Welcome to Level Seven is a podcast, not a website of Click Bait articles . . . but this time around I can't help myself.
Beware: spoilers for WandaVision Episode 7, Breaking the Fourth Wall.
Yesterday's episode of WandaVision seemed to suggest that Agnes, actually the magical girl Agatha Harkness, is the one running the show. On the podcast, we've talked a lot about who's pulling the strings. I (Ben) boldly declared from early on that Wanda was the big bad of the show. I also boldly stand and say . . . looks like I was wrong. Episode 7 then pressed in hard on Agnes being the baddie, complete with her own The Munsters inspired theme song.
But . . .
I got thinking. It just doesn't sit right with me.
I believe that Agnes is what she says: a magical girl with powers that seem to be similar to Wanda's.
But . . .
There's more to it. Why does she have to play along, but do so in a way that makes it seem like she's NOT exactly playing along? (The “should we take it from the top?” scene; going through three fake emotional states with Vision in the car; confiding in her neighbor that Geraldine doesn't belong . . .) It doesn't fit. There's more to the story.
And in episode seven, she goes all Jim Halpert (in a way much more subtle than Vision's awesome “I need to be with my wife”) by looking at the camera. To whom? She speaks to the camera for the non-sequitur asides. For whose benefit?
And in the final revelation, she's looking at the camera as she reveals her shenanigans. Why?
It's for someone else's benefit.
I will grant you . . . it could be she is working for someone else. Mephisto? Nightmare? Dr. Doom?
Dottie? It's possible. Agnes does tell us in episode 2 that Dottie is in charge.
But . . .
I believe the true Big Bad, the one that Agnes reports to, is found in the title of this episode.
“Breaking the Fourth Wall.”
The true Big Bad . . . is us.
She is reporting to us. She is glancing at us. She is joking with us. She is doing all of this for our benefit.
It's very much on a meta level, yes. But if Deadpool can break the fourth wall, why not Agnes?
Agnes is causing all of this discord and making everything go wrong . . . for us. The audience. She reports to us. We are responsible for all of Wanda's drama. Every bad thing that Wanda endures is for our entertainment.
We are co-conspirators with Agnes/Agatha. In fact, even if Mephisto DOES show up, it's still true.
The again, that's all of fiction, isn't it. The good, the bad, the ugly . . . everything awful or wonderful is meant for our benefit. We just don't usually have people winking at us as they push the plot forward so we can be entertained.
Also, while I'm here . . . those vines? The nexus of reality? Man-Thing is totally in this show.
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