WandaVision episode 6 moves its sitcom aesthetic forward to the 2000s, with a tribute to Malcolm in the Middle's anarchic opening credits. The Disney+ series began in black-and-white with episodes influenced by 1950s and 1960s sitcoms like I Love Lucy and Bewitched, but thanks to Scarlet Witch meddling with reality, the town of Westview has undergone some rapid changes.
As discovered by FBI agent Jimmy Woo, astrophysicist Darcy Lewis, and SWORD agent Monica Rambeau, Westview is trapped inside a hexagonal energy field (dubbed "The Hex" by Darcy) where Wanda Maximoff controls the townspeople and the fabric of the reality they live in. Inside this superficially bubble, Wanda has resurrected her lost love Vision, been reunited with her dead brother Pietro, and given birth to twins Tommy and Billy. The stability of this world seems to be slipping, however, and as WandaVision's sitcom references jump into the 21st century, Wanda's "show" is fast catching up to the present day.
The shaky camera, bright colors, rock theme tune and jagged font of WandaVision's episode 6 opening credits will be immediately familiar to anyone who has seen Malcolm in the Middle, the Fox sitcom created by Linwood Boomer and starring Frankie Muniz, which ran from 2000 to 2006. Muniz played the eponymous Malcolm - a middle child from a chaotic working class family who learns he has an opportunity for a bright future when he tests at a genius level and is put into special classes for gifted children. Malcolm in the Middle's opening theme was "You're Not the Boss of Me" by They Might Be Giants, and played over clips from the show with snippets from monster movies, anime and wrestling spliced in. And WandaVision's tribute to Malcolm in the Middle doesn't end with the credits.
Another signature trope used in Malcolm in the Middle was its protagonist breaking the fourth wall to talk directly to the audience. This was characteristic of the snarky humor that came into vogue in 2000s sitcoms. Contemporaries like Everybody Hates Chris and Scrubs had voiceover narration by their respective main characters, and mockumentaries like The Office and Parks and Recreation featured ensemble casts who were all aware that they were being filmed. In WandaVision, Tommy and Billy take turns to break the fourth wall and talk directly to the camera. The "recast" Pietro is aware that Westview is a fake reality created by Wanda, and this is highlighted when he notices Billy's aside to the audience about how his parents are acting strangely. The lyrics to WandaVision episode 6's Malcolm in the Middle-style opening theme are also a coded reference to the illusion they are all living in:
Don't try to fight the chaos
Don't question what you've done
The game can try to play us
Don't let it stop the fun
Some days it's all confusion
Easy come and easy go
But if it's all illusion
Sit back, enjoy the show
Let's keep it going
Evan Peters' "man-child" version of Pietro Maximoff plays a similar role in WandaVision to that of Malcolm in the Middle's eldest sibling, Francis, who was undoubtedly cool but also a major troublemaker. However, the true nature of this version of Pietro - whether he's a Westview citizen who has been recast, a transplant from Fox's X-Men movie franchise, or the show's true villain in disguise - has yet to be revealed.