Only on a rewatch of the WandaVision finale am I now noticing that after being saved by Monica, Billy keeps the invading S.W.O.R.D. soldiers telepathically frozen in place for the entire final battle.
The whole time that he, Vision, Tommy, and Monica are watching Wanda and Agatha fight, and in the whole aftermath as they head home, the soldiers visible in the background still are all motionless, with Billy’s blue magic surrounding their faces.
So even while catching a bullet in mid-air and then watching his mom almost die in front of him, Billy still manages to keep a grip on the minds of at least a dozen full-grown men at the same time.
No wonder power doesn’t interest him as a Teen. He’s already got that covered.
Here we have the definitive beginning of this mess of a saga, and all things considered…it’s not too bad.
Spoilers for WandaVision, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Agatha All Along below...
WandaVision is honestly a great way to move forward after the events of Infinity War and Endgame. The heart of this story is Wanda Maximoff facing the grief of losing Vision, having just seen him die twice in front of her. This whole scenario she’s trapped herself–And countless others–into is nothing more than her living a fantasy that can never be. All while accepting that…it really can never be. After seeing a movie where the Avengers did the impossible and brought back the dead, it’s smart to tell a story about someone trying and failing to move on in a world where someone didn’t come back. It’s kind of the same thing we got with Peter in Far From Home, with him trying to move on in life despite him and the rest of the world mourning for Tony Stark. I really love that a recurring theme for the first few Post-Endgame stories were about those who died and sacrificed themselves to try and save the universe, with the people who loved them trying to figure out what to do next. It showed that those deaths had meaning, even if there were some projects that sort of walked things back a bit by bringing back variants of these dead characters.
There’s a bit of leeway as they’re not the same characters, not even the two Visions we see in this story. One’s a memory with no physical form and the other’s a physical form with no memory. Both are Vision, yet neither is Vision, and I’m glad that the show at least establishes that fact and goes into the philosophy of what would it mean to truly be alive. All while Wanda spends nine episodes in denial, facing the idea of maybe what she did is a little too selfish. Like, even if you put aside that she’s forcing an entire town to live out a fantasy with her, it’s a little crazy for Wanda to bring back her true love when she knows it’s likely the last thing he would want her to do. Hell, if I died and got brought back to life only to die again, I don’t think I’d be willing to be brought back a third time. Wanda, to an extent, knows this and it’s the reason why she refuses to elaborate to Vision what he is, despite the fact that, by nature, he’s a curious and questioning individual. From the first episode, he doesn’t waste time asking questions like, “Why is there a heart on the calendar? What is it that I do at my job? Why don’t my wife and I have any knowledge of why we’re here?” Vision’s mind is one that never rests, so I guess kudos for Wanda for getting that right, even if it’s to her fantasy’s own detriment. The more he asks and tries to find out, the faster everything she builds falls apart. And he gets a clue that something is very, very wrong by Episode Three. It’s no coincidence that, by then, the curtain starts to fall and it becomes clearer and clearer that Wanda’s forcing everyone to go against the way they want to live.
And the thing is, you understand why she’s doing this. Episode Eight makes it clear how Wanda’s a character that’s lost so many people in her life, with Vision being the straw that broke the camel’s back. Er, well, heart in this case. And with Wanda being stupidly powerful, it makes sense that she’d do something stupidly selfish with her abilities, even if it was by accident at first. She wanted a happy ending that was robbed from her by Thanos and, even further, by SWORD. Hell, she wanted a happy ending that was continuously robbed from her her whole life. With all the people Wanda loved and lost, it’s enough to make anybody snap…Doesn’t justify shit, though. Because it’s important to remember that, at the end of the day, Wanda is mentally and sometimes physically torturing the people of Westview so she can live a life she felt was stolen for her. This is still selfish and horrifying for anyone to do, and it’s beyond reasonable why all of Westview has come to resent Wanda for this entire thing. If you genuinely believe that she’s the victim here…you might need to spend some time out in the real world.
In the end, this is a series where Wanda has to confront and accept that the life she wanted is gone forever…regardless of any walkbacks that a future movie did. But I’m not holding that against WandaVision. If I did, then I’d have to do the same for Captain America: The Winter Soldier having Nick Fury deliver the badass line of, “Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye.” Only for Captain Marvel to make a joke that he lost an eye to a cat. I don’t hold the stories made by one writer against the dumb decisions of future ones. I’d still say that WandaVision handled things really well in this story, giving her a bittersweet farewell towards someone she loves as she goes through the five stages of grief in this scenario she created. She denies there’s anything wrong about where they are, gets angry at those who try to stop her, bargains by making her Hex bigger, faces depression when she realizes she’s at fault, and finally accepts that Vision is gone from her life by letting the fantasy end. That’s effectively good writing, even if it’s a little simple.
The series also leads to a decently done retcon where Wanda doesn’t have telekinetic powers but straight up chaos magic as the Scarlet Witch, going so far as to say she’s always been this way. It’s a bit bullshit, but bigger bullshit has happened in the comics. Besides, this shows that Wanda is far more dangerous than we’d ever think. She just straight up turned an entire town into a goofy sitcom because, to her, that’s where life makes the most sense. She made a section of reality into her comfort show. That’s an insane feat, even if there are definite flaws in how it’s made. People are basically frozen when not in use, they see her nightmares when they’re asleep, and they can’t even see their loved ones as they’re too busy playing a demented role that Wanda forced them into. WandaVision is a series that proves how dangerously strong Wanda is and I kind of wish we got to see more of this powerful witch before she gets killed off in the next movie. Still, given how some fans become a little too blissfully ignorant to Wanda’s crimes and atrocities because of her tragedies, it’s probably for the best that she was killed off early.
So, that’s the overall themes and elements that the show works with. As for its central premise, I think it’s handled fairly well enough. I personally adore that the series just starts with Wanda and Vision already living their lives in this sitcom. We’re given no context, no set up. Just tossed right into the middle of the insanity with the rest of the show clueing us into what happened from there. All while parodying popular sitcoms of almost every era, and they don’t do too bad of a job at that either. You know exactly which show they’re trying to emulate, and while the jokes are a little too corny, even by those shows’ standards, the charm of the actors carry everything. Including Paul Bettany, who’s surprisingly got a great comedic energy to him. Even when the stuff he says isn’t funny, I can’t help but smile at the way he delivers his lines with such insanity. In fact, everyone is trying their damndest to make every joke work as best as they can, despite results varying from time to time. And while the humor can sometimes feel more like a miss than a hit, it’s still pretty damn cute seeing Wanda and Vision get into these silly little antics in a show that honestly feels like it could be a real sitcom with how kooky and fun the premise sounds.
The only times the show feels like it slows down is when it cuts back to SWORD and all the people trying to figure out what the hell is going on. However, it has narrative purpose to, well, explain what the hell is going on, giving us clues of why and how The Hex happened and misleading the audience a little to keep the intrigue up. Plus, it gives us Monica Rambeau, who acts as a good source of someone that understands/sympathizes with Wanda but still has some sense of reason to her. Monica knows that the Hex is dangerous and needs to be taken down, but she also knows what it’s like to think you’re going to lose someone, disappear, and realize too late that they’re really gone forever. Monica admits it herself that if she had the chance, she’d do the same thing for her mom. In fact, I bet a lot of people would too. People like to meme about how the “They don’t know what you gave up for them” line is one of the worst written lines of television history, but it’s really…not. It’s not Monica saying that Wanda made an ultimate sacrifice to save Westview, it’s her saying that Wanda finally gave up a fantasy that made her happy so that everyone else could be freed. Imagine for a second that you’d got everything you’ve ever wanted…and now you have to give it up. For some, that’s like ripping off your own arm. It’s not the easiest thing in the world, and Monica knows that. She sympathizes with it, even though the mission is to convince Wanda to stop. All while giving us a pretty cool new superhero in the process…Wish we’d done anything with her after this, but I digress…
If there’s anything I really take issue with WandaVision…It’s the villains. I’ve come to appreciate Agatha Harkness, mostly because her TV show was surprisingly good and helped me see how deep this character can get…But she didn’t belong in this type of story. This was a personal story about grief and Wanda learning that her needs aren’t more important than others. It did not need a big bad supervillain with a wonky CGI final battle. Especially since it takes away from Wanda learning her lesson when it’s Agatha saying the quiet part out loud like, “Ooh, it’s not really heroic to torture these people like that!” No shit, but that’s something Wanda needs to understand on her own, not get spoonfed to her. Plus, it feels like Agatha’s here to prevent Wanda from being the villain of her own story. Almost as if we can’t have our heroes show that they’re imperfect and selfish at times. And given how Wanda’s the villain in her next appearance, it seems like a misstep, planning wise, to not have Wanda be the worst person there. As for Hayward…he’s just a forgettable, government villain. He wants Vision so he can have a super weapon. It’s the most generic bad guy plot they could give and it, again, takes away a bit about how Wanda’s not the worst person there. I know we should judge media for what it is and not what we want, but I really do feel like a story where Wanda is the villain would have been the better option. Again, she’ll be the villain eventually, so why not make her one now. Just have it be Vision that confronts Wanda and have them both come to the natural conclusion that this must end, I feel like that would add a lot more to the themes and conclusion other than, “Here’s the villains. Stop them, all will be well.”
Still, despite that misstep, I wouldn’t say WandaVision suffers for it. I mean, bad villains and a wonky final act? We had that since the very first Iron Man, and would you say that’s a bad movie? No, I don’t think you will.
WandaVision is a certifiably good show. It has a cute premise, strong character writing, and stronger themes. It’s imperfect in some places, but I’m not looking for perfection. I’m looking for good, and WandaVision is just that. Good. It’s a good show and a decent start in this Post-Endgame world. And with Billy screaming for help hinting that they’re alive somewhere, that idea even leading to the multiverse, I guess WandaVision’s a good way to hint at what direction we’ll be going in. Even though now it’s most likely that it was Billy in this universe screaming for help in the gay Jewish boy he was trapped in (Or was it Billy that made him gay?). Still, not too bad of a start, and we’ll hope the momentum will keep going as we soar into the next project.
Here is some Wanda and Vision ✨friendship✨ from one of the WandaNat stories I’m currently working on (well, not currently because I’m at work… but I’m gonna continue this when I get home 😇 ) he’s helping her choose an outfit before meeting up with Nat!
