Episode 4: ‘We Interrupt This Program’
Given the name, it’s apt that this episode breaks with the normal WandaVision format.
Instead, it explains a lot about the people observing Wanda, and is also the first serious treatment of the ‘Blip’ in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) so far.
For those unaware, the Blip was a cosmic event in the MCU that caused half the lifeforms in the entire MCU to disappear.
This was caused by a supervillain named Thanos, and Avengers: Endgame was the story of how the Marvel heroes banded together to reverse its effects after 5 years had passed.
The Answers Begin
The first thing we see is Monica Rambeau’s body/soul/essence/whatever being brought back to life after the Blip.
She’s in a hospital, sitting in a chair by a hospital bed.
She looks to the nearby bed, expecting her mother to be there recuperating after a successful surgery- as she was, 5 years ago.
Understandably confused, she leaves the room for answers, and only receives more questions. The hallway she walks into is in chaos. People are re-appearing, just like she did.
She bumps into a man who walks away covering his face, and then has a short conversation with a doctor who performed the surgery on Monica’s mother. The doctor explains what happened with the Blip, and sadly informs Monica of her mother’s passing.
Some time after that, we see Monica at her old workplace: SWORD (Sentient Weapon Observation and Response). She’s meeting with the Acting Director of SWORD (who replaced her mother as Director after she passed on), Tyler Haywood.
Tyler asks her for a favour: He’d like her to help the FBI with a missing person’s report.
Monica discovers the Westview Anomaly
When she arrives on the scene, she’s met by Agent Jimmy Woo (from the film Ant-Man and the Wasp).
He explains that the person he was sent to find appears to have disappeared from existence itself – his family can’t even remember him. In fact, nobody can even remember Westview itself.
Monica sends in a SWORD drone, which disappears from sight the moment it enters the Westview Anomaly.
Intrigued, Monica approaches the Westview Anomaly, touches the barrier, and is then sucked into it (becoming the townsperson named Geraldine).
This means that the Westview operation site is now taken over by SWORD.
SWORD calls in a bunch of different specialists. One of them, Dr Darcy Lewis (from the Thor films), manages to figure out that cosmic microwave background radiation emanating from the site is carrying a signal of some type.
Fun fact: If you were alive in the pre-digital era. you’ve probably seen cosmic microwave background radiation with your own eyes – in the form of TV static.
The signal that Dr Lewis notices is, of course, the WandaVision reality.
The Answers Flow
Eventually, SWORD works out that most of the townspeople in the WandaVision Reality are actually other people who’ve been brainwashed/mindwiped into performing their WandaVision roles, possibly by Wanda herself.
Notably, they aren’t able to work out who Agnes or Dottie are.
The hexagon shape appears again – it’s shown that the Westview Anomaly is hexagon-shaped itself.
Lewis and Woo attempt to contact Wanda, via radio.
Before they can do that, however, they’re shown a picture of the red-and-yellow helicopter from episode 2, and figure out that it’s a SWORD drone, but a 1960s version of it. They assume that this means any technology will be de-aged (or ‘chronologically rewound’, if you like).
They continue with their attempt to contact Wanda, and are successful for a moment – this is where the voice on the radio in episode 2 comes from. However, it becomes clear that the WandaVision Reality has been ‘edited’ – the ‘broadcast’ skips ahead by a few seconds.
Meanwhile, a SWORD agent wearing a hazmat suit tries to enter the Westview Anomaly. As he does so, his hazmat suit turns into a beekeeper suit, supporting (if not outright confirming) the ‘de-aging’ theory. This is where the beekeeper in episode 2 came from.
After setting up multiple old-school TVs around the site, the SWORD personnel begin taking notes.
Lewis and Woo are watching the ‘broadcast’ and both express their joy at Wanda giving birth, just as Geraldine/Monica asks Wanda if her brother was killed by Ultron.
They both find that interesting, and then the ‘broadcast’ is apparently ‘edited’ again – while viewers know that Monica was ejected from the Westview Anomaly, SWORD don’t. All they see is Wanda threatening and advancing on Monica, and then it cuts to the end of the episode (episode 3, not the current one).
The show moves back inside the WandaVision Reality proper for the first time this episode, showing us what the SWORD agents (and also episode 3 viewers) didn’t see.
Wanda continues to threaten Monica, and ultimately ejects her from the WandaVision reality.
Monica appears outside of the Westview Anomaly, and she simply says ‘It’s Wanda – it’s all Wanda’.
Back inside Westview, we’re shown the ending of episode 3 again, but this time Vision appears to be dead – just for a moment.
The couple, each holding one of their newborns, sit down to watch some TV.
