WandaVision episode 3 review: "Feeling more like a product of the Marvel Cinematic Universe"

Warning: This WandaVision episode 3 review contains spoilers. If you have not watched the Disney Plus show yet, then bookmark this page and come back when you're all caught up...

WandaVision’s first two episodes revelled in the show’s sitcom styling while only hinting at the show’s overarching mystery. But now, thanks to the third episode, we have slightly more to speculate about with regards to what’s happening to Wanda and Vision.

We’re back in television land, with WandaVision this time taking cues from ‘70s shows such as The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Show, a period where children were playing larger roles in sitcoms. Mirroring this, the episode centres on Wanda’s new pregnancy, which is rapidly progressing – to very funny results.

First, we see the eponymous duo sorting out their baby’s new room and calling in a doctor for a checkup. Comedy ensues as they pretend Wanda’s a few months on, when the baby has sprouted overnight, and thanks to Elizabeth Olsen’s charm, the whole situation works – though we’ve now reached the end of “We’re normal, we promise!” still being a funny gag. Bonus points for the duo pulling off some groovy new looks, especially Paul Bettany’s floppy hairstyle which I hope carries over to next week, though I suspect will not.

Next, Vision rattles through some calculations and then zooms off at a strangely fast-but-not-too-fast speed to get the doctor back. Meanwhile, Wanda’s left with Teyonah Parris' Geraldine as the Maximoff household goes through a few magical transformations. The panto humour element of the stork wandering the house’s corridors (“It’s behind you!”) is made unpredictable thanks to Wanda’s powers not working. That’s when Wanda’s water breaks and all hell breaks loose.

The moment the pictures on the wall start spinning, the episode really takes off. There’s a lot going on, with Geraldine delivering a baby, and Vision racing around with a doctor on his back. Comic-book readers expecting twins get to see the two boys on screen for the first time, and the moment is played very tenderly by Olsen and Bettany.

Once the sitcom-inspired antics are over, though, there’s a dark undercurrent that something is deeply wrong. We should be celebrating the healthy birth of twins, but are instead witnessing Wanda’s temper explode, with Geraldine being exposed as a SWORD agent after talking about Wanda’s deceased brother and being thrown from wherever/whatever the idyllic town of Westview is.

The ending will have everyone talking. Geraldine, real name Monica Rambeau, AKA the young girl from Captain Marvel now grown up, appears to have been thrown from some sort of forcefield. Is it a place of Wanda’s making or something more sinister? SWORD certainly appears to be trying to help, which leaves us questioning who has imprisoned Wanda’s mind? There are certainly a few other clues in the episode: Kathryn Hahn’s nosey neighbour, Agnes, appears to be someone much more sinister than just a gossip-spreader. That there’s a Marvel comics character called Agatha, full name Agatha Harkness, who’s a mystical witch implies we could be seeing the character play a more prominent role.

With the pieces being laid out more and more explicitly, WandaVision is slowly starting to feel more and more like a product of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Whether that’s a good thing will depend on your fondness for the movies. I’ve been very much enjoying just how disparate from the MCU the show has seemed, relying on the main duo’s charm more than anything else to keep us engaged. Should we get too tangled up in place-setting for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, which will see Olsen reprise her role as Wanda, then WandaVision would lose what makes it special. However, that’s a long way off – we still have a few more decades of sitcoms to get through, and I look forward to seeing what hijinks Wanda and Vision get mixed up in next week.

Episodes of WandaVision are being released weekly by Disney Plus. Check out the full WandaVision release schedule for when to expect the next episode. For more Marvel coverage, check out our primer on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.