WandaVision Episode 1×06: “All-New Halloween Spooktacular!”

WandaVision Episode 6, ‘All-New Halloween Spooktacular!’, proves that Halloween episodes deliver some of the best moments in television show history!

When is the best time to premiere a Halloween episode? Well, no time is better than the month of February according to WandaVision. And let’s be totally honest with ourselves… I don’t think anybody is complaining. I’ve been waiting for this episode to air ever since we received the first few trailers for the series, which included clips of kids running around in Halloween costumes, including both Wanda and Vision wearing their comic book accurate costumes. And now that WandaVision Episode 6 has finally dropped, I can safely say it is currently my favorite episode. 

‘All-New Halloween Spooktacular!’ leaves behind the soft family values of the 80s sitcom era and ventures straight into the 90s/Early 2000s with a Malcolm in the Middle inspired episode. Right from the start, we’re brought up to speed with the new Maximoff family dynamic. Wanda very much tries to take on the role of the fun soccer mom, while Pietro takes on the role of the wild and funny uncle, who helps the kids get into trouble. All the while, it becomes incredibly clear that there’s an obvious tension between both Wanda and Vision as a result of the fight that happened in last week’s episode.

Wanda really wants Vision to take part in the kids’ first Halloween, but he has plans of his own. Naturally, he doesn’t let Wanda in on his real motives, but he wants to investigate further into the neighborhood to see if he can uncover the real secret of Westview. This comes as no surprise, considering the last episode had Vision outright confront Wanda about her reality-warping abilities and how the world around them is not actually real. And since she didn’t want to explain anything, Vision now has to search for the truth himself. 

With Vision out on his own mission, we get Wanda and Pietro teaming up as the responsible sister/troublemaker brother duo as they take Billy and Tommy trick-or-treating through the neighborhood. One of my favorite things about this episode really is the fact that all of the characters get to wear costumes inspired by what the characters wear in the comics—including Wanda, Vision, Pietro, Billy, and Tommy. This is always something fun to see done with live-action superhero shows, because comic costumes really don’t translate well to the big screen. As a result, they’re played off more as a joke and an Easter Egg. In fact, Marvel has a history of doing this as they also did this in Marvel Netflix’s Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. 

WandaVision Episode 6 continues to simultaneously explore the “real” world, jumping outside of Wanda’s bubble to show us what’s happening with Monica, Darcy, and Jimmy. We find that Director Hayward is hellbent on killing Wanda. He doesn’t want to negotiate with her, as he sees her as an active threat. However, Monica isn’t putting up with Hayward’s impulsiveness. She notes that nobody knows what would happen if they were to kill Wanda, considering the fact she seemingly has hundreds of people under her power’s manipulation inside of Westview. Monica’s rational thinking, however, angers Hayward. So he decided to kick Monica, Darcy, and Jimmy out of the S.W.O.R.D investigation. 

Director Hayward is becoming even more suspicious of a character with each new episode. Similar to last week’s episode, Hayward seems to have a genuine hatred towards Wanda. His hatred doesn’t seem to stem from fear as to what she has the power to do, but rather, he seems to hate her for having her abilities. In fact, in this episode, Hayward lashes out at Monica for trying to help “superpowered people”. This stuck out to me because we haven’t really seen outright intolerance towards people with superpowers since Jessica Jones and Luke Cage on Netflix. And since both of those series’ seemed to border on being canonical/not being canonical, I think it’s important to note the return of this kind of thinking in a show that is 100% canonical with the main MCU. 

This might be interesting for a handful of reasons, but I’m speculating that this is ramping up the MCU for the introduction of mutants. One of the big troubles mutants face in Marvel Comics are the people that are actively anti-mutant, even going as far as to create anti-mutant legislation and mutant-hunting robots called Sentinels. Of course, mutants don’t yet exist within the MCU, but I think it’s important to note that Hayward’s intolerance towards “superpowered people” might be something we see more of throughout the upcoming MCU shows and movies. 

After getting kicked out of the S.W.O.R.D investigation, Monica, Jimmy, and Darcy decide they’re going to stick around in the shadows and do their own investigation. Darcy quickly hacks her way into Hayward’s database and finds some interesting information. For one, Hayward has the technology to peer into the “Hex”. He also seems to be tracking Vision, not Wanda. I don’t know about you, but this made me think that perhaps Hayward is truly after Vision. This would make sense, considering S.W.O.R.D had Vision’s destroyed body at their facilities before Wanda recovered him. Now, we don’t yet know what S.W.O.R.D was trying to do with Vision’s body, but they had him for a solid 5 years (the period of time during which the snap happened) which certainly means they were doing some kind of work or experimentation on him. 

Back inside of the Hex, Wanda becomes increasingly suspicious of Pietro. She knows this version of Pietro looks differently, as well as acts differently. She also notes that this Pietro doesn’t seem to remember things the way he ought to remember them, as well as the fact his accent has seemingly vanished. All of these clues seem to point to the fact that Evan Peter is not playing the MCU Pietro Maximoff we were introduced to back in Avengers: Age of Ultron. This is an entirely different person, playing the role of Wanda’s brother. And despite the fact that Pietro, in this episode, seems to hint at Wanda being the reason for his appearance, I can’t help but feel as though he’s manipulating her. 

There’s one moment later in ‘All-New Halloween Spooktacular!’ where they sit down to talk about things. Pietro seems strangely interested in how Wanda is actually using her powers to control everything. He even seems to support her using her powers in such a manner. I think this could lend to the idea that Pietro is not actually as good as he seems. It’s possible he could secretly be another illusion cast by somebody other than Wanda, in order to figure out her plans/powers. It’s also possible that this version of Pietro could also be Mephisto, who has been speculated as being the villain of this show. 

Vision, on his adventure throughout the neighborhood of Westview, quickly finds some weirdness. As he ventures out further into the town, he finds whole sections of the neighborhood where people are glitching or completely frozen in place. It’s almost reminiscent of a video game, where certain sections of the game haven’t yet rendered because they’re “out of bounds”. Vision does try to communicate with them, but nobody seems to be aware of his presence. This changes, however, when Vision spots Agnes stopped at a stop sign in her car. 

Agnes continues to be an interesting character and we’re gifted with another hint towards the possibility that she might be the character named Agatha Harkness. When Vision finds her stalled in her car, she’s wearing a witch costume. Obviously, it’s because this is the Halloween episode, but as I’ve mentioned in my reviews for episodes 4 and 5, Agatha Harkness is a witch in the comics.

So, the fact that we have Agnes dressed up as a stereotypical witch could be a hint that those theories are correct, or this could be a major fake-out by the show’s writers. After all, these clues about Agnes do seem to be a bit too obvious. Then again, Agatha is somewhat of an obscure character and casual watchers of WandaVision probably wouldn’t have any clue as to the character from the comics. 

Regardless of the Agnes/Agatha theory, Vision finds Agnes stopped on the road and seemingly out of it. She’s kind of talking to herself and mentions she’s lost, which confuses Vision because inside of the Hex, Agnes has lived in Westview her whole life. So, Vision decides to use her powers to “wake up” Agnes in the same way he did with Norm in episode five. Agnes jolts awake, finally out from underneath Wanda’s control, immediately recognizing Vision as one of the Avengers from the real world. She asks if he is planning to save everybody in town, but Vision becomes confused on account of the fact he does not know who the Avengers are. 

Vision’s lack of knowledge regarding his life before “the hex” panics Agnes. She quickly becomes worried and asks Vision if she’s dead. This confuses Vision for a second time. He asks her why she would think something so strange, and she replies by noting the fact that in the real world, Vision died in his battle with Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. Agnes then becomes disoriented and begins laughing like a stereotypical witch, before Vision uses his powers to put her back under Wanda’s control. 

Darcy continues to analyze Hayward’s computer information, while Monica and Jimmy decide they’re going to infiltrate Wanda’s bubble for a second time. Darcy stops them, pulling Monica’s attention to her computer monitor to reveal that Monica’s test results post-Hex have come back. She explains that Monica’s DNA has been changed on a molecular level due to being exposed to Wanda’s powers inside of the bubble and naturally I had to fangirl at my own theories as to what this could possibly mean. 

I think it’s possible that this information could reveal how the MCU plans to bring the mutants into existence. At the moment, mutants don’t exist in this universe. They don’t exist because Marvel didn’t own the rights to the X-Men (mutants), however, Disney’s recent acquisition of FOX has granted them the ability to finally introduce mutants into their world. I think it’s interesting that Darcy made certain to explain that Monica’s DNA has been changed from Wanda’s powers. In the comics, mutants are not human. They are a different species, one that is born with a special gene that gives them their superpowers later in life. 

And while there is no evidence yet that Monica’s DNA getting changed has gifted her with superpowers, we do know that Monica has powers in the comics. In the comic books, Monica is the superhero Photon, who can absorb energy and redirect it as energy attacks. Could this shift in DNA be what grants Monica the powers of her comic book counterpart? If so, will we see them later in this season of WandaVision, or will it be something that gets explored during Captain Marvel 2? 

But back onto the topics of mutants. Another reason why the MCU might use Wanda to create mutants in this universe is because of the comics. The House of M storyline is an incredibly important event that revolves heavily around Wanda and it seems to be the basis for some of what WandaVision is doing. However, there are notable differences between the comic and WandaVision. The biggest thing is that in the comic book, Wanda utters the words “no more mutants” and uses her powers to de-power millions of mutants across the globe, basically eradicating them as a species. 

Now, I don’t think this exact comic story will ever see the light of day in the MCU because to do so would require years of the X-Men being first established in the MCU for a suitable amount of time, so that depowering them would register as a big “Endgame” level event. And considering the fact, it’s 2021 and there aren’t any active plans for the X-Men yet, I don’t think the MCU will tackle that story. Additionally, WandaVision is already clearly taking elements from that comic and I doubt they’d repeat themselves in the years to come. However, I think it’s entirely possible that the writers for WandaVision will flip the script and instead of having Wanda erase mutants like in the comics, they will have her create them. 

The big moment of WandaVision Episode 6 hits when Vision reaches the border of Westview and decides he’s going to step through the bubble and out into the real world. He fights his way through the barrier to where S.W.O.R.D is waiting with their guns drawn. However, unlike how Wanda was able to casually walk in and out of the bubble without any problem, Vision’s body begins deteriorating as his metal is stripped off of his person and pulled back into the Westview. He effectively begins to die and collapses due to the fact he’s not actually alive. Wanda reanimated him, allowing him to live inside of Westview, but he reverts back to a corpse when placed outside. 

Back in Westview, Billy’s powers manifest and he begins to hear Vision’s cries from where he’s trick-or-treating with his brother. He runs to Wanda and tells her everything that’s happening, leading Wanda into using her powers to fix things. However, this time it’s not a simple matter of stepping outside of the boundary to confront Hayward and S.W.O.R.D. This time, Wanda elects to expand the border of her bubble, quickly sucking S.W.O.R.D’s makeshift campsite into Westview. We see as S.W.O.R.D’s facilities and staff get turned into fairgrounds and circus performers. Hayward seemingly manages to escape with a couple other agents, driving down the road in an attempt to outrun the wave of Wanda’s powers. But then the episode ends. 

Another cliffhanger! We don’t know if Wanda’s bubble will just continue to expand until it overtakes the entire globe, or maybe just another full city. But honestly, we’re just going to have to see what happens in the next episode. I wasn’t expecting WandaVision Episode 6 to end up being a two-parter, but it seems as though that’s where the show is taking us. Although personally, I’m super excited to see how Wanda remedies everything considering Vision now knows that he’ll die if he steps out of bounds and away from Wanda’s powers. 

But what do you guys think of WandaVision Episode 6, ‘All-New Halloween Spooktacular!’?

Let us know in the comments below!

Author: Rodney

Rodney has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature. Aspiring to one day write television shows and novels, he’s an avid slash-shipper and enthusiast for all things gay. Rodney’s especially a lover of magic, mystery, and superheroes—holding Harry Potter, the X-Men, and Scooby-Doo close as his own personal favorites. But when he’s not fantasizing about how cool it would be to have magic, he’s busy writing fanfiction and re-watching old TV shows.

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