Family is Forever! WandaVision Series Finale Rundown

What a journey it has been. 8 weeks of intrigue and we finally have the answers we have been waiting for. The season finale of WandaVision was positioned to be an epic encounter between all the heroes and villains. Feeling like a classic Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, the payoff for Marvel Studios first live action Disney+ series had us gripped to our seats, rewarding those who stuck by the show for its entirety. Despite the finale providing the action we come to expect from the MCU, the main focus was in fact the love of family which if we look at the series as a whole was the overall story being told.

An emotional goodbye:

Our love for Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) has reached its peak and can only continue to grow. This was the first time we have seen Wanda tackle a problem by herself, usually she has either Vision (Paul Bettany) or the Avengers to guide her. Showing how much she has grown she even refused the help of Vision in her final battle with Agatha (Kathryn Hahn).

Everything we had questions for regarding Wanda and Westview was also answered. We learnt that the hex was a spell cast by Wanda in the previous episode, but the finale confirmed that the Westview anomaly was filled with errors which caused pain for all of the residents. When this is revealed to Wanda, by her face we could tell that she never meant to hurt anyone. If you had previously assumed Wanda was the villain her reaction and subsequent action towards the residents of Westview proved Wanda couldn’t cause such pain.

Moreover, it was important for Wanda to hear what the residents were truly thinking. This is something she wasn’t aware of, as she assumed everyone was fine. The fact the residents were having her nightmares shocked Wanda and was the reason Wanda was willing to end the hex and set everyone free. However, it was her love for her family which prevented this.

Upon learning that her family cannot survive outside of Westview, Wanda chooses to save them. Whist the residents of Westview are still trapped, Wanda having to choose between them and her family was always going to be a difficult decision. Choosing her family shows the love she has for them, something which has been a mainstay since the birth of the twins in episode 3.

We also got the family team up moment just like The Incredibles which immediately had everyone on the edge of their seats as we prepared ready for the battle. Wanda telling her kids they were born for this also gave fans a sense of excitement as Wiccan and Speed were about to be unleashed. But, during this moment the main take away is that Wanda was fighting for her family.

Knowing the extent of Wanda’s affection for her family is what made it so hard to say goodbye. After the battle ended where Agatha and Haywood (Josh Stamberg) were defeated, it was time for Wanda to end her reality and thus end the lives of her husband and children. As the hex began to fade inwards our emotions started to pour out. Watching the hex close in was bad enough, but then seeing the twins have their final sleep was too much. Wanda thanking them for choosing her to be their mum pulled on everyone’s heart strings because Wanda saw the privilege it was to have children. She wasn’t angry; she was thankful.

Then the final goodbye between Marvel’s finest couple was hard to watch without shedding a tear. After seeing Vision die twice already, this time he went away in peace. Wanda telling Vision that he is the part of the mind stone that lives on within him melted our hearts. Wanda finally came to terms with her loss. She has accepted that her soul mate is no longer living but has followed the Vision’s message, “what is grief, if not love persevering”, because her memory of her husband and children will always live on inside her.

With the hex seizing to exist Wanda is once again alone and is returned to the exact spot where she broke down and created the hex. This time Wanda walks away in acceptance, which shows how her grief is starting to settle down. This was a full circle moment for Wanda and just highlighted the journey that she has been on. Although her reality is no more, the memory lives on.

Agatha beaten at her own game:

In terms of villains in the MCU, Agatha Harkness has to be considered as one of the better ones. It was quickly established in the finale that she takes the powers from other witches to enhance her own strength and wanted Wanda’s god level powers to boot. While following the MCU’s formula for a villain Agatha added something extra, this is mainly down to Kathryn Hahn’s portrayal.

In the finale, Agatha gives us the explanation for Wanda and acts like she does in the comics to some extent, educating Wanda on the mystic arts. However, instead of being an ally she educates Wanda as her antagonist. While explaining that she wants Wanda’s powers, she also reveals the book in her basement was in fact the Darkhold. A book filled with dark magic spells, Agatha explains that within the pages there is a whole chapter on the Scarlet Witch and how it is her destiny to destroy the world. Knowing Agatha wants this power tells us that Agatha wanted to achieve the goal destined for Wanda. But, was this truly Agatha?

During the finale battle between the witches we learn more about Agatha. Although understanding, she is also cunning and attempts to trick Wanda into giving her the chaos magic powers. This looked like it worked when Wanda’s aged body floated motionless in the sky. However, while gloating about her victory Agatha was beaten at her own game when Wanda cast ruins inside Westview which prevented Agatha from casting any spells. Wanda then reclaimed her powers as well as some of Agatha’s. Another big moment, Wanda finally embraced her destiny, something the nexus commercial had teased, and became the Scarlet Witch.

With Wanda becoming the Scarlet Witch, the battle ends and Agatha returns to the ground defeated. Almost impressed Agatha asks Wanda if she will be locked up. Instead of handing her over to the authorities Wanda casts a spell on Agatha turning her into the character she had been playing in Westview, Agnes.

This ending for Agatha was fitting her character from the comics, as it left the door open for her to become the tutor for Wanda in the future. As a whole Agatha as a villain served the purpose perfectly. Many had expected a big name villain, but many missed the point of the show. The show was meant to continue Wanda’s journey and complete her transformation into the Scarlet Witch. Agatha was a worthy adversary for the Scarlet Witch because she brought her own twist on a Marvel villain while still allowing for Wanda to shine as the ‘star of the show’.

Which Vision wins?

Seemingly ripped straight from the comics, Wanda reunited with the ‘real’ Vision only to discover that he wasn’t who she thought. Teased in last week’s post credits scene, White Vision made his way into Westview with the mission to kill Wanda and destroy the hex Vision. However, this didn’t go as S.W.O.R.D. had planned. When arresting fans favourite Jimmy Woo (Randall Park), Haywood asks if White Vision is still under control. This planted the seeds that the true Vision may make a return.

Captain tease, Paul Bettany had spoken about a character he had fireworks with on set with, now we know he was talking about himself. Although this may have annoyed some fans he wasn’t actually wrong. When the two Vision’s fought there was definitely a sense that major destruction could occur as the two battled. This was only highlighted by the scene of White Vision walking out of the fire like a terminator.

In the 2nd encounter between the Vision’s some level of peace was found between the synthezoid’s. While fighting ironically in a library the hex Vision tells the White Vision that he is only a conditional Vision which causes the fight to stop as White Vision wants elaboration. Discussing the Ship of Theseus, a thought that raises the question of whether an object that has all its components replaced is in fact the same, causes White Vision to realise that he being used as a weapon. As White Vision becomes enlightened, hex Vision offers to unlock his hidden memories which S.W.O.R.D. had kept from him. These memories are unlocked and simular to how Vision spoke in Avengers: Age of Ultron he says that he is “Vision” before leaving not to be seen again. As the hex crumbled, it means that White Vision is the only Vision left in the world.

Speculation will begin now of what will happen next for Vision. He has all of his old memories, but he has been tampered with to the highest degree by Haywood’s S.W.O.R.D. agents. This could lead to anything with arguably the most exciting possibility being the return of Ultron. Vision was created by Ultron and thus shares some of his thoughts. Depending how Vision takes all of his new found knowledge this could lead to Ultron 2.0. If you had to ask me, I would be pretty angry if I had been killed twice and then turned into a weapon with the mission to kill my love. This could spark the motive of Ultron which is dormant within Vision to resurface and potentially see the return of the evil robot.

Pieces in the Puzzle:

There were other moving parts at play in the finale and all deserve recognition. My favourite has to be Jimmy Woo. Once again showing his skills in sleight of hand, he manages to steal a phone and paper clip which allows him to break free and call the FBI for backup. The finale reaffirmed our love for the FBI agent who although used for comedy relief does have an authoritarian side which is equally as loveable.

Easily the most controversial aspect of WandaVision was the use of Evan Peters as ‘Pietro’. Many had theorized that he was from the Fox X-Men universe due to playing the same role. This was a problem that fans and Marvel both got themselves in. Marvel has never told us that they were bringing characters from Fox; they have even said they will be re-castings for when mutants are eventually introduced. But, when you bring back a beloved character playing the ‘same’ person just in different universe questions will of course be asked. That being said if you are angry at Marvel for this then you missed the point of the show. WandaVision wasn’t to introduce mutants; it was a story about the Scarlet Witch.

In the end the reveal of who ‘Fietro’ was in fact Agnes’ fake husband Ralph, or to give him his real name Ralph Bohner. I’d argue this reveal actually worked well for the finale. Ralph throughout the show was a question on fans minds and many including me had suggested that he could be Mephisto. This was a perfect red herring and once revealed fed perfectly into the final battle where it was clear nobody was showing up to help Agatha, we could sit back and enjoy the fight between the witches. Monica (Teyonah Paris) discovering this was also important as we got to see her display more of her powers.

It is now established that Monica can detect energy which is how she realized that Ralph was being controlled and given the speedster powers by Agatha via a neckless. More of Monica’s powers were on display in the battle when Haywood went to shoot the twins. Monica took the bullets, but instead of dying like you would expect, she absorbed the bullets and took no damage. We are only scratching the surface of Monica’s powers and when she finally unveils them to the full extent we will be impressed.

After the shocking act by Haywood, which in my eyes makes him one of the most hated characters in the MCU, he tried to escape. This was stopped by Dr. Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) who crashed into Haywood’s car. A fitting end for the series’ most hated character, as he was bested by the agents he tried to nullify.

What were the credit scenes?

In tradition marvel style there were 2 scenes in the credits, the first of which featuring Monica. In clean up Jimmy Woo takes control and asks Monica where Darcy is. Monica says that Darcy thinks debriefs are for the weak and left. The pair which started the Westview investigation can both then feel a sense of achievement as Haywood is taken away by the FBI, hopefully to a cell he can rot away in.

After this an agent asks for Monica in the theatre which she complies with. When she reaches the theatre the agent who got Monica reveals herself to be a Skrull. What looks like a setup for Captain Marvel 2 the Skrull tells Monica that she was sent by an old friend of Maria Rambeau and wants her to meet in what we assume will be The Peak by the way she pointed upwards. Excitement can now build for Monica’s next appearance and the guesses for who sent for her can begin, the obvious choice being the man on The Peak, Nick Fury.

With excitement beginning for Captain Marvel 2, the 2nd post credit scene may have set up something even bigger. Footage of a mountain is shown before we visit a small house all alone in the mountains valley. Wanda is there waiting for her kettle to boil. If you have read the comics you will have a good idea of what this mountain is. Wundagore Mountain is a key location in Wanda’s history as its surroundings is where she and Pietro were born in the comics.

However, that was not all the scene had to offer. While Wanda gets her drink, we move into another room where Wanda’s astral form is reading the Darkhold! The importance of this is huge as the Darkhold was written by the demon Chthon in the mountains cavern. Moreover, it was the demon Chthon that touched Wanda at birth giving her the chaos magic powers. Looking at the comics it looks highly likely we will be introduced to more of Wanda’s backstory and be given an explanation for how she truly gained the powers of the Scarlet Witch.

That is not all, if we cast our minds back to how Wanda defeated Agatha, she absorbed some of Agatha’s powers. After this Agatha said to Wanda she had no idea what she had done. This all links to how the astral form of Wanda was possessed. Within the comics the Darkhold has the ability for Chthon to possess its user, thus it is likely Agatha was possessed which explains even more why she wanted Wanda’s powers.

We could talk for hours about the scene and what it could mean, but this will likely lead into Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness which is when Wanda will next appear. One final aspect of the scene which was harrowing was the possessed Wanda heard the cry of her children. Obviously they no longer exist in this universe, but as the Dr. Strange’s sequels title says, there is a multiverse!

Verdict:

As sad as I am that WandaVision has finished, the finale did give me closure. Throughout the series questions have been driving me insane, but in typical Marvel style the questions we wanted answering were answered. The finale also provided us with the action that many fans have been craving which are up there with the movies. We also got the closure we needed to this part of Wanda’s story while also starting a new chapter at the same time. Obviously some questions did remain, but those like Vision, Monica and Wanda are the questions which keeps the constant story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe flowing.

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