WandaVision: Now in Colour

 "Think you may have taken the hedge trimming too far there, old buddy!"

This is, on the one level, yet another episode of a retro comedy that is yet another deconstruction of an old-fashioned sitcom staple- in this case the pregnancy episode. Suddenly, while no one has aged and the supporting characters are the same people we're slowly getting to know, it's the '70s now- and a particularly exaggerated '70s where Geraldine has Pam Grier hair and the opening titles have gone all hilariously Brady Bunch.

And it works well, as comedy, on multiple levels. Yet the pretence that reality is slipping. There's a moment where Vision starts to work out the plot holes in his life so Wanda just rewinds things; this entire reality is clearly all here as wish fulfilment for her on some level.

And it is this that casts a disturbing light on Wanda's pregnancy and the birth of Billy and Tommy. I can't comment on any similarities with that '80s The Vision and the Scarlet Witch limited series (Bill Mantlo?), but I certainly remember what John Byrne would later do to the twins in the pages of West Coast Avengers. I fear for Wanda. Especially with what she seems to do to Geraldine (through a wormhole into what may be reality) when she blurts out that Wanda's brother Pietro was killed by Ultron.

I have thoughts about what may be going on. This is all a bit Life on Mars, but I suspect the resolution wont be simple. This is bloody good telly.

Angel: Supersymmetry

"Think Daredevil #181. I'm Bullseye, you're Elektra."

Wow. That was a bit good, A superb script, a quirky concept, geeky in-jokes, great character stuff, a Fred episode, and Amy Acker shows us just how extraordinary she is when really called upon to really act our socks off. She's always excellent, but she's extraordinary here.

It's an origin story, of sorts; dabbling in a bit of physics again sees Fred publishing "just a little breakthrough in quantum particles" in an academic journal, leading initially to screams of delight and getting a bit jiggy with Gunn, but ultimately to Fred being invited to lecture at her old uni, a daunting prospect indeed. Even more daunting is a portal opening in the middle of your speech and a worryingly phallic CGI demon doing rude things to you.

Of course, the main focus here is the fact that Fred's old professor sent her (and other promising postgrad students) off to Pylea out of sheer professional jealousy, and for the first time ever we see Fred getting all vengeful and scary, which Amy Acker gives us both convincingly and without holding back. It's up to Gunn to restrain her and Wesley, who blatantly still carries a torch (he just isn't that into Lilah although she, admittedly not without cynicism, blatantly at least fancies him), to gently aid her with her dish served cold. And it's the ultimate act of love for Gunn to throw the prof into Pylea himself so she doesn't have it on her conscience- although we don't really see her reaction.

We also get Cordy gently telling Connor that she doesn't like him that way and, seeming a little more herself, visiting Angel to ask him, in the last line of the episode, "Were we in love?" Naturally we are left hanging. We also get the clear implication, often hinted st, that while Gunn may not be a card-carrying geek, he knows his Marvel. Good man.

This is, so far, a bloody good season. But this episode stands out, it really does. A beautifully crafted bit of telly.