

WandaVision Fans Need To Pay Attention To This Small Detail In Episode 5

Contains spoilers for WandaVision episode 5, "On a Very Special Episode..."

When it comes to WandaVision, no detail is too small or unimportant. In fact, it's the little things that elevate this series from being a fun romp through sitcom nostalgia land to a truly visionary new adventure for the Marvel Cinematic Universe because every utterance, character name, and tiny symbol can hold a major clue about what's happening in the mind-bending reality of the series.

In episode 5, "On a Very Special Episode..." the series gives a wink to fans who are paying close attention very early on, as we hear a small, but significant change in Wanda Maximoff's (Elizabeth Olsen) response to Vision (Paul Bettany) when he asks what happened to "Geraldine" a.k.a. Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) in the recap portion of the intro. Instead of telling him, "Oh, she left honey, she had to rush home," like she did in episodes 3 and 4, this time, Wanda gets closer to admitting she expelled "Geraldine" from her Westview haven by saying, "She's gone. She didn't belong here."

As we know from the S.W.O.R.D. team observing outside, Wanda is the one who personally controls what footage hits the airwaves, so this could be her way of getting a message across to the agency. On the other hand, it could just be a hint to the at-home crowd that Wanda is going to drop her guard a bit in the episode and have that very revealing confrontation with Monica.

Did Wanda know about Monica's identity all along?

Under the direction of Director Hayward (Josh Stamberg), Monica captains a drone that makes contact with Wanda in Westview, but she doesn't know it's armed or that Hayward will command another S.W.O.R.D. operative to take control and fire a missile at Wanda once they find her. However, Wanda easily shuts that effort down and steps outside the bubble to return the device with a warning — leave her alone or else.

There, Wanda is surprised to see that Monica is still lurking around the town, but she does not direct her animosity towards Monica. Instead, she listens to Monica's pleas to hear her out as Monica says, "A town full of civilians, and you, a telepath, brought a S.W.O.R.D. agent into your home. You trusted me to help deliver your babies. On some level, you know I am an ally."

Wanda doesn't necessarily confirm Monica's suspicions that she knew "Geraldine" was actually a S.W.O.R.D. agent, but she doesn't deny them, either. So if she did know of Monica's true identity and still let her into her life in the most intimate way imaginable, what was the reason? On the other hand, Wanda really did seem to be stunned when "Geraldine" brought up the fact that Ultron killed Pietro, so maybe she wasn't aware of her past — or perhaps she was just miffed that her mind control didn't work well enough on Monica to keep that disturbing part of Wanda's past outside of the bubble ... which would explain why Monica "didn't belong" in Wanda's world anymore.