Last week, we saw WandaVision take a bit of a dark turn immediately following probably one of the happiest moments the show has seen to this point. Wanda gave birth to her twin boys before realizing her neighbor Geraldine wasn’t exactly who she thought she was. This week, the fourth episode of the series, titled “We Interrupt This Program,” gives us a look at just who she really is.
Spoilers ahead!
The episode opens with a familiar voice calling out “Lieutenant Trouble,” as we see “Geraldine” reforming from dust in a hectic hospital. It doesn’t take long to realize we’re seeing people returning from the reverse blip, as we saw in Avengers: Endgame. We quickly hear “Geraldine” called by her real name – Monica Rambeau, as in the little girl from Captain Marvel. She is questioned by a doctor as they try to piece together what’s going on. Monica asks about her mother, Maria, who she thinks should be recovering from surgery. The doctor informs her that her mother died three years ago, two years after Monica disappeared. This is our first look at the craziness that followed everyone being brought back from Thanos’ decimation, aside from a quick scene in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
We then get our first look at S.W.O.R.D. Headquarters as well as the reveal (aside from some merchandise) that the mysterious logo represents the Sentient Weapon Observation Response Division. Monica tries to use an ID card to enter a door, but it fails, likely because she’s been gone for five years. When a security guard begins to question her, he is interrupted by a man she calls Director Tyle Hayward. He corrects her and adds “Acting” in front of his title, insinuating that a new director could be taking over in the near future. This could be setting up the arrival of Abigail Brand, the director of S.W.O.R.D. in the comics.
Hayward catches Monica up on everything she’s missed in the past five years. She specifically asks about the “astronaut training program,” alluding to S.W.O.R.D.’s involvement in space travel. Hayward explains that they’ve mostly moved to unmanned missions and shows Monica an arsenal of robotics, nanotech and other types of “Sentient Weapons.” The scene feels very similar to one in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, in which Nick Fury shows Cap project insight. Monica passively objects, pointing out that the O and R in S.W.O.R.D. stand for observation and response, not creation. Hayward explains that space is now full of “unexpected threats,” referring to Thanos. Monica assures him that it “always was full of threats and allies,” referring to the Kree and Skrulls respectively, without specifically pointing out as much.
As they arrive at an office, Hayward points out that Monica’s mother helped build S.W.O.R.D. from the ground up and that she should have been here to name Maria’s replacement after she died. Monica tells Hayward he was the obvious choice and they move on to getting Monica her next assignment. Hayward tells Monica the FBI needs help on a missing persons case. Monica objects, letting Hayward know she’s ready to get back to work. Hayward admits she’s being “grounded” and limited to terrestrial missions per her mother’s protocols. Reluctantly, Monica accepts the mission.
Monica arrives in New Jersey, just outside the town of Westview. There, she meets Jimmy Woo, the FBI agent who handled Scott Lang’s house arrest in Ant-Man and the Wasp. In the biggest laugh of the episode, Woo uses close-up magic to present his business card, a little trick he likely picked up from his friend Scott. Woo explains the peculiar circumstance of this case as their missing person was in the witness protection program, only all of his known associates and relatives have never heard of him. He also introduces Monica to the local sheriff who claims the town of Westview doesn’t actually exist. Woo explains to Monica that he’s tried contacting all of the residents of Westview but has had no luck. He says they’re no longer dealing with a case of a missing person, but a missing town. When she asks why he hasn’t gone into town to investigate, he explains that is doesn’t want him to.
Monica takes a drone from her truck and starts flying it toward the town as she questions Woo as to why they’re aware of Westview while anyone with a personal connection to it is not. Monica notices some interference on the feed from the drone and looks up to see that it has disappeared. As she gets closer to investigate, she notices an energy field around the town. She reaches out to touch it and gets pulled into the town, disappearing in front of Woo.
24 hours later, we see a truck on the road and learn that inside is Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster’s assistant from the first two Thor films. Darcy is joined by scientists from other fields in the truck and, as she questions them, she learns that S.W.O.R.D. clearly doesn’t know what kind of threat they’re dealing with. They arrive at a S.W.O.R.D. base outside of Westview and an agent leads Darcy to a lab. She watches as a drone gets sent into the town and disappears. She points out that the Army, S.W.O.R.D. and FBI are all working together on this investigation, signifying a potential major threat and jokes that she’s looking forward to the commemorative T-shirt from their response. Same old Darcy.
Darcy quickly finds radiation readings as well as some other findings. She plugs her equipment into an old Physio-Scope and gets an image from inside Westview. That prompts her to request an old television form the S.W.O.R.D. agent.
Next, we see and agent in a HAZMAT suit step down into the sewers as Hayward explains to him that they’ll lead him into the town. Woo warns Hayward that he’s worried the energy perimeter will extend into the sewers and that they don’t know enough about this threat to send in a second agent when Monica has not yet returned. Hayward does seem to be a bit overly aggressive with this investigation. It could be that he simply wants to get Monica back, but it could also be that he’s hiding some kind of secret agenda.
As Hayward demands a visual of the town from his agents, he hears laughter in the distance. As he looks for the source of the sound, he discovers Darcy is watching a sitcom on an old TV. Woo questions who is on the screen and Darcy points out that “it looks like her.” We see that they’re watching the events of the first episode of WandaVision. Darcy questions whether or not Vision is supposed to be dead, acknowledging that things have been pretty weird for the last few years on this planet. Hayward asks where the signal is coming from and Darcy tells him it’s coming from the town. Woo questions if the universe created a sitcom starring two Avengers and Darcy tells him that’s a working theory. Hayward orders his team to start analyzing the footage. We then get an angle that shows that in the closing moments of the first episode, in which we saw a S.W.O.R.D. agent monitoring Wanda and Vision, it was in fact Darcy.
Woo starts to put together a board for all the information they can gather on the citizens inside Westview. He points out that they’ve identified Wanda and Vision and puts their photos on the board. We also see Woo writing on a white board, compiling a list of questions into categories like “What We Don’t Know” and “Who’s Behind This?” Interestingly, under the latter, we can see “Skrulls?)” written on the board. It seems the Skrulls have made S.W.O.R.D.’s list of suspects. He also questions the recurring presence of hexagons in the sitcom, which we have also been seeing on S.W.O.R.D.’s displays. Other questions, added later, include “Why sitcoms?” and “Is Vision alive?”
Darcy explains that they’ve found information on Mr. and Mrs. Hart, who are being played in the sitcom by real-world people Todd and Sharon Davis. The team begins adding to the board, with information on just about all of Wanda and Vision’s neighbors. Notably, it appears they’ve managed to find an ID for everyone on the board except for Agnes, though several of the other neighbors are also missing from the board altogether.
As they continue to analyze the sitcoms, Darcy notices Monica sitting on a bench during a scene. She tells Woo she has an idea and explains that she might be able to shoot a signal to the radio on Wanda’s kitchen counter and speak with her. An agent brings Woo an image of the helicopter we saw in the second episode, identifying it as their drone. They question why the design was changed and why it’s now in color, to which they have no real answers.
Darcy and Woo begin trying to reach Wanda on the radio when Darcy notices Monica has “a speaking part now.” She then sees a radio and they jump on the opportunity to reach her. We see that they’re watching the moment in the second episode where Wanda heard the voice over the radio, but the sitcom simply jumps to a point where Wanda has corrected things. To Darcy and Woo, their experiment simply seems to have not worked at all, but we know both Wanda and Dottie heard the voice and realized something was wrong from what we saw in the second episode.
We then see the agent in the sewers cross through the barrier into Westview. We see that the barrier transforms his HAZMAT suit into a beekeeper’s outfit and the tether he was attached to breaks and turns into a jump rope. The agent emerges from the sewer and we that creepy moment from the end of episode two before Wanda says “no.” Unfortunately, the next scene cuts away and we don’t get to actually see what happens to the agent.
We then see Darcy and Woo watching episode three and questioning why each episode is jumping to another decade. They see Wanda have her babies before they hear “Geraldine” mention Ultron. Woo questions if that’s the first reference to their reality, which Darcy confirms. They then watch as Wanda realizes “Geraldine” is not who she thought she was. The episode of the sitcom simply jumps to credits though and they can’t see what happens to Monica. An alarm starts sounding and the two run off as we pan into the actual sitcom.
Once inside the sitcom, we see Wanda questioning “Geraldine” and how she could know about Ultron. In this moment, for the first time, Wanda seems very conscience of the fact that she is living in a different reality. She tells “Geraldine” that she wants her to leave and uses her powers to launch her through several walls of her house and out of Westview. She then uses her powers to simply fix the walls and returns to her newborn babies with a sad look on her face before Vision enters.
In the real world, we see S.W.O.R.D. agents rush to Monica’s side as she now lays in the grass at their base. Back in the sitcom, Wanda tells vision “Geraldine” had to rush home. As she turns to face her husband, she is startled by his appearance – looking as he did after Thanos has ripped the Mind Stone from his head and killed him. That is quickly corrected though as Wanda looks again. Vision tells her they can leave and she tells him they can’t because this is their home. She also assures him that she has “everything under control.”
As Woo and Darcy get to Monica, she struggles to catch her breath while barely managing the words “It’s Wanda. It’s all Wanda.” Back in the sitcom, Wanda picks up one of the twins and casually asks Vision what they should watch tonight. “Voodoo Child” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience starts to play as the couple sits down on their couch with their babies and the episode comes to a close.
Things are really starting to get dark now as we finally have some answers as to just what’s going on with Wanda. However, jumping back out into the real world has also come with a whole new line of questions. Still, it was refreshing to get that real world feel to this episode and provide some more context to this fascinating story. We’re just going to have to wait and see exactly what is happening to Wanda.
You can watch WandaVision on Disney+ now.