Watercoolering With WANDAVISION - Ep. 7 - Breaking The Fourth Wall (Patreon)

So! Throughout the show we’ve been going along with the history of sitcoms and now we’re finally hitting the modern late aughts and the move toward “talk to the camera” docu-style that was started by The Office and further cemented by shows like Modern Family (which seems to be the big stylistic hallmark this week?). I’ve already talked about my problems with this style, like the difficulty of “impossible shots” and comedic baseline reality and all that (and FWIW the Community episode “Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking” absolutely nails the entire subject). But the whole idea is that you can be really direct about characters’ thoughts in the interview segments in a way that normal drama doesn’t normally allow. Yes, in a way it’s cheap and easier, but yes, it is also effective. It also allows you to “get real” if you actually want to… You just have to want to.

While I think Wandavision has gotten better at incorporating the conceits the last few weeks, this is the first time we’re actually outright unpacking one in the text itself. On one level I really like this one because it’s highlighting how innately “less funny” this form of cinematic language is, what with the unnecessary zooms and whatnot. It’s almost like the show can’t hide the averageness of it’s sitcom abilities beneath “a joking pastiche from the past” anymore. It just lets so much of the unfunniness hit hard… which I actually find 10 times more hilarious? Maybe it’s just the fact we’re just aligned on this, but I think the show’s teeth are out with this particular format in a way we haven’t seen yet.

And better yet, it’s letting a lot of that deadening silence really get at how uninterested it is in playing the games of sitcoms anymore. Wanda tells us “everything is meaningless,” but it’s because she’s been avoiding so much meaning, content with ignorance. Finally, Wanda questions her formats outright, “why am I talking to you?” It’s not just a dig at the style, it’s the deeper question. Just like the ones being fired back at her, like: “Do you think this is maybe what you deserve?” This is such a good first little look into the maybe villainous motivations of those who are REALLY pulling the strings here. But we’re also left to ask, who is that voice? Is the one who maybe has a little bit of that god like control like, too?

As for the answer, we’ll come back to that at the end.

In the middle of things, we have some Monica Motivation issues. Now here’s the thing. I like Monica. I think we all like Monica. We like her because she is forthright. But last week we talked about the problems her “sudden empathy syndrome,” and wondering about the real motivation was behind it. Because this week, the problems are dragged to the forefront. The thing to understand is that I was so hopeful at the start of the season: the loss of her mom, the lost time, the dislike of her duty… so much of that has disappeared and it’s like she’s been sort of just been reduced to this singular focus of “I must fix Wanda!” I get that this necessary, I just wish there were other things going on in that pursuit. And more importantly, I wish we had a better reason why other than the fact she was merely in the bubble with her.

The thing is we KNOW the show knows this is a problem because it uses a textbook band aid to address it. As Monica passes through the barrier we hear all these allusions to her past and the Captain Marvel of it all and the inspiring notions of “you’re brave” and you can do it. This pastiche and surface of motivation, not the dramatic depth. It’s a band aid because it’s “explaining why a character is doing something while they’re doing it. “ And as a writer, this usually means you’ve fucked up along the way. Because this is something you absolutely want to establish before. So that when the action comes? You already understand and are thus leaning in with anticipation. No explanation is necessary.

But the real reason we get the band aid is because I’m not sure they know who Monica really is, or just haven’t been bothered to give her a real story that explores it. They know what they want her to be like. They know the effect that they want to have. But she doesn’t get the same level of interiority. What’s her flaws? What the thing she needs to learn? What’s her life outside the action happening now? Instead, after all that introduction, she’s almost exclusively defined by how she helps the main character and helps to get them to see themselves… and look… I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that this happens often with black supporting characters… like… a lot. And especially given that she’s Photon now - which is something I desperately want - I just wish that this change was about something within her, at least something more than vague allusions, instead of me merely liking the end result.

But the truth is this not the only time in the episode that felt a bit light. Here the wheel spinning becomes literal as Darcy and Vision spend a lot of their time at a literal traffic light, as if being blocked by Wanda’s will. It would make a rife moment for introspection, no? Especially given the pointed question of Vision asking “what am I now?” And given the whole “clown” allusion at the top of the episode, it feels a bit like wasted opportunity for some, “But Doctor I am Paligaccivision.” But as always, the show seems more interested in asking a question which makes YOU have more questions and shoving the (maybe) answers to next week…

Which brings us to the Agnes of it all.

Because it turns out she’s really Agatha Harkness (a character I barely remember from the comics) and actually behind a lot of the bad stuff happening. I think the choice highlights the way that MCU is good at delivering on the meta of “actor likability.” Because we LIKE Kathryn Hahn. We want to see her HAVE FUN. This reveal is a DELIVERY SYSTEM for that. Essentially, they’re very good about giving us the end results that we want. I mean, I could watch a 24 hour channel of Kathryn Hahn just doing whatever the hell she wants because she can make anything feel real / interesting / funny. The thing is even when I get the end result I want, I always come back to the writing around it because 1) it’s what I like talking about and 2) I think it gives the best foundation to literally any choice that you want to make. In other words, it better motivates Kathryn Hahn to have fun. So here’s my question about the execution of this all on the writing front.

Why now?

This is actually something that plays into David Mamet’s three rules for approaching the drama of scene (who wants what? what happens if they don’t get it? why now?) and I think it’s absolutely worth asking. Because the big reveal doesn’t even really answer any of these questions. We simply see that she was behind a lot of the things that have happened, like the behind the director chair in this episode, and the conjuration of Pietro, and eeven poor sparky! The “Agnes All Along,” doesn’t even give us a real motivation (we can only speculate). But that just means we can’t properly “aha!” along with the reveal. And worst of all, there doesn’t even seem to be a big reason for her finally doing it now. She pulls Wanda away from the fight, brings her over and then… Wanda just randomly wanders into the basement and she’s like “i’ve been waiting to meet you!” Look, maybe there’s gonna be answer, but what seems to be the unfortunate answer to why now is “because it’s episode 7 and it’s finally time to reveal more cards.” Deep down, you can feel it… and it’s going to be hard to take away that feeling unless we get something that really brings the choices into focus.

Because, sure, I know we’re going to get logic-based answers as to what Agatha is really doing here and what she’s syphoning off from Wanda’s misery. I’m more interested in the larger WHY. As in what is the thematic point to all this? Is it more or less interesting if this self-created heaven / hell of Wanda’s is not ALL her? Does Agatha’s inclusion bring the conflicts more to center of the story? Is it more interesting to include some cartoonish evil instead of the evil of self? Those questions are going to be harder to answer, especially given the MCU’s trend of thematic evasiveness - but they are critical to the WHY NOW of it all. And my real worry is that all this is just more moving goal posts. That right now we don’t know and the show will just continue to capitalize on speculation before it distracts us with something else. I worry so many of us will forget the important questions, all because we do what we are told week in and week out…

“Please Stand By”

RANDOM THOUGHTS

-“I actually did bite a kid once” - I say it every week, god bless Kathryn Hahn… Also, given the reveal this might actually be true now.

-I feel like a lot of MCU diehards aren’t necessarily die-hard comic people (which is good, actually! Also I’m not a die-hard comic person either, I just have a lot I consumed from my older brother’s giant collection and kinda stopped when I was 13. But I sort of just wonder what the average experience is like? Are they immediately googling when names pop up? So often I’m watching and even I’m like “wait, that sounds familiar” But how many people are going “Gasp, it’s Agatha Harkness!” And how many people are going “I’m supposed to know that maybe?” and look it up. And how many people aren’t bothering at all?

-The reveal that SWORD Boss Man was trying to revive Vision as a weapon really illustrates the problems of how they approached his arc. I keep saying that writing is all about “the timing of information” because this information doesn’t play as a turn at all. Instead, it’s just retroactively backing up why he had all that “Sudden Asshole Syndrome” earlier. I just wonder what the point of this wishy-washy ordering was. Because we had to suffer through his motivation-less SAS. And there were so many ways they could have played his motivations differently, whether it be the twist of badness or making him way more fearful up front and having the “embiggening” being the thing that makes more asshole - but it gets caught in all this weird ways of constantly trying to split the difference.

-Im kind of tired of all these superhero origin stories being like Scientist: “do this dangerous thing and it will fuck you up” and them doing it and being like “no, it actually gives me super powers.” … it’s really not a great trope, thematically-speaking.

-Did anyone else laugh when they rolled out that truck with a triumphant music swell and it looks like something only a little bit better than Elon Musk would design?

-Maybe it’s just that I ran during high school and all that stuff but I always like to notice actors running form (Teyonah Parris has good form!) or lack thereof.

-Once again, we are faced with that hilarious realization that every character can recap the events of Endgame like they actually watched the movie.

-Okay, let’s talk about Major Goodner and the Fan Tease Industrial Complex. A few weeks ago, they teased a cameo “on par with Luke Skywalker!” and everyone went into a tizzy expecting, you know, someone “main character level,” like it was the ghost of Tony Stark at something. The real answer turned out to be delightfully weird and completely unexpected! Which is sort of the fun way to misdirect! But it also speaks to this weird meta engagement we have the show and fandom’s unfair set of expectations. And I think we saw the darker side of that today. Because last week Monica said “I know an astrophysicist” and when it happened, I honestly thought nothing of it. But instantly people went nuts and like “OMG Reed Richards!” On one level, I get it. Fans always expect the biggest thing because they WANT the biggest thing. But people really started building that anticipation into a cresting wave with absolutely no real textual justification for it. And then I saw people actually pissed off that he didn’t show up. Like, why does speculation automatically become expectation? Why the heck CAN'T it just be a small new character? Keep in mind, the problem is this not entire the fault of over-eager fans. The MCU has built this culture of “deep teasing.” I remember the first time it outright feeling weird was when they mentioned Steven Strange out of nowhere in Winter Solider (and I’m pretty sure it didn’t fit the timeline they built later?) The thing is that it’s all the kind of the part I like the least, because it has the least to do with the actual text of the story being told in the moment. I know the show is practically BEGGING for speculation (and often relying on us to do the work, problematically enough) - and it’s not that it’s not fun, but it’s ultimately the least meaningful and satisfying way to engage a story like this. Because there’s so much more to enjoy in the smaller nature of delights. Like, I dunno, y’all…

My favorite part of this episode was Vision hitting his head on a boom.

<3HULK