Full Spoilers for ‘Breaking the Fourth Wall’ follow. You have been warned.
It seems WandaVision is dedicated to the worst inclinations
of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As with the worst film installments, this
series does not wish to surprise viewers nor does it wish to tell an
interesting, cohesive story about its characters. Instead, we are stuck with a
number of plot points made watchable only on the backs of a phenomenal cast.
Make no mistake, the cast is phenomenal. Even the big
reveal that everyone saw coming1 was made swallowable by Kathryn
Hahn, who has been a welcome presence every episode. Of course, said reveal
still feels weightless because it is not clear what it means. Sure, Agnes has
been hanging around, influencing the events of the previous six episodes, but
how much? The strange Agatha All Along montage/theme song could be read as
everything being her fault or Wanda having done al the heavy lifting and Agnes
simply influenced events. I suspect it is the latter.
Removing any fault from Wanda would be huge mistake. It would
render what little character development that has occurred moot. Nothing in the
show thus far would have mattered. I suspect the creators are smarter than
that, though plenty of MCU films lack meaningful stakes so we shall see.
Unfortunately, the other “monumental” scene of the episode
also fell flat. When Monica forces her was into the Hex, it is clearly meant to
be her big moment where she overcomes…something and uses her newfound powers to
force her way into Wanda’s quickly deteriorating world. What is she overcoming
exactly? There are all these lines from her and her mother that are heard, but
why? What is that supposed to tell me about Monica or her situation? It feels
like a scene that knows what usually happens in this kind of scene but not why they
work.
On a positive note, the series seems to have finally given
up on the sitcom thing. This episode features another bad theme. More
importantly, while several scenes are shot with Modern Family’s visual
language, the format is almost entirely dropped. It is honestly a relief.
Despite the idea of telling a story via homages to classic sitcoms
being the most interesting premise in MCU history, the creators clearly never
had any interest in actually imitating the stylings and structures, simply borrowing
the aesthetics so that it is more visually appealing than the typical MCU
project. One need only look at the scenes outside the Hex to see how successful
that endeavor has been.
Also, Evans Peters shows up briefly and he is a delight,
even if I cannot tell if he is meant to be menacing or friendly2.
Where does the series go from here? Presumably, the next
episode opens with an explanation of what has been going on. It seems Agnes may
have some level of control over Wanda so she may have to fight her husband.
That could be interesting. Hopefully the final two episodes delve into Wanda’s
motivations for creating this entire town, why it is like various US sitcoms, Vision’s
interiority, and whether Quicksilver was plucked from an alternate universe. Also,
some stakes would be nice, but it might be too late for that.
1I admit I dismissed this theory, not because I
thought it was obviously wrong, but because I wanted something more
interesting.
2I’m thinking friendly.
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