WandaVision Explained: Or 18 Things We Noticed While Watching Episode 3

Everything is slowly becoming clearer. Episode 3 of WandaVision, now in living colour, gave us a little more insight into the strange and surreal world of the series. The episode picks up right where we left off last week, with Wanda miraculously pregnant, and getting further and further along with every passing minute. As Wanda and Vision frantically prepare for an imminent birth, the world around them slowly begins to fray at the seams.

This week, WandaVision fast forwards to the 1970s and pays homage to The Brady Bunch, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and The Partridge Family. From the opening theme song, to that iconic staircase, to the family swing set, and Cindy’s beloved Kitty Karry-All doll, the episode was chock full of references and knowing winks.

Let’s dive right in…

Season 1 | Episode 3: “Now In Color”	33 minutes
Director | Matt Shankman	Writer | Megan McDonnell
Wanda’s pregnancy fritzes her powers as she and Vision prepare for an accelerated delivery.

1. Those opening credits are a visual mash-up of The Brady Bunch and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, with a theme song that rings remarkably close to The Partridge Family.

2. Wanda seems to know a lot more than she’s letting on. Once again, just as Vision begins to have questions about their reality, Wanda reedits reality in order to give the both of them a more perfect version of that moment.

3. Agnes and Herb seem to be glitching. We see Herb drive the hedge trimmer into his garden wall. We see both Agnes and Herb tell Vision that they think Geraldine is an imposter. Do they know that they’re living in a simulation? Are they real or just figments of Wanda’s fractured mind? And again, if they’re real, have they been reprogrammed by Wanda or are they just playing along out of fear?

4. Given the way Agnes, Herb, and Dr. Nielsen (“Small towns, you know, so hard to escape.”) were acting in this episode, it seems like WandaVision is pulling inspiration from more than just classic sitcoms, but also from the cult British science fiction series, The Prisoner. In it, an unnamed English man (Patrick McGoohan) wakes up in a mysterious coastal village which feels both familiar and strange. Where his Stepford-like neighbours pretend to live peaceful, joyous lives. Where he is constantly being monitored, possibly even controlled. It is a seeming utopia that is a front for something far more nefarious. Evil even.

5. We got yet another fake commercial between the two acts of this episode. This time it was for “Hydra Soak,” a soap that lets you “get away” without “going anywhere.” It could be a reference to this make believe reality that Wanda has seeming conjured up. (Which also ties into Marvel’s infamous House of M comic books.) It could also be a wink back to a Season 4 episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. when, in an alternate timeline, Phil Coulson talks about the mind altering properties of Hydra’s mind control blue soap.

Hydra loads it up with chemicals. It seeps into our bloodstream. Implants false memories into our brains. They want us to believe this is a magical place.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Season 4, Episode 17, “Identity and Change”

Sound familiar? (And no, we have no idea what they’re referring to with the whole “Find the Goddess Within!” thing.)

6. Which brings us to another point of inspiration for the series: Philip K. Dick’s Ubik. A deeply unnerving existential horror story, the novel follows Joe Chip, a technician at a psychic agency, who begins to experience strange alterations in reality. The title, Ubik, refers to a mysterious store-bought aerosol that can temporarily reverse these spacetime distortions. Much like WandaVision, each chapter of the novel is also introduced by a “commercial” for Ubik.

7. Just in case you were wondering how much attention to detail there is in each and every one of these episodes, a detergent called “Coy” from a magazine ad in the first episode shows up on Wanda’s kitchen counter in Episode 3. Seriously? Now, they’re just showing off.

8. Note: It’s also cute that Wanda is cutting up the pineapple that Agnes gave her in the first episode.

9. This is the first time since Avengers: Age of Ultron that Wanda has mentioned Pietro or spoken (sang in) Sokovian.

10. Hey Geraldine, if you are in fact an undercover agent for a top secret spy agency, maybe don’t walk around wearing their logo on a necklace.

11. By the end of this episode, it’s apparent that the town of Westview is a real place and not just a construct within Wanda’s mind. When we see Geraldine/Monica get flung from Wanda’s bubble and out into the real world, she is immediately surrounded by S.W.O.R.D. cars and helicopters, and it appears as though she was sent in to observe/monitor Wanda and Vision.

12. The final song that plays over the credits, “Daydream Believer” by The Monkees, could be another very-on-the-nose hint as to what’s going on in the series.

Other Easter Eggs and Wild Speculations

13. The Brady Bunch swing set seen in the episode is also in Vision’s original comic book colours.

It seems the people of Westview are always on the verge of discovering our secret.

Wanda

14. Another reference to a classic sitcom trope where in every episode, the main characters are always trying to hide their big secret from prying neighbours. See: Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, ALF, Mork & Mindy, Harry and the Hendersons, etc.

15. The babies’ names, Tommy and Billy, are also what Wanda’s twins are called in the comics. Check out the page below for a quick primer on what happened there. (It’s a bit comic book batty.)

16. “TWO FIRE HYDRANTS” – Heh! Also the colour TV ad is a nice reference to this episode being in colour.

17. We can’t quite make out what these logos are, but we’re pretty sure all of them mean something!

18. Finally, this pose is a cute little callback to the comics.

You can check out our explainers for Episodes 1 and 2 of WandaVision here.

WandaVision is now streaming on Disney+.