WandaVision - S1E7: Breaking the Fourth Wall
DISNEY+Unfortunately, this week’s episode of WandaVision takes a dip in pace, despite the fact it contains some events of significant importance. Episode Seven was rumoured to be an hour long, but only clocks in at a tidy thirty minutes – not including the credits. Even so, nothing really gets going until the last ten minutes and this episode feels mostly like filler.
It attempts a take on modern day sitcoms such as Modern Family, with a hint of The Office’s influence also shining through. Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) uses a talking head device to speak her mind, openly admitting for the first time that she’s not sure she really has a grasp on everything in Westview. Other than that, not too much happens for her until the final scenes. As highlighted in the previous couple of reviews, the sitcom trope has become draining and it feels extremely detrimental here. It’s guilty of slamming the brakes on whatever momentum and excitement that had been built up last week and feels like it’s being forced into the episode just to capitalise on this unique slant the Marvel Cinematic Universe has found.
Darcy Lewis’ (Kat Dennings) entry into the fake world of Westview, in which she has been turned into an escape artist, is glossed over fairly quickly. Vision (Paul Bettany) wakes up alongside the circus and instantly brings Darcy’s mind back to her reality. The two team up to head back to Wanda. And, other than that, not too much happens to them either. It feels like necessary jigsaw pieces being slotted into position for what is likely to be a two part finale, so this mostly feels like a lot of setup.
The real treat this week is, once again, Monica Rambeau. This is down to Teyonnah Parris’ performance, for the most part, and she has been the most welcome addition to the ever expanding roster of MCU stars. Monica is easy to root for and her sheer determination to do the right thing results in a life changing side effect, as she puts her own life on the line in order to pass through into Westview again. Fans may be disappointed at the way the so-called ‘astronaut theory’ is brushed over here, as many assumed Monica’s friend would be none other than Reed Richards making his debut before the Fantastic Four movie. It is, however, worth mentioning that MCU fans also will pick apart anything and everything they can find – it’s not often what they discover comes to any kind of fruition, despite the fact it might have been a missed opportunity.
The stage is finally set for some sort of climax – a four way superhero fight is definitely not off the cards – at the end of this episode, and one can only hope that the narrative and plot will override any kind of gimmicky format which the show was sold on, originally.