WandaVision season 1, episode 2 review: The Sixties

“Maybe I could just be myself, more or less.” Spoilers for WandaVision season 1, episode 2 follow.

As Wanda and Vision attempt to continue their lives as a happily married couple in the second episode of WandaVision, they must contend with the most vicious enemy of all: Neighborhood group interactions.

But while everything seems hunky dory on the outside, what’s truly going in these seemingly ideal suburbs.

Enter the sixties

Where the first episode of the Disney Plus series was very much a love letter to sitcoms of the ’50s like I Love Lucy, the second episode of WandaVision is a love letter to those of the ’60s, specifically Bewitched. And just like how the first episode was a recreation of the aesthetics and values of the ’50s, this second episode reinvents that as well.

From the very on-the-nose depictions of sexuality that people in the ’60s probably thought were sneaky to the fact that Wanda is now able to wear pants, the show organically displays the change in eras without ever being forthright with it. With its meta-nature, the show treats its audience as intelligent and doesn’t hand hold with this stuff, which is nice when it comes to what this show is doing.

Furthermore, it feels like the cast and crew are having even more fun with this episode. Still, purposefully, constrained to the era, the sophomore installment manages to showcase the evolution of the sitcom on top of furthering the story of WandaVision. No longer forced to stay in closed environments, we get to move out into the neighborhood and onto the streets with Wanda and Vision. We get to see close-ups, which started to become more commonplace at this time. And, by the end of the episode, color is introduced to the show, which mirrors a show like Bewitched starting out as a black-and-white show before transitioning to color when the technology became available.

Something is rotten in the suburbs

Just like Denmark though, something is rotten in these suburbs. What is said rotten thing though? A talent show to raise money for the school, that’s what. Yeah, that’s right, the school fundraiser is the terrible thing here. Why is that though? Well, obviously it’s playing into the sitcom trope of problems that really shouldn’t be problems, but we need some conflict.

However, this episode takes that trope and does something with in it. The conflict that one of the other housewives have with Wanda is founded in reality as a voice begins to emanate from the radio as she confronts Wanda. This is definitely connected to the remote-control airplane, which is the only thing to be colored before the final moments of the episode, that Wanda found in her bushes. It’s creepy and simultaneously uses a well-known trope to sitcom viewers and turns it on its head in a great way.

That’s not to say that this episode isn’t funny though, it very much is, with the highlight being Vision accidentally swallowing a piece of gum which causes him to act drunk. It’s a great indication of why he doesn’t eat, while also a solid story reason to get a robot the equivalent of being drunk. This then leads to Wanda having to bail him out of his magic show, obviously with her real powers, which makes for an incredibly fun scene of watching Wanda fixing things on the fly.

A beekeeper in the sewer

Just like with the first episode, the second episode begins to subvert the sitcom naturewith several horror film moments. There are obviously the aforementioned remote-control helicopter and radio voice, both of which cause the camerawork to lose its sitcom style and become very modern in use. However, the way the episode ends is chilling.

Episode 2 loses almost all of its sitcom pretenses within the final minutes. This is entirely caused by a loud noise that forces Vision and Wanda to go outside, where they come face-to-face with a man in a beekeeper suit surrounded by bees coming up from the sewer. Before anything can happen though, Wanda rewinds time and makes it so they don’t see the beekeeper.

These final moments thus raise many questions. First, who is this beekeeper because his entrance was incredibly unsettling. Second, is Wanda creating this town with her powers or is someone creating it for her? Third, what is going to happen when this illusion of a perfect suburb is destroyed? There are so many more questions though that will hopefully be answered as the series progress into, what is more than likely, going to become a horror-influenced series.

WandaVision’s second episode keeps up the excellent pace that the first episode set and is a fitting love letter to sitcoms of the ’60s.

What did you think of WandaVision episode 2? Are you enjoying the MCU show thus far? Let us know in the comments below!