WandaVision Succeeds Where I Fail

I feel a lot of emotions after the WandaVision finale. Delight, sadness, and anticipation are par the course right? But there’s also a sort of muddled, low feeling of disappointment. A bit in the show, and maybe more in myself.

So, I love this show

I think it’s the strongest storytelling experience Marvel has given us since The Winter Soldier. Maybe even better than that? I was so happy to see a deep dive into the characters Wanda Maximoff and the Vision, who have always been on the periphery of the Avengers group. It’s easy to be overshadowed by the likes of Ironman, Captain America, or . . . uh . . .

So giving these two their own show was such a smart move, because comic book wise, these two have such remarkable stories and characters, and they were more like shadows of their potential greatness in the MCU. Moreover, this show was absolutely a triumph of storytelling in that my love for Wanda and Vision grew until I was about to cry several times over the course of the last three episodes. I don’t just cry at movies or shows, so to have that tight lump in my throat blooming up so often let me know that I was never going to be the same again after this.

All day at work I could only bite my lip and try to focus on the tasks in front of me rather than the promised visual delight ahead of me. I could only speculate on what would happen in the finale- Shiny Vision, Agatha (all along?!), Monica becoming enhanced . . . !

And so, at the end of a long day, I sunk into my beaten down couch and watched the entire, nearly hour long finale without so much as a peep. Eyes glued to the screen, I watched: Vision(s) come to terms with their identity, Wanda come into her moniker as the Scarlet Witch, and understand that her grief could not mold her reality any longer. I watched an incredible wardrobe change, and a gut wrenching goodbye that cut through me like a scythe. It was so good, as all episodes had been, at really showing the pain of love as it endures even the last moments of its existence. The way Vision, even understanding that he and his sons were merely constructs of Wanda's powers, could barely stand to pull himself away from his children. How we wanted only to look at Wanda in the end.

Let's focus on Wanda, because in the same way that Wanda's journey was a rollercoaster, so too was my journey in understanding the character.

I didn't (don't?) like Scarlet Witch. Neither in the comics nor in the movies, I found her to be a petulant character. I understood that she was traumatised, I did! She has been through so much in the MCU, and in the comics . . . she was the daughter of Magneto, so, enough said there. A troubled woman, sometimes more villainous than not- really quite a slippery character for me to definitively pin down. To make this easier and more relatable, I'll just use her story details from the MCU. Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were twins, alone in the world save each other, orphaned after deadly attacks destroyed their home, and forced to watch in terror as a Stark missile crashed right in front of them but never detonated even after two days. They grew up to become passionate, uh . . . fighters for Sokovia's peace. They fervently desired to make a change in the world, and create a better place where what happened to them wouldn't happen to other families.

That? That Absolutely does not excuse them joining Nazis.

They did! They did and nothing you say can justify or change that; Hydra is, in just about every universe in the Marvel comics, pretty much a part of the earliest origins of the Nazi party, ergo, they're Nazis. They not only joined Nazis, they agreed to be experimented on . . . by Nazis. What the fuck. I still remember Wanda's training segments that were briefly shown in Age of Ultron, and then in WandaVision episode 8. I very clearly remember a disturbed looking young woman with a wild light in her eye, mentally manipulating Tony Stark with horrible visions in his sleep. Manipulating pretty much every Avenger which, while badass, is pretty awful.

I mean, yeah, I won't take away her climb up into the light and her "redemption" even in spite of her brother's horrible end. I'm not here to deny Wanda's incredible strength, far from it. Nevertheless, I could never warm up to her at any point in the film, and it actually got worse when Civil War came up. What happened in Lagos . . . I wouldn't pin her with the deaths of those civilians. It wasn't her fault, and I understood that she regretted what happened. She wanted to save Steve and the people on the ground, and found herself unable to control the blast and unfortunately lost control too soon, and I do not blame her!

The movie went a logical route with the aftermath I thought, the most realistic route, with a lot of the general public thinking her a danger to the public for being unable to control it. So Tony Stark advises she hides out for a while until things blow over . . . and then Ross comes . . . and then there's the Accords . . . and then there's Bucky Barnes. Culminating up to Clint coming out of retirement to "bust her out" and get her to Germany to meet up with Captain America.

I think back to how she told Vision, "I cannot control their fear. Only my own." Which is such an inspirational quote if it wasn't the fact that "their fear", is the justifiable fear of people in less protected countries wondering if this band of American operatives will storm into their country on some suspicion of Hydra and potentially cause damage and harm. And then immediately after such a strong quote, she tosses Vision through a wall.

No, Wanda's life should not be dictated by the ignorant fear humanity displays when facing something unknown. No, she shouldn't be locked away and kept separate from humanity because of an incident like this when nobody cries for the containment or restriction of government officials who decide where they'd like to bomb.

However.

There's many reasons why I hated Civil War, and Wanda's response to the whole thing is one of them. Wanda certainly seemed to feel remorse for her actions, and yet that same remorse did not prevent her from causing more international incidents? I really, really wish media training had been a thing for all the Avengers because, my God. To pout about being put on lockdown inside of . . . a multi-million dollar facility . . . with more cable channels than God himself would know what to do with. With all the food she could want, more she could probably get ordered, and possibly anything else she could wheedle out of a guilty, harassed Tony "Billionaire" Stark, sorry but I'm just baffled. To be fair, I can only imagine how hurtful it must have been to be lampooned by the media when you were trying to do your best, but isn't that an implied risk when becoming a public figure like that? Regardless of whether or not it's actually fair, it's a bitter reality- one she was guided through as there were others who handled the PR and media. She didn't have to stand trial, or make a public apology at a media conference, she just had to sit tight for a little while. But that was just too insulting, apparently, and then she heads to Germany-

Let me be perfectly clear here. In response to the backlash of her disastrous mission in another country, she runs off to another foreign country! And proceeds! To damage/destroy thousands, if not millions, of dollars worth of property! With the full knowledge that she certainly wouldn't be picking up the bill!

Whoo. I'll just move along.

(She absolutely did not deserve to be collared like some animal and kept in the state she was on that very much not legal Raft, I do want to emphatically state. And I can acknowledge that I'm probably wildly hard on her for reasons I still haven't managed to discern but man do I just . . . have a harsh critique of her.)

We don't see her again until the Infinity War, and that poor girl did not have an easy time. The entire movie she had to grapple with some asshole alien coming to steal the stone that keeps her boyfriend alive, and simultaneously her boyfriend's desire to pull the plug on himself long before that alien gets here. There was no break or breathing room for her, and in my heart I felt pretty bad for her! Even more bad for Vision because he was practically eating L's in this one. We all know how it ended, she had to swallow the pain and heartbreak to destroy her boyfriend and ensure the Earth could survive, and she did that while holding back Thanos like an errant toddler.

Major props. Just . . . magnificent. Which leads me to this concrete statement:

Wanda Maximoff is the strongest Avenger.

Regardless of how Thanos fucking schooled them all like he got a bonus for each Avenger, nobody can take away Wanda's incredible show of power. Which made her comeback in Endgame all the more amazing, and left me with a feeling like bitter understanding- I don't think she's innocent or perfectly excused of her actions, but I understand how deeply she loves, and how much deeper still the scars of that broken and lost love affects her.

Now we come to WandaVision!

I feel like I'm a broken record at this point, but, wow! What a show! The way they built up the unease and tension from episode to episode was incredible. The way that the first few episodes were mostly fluffy and comical, to then just kind of sucker punch you with a disturbing interference was so fun to experience. Getting deeper into figuring out just who is in control in Westview, and what forces are battling in the town, was a fantastic journey that I can hardly believe only took nine episodes. Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen were like this supernova feedback loop that fed into each other and created a magnificent, indelible chemistry that colored the whole show (even in its black and white episodes, ha). We got to see them flustered, and sappy, and goofy, and clueless, and it was just so wonderful. It really was just- such a pleasure to watch them give these characters little quirks and ticks to create something so human it was almost painful.

I started to love Wanda, I really did. Her utter love and care for Vision was felt in practically every second of their shared screen time, and I applauded everytime her determination to keep her precious home and new life safe sprung up from within her. After losing everyone and everything she loved, I could understand why Wanda never wanted to look too far into the strange occurrences that seemed to surround her life in Westview. That's why, even when you find out by episode six or so that Wanda is controlling the narrative to ensure a happy life, I still was rooting for her. As far as I knew (at the time), she was only able to be with Vision in the world they created and the government was once again trying to screw her over. Do you know how absolutely ticked off I was whenever Hayward came on the screen? Especially when we find out he lied about Wanda stealing Vision's body?! Oh I wanted everyone who bothered this poor, grieving woman to get tossed on their asses.

Watching episode eight was a . . . it was heartbreaking, let's just put it simply. There's been so much tragedy in Wanda's life, and, from a shallow standpoint we understood that. We knew from Ultron that Wanda had lost her parents at a young age, and watched as she lost Pietro and Vision. There is a difference between understanding and knowing, though. When we watched Wanda's family come together for a family night, and saw that her father sold american TV DVD's in order to support his family, we understood that Wanda lost the first people who had loved her more than life itself. We understood how hard her parents fought to maintain the innocence of their children, and how that ultimately failed in the most horrific way. How that loss of a safe place, of a bastion of strength and love, affected Wanda and her brother.

When we got to the first memory Wanda had of her and Vision bonding, we understood the beginning of her trust and care for Vision. He was the first person to approach her while she was still in the darkest depths of mourning, and offer some sort of help. Offering kind words . . . "What is grief, if not love persevering?" How touched Wanda was to have someone just stay by her side, even if they didn't have the perfect words to help, or even the slightest clue of what she was feeling, because they just wanted to be there for her.

And then the memory of her striding into S.W.O.R.D, determined to claim Vision's body so that he may have a proper funeral as any good man should. It hurt me, more than I thought it would, to see that Wanda was the only one who considered Vision human in that facility . . . when all Hayward and his team saw was millions of dollars worth of Vibranium, and an excellent source of research for potential weaponry. As if there could ever be another Vision. To watch her horror and despair as she saw what they did to the man she loved more than anything . . . the utter desecration of his body when he deserved all the respect owed to a hero such as he. How, in the end, she was forced to leave his body there. I understood how much the world stripped from her.

I think there wasn't anyone who didn't feel like they were roundhoused in the gut when we saw the Deed scene. I mean, to know that Vision was looking forwards to the future and took steps to ensure that he could provide Wanda with the wonderful, peaceful life she deserved was- oh my God I'm tearing up. So I understood where she was coming from, and that what she was doing was still wrong. The times before, I may have understood but my disapproval of her motives was at the forefront. This time, it was more like a balance; Wanda was just so tired of hurting and who, in this current time, can't understand that?

Look, the point of all this, is that I finally understood Wanda. I was finally able to understand how deep the scars ran, how much of all her actions were based upon a deep need to never be in the position she has been nearly her whole life. Vulnerable, powerless, and helpless to outside forces that control her moves. I can't really tell you why that revelation hadn't come to me earlier, but it was a poignant moment when it happened at the end of that episode. I really was so happy that I was finally starting to see the good in Wanda, the complexity and humanity that I wanted all along.

We come now to the finale, and all its separate motions. Wanda coming to terms with what her grief and unchecked power has wrought upon the innocent denizens of Westview. Their agony and desperation to please Wanda in an attempt to try and gain some bit of their life back from the distraught witch. Vision vs. Shiny Vision and the most satisfying conversation that, if I could loop it for an hour, would be the highest viewed ASMR video ever. The Maximoff family making ass kicking a family affair, even though their children have had no prior training but whatever- and the ascendance of Wanda Maximoff into The Scarlet Witch! Finally, she has gained her moniker, and she's truly started a path of growing into the incredible being she was born to be. And the first step onto her new path is setting what's right.

She has to take down the Westview dream. Has to say goodbye to her children, and to the love of her life. It's gut wrenching, it's powerful, and it's just another example of how Wanda and Vision are the It couple of the MCU. How Vision can comfort her, and strive to show his utter devotion to her even in his last moments is something so incredibly intimate that I almost felt the need to look away.

The dream dies and she's back where she started, alone on the plot of land Vision had meant to be the start of their dream. She still has one last thing to do, doesn't she?

She has to acknowledge what she's done. She has to apologize . . .

To . . . just one person.

I- you know. I just. Hm.

Wanda walks through the town, eyes cautiously darting around when they're not glued to the ground, and watching all these people glare at her. Which. Is a perfectly understandable reaction to seeing the person that not only subjugated you but mentally tortured you, even if it was unconsciously, with their vicious sorrow and grief. She passes by all of them- by Sarah, who had been cast as Dottie Jones in Wanda's world, who had begged her to let her daughter out of her room or just let the mother hold her child for even a minute . . .

And she walked past all of them to the one woman who would give her sympathy and not blame her. Monica Rambeau. I just remember being dumbstruck by their exchange when Monica said:

"They'll never know what you sacrificed for them." Monica remarks.

"It won't change how they see me." Wanda replies.

Uh . . . are you kidding me. What- what the hell was the point of having Monica, one of Wanda's victims and someone she tossed out of Westview quite painfully, giving her some sort of consolation message? I think the citizens of Westview are well aware of what Wanda "sacrificed" given that they shared her nightmares when she allowed them to sleep. They know her deepest pain, they were forced to feel it every minute of every day even as they were molded to fit her sitcom dream life. We know for some of them, they were forced to keep away from their families until an episode called for extra background characters, Sarah being an example of this.

In the Halloween special, Pietro slyly asked Wanda where she kept the kids as they had never been seen before this episode and she was confused. His question was a valid one though wasn't it? And with the information we have we can surmise that Wanda kept them "off camera" wherever that could be, and so for how long were these parents unaware of what was happening to their children? Beverly had a husband who was outside of Westview at the time, and she hadn't seen him since the anomaly began, but all she could do was beg Wanda to tell him that she loved him and to never come back home for fear of what could happen to him.

However unintentionally, Wanda ripped apart the lives of dozens, if not hundreds of people that had lived in this town. She made them into marionettes that acted out the fun little situations she wanted to be able to experience with the family she would never truly have. She "corrected" any glitch in her system that could create a hiccup in her world, and when confronted by the awakened Westview crew, she insisted that she had been helping keep them from pain. These people were exhausted, terrified, and unable to do anything so long as she held the reigns. It was so bad that when Wanda suffered another spike in her powers due to her agony at learning of what she had done to these people, she was asked to at least kill them if she wouldn't release them. They got the point where death was preferable to living in the agony she could not face. So, no, it's not that they'll never know what she sacrificed I think it's more like they don't give a solitary flying fuck about it. She's ruined them! Their free will was stripped from them, their lives altered to fit her desires, and their safety was always in question when at the whims of an unstable witch.

And so you have Monica soothe her? Tell her she would have done the same thing to get Maria back?

"It won't change how they see me." That is not up to you, Wanda! You-! I just don't get it. I thought we had gotten somewhere. I thought when "Beverly" had responded to your claims of keeping them safe and happy, that she would rather you had just killed her, would have made you realize what a blow you had dealt. So, okay, you first went to the person who would best understand your mentality at this point. Sure, we all need a little pick-me-up after a hard time like that. You turn around to the people, and I was so ready for you to offer them solace and penance in words if not actions . . .

But you flew away.

You looked at these people you had manipulated and abused, and you just flew off. Because no matter what, their minds wouldn't change. But is the expectation of forgiveness central to the necessity of an apology? Didn't it seem like you owed these people at least a few words? Your power as the embodiment of Chaos Magic could have allowed you to hold off the authorities for the mere few minutes it would have taken to express regret for your actions, at least to show them that you did understand how messed up what happened was. Instead you flew off to nestle away in a little cabin and do the required reading for proper witches.

This is where the disappointment in myself is potent. Surely I'm the callous one for having a quick about face regarding Wanda, after eight whole episodes of growing to love her. How could I ever thought that I understood Wanda if, once again, I'm marvelling at the imperfect decisions made?

I wonder if it's the Chaos magic that surges through her like red lightning. That kind of darkness constantly inside you, I think it totally messes with you and creates a being that definitely reacts in much different ways to things. Can an agent of chaos ever truly know peace? In the comics Wanda, and I believe this is a burgeoning concept in the MCU down the line, is what's known as a Nexus being. These beings are the focal points of their universe, and are able to draw power from multiple universes as they are in every one them without fail. She joins the likes of Jean Grey and Lore . . . she is akin to a deity then, with all that power. A Titan. Making that comparison then, you think about how Titans cared little for machinations or ideas of mortals because they were simply . . . too far removed from mortal beings. Is this the case here, with Scarlet Witch simply being unable to connect with other humans enough to understand how deeply her actions impact them? Or is it that she understand but doesn't care because she is so far above them? Is this her weird, magical version of being the Dark Phoenix? Am I looking way too much into this?

Probably.

Whether I'm justified in feeling this way or not, the fact remains that I do feel this way and I can't help it. I just keep going back to this one question- it's not about possible future seasons, or about how this all connects to Spiderman or Doctor Strange, or even about her children's cries for help at the end but . . .

Why couldn't you just say "I'm sorry" Wanda?