This article contains spoilers for WandaVision.
Episode four of WandaVision presented a massive shift in perspective. While the first three episodes took place inside the sitcom universe, episode four took audiences to the universe outside it; the usual Marvel universe. Entitled "We Interrupt This Program," episode four did just that by interrupting the progression of sitcoms through the decades in order to provide insight on what has been going on in the real world during that time.
Set about a month after the half of the world that disappeared during the blip return, episode four of WandaVision reveals how the FBI and SWORD are on the case trying to figure out what is happening in the town of Westview. Darcy Lewis from Thor is brought in as a consultant, working with FBI Agent Woo from Ant-Man and Captain Monica Rambeau of SWORD, who is known in the sitcom universe as Geraldine. From their viewpoints, the audience learns a lot more about the town of Westview that Wanda and Vision's sitcom is set in.
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Westview is revealed to be a real town in the state of New Jersey. When the FBI is called in for a case of a missing person who lived in the town, they discover the case is more than it seems. "It's not a missing person's case, it's a missing town," Agent Woo explains to Monica Rambeau when she arrives on the scene. Local law enforcement officers from nearby town Eastview forgot there is such a place as Westview, even when standing directly outside it, and Agent Woo says it feels like the town doesn't want him to go near it. Westview is surrounded by some kind of energy field, keeping everyone in it inside and keeping outsiders away.
Even though the energy field is transparent, no one outside it is able to see what is happening inside. SWORD agents try to send in drones to see what's going on in the town, but cannot get signals. The entire town of Westview, a population of over 3000 people, is unable to send communication in or out. Why this specific town in New Jersey is the site of this event is a mystery so far.
Darcy discovers that Westview is giving off not only Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (radiation dating back to the Big Bang), but also a broadcast signal. She connects that signal to a vintage television set and is finally able to get a visual of what's going on inside Westview. It is then that she and SWORD realize that Westview has become some kind of sitcom universe, going through the decades and starring Wanda and Vision. Perhaps the broadcast signal suggests that Westview is not only supposed to resemble a sitcom, but be one.
They don't see everything that happens, however. The moments in previous episodes where Wanda rewinds time aren't visible at all from the outside. To those watching, it looks like a sudden cut, as Darcy realizes "someone's censoring the broadcast." When Geraldine/Monica gets ejected from Westview, Darcy and Agent Woo do not see it happening as it happens. It's only when Monica reaches the outside and can tell them what happened that they learn that it is Wanda who sent her out.
The SWORD and FBI agents are surprised and confused when they realize two Avengers are at the center of the sitcom town of Westview, especially since Vision is known to be dead. They get to work trying to identify the rest of the supporting cast, who are real members of the town of Westview. They discover the identities of Mr. and Mrs. Hart, Norm, Herb, Jones, and Beverley, none of whom have the same name as their characters. Agent Woo specifically refers to them as being "cast" as their character names in the sitcom. Notably, they do not say Agnes' real name, and Dottie has not been included on the cast list at all.
Monica as Geraldine was not in the town before the energy field went up, and was the only "cast member" the audience sees going through the field. It is only then that she becomes a character in the sitcom. Other than her, the other characters seem occasionally aware that something is wrong. In episode three, for example, the doctor realized he was unable to leave for vacation, and both Agnes and Herb noticed something was off with Geraldine. However, Agent Woo mentions that Monica/Geraldine mentioning Ultron was the first "real world" reference in the sitcom.
The SWORD team learns that after going through the energy field into Westview, modern items from the real world transform in order to suit the sitcom universe. The red helicopter in episode two of WandaVision is revealed to be one of the SWORD drones that was sent in which turned into a "retro version" of itself when it passed through the energy field. When an agent climbs through the sewers in a protective suit to try to get into Westview, their suit transforms into a beekeeper's uniform and the attached cable into a jump rope. This is the person Wanda and Vision saw at the end of episode two that caused Wanda to "rewind."
Everything within the energy field must reflect the sitcom's decade and aesthetic. When Monica goes through the field she has nothing with her, but is styled in a way that is appropriate to the period of the sitcom once inside. Notably, she is still wearing her 70's sitcom outfit and hair when she is shoved out of the sitcom universe by Wanda, so this does not appear work the other way around.
WandaVision episode 4 is now streaming on Disney Plus.
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