On this week’s “WandaVision,” we get the pregnancy episode and an homage to 1970s style sitcoms like “The Brady Brunch.” The episode, entitled “Now in Color,” shows Wanda going through the entire nine months of pregnancy in the span of an afternoon. At the end of last week’s episode, we saw her with a small baby bump, but now that bump is fully developed and off to the races.
The comedy in this version of the sit-com comes from the hilarious reactions caused by Wanda reaching certain milestones in her pregnancy.
When she has her first Braxton-Hicks contraction it blows out the power in her whole neighborhood and overloads all the devices in her kitchen.
When her water breaks, it causes the house to flood.
As the baby is about to be born, a stork shows up in the house, while Wanda is trying to hold down a normal conversation with a neighbor that stopped by.
Being a super-powered pregnant woman is not easy.
We also get Paul Bettany at his absolute best. His comedic timing is perfect, and his ability to play the fish out of water character makes this show as funny as it is weird. As an expectant father, he’s as nervous as the rest of us were, but with the added pressure of his wife’s entire pregnancy being condensed into an afternoon.
At one Vision asks the town doctor, “How did this happen?” We get perfectly appropriate to a 1970s sitcom answer from the M.D. about how “When a man and woman love each other…” Originally the first Marvel television show was supposed to be “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” but COVID-19 stepped in, production schedules were shifted and “WandaVision” became the first out of the gate. It’s still early, but it appears we’re all better for it.
When Wanda’s little one who is either going to be named Tommy or Billy (depending upon which parent you ask) is finally on his way, Vision runs to find the doctor leaving Wanda at home alone, but that’s when their neighbor Geraldine shows up. As we know, but Wanda does not, Geraldine is actually Monica Rambeau who we met as a child in the 1990s-set “Captain Marvel.”
Monica is stalked by a stork in this episode, but there to help with the birth of little Tommy, who as it turns outs, is just one of a set of twin boys. After Vision and the doctor have returned, and both babies are out and asleep in their crib, Wanda remarks that she had a twin brother once. Here is where the show illustrates that Wanda’s vision of her new life is starting to unravel. Monica says, “He was killed by Ultron, wasn’t he?” This is the first mention of Wanda’s brother or Ultron in a long time in the MCU, and it does not go unnoticed by our super-powered new mom.
Wanda then confronts Monica, and asks, “What did you say?” Monica tries to deflect by mumbling something else. Meanwhile, Vision is outside talking to the neighbors, who sure are nosy in this small town, and they’re asking if Wanda is inside with Geraldine. Vision finds it odd that he’s being asked this, and inquires why it matters.
The nosiest of nosy neighbors, Agnes, interjects that Geraldine is new in town, has no husband, and no home, and then Vision’s friend Herb tries to tell him something, but Agnes convinces him to keep it a secret (Bettany plays this so well). Earlier in the episode he remarks to Wanda that something is wrong in this town. Not liking that, she rewinds him and makes him say something else, but it’s clear that’s Wanda’s vision of her perfect suburban sit-com life is beginning to crumble.
As Vision re-enters the house he finds that Geraldine has gone. He asks Wanda where she is, and Wanda says, “She had to go home.” We then see the city limits for the modern-day town of Westview, with Monica having been thrown out of town. Government vehicles, military trucks, and helicopters hover overhead, spotlights focused on the confused woman rolling on the ground.
If these twin boys are anything like the babies Wanda and Vision had in the comics, then it may indicate just who is the evil force behind this show.
In the comics, Wanda and Vision had twin boys named Tommy and Billy, but they weren’t truly human, so Wanda stole fragments of life from a villain named Mephisto to give them souls. Later, Mephisto — who is essentially the Marvel version of The Devil — destroyed Wanda’s children to absorb their mutant powers.
There have been several rumors that Mephisto is the big baddie for the next few Marvel movies including the third Spider-Man film and the second adventure of Dr. Strange. Could he get his introduction in “WandaVision?” It seems so.
Jesus Christ is King
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