This article contains spoilers for episode 6 of WandaVision.
The fictional commercial in episode six of WandaVision is starkly different from the previous four in the series. It may offer a glimpse into Wanda’s psyche and the origins of Westview. The mystery surrounding Pietro’s appearance (if he is really who he says) is an indication that Wanda does not have total control over the production of her meta tv show. It is even more unclear if she has any control of the production of the various commercials of WandaVision.
While the sitcom segments of the show have been interrupted by things including drones from outside Westview and Wanda “editing” the show by reversing time to avoid the appearance of a man in a bee-keeper/hazmat suit, the commercials seemingly run with no outside interference. In some cases, the timing of the commercials seems to correlate to a time when Wanda wants to disassociate or divert attention from the fact that she is losing control.
In episode four, as Darcy Lewis is watching the broadcast of the sitcom she sees a censored version of what happened at the pool club in episode two when Wanda hears Jimmy Woo trying to reach her on the radio. Dottie cuts herself while breaking her glass but this is not visible in the broadcast. It appears as if Wanda herself censored this scene and cut directly to a commercial break.
If the sitcom segments of WandaVision represent her creating a fantasy home-life, the commercials act as a manifestation of the things she is working hardest to suppress. They have up to this point each involved the commodification of the name of a place or foe that are reminders of the true terrors of the outside world.
Episode one’s commercial was for a product from Stark industries and is a call back to the Stark rocket that killed Wanda and Pietro’s parents. The countdown of the toaster brings to mind the Stark rocket that forced the siblings to remain still for two days to avoid detonating it. Episode two and three refer to the villainous organization Hydra and one of its members, Baron Von Strucker. He is the man who experimented on Wanda and Pietro and is responsible for the activation of their superhuman abilities.
Lagos is the name of a product that cleans up messes in episode five’s commercial and it is also the name of the city in Nigeria in which Wanda accidentally killed multiple civilians while trying to save others from an explosion.
Episode six’s commercial stands out from the others because it lacks a proper noun that points back to a fear of Wanda’s or a specific past traumatic event. The commercial involved perfectly matches the “extreme” advertisements geared towards children of the 90s, like the ones starring a manic honeycomb creature.
It is also strikingly different from all past commercials in the series because instead of being live-action and starring the same mysterious man and woman in a domestic setting, it centers around a claymation boy on a deserted island and a mischievous shark. The boy explains that he is starving and the shark says that he used to be hungry “all the time” until he tried “Yo-Magic,” before throwing him a yogurt cup. The boy rapidly starves to death while he struggles and ultimately fails to open the yogurt. By the end, he is nothing but a skeleton.
This portrayal of death conflicts with the tone of past idealistic commercials. If these commercials represent Wanda’s attempts to repress the harsh cold truths of reality, this portrayal of death may represent the ways Wanda is forced to deal with losses that she has tried to ignore. She is forced to face the death of her brother when she sees bullet wounds in “Pietro.” Episode six is the first time Wanda fully acknowledges the artifice of her fantasy world when she realizes “Pietro” will not judge her.
And this episode marks the time when Vision, with the aid of Agnes, finally comes to the realization that he is dead, which Wanda is alerted of thanks to Billy’s recently realized powers. As Vision exits the parameters of the Hex, past Ellis Avenue, his body begins to deteriorate like the clay castaway boy from the commercial. “Yo-Magic” likely refers to Wanda’s abilities. When Wanda expands the range of the realm that she controls to reabsorb the fleeing and self-deconstructing Vision, it’s clear that she will not be able to contain him with her supernatural abilities forever. This commercial may serve as a manifestation of a nightmare as Wanda comes to that realization herself.
The slogan of the fictional yogurt is “The snack for survivors!” As Wanda is a survivor, the castaway boy’s hunger may be representative of the state of loss that Wanda describes to “Pietro” a time of “feeling completely alone. Empty.” This was the state she was in when the fantasy of Westview began. It is unclear to her how exactly it began and it seems clear she is not the mastermind behind it. The shark seems to represent this mastermind, the true villain of the series, who many believe is the character Mephisto from the comics. Whoever he is, he seems to have offered Wanda aid that failed to change the inescapable nature of death.
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