Recap / WandaVision Episode 5 "On a Very Special Episode..."

You wander the world with a vision of what life could be
But then the years come and teach you to just wait and see
Forces may try to pull us apart
But nothing can faze me if you're in my heart

Crossing our fingers, singin' a song
We're making it up as we go along
Through the highs and the lows, we'll be right, we'll be wrong
We're making it up as we go along

And there will be days we won't know which way to go
But we'll take it higher, you're all I desire
When the going gets tough, when push comes to shove
We're making it up!
'Cause we got love (we got love)
Oh we got love (we got love)
Baby we got
WandaVision

— Episode 5 Thematic Theme Tune

Now in the '80s, Wanda attempts to deal with the (rapidly) growing pains of parenting. Meanwhile, S.W.O.R.D. plans their next move against Wanda, and Vision begins to catch on to what's really going on in Westview...

---

Tropes:

• The '80s: Westview has leaped forward by another decade to the 1980s. Wanda and Agnes now sport enormous '80s Hair, and the entire house's design has changed again. Agnes also sports a garish workout suit that's straight from the era. And when who seems to be Pietro shows up at the end, he has the same haircut and civilian outfit Evan Peters donned in the '80s-set X-Men: Apocalypse.
• Accent Relapse: When Wanda briefly exits Westview to confront S.W.O.R.D., she drops the American accent she's been using in the sitcom and returns to her Sokovian accent, albeit an even more toned-down accent than she used in Captain America: Civil War.
• Actor Allusion: The younger sister of the twins who played Michelle Tanner is in an '80s dom-com, complete with sappy life lessons to children. The main difference here is she's playing the adult, not the children.
• Adaptational Species Change: Sparky is an android dog in the comics. Here he's a biological one.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Hayward is pretty quick to pin everything happening in Westview on Wanda. Still, Pietro's appearance at the end of the episode, over Wanda's protests that she's not doing it, would suggest otherwise.
  • Did Wanda truly plan this all from the start or was her takeover and imprisonment of the people of Westview just a horrible accident because of some subconscious impulse? Did someone manipulate her into this? Force her?... just do it to her? Vision tries to make Wanda answer this, but she dodges the question.
  • Monica believes that Wanda and Vision's kids are real, but given the nature of their birth, it's impossible to tell.
  • How did the computers at Vision's office intercept a S.W.O.R.D. email?
  • How did Pietro get into Westview? What's the deal with the "recasting"? Is he just some poor Westview resident brainwashed into thinking he's Pietro, or is he truly the 20th Century Fox Quicksilver ripped from his home universe?
  • How and why did S.W.O.R.D. have Vision's corpse and why did Wanda break into their facility to steal it? Was S.W.O.R.D. actually experimenting on Vision's remains (and if so, for what purpose?) or were they simply disassembling him, as he had requested in his will? And if it's the latter, why were they only doing so now as opposed to any point in the five years between his death and the Blip?
  • Why are things spiraling out of control in The Hex, with more and more glitches? Is it because Wanda is creating extra characters rather than just controlling real people, is it just the nature of her chaos magic, or is it because Agnes is fucking with Vision and pushing him to figure things out and forcefully confront Wanda, destroying her happy fantasy?
• Ambiguous Syntax: Abilash (a.k.a. Norm) begs Vision, "You have to stop her. She's in my head. Make her stop! Just make her stop!" Though Vision asks him "who?", he never specifies if he's talking about Wanda or someone else.
• And I Must Scream: Both Monica and Norm discuss with other characters how being under Wanda's spell in Westview is constantly having her voice in your head, suppressing you as you act out your role.
• And Starring: "Introducing Tommy and Billy!"
• Artistic License – Gun Safety: Darcy gets a little leeway, but Monica sure as hell oughta know that she shouldn't be standing in front of the firing line. Same with Hayward.
• Arc Symbol: Darcy has taken to calling the events in Westview "The Hex" based on the recurring hexagon symbols.
• Bait-and-Switch: At the end, an unexpected visitor comes to Wanda and Vision's door. Though we only see him from behind at first, the shot of his white hair clues us in that this man is Pietro Maximoff. Then the camera cuts to his face to show that he is Pietro... but he's played by Evan Peters, not Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Vision is arguably at his angriest when confronting Wanda about the goings-on in Westview.
• Beware the Superman: Wanda's power levels, and her misuse of her abilities, are Played for Drama and Horror in this episode, especially in the climax where she destroys a drone and makes S.W.O.R.D. troopers turn their guns on their commanding officer to make a point.
• Blatant Lies: Wanda has gotten so used to being in control of everything that she forgets she can't control the twins and tries to simply tell them it's Monday when it was Saturday this morning, so she backpedals and explains there was an emergency at work.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: After Vision and Agnes lean on the fourth wall a little too much, he gets sent to the office (on a Saturday?) to give him some time off. Then their brand new computers intercept an internal email from S.W.O.R.D., which everyone in the office reads aloud. Vision has finally had enough and uses his powers to break Norm out of the Mind Rape and get some real information about what's happening in Westview.
• Broken Aesop: In-universe, this episode of Wanda's sitcom reality has An Aesop about losing a loved one being a natural part of life that everybody must accept, but the entire "show" only exists in the first place because Wanda refused to accept Vision's death. This is noted as full-on Parental Hypocrisy.
• Bulletproof Vest: The fact that Monica was wearing one when she went into Westview gets turned into a Chekhov's Gun when she fires Jimmy's gun at the clothes she was wearing when she came out. The clothes completely stop the bullets (even though the change would have rendered the kevlar useless for that) because the Hex doesn't make things, but only transforms them.
• Bullying a Dragon: Knowing that Wanda was capable of taking out Thanos, Hayward tries to kill her with a drone-mounted missile from the '80s. She responds by coming out of Westview, tossing the destroyed drone at his feet, warning him to leave her alone, and to make her point clear, mind-controlling about twenty S.W.O.R.D. snipers into pointing their rifles at him before freeing them as she heads back into the anomaly.
• Call-Back:
  • Jimmy Woo mentions that Wanda resurrecting Vision violates Section 36(B) of the Sokovia Accords. It was previously mentioned in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that creating/bringing to life a sentient AI android violated the accords, so as to prevent another Ultron.
  • The commercial in this episode is about a paper towel by a brand called Lagos, with the advertising slogan being "For when you made a mess you didn't mean to."
  • Monica recalls that Wanda almost defeated Thanos on her own before he ordered his ship to rain fire. Woo then mentions that Captain Marvel came close as well, and the camera lingers on Monica's face for a moment, recalling their connection.
• The Cameo: The narrator of the Lagos commercial is Grey DeLisle.
• Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: The Hex clearly changes hairstyles and clothing, since most of the episode, Wanda is wearing a blue-red patterned blouse, mom jeans with suspenders, and has blowout hair. But when she exits the Hex to confront Hayward, her attire switches back to her Avengers outfit and the long sleek hair she had in her first few movies.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Billy gets a red motif and Tommy blue, matching the comics and helping us keep track of which is which as they age up.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Lampshaded. Hayward is actually surprised to hear Wanda doesn't have a nickname.
• Continuity Nod:
  • When he hits his Rage Breaking Point, Vision yells at Wanda to, "STOP LYING TO ME!" with the same cadence and emphasis Bruce Banner uses when he yells at Black Widow in The Avengers.
  • Jimmy Woo brings Darcy some coffee.
  • The cake pans from the ToastMate 2000 are now hanging above the cutout on the back wall of the kitchen.
• Control Freak: Wanda has slipped into this. It's shown that she imposes new personalities over everyone in Westview and gets extortionate and/or violent when someone defies her wishes.
  Vision: What is outside of Westview?!
  Wanda: You don't want to know, I promise you.
  Vision: You don't get to make that choice for me, Wanda!
• Credits Gag: In-Universe, Wanda, exasperated by Vision's questions, tries to end the Show Within a Show with a joke that she can control Vision's life now, but Vision is not having it and talks over the credits before cutting them off entirely.
• Curse Cut Short: Whispering to Woo, Darcy calls Director Hayward a "d—" before the camera cuts away from her to Hayward himself.
• Cuteness Proximity: Wanda's defenses quickly fall apart when trying to dissuade the twins from keeping Sparky.
  Wanda: Now boys, taking care of a living thing is a big responsibility. Dogs need food, exercise, training... [slipping into baby talk] belly rubs, and cuddles, and kisses between his little ears!
• Dark Action Girl: Just how dark is not entirely clear at this point, but Wanda's morality has definitely taken a significant strike in tandem with her massive power increase. Her power level is displayed in the climax when she destroys a S.W.O.R.D. drone off-camera easily, emerges from her own sitcom universe, and Mind Rapes a squadron of gunmen to point their weapons at Hayward (for a justifiable reason). Her moral decline is displayed by her ostensibly conscious takeover of Westview, and her unmistakably conscious theft of Vision's body against his own wishes (not that S.W.O.R.D. was any better, using his body for research).
• Death Amnesia: During their argument, Vision tells Wanda that he doesn't remember his life before Westview, and that this terrifies him.
• Death Glare: During the climactic confrontation with S.W.O.R.D., Wanda clearly has a vendetta against Hayward specifically (due to events that will be revealed in later episodes). When Wanda's focusing on Monica, she remains wary but visibly softens to her. But when she's focusing on Hayward, she scowls, especially when saying she has what she wants and no-one will ever take it from her. It concludes with Wanda aiming all the agents' guns at Hayward.
• Death Is a Sad Thing: The sitcom plot of the hour. The boys have their first experience with death (their pet dies) and Wanda has to explain to them that death is natural and should be accepted.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Period-appropriate sexism in the Lagos brand paper towels.
  Announcer: Don't worry, husbands can use them, too!
• Double Meaning:
  • When her powers fail to work on her sons, Wanda asks, "Why won't you do what I want?"
  • Norm assures Vision that the email from S.W.O.R.D. is just a prank, and adds "None of this is real!" He's referring to the email, but Vision, who's already suspicious of the nature of Westview, seems to interpret it another way.
  • Darcy has taken to calling the Westview anomaly "The Hex" for its hexagonal-shaped barrier. But a "hex" can also refer to a magical spell, not only referencing Wanda's "witch" moniker in the comics, but the nature of the anomaly itself.
  • When Pietro walks into the house, he points at Vision and says "Who's the popsicle?" Besides being a pun that Vision is a father or "pop" (or, y'know, red), it may also reference to the fact that Vision is dead.
• Double-Meaning Title: The title could mean many things. It could be based on the in-universe sitcom episode where Wanda's sons learn about death, or talking about the shocker of Pietro coming back to life (played by a different actor), or possibly Vision flat-out confronting Wanda about the situation.
• Easter Egg: The Growing Pains-inspired intro contains actual childhood pictures of Elizabeth Olsen, two of which have the Sokovian flag photoshopped into the background.
• Emotion Bomb: Monica describes falling under Wanda's control as being buried under her unending grief.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Monica is convinced that Wanda is only transforming existing materials, not creating them, and therefore the twins are real. However, she doesn't know that Tyler is lying about Wanda stealing and resurrecting Vision, and there's no reason Wanda couldn't simply create the twins just because she transforms almost everything else.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Sparky is shown acting up when he hears the S.W.O.R.D drone entering Westview.
• Exact Words: Billy and Tommy's initial attempt at keeping the stray dog they found are shot down when Wanda says the dog can stay once they're ten, a more responsible age. She never said they couldn't use Rapid Aging to reach that point.
• Extra-Long Episode: This episode runs a little longer at 34 minutes, not including the credits, as Vision refuses to allow Wanda to end the episode early.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Wanda opens the door to reveal Pietro, who is shot from behind, blocking out view of his face until the Wham Shot. Attentive viewers will immediately notice that something is off, as the MCU Pietro had white-blond hair but the man standing in the doorway has silver-grey hair like the Fox version of the character.
• Flash Forward: Overlaps with Flashback; Monica's memory of Wanda's grief includes a few frames of a shot that hasn't appeared in an episode yet, of a grieving Wanda as she appeared on the day the Hex began.
• Fly in the Soup: When Wanda sees Sparky in the sink, she jokingly asks, "Waiter, what's this canine doing in my kitchen sink?"
  Tommy: The doggy paddle?
• Foreshadowing:
  • Wanda telling her twins euphemistically that her brother is "very far away" sets up his arrival later in the episode, as if by saying that, she willed it to be true.
  • Wanda's anger when she confronts S.W.O.R.D. after the missile strike is pretty clearly pointed solely at Hayward, and none at Monica.
  • The entire theme song foreshadows the episode's conflict with control and keeping family together. Wanda and Vision's wide smiles in the final shot also seem very forced, almost as if they've been Photoshopped.
  • Monica reveals that she constantly felt Wanda's grief while she was "Geraldine".
  • Hayward's footage of Wanda stealing Vision's body doesn't actually show the moment where she takes his body.
  • Vision doesn't remember anything about his life before Westview.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: A subtle version: The Previously on… segment changes Wanda's line about Geraldine from a casual "She left, honey. She had to rush home" to an aggressive, "She's gone. She didn't belong here." It seems that not even Disney+ is immune to Wanda's Reality Warping.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • The newspaper that Vision picks up prior to Agnes' second suspiciously convenient arrival. The main headline and the ad on the back are nothing special, but the top border of the newspaper says "MORE DRAMATIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE LIGHTS IN THE SKY AROUND WESTVIEW", referring to the floodlights S.W.O.R.D. has ringing the town.
  • The '80s drone that S.W.O.R.D. sends into the anomaly is made by Stark Industries, which can be seen when Wanda tosses it at Hayward's feet.
• Gaslighting: Wanda has regularly been doing this to Vision so far by dismissing his concerns about the reality of Westview. This episode has it come to a head when she dismisses Vision noticing that Agnes was asking her to redo the "take" when Vision disrupted the scene by declining her help with the boys. At the end he confronts her about her apparent control over the town but, even though she suggests she can control him like she does everyone else, she still argues that she isn't and couldn't be in control of everyone in Westview.
• Genre Savvy: Vision's started catching on to some of the details of how the sitcom world works, specifically Agnes' Drop-In Character bit, as he keeps his human disguise on just in case she happens to burst in again.
• Getting the Baby to Sleep: In the beginning, Wanda and Vision are desperately trying to get the twins to sleep. They don't succeed, but the twins age up into young children so they stop crying anyway.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!:
  • Befitting his calling as a youth pastor, Jimmy's reaction to finding out that the twins are now aged 10:
    Jimmy Woo: Holy Christmas, at this rate they'll be empty-nesters by dinnertime!
  • He also says "Jeepers creepers", a minced oath for "Jesus Christ".
• Got Me Doing It: As Monica is discussing how her clothing shifted to period pieces, but made up of the material that she was wearing when she entered, she absentmindedly calls the Westview anomaly "The Hex". Darcy immediately calls her out on it, "Ha! You called it 'The Hex!'"
• Hide Your Children: Recall how back in episode 2, despite all the talk about kids, there were no signs of any? Vision reveals that there are no children in Westview at all (besides Tommy and Billy, that is).
• Humans Are Bastards: Tyler has this view, at least toward Wanda, making it a point to emphasize the negative aspects of her pre-Avengers past and putting a negative spin on everything after. This is contrasted by the attitudes of Jimmy Woo and Monica, who want to give Wanda, an Avenger, the benefit of the doubt.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: After losing their dog, Wanda tries to explain to her sons that death is a tragic but natural part of life, and you shouldn't try to mess with it no matter how much you can't accept it. While it's hard to swallow this, considering she's done the exact opposite with Vision, she's not exactly wrong about trying to teach her kids this.
• If I Wanted You Dead...: Wanda tells S.W.O.R.D. that she already has everything she wants and so she isn't a danger to anyone (outside of Westview at least). To prove her point, she mind-controls Hayward's soldiers into pointing their guns away from her and towards Hayward himself. Then she returns to Westview without commanding them to fire.
• Inadvertent Entrance Cue: Agnes twice barges into the WandaVision household with convenient assistance for whatever problem they're discussing. She justifies both instances by claiming to have seen or heard what was happening, and the second time Vision lampshades it. It's Played for Drama at the end of the episode when an argument between Wanda and Vision is interrupted by Pietro's arrival, and Vision doesn't believe Wanda when she says she has nothing to do with it.
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Wanda tries to turn in for the night to get out of being further questioned by Vision about the "Maximoff Anomaly".
  Vision: You can't control me the way you do them.
  Wanda: [meaningfully] ...Can't I? [canned applause, and the end credits roll] I'm going to bed.
  Vision: No! We're not done here! [Wanda stops in her tracks] What is the Maximoff Anomaly?
• Interface Screw: The sitcom credits get distorted and fizzle out like a faulty TV signal when Vision and Wanda start arguing.
• Interrupted by the End: Wanda attempts to invoke this to cut short Vision's probing about the nature of Westview. The credits start rolling, but Vision refuses to drop the subject and keeps pressing Wanda until the credits glitch out and vanish.
• It's All About Me: A tragic case. Unable to cope with the grief of her losses, Wanda has decided to forcibly take control of Westview and create an entire fake life for herself and Vision — and she won't let anyone or anything, not S.W.O.R.D., not the inconvenient reality she's working to block out, not even Vision himself, get in the way of that. Jimmy Woo even points out that Vision wouldn't have wanted to be used like this. The fact that the people she's cast as their neighbors and friends have their own families whom they can't get in touch with? Not important — she got what she wanted, and everyone else just has to deal with it.
• Jerkass: Hayward dips into this. He talks over Woo and clearly isn't concerned about saving Wanda after learning she's the principal cause (as far as S.W.O.R.D. knows) of the Hex. Darcy says (albeit censored) that he's a dick.
• Laser Sight: When Wanda confronts S.W.O.R.D., the armed agents present have guns with green lasers aimed at her, presumably to make it more obvious and dramatic when she forces them to aim at Hayward instead.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Multiple times. Wanda (or whoever) is losing control of the scenario.
  • Agnes leaning on it so damn heavily all the time is what finally gets Vision^note Agnes is so shocking in her entrance that even the babies stop crying to start noticing that things are hinky, given that Agnes knows about things she shouldn't. That gets him sent to work to get him out of the way, which is when he gets an email...
  • The mailman observes to the boys about their runaway Sparky, "Oh, I wouldn't worry about him. Your mom won't let him get far. Ma'am."
  • The stock surprised applause from the Studio Audience when it first shows Evan Peters' face is deliberately mirroring how most of the viewers probably reacted to this moment.
  • Darcy when she sees who's at the door in the final sequence.
    Darcy: She recast Pietro?!invoked
• Leave Me Alone!: Wanda's ultimatum to S.W.O.R.D. after she leaves Westview briefly is to leave her in peace and not shoot missiles at her anymore. She'll give them the same treatment.
• Long-Lost Uncle Aesop: Sparky the dog is brought onto the Show Within a Show and then killed off to teach the boys the importance of handling a loved one's death.
• Magic A Is Magic A: Because the Hex transforms outside objects to fit into the setting, Monica bypasses it by using a drone from the '80s, allowing it to retain functionality as she uses it to attempt communication with Wanda (and for Hayward to attempt to take her out).
• Meaningful Name: Given its hexagonal shape, Darcy starts calling this obvious work of witchcraft 'The Hex'.
• Mind-Control Eyes: Hayward's men's eyes turn red as Wanda possesses them and compels them to turn their guns on Hayward.
• Mind Rape: Anyone in the Hex is overwhelmed with (presumably) Wanda's grief and pain to the point that their personalities are suppressed, compelling them to play out the sitcom. Hayward even explicitly calls Wanda a "victimizer" and Monica calls it "a violation".
• Mind Screw: The show continues to highlight that although Wanda appears to be the driving force behind the situation in Westview, there are also significant incidents that suggest she's not, such as the fact that Billy and Tommy are not only immune to her reality-warping powers but age themselves up twice, Agnes is largely immune to the Masquerade, Wanda herself points out that she isn't capable of controlling every single person in the town at all times and she doesn't know how this whole situation began in the first place, and Pietro (re-cast) has appeared in Westview uninvited (maybe).
• Missing Reflection: As part of her post-Hex check-up, Monica's X-rays come back a blank white silhouette and apparently her blood tests are just as inconclusive.
• Mood Dissonance: Cheesy '80s sitcom credits play through the first half of the very serious argument Vision has with Wanda about controlling Westview.
• Mood-Swinger: The moment Wanda sees the drone, she goes from playing with her kids to Unstoppable Rage, barging through the barrier and breaking character just to confront S.W.O.R.D.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • The arrival of the S.W.O.R.D. email, and Vision's coworkers reading it out in unison, is creepy enough, but Vision's temporary awakening of Norm turns things downright nightmarish, as Abilash pleads with Vision to help him and tries to warn him of the mass Mind Rape going on in Westview... then Vision returns Norm to his sitcom state and he immediately cracks a Hopeless with Tech joke with a giant grin on his face.
  • The ending boomerangs back and forth with this. It goes from a tense standoff between Wanda and Vision over the former's Control Freak grip on Westview, to a heartfelt reunion with Pietro, to the in-universe Wham Shot that this Pietro is a different one, and it ends with Pietro cracking jokes about Vision.
    Pietro:...Who's the popsicle?
• Mythology Gag:
  • Sparky is the name of a synthezoid-dog created by Vision in The Vision. Additionally, Agnes claims that he died from eating too many azalea leaves, similar to how in the comics Sparky died shortly after eating a leaf from a Wundagore Everbloom.
  • Billy and Tommy's shirt colors allude to their superhero color schemes: Billy's shirt is red and black, while Tommy's is green and white.
  • Darcy calls Wanda's anomaly "the Hex" after its hexagonal shape. Early in the comics, Wanda's probability manipulations were referred to as hex magic.
  • "He will always be your brother." In the Young Avengers, the teenaged, reincarnated Billy and Tommy, despite being born into separate families and finding each other in their teens, accept each other as brothers once they discover their past life relationship.
  • Monica mentions needing lead as protection from "photons", referencing one of her monikers from the comics.
  • Monica's dislike of hearing about Captain Marvel is one to her being Captain Marvel at one time. Comics' Monica did not like hearing that Carol took up the name without talking to her about it.
  • Wanda's showdown with the S.W.O.R.D agents is very reminiscent of Magneto's famous confrontation scene with the police during X-Men. Appropriately, Magneto was her father for much of her publication history. Also, her exchange with Monica and Hayward is reminiscent of Xavier's fatal sitdown with Jean Grey in X-Men: The Last Stand.^note In both scenes, an emotionally volatile party (Jean Grey/Wanda) is being confronted by a pacifier (Xavier/Monica) and an instigator (Magneto/Hayward) simultaneously. While in this occasion, Hayward's position comes across more foolishly reckless than willfully provocative, it is later revealed that manipulating the conflict to justify dispatching Wanda lethally was part of his plans.
  • When Monica is X-rayed, the images don't show anything inside her body, not even bones or internal organs. All it shows is bright light in the image, a reflection of her having been a being of pure energy in the comics.
• Narnia Time: When S.W.O.R.D. sends the '80s-tech drone into Westview, it is Saturday (no, Monday, no Saturday...), but clearly during the day time. After Wanda brings the drone out, real-world time is sometime after sunset.
• Never My Fault: When Hayward brings up Wanda holding an entire town hostage, she just retorts that she is not the one with the guns.
• Never Say "Die": Wanda tells her sons that her brother is "very far away", which becomes foreshadowing when a "recast" Pietro somehow appears on her doorstep at the end of the episode.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: S.W.O.R.D. is heavily implied to have been experimenting on Vision's body, and when Wanda found out, she was not happy.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: "Villain" is debatable, but Wanda sends Vision to work on a Saturday to avoid questions about the nature of Westview, only for Vision's office computer to intercept a S.W.O.R.D. communiqué, alerting him to the Maximoff anomaly, and leading to him temporarily snapping Norm out of his programming. He begins to question the sitcom reality that Wanda has created so much more than he would have if she had just kept him at home.
• No-Sell:
  • A frustrated Wanda tries to use her powers to get the boys to go to sleep, but they stay awake even when she repeats the gesture, much like the stork from Episode 3.
  • Wanda tries to end the episode early with the credits to get out of Vision realizing Westview's status as a Lotus-Eater Machine. He doesn't fall for it this time and the argument continues with the credits still scrolling on-screen.
• The Nth Doctor: The Evan Peters version of Quicksilver takes the place of the Aaron Taylor-Johnson version.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The normally coolheaded Vision gets angry at Wanda as evidence points towards her being the one keeping Westview under her control, and she refuses to talk about what is really happening. His own lack of memories before life in the suburbs only exacerbates his feelings, to the point that he raises his voice for the first time in the franchise, and holds a heated discussion with her.
  Vision: Norm has a FAMILY, Wanda! He has a family and he can't reach them because YOU WON'T LET HIM REACH THEM!
  Wanda: I don't know what you're talking about!
  Vision: STOP LYING TO ME!!
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: In-Universe, Wanda's Sokovian accent briefly slips in when she confronts Tyler.
• The Other Darrin: In-universe, Darcy is shocked to see that Pietro has been "recast". It also doubles as a Casting Gag, since Evan Peters played Quicksilver/Peter Maximoff in the X-Men franchise.
• Parental Hypocrisy: The boys casually use some power they have to age themselves up, and plead with Wanda to use hers to resurrect Sparky. She urges them against both, arguing that you can't rush through life for convenience and that things like death are a natural order that one must learn to cope with. This is from the person who resurrected her lover to pretend he never died (maybe?) as they rush through decades of marital bliss at her convenience.
• Pet the Dog: Monica believes that Wanda knows she is her ally, noting that despite the violent manner of her ejection from Westview, Wanda still protected her from harm. In the climax, Wanda forces all the S.W.O.R.D. agents aiming their weapons at her to turn and aim their weapons exclusively at Hayward, and none of them at Monica.
• Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Billy and Tommy age themselves up in response to comments by Wanda. They go from infants to five-year-olds instantaneously and then become ten-year-olds equally quickly. They seem like they're about to age themselves again after Sparky dies, but Wanda stops them.
• Power of Trust: Vision's suspicions come to a head when he finds hard proof that Wanda controls Westview. He wants to believe that she isn't fully conscious of what she's doing, hurting many people along the way, as well as her claims that she isn't in control, but she won't even trust him with the truth of what's outside Westview.
• Present-Day Past: Justified since this is not actually a period piece, but:
  • The episode of the show-within-a-show is filmed in widescreen, despite HDTV not fully becoming the standard until the mid-2000s.
  • While the internet and e-mail were available in the 1980s, particularly in high-tech corporate settings like Vision's workplace, Vision talks of "surfing" the net, a term which didn't appear until the mid-'90s.
  • Dennis is wearing the USPS logo that was introduced in 1993.
• Pulling the Thread: Where Vision has noticed oddities before, Wanda was able to reverse things and clean it up. Now her control is getting increasingly worse and Vision pulls things apart enough to realize the truth and demand answers from Wanda.
• Pun: From the opening theme's lyrics:
  You wander the world with a vision of what life could be...
• Record Needle Scratch: When Vision starts shouting at Wanda that Norm has a family that she's keeping him from, the closing credits glitch out and the music crashes to a halt.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning:
  • On the black-and-white screen of the camera feed from drone, Wanda's glowing red eyes are the only warning Monica gets before the drone's controls get hijacked.
  • When Wanda controls the minds of the S.W.O.R.D. gunmen, their eyes also flash red.
• Retcon: At least until a June 2021 refresh, when Vision asks Wanda where Geraldine went in the recap, Wanda answered, "She's gone. She didn't belong here." instead of "Oh she left, honey. She had to rush home" as she did in the actual episode, implying that Wanda is even in control of the "Previously On" recaps.
• The Reveal: Oh boy, this episode hits hard and fast with these.
  • Nine days before the beginning of the series, Wanda broke into S.W.O.R.D. headquarters and stole Vision's body (or did she?), which she somehow brought back to life.
  • Westview's Retraux nature is not just caused by Wanda's ability to affect perceptions, but she is actually permanently transforming the objects that enter Westview. Monica's uniform was transformed into her clothes on the sitcom. Even the existence of the sitcom set is an extension of this.
  • Wanda is at least partially in control of the minds of everyone in Westview, forcing them to play quirky and offbeat sitcom characters while they are trapped in their bodies.
  • Wanda and Hayward have already met at least once before, and they do not like each other.
  • Wanda is consciously aware of what's going on and in control of herself to the point where she can go outside of the Hex, confront Hayward, and return.
  • Vision has no memory of his life before Westview.
• Secret Pet Plot: Billy and Tommy attempt to hide a stray dog in the kitchen sink... until the sink starts barking. Downplayed since this part of the plot doesn't last very long — Billy and Tommy only hid him in the sink until they could get him clean enough to convince Wanda to let them keep him.
• Shout-Out:
  • Vision has been reading Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man to Billy, trying to make him fall asleep. This is also an Actor Allusion to Paul Bettany's portrayal of Darwin in Creation.
  • This episode's sitcom opening is a homage to the opening of Family Ties, and the living room set is based on the set of that show.
    • Billy says "Sit, Sparky, sit! Good dog!" echoing the UBU Productions Vanity Plate from Family Ties.
    • A shot in the opening has Wanda and Vision's family running towards the camera, then a couple of shots later is a pan shot of the four having a picnic. Both shots reference the opening of Full House with the Tanners' picnic in San Francisco's Alamo Square Park. Doubles as an indirect Actor Allusion, being the show that put Elizabeth Olsen's older sisters on the map.
    • The Photo Montage is also an homage to the Growing Pains opening.
  • Darcy calls what Vision does in Westview "playing Father Knows Best in suburbia."
  • The kitchen wall features some cake pans, including the infamous lobster-shaped one from The Golden Girls.
  • The house where Agnes finds Sparky is the Stevens house from Bewitched. It's not just a look-alike, the scene was shot at the Warner Ranch backlot (formerly Columbia/Screen Gems) where the house is.
• Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Invoked and exaggerated. Billy and Tommy go from babies to five-year-olds to ten-year-olds in the span of a single episode... but it's because they're using Rapid Aging powers to age themselves up.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Wanda essentially threatens Vision "Can't I [control you]?", followed by canned laughter and '80s closing credits theme music playing, and it continues with Vision not letting the argument end.
• Speak in Unison: Very similar to the "For the children..." chant from episode 2, all the Computational Services workers read out loud the e-mail sent from S.W.O.R.D. in a creepy tone, and then they all laugh like it's a hilarious joke.
• Spell My Name with a "The": Hayward consistently refers to Vision as "the Vision". It's probably a sign of his views on A.I.
• Splash of Color: The '80s-era drone doesn't have a full-color display, but that doesn't stop Wanda's eyes from glowing red on the monitors.
• Spotting the Thread:
  • In addition to all his other suspicions, Vision points out to Wanda how he noticed that there are no kids in Westview, since he walks past the entirely unused playground every day on the way to work. He also notes Agnes' conveniently timed entrances and lack of concern about Billy and Tommy's Rapid Aging.
  • Even the twins begin to notice that things are wrong when they wonder why Vision is having to go into the office on a Saturday.
• Squee: It turns out that Darcy is super excited to meet Monica. She's a fan.
• Steel Ear Drums: To test her theory about her seventies costume being created from her kevlar jacket, Monica shoots at the material at extremely close range; neither she nor Jimmy seem affected by the gunfire, although Darcy is quick to cover her ears before it starts.
• Stock Phrases: Subverted by Agnes. The twins age from newborn infants to five-year-olds while she reclines on the counter, chugging Wanda and Vision's whisky. Instead of "Ah, kids, they grow up so fast", we get:
  Agnes: Ah, kids, you can't control 'em. No matter how hard you try.
• Suddenly Shouting: Whilst he is already raising his voice somewhat as their argument spills over into the living room, Vision eventually starts to lose his temper with Wanda's gaslighting and he exclaims "STOP LYING TO ME!!", and begins floating aggressively off the ground.
• Symbolic Blood: One of the liquids used in the Lagos paper towel advertisement is very bright red. It is a mess that the person responsible didn't mean to make.
• Took a Level in Badass: Monica references their intel saying that Wanda could have killed Thanos if he hadn't called for an artillery strike, confirming what many fans had thought after Endgame.
• Unexpected Character: In-Universe, Darcy is shocked Pietro shows up. What's more, it's the Pietro from the X-Men movies.
• The Unmasqued World:
  • Vision finally starts to notice that things aren't natural in Westview and discovers that something is warping reality all around the town. He tries to convince Wanda to release her apparent control of Westview, to no avail.
  • Agnes is far more openly aware that she's living in an altered reality. When Vision freaks out about an outsider helping with their rapidly aging boys, Agnes turns to Wanda and asks for a rewind. "Do you want to take that from the top?" This helps Vision realize that reality is inherently wrong somehow.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The boys age up from infants to five-year-olds, then to ten-year-olds, Wanda conjures a dog collar, and they both openly discuss Wanda bringing their dog back to life at different points in the episode. They do all this in front of Agnes, who isn't the least bit fazed by most of it (although she seems surprised that Wanda's powers could extend to restoring life).
• Very Special Episode: The sitcom plot of the week is clearly supposed to be one of these as Wanda helps her sons deal with the death of their dog. The episode title even lampshades this. However, reality is intruding, and the plot doesn't run as smoothly as Wanda would like due to her inability to deal with the death of Vision, who is beginning to realize that something is very wrong.
• Visual Pun:
  • Billy and Tommy grew up before their parents' very eyes.
  • At the end, Wanda and Vision argue and they're levitating into the air, close to hitting the ceiling.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Sparky debuts and dies within the events of this episode. It's even lampshaded by Vision, who says that one doesn't normally adopt and bury a dog on the same day.
• We Used to Be Friends: When Woo mentions Captain Marvel, Monica looks uncomfortable and immediately steers the conversation back to Wanda.
• Wham Line:
  Vision: I spoke with Norm.
  Wanda: Oh?
  Vision: I unearthed the man's suppressed personality, and I spoke to him free of your oversight.
• Wham Shot: Pietro Maximoff, now somehow played by Evan Peters, who played the version of the character ("Peter Maximoff") in Fox's X-Men Film Series, appears at the very end.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Turns out that after Vision's death, S.W.O.R.D. confiscated his body... and then started dissecting it. By the time Wanda broke in, he'd been taken to pieces.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Vision demands answers from Wanda, and he roars in fury that "NORM HAS A FAMILY!"
• The Worf Effect: Invoked. It's mentioned a couple times that Wanda had Thanos on the ropes until he called for help, proving exactly how dangerous she truly is.
• Would Hurt a Child: Hayward seems entirely unaffected by the fact that two ten-year-old boys are standing directly behind Wanda before he makes the extremely unwise decision to order an airstrike directly on her (though in fairness, only Monica, Jimmy, and Darcy have accepted that the boys are real and not illusions that Wanda created).
• You Do Not Want To Know: When Vision asks Wanda what is outside of Westview, she answers that he doesn't want to know. He fires back that she doesn't get to make that decision for him.

---

"Who's the popsicle?"

---