Halloween comes just in time in the Sitcom Westview World for Wanda, Vision, and their family to land in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Spoilers

WandaVision Episode Six, ” All-New Halloween Spooktacular,” directed by Matt Shakman, takes place in a “special holiday episode.” Hayward and Vision push Wanda into taking drastic measures to protect her family. The episode is mostly inspired by the early 2000s sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. Jimmy, Darcy, and Monica are thrown out of the inner circle because they disagree with Hayward’s deadly plans for Wanda Maximoff. S.W.O.R.D. doesn’t have enough precise information to know what is going on in Westview, New Jersey. Meanwhile, Wanda deals with her hectic boyish brother Pietro who came out of nowhere. Vision plans his escape from this Sitcom World. He wants to free everybody under his wife’s spell. Wanda’s world is unraveling because of factors out of her control.

” All-New Halloween Spooktacular” is chocked-full of references to sitcoms from the late 90s and early 2000s. Malcolm in the Middle inspires all the Westview Sitcom World scenes. The opening credits where a video camera goes around capturing the “cast” doing goofy things in the house is directly from the early 2000s family sitcom. Tommy and Billy breaking the fourth wall is inspired by how Malcolm talks to the camera all the time. In the sixth episode, Tommy is the cool twin, and Billy is the “dorky” one. The Maximoff twins are also shown to be very different. Pietro is childish and uses his powers to steal candy from children. While Wanda is an “adult,” she only uses her powers to take care of her family. The siblings being so different is a lot like how in Malcolm in the Middle, the main character is this genius kid with two older brothers named Francis and Reese. The brothers are difficult and destructive boys. Francis and Reese bully Malcolm and their other younger brothers. Though the brothers often work together to pull the wool over their parent’s eyes. The “special holiday episode” is a significant sitcom trope that you can find in shows from Friends to the Modern Family. One of my favorite references was in the real world when Hayward asks if Monica or Darcy was the wacky best friend? The main character always have an “sidekick” in sitcoms.

Some of the Marvel Easter Eggs are fun, while others reveal some disappointing news. The fun Marvel Easter Egg is Wanda, Vision, and Pietro dressing up in their superhero costumes from back in the 1960s for Halloween. Hayward questions Monica’s loyalty to S.W.O.R.D. He points out her close relationship with Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel). Hayward’s complaint is ironic since Maria Rambeau, her mother and founder of S.W.O.R.D., was best friends with Carol. When Vision takes Agnes out of Wanda’s control, she references that he is a dead Avenger. He doesn’t remember anything from any of the Avengers movies or any part of the MCU. The disappointing Easter Egg was that Evan Peters’ Pietro mentioned being shot to death in the streets. This is how Pietro was killed in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Wanda’s brother says the only reason he looks different is that sitcoms are wacky. Wanda even sees Pietro as a corpse. It would be too bad if Evan Peters performing as Pietro was only an Easter Egg.  Let’s hope they do explore that “her brother” is Peter Maximoff from the X Men Universe.

Vision’s superhero instincts lead all of our main characters to suffer some significant recursions. He doesn’t trick or treat with his family. Instead, Vision lies to Wanda, saying he is on a neighborhood patrol watch. Vision goes out to find a way to escape his wife’s control. He plans to find somebody to help end Wanda’s Sitcom Universe. The exploration reveals that everything is frozen or glitchy in the Sitcom Westview World’s outer region. Perhaps these people are so far out that Wanda can only keep them frozen in place or repeating the same actions? This episode includes all the children. Usually there is no children out and about. Pietro says she doesn’t want to traumatize them too much. They are asleep in bed unless there is a special holiday episode. As  mentioned earlier, Vision bumps into Agnes, whose car is parked in the middle of the road. When he uses his powers to free her from Wanda’s control, she comes fully awake. Before, it seemed like Agnes had agency over her thoughts, but it looks like Scarlet Witch’s magic affects her too. When Vision leaves forcefield, his body falls apart. He starts to die again. S.W.O.R.D. does nothing to help Vision. They even tie up Darcy to stop her from going to the Avenger. Tommy sees his Dad’s death. He has psychic powers, and Billy has super speed. Wanda uses all of her might to lengthen her Sitcom world to protect him and make it, so S.W.O.R.D. is no longer a threat. Now Monica, Jimmy, Darcy, and all the other agents are unable to assist in the rescue. They are also Wanda’s hostages.

You will enjoy the ” All-New Halloween Spooktacular” because it breaks the perfection of Wanda’s “sitcom world,” leaving more mysteries to unravel.