Episode 2 of WandaVision gave us a deeper look into the strange and curious reality of the series. Jumping forward a whole decade, we now seem to be in the 1960s, with this episode now taking its cues from shows like Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie.
We got a few more hints toward the bigger, darker mystery at the root of the series. Teyonah Parris showed up as Geraldine. A toy helicopter fell out of the sky. A disembodied voice reached out from inside a radio. And a creepy guy in a beekeeper outfit climbed out of a manhole in the street.
Let’s get into it…
| Season 1 | Episode 2: “Don’t Touch That Dial” | 37 minutes |
| Director | Matt Shankman | Writer | Gretchen Enders |
| In an effort to fit in, Wanda and Vision perform a magic act in their community talent show. |
The only thing we know for sure after watching this episode is that there are two realities here: the real one and this manufactured one. Like Pleasantville and The Truman Show, elements from the outside world keep sneaking into Wanda’s “ideal” TV sitcom life, and threaten to upend the status quo.
Hearing the disembodied voice on the radio asking, “Who is doing this to you Wanda?” leads us to believe that there is some external force that is somehow manipulating her into creating this reality. Then again, at the end of the episode, when she says “NO!” and rewinds and resets her reality into something more pleasing, it appears like she does indeed have some control over what’s going on.
It All Begins Rather Bewitchingly
Much like how the opening theme to Episode 1 paid homage to shows like The Donna Reed Show and The Patty Duke Show, Episode 2 lifts its animated opening sequence directly from the TV series Bewitched. (We’ll get into all of the Easter Eggs in this opening sequence at the end of this article.)
It’s a Kind of Magic…
Like in Episode 1 of WandaVision, the basic plot of Episode 2 also borrows from tried and tested sitcom tropes. With this episode channeling both Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, it’s no surprise that its narrative arc is also inspired by episodes from those two shows.
In the Bewitched episode “It’s Magic” (Season 1, Episode 16), Samantha uses her magic to make a broken down magician, Zeno, the hit of the Hospital Fund Auxiliary bazaar.
In the I Dream of Jeannie episode “My Master, the Magician” (Season 1, Episode 29), there is a whole arc involving Jeannie and Tony, a NASA talent show, a levitation trick, and a magician who insists that it can only be done with a string connected to a mechanical device that lifts the person up.
And the similarities don’t end there. This episode of I Dream of Jeannie was also the final episode to be aired in black and white. A fact mirrored at the end of this episode of WandaVision when everything finally shifts to colour.
What Is Going on With the Toy Helicopter That Wanda Finds in Her Garden?
Along with the voice on the radio, and the beekeeper at the end of the episode, the toy helicopter might be symbolic of attempts at the outside world trying to enter Wanda’s reality; or communicate with her in some way. The toy helicopter also has a S.W.O.R.D. logo on it. And the number “57” on the side might be a reference to Avengers #57 which marked the first appearance of The Vision in the Marvel Universe.
Who is Geraldine?
We don’t know for sure, but when Teyonah Parris was first cast in the role, it was announced that she would be playing a grown up Monica Rambeau in the MCU. Monica Rambeau of course being the daughter of Captain Marvel’s best friend, Maria Rambeau. In the comics, Monica would grow up to take on the Captain Marvel moniker and become the first Black female superhero in the Avengers.
It is unclear from this episode whether “Geraldine” is someone who has successfully infiltrated Wanda’s manufactured reality or an unwitting participant. The look on her face when she says, “I actually don’t know what I’m doing here,” makes us think it might be the latter.
(Akira Akbar portrayed a young Monica Rambeau in 2019’s Captain Marvel. And Teyonah Parris is set to reprise her role in the upcoming Captain Marvel 2.)
Who was the Disembodied Voice on the Radio?
He sounds a lot like Randall Park – who is reportedly reprising his role as FBI agent Jimmy Woo.
What’s Up With That Fake Watch Ad?
The second fake commercial in WandaVision is for a watch brand called Strücker which, like the commercial in the first episode, could be an allusion to Wanda’s origins in the MCU. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, we learn that Wanda (and her brother Pietro) got their powers as a result of Baron Wolfgang von Strücker experiments with the Mind Stone.
It could also be just a journey through the greatest hits of all the things that hurt Wanda. Stark Industries weapons destroyed her city and killed her family. Hydra experimented on her and her brother, giving them these powers, and stripping away any chance at a normal life.
Who is the Creepy Guy in the Beekeeper Outfit?
The imagery of the beekeeper seems to be an amalgamation of a bunch of different ideas and characters from the comics. While there is no supervillain in the comics (that we know of) called “The Beekeeper,” the outfit has been used by members of an evil organisation of genius scientists called Advanced Idea Mechanics or A.I.M. (If that name sounds familiar, it’s because it was the name of Aldrich Killian’s (Guy Pearce) terrorist organisation in Iron Man 3.)
We don’t think that A.I.M. has anything to do with this particular story, but it is likely that this beekeeper is someone in a protective suit who is trying to enter Wanda’s reality.
Other Easter Eggs and Wild Speculations
- That opening sequence is just full of references and callbacks to Wanda and Vision’s comic book history. Just look at the posters on the wall of the supermarket:
- “Bova Milk” is a callback to one of the strangest aspects of Wanda’s origins in the comics. It refers to the character Bova, a humanoid cow, who was the midwife that delivered Wanda and Pietro at a sanctuary in Mount Wundagore. (Yes, we know, we’re deep in the comic book weeds here.)
- Auntie A’s Kittie Litter is likely a reference to Wanda’s mentor, Agatha Harkness, who is often shown in the comics with her “familiar,” a black cat named Ebony.
- Within the walls of their home, we see what looks like the helmet of the Grim Reaper, a longtime foe of Vision and the Scarlet Witch. What’s more, the helmet being surrounded by bones might be a reference to a plot point in the Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta’s graphic novel The Vision, where the Vision’s wife kills the Grim Reaper and buries his body in the backyard.
- A teeny tiny “a-57” on the water cooler is another reference to Vision’s first appearance in Avengers #57.
- The statue on the table next to their sofa looks a lot like Whizzer, aka Robert Frank, a Golden Age Marvel hero who believed he was Wanda’s father.
- “Home: It’s Where You Make It.” Indeed.
- More Mind Stone imagery.
- In the episode, Wanda and Vision perform their magic as Glamor and Illusion. The original Glamor and Illusion were a pair of superhero magicians who first met the couple in The Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4.
- Wanda’s wardrobe in Episode 2 pays tribute to the legendary Mary Tyler Moore who subverted 1960s sexism and broke barriers by choosing to be a housewife who wore pants.
- And finally, in another cute reference to a bygone era of television, Episode 2 of WandaVision opens with Wanda And Vision sleeping in separate beds. This is a trope that comes from a time when the Hays Code forced movies and TV shows to agree to certain moral rules. Married couples, for example, would either sleep alone in single beds, or together in single beds that had been pushed together. Bewitched would be the first series to break the tradition by having Samantha and Darrin sleeping in a double bed together.
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