WandaVision Series Finale Review

Last week, I used this space to lament WandaVision’s lack of creativity and how it has made the show progressively worse. That piece ended with hope though. Hope that the finale could right the wrongs of the preceding episodes and resolve its story in a satisfying manner. So, you may be wondering, did Marvel Studios’ first television series stick the landing?

Full Spoilers for ‘The Series Finale’ follow. You have been warned.

It did not. In fact, character arcs were dropped and replaced with mediocre action scenes. There is no clear reason this story needed to be told. Other than to establish more lore for the MCU, that is. Not to explore underutilized characters or their relationship. Not even because a writer had a clever plot or wanted to spotlight excellent actors. Because of this, the finale feels disjointed, unconnected from what came before.

Take, for example, every scene featuring Vision. Last viewers saw him, he was flying to his house to confront his wife for the things she had done to him and the entirety of Westview. That is dropped and never brought up in this episode. Vision never asks Wanda what is happening, confronts her for what she has done, or even entertains the possibility Agatha is in the right. The B-plot of the entire series, Vision discovering who he is and what he chooses to do with that knowledge, is never addressed in this finale. Vision chooses to do nothing, bringing into question the purpose of the plotline to begin with.

Then there is White Vision, labeled Project Cataract¹, and Vision’s confrontation. It is novel that a conflict in the Marvel Cinematic Universe ended not with a punch or laser blast, but with a philosophical examination of the self. It is the same kind of surface level philosophy that initially had people convinced Thanos might be in the right though. While this can be interesting despite tis simplicity, only one of the characters in the scene actually engages with he proposed question. Cataract determines he is the real Vision once he accesses his latent memories and leaves, possibly to throw himself into the sun or something, but more likely so he can return in a future project if Paul Bettany is interested. Meanwhile, Vision…just walks outside and stands on the sideline with Billy, Tommy, and Monica while Wanda finishes her fight with Agatha.

Speaking of Monica, why is she in this series at all? She has no effect on the plot and minimal characterization. Teyonah Parris does the absolute most with the scraps she is given but her character is so irrelevant the only thing the final episode can produce for her are to become the vehicle for an all-time great boner joke² and save some kids from the cops only to reveal within seconds they would have been fine without her. The mid-credits scene is a tease for her appearing in Captain Marvel 2 (Or maybe Secret Invasion, its unclear) where she will hopefully get to do something of value.

S.W.O.R.D. and Director Hayward also feel wasted here. Of course, they are merely plot devices to introduce MCU viewers to definitely-not-S.H.I.E.L.D. and ensure there is a Vision out there for a future film. Just as Billy and Tommy exist not as characters, but as teases for characters that will return in the future. Jimmy Woo and Darcy³, like Monica, are set dressing that provide little to no noticeable impact on the story of WandaVision. In a previous review, the show was lauded for its willingness to bring in minor characters from the films, which remains a cool thing the show did. However, if over the course of five to six hours, they get less character development and plot relevance than in a 135-minute movie, maybe they should not be in the story you are telling.

And then there are the two witches. There are a few key things to note about our antagonist, Agatha Harkness:

1. She is one of the few MCU villains to survive, meaning she will return in a future installment of the franchise, hopefully one that can give her any discernable personality or motivation. Kathryn Hahn is a fantastic actor; put her to use.

2. She introduces the concept of the prophecy of the Scarlet Witch while doing a lowkey assassination of Doctor Strange’s relevance by mentioning that he cannot compare to Wanda’s power. What is the point of this bit of lore? Why does Wanda need to be the central figure of some divination? Is it because they are introducing the idea that she could be the villain and could not com up with a better way to do it? If only there was a plot where Wanda enslaved hundreds (thousands?) of people and made them bend to her every whim. Maybe that would have been enough to do so.

3. She remains the most frustrating part of the series. As with last episode, instead of having Wanda realize what she has done and why it was wrong on her own, Agatha does it for her. Because of this, Wanda does not have that internal conflict. The show gives her an external force with which to exchange a few laser blasts and call it a day.

About 1/3^rd through the episode, the aforementioned “examination” of what Wanda has done occurs and Wanda decides to give up her sitcom paradise and bring down the walls of the Hex. While doing this, she learns that Vision, Billy, and Tommy will not be able to exist in the outside. This is the moment the entire story has been leading to. The moment when Wanda has processed her grief and accepted she must let go, even if she does not wish to. It is clear the writers are aware of this as they later include a monologue about how Vision with always be with her. That should have been right here in this moment though.

In a story about a hero, they would continue bringing down the Hex after the abovementioned emotional farewell with their family. Instead, Wanda once again makes the selfish villainous decision to keep them even though it does not even matter as she lets them go immediately after dealing with Agatha. This is extremely poor structuring that only serves to make Wanda a less likeable and interesting character.

WandaVision is a theme in search of a story. Is it the story about a man’s realization and struggle with the fact he is a construct of his partner’s will? A woman processing the immense amount of loss in her life? Is it the chronicle of a long-prophesied witch-god and her rise to power? A woman dealing with the pain and guilt of not being there for her mother when she passed away? The tale of a corrupt government official and his lackies trying to create a superweapon?

In trying to be all of the above, WandaVision becomes the story of nothing. It is simply a dozen or so people running around, doing whatever they want at any given moment for little to no reason except the next thing requires there be more lore. That focus on the need for Thing X to happen as setup for Event Y leads to less time and energy being spent on the characters and structure despite that ostensibly being the focus of the story.

More than most Marvel Studios products, it feels like a product contrived by someone in a c-suite position and then dictated to creatives. Obviously, that is not entirely how this show was created. There are sparks of creativity and genuinely emotional filmmaking. Unfortunately, the product came first this time and WandaVision is worse for it.

 

¹Get it? They named it Cataract because it’s a joke about eyesight and vision.

²Evan Peters is the payoff for the Unseen Husband Ralph bit from the early episodes. As opposed to a version of Quicksilver, he has been playing a bewitched Ralph Bohner. Upon hearing the name, “Quicksilver” lets out a sophomoric chuckle. A boner joke is, against the odds, the best executed idea in the entire nine-episode run of WandaVision.

³Kat Dennings is strangely only onscreen for a literal two seconds in this episode. Not that it’s a bad thing; it just feels like there was a scene or two with her cut or she is another casualty of poor plotting.