is Wanda telepathically moving dishes around the kitchen, when Vision walks in with his morning coffee and a plate is smashed over his head. Vision says, “my wife and her flying saucers”, to which Wanda responds with, “my husband and his indestructible head”. The couple then fails to remember why the date on the calendar has a heart drawn on it, but in the same typical humor of the period, go on an elongated dialogue involving neither of them dancing around the fact that they don’t remember why.

Vision then goes to work and Wanda meets the neighbor Agnes. Agnes is a character shrouded in a ton of mystery. Many of her lines seem to have a double entendre meaning and she is always sarcastically remarking about her husband Ralph, who has yet to appear in the series. A popular fan theory is that Agnes is actually Marvel Comicbook witch, Agatha Harkless, who messes with Wanda and serves the Marvel comic’s Devil Mephsito. I really like this theory particularly because of a line that Agnes delivers in the second episode, responding to Dotty saying “the devil is in the details” with, “that’s not the only place he is”. Now, she is looking at her flask of alcohol when saying this but again, so many of Agnes’s lines appear to have hidden menaings. Back to the first episode, Agnes asks Wanda about her life and Wanda gives very general answers but asks for Agnes’s help on what the hidden calendar date could mean. They both come to the conclusion that it must be their anniversary.

At the office, Vision realizes that the meaning of the heart on the calendar is that they are hosting his boss, Mr. Heart, and his wife for dinner. Vision calls Wanda to discuss the details of the evening, both thinking the night means something else. The details of the dinner are best watched because they deliver several funny moments and are again a tribute to the TV shows of the time with chaos ensuing, but when the 2 couples sit down for dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Heart begin interrogating Wanda and Vision about their backstory and the world seems to almost glitch. Particularly Wanda seems to disconnect from reality and then Mr. Heart chokes on his food and has to be saved by Vision using his powers. The Hearts then leave the house, weirdly without acknowledging what just happened. As the first episode ends, the final shot of Wanda and Vision zooms out to reveal someone at S.W.O.R.D. (an offset division of S.H.I.E.L.D. dealing with otherworldly threats), is observing Wanda and Vision on a TV screen, confirming the suspicion that this is not reality.

Episode 2 advances a little bit forward in “time”. Although it is probably only a week or so forward chronologically, the style of the second episode emulates “Bewitched” and shows of the later 60s, particularly there is a nod to “Bewitched” with the animated intro. One of the main themes of the second episode is Wanda and Vision trying to assimilate into Westview. They will do this by Vision going to the neighborhood watch meeting and Wanda going to Dotty’s planning committee meeting for the talent show. After an awkward introduction, Vision quickly fits in with the gossiping going on at this meeting between all the men of the town, after having a piece of gum, it gets stuck on his insides (in another animated sequence), essentially making Vision drunk. After hearing a loud crash in the yard which the couple previously thought was a tree branch, Wanda finds a toy helicopter outside. The helicopter is red, despite nothing else being in color so far in the show. As soon as Wanda begins to curiously examine the toy, Agnes miraculously appears to distract her from it. Almost too miraculously one would say. They go to Dotty’s house, where Agnes warns Wanda to get on Dotty’s good side if she wants to accomplish anything in Westview. Wanda and Dotty don’t get off on the right foot and Wanda is forced to help stay and clean. Wanda approaches Dotty to talk after and the radio playing the Beach Boys, “Help Me Rhonda”, cuts to static and a voice can be heard saying “Wanda, who is doing this to you?”. Wanda has another glitch where she disconnects from reality, but snaps back in when the radio blows up and Dotty’s glass smashes on her hand and she bleed. Her blood is interestingly colored red again.

It’s now off to the talent show. A belligerent Vision is doing real magic with his powers, which Wanda has to then cover up to look fake with her powers. Again, watching this will do it more justice than me repeating it, this is truly one of my favorite scenes of the first 2 episodes. During the final trick, Vision closes the door to the disappearing cabinet before Wanda is even inside, causing Wanda to have to teleport a woman she met earlier at Dotty’s, “Geraldine” into the cabinet. “Geraldine” is quite mesmerized by this and it will almost surely come up again. I put “Geraldine” in quotes because this character is almost certainly another Marvel comic book character, Monica Rambeau, also trapped in this reality. Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have seen Monica Rambeau before. She appears in “Captain Marvel”, as the child of Carol Danvers’s friend.

After the show, Wanda and Vision return home stating that the show went great and again it is all “for the children”, a phrase that was creepily repeated like a cult chant throughout the episode. And as Wanda stands up off the couch, it is revealed that she is pregnant, and quite late in her pregnancy actually. The couple then hears something outside and investigates to find a man in a beekeeper suit emerging from a manhole cover. (?) Yeah I have no idea what that is about. But, then in a very chilling one word line, Wanda utters “No.” and the two are rewinded like an old VCR tape back to the intimate moment they were sharing realizing Wanda is pregnant. And as the episode ends, the world around them is filled with color slowly for the first time in the series, signaling next week will shift another decade forward into the 70s.

I won’t do too much speculation as a lot of what is going on is still unclear. Wanda is clearly trapped in this world and is being manipulated by someone, but also has some control over the reality herself. She also doesn’t seem to even know that she is from another reality except for very brief moments, usually occurring after someone asks her about her past, but then she is quickly snapped back into Westview. It may be a slow buildup with some humor that won’t be for everyone, but I for one am very intrigued by the direction that WandaVision is headed and will be along for the ride.