- The name “Sparky” is a reference to the brilliant Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta Eyesight story, in which Vision and his “family” (not the Maximoffs) move to the suburbs and try to lead a “normal” life. Part of this includes a synthetic canine called “Sparky”. He didn’t find a good ending there either. Stop letting dogs die in our stories, you monsters! Is very sad.
Lagos
This week’s commercial is for Lagos Brand Paper Towels, with the catchy slogan: “For when you make a mess you didn’t want.”
This makes reference to the opening scenes of Captain America Civil War, when Wanda used his powers to prevent Crossbones from detonating a bomb in a crowded market. Although it reduced the overall number of victims, several innocent civilians still died when it exploded. It is the first indication that Wanda’s pain and trauma in Westview is motivated by much more than just the loss of her lover.
Lagos’s announcement is also other reference to the Infinity Stones. Previously, we had the toaster (Power), the clock (Time) and the bath powder in the form of Tesseract (Space). Here, we have a spill of red liquid in a cunning nod to the Ether (Reality). Only the stones of the mind and soul are missing – which means two more commercials.
X-Men
These are definitely not the only references to the X-Men in the episode (of course), but we will get to the big one below …
- The scene of Wanda facing SWORD agents seems to be directly inspired by the scene of the first X-Men film where the police try to take down Magneto. Much like Wanda, he uses his powers in his weapons, making them aimed at the police themselves before escaping. Considering the reward for this episode and Magneto’s role as the sometimes Wanda and Pietro father in the comics (not to mention Peter’s definitive father in the comics X-Men films), this was probably set up.
- Vision says he was reading Charles Darwin’s “The Descent of Man” for one of the twins, a book about evolution. (Voice of David Bowie) “I have to make way for the superior man!”
The Twilight Zone
- Serious Twilight Zone “It’s a good life” vibrates throughout the episode, especially when Agnes is visibly weird with Wanda with her “getting off the top” moment (unless she’s deliberately screwing everyone), and the postman telling the twins “his mother won be sure [Sparky] go far. “
- Furthermore, since we are on the subject The Twilight Zone, Agnes seems to live on the corner of Maple St. and Sherwood Drive. “Monsters are expected on Maple Street” is a notoriously paranoid revelation of suburban paranoia.
Westview
The opening credits include a postcard “Greetings From Westview, NJ” in a very common format, but which became more famous on the cover of Bruce Springsteen’s album “Greetings From Asbury Park”.