We’ve finally hit the 2000’s era sitcom—and who better to be the influence than Malcom In The Middle. Personally, I thought that the sitcom intro of this episode was the best yet. The continued narration and presentation were also top notch. Billy addressing the camera throughout was hilarious, as was the intense accuracy of Paul Bettany’s Bryan Cyranston. The random asides—such as Sokovian trick-or-treating—was just a cherry on top.
Now while I loved the sitcom’s opening theme, along with the associated elements and influences throughout, I did have an overall issue with how the story picked up. Given how last week’s episode ended and all. With Wanda and Vision having argued and becoming more aware, it felt super strange to just completely forget that. To move on without a care in the world, let alone acknowledgement. Ignoring all of the revelations that just went down felt odd—as I felt that huge sequence at the end of episode 5 meant we were getting past the avoidance of the truth via resets.
I mean in the very start of the episode, Vision is clearly still aware that something is wrong—something shown by his off-hand jab at Wanda for only having one outfit in his closet. This awareness based snark lasted all but a second before he switched back to playing along with the whole thing. Now obviously, there is plenty we don’t know. However, even if all of that is explained (I’m sure it will be), it wouldn’t change the fact that in the moment it felt a little jarring. But not jarring in a good way, such as when Even Peters showed up on their doorstep.
Completely skipping past his arrival, we now see our newly recasted Pietro as the fun uncle to Wanda’s kids—whom he seems to give plenty of attention too. The show did a good job at sating our appetite for more information on him, while still keeping everything shrouded in mystery. In between entertaining Billy and Tommy, Pietro also got to spend some long awaited time with his sister. It’s here we learn that this new Pietro is, at least according to him, the same exact Pietro we knew—and that who we see now is him having just woken up from his death in Sokovia.
While the truth behind Evan Peters’ character is still very much a mystery, I think it’s important to note one key instance in the episode that casts doubt on his current cover story. That instance being when he jokingly mentioned to Wanda how her husband can’t die twice. There’s no way “Pietro” would have known that—given this episode makes it very clear that his supposed memories pick right after his death. His knowledge about Vision and his past would be little to none. Not to mention, he seems to be suspiciously into Wanda’s entire situation, while also having indicated several times that he isn’t under her mind trickery. It just doesn’t seem that Pietro would act how he has been acting if in fact this is the same one who just died via Ultron.
Enough about him. Let’s talk Halloween—and all the fun and quirkiness that was brought to the table thanks to it. You can’t have Halloween without costumes, and the show certainly went above and beyond. Every character at play donned a fun outfit inspired by classic garb worn by them in the comics (Marvel, can Wanda please keep the Tiara? Please?). This included Tommy and Billy, who not only had fun costumes of their own, but got new superpowers to go along with them. Their origins are certainly speeding by fast, but their future couldn’t be any less clear. Could we potentially end this show with two new future Avengers?
While everyone was having fun with the festivities, Vision had other plans. His newfound awareness and strong sense of curiosity led him to lie to Wanda in order to get time alone to explore Westview. It’s awesome watching Vision try to unravel this mystery, even more so now that he is intentionally going behind Wanda’s back to do so. Seeing Vision roam the empty outskirts of Westview was fantastically eerie. An eeriness that only grew more intense after his encounter with a lone Agnes—who offered nothing but continued confusion and intrigue when ‘awakened’ by Vision.
certainly was electrifying having Vision continue to come to his senses, and even going as far as breaching the dome—something that it would seem he clearly can’t survive outside of (at least for long). Rewinding a bit though, seeing Vision roam the empty outskirts of Westview was fantastically eerie. Even more so when he found Agnes, who from the looks of it, was on her way to the edge of The Hex—indicating a higher level of awareness than the others. Though,Vision bringing back her memories contradicted that since she seemed very innocent-bystander-type. I’m going to have to gander a guess and say that Agnes is probably a bit more than that.
“All-New Halloween Spooktacular” continued the trend of carrying the plot forward at a relatively fast pace. Vision’s self awareness continued, Wanda got to spend some quality time with her long lost brother Pietro, and Billy and Tommy are that much closer to their Avengers membership. It would seem that the slower pace of the first few episodes is no more. With only three episodes left, the show has an incredible amount of things left to answer, and I’m stoked. Though I have to ask once again…Marvel, can Wanda please keep the tiara?
