#it was a sitcom and I think it needed other kids to play with billy and tommy

[aperfectlylesbian]

Not me seeing agathario fandom start making fanfics in ao3 where Rio gets trapped in the Hex with Agatha and thinking innocently: "Wow, it would be very, very extremely psychologically painful and so fucking full of cuteness if Wanda's spellwork gave them, idk, like, maybe, DAUGHTERS, wouldn't be?!"

[anyaeras]

Breaking Character || W.Maximoff

Paring || sitcom milf!wanda x AFAB!reader

Summary || When wanda is getting bored with the whole sitcom way of life, she decided to spice it up in this small town.

Warnings || Smut (at the end) ,, affairs ,, reader has a pussy ,, they/them pronouns ,, possessive!wanda ,, top!wanda ,, bottom!reader ,, legal!agegap ,, fingering ,, tit play (a little) ,, degrading (if you squint) ,, praising ,, cunnalingus ,, slight innocent!reader

Psa || expect sitcom style typing, it's meant to be silly and cringy please enjoy

Masterlist

────────────────────────────

Life was easy, all fun in games, every now and then some new shenanigans would come about yet it seemed it was all the same, everyday the same story it was getting old.

Wanda maximoff, she was loved by the town, Westview seemed to be just the right fit for the women, she was happy to be there, Wanda wasn't old at all she was in her late 20s, but like many other women she was forced to marry quickly after becoming an adult, so she managed to settle for vision, but he was so boring and she wanted more, I mean come on the time is rolling into the 80s it's time for a change, to evolve. This whole republican motherhood needs to die out, She wanted a change, she wanted a revolution, or just something to make her life more interesting. Vision wasn't enough for her anymore he didn't please her, and she wouldn't be shocked if there was a divorce coming her way.

Today was no different than any other, wake up, get the kids ready, take them to school, and come back to the house. Drink a cup of coffee, maybe even clean the house a bit.

"Tommy! Billie! Come on. We gotta get going" raising her voice the sound of Wanda's soft sokovian voice rang throughout the house, and following was the sound of multiple footsteps coming towards her, who at the time was standing by the front door ready to go.

Dropping the kids off was easy, I mean she did this everyday, the same story different day kinda thing, debating on going to the market for a moment Wanda decided to go as it would be a way to get out of the house, plus she had been putting off the chore for a whole, picking up some groceries for dinner, walking threw the aisles, into the meat section is where she spotted them, y/n y/l/n, they were new in town, still mysterious and unknown to Mrs.Maximoff, but y/n drew the women's attention, as they were young yet charming, sweet and innocent to the big bad world, she was interested in them.

While Wanda was lost in thought it seemed y/n had been looking down at their shopping list, not paying attention to what was in front of them, and would run right into Mrs. Maximoff.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to bump into ya, I just wasn't paying attention and was lookin down at my list!" Y/n rambled, their clear mid-western accent was coming through showing Wanda they were not from around here.

"It's alright darlin, no harm done." She replied softly, yet, the bold tension (started by wanda) was definitely prominent. Y/n was growing shy under the older women's glare, so they sparked up conversation.

"Well I'm y/n y/l/n, and you are?..." y/n waited for a responses

"Wanda, Wanda Maximoff , I think I saw you around at the talent show earlier this week? If I'm not mistaken mmm?" The gingery women was thinking aloud yet y/n agreed, as the women looked relatively familiar to them.

"Oh yes, you were in the magic show right? Oh my was that your husband? You guys were very funny!" Y/n complemented, to which was taken to heart by Wanda , she always liked a nice complement, and was glad to hear people enjoyed the show, it was a nice little ego boost for the Westview witch.

The weird encounter kind of came to an end at that point yet wanda seemed to be thinking about y/n much more than she intended.

Later on Wanda was out in town on a stroll with Agatha , the infamous, next door neighbor , gossiper herself, Agatha was all for playing into the daring tension between wanda and y/n, that dark haired woman always did love some drama, and why be so traditional I mean it's 1980! It's time to make some change, maybe spice up the relationship...

"Yes yes Agatha, vision is great and all, but we don't have that magic, that feeling no more, he doesn't please me" wanda went on to say, as Agatha listened, she was honestly pretty encouraging, pushing wanda to go for it, I mean the what's the worst that could happen, right? Y/n y/l/n wasn't married yet, they were a little younger, yet they still were very bright, plus they didn't give off an uptight traditional way kinda attitude.

It seemed like deja vu, the way right then and there wanda this time ran right into y/n.

"We've got to stop meeting like this" y/n said with a slight hint of humor.

"I don't know, at this point I'm starting to believe you enjoy when we run into each other" wanda playfully shot back.

"Maybe so" y/n laughed back giving candy a bright idea, as somehow it seemed they were alone and Agatha had busied herself a few feet back.

"How about we get to know each other, well in another way haha, me and you could go grab a bit?" The older women proposed the idea, and was met with awkward silence for a moment before y/n agreed which was a little shocking to the other women.

Wanda started leading y/n off to an outdoor seating of a small local restaurant, and it seemed Agatha had "gotten lost" and left the two, letting them do their thing.

Wanda was definitely blunt she wasn't great about beating around the bush, yet she did try too.

"So tell me about yourself?" Mrs Maximoff asked pressing for more information about this younger person.

"Umm my names y/n y/l/n, grew up in a small conservative town, I'm from the Midwest, moved down here for a change, I like change I like being different" y/n kinda let the words flow, yet the women sitting across from them just sat and listened, letting y/n just talk.

"I cant brush this off anymore." Wanda cut y/n off and It was quick and to the point.

"Huh"

"Would you be interested...well in me? I mean you aren't married, and the lord above only knows how attractive I find you." Wanda let it out her thoughts, expecting the rejection, yet you cant blame a girl for trying.

"Yes. Yes I'd be interested, in you!" It was mumbled yet clear as day to Wanda when she heard y/n agree to the idea.

"Really? Okay, well you live alone, and I'd love to be alone with you so, how about your place Thursday" the women once's more proposed an idea to which y/n agreed and told her to call them whenever.

The two parted ways after the lunch break, both more than satisfied with the idea of each other, Wanda somehow ran back into Agatha as now she was telling her neighbor all the details.

"I can't believe they agreed, I mean this is...not very... you know holy? Good? Wife? of me, but I have needs and vision just can't fill my needs any longer" the Sokovian women went on, justifying herself yet Agatha didn't care, she was supportive no matter what.

"Wans, just be smart about this and no one will get hurt."

Thursday came rolling around fast. After the same old dropping the kids off for school, and running to the shop, wanda now found herself strolling up to y/n's house , which it wasn't to far, it was normal for Wanda to take walks, so she decided to just walk to block to arrive at their house. It wasn't like Wanda to be nervous, she was a calm, yet not patient type of person. Finally she pulled herself forcing her legs to walk towards the door, only needing to knock once.

She was met with a warm greeting from y/n, as they stepped aside letting the older women come in, y/n oddly really wanted to impress Wanda, they did things differently then most, they set up a lunch of the two of them, and got out a nice bottle of red.

"Aww you didn't have to do all this darlin, but it's nice, thank you" the compliment was taken to heart by y/n, they weren't married, so they don't come home and make dinner for anyone ever, so making a meal for this women was nice.

"It was no trouble really, it was nice to make a meal for someone" they replied causing wanda to send a soft smile their way, which lead to them sitting down to talk over another lunch.

Yet one thing led to another and things started to happen...

"Y/n im a bit older then you, are you sure you want this?" Wanda pushed making sure this wasn't gonna be a bad idea.

"I swear I want this just like you do..." y/n's words came out confidently, and that was enough for Wanda to jump into action. Standing up quickly moving to y/n she placed her hands on y/n's face before pulling them in for a sweet kiss.

Wanda took control quickly pulling them by their arm to the bedroom (which the gingery brunette had to look for but found it evidently) before pushing y/n onto the bed to continue what she started with the younger one back in the dinning room.

Wanda sat up pulling the silky robe you had put on off you, before removing her sundress, moving back to push you into the bed starting to suck on y/n's neck, leaving soft purple marks on their lower neck, drawing soft moans from the person below them.

"Oh god" fell from y/n's mouth making wanda laugh above them.

"I don't think you want god to see this silly"

Wanda clapped back before starting to pull at y/n's bra, making it pop off, tossing it to the floor before starting to groop their tits softly with both her hands, slowly building up pressure, before she wrapped her lips around y/n's bud sucking it slightly as they arched their back in response.

"Mmm seems like you enjoy being mine" Wanda laughed leaving a trail of kisses on the other person stomach, yet it seemed y/n had a little be of confidence, being able to reach out and pull the older women up to their face so they could get another kiss. After the short kiss broke, wanda laughed at the boldness of the younger one, yet at the same time Wanda's fingers were making their way under y/n's waistband, the women's fingers slipped easily threw y/n's slick folds.

"Oh my darling, you are dripping, all for me hmm?" Wanda was having to much fun embarrassing y/n, it was just so much fun. Y/n moaned at the feeling of the women's fingers slowly moving inside them, wanda slipped two fingers into them to which was enough to make y/n mewl below her.

"Look at you, a moaning mess, all for me, I mean you're mine right darling? No one else's right" Wanda asked sternly as she started to move her fingers at a decently quick pace, lost in pleasers all they could do is nod to answer her question.

"Good, so good for me" Wanda praised as she added a third finger causing y/n to jump a bit as she stretched out their pussy. Wanda was growing impatient, she wanted to make y/n scream and that's what she was gonna do, picking up her speed she was trusting her fingers in and out of the younger one, fast and hard pretty much forcing y/n over the edge and with a scream y/n couldn't even stop themself before hitting their climax quick and hard, throwing them into shock.

Wanda slowed down leaving her fingers inside y/n for a moment longer while they came down from their high, eventually wanda removed her fingers which were covered in y/n's juices, before moving then in front of your mouth, pushing past your lips forcing you to taste yourself, allowing you to moan at the flavor.

"You are so pretty honey, you turned me on so much, do you think you can help me?" Wanda asked softly getting a yes from y/n, before guiding them off the bed, to kneel on the floor next to the bed placing you between her legs, wanda pulled her own panties off, before prompting y/n to eat her out.

Y/n wasn't skilled yet they tried their hardest, slowly licking a long strip before driving in, trying to pay attention the the women's clit, and the moans coming from Wanda were definitely encouraging, the women soon put her hand in y/n's hair, guiding them a bit more, and as y/n lapped on Wanda, the women grew closer to her own high.

"Yes just like that darlin, keep go-" Wanda cut herself off with a moan, as she let go, Wanda came, as her legs where shaking yet still trapping y/n between her legs until she was able to calm down.

Pulling y/n up off their knees and back into the bed with her, Wanda laughed a little as she noticed how messy y/n's face was, giving them a kiss moaning slightly as she tasted herself in their mouth, before laying down pulling y/n into her to relax together on the bed.

"Wanda?"

"Yes y/n?"

Y/n turned now facing Wanda looking up to make eye contact with the women

"Can we take a bath?"

"Of course darling".....

From that point on Wanda and y/n would always be together in some way, yet due to Wanda's powers no one dared to question them, Wanda may have broken character, but the story kept going

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I’m thinking I might do a Taskmaster rewatch. It’s now about 3 months before I go off the UK for two weeks, which still doesn’t feel like a real thing that’s going to actually happen. But I’ve been thinking about how weird it is that I’m flying across an entire ocean because I happened to come across something on YouTube four years ago.

That’s how it started. Not because of the pandemic. It was early March 2020 when I was at my grandparents’ house out East, upstairs in their guest bedroom at about 9 PM, clicking through YouTube, and came across Taskmaster s01e01. I thought, that’s interesting. I like British comedy, by which I mean the old shows my dad had on DVD boxsets so I watched them over and over as a kid (Yes Minister, Flying Circus, Ripping Yarns, Blackadder, Mr. Bean, Fawlty Towers, a few others), the greatest TV show in the entire world called The Thick of It, a few tapes and CDs that my dad used to play in the car a lot (Billy Connolly, Beyond the Fringe, The Good Show), all of Douglas Adams’ books, a few other scattered TV shows I’d watched over the years because my dad said they were good (Peep Show, The Inbetweeners), and a whole bunch of Radio 4 programs. But I didn’t recognize this. This one of those TV panel shows they have there. Like QI, the show I hate because it took Sandi Toksvig away from The News Quiz. But surely that doesn’t mean all TV panel shows are bad. I wonder what this one is?

I clicked on it, and it had a man I vaguely recognized as the teacher in The Inbetweeners, and six other people I did not recognize at all. They were doing things I did not understand. I couldn’t tell how serious they were about anything whatsoever. I couldn’t figure out why it was funny. What are they doing? Why have they brought in items? Who are these people? I was intrigued.

And then Romesh Ranganathan threw a watermelon on the ground and my life hasn’t been the same since. That’s what it was. That’s the moment it clicked for me, and I instantly understood everything about why Taskmaster is funny. I had to call an apology to where my mother and grandparents were sitting downstairs, because sound travels easily in that house and I could not stop laughing. I couldn’t stifle the sound, I couldn’t get my breath. Romesh Ranganathan throwing a watermelon on the ground was the funniest thing I’d ever seen. I needed to see all of it. I needed to see every episode of this and also every other thing that any of these people have ever done. It’s a total coincidence that the world happened to end about a week later so I had time to actually do that.

The world ended, the tournaments I was supposed to get home to coach got canceled, so my trip out East got extended, I watched the rest of Taskmaster. Every episode that had aired as of then, which was up to the end of season 9. I got to the end and couldn’t just be done with all those people, so I Googled my favourites to see what else they’d done. Made a list of what shows came up the most often. Then spent about a year watching every episode of every show on that list, because the world had ended and I had nothing else to do. Would I Lie to You, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Catsdown, Mock the Week, Big Fat Quizzes, QI, The Last Leg. Never Mind the Buzzcocks, though I did start that one from the beginning of the Simon Amstell era, didn’t watch it from the beginning. But I watched every single episode (that had been released as of then) of the others. As I went along, I found new favourite people, and looked up things they’d done, and added those things to my list. Watched/read/listened to those things too. Shorter panel shows, sitcoms, books. The Mash Report and New World Order, of course. I watched every episode of UK Roast Battle and I'm pretty ashamed of it but probably still not as ashamed as I should be. Had a big WILTY phase during which I also re-watched Peep Show, watched everything else Mitchell and Webb have ever done for good measure, watched every episode of Not Going Out and that sketch show Lee Mack did before it, read both Lee Mack and David Mitchell's autobiographies. I watched every single episode of Russell Howard’s Good News and The Russell Howard Hour. There were so many of them. Why did I do that?

Realized it was weird that I loved The Thick of It and Veep and In the Loop so much but had never sought out other Armando Iannucci things (besides that Death of Stalin movie that I saw in the cinema when it came out). Fixed that, went chronologically through all Iannucci's stuff starting with On The Hour/The Day Today. While I was at it, re-watched The Thick of It, also re-watched all those other Britcom shows I'd loved as a kid. Re-watched The Inbetweeners.

Had a phase of being obsessed with Noel Fielding when I watched Buzzcocks. Also watched The IT Crowd, Nathan Barley, Garth Marenghi, The Mighty Boosh, even Luxury Comedy. Learned some more stuff about Noel Fielding, and now regret that phase. But I still think Nathan Barley and Garth Marenghi are masterpieces (the latter didn't even feature Noel Fielding, it just got rolled in with the others due to other crossover people).

At first I excitedly told my friends all about this, but they did not care, and my best friend started getting actively annoyed about it, so I went looking for a place where I could put my Britcom-related thoughts and still have friends when this is all over. I created a Tumblr account in August 2020. It asked me what I wanted my name to be. I thought of a joke Sean Lock made on 8 Out of 10 Cats once, about how people should tell the meerkats that everything’s fine. I went with that.

After the first year, I figured I had a good grounding in long-running TV shows, and could expand my repertoire a bit. I downloaded all 125 hours of the old Russell Howard and Jon Richardson BBC 6 Music radio show, listened to those, confronted some stuff about how shortly before the pandemic I’d had to move out from living with a friend because my OCD-like tendencies (I can’t technically say “my OCD” because I was diagnosed with OCD as a child but then told as a teenager that it was probably a misdiagnosis and those were actually autism symptoms, but it comes to the same thing, it’s just semantics and doesn’t matter) made me so bad at sharing space with other people, watched that documentary he made, drank a bunch of whiskey and had one or two emotions. It was fine. I did Hypothetical next to bring the mood back up. Made a few incoherently furious Tumblr posts when Russell Howard brought on Jordan Peterson and ruined my ability to enjoy any of his work anymore (Russell Howard's work, that is, I didn't enjoy Peterson's work to begin with).

In 2022, the world started to exist again, and I had to do some in-person work placements (as opposed to the last two years, which I’d spent doing my very easy work-from-home editing job that left lots of time for panel shows), and I realized that audio comedy is a lot easier to take with me on a commute than TV comedy. I listened to all 217 hours of the original run of The Bugle. Then took a break for a few months before listening to the reboot, because getting to the end of the original run made me so genuinely sad that I needed some time to get used to the idea that it would become a different thing, before I could actually enjoy that other thing. Which I now enjoy very much. Listened to all of Zaltzman and Oliver's other things, of course. Got into Chris Addison's old Radio 4 stuff off the back of The Department. Found a bunch of other people's Radio 4 stuff in the same spot.

Saw Nish Kumar live twice within a few months, traveling to New York City and then Montreal for it. One time he looked at me and laughed at my reaction to a joke and asked me a question, and I briefly knew how it must have felt to be those people who fainted at Beatles concerts back in the day, due to being overwhelmed by proximity to their hero (though it's not exactly the same situation, hopefully Nish Kumar has beaten fewer women than John Lennon).

Got into Kitson in mid-2022. Bought all his stuff on Bandcamp and Vimeo, wanted more, scoured the internet because I was promised that bootlegs existed, couldn’t find them, messaged a guy on a comedy forum to see what he had, got much, much more than I could possibly have hoped for (including, incredibly, a spare room where I’m staying in London this summer). Bought all David O’Doherty’s stuff off Bandcamp. Got a NextUp subscription. Got so into stand-up that panel shows started to seem over-edited and less enjoyable by comparison. Watched all of Stewart Lee’s TV shows and stand-up DVDs within a couple of weeks. Got really really into Josie Long. Spent a fair bit of 2023 meticulously going through a hodge-podge collection of old Kitson recordings, carbon dating them from the tiniest detail so I could accurately record their date and venue on my spreadsheet and in the file name. Developed a deep obsession with a thing called the Chocolate Milk Gang. Got into a Beautiful Mind-style need to unravel all the mysteries of this one video featuring the Chocolate Milk Gang and a cow from Edinburgh 2003. Decided that Stuart Goldsmith is the best interviewer I’ve ever heard. Once accidentally ended up in a brief email correspondence with Stuart Goldsmith and had to take about six months off from listening to his podcast because I was so embarrassed about it. Listened to all Mark Watson's old radio shows and then did all of No More Jockeys, decided Mark Watson is probably the best person in the world, learned a few more things about him, decided he's maybe actually not. Memorized all the Perrier Award winners since 1999, because that seemed worth doing. Saw Grace Petrie live and managed to not cry until the final song. Went to coach the national championships in 2023, felt sad about how disconnected I'd become from the sport that was my whole life for years, ended up spending much of the weekend sitting in an empty hallway listening to Gavin Osborn songs. Accosted Josie Long in the streets of Montreal and made her sign a poster from 2011.

Went back and watched/listened to some earlier stuff. Rounded out my previous journey through the TV shows/movie of Alan Partridge with the specials and audiobooks and podcast. Did all of Lee and Herring in about two weeks. Listened to Do The Right Thing mostly in an empty classroom on breaks at my new autism therapy job, fell briefly in love with Danielle Ward.

Then 2024 arrived and that was mostly John Robins for a few months. Became an XFM/Radio X retro one-r, accidentally got a video of John Robins taken off YouTube and immediately wanted to hide under my bed forever. Booked a trip to London and Edinburgh for summer 2024.

All of this happened because I happened to click on s01e01 of Taskmaster in early March 2020. I’m flying across an ocean. And what I really wanted, to begin with, was more context for Taskmaster. I thought it was the funniest thing I’d ever seen, and I think everything is better in context, so I wanted to see these people do other things, get as much context as I possibly could so I could get all the little in-jokes on Taskmaster.

When I first watched Taskmaster, only nine seasons were out. Across those nine seasons that I watched in the first go, I only saw six people I recognized. Greg Davies, and later, Joe Thomas, from The Inbetweeners. Sally Phillips, from Veep. Jo Brand, whom I knew from some of my dad's old British stand-up comedy tapes. Hugh Dennis, as I’d been listening to The Now Show for years. And Nish Kumar, as I’d been listening to The News Quiz for years. I’d never actually seen Nish before getting to Taskmaster season 5, and was shocked the first time I watched s05e01, because based on hearing him on the radio all those times, I’d assumed Nish Kumar was about 55 years old. Since then I’ve realized that a few of the people I saw in those first nine Taskmaster seasons were actually people I’d heard before on The News Quiz, but I didn’t make those connections at the time. Nish was the only one I’d heard enough times on The News Quiz to immediately realize that this was the same person as the one on the radio. I was shocked by how young he was. And then I was shocked by how very bad at everything he was.

Also, I didn't realize until way too long after I'd finished my initial Taskmaster watch that Sara Pascoe was the radio employee in the Richard Bacon episode of The Thick of It.

Anyway, I have more context now. Quite a bit more context. Arguably too much context. Maybe more context than any one person could ever need. But I'm thinking, before I actually go to the UK on this trip that I still can't believe is going to be real, I might go through Taskmaster again, with context this time.

I've re-watched it before, of course. In those first nine seasons, I've seen every episode at least four times. I re-watched them all along with the podcast when that first came out. I re-watched the first 13 seasons with my then-girlfriend, back when we first got together, in late 2021/early 2022. But I haven't watched them all properly since then. I've re-watched sporadic episodes, but not all of them in order.

I'm thinking I'll do all of them order. With all the context. With too much context. Not on YouTube this time. I can watch it on my laptop's own video player, from the folder in the 5TB hard drive I bought specifically to house my comedy folder (currently about 2TB). That'll be a good use of my limited time on this Earth.

Here, have a video I made in the fall of 2020, putting moments from the nine seasons of Taskmaster that were out at the time to a song that I listened to a lot during early lockdown days.

[adultswim2021]

The Venture Bros. #43: "Handsome Ransom" | October 26, 2009 - 12:00AM | S04E02

Listen to me, you mother fucker, I am talking. I don’t necessarily set out to recap an episode’s entire plot. It’s my downfall that for certain shows, like this one, I get sucked into recounting every single thing, because it’s a thorough way for me to make sure I’ve supplied all the context needed for some frivolous tidbit I MUST tell you. I am always in a thorough way, to my detriment. Really, this blog mostly just exists so I can keep track of my progress while I do this watch that I really could just be doing privately. There could be less bad stuff on the internet if only I had the restraint. 

Handsome Ransom is the one where the Monarch attempts to hold the Venture Bros ransom, but Hank (and not Dean) is rescued by Captain Sunshine, a Superman style guy who people talk about. You see, it’s popular opinion among the general public that Captain Sunshine is a pedophile. When a random guy on the street sees Captain Sunshine flying around with Hank, he snarkily makes an insensitive joke to the effect of “I wouldn’t let him around my kids!” causing others to laugh knowingly. 

Captain Sunshine takes Hank as his new ward, believing him to be a homeless orphan. Really, Hank was just mad at his family, and took the out when Captain Sunshine misinterpreted the situation. In one really creepy scene, we linger on Captain Sunshine whispering to his Alfred about issuing a bottle of lube to Hank, who is instructed to rub it where the sun hopefully won’t shine.

It’s genuinely troubling; I’ve watched this episode with people who seemed almost pissed off that the show was seemingly going into Happiness territory. The show even goes to commercial before letting us in on the misdirect: turns out it’s just so the Wonder Boy outfit will side on easier when Hank goes down a chute that apparently dresses him as he slides to the Sunshine mobile.

Basically the sitcom-style mix-em up of this episode is that Venture thinks Monarch still has Hank in his custody, who bluffs that he does have Hank to get a ransom from Venture. They play a game of tet-a-tet that eventually leads to all parties concerned at Captain Sunshine’s house. At this point we discover that he’s a local newscaster, and his news team are also secretly superheroes, which is such a fun idea.

The Monarch has a really twisted moment where he winds up in the Wonder Boy outfit and taunting Captain Sunshine. I forget if I said this, but Monarch killed Sunshine’s previous Wonder Boy. It’s actually mentioned in an earlier episode! The joke-to-lore pipeline is real! I get to say that again! Anyway, that's a big part of the episode: Captain Wonder's psycho attachment to the idea of Wonder Boy no longer being dead.

Okay here’s some stuff I really love in this episode: the “honkey” exchange between Hank and Monarch in the opening scene. Venture complains that Hank called him a honkey and the Monarch laughs and asks “did you really?”. This is honestly in the running for one of my favorite moments in the goddang show. I also love the joke about Sunshine throwing the Monarch into a prison yard as retribution. Monarch walks on account of Sunshine’s ignorance of due process. This episode also plants the seeds for a joke later, where Hatred finds out that Billy Quizboy is 37. You’ll certainly remember that Hatred is a (reformed?) pedophile, so he'd really like a little guy.

Speaking of that: the commentary track (and the Go Team Venture book) makes it very clear that Captain Sunshine is not intended to be an actual pedophile. He’s just perceived as one by the public, and is oblivious to this fact. I guess this is parallel to Michael Jackson except for, you know, that guy probably was one?? Right?? Is that crazy for me to say??? That guy probably fucked those little kids.

Jackson and Doc also point out that a vital thing about Hatred (other than the pedophilia): which is that unlike Brock, he’s game for anything. He gets heat stroke in a spider hole and paints himself like a hundo to try and help Venture. Brock would never!

Another great commentary tidbit is that they were watching the episode on a burned DVD-R which they made originally to send to the network for internal reviewing purposes, and they always make a barebones menu and add an annoying song looping on the menu. This episode’s song was Steal My Sunshine by Len.

They also sing the praises of Kevin Conroy, who voices Captain Sunshine as well as Batman from Batman: The Animated Series. I never really watched that show, because I sorta shunned action shows at a really early age, but I do remember getting sucked into watching an episode once or twice and thinking “this is actually pretty good”. Can you blame me? Anyway, I have to respect that guy or else people will get pissed. He died! 

That’s Jackson’s dog in the live-action bit. Hey, speaking of Jackson (I started the paragraph this way just to jam in the dog bit): The concept of the Wonder Boy memorial being a golden statue of him in a motorless side-car was a gag left over from The Tick that went unused. I learned that from the book. In fact, I didn’t even recognize that as a funny joke until I read that. Like, what a pathetic monument. 

Did I explicitly say that this is very easily among my favorite episodes of the series? It’s just so goddamn funny. Sometimes this show fails to come all-the-way-together, and that’s a shame, but this is pretty goddamn perfect. 

EPHEMERA CORNER:

Adult Swim in a Box DVD (October 27, 2009)

This was a weird one. This was a box set collecting previous season/volume set releases of various Adult Swim shows. The North American release included:

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Volume Two

Space Ghost Coast to Coast: Volume Three

Moral Orel: Volume One

Robot Chicken: Season Two

Metalocalypse: Season One

Sealab 2021: Season Two

The Australian release does what the North American release should have done: they used all first volumes for the shows. They also swapped Robot Chicken and Metalocalypse for Frisky Dingo, Squidbillies, AND The Brak Show. It came out in 2011, I think (I already closed the tab that had this information)

Both versions included a PILOTS disk, which was eventually sold on the Adult Swim webstore as a stand-alone disc (which I bought) included the following pilots: 

Totally for Teens

Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Candy Fudge

Korgoth of Barbaria

Welcome to Eltingville

Perfect Hair Forever

Very annoying for them to include Perfect Hair Forever, even though it was picked up as a TV show. Shoulda included Lowe Country with Lowe commentary. Hell, they should make every movie and TV show in the whole world have Lowe commentary. 

You’ll notice only two of those pilots haven’t been covered here yet. I’m going to cover them at another time, in early 2010, as part of my award-winning coverage of Burger King’s Big Uber Network Sampling. 

[bartramcat]

CSI Vegas and the Myth of Marriage

For any number of reasons, marriage has always been considered among the least interesting subjects for fiction. Fiction loves getting to the marriage or showing a marriage in trouble or ending a marriage, but the actual day to day relationship? Nah. No drama there.

A perusal of TV sitcoms reinforces this idea. While kids are considered a great source of comedic fodder, married parents are not. Beginning in the early 1960s, Andy Griffith, Fred McMurray, Lucille Ball and Shirley Jones all played single parents. Of course, they were all widowed, since divorce was verboten.

I have never been a big fan of love stories. Most of my favorite films are about something other than love; if there is a love story within it, so be it, but love stories per se tend in film to be better shot soap opera. To tell you the truth, soaps actually did a better job with the subject. It has always seemed to me to take a long time to understand why two people love one another. It takes a novel.

One of the problems is that I think that, far too often, sex is seen as the driving force behind love. In many cases, the only force. And perhaps therein lies the problem with marriage. The standard trope is that once the initial sexual excitement fades that the dull drudgery settles in. Marriage limits everything. It is a routine. It is a trap. While characters may grow outside of a marriage, rarely do they grow within it. It is the dead end.

All of which brings me to Grissom and Sara. First of all, I suppose it should be mentioned that TIIC decided in Season 13 to follow the standard playbook. They decided, in their infinite idiocy, that they couldn't "grow" Sara while she remained tethered to her offscreen husband. So both characters began acting out of character. What the first 9 seasons of CSI made abundantly clear is that these two needed each other; they were compelled to each other like magnets, like moths to the eternally alluring flame.

So, yeah, they would go months at a time barely speaking and avoiding each other. Uh, no.

I think the greatest fear that many of us had when the reboot was announced was that the show would continue to follow the conventional playbook. That, after sailing off into the sunset, they would have found some way to break up again, and whatever lured them back to Vegas would be yet another opportunity for an angst-fest.

One of the most tired tropes in soap opera is the couple who can't live together, can't live apart, so their whole arc is a series of attenuated breakups and make-ups. It is this circle of hell that is really the dead end. They never learn; they never change; they never grow.

Instead of being presented with a couple whose relationship is stagnant or broken, we have been treated to a pair who have grown together, by virtue of being together. Grissom is still Grissom, and Sara is still Sara, and, yes, they can take different sides of an issue and bicker about it, but that in no way diminishes their connection. Rather, it is indicative of the strength of the bond between them. They are comfortable and secure with each other: they may see things differently, but they do so knowing they love and are loved.

Far from being dull, their interplay has been delightful. Beyond the banter, Billy and Jorja can literally make us see the invisible thread between them. Every word, every gesture, every glance underscores the existential bond between them. Their relationship has become as much a part of each of them as breathing.

Of course, I write this knowing full well that there are 4 episodes remaining in which the possibility looms that they can still be fucked up; that this show will bow to convention and find a way to divide them. Should they go down that path will be an unbelievable disservice to the characters and the audience, as well as fly in the face of what has been established thus far in the series.

Simply put, Gil and Sara know where they belong, on land or on sea, and that is together.

To deny that would be an indefensible assault on the truth.

[diary-of-deadweight]

can I please ask for a Peter imagine where Billy and Tommy (those kids are just too adorable!) always want to hang out with their "cool uncle and aunt"?

Masterlist

There was no one in Westview that Tommy and Billy Maximoff looked up to more then you and Pietro. It was common knowledge.

Wanda, despite her best efforts, came across as overprotective of the twins, restricting where they could or couldn’t go for undisclosed reasons while Vision was more at work then he was at home, purely by no fault of his own but when he was he and Wanda would bicker behind closed doors when they think the twins were asleep or occupied in their rooms.

You and Pietro however? The breath of fresh air they needed; teaching them life lessons and letting them experience things for themselves whenever you took them out somewhere, helping them forge their own identities along the way. That and you’d let them stay up past their bedtime along with treating them with sugary goodness. So whenever a possible chance to be with their cool aunt and uncle presents itself, they’d 100% most of the time take up that offer without fail.

“Are you sure this’ll work?” Billy asked Tommy as they hide ontop of the staircase as you and Pietro saw their parents off before closing the door and making yourselves comfortable on the couch watching an old sitcom, how the brunette twin could tell it’s old because it had that disembodied laughter coming through, he didn’t feel as though they should go along with the plan. Not that it was his plan to begin with anyways it was Tommy’s more or less, he just didn’t want to get left out but he was know to be more in tune with his emotions then his brother was anyways -which you taught him could be his greatest attribute later in life- yet had no idea how you dealt with being scared at all. You could scare easily for all he knew!

“Of course it is Billy, when have I ever been wrong?” A moment of silence lingered and Tommy could feel his brothers questioning look burning into his back and instantly regretted his statement with what came out next, “What about that one time at Agnes-“ “okay! I take that back, I may have been wrong on a few instances but think of this as payback for all the times uncle P had scared us alright?” He looked back at Billy who only sighed, knowing when Tommy put his mind to something it wasn’t easy to persuade him otherwise, and gave him a meek thumbs up indicating he was all set to go.

There was no way you couldn’t hear their heavy footsteps and breathing from the your place on the couch, if you couldn’t you were lying, straight up and you knew that Pietro could hear them too by the smile upon his face as he acted coy, prenteding not to feel their breaths on the back of your necks, trying to hold back their laughter or look directly at their reflections that were visible from the tv screen, erasing any semblance of incognito they had but that was the beauty in babysitting the twins, they certainly didn’t leave you feeling dull or bored in the slightest. Were they pains in the ass? Sometimes with how much energy they withheld in their tiny bodies but did that matter? No! They were having fun and you were having fun by playing along with their schemes.

So just as they were about to grab your shoulders, you used your powers to disappear and reappear behind the pair and grabbed them into your arms, making them shout in fright before you put them into their uncles’ lap as he tickled their sides in revenge. “You thought you could scare us! We’re the masters of scare! Now you shall pay the price for your defiance!” “NOOOO!” The twins laughed, trying to push away his hands weakly as you watched them with a smile upon your face, warmth spreading through your chest as you watched the scene in front of you before deciding to join in the fun by acting as the twins hero as you grasped Pietro into a full nelson, halting his attack, allowing Billy and Tommy their freedom, betraying your boyfriend in the process.

“Quick! I can’t hold the beast much longer! Save yourselves!” You cried as your hold on he silver haired male began to loosen gradually, knowing you’ll be on the receiving end of their punishment sooner or later but it was a valiant sacrifice you’ll gladly pay but the twins weren’t about to leave their new ally behind to save their own skins as they looked at each other in acknowledgment before turning back to Pietro with courageous looks of bravery as they charged into him and off the couch, pinning him to the floor as he gave his final speech, reaching a hand in your direction, “how could you betray me? Were you ever on my side my dear beloved?” You faked a look before responding with confidence, puffing your chest out, gently kicking his hand away from you, “I was never on your side! I was in cahoots with these brave men from the start,” you moved to stand behind Billy and Tommy, “how foolish it was of you to put so much trust in me from the start. You brought this upon yourself.” Pietro’s chocolate eyes twinkled in pride as he smirked weakly, knowing he’s lost the fight, “cleaver girl...” were his final words as he closed his eyes and poked his tongue out.

You, Tommy and Billy then celebrated your victory with a nice family movie and a buffet of gummy worms, twinkies, soda and popcorn you summoned with your magic, all presented upon a white lace table cloth as Billy cuddled up to you and Tommy cuddled into Pietro’s side both fast asleep from all the physical exertion as you rested your head against your boyfriends’ chest, sleep weighing heavily on your eyelid and limbs but you could only buy yourself some time before heading off to sleep and Pietro could see that as he leaned down to kiss your head. “Goodnight sweetheart, the twins absolutely love you, maybe more then me but that’s up for debate.” You laughed, slapping his chest softly. “The only reason they like you is because you’re a manchild.” You heard Pietro gasp defensively, squeezing your bicep lightly, before adding, “but you’re my manchild and I love you and the twins very, very much.”

[kentochronicles]

***SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION EPISODE 6***

So I’m still processing everything but holy shite that ep was wild...

FIRST THINGS FIRST - WANDA, VISION, BILLY AND PIETRO ALL IN COMIC ACCURATE-ISH COSTUMES AND TOMMY IN A MINI QUICKSILVER COSTUME

PIETRO CALLING BILLY AND TOMMY DEMON SPAWN - GOD DAMMIT, IT’S MEPHISTO ISN’T IT? HOUSE OF M HERE WE COME

HERB ASKING WANDA IF SHE WANTED SOMETHING CHANGED

AGNES ASKING VISION ABOUT THE AVENGERS AND STUFF AND AT FIRST SHE SEEMED GENUINELY FREAKED OUT BUT THEN STARTED LAUGHING MANIACALLY AND I STILL DON’T TRUST HER AND AGNES BEING DRESSED AS A WITCH? AGATHA HARKNESS WAS A WITCH - COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT!

DARCY LOOKING OVER MONICA’S MED SCANS AND TELLING HER HOW THE HEX AFFECTS HER EACH TIME SHE GOES IN - IS SHE DEVELOPING HER POWERS?

PIETRO’S CORPSE - SCARED ME JUST AS MUCH AS VISION’S

MOVIES SHOWING IN THE THEATRE IN THE BACKGROUND - THE INCREDIBLES: A MOVIE BASED AROUND A SUPERHERO FAMILY AND THE PARENT TRAP: A MOVIE ABOUT TWINS WHO MEET AT CAMP AND TRY AND SET THEIR PARENTS UP

DON’T GO PAST ELLIS AVENUE - NOW I DON’T KNOW IF THIS IS A CONNECTION OR JUST A COINCIDENCE BUT ELLIS IS THE LAST NAME OF THE PRESIDENT DURING IRON MAN 3

TOMMY HAVING HIS SPEED POWERS AND BILLY HAVING HIS REALITY WARPING/TELEKINETIC POWERS - WELCOME SPEED AND WICCAN

A CALL BACK TO INFINITY WAR WHEN VISION EXITED THE HEX? SLIGHTLY DUSTING AND HE PROBABLY WON’T SURVIVE BEING OUTSIDE OF THE HEX - HE’LL JUST DIE AGAIN 🥲

I STILL DON’T TRUST HAYWARD - HE’S VERY SUS

DARCY BEING TAKEN INTO THE HEX WITH THE OTHER S.W.O.R.D AGENTS - HOPEFULLY WE CAN SEE THE OUTFITS THAT KAT DENNING’S WAS EXCITED ABOUT

I SWEAR THEY BETTER NOT STRAIGHTWASH BILLY AND TOMMY OR I WILL RIOT 😤

***FURTHER UPDATES***

So sit-com wise, it seems they were referencing Malcolm in the Middle as the twins broke the fourth wall and talked to the audience, like Malcolm did

However, the theme song has told the viewer to stop questioning the reality of Westview - which could be a little reference to Mystery Science Theatre 3000? - When Pietro first shows up in the title sequence, along with his name title card, the lyrics say “Though there may be no way of knowing who’s come to play” - Istg, I do not trust Pietro

Vision says to Wanda that he had to wear his Halloween costume because there were no other clothes in his closet, Wanda is trying to move the plot along and forcing Vision to play along

Evan Peters’ ‘Mom’ tattoo is shown, which is a tattoo he actually has in real life ! But could this stand for ‘Multiverse of Madness’ or some other red herring?

Pietro mentions to Wanda that if he had found ‘Shangri-La’ he wouldn’t want to leave either - Shangri-La is a real place on Earth-616 that was founded by a version of Vision

Tommy refers to Pietro’s speed as ‘kickass’ and then Wanda repeats that, saying ‘kickass’ again - Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Evan Peters (both versions of QuickSilver) were in Kick-Ass together

The ad for this episode was freaky af - the character on the beach who starved and decomposed could be a little nod to Indiana Jones, where a Nazi’s face melts in - and it could also be reference to Wanda being all alone and struggling to process her grief. The shark in the ad could also be Nightmare or Mephisto or just someone more powerful than Wanda offering her a new beginning with Vision or trapped her in some way - and is feeding off her magic? The flavour of the yoghurt is strawberry flavoured and strawberry’s are red on the outside and pink-ish on the inside - much like Wanda’s og costume and her magic being red 👀

Pietro and Wanda talk about their Sokovian accents at a point in the episode and how neither have them anymore. Wanda’s, as we know, has disappeared over the course of the MCU movies and Pietro’s just doesn’t exist - another nice little nod to Peter Maximoff from the fox X-Men films? Also, Pietro states that “I’m just trying to do my part, okay? Come to town unexpectedly, create tension with the brother-in-law, stir up trouble with the Rugrats (a 90’s cartoon 👀) and ultimately give you grief.” - in reference to the grief part, could Pietro be killed off again? Stir up trouble with the rugrats, being possible shards of the demon Mephisto’s soul, could this be Mephisto trying to influence them on a deeper level? It’s also many many common sitcom clichès

Pietro talks about how “I got shot like a chump on the street for no reason at all” - nice little nod to how Pietro was killed off unnecessarily and how we as a fandom still talk about how regular bullets shouldn’t have killed him

Herb is dressed as Frankenstein’s monster - Dr. Frankenstein created his monster and soon lost control over him, and he was created using electricity or lightning - much like Vision was created and brought to life by Thor using Mjolnïr to bring lightning down to his incubator thingy majig. Could this also be a reference to either Wanda slowly losing control over Westview or someone else controlling Wanda/controlling the citizens of Westview - we saw in episode 3 that Agnes told Herb to be quiet as it seemed he was about to spill the beans 👀

Vision goes towards Ellis avenue and is at a ‘crossroads’ of sorts - in folklore, crossroads are often used to speak to or summon the devil and are also used when an important character is making a decision that could change everything. He spots some citizens repeating certain actions and/or just standing completely still, could these be npc’s (non playable characters)? And now that the barrier of the Hex has spread, will those citizens now start to move? 👀 Also I know that all stop signs look like it, but the stop sign is also a red hexagon 🛑

Darcy scrolls through Hayward’s computer files and goes past a file called “Project C4-113” - it could reference Avengers Issue #113 in which Wanda and Vision both appear on the cover and she says she’s going to make the world pay for Vision’s death. There’s also another file called “Project M5-247” which could be a nod to Avengers Issue #247, which shows the origin of the Eternals and in the same vein, Scarlet Witch and Vision trying to help Captain Marvel. And when Darcy emails Hayward’s cataract plans, you can see the names of “James Alexander and James Gadd” - James Alexander is a visual effects producer on Wandavision and James Gadd works on post production at Marvel

Also: Agnes pulls as Mrs Hart and repeats the same phrase over and over again

After Wanda blasts Pietro, you can see on a fake grave stone the name of “Janell Sammelman”, Janell is a first assistant director on Wandavision

When Wanda moves Westview to save Vision, she turns S.W.O.R.D and it’s agents into clowns + a circus - I just love that the agents turned into clowns 😂 but there is a nice little plot line in the comics where Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye join the circus - and this COULD be stretch, but earlier in the episode there is the number #22 which could be Avengers Issue #22, which is the Issue that they join the circus

As soon as Vision was brought back into Westview, he was healed - which means if he was to exit again, he probably wouldn’t survive 😭

The episode title is ‘All-New Halloween Spooktackular!” - which “All-New” is a designation that is often used on covers for comic books. And the first issue of the second The Vision and the Scarlet Witch series takes place on Halloween night - but the events in this comics didn’t influence this episode’s plot

Pietro points out that he has the “XY chromosome” - X for X-Men? Plus there’s the X gene 😂

He mentions “Uncle Peter to the rescue” - Peter is the name of Quicksilver from the Fox X-Men Franchise

Pietro and Tommy quote the movie Top Gun (1986) by saying “I fell the need, the need for speed”

Wanda almost seems hesitant to trust this version of Pietro (rightfully so, in my opinion) and is wary of him being around Tommy and Billy

Pietro says some very Mephisto/Nightmare-like things this episode - “Unleash hell, demon spawn!”, “The kids need a father figure”, “Damnit, if Westview isn’t charming as Hell...” - And if Pietro isn’t Mephisto/Nightmare, it HAS to be Agnes or her other half Ralph and Pietro is probably Ralph tbh...or could Pietro just be a scapegoat and Hayward is Ralph? 👀

The theatre in town, which is playing the Incredibles and The Parent Trap, is called the Coronet. There’s a classic poem called “The Coronet” written by Andrew MARVELL (Marvell, is also the true name of the first incarnation of Captain Marvel in the comics) and is about a guy who knows that the sins of mankind led to the death of Christ. He attempts to create a new crown for Christ’s head in an attempt to atone, but finds that there is sin in the crown as well, as the devil is within the crown and therefore he may achieve glory and success with his new creation 👀

Hayward’s confidential project “Cataract” included experimenting on Vision’s body, as was revealed by Darcy (my wife 💙 and Monica is also my wife 💚 and so is Wanda 💛, I just love women, you know? 😂). A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision - is Hayward trying to weaponise Vision? Or maybe even trying to bring Ultron back? Or do what Tony wanted to do in the first place, and make a suit of armour that’s around the world? Either way, it’s for nefarious purposes

Who is Monica’s guy? Jimmy and Monica are off to meet him - could it be Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic)? Or could it be Victor Von Doom (Dr Doom)? Could it be Hank McCoy (Beast)? Or even Adam Brashear (Blue Marvel)? Or if it is a woman, could it be the Skrull daughter of Talos that Monica befriended at the end of Captain Marvel? Could it be Abigail Brand (A major character in recent S.W.O.R.D comics and an Alpha Flight Member)? Or even Toni Ho (Iron Patriot, and could she be introduced to help lay the ground work for my other queen, Riri Williams/Iron Heart?)? Or could it even be Sue Storm (Invisible Woman)?

In the background of the episode we see a number of children and adults dressed up as many different characters, which includes: Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat, Jason Voorhees, with a sweater striped like Freddy Krueger’s and even a kid that looks dressed in an off-brand Charizard costume 😂 Pokèmon has always been popular, but saw an increase during the 90’s

Pietro and the kids are drinking “Kane Cola” which could be a reference to the 90’s drinks “Jolt Cola” or even “Surge” - it could also, with all the X-Men Easter eggs, be a reference to Garrison Kane, who was a member of Cable’s mercenary team “Six Pack” and is sometimes also known as ‘Weapon X’

The kid that Wanda mentions having a “skin thing” in the orphanage - could that be a reference to her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants co-worker Toad? Or maybe even Mystique? Maybe Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler)?

One of the houses has a sign up that says ‘Macabre Mansion’ - another possible reference to House of M?

During a flashback, it’s shown that the twins are playing Dance Dance Revolution, which came out in 1999. Also this might be a stretch, but the boys have a dog plushie in their room the right - which is coloured red and black - could this be a reference to Dogpool? 😂

I love this show 🤣💙

[littlefanthings]

WandaVision Episode 7 Thoughts

• “A quarantine style staycation” probably wasn’t meant to hit the way it did when they filmed this

• Did the Office or Modern Family have background music? It’s honestly kind of distracting.

• lol the milk sniff, I do that every time I use milk, been burned too many times (by which I mean maybe twice but it was two times too many)

• “The signal’s gone, dead air” well shit, I guess she really is taking a “me” day, huh?

• Billy and Tommy have become pretty damn lovable. The writers are doing a good job toeing the line between “cute, funny, but pretty normal kids” and “full Michelle Tanner”.

• Yes, that reference was on purpose because of Elizabeth Olsen and the Olsen twins, but it’s also EXTREMELY accurate. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen basically grew up being made to act like living caricatures of cute kids and it was gross and sad and I hope that they’re doing alright and are happy now (and I got really mad when people tried to give them shit for not being on Fuller House but this is a long enough tangent).

• Wanda has become uh...kind of a shit mom? Though I mean, she’s only been a mom for a week and her kids grew ten years in like two days, so she hasn’t had much practice. Still, though: Wanda you are a mother get your shit together, you don’t say stuff like that to children, especially not your own!

• Billy why you gotta be such a sensitive sweet boy you’re gonna need so much therapy my little angel child

• if you have to say “I’m fine” more than twice, you’re not fine.

• OKAY I think this is a red herring and Major Goodin is not actually the engineer, but CMON MARVEL WHY ARE YOU PLAYING WITH US THIS WAY

• Has anyone actually seen a strongman in a circus in the last decade or two?

• There are lions in this circus? That is highly unethical, Wanda....also, wait, where did the lions come from? Did Wanda just turn some stray cats into lions? ...that’s actually kind of cool.

• Hey Vis why haven’t you just gone around town waking people up? Though hmm now that I think about it, that could go bad pretty easily. Too many panicked, angry people.

• In case you didn’t notice (though I’m sure you did), the guy Darcy punches is the same guy who called her “Miss Lewis” and wouldn’t get her coffee, so he probably had it coming (for other reasons - don’t punch people for refusing you coffee).

• Hula girl in the van! That’s definitely a Agents of Shield ref, right? Or is it just “hula girls are fun to put in moving cars”? I’m gonna pretend it’s a reference.

• They really nailed these depression commercials right down to the greyscale. “Nexus” is a thing to pay attention to, in case you didn’t catch that but you definitely did because ..cmon...if you’re reading this you definitely already knew.

• Agnes’s house is such a tip-off, the decor is so NOT “Agnes”. ESPECIALLY in a sitcom. It looks like the kind of house that would belong to an Old Money family that hid a disabled child in the attic at some point.

• Monica WHY

• This would be a good time to point out that Monica hasn’t taken the time to process getting snapped and losing her mother. It’s a juxtaposition to Wanda, both people who disappeared and lost loved ones suddenly. Both doing reckless-ass shit out of grief.

• Monica’s Superhero-itis hits the final stage. You can tell from the glowy eyes. That only happens when you hit full power.

• I think the best thing to come from WandaVision is getting to see Vision’s actual personality. We never really had a chance to learn much about him from the movies outside of knowing he’s a good dude (because He Is Worthy™️) and that he loves Wanda. We got about ten seconds of him being awkward and cute with Wanda in Infinity War and then aliens stabbed him and it was mostly business from there on out.

• Monica is about as subtle as Carol Danvers. There’s a crazy, mindcontrolling, cosmically powerful witch who hates me making trouble so the best plan would be to STORM INTO HER HOUSE YELLING. C’mon, Monica!

• Superhero-itis hits its peak with Monica’s superhero landing. Is that even a smart way to land? I feel like it’s not the most stable pose, along with that whole bad for the knees thing that Deadpool pointed out.

• WHO IS THE PACKAGE MAN?!? IS HE THE MISSING PERSON??? IS HE RALPH?? WHO IS THE MISSING PERSON JIMMY?!?!?!

• Also what’s up with Dottie? They made kind of a thing about Feige having to approve Emma Caulfield Ford’s casting and she’s shown up once or twice since the 60s ep but that’s it. Give Anyanka Jenkins more screen time!

• WHERE ARE THE BOYS AGNES

• “Ten is too old for Yo Gabba Gabba,” she thought despite fully having watched Arthur well into her teen years (it was a good show, guys).

• Wanda’s in the basement and OOH they’re using the creepy slide trombone sound!! I love when they do that.

• So is the sparkly book the Darkhold? Or a different evil magic book? I honestly hope it’s a different one since they used the Darkhold on AoS and even if it’s a different universe...can you just let them have this one??

• We finally got the big Agatha Harkness reveal! In general, I think that Hollywood has this problem (mostly in TV shows, less so in movies) where if the audience figures something out ahead of time the writers decide to add a crazy twist in order to shock the audience. The problem is that whatever twist they add is usually sloppy and makes no sense and the whole thing winds up being very unsatisfactory for everyone. The smart thing a storyteller can do here is not change the story, but add another layer. An unexpected problem or character development that still keeps us intrigued or entertained without derailing the whole plot. In WandaVision, they know we know Agnes is fishy as hell, they wrote it that way. They know we’ve figured it out and they wisely stick to the story, because finding out you were right is STILL fun and it keeps things on track. But they’ve also added another bit of fun for the audience to make the reveal feel more special: they gave us THE GREATEST THEME SONG OF ALL TIME.

• Okay, maybe not really THE GREATEST, but it’s pretty fucking good. I mean, it had a great start by clearly being based off of The Munsters theme which really IS one of the greatest theme songs of all time.

• Is that Kathryn Hahn singing the “It’s Been Agatha All Along” part?

• Kathryn Hahn doesn’t get enough credit for being both incredibly talented and alarmingly hot.

• SHE KILLED THE DOG? THATS TOO FAR AGATHA THATS TOO FAR

• I don’t think Agatha turned the kids into a fly and Señor Scratchy. She definitely did something sketch with them, but I don’t think it was that.

• WE GOT A MID-CREDITS SCENE FINALLY

• I think I officially became an Evan Peters fan for life with “Snoopers Gonna Snoop”

• Evan Peters character is definitely NOT Pietro. So who is he exactly? I know people were really betting on him being the actual Quicksilver from X-Men but I’m starting to feel like he might literally just be some lackey of Agatha’s from our universe and it really was just a (brilliant) casting gag. I guess I’m fine with it either way, as long as they handle it well.

• This multiverse shit is gonna get DICEY. It could easily go so wrong. Really hope you know what you’re doing, Marvel.

• In conclusion: Costume department continues to nail it with “Pietro”’s slouchy beanie. It is perfection. That guy definitely sells weed when he’s not trying to gaslight the most powerful being on the planet.

[girlysword]

Wandavision Theories

1) SWORD somehow got Vision’s body from Stark Industries and they were the ones turning him into a weapon, and Director Hayward is now placing the blame on Wanda as a cover (although why anyone thought Wanda is using Vision as a weapon when that is very clearly not the case confuses me. He is there to love Wanda, SWORD is watching an entire show about it). Some people have pointed out that Hayward had his degrees in a hexagonal formation, but I don’t think that means that he is in on what’s happening to Wanda. Maybe is behind this gave SWORD Vision’s body as a sort of plan A.

2) Agnes is definitely in on all of this, but she looked genuinely concerned at Sparky’s death and genuinely shocked at the boys’ faith that Wanda could bring back the dead. There is a theory that Agnes is Agatha Harkness, a witch who died in Salem. Maybe Agatha made a deal with Mephisto, Marvel’s version of the devil, to play Wanda’s handler in exchange for coming back to life.

3) I’m 50/50 whether Evan Peters is playing Fox Quicksilver who has been pulled from a different dimension, or if he is playing Mephisto playing Vision as a bid to keep Wanda in line as it becomes harder for her to ignore reality.

4) I don’t think Wanda is doing this 100% on her own, but she is doing a lot of it because she can’t handle reality because of her grief (which she projected unto Monica and maybe the other citizens of Westview, so the “pain” comes from Wanda but the actual mind control doesn’t. Norman did say “she” instead of Wanda’s name.).

5) As stated in Infinity War, Vision is a lot of things, the Mind Stone, JARVIS, Ultron, etc. Wanda may have revived him using the powers she got from the mind stone, but his increasing self-awareness  and ability to not be fully controlled by Wanda comes from the other parts of him.

6) Dottie is completely fictional. The sitcom world needed an antagonist, and Mephisto/Agatha couldn’t let it be either of them, and Wanda truly doesn’t want to hurt any of the real people in the town.

7) There are no children because Wanda is protecting them. They are probably all comatose in a safe place or were sent away to live with friends/relatives. Or Mephisto/Agatha didn’t want kids in the neighborhood because kids can’t be controlled at all for some reason.

8) Mephisto is after Billy and Tommy for some reason.

9) Infinity Stone power is going to play a part in this, either in solving the Westview Anomaly or giving Monica her powers.

[sugdenlovesdingle]

You should totally be producer of emmerdale your story with the added village stuff and all that would be better to watch. What would you do as producer?

you mean aside from the obvious - get Ryan to come back as Robert? And robron getting married for the third time and getting Seb back and finally getting their baby?

I'd go with Aaron and Mack for now. Get them together until Robert comes back as added drama for robron reunion 3.0.

Mack himself needs to be fleshed out more. If we're retconning Moira's past, let's do it properly. More Mack and Moira sibling stuff, maybe their dad can come looking for his son? Or some other Long Lost Relative. Also more interactions with his new roommates. Let him be mates with Ellis and Billy too - and maybe not threaten them. And he needs an actual job. Maybe with Aaron at the scrapyard or with the haulage company... or Chas can sack Bob and hire him as a new barman!

Matty and Amy - let them be an actual couple. No stupid sitcom references, no acting like 13 year olds. Let them actually discuss what Matty being trans means for their relationship. What does Amy think about dating a trans man? Is their relationship sexual at all or is Matty not comfortable with that? Does Kyle know Matty as his mum's boyfriend? Let him get bumped up the waiting list for his bottom surgery and let Amy support him through his recovery. I could write an essay on this because the way emmerdale treat them pisses me off beyond belief.

Vic & Luke - break up, he goes to prison for killing his brother, she gets back together with Ellis and they live happily ever after.

Chaddy - break up! let Chas have that affair with Al. Paddy can get with Mandy.

Tracy and Nate - break up. Let him go stay with his mum and I'm sure Vanessa would like to meet her niece, so tracy can go stay with her for a while.

Dawn and Jamie - dear god just end it already.

Dawn can get with Ryan and Jamie can comfort Mack when Aaron breaks his heart when he gets back together with Robert.

Will, Harriet, Dan, Amelia, Andrea, devil child (Milly), wailing wendy - all leave, never to be seen again.

Samson and Lydia become proper mother and son. Maybe she helps him with the fall out from his suspension or helps him deal with his traumas (he grew up in emmerdale, he's bound to have some)

Noah - no more Jamie's little minion, let him work at the garage with Cain or the scrapyard with Aaron

Sarah - can stay in Scotland... but I suppose she can come back with Debbie. Debbie and Priya *rekindle their friendship* from when they were playing Al and end up falling in love with each other.

Leyla and Liam - break up! Liam belongs with Bernice. Leyla can get with someone new.

Speaking of someone new - I'd bring in a whole new family. Parents and a couple of kids in various age groups. We need some new blood in that village. someone not connected to the dingles. Also Stephen (before Luke goes to prison) and Ethan's mum.

Meena and David - not bothered about them, they can stay together... though she could be fun with Mack too.

Rishi and Manpreet - break up! Manpreet needs to be with Charles. Rishi needs to not act like a 5 year old.

Jai and Laurel - deserve all the happiness in the world. No more drama for them. plus proper therapy to deal with their decision to terminate their pregnancy.

Leanna - boarding school somewhere in northern Russia

Gabby - is a Strong Independent Woman who don't need no man and raises her baby on her own.

Kim - Home farm's top bitch with a soft spot for Lydia and Rhona. They have regular wine dates up at home farm. non spiked wine though.

Jimmy/Nicola go back to being the power couple they are, Juliette takes a long walk off a short cliff.

Liv and Vinny - get back together without their relationship being used for a shitty abusive asshole plot. Also Liv gets a service dog.

Ethan gets to be the powerhouse lawyer he is and work on a big trial - where he falls in love with someone working for the other party.

Matty and Ryan pick up their antiques pimping business again and are a big hit on social media.

Eric and Brenda - break up! Eric should be with Faith. Brenda can go back to being irrelevant and keep the hope twins off screen with bob.

I'm kind of intrigued by that Aaron has an older brother story the tabloids made up... so I'd go with that. Have him show up on the mill's doorstep one day saying "hey, i'm your brother.' from gordon's affair with the guy's mum when Aaron was a baby

I’d bring back Aiesha because i feel like she could be fun with Meena - and the whole my mum used to kind of be your mum thing with Ethan could be interesting.

I’d also bring back Nikhil and Alicia - just because people always say they like them and miss them. I don’t really know them but that’s beside the point.

Reunite vanity - it has to be done. But Charity isn’t watered down to Vanessa's needy little minion and gets to keep her personality and her shares in the haulage firm. Also she gets to say she’s bisexual.

Vanessa goes back to being a vet and pulls rank on Jamie as senior member of staff. No more him sneaking off with Dawn all the time. And she and Charity share custody of Johnny with Kirin.

April - takes to hanging out at her old house with The Lads and Mack teaches her all kinds of Scottish swear words, while the other 3 try to be Good Role Models for her.

Marlon and Rhona live happily ever after. Rhona picks up the pieces of Marlon’s sanity every time he tries to get The Lads to pay their rent on time or stops by their house in general. Mack’s new hobby is to wind him up as much as he can.

[themonkeycabal]

Wandavision Ep 5 Spoilers

Wherein I watch Wandavision at a stupid hour of the morning because I do not sleep like a regular human being, and sometimes I have things to say.

Previously on Wandavision, we all discovered that Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo were the BFFs we never knew we needed and now can't live without. Also Wanda reminded us that she's really scary.

We should be in the 80s now, right? Ahh the 80s. Leg warmers, Aquanet, and MTV.

Baby shenanigans with crying twins. Wanda tries to magic them to sleep and it doesn't work. "Maybe we just need some help." And in pops Agnes without waiting for them to answer the door. As you do in a sitcom hell. She's got a headband and leg warmers on and is on her way to jazzercise. Of course. Is the point of Agnes to really anchor us in a decade? Asking for real. She's very "this is the era, and these are the tropes, let's all play along now."

Vision is very protective of the babies, to such a degree and with such intensity that Agnes literally forgets her line and nervously asks Wanda if she wants her to take that again. Well, then. Agnes very super a lot does not want to be wished to the cornfield. 

The babies stopped crying during the whole "should we do this scene again" interlude. Vision noticed the weirdness and is trying to figure out what's going on, Wanda is trying very hard to pretend everything is normal. Agnes is being super duper bizarre in the background. And suddenly the twins are like three years old. Agnes has given up and got into the liquor. I don't blame her.

Opening credits. Okay, I'm sorry, 'baby' Vision is almost more stupidly funny than I can take. Like … what? I think I want that as my new icon, though. Also the credits are too long. I think they were very proud of their theme song, so we have to hear it all. These are my least favorite so far. Very 80s, but meh.

In the real world, Monica is getting x-rays and giving a report on being yeeted from Wanda World.

Jimmy Woo and Darcy are there to greet her at the end of the exam. "This is Doctor Darcy Lewis." Yes, she is! Still very proud. She's also the doctor of encouraging people to wear pants, shoving a pair at hospital gown-clad Monica. Erik's no-pants phase was very scarring.

The medic comes back and says the medical tests didn't work or something. The medic wants to do x-rays again because the first came back blank and also she's going to have to do another blood draw. Hmm. Monica is still somehow affected by Wanda World? Unclear on how that would work. Some sort of weird witchy radiation-like energy? Monica says 'no' to more needles and also wants to put pants on. Just let the woman have her pants.

Now we're on to a briefing with the acting Director of SWORD whose name I don't remember. He's very "government suit" bland, I have a hard time caring about anything he says. Also, does anybody else pronounce the 'w' in SWORD in their head when they read it? Like I cannot make my brain stop doing that. "s-WUH-ord'.

"Our initial theory had Wanda Maximoff as one of many victims. We now know she is the principle VICTIMIZER!" Settle down there, acting director guy. Why not say 'subject', 'suspect', 'perpetrator', or boring old 'cause of the anomaly". VICTIMIZER! Geez then. I'm going to guess his solution will be a tactical nuke or some such rot.

Jimmy gives background on Wanda.

Acting Director Guy: "The twins were subsequently radicalized, volunteering at Hydra." Jimmy Woo: "That's an oversimplification of events, but yes." I'm giving you heart-eyes Jimmy Woo.

"After unspecified experimentation with the mind stone, Maximoff gained telekinetic and telepathic abilities."

Then a weird aside where the Acting Director — who shall now be known as Acting Director Dick — wants to know if Wanda had a code name or a something, seeming to imply that not having one made her a bad guy?,  and then he points out how the first time she used her powers it was against the Avengers. He totally just ordered a tactical nuke from "overreacting-government-douchebags r us".  I hate this particular character trope, the government heavy who never listens to anybody and is always ready to napalm the suburbs because reasons. It's so tedious.

Jimmy points out that Wanda earned the Avengers trust and then became an Avenger herself, thank you very much. Acting Director Dick doesn't care, he's decided Wanda is a terrorist and he'll turn half of New Jersey into a glass parking lot to get rid of her. Sure am glad he's in charge of some sort of mysterious and powerful agency.

Jimmy Woo is not a fan either, and he walks back over to his new bestie and tells Darcy that while he tries not to speak ill of anybody … Darcy interrupts "then allow me", and she has no trouble saying that Acting Director Dick is, in fact, a dick. That's my girl.

Elsewhere AD Dick is blathering on about how they don't negotiate with terrorists. Well, since Wanda hasn't made any demands, or released a manifesto or anything …. Monica also points out Wanda is not a terrorist. AD Dick twists her report to make Wanda sound as terroristy as he can. I'm bored with him now.

Monica argues with him a bit and say she doesn't believe Wanda World is a premeditated act of aggression. I vote Darcy, Jimmy, and Monica wait until AD Dick is alone, and then they shove him in a locker for the rest of the season. If anybody asks he had to run back to sWUHord for meetings or something, "Darn, you just missed him. I'll tell him you're looking for him. Great. Buh-bye now".

AD Dick needs to make his big jackass point that Wanda is the most terroristy terrorist who ever terroristed, so he shows off footage of Wanda breaking into a SWORD facility to steal back Vision's body. Because that seems terroristy and not at all like some sort of emotional breakdown. As far as I can tell, she just busted open a few doors, but didn't hurt anybody. I think AD Dick doesn't know the meaning of the word terrorist.

And, yes, then she resurrected Vision in an idealized sitcom world in a small city in New Jersey. That's exactly like something a terrorist mastermind would do. Mmmhmm. Is it nice for the people trapped there with them? No, clearly not. Agnes and Herb in particular seem aware and are scared. They need to be rescued and Wanda needs LOADS of therapy. But Director Nuke the Site from Orbit over here isn't going to make anything better. Darcy, sister, shove that asshole into a locker stat.

Jimmy notes that stealing Vision's body is a violation of the Sokovia Accords. And while I appreciate his dedication to maintaining the Accords … well, I mean, look, it's body theft and all. It's not a great look; I absolutely allow that. But you can just sort of stop there. Though, that's very the Sokovia Accords "if this guy dies, his body must go to a shadowy government agency. for safety. yep."

Also Vision had a living will, where he didn't want to be used as a weapon. Sure, okay. Because I'm sure SWORD was just totally not doing anything at all with his body. Nope. Look, I'm totally a SHIELD girl and even I wouldn't necessarily trust SHEILD with that. So, who is SWORD to me? Pfft. I'd give him to Thor or something and ask him to be buried far far away. I'm just saying. I'm supposed to trust Johnny-Come-Lately S-WUH-ORD?

(In my head now is an inter-agency rivalry where SWORD is like "We have rocket ships!" and SHIELD is like "lol, our lead scientist got eaten by a rock and survived on an alien world for like six months". "But rocket ships?" "We've traveled through time a dozen times in the last year alone. We're a bigger chaotic disaster than you can ever hope to be".)

AD Dick undermines his own "SHE'S A TERRORIST!" thesis by saying she acted out of grief. And then he dismisses everybody. "Work the problem!" Uh … whut? Fine? What is the problem? That she's a WILD MURDERY TERRORIST who must be stopped! or a grief stricken woman who stole her technologically advanced boyfriend's body and probably should be talked down? Acting Director Lack of Clarity.

Jimmy wants to know how Wanda could have resurrected Vision without the Mind stone and Darcy wants to know what Vision will do when he figures it out. Fine questions, friends, fine questions. Monica is just like "acting director dick used to be a buddy but now I kind of want to punch him and am very conflicted. oh and wanda kind of freaks me out but also i feel bad for her" only she says all that without words.

Tommy and Billy are now about like 5 or 6 or something. I'm terrible with kids ages. They're up to shenanigans. Oh, they found a lost puppy dog and they're giving him a bath in the sink. It's all super adorable.

Vision wanders in and greets his family all formally and in his human face. He says he has a premonition someone might pop over. He's not a fan of sitcom neighbors either. And there's Agnes now with a dog house. How does she know whether to enter through the front door or the back door?

The dog tries to burn the house down by licking an electrical outlet? so they name him Sparky (harr harr) and Wanda magics him a collar with Agnes right there. Vision's all "wtf darling?" and she points out Agnes didn't even notice when the boys went from babies to five-year olds, she certainly didn't notice the magic collar. Agnes is trying very very hard not to notice anything. Poor Agnes.

Wanda says she's tired of hiding her abilities and Vision is Very Concerned. He's starting to figure things out.

They tell the boys they can't have a dog until they're 10, so the boys grin at each other and age themselves up to 10. That is all very unsettling. Agnes "Let's just hope this dog stays the same size." as she screams internally "save me!"

Real World. Jimmy's hustling back to the science room with coffee for Monica and Darcy. Monica is asking for some sort of wild mobile bunker to help her get back into Wanda World and Darcy's like "well, yes, but also no". But Monica knows an aerospace engineer who'd totally make it for her.  

"I can't guarantee the Hex won't just mind wipe you as you go in." "What's the hex?" "Oh, it's what I'm calling the anomaly because of it's hexagonal shape. It's starting to catch on." Darcy's so proud, but Jimmy's like 'not so much' but he's too polite to say.

Monica's determined to go back in. Jimmy wants to know who the kids are, if they've id'd them or the babies and Monica's all "oh, no, those are legit Wanda's." Darcy says if she can make stuff with her mind, and all the props and whatnot in the Wanda World are real then she's wielding an insane amount of power. Monica is sure she could have taken out Thanos if he hadn't cheated and snapped her. Jimmy thinks Captain Marvel could have done it. Monica very much doesn't want to talk about Captain Marvel.

Monica has an Idea!

Ah, she wants to see her outfit from Wanda World, which is now in the real world. So, is it real matter Wanda created, or is the perception field bleeding over to make them all see that outfit in the real world. That would have been hella awkward if Monica got yeeted out of her clothes.

Monica confirms they're real then steals Jimmy's gun and shoots them. Ahh, she was wearing a kevlar vest when she went into Wanda World, and that changed shape to be her super fly 70s outfit. "Wanda is rewriting reality." Changing things to fit the hex. So they'll send in something that doesn't need to be changed. Um. Sure. Fine. I don't know what that means, or how that would help in this context, but I'm sure I'll find out.

Meanwhile, Vision is at work, and all his coworkers are amazed at the actual computers. Golly shucks. Computers. Hey, so, computers have been around since the 40s. ANYWAY.

"Should we surf the internet?" We're progressing rapidly through the 80s. Oh, lol, Darcy sent an email. And the whole office creepily reads it out loud. Vision is very weirded out. As well he should be. He wipes the computer with his glowy synthezoid powers and then he glowies Norm when Norm tells him 'none of it is real'. Norm wakes up "please help me. what day is it? how long has it been?". Oh dear. Poor Vision. This is all going to go so very badly. Norm gets very freaked out begging Vision to "stop her". Vision resets him.

At the house the boys wonder where dad is, and Wanda tells them it's Monday and he's at work. Except the boys are all "um, no, it's Saturday". Wanda, your house of lies is tumbling down! You shouldn't have let them grow up so fast. Babies don't ask inconvenient questions about why Daddy needs some space from Mommy and her questionable choices for their shared reality.

Wanda takes the opportunity to impart the 80s family sitcom trope of the weekly life lesson about how family might fight, but they still love each other and family is forever. One of the twins asks if she has a brother. She does. He's far away. But, Sparky goes barking at the door. Wanda looks far away herself. She goes to open the door and Sparky runs out.

Monica has sent in a drone from the 80s. Well that wasn't really a thing. But, how does the 1980s rc plane look more high tech than the 2020s drone they sent in first? Talk to your design team, SWORD.

Anyway, Wanda spots the drone, but she's keeping it out of the broadcast, because she's the editor and director and producer of Wandavision, of course.

Monica announces herself and tries to get Wanda to acknowledge her. Whoops. Wanda's eyes go glowy. AD Dick says "take the shot" and Monica's all "what? no, the drone isn't armed." Except of course it is, because AD Dick is a monumental dick, and he's got a backup drone pilot who takes the shot. Wandavision goes off air. And, oh no, there's a breach at the Hex!

Lol. It's Wanda coming through, dragging the mangled corpse of the drone with her. That was entirely deserved, AD Dick. I hope she shoves it up your ass, dick.

"The missile was just a precaution". AD Dick backpedals quick, like a coward. You gave a three second attempt to talk to Wanda before you pulled the trigger, I don't like you. "You can hardly blame us."

Wanda warns him to stay out. "You won't bother me, I won't bother you." Okay, well, he does kind of have a point, in that there's a whole town of people who are stuck as bit players in Wanda World. That's not very nice. I mean, surely she could have found a nice empty spot somewhere and created her sitcom utopia. That's at least a fair criticism.

Monica tries her best to talk Wanda down. It doesn't work particularly well.

"What do you want?" "I have what I want and no one will ever take it from me again." And she mind controls the soldiers training their guns on her, to turn them on AD Dick. Whoops. And Wanda goes back to her world. The Hex glows all red as she goes.

And we go to commercial. Lagos Brand paper towels. "For when you make a mess you didn't mean to." Wow, so that was brutal. Wanda's not mad at you, Monica. She's just carrying a lot of guilt. Ouch.

Back in Wandavision, the boys are looking for their dog. They find Agnes hiding in the bushes with the dog. Poor Sparky apparently ate some azalea leaves and died. The boys are very sad and Wanda warns them not to age up. They can't run from their feelings. Oh Wanda. "It's too sad," Billy says. "You can fix anything mom," Tommy cries, "Fix the dead". Yikes.

Wanda "I'm trying to tell you there are rules in life." Poor Agnes is trying not to have a total meltdown. "We can't reverse death. No matter how sad it makes us. Some things are forever."

Billy and Tommy try to talk her into bringing back Sparky. And Vision turns up. Well, this is just brutal.

Vision is entirely outside of Wanda's control. "I spoke with Norm. I unearthed the man's suppressed personality and I spoke to him free of your oversight." Yikes. "He was in pain, Wanda."

Okay it's kind of funny they're arguing over the end credits. Vision is very very pissed. "I'm scared." Aww.

Wanda insists she's not in charge of every life in Westview. "I don't know how any of this started in the first place." Huh. Is that really true? Because she's pretty sure of it now. Somebody or something convinced her into a sitcom world and now she's just like "yeah, this is good"? really asking.

Ding-dong.

"I didn't do that." 

Vision: *doubt*

DING DONG

Wanda goes to answer the door.

In the real world, alarms are blaring but Darcy notices a new revelation on Wandavision.

Wanda Word — and it's Pietro at the door. See! I knew it had to be Pietro who'd be the surprise guest thingy. I mean it's hilariously X-Men Pietro (Evan Peters, like @lewstonewar suggested), but Pietro nonetheless. There's nobody else it could have been.

Darcy be all WTF? "She recast Pietro?" lol

Okay, Wanda seems legit shocked. I don't think she did that. And I super really don’t think she’d make him sound like a NYC cabbie. 

And end.

Well. I mean, I'm not sure what to think. Wanda insists she's not controlling everything. I don't think she created Pietro. But, she totally stole Vision's body and created the kids and seems mostly happy in her sitcom universe and she can traverse the Hex, which obviously suggests its her doing. Dunno. I have questions about Agnes and her convenient timeliness here and there.

The mystery continues.

Disney wants to know if I want to watch Age of Ultron next. How poorly you know me, Disney.

[amyhasbluescreen]

Wandavision episode 5 spoilers

Spoiler ahead you have been warned

so firstly omg omg omg ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Ok, now that, that is out the way on to my thoughts and theories. 

So this episode was a wired one since we are no longer doing whole sitcoms or sword episodes, now just Jumping between the two. which seems like a better format (especially for the people who didn't understand the previous 3 sitcom episodes.) 

Wanda cant control the children. this could be because Billy is also a magic user and its cancelling out her powers or another kind of proof that Wanda is losing control her reality; we saw a similar thing with the stalk in one of the previous episodes (Now in Colour). 

Children are growing up quick. Tommy and Billy are growing up super quick like in the start of the episode they where 6 months to a year and at the end they 10, this is because they will want Tommy and Billy to play a bigger role in the future and you cant do that with babies (basically want they did with Cassie in Endgame). However, it seems like Wanda isn't changing the kids, this is proven when she says later in the episode when sparky dies (RIP Sparky) “Don’t...Don’t age yourselves up”. once again this could be Billy or even Tommy (since he fast) and they do seem aware of it happening however I don't think so its more likely this is Mephisto and Agnes or Nightmare or who ever is actually pulling the strings here (as in my opinion Wanda is too obvious to be doing this all by herself). 

roll the opining credits 

i just wanna give a shout out to baby vision in this segment (who is now up there with Grogu and Goot in my eyes). 

And where back to Monica who is have a scan, she explains that the feeling of being in Westview is painful  and “feels like drowning” to then finally saying it felt like grief. so now we know that it isn't really a picnic for the residents trapped in Wanda’s world (interesting), but most immortally in this scene the scan comes back empty like there is nothing there which could be because of Wanda blasting her though the forcefield maybe giving her, her photon powers like in the comics. 

also thanks to Darcey who gave Wanda’s powers a name “hex” which is what her powers are called in the comics and for the the best line “Hay Haywards a Dick” witch funnily get over shadowed with the word terrorist, maybe Hayward is one of those evil Skrulls Woo wrote about on his board. we know the other skurlls are coming in secret invasion. 

also Wanda Braking into to a sword facility to steal her dead boyfriend is a mood.   

But back to the sitcom where Tommy and Billy find a dog but not any dog Sparky the green synthezoid terrier from the Tom King vision comics (however he is not green). even though he last all of one episode I will miss him.

But hang on Vision is starting to realise things are not right here. things like Agnes not caring about the fact Wanda is using her powers and later in the office he awakens Norm and he tells him about his really family and he needs to find his phone cause his dad is ill. Which links to the identity board in episode 4 ( We interrupt this program) where it mentions Vision awakening Norm.

There is a bit where Monica explains that they need a Aerospace engineer who will be up for the challenge or creating a machine to go through the forcefield. So how about Mr fantastic himself Reed Richards or Victor Von Doom (who btw is part of a big scarlet which comic ‘Young Avengers children's crusade’).

They also do a bit were we find out Wanda is re writing reality its self not just creating an illusion (Monica, Darcey and Jimmy are really just out here doing all the work). 

Sitcom time again this time Wanda and the boys hear a noise that spooks the dog and he run off this causes Wanda to go investigate and the boys follow. its shown to be a drone from the 80s in an attempted to contact Wanda (as she can’t change it since it is already linked to the time period in question and seems to only change things  that don't fit in with sitcom year). so Monica tries to make a calm interaction but escalates quickly after Hayward (the dick) tries to shoot her. this causes Wanda to get angry and confront the sword guys on the outside. in short she tells them to get lost cause she isn't harming anyone and warns them if they continue she will stop them, showing this by manipulating the men around her to aim for Hayward not her and fly back in but not before making the forcefield stronger and visible.

Advert 

This weeks advert is for Lagos paper towels, if you forgot or didn't know Lagos is the place in the beginning of civil war when team cap is storming the Ex Hydra base and Wanda kills a bunch of people by accident. this is emphasised with the tag line “for when you make a mess you didn't mean to” since Wanda didn't mean to do what she did in Lagos however because of it, it leads to the Sokovia accords . 

sparky dies and the children are sad, however they ask Wanda to bring the dog back to life which she explains that not even she cant bring back the dead (sureeee). 

Vision returns home and presumably buries the dog off screen and then tries to confront Wanda about what's happening to which see tries to stop the episode suggesting they watch tv or turn in for the night however vision stop her and as there start arguing the credit roll only for them to glitch as she and vision leaves the room.

Vision tells Wanda he know she is doing this and pleads with to stop. he also tells her he doesn't remembers who he was before Westview and that he is just generally scared. however they are intruded by a door bell which Wanda says isn't her but Vision doesn't believe her. 

she opens the door and surly not, he’s gone, he’s died, she explained in this episode that she couldn't bring people back from the grave so no it cant be. oh god, it is him, its really him, ITS ARRO...EVEN PETERS’ quicksilver. 

So ya, in short they bring back Petrio (YAY I missed him). However it’s not Arron Taylor Johnsons it ends up being a weird amalgamation between Even peters’ Quicksilver from the X-Men movies and Arron Taylor Johnson’s. and suddenly cuts to Darcy saying Wanda recast Petrio but the next scene Wanda seem generally shocked she looks at Vision confused like she had not planed in this part. 

My theory is its Mephisto messing with Wanda but maybe its not maybe she pulled Quicksilver from the X-men universe smushed him with this earth’s quicksilvers memories and called it a day or maybe he’s just back, I really have no clue all I can say is that is seems a bit like a wolf in sheep’s clothing situation.

 But please let me know in the comments what you think is happening. I would really like have a discussion on what's happening in Wandavision and the MCU and comics as a whole.    

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Round-Up Review: WandaVision (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the Monday after the finale of WandaVision drops on Disney+, so if you haven’t yet seen the entire series don’t read on until you have.

So I was going to do a fully fleshed out review of the entire series of WandaVision, but just as I’m about to finish…Tumblr decides to freeze on me and I lose a day of work so I have now decided to work this review a different way and rather than giving a general reaction and going into a character analysis, I will be breaking it down into what I loved, what wasn’t there for me fully and where I feel we are going next.

General Reaction:

So I could of very easily gone through this series episode by episode...but based on the fact that not only was this a play-by-play mystery with a lot more questions than answers each week, but also as the series progressed, particularly after Evan Peters arrived at the end of episode 5, the fan-theories and potential spoilers almost made me not want to know what was going to happen because the theories were becoming so grand that the series could surely never live up to expectations, which is why I feel the director of the finalé stated that fans may be disappointed...because ultimately I don’t think the finalé did live up to expectations. But these were expectations built up as an culmination of fan-theories, comic-book insight and also MCU baiting.

By MCU baiting, I mean that the creatives of WandaVision decided to be creative, and possibly playful, by including several red herrings that went absolutely nowhere but were the main conspiracy theories driving the fan-speculations and fake spoilers throughout the latter half of the series.

Dottie...who was she? Nobody important. Evan Peters...was he Quicksilver? No. Was he Mephisto/Nightmare? No. Was he important? Not really. Monica’s mysterious engineer contact, a fan-favourite character? Not even a character from the comics, I think.

Now that’s not to say this series asked questions that weren’t answered satisfactorily, but a lot of them seemed to build up to what is to come rather than giving us all the answers in this series. Is that a good thing? Yes because I feel this will make this series more rewatchable than I feel it already is. I for one of re-watched each episode at least twice sometimes three times each week leading up to the next episode and having just seen the entire series as a whole product I can safely say that characters and elements from this series going forward may have call-backs to the events of this series which will make for clicks, more views and more plays.

Speaking of watchability, can we talk about how interesting it has been to watch half-hour scheduled programming for 9 weeks like the olden days, and the fact we can call television life before streaming “the olden days”?.

But honestly sitting down, for me on a Friday morning at 9:30am without fail, to watch what began as a 25–30-minute MCU sitcom before turning into a 30–40-minute MCU mystery every week harkened back to my childhood and coming back from school to watch my shows which only aired once a week at that time. Feige’s and the creatives in the MCU brought back that feeling of nostalgia for me which I never really expected from a comic-book property.

Speaking of classic televisual viewing, I really enjoyed the standard sitcom setup of this series. I knew of all the referenced shows going in like The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, The Brady Bunch, Malcolm in the Middle and Modern Family, but it was also nice to see some standard sitcom tropes seen in the majority of sitcoms utilized throughout. From Agatha posing as the nosey neighbour to the fashions of each sitcom era and even the fourth wall breaks both from Billy in the Halloween episode in a Malcolm in the Middle spoof to the following episode literally titled “Breaking the Fourth Wall”.

Also, I will say here that all those MCU “stans” who are complaining they didn’t get the big grand beginning of Phase 4 that was promised to us by Feige as “something different”, the guy’s mantra is to keep it simple and the finalé was hardcore Feige. “Something different” was the set up and delivery of this slice of the MCU and some fans are still moaning about that so some people are just never satisfied.

What I Loved

Scarlet Witch

Give Elizabeth Olsen awards for this season! Make gold rain down upon her! Honestly, I have loved Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff since her formal introduction in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but now we have formally been introduced to the Scarlet Witch she is not only the most powerful female if not character in the MCU but also the best character in the entire MCU to date.

Not only is this series personifying how an individual deals with their grief, but when you consider the fact that Wanda, who is by all accounts a 29 year old woman due to being blipped for 5 years, and has lost her parents at a young age, her twin brother at 25-26 so still a young age and then the first love of her life twice, first by her own hand and then by the Mad Titan so that initial sacrifice was for nothing, it’s just a lot to put on one individual with this level of raw power without expecting her to finally snap and create an alternate reality where everything is under her control.

The creation of her twins, who I will get into further down, was well done and, for want of a better word, organic for the series. But I did like how they showed the real-life struggle of not just having a new-born but having twins. Wanda is trying to maintain control of this world she has created as well as keep Vision in check, but also because the twins are seemingly not under her magical control, she must juggle maintaining the world and its people with being a new mother.

But the biggest crisis for Wanda comes in when Fietro shows up, I still do not believe she ever truly thought this was her dead brother resurrected. It wasn’t until he said “long lost brother” that he asked “Pietro?” and she spent the entire next episode interrogating him until the façade finally slipped and she decided he wasn’t.

After this, everything falls apart for her. Not only is her reality literally slipping with Vision at odds with her, the world constantly shifting between eras and her not understanding what is happening.

This is of course when she is confronted by Agatha Harkness who has not only taken her twins but also been fooling her by being “Nosy Neighbour Auntie Agnes” for this entire time when in reality she is a with from the days of the Salem Witch Trials who wants to understand Wanda’s true potential and then absorb all of her magic.

But when we got to see Wanda’s true potential as she went “Beast Mode” as the Scarlet Witch complete with stunning new outfit and crown, this levels the character up to that top spot in the MCU as the best and most powerful character.

I am excited to see where the Scarlet Witch’s potential will take her next.

WandaVision Love Story

I also really loved the fact that as well as a personification of dealing with Wanda’s grief, this series was truly a love story between Wanda and Vision.

From the first episode when we see them getting “married” and being that unusual suburban couple trying to fit in with seemingly everyday suburban life when the entire set-up is Wanda’s idyllic dream world.

As Darcy said to Vision, the love these two have is real. I did an entire post on why Scarlet Witch and Vision are the best MCU couple, and this series amplifies that. It becomes clear that these two are not actually married and in fact this Vision isn’t even the Vision we have seen developed through the movies, but he is a replication of Wanda’s true love and this is how she chooses to show it.

The fact they go through all of the typical newlywed couple goalposts of marriage, homemakers, kids, a dog, domestic disputes. It’s all there and feels so natural even though we are talking about the relationship a potential Nexus Being and a Synthezoid.

Their final goodbye in the series finale is honestly as heart-breaking as any love-lost in a tragic romance movie. Seriously how many more times is Wanda, and by extension the fans, supposed to say goodbye to Vision?

Agatha Harkness

I love Kathryn Hahn, this series has solidified that for me. Not only is this the first live-action appearance of Agatha Harkness but also the way in which she was modified from the comics is in a way that I would be annoyed with any other way if not for the fact that it was Kathryn Hahn playing her.

Now yes, fans of the comics knew “Agnes” was really Agatha Harkness from the casting announcement, but the actual reveal wasn’t epic because we already knew, it was epic because of the way it was revealed.

“Agatha All Along” has honestly become one of my new favourite songs, it is such a catchy tune, incorporates a couple of classic sitcom nods and is very memorable.

But also, even the fact that the final line of “…and I killed Sparky too” has become so memeable without overshadowing the overall song is such an impressive feat.

The Lopez’s not only capitalise on their Frozen success but also Kathryn Hahn gets to show her musical talents by singing the actual song…it was just incredible.

But yes, Agatha being a villain, as she has been in the comics but not on this scale, was a great decision for this series because Kathryn Hahn managed to inject her own brand of cynical dry comedy with echoes of Cate Blanchett’s Hela to create a fully rounded menacing villainous character.

Not only do we learn about her origins of how she can absorb magic by murdering her entire coven, mother included, but also that she elevates that by being able to steal any magic, even that of the powerful Scarlet Witch, truly makes this witch a threat within the magical realms of the MCU.

Even though she was defeated I am thrilled she didn’t die, she has simply been taken off the board for now but is still able to be put into play if and when she is needed again, maybe in Doctor Strange 2 maybe sooner, who knows?

Monica Rambeau

I have to say, I do not know much about Proton from the comics and genuinely though Maria Rambeau was a bigger character than she was, but considering they killed her off-screen during this series I don’t think she actually was.

I loved how the effects of the blip are still showing their repercussions as Monica returns after being victim to the blip and is immediately thrust into a chaotic post-blip world that echoes the real-world COVID-19 crisis I imagine.

From the start once outside of the Hex, Monica hits the ground running as both a SWORD operative and a self-assured hero trying to do the right thing by saving the town of Westview and Wanda while thwarting Hayward.

I really loved how her “Boss Lady” persona that Agent Woo grants her was very well realised because she did not take any nonsense from anyone. She got the Space Rover so she could attempt to re-enter the Hex, she attempted to reason with Wanda not once, not twice, but thrice.

And when the rover couldn’t penetrate the Hex, she decided to re-enter unprotected knowing what the barrier would potentially do to her physiology…and it did not disappoint.

Monica got powers, she got powers in a spectacular way. I loved how while she was physically struggling to break through the barrier, she could hear the voices of her nearest and dearest (archive footage from Captain Marvel) which spurred her on until she finally pulled herself together and became the superpowered individual she was always going to become.

But she didn’t stop there, not only did she try to once again confront Wanda who at this point was rather unhinged, but she didn’t take her threats lying down and instead tried to break into Agnes’ house before getting caught by Fietro.

However, once she worked out Fietro was really Ralph and was able to free him from Agatha’s control, she wasted no time in running off and making herself useful and just in time as she stopped Hayward from shooting the twins and assisted them in subduing the rogue SWORD agents.

As for Monica’s future, she has been drafted by that Skrull to join Nick Fury’s new team and may return to honour her late mother’s position as director of SWORD. All I know is her future is as bright and vibrant as the energy waves she can now see.

Twins

I love Wiccan and Speed so much, I love the Young Avengers so much, I love Wiccan and Hulkling’s relationship from the comics that is inevitably going to happen hopefully, but the fact this was the origins of all of that gave me everything.

Even before their birth, I loved how the pregnancy was making everything in the house go crazy. Some fans believe this was Wanda’s powers out of control due to pregnancy, I think this was actually Billy’s reality warping powers either acting from inside the womb or amplifying Wanda’s reality warping powers.

When the twins were in existence, I feel Wanda wasn’t prepared for what was going to happen. Billy and Tommy had their own minds and weren’t afraid to show them. Not only with finding Sparky but also with revealing their powers.

It’s fascinating as both these characters have the powers of either their mother or uncle, Billy has reality warping powers and Tommy has super speed. But while both got great chances to show them both in the Halloween episode and also in the series finale, I do believe we have only just scratched the surface of particularly Billy’s powers.

Of course they were always going to be lost at the end of the series, as they were in the comics when they were reabsorbed into Mephisto, in this instance they were seemingly deleted along with their father and the Hex…but then we hear them calling out to Wanda while she’s examining the Darkhold? Is this really them? Multiverse variants? What does all this mean? We need answers!

Darcy Lewis

I was thrilled when I heard Kat Dennings was not only returning to the MCU but being part of different characters’ stories rather than just Thor.

I loved how Darcy was on it from the start by firstly identifying that she and the other three scientists in recruitment didn’t share any common field so that meant SWORD had no idea what they were facing, but then being the one to identify the broadcast of WandaVision.

It did truly feel like we were watching Darcy be us while she was watching the series, seeing her get so invested in the hijinks and the plot twists was very relatable. Kat Dennings sold that relatability just as she does in every performance for me.

Then her fan-girling over the wider MCU, Kat Dennings is a fan of the MCU outside of her own appearances, so the fact she confirmed Vision did not get blipped but actually died and also had that moment in first meeting Monica was adorable.

Also, the fact that Darcy was the one who figured out not only that Monica’s cells were being re-written but also that Hayward had nefarious intentions with wanting to track down Vision, it just gave Darcy a purpose in the series and almost made her invaluable. Monica and Jimmy don’t have the backgrounds to be the “person in the chair” but Darcy does, and I was happy she finally got the chance to showcase it.

Even when she was taken into the Hex and temporarily became the Escape Artist, she was still Darcy in a way, then she became Vision’s source of information and road trip buddy before being left on the side-lines only to then return and help defeat Hayward.

What Didn’t Work:

Too Many Red Herrings

As I said this series and the series creatives had far too many red herrings planted to either fool us or tease us without any solid resolutions.

The biggest one is definitely “Fietro” who as it turns out isn’t Multiverse Quicksilver from the Fox X-Men movies but is instead an in-universe actor named Ralph Bohner who was enthralled by Agatha to play the part of her husband and be her spy and lackey.

Honestly not only am I annoyed that Evan Peters was used for what was ultimately a boner joke, but also it does throw dirt into the wound as to the fact we may not be getting Mutants or the X-Men for a while yet in the MCU.

Then there’s Dottie...similarly to Fietro this could have been a smart way to bring Mutants into the MCU. While yes Dottie was believed to be Mephisto or a witch of some description, I was actually onboard with the idea that this was the MCU Emma Frost. It would have been poetic for Agatha Harkness to be working with Emma Frost to not only maintain her manipulation but also with Emma’s telepathic abilities but also potentially have Emma working as a double agent for the Hellfire Club who also want to harness the powers of the Scarlet Witch similarly to how they wanted to control the Phoenix Force.

Wanda in the MCU has already been compared to Jean Grey, so how about Scarlet Witch becoming the Black Queen of the Inner Circle?

Next, Ultron. A namedrop as many times as this deserves some sort of payoff. Ralph got his and it may have been disappointing but at least we got resolution. So why, when Ultron was named numerous times and we as fans even had Avengers: Age of Ultron being the next recommended watch for us at the end of every episode except the finale, did nothing come of it? If White Vision was voiced by James Spader I would have been happy.

Finally, there’s Monica’s engineer “guy”. We didn’t find out who this was because the contact Monica met with was an Air Force contact delivering the Space Rover, but who was the engineer who designed it? Why didn’t we meet him?

I personally feel this engineer is Reed Richards, there is obviously a rich history of space being connected to Reed’s origins as Mister Fantastic, we know the Fantastic Four are coming to the MCU, it would simply make sense to first introduce Reed as maybe a scientist for SWORD or Nick Fury’s team before bringing in the full team.

I know the other option is Hank Pym, but really if it was Pym then why couldn’t they just pay Michael Douglas for a cameo?

The Future of the MCU

So, what does WandaVision set up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Well, we know that this is the start of the Multiverse Arc that will continue with Spider-Man: No Way Home later this year and conclude with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness next year. It is confirmed that Scarlet Witch will show up in the latter of those two movies, but we have no idea what role she’ll serve in Spider-Man.

The other story this series sets up is Secret Invasion which will happen during the series of the same name starring Nick Fury and the Skrulls and also Captain Marvel 2 which will not only feature Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau but also the upcoming Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel. This puts three superpowered women in the same movie and possibly will be the nexus of the Secret Invasion storyline before the concluding movie being an Avengers level event.

Then there’s also Falcon and the Winter Soldier starting in a couple of weeks, that series will most likely connect to Black Widow due to including Yelena Belova but also because that was originally supposed to come out before WandaVision it is tough to see if it or any other upcoming series except for Secret Invasion will connect to this series.

And of course, there is the upcoming Young Avengers project, we have yet to get confirmation of if this will be a movie or a TV series but we know we are having the players put onto the board in Disney+ shows and MCU movies. We have Wiccan and Speed, we know we are getting Kate Bishop and America Chavez as well as already having Cassie Lang just recast for the upcoming Ant-Man 3 to hopefully finally become Stature, and while we have yet to get confirmation of Hulkling it is possible he will appear in Secret Invasion given the Kree-Skrull elements.

Overall, I rate this series a solid 9/10, this series gave me practically everything I wanted and there were many times particularly in the finale that I felt this was the best Marvel Television series. I still stand by the fact that I think it is but the red herrings of Fietro, Mephisto, Ultron and Monica’s “guy” meant I couldn’t call it a solid 10/10.

Regardless of that, I felt this series gave us something different in an MCU mystery, formally introducing witches into the MCU, the love story of Wanda and Vision was intoxicating, meeting Wiccan and Speed in the early years was glorious and honestly Wanda embracing her destiny and becoming the Scarlet Witch…if the entire series was at that level it would be a 10/10 across the board.

So that’s my Round-Up Review of WandaVision, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Marvel Reviews as well as other TV Reviews and posts.

[peacensafety]

This is everything about WandaVision up to Episode 5, with most of it concentrating on Episode 5. I have seen Episode 6 at this point, but I will respect the one week spoilers rule that is part of Nerd Culture.

:read more:

First of all, some basics about this series. This is an homage to different American sitcoms. Why American sitcoms when the main character is Sokovian? No one knows.

In the comic books, Wanda Maximoff is a mutant, not a science experiment like in the MCU. She and Pietro are the twin children of a Mutant named Magneto and a human named Magda (who is sometimes a Romini, and originally from Transia). Magneto is referred to as an Omega level mutant. Wanda is born with mutations, able to control Hex Powers, which is whatever the comic book writer needed to move the plot along. Sometimes her original powers have to do with probability, but like, 30 years ago, they started calling it chaos magic, and then she had extra reception to magical powers, and basically, it’s all very vague and ill-defined. She’s like the only one immune to Phoenix powers, and that’s a huge deal. She is not considered an Omega Level Mutant because she does not have completely mastery over her powers, not because she isn’t powerful enough. In the comic book series House of M, she is powerful enough to rewrite the entire universe, that was retconned in The Children’s Crusade, but then her powers are called Mutant Magic in A vs X and she’s got cosmic chaos magic. She’s supposed to serve The High Evolutionary at this point, which has made her more powerful. In the MCU, she was genetically altered by the Mind Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones. So when Wanda, AKA The Scarlet Witch, is in a story you can expect it to be about ridiculous amounts of power.

The assumption that you can make pretty quickly in the series is that Wanda Maximoff is in charge of this alternate reality, and quite possibly created it. Knowing what we know about Wanda, we assume it’s because she broke after the death of Vision and couldn’t deal with that death after the death of her parents (because of the Sokovian civil war) and Pietro, her twin brother, who was killed by Ultron. It’s stated pretty early on that Wanda could have defeated Thanos by herself (this is most likely true, one time in the comic books she decided to remove every mutant power in the known universe and she did for a couple of years. Is she more powerful than Jean Gray? Sit down with some nerds and listen to them argue, because that call will never be settled in a peaceful manner). Wanda has brought back Vision (who was killed by Thanos before he made his wish on the Stones, making him dead dead instead of mostly dead like half of the population of the universe) and in the MCU, this makes almost sense as her powers were given to her by the Mind Stone which brought Vision to life in the first place, with some interference from Tony Stark (Iron Man). In the first couple of episodes, they bring in Billy and Tommy (Speed and Wiccan) and the twins make themselves grow up pretty quickly.

Other characters that come in and play a part are Monica Rambeau (from the Marvel Comic Book Universe and the movie Captain Marvel, who is also the future Captain Marvel), Darcy Lewis (MCU character last seen hanging out with Thor), and Jimmy Woo (another MCU character, an FBI agent in charge of Scott Lang’s house arrest from Ant-Man and the Wasp).

Let’s also talk about some background about where Disney plans to go in the next 5 years. First of all, they have already acquired rights to do an X-Men series. If you have DisneyPlus (which you do unless you’re pirating this series), you know that the X-Men movies have mostly been added to the Marvel Channel rather quietly and unobtrusively. Also, there are rumors that all three movie Spidermen have signed on to the next Spider-Man movie (Toby McGuire, James Garfield, and Tom Holland). Also also, Disney has made a statement that Deadpool will be in the universe pretty soon. So we know that the endgame for Disney is a combination of all of the Marvel Comic book universe.

Things that I have noticed that are fun about this series: all of the commercials are nerd shout outs. The commercials all have something to do with time, with two being blatantly about clocks or innovation. The commercials for the most part have the same two actors in it (are they SWORD agents?). The first is a Stark toaster, which is weird, but okay, and it is the first time we see color (red, maybe an Iron Man shout out?) used in the series. The second is the Strucker watch, a blatant time reference, and Strucker if you recall from the movies is that dude who was experimenting on Wanda and Pietro when they were in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In the comic books he’s Wolfgang von Strucker, or Baron Strucker, a former Nazi officer and agent of Hydra, and he never ages, and he shows up to try and do a genocide in the books all the time. The third commercial is about taking a break? HydraSoak bath powder. We all get the willies anytime Hydra is mentioned, so relaxing with Hydra is something we don’t want to do. This is also the first time that I think maybe this isn’t all Wanda? Also, this isn’t time appropriate (and this might be an influence from my real world job, and not some intentional message from Marvel) but mixed-race kids on a commercial in the 70s? That would have never happened. Are things starting to unravel, because this would have been super weird at that time and Marvel has been strict about time appropriateness so far, even so far as including gender roles. The last commercial is Lagos, the paper towel commercial. Paper towels are about cleaning up, right? Because these folks in the commercial spill everything. Also, we see the first incident of gender roles not being respected in WandaVision, because we see a dude wipe up his own spill. Anyway, Lagos is that Nigerian city where Wanda killed a bunch of people, including the King of Wakanda, on accident in Captain America: Civil War.

So in episode 2, SWORD is teased with the little logo on the beekeeper’s outfit at the end of the episode when he comes out of the sewer. The group outside Westview is verified to be SWORD in episode 4. Let’s talk about them a bit. These dudes in the comic books were all about space and going into space and doing space things, but then Thanos does a snappy thing. After the snappy thing (and this series is set 5 years after the Snap) they start doing nanotech and AI. In the comics Maria Rambeau is in charge, and after she dies, dude named Tyler Hayward takes over. Watch Tyler Hayward. I personally do not think he is actually Tyler Hayward, and if someone is acting and looking like someone else, we know which villain has probably just inserted himself into the show (if you’ve been watching the interviews, Tom Hiddleston shows up as a call-in fan of the show and demands to know why he didn’t have a series because he’s been dead a couple of times and Vision is stealing his Schtick). I don’t know that for sure, it could be sloppy writing? Maybe they ran out of character archetypes?

At the end of episode 5, this is when the next five years of the MCU comes into play. Wanda is missing her twin, probably because of her sons, and the doorbell rings. Standing there is Pietro Maximoff. Now the crazy part of this is that he is the wrong Pietro Maximoff (the better one, not the one that has been in the MCU movies, the X-Man Quicksilver). He’s standing there and does the weird Uncle Jesse thing from Full House, (which, if you’re paying attention to the real world, Wanda Maximoff is played by the younger sister of the Olsen twins who played Michelle on Full House in the 80s), but Wanda recognizes that he is the wrong Pietro. Darcy, who is watching the broadcast from outside the Hex, states that Wanda has recast Pietro. But has she? This woman is incredibly powerful, why would she bring back the wrong Pietro? What if she is not in charge? Wanda is really freaked out by this, and that is when I realized I needed to write everything down.

Here are my lingering questions: We have all seen Into The Spiderverse a dozen or so times. Is this how Disney is going to handle the Multi-Verse? Is Pietro the wrong Pietro because of Miles Morales and his rag-tag group of Spidermen? Does this mean that Nicholas Cage is going to be in the MCU? Is Wanda as in charge as we think she is? Can we expect to see Magneto (Wanda’s and Pietro’s dad in the comics) show up to either support his children in the Hex or fight on the side of SWORD? Maybe Professor X will come and get Wanda, Pietro, Timmy, and Billy? Will we finally see if Jean Gray is more powerful than Scarlet Witch (she’s not). Is Hayward a problem of inconsistent writing or is he Loki? Is a multi-verse a way to address Chadwick Bosemen’s death for a proper replacement of Black Panther? Hurry up and watch Episode 6 so we can talk about this stuff!

[fiercefray]

I need to know everything about your himym ocs. What's their group dynamics like?

Okay, given I have a 9 of them, I'll do the core 5 because they are the main babies of this sitcom playing in my noggin. I can do the older kids and Ellie in a different ask if you like! Now onward to my kiddos.

Luke + Hunter

You remember Chandler and Joey? These two would be that dynamic duo's BFFs. Hunter is the Joey to Luke's Chandler. These two got together in college as roommates and were pretty much inseparable. If you want the HIMYM equilvant, they are the Ted and Marshall.

Sage + Billie

These girls are INTENSE. There is a reason why board games are kind of banned within the group and it is because these two are so competitive. Despite their own little rivalry, these two are like sisters. You mess with one, you mess with them both.

Hunter + Tegan

Tegan is to Hunter what Lily is to Hunter... minus the romance. Cause Tegan is hella gay. Anyway, Tegan and Hunter definitely have a close sibling-like relationship and have a ton of inside jokes, especially about Luke's love for romance. Also if Tegan wants Hunter to do anything she thinks he'll resist, she bakes something.

Billie + Luke

The amount of romance tropes I've thrown for these two is insane. Childhood friends to lovers? Check. The Will They, Won't They? Check. Just Friends? Fat freaking chance with these two. They grew up best friends and now they are avoiding their feelings for each other with her pulling the same crap her dad did and Luke just avoiding the obvious.

Hunter + Sage

This is the duo I could see going famous. I’d kind of say they are like Joey and Monica. They’ve got this vibe to me of being brother and sister and would be quite funny to see with each other. They definitely get into shenanigans.

Tegan + Luke

No one loves all the lovey-dovey stories quite like these two. They are the kinds of people who spend days watching rom-coms and Hallmark movies. Luke's the true romantic though and Tegan is a bit more of the realist. But there is no one better to come to for relationship advice and woes then these two nerds.

Billie + Tegan

Meet your Barney and Lily. Despite being so opposite, these two work well together. From grand gestures to supporting each other’s dreams, Billie and Tegan are those gay girls that have never dated and you are shocked to find that out.

Sage + Tegan

Tegan and Sage... let’s just say they are the ones to watch for in terms of romance. If you are a fan of Waverly and Nicole from Wynonna Earp then you’d be a fan of these two.

Hunter + Billie

Remember how Marshall and Barney would be Ted’s best friends? Same goes here. They see each other in a similar light though let’s be honest, Billie would totally flirt with Hunter at first. I think after awhile though they’d settle into a friendship.

Luke +Sage

The cousin duo we all want to see. They are just the absolute best of friends and will definitely be the two you see gossiping in the corner at parties. Though to be honest they are probably just arguing about Star Wars.

[lovecanbesostrange]

The best thing about WandaVision is that it proves if the studio/creators don’t want you to know something, you really don’t know. Which I think should be employed more than all the trailers that tell 3/4 of a story. And wow... I’m screaming and crying.

I know the word “multiverse” is already in the Doctor Strange movie title and I know all the casting madness around Spider-Man. But did I think I would get a Pietro played by Evan Peters?! NO!

And this is just........ those Fox movies are the only “current” canon in which the twins even are Magneto’s kids. I do wonder, why re-name the Maximoff parents and not go with Marya and Django? BUT friendly reminder that Wanda’s mom is Django’s sister Natalya and as of Feb 2021 the identity of her biological father is undisclosed. And no, it’s not Magneto, hasn’t been since the 2014 event AXIS. In the Fox films Pietro is at least allowed to be a mutant and Erik’s kid. And this bleeds over now and my heart grows three sizes and then spills over into tears...

I love Monica Rambeau and that after her awful experience, she is still willing to see Wanda as grieving person (Monica herself has to deal with a lot right now) and someone who lost control. And maybe if Monica could have found a better way to talk to her. But well, weapons are drawn. (The worst part is, all Wanda needs for her little sitcom bubble are people willing to go along; honey you could find lots of people willing to step into sitcom fantasy land.............)

I knew this would hurt so much and the angst is coming, the pain is so high and the people all around are getting hurt in the process. I knew it. But damn this is an avalanche.

Looking back at everybody being “we want House of M for Wanda”... well, there, you have it. People being forced into a life that’s not their own and a woman trying to just be left alone. Well, without the part where she did grand deepest wishes for most of the powered people she knew. (Another reminder, within House of M Wanda made herself a human, while mutants ruled; which is super funny with that fucking AXIS retcon I hate with the passion of a hundred burning suns.......)

omg I’m sorry, I don’t even want to do this, bringing in the comics so much. But I’m just so mad all around when it comes to Wanda. I hate how media never took the whitewashing issue up and make Feige, Whedon & Co face what they did there. But I’m also mad how that got turned around within fandom to shit on everything else about her MCU version as a character and holding up her being a jewish Romani as a shield, without ever looking any further. How magic is this kinda important thing that was taken. And how in the comics she tore the Avengers apart one time and what “no more mutants” even means. And that her whole history is so convuled, it’s three ret-cons in a coat. And.... just..... I want to wrap all the versions of Wanda Maximoff in a blanket and make her tea, okay?

Also thank you, show, for finally saying it out loud. No cutesy nickname. It’s why I got super annoyed at everything to do with the movies that called Wanda the Scarlet Witch. Because that hasn’t happened in the MCU yet. (Since in the comics that name is a legacy title now anyway.)

Can Monica keep those pants? Those could come in handy. And well, so the scan didn’t show anything. Is this.... is this now really how she gains powers? Will this be her new origin? The thought crossed my mind before, but are we really going down that road?

AND ALL THE MILLION BONUSPOINTS FOR CASUALLY NAMEDROPPING CAPTAIN MARVEL ONLY TO SEE MONICA’S FACE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *screams into the void* yep, didn’t hurt at all.................

Okay, so, well Tommy and Billy... will they die? Will I have to suffer through it all including the soul transfer and all? I have the Young Avengers books and tbh Billy and Tommy were never the ones I cared most about (love The Children’s Crusade, because after Avengers Disassembled and House of M that was the first story that was really about Wanda as a person, with something resembling agency and a voice). But seeing them rapidly aging and all. OMG. And the way Wanda is so confused that they won’t do what she wants like everybody else... my heart hurts from watching all of that.

Agnes was MVP this ep for sure. The most shady of MVPs, here for it. (I know Monica specifically said that she heard Wanda's voice in her head, but Norm screaming "make her stop", her...)

Oh right, a commercial again. HOORAY! Sometimes I laugh (by which I mean cry) about the fact that what happened in Lagos set off so much. But there Wanda could only react. Crossbones fucking killed himself and the explosion on the ground could have cost many, many people their lives. Wanda was not fast enough and too inexperienced to contain the explosion just like ten seconds longer, so everybody was clear. (The best part is seeing the agonizing look on his face, because he doesn’t die as fast as he expected, oops.) It was a tragedy how many got killed by the bomb. if a hand grenade goes off in a crowd and you kick it away, you are not solely responsible for the casualties when you tried your best to get it away from as many as possible. Well, wait, what I wanted to get back to - setting the Hulk loose in Johannesburg, that is something Wanda did that was somewhat buried under a rug. That was something she didn’t answer for. But they keep bringing up Lagos instead. Also nice touch saying that husband's can use it too. Remember when Vision accidentally shot Rhodey down? (Funny bringing up Germany, where the worst Wanda did was destroying cars and throwing other Avengers around, she was the one pulling her punches that day. And ended up in a straightjacket.)

Can Pietro just go and get Jean over, so Wanda can finally have somebody to actually talk to? XD (I know MCU Wanda is Hot Topic Jean Grey.............)

Vision having no idea what truly is going on, no recollection of his actual life. That also hurts. Why does everything about this episode hurt so much? It’s only 5 of 9, WHAT ELSE IS COMING?? (stillexpectingmephistoandsomereallydarkstuff)

I trust Monica, Woo and Darcy - everybody else needs to sit down.

((On my monthly pull list I have S.W.O.R.D. and also Strange Academy, and the fact that in SA we got to see Wanda’s e-mail inbox with a message from Magneto reaching out and in S.W.O.R.D. seeing his face when Wanda is mentioned... feelings. But also watching WandaVision, somebody saying Wanda should reverse death, thinking about comic Wanda creating millions of zombies out of good intentions..... look, I like Wanda and that has been one painful experience after the other in any medium..... if she blows up the world out of grief, I will still shrug with a “good for her”, such a rough ride...))