Yes, This Week’s Weird ‘WandaVision’ Glitch Is Intentional
The following post contains SPOILERS for the first three episodes of Marvel’s WandaVision.
As they used to say back in the days of the shows that inspired WandaVision ... do not adjust your sets.
On this week’s episode of WandaVision — Episode 3, “Now in Color” — there’s a strange moment that on any other series would look like a technical error that slipped through the cracks. It occurs around nine minutes into the show. Wanda worries that their neighbors are going to discover their secrets (i.e. that she’s got reality-warping super powers and he’s an android). Vision agrees, and as he sits down on the sofa next to her, he says “Yes I know what you mean. But it’s more than that.” Listing off the curious events that have taken place in the first two episodes, Vision notes “I think something’s wrong here Wanda.”
And then there’s a proverbial glitch in the Matrix.
After a cutaway to Wanda, there’s a brief flash of a black frame. The anxious music that’s been rising through the scene suddenly stops. And Vision is no longer on the sofa; now he’s standing nearby. One more time he says “I know what you mean,” only now he follows it up with a different series of lines — “The truth is, we are in uncharted waters, and you know what? I’m anxious too.” Where Vision’s delivery of his lines the first time suggested he was concerned, this time, he’s sweet and affectionate to Wanda, excited about their impending birth. And instead of ominous music, the soundtrack is now twinkly and hopeful, like something out of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. The faux studio audience even “Awwww”s on cue when Vision gets excited about the pregnancy.
It’s a jarring moment, but there’s nothing wrong with your Disney+ account or your television. It’s clearly yet another clue to the circumstances surrounding Wanda and Vision’s peculiar lives, which mimic classic TV sitcoms like I Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch, and Bewitched. After three episodes, it looks like Wanda herself is responsible for the situation — whether she’s conscious of the fact that she’s doing it or not.
The Episode 3 glitch echoes the moment near the end of Episode 2 when a loud banging prompts Wanda and Vision to leave their house and investigate the disturbance. They see a man in a beekeeper outfit (with a S.W.O.R.D. logo on the back) crawling out of a manhole down the street. Wanda says “No,” and the entire show visibly rewinds onscreen like an old VHS tape, until the couple are back inside their house blissfully unaware of anything strange going on outside their door. Vision assures Wanda that the pregnancy is really happening, they embrace, and yet again the studio audience “Awwww!”s in approval.
In both the rewind and the glitch, we see Vision come to the realization that he’s living in an illusion. In both cases, as soon as he begins to understand the truth, reality shifts and rewinds back to before his discovery. Then Vision’s oblivious to the problems, and Wanda and Vision can continue their surreal but happy existence.
It’s quite possible that someone (or an entire group of people, as suggested in that video above) is manipulating Wanda, forcing her to create and maintain this false reality. But it sure looks like Wanda — whose powers enable her to control people’s minds, alter matter, and give them visions (not the Vision; we’re talking nightmarish hallucinations) — is the one behind WandaVision’s TV-inspired suburbia. Every time something threatens the illusion, she seems to eliminate the threat, and then confirm with Vision that their lives are “really happening,” as much to reassure herself as it is to convince him.
Don’t forget: Vision died in Avengers: Infinity War. If Vision learns that his whole existence is fake, he might not be too happy. To borrow another classic TV phrase, whenever he begins to suspect the truth, the truth vanishes from view and the world around him is like we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Gallery — The Coolest WandaVision Easter Eggs So Far: