This post discusses details of the latest episode of WandaVision, “Breaking The Fourth Wall.”
Among the many phosphors that make up the medium-blurring cathode-ray tube of Disney+’s WandaVision, there’s this: Every episode of the sitcom-history-riffing, trauma-plumbing extension of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has thus far ended with a lengthy, cinematic credits sequence. While making clever use of the series’ visual motifs and offering a regular reminder that Debra Jo Rupp was in the first few weeks of this thing, those credits have surely inflamed the itchy trigger fingers of viewers accustomed to hitting a skip button at the first sign of the words “Executive producer.”
Of course, Marvel Studios has been working to inhibit that impulse ever since Nick Fury first wandered into Tony Stark’s big screen life in 2008, though it wasn’t until this morning that WandaVision was able to get in on that particular MCU tradition. We’ll leave the finer details to Stephen Robinson and his recap of “Breaking The Fourth Wall,” so for now, let this serve as a programming bulletin: Stay tuned, film at 11. If you’re the type of viewer who’s waiting until every episode of the show has aired so you can watch them all in your own Wanda Wedensday Nick At Nite Summer Block Party marathon, make a note for yourself now.
And while we’re on the subject: Where are you off to in such a rush that you’re blazing past the credits on every TV show and movie that you watch? Yes, this is behavior encouraged by the streaming services in order to keep you gorging yourself at their digital troughs, but imagine for a second a beautiful world where we’ve all agreed to pay attention to the names and job titles of the people responsible for what we’re cramming into our eyeballs. Sure, it’s idealistic, and a little but naive—but if we can’t get idealistic while we’re talking about superheroes, what are we even doing here? At the very least, it’d be a pushback against the Disney+ default that squeezes the credits into a tiny box in favor of a screen-hogging recommendation—undoubtedly the rudest insult to end credits yet devised by any streamer.
43 Comments
I’m gonna say that this twist has less of an impact for those who are familiar with the West Coast Avengers storyline the show is loosely based on. So they are at least familiar with who Agatha Harkness is and her relationship with Wanda to figure out who Agnes was from the beginning Also it looked kind of different from its appearance on AoS but was that book in Agatha’s sanctum the Darkhold? If so, than that could mean that they’re using Cthon as the big bad as he was the book’s creator and the source of Wanda’s powers.Also also It Was Agatha All Along is a great Disney Villain Song.
“I’m gonna say that this twist has less of an impact for those who are familiar with the West Coast Avengers storyline the show is loosely based on.”Also for those who’ve so much as glanced at the comment section of any of the episode recaps.“Also it looked kind of different from its appearance on AoS but was that book in Agatha’s sanctum the Darkhold?”When I saw that I immediately went to check if t looked the same as the AOS design. Should have known better, but that would have been so epic.
That song is beyond brilliant. The most earwormy/catchy theme tune since episode 2 for me.
It might be reconfigured to look different like so many things in the Hex. Or it might be some other book from Dr Strange’s library with similar properties.
Could be a alternate dimension version of the Darkhold. Since in this universe it looks like this:
Eh, they recast Rhodey and Banner they can recast a book.
The original Darkhold prop was too difficult to work with. Kept demanding script rewrites.
Not super familiar with Agatha, but was she the ‘villain’ in the comics? I thought she was more of a mother-figure/”do Not take control over a town” type person?(Genuinely asking! I hate that the show has very lazily been like, “Hayward’s Eeeevill! Wanda is too Good to be this evil, despite all her actions and words!” – oh, how do you know that? – “Because!”)
Yeah she is Wanda’s mentor.
One of the joys of credit reading is catching some of those inside jokes that occasionally crop up, like where they name ancillary characters after people who work on the show.
‘Course, I grew up in the ‘live only’ era where credit reading was what you did while waiting for the next show, so it’s kind of a habit with me, and I really HATE it when they reduce the credits to a small screen so they can play a commercial over it or whatever the heck they do.
Naked Gun credits ftw.
The real twist is that Randall Park is awesome and should be in everything!
The real twist is the friends we made along the way.
The real twist was inside us all along.Which is why we’re having surgery to untangle it next week.
This isn’t a twist, Randall Park is solid gold in everything.
I was delighted to see him turn up in Young Rock as actor-turned-journalist-in-2032 Randall Park
Same goes for Kat Dennings and Paul Bettany; their double act this week was stupendous.
I already knew that Randall Park was a delight, but he’s also been a pleasant surprise as a believable action hero. I totally buy that Jimmy Woo is a bit of a dorky boy scout who really payed attention during his hand to hand combat lessons at Quantico.
When I recently started a new job, I had to watch a HR video about harassment in the workplace, and low and behold Randall Park was in it. And yes he was gold in it.
She killed Sparky, too!
Spoilers….Is the implication that Agatha turned the boys into a bug and a bunny?
No, the bunny was there since the first episode.
Yeah I know. The bunny in the cage doesn’t have to be the same as the pet she had. Maybe “Pietro” was sometimes the bunny.
That’s an interesting possibility that I hadn’t thought of. I thought that the rabbit in the cage is Señor Scratchy (it looks like the same rabbit), but who knows with this show (I love the twists and turns, personally). My money is on the twins being outside safe and sound, playing with “Pietro”, but that’s because I want to believe that this isn’t a full heel turn for Agnes/Agatha (even the Wicked-Witch-of-West-esque “I killed Sparky” can be handwaved away in the next episode).
Well the bug on the curtain has to be something though, right?
It definitely stood out for me, too. I thought that maybe it was just supposed to be a bit of creepy set dressing, but you may be right. Wanda asks about the twins right after the cut aways to the bunny and the bug (a cicada, I think).
I thought it looked like a cicada, too, but people kept calling it a fly, so I thought maybe I just saw it wrong.
No the bunny is Mr. Scratches. Her pet bunny/ possibly Mephisto.Yeah that book was definitely the Darkhold. The same Darkhold that was in Agents of Shield. Now we know how Wanda’s powers were being boosted…
The bunny in the cage doesn’t have to be the same bunny as her pet though.
If it is, it’s not the same cover.WandaVision:AoS:
Actually, Agatha has a son in the comics who’s also a wizard named Nicholas Scratch…
My wild theory is that they’re gonna try to go the Loki-sympathetic-villian route with Agnes/Agatha, and have her motivation also be based in grief/loss — either the rabbit is named after her deceased son Nick Scratch, or is Nick transformed/cursed in some kind of way. The show drew attention to the missing children in the beginning, and themes of parenthood are prominent… if the whole thing’s been “Agatha All Along” as we’ve been led to believe, the world then also reflects her psyche, and would tie things up nicely thematically.
Obviously it was no surprise to anyone who has been following the show AND following any clues on the internet who “Agnes” turned out to be. Now begs the question as to why? I liked the little It Was Agatha All Along, showing us it was her behind the scenes along…but for what reason. Hmmmm….
Was it just me or in once of the scenes did it seem like Agatha’s teeth had a slight black tint to them?
Its not just you. She also seems to have that purple glowy effect… Similar to Wanda’s red glow.
So, how likely is this show to appeal to a non-comics reader who has watched almost all the Marvel movies (sorry, Thor, I’ll catch you on the flip side) but mostly watches them for some laughs + big action spectacles and is very much not into comic book soap opera bullshit?
I’m a non-comic reader who has seen all the MCU movies (except The Hulk. I like him as a character in an ensemble, but not so much by himself. Especially since it’s not Mark Ruffalo.) I really have been enjoying this show. I miss a few easter eggs here and there, but they aren’t important to the story, for the most part.
i would say it’s fine. a little weird with the format. i do not understand the adulation for the show here and i don’t get why certain things are such a Big Deal. but elizabeth olsen is very good.
I’m generally agnostic on the whole “watch the credits or not” debate, but for WandaVision specifically, the credits last 7 damn minutes!
Even in a movie theater, the credits scroll by way too fast for me to read every name.I did, however, look for a friend’s name in the credits of The Muppets (2011) but that’s different.
For the record, I think having mid- or post-credits scenes in any episde of a TV show except the last one of the season is a bad idea. Not because I don’t like them (I in fact love them), but because while it’s one thing to sit through the credits of a movie a handful of times per year, sitting through the credits of every episode of every TV show you watch is extremely time-consuming. What’s more, the credits are mostly the same, so if you’re worried about giving the grips their due attention, you can do that once per season.
especially when you consider that, for wandavision, you have 8 minutes of credits for a 23 minute show.
Even before post credit scenes were a thing, I always stayed through them for every film I saw. Sure, I’m not going to actually be able to take in all those names, but it just seemed respectful. Plus I love scanning the credits for people who have nicknames listed. (There always seems to be a “Tiny” in there somewhere.)