A WEEK OF WANDAVISION: #104, "WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM"

Along with fantastic kid-TV episode 106, 104 was my favorite ep of the series.

I've been wondering why exactly that is. What made it pop like that?

Three Ideas...

1) THE CATHARSIS OF ESCAPE

After three episodes of being fully immersed in the world of "WandaVision", in 104 we finally get to step outside. And that is an inherently cathartic experience. In fact, for the first three episodes we've actually been much like Monica, trapped without even really knowing it. And now, just like that, we're free. It feels good.

2) WHEN STARVING, ALL FOOD IS GOOD

As I wrote the other day, WANDAVISION is essentially a JJ, a mystery box show. And in a sense the way JJs work is by starving the audience. "There is a crazy big meal here waiting for you", we're told at the beginning--in the case of WANDAVISION, literally through a meal which goes very bad. 

Then, now that we're hungry, each episode gives us just one new little crumb -- There's something weird about this place; there's something outside trying to get in; Monica came from outside. Each new bit of information only makes us more hungry. 

And so then to be allowed a whole episode in different settings, with new characters and new data is enormously satisfying. And what's weird is that this is true even though the episode actually gives us almost nothing new about what is going on inside Westview.  Yes, we see what it looks like from the outside, and we see the way in which things get sucked in and changed. It's all very cool, but in terms of the real meal we've been promised, it's not a lot. In fact, mostly we're just meeting other people like us trying to figure this thing out.

But it turns out it doesn't matter. We're starved. We'll take anything.

So there's a wonderful sleight of hand going on here. We re-enter Wanda's universe at the end of 104 feeling like we had a five course meal, but actually it was just a foot long sub. 

3) EVERYBODY LOVES A RASHOMON 

Seeing the events of a story retold from another point of view is always fun. I think it has something to do with the implicit trust that we place in storytellers. We generally assume that whatever it is they tell us or show us is the only stuff that's important to know.

When you suddenly introduce another perspective on the same events, it's like finding buried treasure in your backyard. This thing that you've accepted to be just one way suddenly has so much more to it, and even more to consider. Like how were there pirates in the suburbs of Chicago in the first place? And where can I spend to doubloons? 

In the case of 104, this is doubly true. Yes, we get the point of view of Monica, Jimmy, Darcy and  Director SwordBro on Westview. 

But even before we get the most incredible Rashomon of all: the Blip Return from the point of view of an ordinary person. 

Monica's scene in the hospital is absolutely gripping, and reveals just how much there is still to explore about the great return, how many really cool stories we've yet to hear there. Starting like that basically sets up the idea that this episode is going to give you a radically take on something you know.

BONUS REASON: EVERYBODY LOVES AN ORIGIN STORY

 

The opening also sets up the episode/season as the origin story of Monica Rambeau. 

But it's also an origin story for Team Awesome, aka Monica, Jimmy and Darcy. In fact 104 is an episode worth watching just to learn how to build a great team fast. In 25 minutes we get a sense of who they each are, their talents and fun interrelationships -- Monica the Brave Leap Firster, Jimmy the Nerdy Protector, Darcy the Ironic Genius who Secretly Loves Everyone --and also their common enemy: Military Dudes.

I would seriously watch a spinoff show just about them after just this episode. That is some tight writing from Bobak Esfarjani and Megan McDonnell. 

In the words of a droid I love: