WandaVision Review: 'Now In Color' May Be Pure Genius?

 

In it’s first two episodes, WandaVision was a charming homage to the comedies of days gone by with hints of a sinister secret lurking just beneath the surface. That is an extremely difficult balance to keep so it should not be surprising this episode fails to keep the balance. The exact way that happens, and the events that occur keep this episode firmly planted in the realm of good television, but it is not as strong as its predecessors.

Full Spoilers for ‘Now In Color’ follow. You have been warned.

 ‘Now In Color’ has three specific goals: Bring Vision closer to realizing his entire reality is a lie, introduce the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of one of the strangest plotlines in Marvel comics history push Wanda closer to her breakpoint, and history push Wanda closer to her breakpoint. Those beats are (mostly) told through a ‘70s-style sitcom artifice that is almost entirely unfunny. What is difficult to tell is if this is a complete failure of the writing or a stroke of genius. You see, there is something strange happening with the laugh track in this episode. It has a tendency to play at wholly inappropriate times. That is often when a line is said that is not funny or even a joke at all. It creates this discordant tone that leaves the viewer unsure of what will happen next, which is clearly a feeling the show aims to cultivate even when it seems accidental.

Take for example an early scene in which Vision is in his driveway and notices his neighbor Herb trimming his hedges. Except Herb has gone too far and is instead cutting through his yellow brick wall. Vision points it out, Herb acknowledges him but continues anyway, and the laugh tack plays. It is not funny at all, more disturbing than anything.

This eventually leads to Vision almost putting the pieces together before Wanda again reverses time and distracts him. During the episode’s climax Vision is again clued into the fact something is wrong in Westview. Agnes and herb are being incredibly sketchy and Vis, of course, questions them about it. They stop just short of telling him what is wrong, but he clearly knows now and will take that into the next episode.

The major thrust of this episode is Wanda’s pregnancy and the children she gives birth to. While there is nothing unusual about the birth—aside from the implication Wanda unknowingly willed a twin into existence—the pregnancy lasts about a day from the end of ‘Don’t Touch The Dial’. Wanda gives birth to two sons, Billy and Tommy. The boys have one of the most interesting histories in Marvel comics. Conceived via Wanda’s magic (because Vision can’t, y’know, do that), the pair were retconned out of existence more than once—in increasingly strange ways-- as Marvel could not decide what to do Scarlet Witch and Vision. Eventually, a reincarnated version of the pair reappears and have stuck around.

I so badly want the MCU version of this story to get just as weird. It obviously would be near-impossible to do in the remaining six episodes of this miniseries, but an approximation can be made. Whatever happens with it, though, it seems obvious that Billy and Tommy will make it to 2021 as a growing list of characters that seem to be set up to form the Young Avengers/Champions. Cassie Lang, Hailee Steinfeld’s Hawkeye, Florence Pugh’s Black Widow, Ms. Marvel, Ironheart, and a few more that are rumored to appear in upcoming series. Looks like a group that could step into the void the Avengers left after Avengers: Endgame to me.

Vision is not around to deliver his first child—though he does make it back in time to deliver Billy—so Geraldine, who stops in to borrow a bucket, has to step up. A quick note as Geraldine is significantly more important than in her first appearance last episode: Teyonah Parris absolutely crushes this role. Whether as the quiet new neighbor or a more boisterous close friend she excels in the sitcom scenes of WandaVision.

She also excels when the climax come and the mood changes. While Vision is outside having the aforementioned conversation with Agnes and Herb—in which he and viewers learn Geraldine is new to town with no family, husband, or home even—Wand and Geraldine stand over the twins’ crib, admiring the newborns. Suddenly, the music drops out and the laugh track disappears and Elizabeth Olsen’s performance changes instantly to a more naturalistic style.

Wanda shares with Geraldine she has a twin named Pietro before launching in a Sarkovian lullaby for sons. Teyonah Parris, for one line, also falls into a more naturalistic performance as she asks, “He was killed by Ultron, wasn’t he?” Wanda immediately snaps out of the nostalgic mood she was in and notices her friend’s S.W.O.R.D. necklace and tells her she should leave.

Perhaps most interesting, Herb and Agnes almost spill the beans at the same time Wanda starts talking about Pietro. Geraldine also seemingly comes out of her daze to ask the question. It is as if that brief moment was Wanda losing so much control of her illusion that everyone except Vision woke up and remembered they are not from Westview. As soon as Wanda snaps back into place, Geraldine, Agnes, and Herb resume their typical sitcom practices and performances. Vision remains in character because he, of course, has no other character as he is dead.

What all this means for the immediate future is unclear. Next episode will likely see Vision investigating the strange occurrences while Wanda strains against her own ability to keep everything under control. And Geraldine will be interrogated/debriefed by whatever government agency is shown to be just outside Westview, monitoring the forcefield Wanda has erected around the town. All while Agnes’ husband continues to not appear and (hopefully) becomes the latest in a long tradition of named characters that never appear on a sitcom.

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