My Hot, Spoiler-Heavy Takes on WandaVision
When I realized that there wasn’t going to be a new episode of WandaVision this week, it hit me like a slightly-too-cool breeze on my neck. I couldn’t be too bummed though, as the discourse never stopped for a second.
WandaVision aired its series finale on Disney Plus last Friday and it received a positively mixed response. It took me a while to figure out what I actually thought of it, and thus the show as a whole. I would have shared my thoughts earlier if they didn’t keep evolving over time.
So without further ado, here’s my admittedly unorganized thoughts on the WandaVision finale:
- Marvel dropped the ball on Monica’s storyline. She was not only a main character in the previous episodes, she represented the themes of grief in a way that was just as important as Wanda. Granted, her admitting that she’d bring her mother back if she had Wanda’s power was an understandable way to illustrate their mutual feelings of grief. I personally found the shot of Monica taking multiple bullets for the Maximoff twins to be extremely disheartening. After the year I’ve had as a black person, I simply just don’t wanna see a black woman get shot by cops for two white kids. Period.
- The White Vision/The Hex Vision conversation about The Ship of Theseus was perfect in every sense of the word. That is all.
- It took me a while to accept Ralph Bohner. I wanted to believe there was more to his story than we were led to believe, but then I, like showrunner Jac Schaffer, realized that the only way the “Fake Pietro” role would have worked was if we felt the same gut punch Wanda did- we believed what we wanted to believe. Evan Peters was truly the only actor who could’ve played him.
- That Incredibles shot with Wanda, Vision, Billy, and Tommy was super cute! I bet the actors who played the twins had a blast being in the show. Imagine being a ten year old actor who booked a gig that ended up being a superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! That’d be amazing, right?
- Watching Wanda take her true form as The Scarlet Witch was like watching Ru Paul’s Drag Race. The voice in my head yelled “YAAAS GURL” as her sweats transformed into her polished getup. The finalized version of her red leather jacket and corset combo that perfectly illustrates her self-actualization. She, like Monica, has found her truth in her pain. 100000 stars/10.
- I don’t think Monica was excusing Wanda’s actions when she said that the people of Westview wouldn’t understand her sacrifice. Would I have written that line? No, it’s not the most natural thing to say. However, Monica not verbally congratulating Wanda for freeing the citizens of Westview nor condemning her for harmful actions that she was already aware of displayed her sense of compassion and insight. Monica acknowledged what Wanda lost, and Wanda ultimately made it clear that her loss would not (and should not) invalidate the anger and fear the citizens hold towards her. At least, that’s how I saw it.
- Wanda’s lack of a “punishment” isn’t a bad thing. While the citizens of Westview definitely deserved better, Wanda receiving carceral punishment either on her own terms or by law enforcement simply wouldn’t make much sense, story-wise. Like, what would the resolution even be? Wanda going through everything she did and causing the harm she did just to be unable to cope behind prison walls, possibly endangering the world even further with her lack of control over her powers? The people of Westview didn’t want an apology from Wanda, they wanted her out of their lives. And that’s just what she did- leave them alone to work on herself.
As a bonus, here are some random thoughts I had about WandaVision as a whole that I couldn’t fit in my previous article:
- I love that showrunner Jac Schaffer kept the themes of grief in focus, and didn’t pay much mind to certain characters like Mephisto and Magneto fans were theorizing about. Themes aren’t just for book reports, and there’s a reason why no one cares about Game of Thrones anymore.
- I knew “Agnes” was sketchy from the jump. Right when she said “This is gonna be a GAS!” in her plaid 50s dress, I knew something was up.
- The show’s use of decade-spanning sitcoms is more poetic than you’d think. Not only do sitcoms represent Wanda’s escapism, but the cultural attitudes that shaped the kind of shows audiences watched in each decade perfectly reflected Wanda’s unsuccessful coping methods. She starts with idyllic mid-century optimism from the 50s to the 70s, which led to her sincerely attempting to teach life lessons she can’t learn to her kids in the 1980s a la Full House. In the 2010s, she gives up, tells her kids that she doesn’t have the answers, and revels in her inability to cope with adulthood like she’s in New Girl or The Office. I don’t know if this is wholly intentional, but it was a nice touch.
- My Theme Song Ranking!
1.The 70s : The first and only intro that ever made me laugh. Not was the editing and the music spot-on of the shows in the era like The Partridge Family and Three’s Company, the warm color scheme just filled me with joy.
2. Agatha All Along: This earworm of a theme song deserves the hype. The goth kid in me awoken when she heard this The Munsters inspired theme.
3. The 80s: The Full House shout-outs (the running and the picnic shots) gave me more serotonin than Fuller House ever did.
4. The 90s-2000s: The first intro that actually surprised me. I had no idea how they were going to portray the era I grew up in. Taking inspiration from Malcolm in the Middle made my jaw drop to the floor.
5. The 60s: The Bewitched references were not only cute but perfect for the show’s premise. Plus, arguably the most iconic theme song next to “Agatha All Along”.
6.The 50s: Spot-on musically and visually, and it captured the unsettling vibe of Wanda’s newfound picture-perfect life.
7. The 2010s: I liked how it captured Wanda’s loneliness. I’m just not that big on The Office.
