Well I’ll be damned. We have Pietro back! But certainly not in the way one would think. Instead, Wanda has seemingly recast her brother with none other than Evan Peters, AKA Fox’s Quicksilver. People are making a lot of assumptions after the big reveal, but I think its important to remember that we don’t actually know what’s going on with this situation. Is he really just a recast? Or is this the same Quicksilver from the Fox X-Men universe? Or is this something entirely else, like a sinister ruse?

Only time will tell. Though while everyone is caught up on the Quicksilver recast, rightly so, I think the real standout part of the episode was Paul Bettany’s phenomenal performance. Those last five minutes were truly masterful. Seeing Vision being swept up in anger was jarring and extremely impactful. We’ve never seen him in that state, and it was an experience for sure.

I think it’s easy to say that this is most we have seen of the true Vision—and not the one still influenced by Wanda’s control. It was refreshing to see Vision finally start to unravel things around Westview—going as far as opening Norm’s mind and seeing how truly terrified he is. This of course started the domino effect that we watched unfold as Vision became increasingly aware of everything off in the perfect town of Westview.

Wanda seeing her new brother. Photo courtesy of Marvel.

This brings us back to those final few minutes, and how absolutely fantastic it was to see this long awaited confrontation between Vision and Wanda about their strange predicament. Wanda using the credits to try and silence Vision was an incredible and intuitive use of the unique format being employed by the show. I am so very happy that their argument didn’t end with Vision’s memory being wiped—or any version of that outcome. The cat’s out of the bag, and it seems like it’s going to stay that way. 

Then there was Wanda. On top of dealing with Vision, she also had Tommy and Billy who were being out through the wringer. As Vision eloquently said, it’s quite uncommon for someone to get a new dog and bury it in the same day. It was heartbreaking to see Wanda realize the parallels between their trauma and hers (even if she did cause it in the first place). Parallels such as running away from one’s problems/trauma (Westview) and the acceptance of the permanence of death (Vision). 

In trying to help the children cope and understand, Wanda took the hypocritical path. It was super interesting to watch Wanda advise her children to do the exact opposite of what she has done. Clearly she knows what she should be doing, and what is healthy—but she can’t bring herself to live up to her own words. But since she knows the wiser ways of doing things, she wants to share that knowledge with her twins so that they can be better than her. The deep insight this gives us on Wanda and what’s going on in her head was fantastic.

Wanda being a badass—no one is going to ruin her suburban life. Photo courtesy of Marvel.

If there’s anything this show has been lacking, it’s been character work—something that should come relatively easy for stories being told in this medium (television/long-form). Instead they’ve put their mystery front and center for the first half of episodes, which while fun and intriguing, has been a key factor in the weaknesses of said episodes.  So it’s great to see that character work coming into play, with both Wanda and Vision receiving some of their biggest character moments in the MCU yet. 

“On a Very Special Episode” was easily the strongest episode that the show has given us yet. It presented some very strong character work as the mystery of the show continued to unravel and intrigue. Not only is Vision seemingly functioning on his own accord now, but we have the mysterious arrival of a recasted Pietro, who may or may not have come from Wanda. Speaking of Wanda, if her direct threat to SWORD is any indication, she seems hellbent on keeping this charade up—despite her possibly not having full control, and possibly not actually being the cause for the scenario in the first place.