"This is our home now. I want us to fit in."
— Wanda
Wanda and Vision, now in the 60s, prepare to take part in the community talent show fundraiser. Unfortunately, Vision literally gums up the works. Meanwhile, Wanda begins to see more cracks in the reality the two are living in.
Tropes:
- The '60s: While the show is still set in black-and-white (at first), the show starts to deal with more risque humor that would fit this decade, such as sexual innuendo, intoxication, and a more effects-driven plot. Notably, all the women go from wearing '50s dresses to slimmer-fitting dresses and pants to emphasize the different standards for women that came about during the '60s.
- Alliterative Name: Agnes' pet rabbit is called Señor Scratchy.
- All Part of the Show: When Vision's awkward antics make people look aghast at the blatantly superhuman things he's doing (like flying, lifting a piano on his own, etc.) Wanda uses her powers to change things, so it looks like just one of their magic tricks. The crowd gladly goes along with this for the most part.Beverly: ...Is that how mirrors work?
Dottie: Shut up, Bev. - Alpha Bitch: Dottie has a very domineering, bullying attitude, is most often seen with a Girl Posse she treats poorly and has a low tolerance for Wanda's seemingly eccentric behavior and unfiltered suspicion of Wanda and Vision due to the peculiar stories she's heard about them.
- Animated Credits Opening: This episode's opening is an animated sequence in the style of Bewitched.
- Arc Symbol: The show's hexagon motif shows up on the front of the Cabinet of Mystery.
- Arc Words: "For the children" shows up a lot, often repeated twice in a row in a way that wouldn't be out of place in Sandford, Gloucestershire. This is especially noticeable since the talent show itself doesn't actually have any children in the audience. Significantly, Wanda's Mystical Pregnancy occurs immediately after she and Vision say "for the children" in unison.
- Bait-and-Switch: After Wanda and Vision's talent show act, Dottie stops them as they try to sneak away and says seriously that there's never been anything at the talent show like their act... nothing as hilarious, that is. She then gives them a trophy.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: Agnes walks up to Wanda and surprises her by saying, "Look! It's the star of the show!", then holds up her pet rabbit, Sr. Scratchy.
- Be Yourself: Wanda wants to try being herself (more or less) to find her place among the other neighborhood housewives. Agnes advises her against it. Then Wanda has to use her powers (under the radar, of course) to save her talent show act, and their brilliant comedy act is what finally wins Dottie's approval.
- Bland-Name Product: Whereas the ads that interrupt the show proper are super extreme Continuity Porn, the billboard in the background at the start of the talent show is for "Squeaky Shine".
- Butt-Monkey: When Wanda has to fool the audience into thinking her husband didn't actually lift an entire piano, she turns it into a cardboard cutout. Jones recognizes the former musical instrument as an heirloom from his grandmother, continuing his unfortunate luck after being fired in the first episode.
- The Cameo: Randall Park has an uncredited voice-only appearance as Jimmy Woo in this episode, reaching out to Wanda over the radio.
- Commonality Connection: Wanda befriends Geraldine, another neighborhood housewife who feels out of place under Dottie's iron fist.
- Conspicuous Consumption: One of the common critiques of this era of suburban life was the need to keep up appearances both by fitting in and by standing out. Fitting in is covered by another trope, but standing out here means proving you're doing well, owning the best stuff, never having to worry about money, etc. Which brings us to the talent show.Vision: Holy Toledo! Darling, do all the other acts in the talent show have such elaborate props?
Wanda: Are you kidding? Fred and Linda are building a moat and a fully functioning portcullis and no-one even knows why. - Continuity Nod:
- As in the previous episodes, the commercial break promotes something from the wider Marvel Universe that Wanda and Vision have apparently left behind. This one is for Strücker watches (as in the HYDRA leader Wolfgang von Strucker who led the experiments which gave Wanda and her brother their powers), complete with a tiny HYDRA logo.
- Strucker's base (where Wanda was experimented on) is on the wallpaper on one of the walls in the house.
- Covert Pervert: After exchanging cheesy jokes with the mailman, Agnes takes a moment to check out his ass. To judge by her expression, she thinks it's only okay, not great, not too bad.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance:
- Wanda wearing a simple top and pants rather than a skirt or dress when at a semi-official function is treated as odd because for the time period, it still was.
- The commercial for the episode posits women as an accessory like the Strücker watch it advertises.
- Dissonant Serenity: She's not exactly serene, but Dottie appears to be only vaguely aware she's badly cut her hand.
- Double Meaning: During the magic act, Wanda and Vision pretend to be a normal couple to fool the others. Yet the world around them is also a magic act, both fake enough and real enough that it's easy for Wanda and Vision to accept it.Vision: Wanda, aren't you a little worried the audience might see through this whole charade?
Wanda: Well, that's the whole point. In a real magic act, everything is fake. - Drunk on Milk: Swallowing chewing gum clogs up Vision's internal workings, causing him to act heavily intoxicated.
- Eerily Out-of-Place Object: The toy helicopter that Wanda finds in the bushes. Not only did it come out of nowhere, but it's colorized in a black and white setting.
- Express Delivery: Not "delivery", but Wanda goes from having a totally flat stomach to looking at least three months pregnant in the blink of an eye.
- Fake Wizardry: An intoxicated Vision keeps using his powers during the couple's magic act, and so Wanda has to use her powers to make it all look fake, i.e., conjuring a wire into existence when he starts to fly or changing a piano into a cardboard cutout when he lifts it with one hand.
- Foreshadowing:
- In the Cold Opening, when Wanda hears something outside, Vision comments that he does not see anything outside other than Wanda's rose bushes. Later in the episode, Wanda finds the toy helicopter in her rose bushes.
- During the cartoon theme intro, all of the neighbors end up grouped outside the window, except for Agatha, who's at the front door.
- Agnes emphasizes that getting on Dottie's good side is key for any housewife in Westview who wants to get her children into a good school. Throughout the episode, the other characters echo, cult-like, that the talent show is all "for the children." Then in the final minutes, Wanda reveals to Vision that she is pregnant.
- The neighborhood watch group whispering among themselves and then acting odd around Vision wanting to join hints at the conversation between Vision, Agnes, and Herb in the following episode.
- Vision mentions overhearing rumors about seeing strange people moving around the neighborhood at night. At the end of the episode, someone emerges into Westview through the sewers.
- When Wanda asks her name, Geraldine looks confused and it takes her a moment to answer.
- During the talent show, when Wanda tries to cover for Vision phasing his hat through his torso by revealing a collection of mirrors, everyone goes from confused and staring to applauding (as with all the other tricks), but when Bev asks "Is that how mirrors work?", she gets a harsh shut down from Dottie. Is everyone actually buying into Wanda's coverup, or are they all terrified and playing along?
- Formally-Named Pet: Señor Scratchy.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- In the animated opening sequence, as Vision phases through the floor from upstairs, some bones and the Grim Reaper helmet are visible between the floorboards.
- Also in the opening credits, Wanda and Vision have a tchotchke on the side table in their living room that looks like a stylized Thor, though it doesn't appear in the show proper.
- The colored helicopter that Wanda finds has a S.W.O.R.D. logo on it.
- The hands of the Strücker brand watch are straight, loosely resembling the Mind Stone staff that HYDRA used for the experiments that gave Wanda and Pietro their powers.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Dottie presides over a group of neighborhood women, but all of them are frightened and/or uncomfortable around her due to her bullying, vindictive attitude, which is a shame because she holds a position of authority in the town, and they have to stay on her good side to get access to memberships, parties, or school placements.
- Glamour Failure:
- Geraldine doesn't seem to be fully glamoured, saying she doesn't know why she's here.
- When the radio breaks down and Agent Woo starts asking "Who's doing this to you, Wanda?", Dottie freaks out and asks "Who are you?" before breaking the glass she's holding.
- A Glass in the Hand: Dottie freaks out and breaks the glass she was holding when she hears Wanda's name repeatedly on a radio, cutting herself and bleeding (red, while everything else is black and white) in the process.
- Hollywood Healing: When Dottie emcees the Talent Show merely hours later, there is no sign of the injury she just sustained, even clapping when she awards Wanda and Vision their award.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Agnes carries a flask full of liquor to make Dottie's lecture about the talent show bearable. ("Really, how is anyone doing this sober?") She offers to put a shot in Wanda's drink, claiming it'll help.
- Intoxication Ensues: Swallowing chewing gum gums up Vision's internal mechanisms, compromising his motor functions. End result: He looks and acts absolutely plastered. Fortunately, most of Westview found his magic show antics hilarious.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Agnes first appears in the episode, she refers to Wanda as "The Star of the Show".
- Little "No": Wanda's reaction to seeing a figure in a beekeeper outfit emerge from a manhole in the street is to firmly say "no," casually rewinding time and preventing it from happening.
- Louis Cypher: Agnes's pet rabbit is named Señor Scratchy; Scratch is another nickname for the devil.
- Lovely Assistant: In the talent show, Wanda wears a sequined corset and fishnet stockings and fetches props for magician Vision. However, during the actual show, Wanda ends up having to pull most of the weight due to Vision's drunken-like demeanor.
- Meaningful Background Event: It's easy to miss, because we don't know who the character is yet, but Geraldine shows up in the opening credits as the woman who just misses seeing Wanda use her powers to put stuff in her shopping cart. Other characters we haven't met yet also show up in the opening credits, along with some we have. Phil and Dottie, Herb, Norm, Mr. Hart, Agnes and Señor Scratchy...
- Meaningful Echo: "Is this really happening?" The first time, Wanda's asking in joyful disbelief that she and Vision could really have children. The second time, Wanda seems to be begging for assurance that the world around them is real.
- Meaningful Name: Wanda and Vision's stage names are "Glamour" and "Illusion", both terms for magic or enchantment (although rather archaic in the case of the former). In addition, both are terms for a false appearance.
- Medium Blending: The same animation style represents the gum gumming up Vision's innards and the opening credits.
- Mythology Gag:
- In the opening credits, there's an ad at the supermarket for Bova Milk. In the comics, Bova
is a cow-human hybrid who raised Wanda and her brother when they were very young. - There is also an ad in the Supermarket for "Auntie A's Cat Litter". In New Avengers #26, an amnesiac Wanda note tells Clint Barton that she is under the care of her "Aunt Agatha", said Agatha also having a cat called Ebony.
- Also during the opening credits: When the animated Vision phases down through the floor, we see several bones and the Grim Reaper's helmet. In the comics, the Grim Reaper hates the Vision, seeing him as a cheap copy of his brother Wonder Man, and in The Vision he ended up attacking the Vision household, then getting killed by Vision's wife, Virginia, and buried in the backyard.
- During the opening credits, there is also a figure of the Whizzer (Robert Frank).
- Glamour and Illusion are the stage names of two-stage magicians called Glynis and Ilya Zarkov, who befriended Vision and Scarlet Witch in the comics.
- The image painted on the Magical Cabinet resembles the Mind Stone.
- There is a 57 on the water cooler in the animated opening and on the helicopter that Wanda finds. The Avengers Vol. 1 #57 is where Vision makes his first appearance.
- Agnes' pet rabbit is called "Señor Scratchy". It might not be a coincidence that Agatha Harkness' son is called Nicholas Scratch.
- The Strücker watch in the commercial is at 2:42. In The Avengers Vol. 1 #242, Vision appears with a newly repaired body.
- Wanda wears a sexy stage magician ensemble similar to Wanda's first costume in the comics, and the costume is even shown to be red in BTS footage.
- In the opening credits, there's an ad at the supermarket for Bova Milk. In the comics, Bova
- Noodle Implements: One of the couples featured in the talent show are said to have built castle parts for their act, and no-one else in Westview knows why. We don't get to find out either, since their act is never shown.
- Not so Dire: The episode begins with Wanda and Vision being scared by a loud banging sound, which soon turns out to be a tree branch hitting the windows... though later on in the episode, it's suggested this isn't the case at all.
- Once per Episode:
- The episode gives us another hint at S.W.O.R.D. on the outside in the form of the helicopter that Wanda found.
- Someone questions/interrupts Wanda's idyllic sitcom world and is injured as a result.
- Pastiche: After the more generic sitcom vibe of the first episode, this one narrows its focus to the high concept, effects-heavy sitcoms of the era like Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie.
- Perfectly Cromulent Word: Vision calls himself and Wanda "Westview fitter-inners".
- Phlebotinum-Induced Stupidity: While joking with the men of the library, Vision accidentally swallows a piece of chewing gum after Herb slaps him on the back, causing his gears to get all stuck in place. Somehow, this causes Vision to start acting heavily intoxicated, which he does throughout his entire magic act until Wanda removes the gum from his system.
- Pick a Card: One of Vision's tricks for the talent show starring community member Herbert. He's Drunk on Milk at the time, so Vision keeps flubbing his guesses and discarding the wrong cards until the only card left is the one actually picked.Herbert: Oh, it is!
Vision: It is what?
Herbert: It's my card.
Vision: Well, pardon me, Herb. Have it back. - The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: The neighborhood watch committee has very little interest in watching the neighborhood or any associated protocol; all we see them doing is having danishes and spreading rumors about the other men in the neighborhood. The group even looks down on Vision for actually wanting to go over ideas that could keep the neighborhood safe.
- Product Placement: Vision is offered Big Red chewing gum, although the gum should've been a Wrigley brand that existed in the '60s because Big Red wasn't invented until 1975.
- Pull a Rabbit out of My Hat: Wanda and Vision's talent show act is supposed to include Vision pulling Agnes's pet rabbit, Señor Scratchy, out of a hat. Vision's erratic behavior causes the bunny to make an early escape. Vision then decides to "pull a hat out of myself" and use his phasing ability to pass the hat through his torso.
- Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: During the magic show, Vision repeatedly says, "Flourish!"Wanda: [sotto voce] You just do it. You don't say it out loud, honey.
- Red Scare: Vision accuses Norm of being a communist but gets laughed off by the other men.
- Seinfeldian Conversation: We get an abbreviated discussion of whether chewing gum counts as food (since Vision doesn't eat). It ends on a masturbation joke.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: The screen fades to black after Wanda and Vision pull the blanket over their heads.
- Sigil Spam: The logo that the audience recognizes as S.W.O.R.D.'s pops up twice when mysterious outside forces collide with the wholesome retro sitcom world. First, it's on the weird red helicopter toy, then it's on the beekeeper's outfit at the very end.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Since the '60s were the height of the feminist movement, Wanda changes from her housewife dress to a cardigan, shirt, and pants, similar to those Elizabeth Montgomery usually wore.
- Sleep Mask: Vision wears one of these at the beginning of the episode, taking it off only when he notices Wanda turning the lights on and off out of fear.
- Sleeping Single: Wanda and Vision are seen sleeping in separate beds in the Cold Open, as the Hays Code forbids them from sharing a bed. After the banging sounds from outside scare them, Wanda uses her powers to pull their beds together. They quickly decide that they prefer it this way and pull the covers over their heads. (Bewitched was the first sitcom to defy the trope.)
- Splash of Color: The Deliberately Monochrome setting is broken first by the bright red toy helicopter Wanda finds in one of the rose bushes and later by the blood when Dottie cuts her hand on a glass. At the end of the episode, the entire setting shifts to color after Wanda rewinds time.
- Stage Magician: For the upcoming talent show for the children, Vision adopts this persona under the name "Illusion", with Wanda as his Lovely Assistant "Glamour". While their act is supposed to be a traditional practical effects magic act, a gummed-up Vision ends up doing some actual magic-like things (such as flying, lifting an entire piano with one hand, and using his intangibility), with Wanda having to use her powers to make it seem like what her husband's doing is fake.
- Surprise Pregnancy: As in one second Wanda has a normal flat belly, the next she looks to be well into her second trimester. Her baby bump is actually slightly larger after Wanda "rewinds" the scene following the encounter with the beekeeper.
- Suspiciously Apropos Music: The song playing on the radio during Wanda and Dottie's conversation is "Help me, Rhonda" by The Beach Boys. The name "Rhonda" sounds very similar to "Wanda".
- Symbolism: Moments after Wanda and Vision learn they are going to have a baby, an ominous beekeeper comes out of the sewer.
- Talent Contest: Vision and Wanda take part in a contest being held by the neighborhood to raise money for the children.
- Title Theme Tune: The title WandaVision is the only lyric sung in the '60s-style animated intro to the episode.
- Totally Radical: Invoked when Geraldine calls Wanda's pants "peachy keen".
- Wham Shot: After running into the figure in the beekeeper outfit, Wanda calmly says "no" and rewinds time so that she and Vision never went outside. Then, instead of hearing a noise and going out to see him, everything suddenly shifts into full color.
"Wanda? Who's doing this to you, Wanda? Wanda...!?!"
