‘WandaVision’ Recap: ‘On a Very Special Episode…’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Five of ‘WandaVision’.
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When a television series brings forth a game-changing episode, the kind that is filled to the brim with incredible reveals and all kinds of twists and turns, it finds itself at quite the crossroads. In that, it can either continue to up the ante and wow us with more big moments, or it can retreat a bit and once again shroud itself in mystery, in the hopes that the story has done just enough to keep everyone hooked and watching so that all can be revealed in the finale. And really, this is something that is top of mind today, simply because fans of the Disney+ series, WandaVision, were undoubtedly wondering which direction the series was going to take after last week’s stunning tale.

Because the potential to retreat and tease us more was definitely there, since this unique series still has a few episodes to go before we hit the finale. But as it turns out, ‘On a Very Special Episode…’ opted to go ahead and continue to push the plot forward at light speed and continue to surprise us. Which are feats that it accomplished in several key ways. One of which was to close out a lingering question from last week’s tale and establish the fact that Wanda was indeed the ‘showrunner’ of what’s happening in Westview, and it also took the time to point out that her actions are indeed related to grief over what’s she lost. As evidenced by what she had to say to the Agents of S.W.O.R.D. when she came out of the Hex to confront them for continuing to poke around inside Westview.

Which in turn, allowed for the story to dig into more intimate and powerful matters. Such as the fact that Vision is starting to understand that something is quite amiss with this place and with Wanda. Since he was keen to notice that everyone is following their cues from her and that she is indeed exerting control over innocent people that are eager to return to their regular lives, and that led to quite the stunning sequence of events. The kind that quite frankly, has to leave one wondering as to whether or not Wanda is the true mastermind of this syrupy nightmare. Because eventually, Vision finally took the time to confront Wanda over her actions and the fear that he felt over not knowing what his life was like before Westview and that brought about quite the admission from his beloved.

In that, she too didn’t remember how she arrived at Westview, and she was also quite curious as to how much control she was exerting over everything in this cuddly place. But before she could properly reach any kind of epiphany in regard to the nature of this new reality and how exactly she came to exist within it, something quite incredible happened to distract her. In that, there was a knock at the door from an unexpected visitor and when she opened the door, it revealed a long-lost face to Wanda… her brother Pietro. But not just any Pietro, no instead… this was the Quicksilver from the rebooted X-Men film franchise. Yet, she still knew it was her brother and he in turn knew it was his sister. 

Which of course brings about all kinds of questions about the Multiverse and whether or not Westview is a place where experiments and machinations revolving around that notion, are taking place. But more importantly, the big mystery that this episode leaves us with, is who exactly is manipulating Wanda? Because that timing was a little too perfect and it definitely distracted Wanda and Vision from the concerns at hand and that clearly means that someone doesn’t want Wanda to know what she’s doing or what this place is all about. But alas, we will likely have to wait to see where this surprise takes us and while we twiddle our thumbs and count down the minutes until next Friday’s entry… it’s best we celebrate one engrossing tale. One that was filled to the brim with poignant moments and powerful character development, and most important of all… progress. Since we are indeed closing in on the truth about Westview and the meaning of this magnificent mess. Until next time.  

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