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WANDAVISION – All-New Halloween Spooktacular | TV Review

After the big reveals and twists in the previous episode, “All-New Halloween Spooktacular” gives more information that could have big implications for the MCU.

Wanda’s brother, Pietro has returned from the dead and now lives as the cool uncle figure to her kids. When the Maximoffs go out trick-and-treating, Vision uses the opportunity to explore the outskirts of Westview. On the outside of Westview, the director of S.W.O.R.D. sidelines Monica, Jimmy, and Darcy, leading them to believe he knows more than he lets on.

This episode sees the world of Westview more on to the late ‘90s/early 2000s, a period I am much more familiar with. The sitcom world now looked like it was shot using a single camera format, Tommy broke the fourth wall like he was Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle, and the commercial had a Claymation surfing shark.

The twist at the end of “On a Very Special Episode” was the return of Pietro and now being played by Evan Peters, the actor from the Fox X-Men movies. The fandom has questioned what this means for the MCU. It could be that Marvel Studios are going to introduce the Fox X-Men cast via the multiverse or was this Pietro just an illusion. Even Wanda was suspicious because her brother died and now has a different appearance. She tries questioning Pietro about their past, but he knew the answers and he even asked some questions like how Wanda was able to create Westview and the ethical issues about mind control. Pietro referred to himself as kick-ass which was a fun reference to the 2010 film since Aaron Taylor-Johnson played the title character and Evan Peters had a supporting role.

In this episode, Vision goes investigating whilst Wanda was distracted. He started off acting like Superman flying in the air before he explores the edges of Westview. His discovery was incredibly eerie because people acted like they were NPCs in a video game. They were performing tasks in a loop. One was a woman who was hanging the laundry and crying a tear due to having no control of her body. In the series, Agnes was the wildcard because she knew more than she lets on and I personally theorized she was a sleeper agent of some sort. That theory has been blown out the water because of her interactions with Vision in the episode.

One of the major influences on WandaVision was the “House of M” storyline. In that storyline Wanda created a perfect world for mutants but when her illusion broke most mutants in the comics were depowered. There has been speculation that WandVision is going to do a reserve House of M and Wanda accidentally creates mutants. This episode has provided evidence of that because Darcy revealed that Monica’s DNA has changed after going through the Hex. There are two possible outcomes, that either the people in Westview are going to become mutants, or this change is simply going to allow Monica to have space adventures with Captain Marvel in Captain Marvel 2.

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WandaVision has shown the director of S.W.O.R.D., Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg), to be a dubious figure. He has undermined the main trio we follow within S.W.O.R.D. and in “All-New Halloween Spooktacular” the trio discovered what he really knows: that he had been monitoring Vision’s movements within Westview and hid Monica’s blood test results from her. Hayward’s actions reminded me of Nick Fury in The Avengers, especially when Tony Stark and Steve Rogers discovered S.H.I.E.L.D. were trying to turn the Tesseract into weapons. Hayward was a lot more weaselly than Fury ever was.

“All-New Halloween Spooktacular” was a solid piece of television, but it doesn’t quite match the excellent work of “We Interrupt This Program” and “On a Very Special Episode.” “All-New Halloween Spooktacular” had a great atmosphere and added more some intrigue to the proceedings.

Kieran Freemantle
Kieran Freemantle
I am a film critic/writer based in the UK, writing for Entertainment Fuse, Rock n Reel Reviews, UK Film Review and Meniscus Sunrise. I have worked on film shoots. I support West Ham and Bath Rugby. Follow me on Twitter @FreemantleUK.
After the big reveals and twists in the previous episode, “All-New Halloween Spooktacular” gives more information that could have big implications for the MCU. Wanda’s brother, Pietro has returned from the dead and now lives as the cool uncle figure to her kids. When the...WANDAVISION - All-New Halloween Spooktacular | TV Review