Review: Wandavison – Breaking the Fourth Wall s01e07

It’s rare that a tv show makes a significant tangent that feels immensely satisfying and doesn’t derail the whole endeavour.  The Good Place springs to mind as a good example, with their end of season one reveal.  Here in episode seven, ‘Breaking the Fourth Wall’, Wandavision immaculately pivots to set off a new and exciting side of the story.  *Warning! Spoilers Ahead!*

As the title suggests, there is a lot of talking to camera, which starts immediately with a ‘Modern Family’ inspired style and aesthetic.  Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) is clearly trying to rationalise the events of last week by putting them down to it just being a wild night, and speaks as if in a confessional.  It is obviously supposed to be a one way affair, but later she gets confused when a question is posed to her, as if a psychiatrist is the other side of the camera.

This is just one of many things which seem to be going wrong in Westview, suggesting that Wanda is losing control.  At the beginning of ‘Breaking the Fourth Wall’ we get the impression that it is down to her fragile mental state, which is either caused by her efforts to enlarge ‘The Hex’ or from the emotional repercussions of Vision’s (Pau Bettany) rescue and having to push Pietro (Evan Peters) away.  As we go through the episode, more and more elements seem to be breaking down and glitching, cycling through their different time period representations.  Even the milk is changing as she tries to use it, and she seems powerless to stop it.

The random nature of these changes and her complete apathy concerns Billy (Julian Hilliard) and Tommy (Jett Klyne), who have no idea what’s going on.  Luckily for Wanda, Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) steps in and offers to take them for a while, which Wanda gleefully accepts.  In hindsight this was a mistake by Wanda, but with Vision still not back, it solves her immediate problem.  Throughout this whole section, Olsen and Hahn are fantastic and we get a whole range of emotions, and comedy, all skilfully interwoven into the narrative.  It’s never played just for silly laughs, even though there is the fourth wall device, and the performances are cleverly layered.

Vision’s failure to return home yet is essentially put down in the episode to Wanda preventing him from doing so,  but later the big reveal undermines that thought, suggesting that that may not be the case.  While he is near the outskirts of town, he gains a significant ally though, as he releases Darcy (Kat Dennings) from being a ‘Westview puppet’.  This means that Vision can be filled in on all the history he’s missed, and know the full extent of what is going on.  As far as Darcy can work out anyway.  These two make a great duo and hopefully we’ll see more of them together, as Darcy is just improving as a character more and more since her early Thor incarnation.

The big stories in ‘Breaking the Fourth Wall’ though involve two big changes that represent a major shift in both Wandavision and the MCU.  The first the these is delivered by yet another powerhouse performance by Teyonah Parris, giving Monica the hero status she deserves.  We learn that her contact has brought her their highest spec space rover, with which she then attempts to break into ‘The Hex’.  While this fails, she is determined and through her own force of will is able to get past the barrier.  There is a side effect though, as her trips through the veil have changed her at a cellular level, and the effort of her journey this time triggers new powers.

This could indicate a change for the MCU and how we could start to see more mutants with powers entering the fray.  In Monica’s case, she appears to be able to see energy on the electromagnetic spectrum, which would tie in with the comics.  These new powers aren’t just a minor affair though, as she holds her own when attacked by Wanda, and it’s only the arrival of Agnes that defuses the situation.  Monica is most definitely shaping up to be the major hero of the series, who always seems to be levelheaded and have the most heart.  It helps that Parris plays it with real compassion, adding lots of nuance where needed.  With Vision impaired, she is the only oe that can see the wood for the trees.

Agnes interjecting in this fight, and the resulting reveal is the other main story in ‘Breaking the Fourth Wall’, as we discover that Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness, a well-known Marvel witch, and not under Wanda’s control.  With an immensely satisfying twist, the show gets a mid-episode blast of new credits indicating that ‘It was Agatha All Along’, combining clips from previous episode where Agnes was manipulating things unseen by the viewer.  This includes Pietro, so the next obvious question is just who is he?  Is he one of the townsfolk, or another player on the board?  Just to muddy the waters, there’s even a post-credit scene that keeps him in the game…

This kind of seismic shift has to be carefully managed and could have easily fallen flat, but here Wandavision just executes it perfectly.  It feels fully earned and not like a random twist without any foundation.  There were clues before and on a rewatch of previous episodes, people will no doubt find more.  Like The Good Place reveal, this one should be applauded as a masterstroke.  So far this season, it seems like every episode has such a high standard that you’re not sure if they can really surprise or improve, but this week’s ups the bar once more.  With two episodes left, all bets are now off as to where they could take this fantastic series.