WandaVision, s1 finale - March 8

 …And so, ‘WandaVision’ has ended, because of course it had. Everyone quite understands about it, but it seems that Disney/MCU tried some sort of a pre-emptive strike after this event, via the Collider and similar sites, (maybe). More about this in a moment, but first – real life sucks. Just ask the titular Scarlet Witch of the now-concluded mini-series.

…What were Disney/MCU worried about? That not enough fans would be appreciative of WV, or they would fail to realize that it was a show about grief, apparently. Yes, having Olsen and Hahn fly around in the sky, slugging it out like magical heavyweights, is so grievous, and the same goes for Bettany fighting himself.

…Actually, Bettany fighting himself has a distinct echo of Wen doing so in AoS’ S2, when she was both Melinda May and agent 33 at that time. Later on, in S4, this situation would be repeated, as Melinda, and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., would end up confronting their robot doubles, (the LMDs). Back then, Disney/MCU/AoS, just recycled an old plotline with mixed results, (S4 might have been the best AoS season, in the terms of story mechanics, but regardless…), and now WV had something similar, because of course it did. Disney/MCU is all about recycling…I mean grief.

On a more serious note, it means that the titular characters are done with each other for the moment, and yes, they were growing slowly but steadily apart since the episodes 5&6, but yes, it still hurts. The drama aspect of the WV is excellently done, as always, but what else is there?

The wokeness, I reckon. Agatha Harkness was mostly a dark reflection of Wanda, (pre-WV finale), but she had pieces of an original character as well. Director Hayward on the other hand, seems to be little more than a placeholder, aka yet straight white male character, who starts as a good (neutral) person, and then is revealed an evil one. Yes, his action of shooting the WandaVision twins was just wrong on every level, just as Monica’s attempt to protect them was right, but even the fans of WV admit that some character development for Hayward’s character would’ve been a good thing. Instead, we got a rush job, but that is because it is Monica’s corner of WV.

Let us admit. WV was about the titular characters and their children, but it was also about the development of Monica Rambeau/Spectrum’s position/place/plot in MCU. She, as well as her girl Friday and boy Saturday, Darcy and Jimmy, have been in preliminary stages of their superhero journeys, but now they are ready to launch, given how the Skrulls have contacted Monica, (remember, Jimmy listed the Skrulls as one of the possible reasons behind the Westview phenomenon), and the S.W.O.R.D. is now leaderless, so will Monica step in and become its’ new leader, (however eventually)? Given how the CM franchise takes part mostly in space, Monica probably will.

Put otherwise, WV was supposed to be about Monica Rambeau as well as it is about the titular characters, but it fell short. The same goes for the ‘recast Pietro’ angle – yes, the odds of WV introducing the mutants in the MCU proper were very unlikely, (cough, Deadpool 3 movie, cough), but still, Ralph Bohner? For a show that is supposed to be about grief, a penis joke is just what the doctor ordered, apparently.

Also – a missed opportunity: the scriptwriters could have made the fake Pietro some sort of a minor villain for Monica to take down – instead, he was just a harmless clown, who could have been defeated by Darcy alongside director Hayward. No, seriously, given how Monica have ran through Wanda’s Westview Hex, she could’ve been set-up as the next Quicksilver-like character, and her bond with Wanda, (remember our 1x03 discussion and beyond?), could’ve strengthened. Instead, that never happened, and all that Wanda did give Monica was a brief nod of recognition, (metaphorically speaking). Yes, there was not enough time, money, and what else have you to give Monica as much recognition – this time – as it was for Wanda and Vision, but still – a bad taste in my mouth if you will.

Let us conclude. ‘WV’ has finished with Wanda and Vision being finished for the moment, (though keep in mind that one half of Wanda in the last scenes is wearing white clothing, reminiscent of Vision’s new white get-up, so there’s some hope for them yet), with Tommy and Billy being safely away, (or at least just away)…somewhere else. Agatha has been defeated for now, though she is not dead, (ergo she might return in a future Marvel installment, just as Jimmy Woo and Darcy have). Monica might have proven that she might be Avenger material after all, (cough, the second Spider-Man movie, cough), and Jimmy and Darcy are her sidekick material too. Not bad for a brief 9-episode show, I would say.

Well, this is it for now – see you all soon!