WandaVision season 1, episode 4 review: We Interrupt This Program

WandaVision season 1, episode 4 takes a look behind the scenes of Westview.

Don’t change the channel! WandaVision season 1, episode 4 interrupts our regular programming to answer some of the questions we have about this Marvel Cinematic Universe show.

For three episodes, we’ve been following Wanda and Vision’s escapades in the idyllic world of Westview. WandaVision has taken us through three decades of the lives of our favorite Enhanced and Synthezoid, but along with us viewers, there’s been someone else looking in.

But who are they and what are they after? We find out in this episode on Disney Plus. Despite the departure from the usual sitcom style, the fourth episode is a welcome break from fantasy to the disturbing reality of the MCU.

WandaVision season 1, episode 4: Nice to finally meet you, Monica Rambeau

At the end of the previous episode, Geraldine was jettisoned from Westview and into the real world of the MCU. We catch up to that moment and who this character is in “We Interrupt This Program”.

Since Teyonah Parris was announced as Monica Rambeau, we all wondered how she fit into the storyline of WandaVision. Unsurprisingly, it’s because Monica is a Captain at the Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division (S.W.O.R.D.) and she is dispatched to investigate the missing town, before being accidentally pulled in.

Monica’s introduction in this episode was bone-chilling. We know that Professor Hulk returned the missing half of the universe in Avengers: Endgame, but we never saw the moment on screen. The re-formation of Monica and fellow patients was straight out of a horror film. The entire opening sequence in this episode was reminiscent of disaster films of yore.

We also get to see the impact of returning five years in the future through Monica’s eyes. She has to deal with the death of her mother—Maria ‘Photon’ Rambeau—who had been recovering from cancer. She’s grounded at work and has missed out on a promotion because she had disappeared for five years.

The fact that Parris can imbue a character we’ve seen for less than three episodes with so much life makes us all the more excited to see her spread her wings during the rest of the show and in Captain Marvel 2.  

WandaVision season 1, episode 4: Hey, it’s Agent Woo and Darcy Lewis

Marvel has a terrible habit of revealing too much information in its promotional marketing. Wouldn’t the revelation that Randall Park’s Agent Jimmy Woo was the man in charge of investigating the disappearance of Westview’s denizens, or, that Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) was called in by S.W.O.R.D. to examine the town’s phenomena, been a better viewing experience if we were surprised by their arrivals?

Despite the casting spoilers, these two actors step into their characters’ shoes as if they’d never left. Darcy is still irreverent and ingenious. Woo is still earnest and misunderstands every social cue. In one short episode, we are reminded that the MCU is so beloved not only because of its main heroes, but because the supporting characters are delightful reflections of real people in extraordinary circumstances.

Darcy and Woo — two MCU misfits — are an unstoppable team in WandaVision episode 4. Darcy discovers the WandaVision sitcom and a possible way to communicate with Wanda. Woo identifies which townspeople appear on the show. But, we don’t know who his original informant is. Is it Agnes or someone else?

We know now that Darcy was the shadowy figure watching the show, but in this episode, we realize that we, the viewers, have been privy to more information than Darcy. “Someone” is censoring segments of WandaVision, so Darcy thinks her radio experiment was unsuccessful. But who is doing this?

WandaVision season 1, episode 4: Who should we really be afraid of?

All evidence points to Wanda being in control of this alternative reality. We know that she’s done this a few times in the comics (House of M being the most famous instance of her reality-warping abilities). This entire show appears to hinge on that one throwaway line spoken by Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda in Endgame: “You took everything from me”.

It seems that Wanda has suffered some kind of emotional breakdown. She’s playing house with Vision’s dead body — one of the best scares in the MCU so far — and any time her fantasy is interrupted, Wanda fights back. She reset a few scenes and kicked Monica out.

It’s a frightening premise, but can we really hate Wanda for what she’s doing? She’s lost everyone closest to her, Vision being the last straw.

This ruse can’t last long, though. We’ve seen the cracks already, and they’re far deeper in WandaVision season 1, episode 4. Paul Bettany is excellent in showcasing Vision’s discordance with this reality. He is an unwilling participant in this fantasy — Vision is literally dead. The way his smile falters in the final scenes sends chills down your spine. Will it be Vision who breaks Wanda out of her fantasy, or will it be S.W.O.R.D.?

WandaVision season 1, episode 4: Easter Eggs and Remaining Questions

• We finally have a timeline for the events of this series. It takes place after Endgame, which doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone, especially since that was the most probable time when Wanda’s mental state would be this fragile.
• Even Agent Woo is baffled by the recurrence of hexagons in the show. What do these shapes mean?
• What happened to the Beekeeper? He was a S.W.O.R.D. investigator, but Wanda rewound the scene and we never saw him again. Did she kill him? Absorb him into the show? When will we know!
• Every MCU fan will agree that Tony Stark is an incredible hero (he literally sacrificed his life to save the universe), but he was flawed and selfish. To maintain his post-Snap life, the missing people were returned five years later. Monica’s mother dying in that interim just drives home the fact that cow-towing to Tony’s whims has devastating repercussions on the rest of the MCU.
• Marvel retroactively making their women heroes badasses is probably the best part of the new MCU phases. Maria Rambeau founding S.W.O.R.D. alongside Peggy Carter as one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a reminder that you don’t have to have superpowers to make a difference.
• As much as we all love Darcy, what happened to Erik Selvig and Jane Foster? Wouldn’t they be S.W.O.R.D.’s first choices for the Westview mission? Of course, considering Darcy’s unconventional thinking usually gets the job done, we can see why she was picked for this job.
• Fans may have jumped the gun at the prospect of the Young Avengers turning up on the show. While the MCU could certainly do with the addition of Bill Kaplan/Wiccan and Tommy Shepard/Speed, they’re not here yet.

This episode has set up the final half of the season brilliantly. We have enough context to understand what’s been happening so far, but there’s plenty of mystery left to solve in the remainder of the show. And fans are going to be tuning in every week to see if Wanda can make it through to the other side.

WandaVision is currently streaming weekly on Disney Plus.

What questions do you still have about WandaVision after the fourth episode? Let us know in the comments below.