I guess this is a WandaVision blog now!

Last time around, I made the following observation (among others):

Likewise, there are perhaps three explanations for Vision.  One, because he’s a synthetic being, albeit a sentient one, the “rule” about resurrection didn’t apply to him the same way it applied to her Pietro (or even to a dog), or the “rule” is purely one of self-restraint for Wanda.

Two, the rule does apply to Vision, but Wanda has somehow found a way to circumvent that rule, albeit at a cost.  Her defiance of the natural order and the associated strain are damaging reality and are what creates the blending of other universes into her own (which is how Evan Peters got there).

Three, the Vision we’re seeing on WandaVision is a different Vision.  The original MCU Vision is dead.  Wanda has his disassembled parts stashed away somewhere, and she pulled a non-dead Vision to her pocket reality the same way she pulled Evan Peters’ Quicksilver there, whether consciously or not.  Vision’s mind has essentially been wiped, pre-Westview, so it’s impossible to say if this could be the case yet.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

“Westview is charming as HELL,” huh, Quicksilver?

WandaVision is a weird enough show that I don’t think anything can be absolutely ruled out yet.  For example, why doesn’t Vision know who the Avengers are?  Has his mind simply been wiped, or is this a “different” Vision who comes from a reality where the Avengers don’t exist?  Even with that scenario still (barely) on the table, though, I think the sixth episode of the series makes the second possibility the current leader in the clubhouse.

That is, it’s possible for Wanda to resurrect someone in her pocket reality, but there are consequences and limitations.  First, the resurrection only applies within the Hex.  We saw that clearly this week.

Much like Jim Carrey’s Truman Burbank, Vision uses a ruse to visit the edge of a seemingly inescapable town, seeing several odd things along the way.  Similar to “Moonlight” Graham in Field of Dreams, Vision quickly discovers that there’s a price for leaving the confines of the magical (but finite) area he inhabits.

As he pulls himself away from the Hex, he literally begins to fall apart, presumably returning to his dismantled, pre-Hex state.  Wanda remedies this by moving (and possibly growing) the dimensions of the Hex.  All of the SWORD operatives and equipment absorbed by the Hex’s movements become part of a circus, which would be a natural explanation for why a bunch of new people suddenly appeared at the edge of town within the mini-reality Wanda has created.

But something else is going on, here.

Pietro plainly understands the basics of what Wanda has done.  He reveals that he knows that she’s mind-controlling the entire town (except, presumably, for him and Vision, and perhaps her children).  We can chalk that up to brotherly intuition, but there may be something else far more important at work.  More on that in a moment.

Pietro also notices and calls out the loss of Wanda’s accent after she asks him about the same.  Neither has an answer.  Moreover, he doesn’t have any moral qualms about what she’s done.  He’s simply impressed . . . and wants to know how she did it.  Wanda herself doesn’t know—likely due to something she’s suppressing that won’t be revealed until we’re close to the end of the series’ run.

Critically, Pietro also ducks a question Wanda asks about a detail from their childhood, instantly identifying it as a “test.”  All of this raises some obvious questions: Is Pietro who he claims to be?  If not, then who is he and how did he get there?

If he’s an agent of good, then perhaps he is the Fox / X-Men Quicksilver, sent there by someone from that universe to investigate and resolve the burden that the Hex is putting on reality itself.  If that’s the case, then it would mesh with Monica Rambeau’s speech about how the only way to beat Wanda is to stop what’s going on with Wanda’s help.  Note also that, when Vision deviates from Wanda’s plan by announcing he’s going to be on neighborhood watch duty (a ruse he’s using to discover what’s happening in Westview with Wanda otherwise occupied), Pietro gladly steps in to serve as the plot device that allows Vision to get a night away.

I’m sure that’s no coincidence.

But, perhaps Quicksilver isn’t doing it because he’s an agent for good.

It’s apparent that there is some other force in play.  Maybe it’s Dr. Doom.  Maybe it’s Mephisto.  Maybe it’s something else entirely.  But, if Quicksilver is an agent of evil, he seems very interested in discovering more about how much Wanda knows—not necessarily to glean the information (especially if he’s Mephisto-in-disguise and is actually behind Wanda’s augmented powers), but maybe to determine how much Wanda remembers / how far he can push this for his own purposes.

He also not only knows that Vision has died, an event that happened after the other Pietro died, but he flippantly makes reference to that death, which prompts Wanda to attack him with her powers.  This doesn’t seem like the action of a good guy operating on behalf of some noble force.  On the other hand, the X-Men Quicksilver was always immature and impetuous.  For now, his motivation remains unclear.

What is absolutely clear is that there are elements of the Hex that Wanda is not consciously controlling.  Quicksilver showing up is the biggest example.  But his brief transformation into a living corpse is either evidence of Wanda’s fractured psyche or an illusion created by a not-who-he-seems-to-be “Quicksilver.”

Here’s the crucial point: Whether Quicksilver is an agent of good, or an agent of evil, he is still the “gateway” to the multiverse, albeit in different ways.

If he’s X-Men Quicksilver, then everything I discussed last time applies.  If he’s an agent of evil, then he still must have drawn that physical appearance from a source he knew—meaning, that, regardless of his identity and motivation, this character is aware of realities outside of the previously existing MCU’s native reality.

Perhaps Quicksilver is even trying to leverage Wanda’s grief and abilities (augmented by an additional, external power source) as a way of blending the various realities that comprise the multiverse.

Any number of reasons may be at the heart of that motivation.  Conquest (Dr. Doom) or exponential increase of available souls (Mephisto) are but two possibilities.

Right now, the fan in me is hoping for a reveal that someone from the X-Men universe figured out that reality had started to break down, and that the barriers between universes were becoming breach-able.  They determined Wanda was the cause, and were able to “watch” the show the same way that SWORD was able to watch Wanda’s programming in the native reality.  They used the information they gathered from afar and determined the best way to approach the problem was to send Quicksilver there, armed only with whatever limited history they could learn / acquire through whatever pinhole existed between realities.

That would explain a lot of what we’re seeing now, especially why Quicksilver is so curious about Wanda, why he only has some top-line details about his “own” history, why his “memories” don’t quite mesh with Wanda’s, and why he knows something about what Wanda is doing (i.e. Professor X or the like figured it out and briefed him before he went through the barrier).

But that’s the fan in me.  It seems more likely that Quicksilver either is the nefarious force powering this whole thing, or, at least, is an agent of that force.

And, whatever is behind this, I’m going to take a wild guess that Hayward had something to do with it.  I don’t think he’s evil, but he’ll be revealed to have somehow contributed to or created this problem through his reckless experimentation on Vision in the “CATARACT” project.

Quick sidebar: this episode did include one of my least-favorite TV / movie tropes.  Namely, when our heroes can suddenly overpower armed military or law-enforcement personnel, despite being out-numbered.  As of now, Woo and Rambeau don’t have any superhuman abilities.  Yet, they were able to dispatch three SWORD guards carrying military rifles in about five seconds—to say nothing of the fact that it was all happening within sight of numerous other SWORD agents.  I understand that this “needs” to happen for story purposes, but it’s definitely a cheat.  And cheats shouldn’t be necessary in a comic-book world.

Anyway, I think the next episode is going to be pivotal.  Even more than the last two.  Is Monica’s “guy” Reed Richards?  Or will it turn out to be someone unexpected—like Victor Von Doom?  What will Darcy’s Hex persona be?  And did the Hex grow, or simply move?

If it’s the former, which seems probable, is this all part of a deal that Wanda has made with Mephisto (which she doesn’t remember or has suppressed) that will eventually lead to the end of the world as the MCU characters know it?  Will their reality be completely “overwritten” by Wanda, who is unwittingly-but-literally creating Hell on Earth for Mephisto?  And is all of this leading to a blending of multiple universes?

Perhaps most sinister of all, is that “Yo-Magic” commercial a metaphor for Mephisto or some other entity draining Wanda’s power until she inevitably perishes in the process?  Did she, in her loneliness and grief summon Mephisto and make a pact to bring Vision back from the dead?  Recall that Quicksilver said he was there to give Wanda “grief,” a possible double entendre, adding, “That’s what you want, right?”  This goes along with multiple references to “hell” by Quicksilver, which could be a clue or a red herring designed to trick nerds like me.  But that shark from the commercial sure did seem to share some traits with this version of Quicksilver, didn’t he?

Next week should tell us a lot more.  Brace for impact.