Tag: Scarlet Witch

WandaVision: Episode 9 “The Series Finale” Review

Kat Impossible9 Comments

So, this is it. My final WandaVision review/recap on the blog. In case you haven’t been here for the rest, the following post includes SPOILERS and is meant to be read after watching the episode. I will, however, give you a little heads up and tell you that there are TWO post credit scenes, just so you’re prepared.
Now, let’s dive in!

credit: Marvel Studios

What was it about?

In a final battle, Wanda has to decide whether to save the town or her family. Will she make the sacrifice?

My thoughts?

I read somewhere that the creator of the show apologized before the finale aired, because they were afraid that fans would be disappointed. I get how it can come across that way, because there were some wild theories flying around, but I tried to not expect anything out of this world. I would have enjoyed many of these theories come true, but I also appreciated that the big bad of the season was what we’ve known all along – grief! And yet, we still got an epic fight scene too. Everything was very much in tune with what we had gotten so far, which is why I personally was not disappointed. By sticking to the narrative they have given us all along, I don’t see how that’s not delivering what they’ve promised?

Let’s break it down a little:

  • Agatha vs. Wanda: Agatha claimed to take power from the undeserving, although I have a feeling she just thinks everyone but her is undeserving. While Wanda was theoretically the more powerful witch, she lacked knowledge, which led to Agatha getting a couple hard blows in. She made Wanda realize that, as a hero, she would either have to pick her family or end the town’s suffering, which was now confirmed could feel Wanda’s pain and grief the entire time. The townspeople are definitely allowed to be mad at her for what she has done, but if Monica could show empathy, maybe they can forgive her too someday.
    In the end, Wanda turned the tables though and used the information Agatha gave about runes to carve them into the hex field and strip Agatha of her powers. Now, my question is: how does that not lead to a huge plothole? Ultimately, Wanda breaks her spell on Westview (more about that later), which means the hex field with the runes is gone too. So, how does that bind Agatha to her role as the nosy neighbor still?
  • Vision vs. White Vision: While they started out fighting with their fists, it quickly became a battle of the minds, when Wanda’s created Vision questioned White Visions programmed directives. Neither of them was the “true Vision” and ultimately White Vision allowed for his memories to be restored, giving him back autonomy and empathy for humanity. What does that mean for the future? We don’t know, as he was not seen again after flying off into the sky.
  • The twins: Unfortunately, the finale cleared up that the boys could not survive outside the hex either. It was heartbreaking to see their parents say goodbye as they tucked them into bed, knowing they’d never see their children again. But at least we got some fun shots of the boys messing with the military (they were born for this!) and Monica stepping in to protect them. I love to see it!
credit: Marvel Studios
  • Ralph: The huge Ralph mystery was finally cleared up. We already knew that Agatha wasn’t an original Westview resident and just took it upon herself to live in a random house there. Ralph Bohner was the original owner of that home and she claimed him as her husband, later using him to be her puppet Fietro (=fake Pietro). It’s too bad that it wasn’t an actual nod to the multiverse, but just a bit of fun messing about with us fans.
  • Monica/Jimmy/Darcy: These three remain my unsung heroes. Jimmy used his smarts to get some reinforcements from the bureau. Monica protected the boys and had a beautiful closing scene with Wanda and Darcy just plain drove her truck into Hayward’s car. It’s what that man deserved. I’m not even going to give him a separate bullet point, because he was a very boring villain and it was just nice to see him get taken away in cuffs.
  • Wanda: That girl does not get a break. I don’t understand how she is still standing, having to sacrifice everything she loves time and time again. When she made the decision to make things right for everyone but herself, my heart broke, because she keeps on losing.
    It was amazing to see her go full Scarlet Witch and to realize that she does not even understand a fraction of her power yet, but I still wished that she could have kept her family. But this is not the end of her story, even if it is the end of the show.
    I loved her arc, her exploration of grief. It gave such a human spin on a very decisively Marvel show, that usually would have felt more removed from reality. But the emotions were always grounded in something real and authentic.
credit: Marvel Studios

As I said in the very beginning, there’s TWO post-credit scenes. So, I hope you didn’t skip out on anything here. I may have expected some more “interesting” cameos in the end, but it’s still setting up some intriguing stuff:

  • First scene: In the aftermath of Westview coming free, Monica gets asked to follow an agent into the theater, where it turns out that the person is a Skrull. We know them from the Captain Marvel movie and someone (in space) wants to speak to Monica. I think the pronouns used were “he”, but I could have misheard that, so I have no clue who exactly they’re talking about. (Someone in the comments mentioned that it might be Fury? I honestly forgot about that part.) Is this a segue into Captain Marvel 2 or something for Monica herself?
  • Second scene: Wanda is in a remote cabin, studying the Darkhold (which was confirmed to be the book in Agatha’s basement). While doing so, she hears the twins call out for help to her, meaning they are still out there somewhere. Maybe our Mephisto theory is not out of the question entirely.
    I can definitely see her seeking mentorship from Doctor Strange still. Either way, seen as he is the Sorcerer Supreme and she is even more powerful than him, I gather their paths will have to cross eventually.

Ultimately, there’s some questions that remain for me in general. Who was Jimmy Woo’s person in witness protection? Where is White Vision? How is Agatha now bound to Westview? Where is she going to live considering that she has no house in town? What happened to Hayward to make him so angry at superpowered beings? Will we ever see Ralph Bohner again?
One thing is for sure, if we ever should get answers, it won’t be in a second season of WandaVision, because that is done. But many of the people are confirmed to appear in other Marvel projects and Elizabeth Olsen is currently filming Doctor Strange 2 aka the Multiverse of Madness, so … we’ll know more in a couple years!

Just because I felt like it, here are some of my favourite and most heartbreaking quotes from the episode:

“Family is forever. We could never truly leave each other, even if we tried.”

“Thanks for choosing me to be your mom.”

“You are the piece of the mind stone that lives in me.
You are a body of wires and blood and bone that I created.
You are my sadness and my hope.
But mostly you’re my love.”

“I’ve been a voice with no body. A body but not human. And now a memory made real. Who knows what I might be next?”

“We have said goodbye before, so it stands to reason …”
“We’ll say hello again.”

PREVIOUS WANDAVISION REVIEWS

What are your thoughts on the WandaVision series finale? Did you like it? Did you expect something else? Let’s talk!

WandaVision: Episode 8 “Previously On” Review

Kat Impossible3 Comments

I hope by episode 8, you kind of know how things work on here, but just in case this is your first time stopping by (hi, by the way!), the following post is intended to be read after watching the show, because it includes SPOILERS! (If you haven’t seen it yet and you can, watch it with tissues!)

credit: Marvel Studios

What was it about?

Agatha takes Wanda on a trip down memory lane to discover how the Westview anomaly was created.

My thoughts?

When WandaVision calls an episode “Previously On”, they do not mess around. For the longest time, we have been waiting to find out what happened, how Wanda got into Westview and how the hex started. Well, this episode delivered in every possible way.

Before we get into Wanda’s history though, we learned a bit more about Agatha. The episode starts all the way back in Salem in the year 1693. You might presume that it’s part of the witch trials, with last week’s reveal about Agnes/Agatha’s real identity, but on the contrary. Agatha isn’t on trial because she is a witch, she is trialed by her coven sisters because she is using dark magic. In an intriguing show of power, she absorbs her coven members energy, remaining the sole survivor instead of the victim, showing that despite her claims of wanting to be good, she has great potential for evil. As a final act before stepping away from the corpses, she grabs the (to us) now all too well known brooch from her mother’s coat.

Fast forward a couple centuries to modern day Westview and Agatha is still as power hungry as ever. She is amazed and intrigued by Wanda’s sheer power, but also confused by her lack of knowledge and training. Agatha is sure that Wanda is a witch too, an unwilling one who doesn’t want to share her secrets, but a witch nonetheless. So, in order to learn how she created the Westview hex in a matter of moments, when it took Agatha ages to learn even simple transformation spells, they start exploring Wanda’s memory (again, unwillingly, since Agatha is holding the twins hostage).

credit: Marvel Studios

What follows is a walk through the years, bits and pieces of Wanda’s life that shaped her. A lot of Marvel fans know about these moments, as they have been discussed in previous movies, but they have never been shown with such detail. While I understand that maybe not everyone was interested in seeing this breakdown of her life, I think it was necessary to portray that the true villain in Wanda’s life is grief and her inability to deal with it and/or catch a break from it. Let’s take a look at what we learned:

  • We start with Wanda’s childhood in Sokovia. They didn’t have much, but they were a happy little family, finding an escape in Western media while being on the brink of war themselves. This is what confirmed where Wanda’s love for sitcoms comes from – nothing bad ever happens in them, or at least it’s all good by the end of the episode. The trauma from hiding under a bed for two days because they thought the Stark Industries missile would go off, while the TV was still running in the background was powerful imagery. The loss of her parents in the process the start of all of Wanda’s grief.
    Agatha already suspects that Wanda had powers at that age, but if so, they were dormant and didn’t have anything to do with the missile not going off.
  • Next comes the Hydra complex that gave Wanda her powers. Her and Pietro were the only ones who could survive the tests, even if no one in the facility understood why. When faced with the infinity stone, she saw her future self (at least it looked like a typical Wanda costume) and it awakened and amplified her internal powers. Since Pietro is not a witch though and also gained powers, it could mean that the infinity stone triggers latent mutant genes? Just like Wanda’s magic (fueled by the infinity stone) triggered Monica’s powers? If we are going by the comics, this is a wrong assumption, as Wanda and Pietro are not technically mutants, but the MCU has treated their backstory differently, so who really knows?
credit: Marvel Studios
  • After losing her brother, Vision was her comfort at the Avengers complex. I found Wanda’s accent to be very slight in that particular memory, considering that the Sokovian incident had just happened and she was still new to the team, but memories can trick you like that, I suppose. I always adored their little moments in the Avengers movies and this was another example of why their interactions are so precious. Vision could pull her back from the brink of despair, which is foreshadowing for why losing him as well was so harrowing for her.
  • The next memory seemed like the most key one to me. Hayward has spun this narrative of Wanda going on a bender and stealing Vision’s corpse, when none of that is the truth. He LET her into the S.W.O.R.D. headquarter, he denied her simple request of giving Vision a proper funeral and antagonized her by insinuating that she had ulterior motives. Vision is nothing but a weapon to him and I did not appreciate his tone towards Wanda.
    But what is most important is, Wanda left without Vision’s body. She was distraught at seeing him dismantled, but when she touched him, she couldn’t feel him. Another beautiful and heartbreaking callback to Infinity War, where both Wanda and Vision stated that the magic/powers of the other could never hurt them, because they always said “I only feel/see you”. But now, there was nothing of her Vision left to feel. If your heart didn’t break at that, I don’t even know what to say.
    Afterwards, she calmly left, the footage of her going rampage in the lab clearly being faked. Instead, she went to Westview, where Vision had previously bought property for them to grow old on. I wish they had had a chance to do that. As she drives through town, we see the many faces of the “characters” of her own sitcom, the real citizens of Westview. The town is quaint, but it’s just a town, nowhere near the paradise we got to see before. And then Wanda can’t hold in her grief any longer and she does not just create her perfect little world, but she also creates Vision – a massive show of power and another answer to one of our many questions! Vision’s corpse is not pupeteered by Wanda, instead she re-made him.
credit: Marvel Studios

It’s only after that display that Agatha finally lets her leave this maze of memories. It’s the cries for help from her twins that bring Wanda back to reality, her children the one thing she still cares about more than anything. They are held hostage as Agatha says the words I have waited for for the longest time! We finally, finally, finally get the official name reveal for Wanda, when Agatha explains that the power Wanda possesses should be impossible. It should be nothing more than a myth. But Wanda wields chaos magic and that makes her a SCARLET WITCH!!!

credit: Marvel Studios

I hear the people who think this episode included a lot of information that was already previously covered in the movies, but when did we ever get a chance to see it with Wanda’s eyes? To feel her pain penetrating ever cell of our bodies, drowning us in the sadness she feels with her? I thought that this was an incredible show of how powerful emotions can be. How dangerous they are if not dealt with. Even Agatha said that Wanda was dangerous and that woman was holding kids hostage while saying that.
But is Agatha really a villain? In the opening scene, she said she could not control these dark powers when she pleaded with her coven. Maybe, in the years since, she found a way to control it and is now not willing to let another powerful witch go rampage on the world. While she was accompanying Wanda through her memories, she was sympathetic, albeit still very straight forward with her comments. She seemed more curious in figuring out what she was dealing with rather than wanting to do any of this herself. Sometimes it even sounded like a tinge of worry for Wanda. I’m sure it will be resolved like many other things next episode.

Now that we know real magic is involved, it seems all the more logical to have a Doctor Strange appearance in the finale, ultimately tying this show to the Multiverse of Madness. I cannot wait!

Lastly, it looks like post-credit scenes are back for good! Once again, I just really want to punch Hayward, because he is such a massive liar. All this time, he had Visions body. All this time, he made Wanda out to be the villain when he was truly the evil one. Bringing the Vision’s body back online worries me. It can’t have his mind, that’s in Westview with Wanda … I think? Who’s to say that Hayward has any kind of control over this version of the Vision’s body? Danger lies ahead.
It also eerily feels like all those theories thinking that Hayward is Ultron or controlled by him make sense. His animosity after Wanda’s betrayal understandable, his lack of faith in humanity and heroes also very on brand. It would be in tune with the animated version, so I’m curious to see if that will actually be true.

credit: Marvel Studios

PREVIOUS WANDAVISION REVIEWS

What did you think of this week’s episode of WandaVision? Can you believe that we only have one more to go? I will be devastated when the show ends …

WandaVision: Episode 4 “We Interrupt This Program” Review

Kat Impossible5 Comments

Once again, I’d like to reiterate that this review of mine is filled with SPOILERS and should only be read after having watched the episode! Proceed at your own risk.

credit: Marvel Studios

What was it about?

In a look back, it is revealed how S.W.O.R.D. and other organisations are involved with the monitoring of Westview and the information they have learned.

My thoughts?

This was definitely a change of pace. I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the disruption of the storytelling style, but I can understand why they wanted to provide background information as well as a different perspective.

First of all, we learn that Monica Rambeau was one of the people who were snapped out of existence by Thanos. Upon her return, she discovers that Maria Rambeau, her mother and vital founding member of S.W.O.R.D., had passed in her absence because of cancer. Despite the heartbreaking news, she returns to work right away, although being grounded and only cleared for terrestrial cases. This puts her in the way of Jimmy Woo (former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who now works for the FBI and who we have met previously in Ant Man and the Wasp), who is looking for a missing person, someone who is in witness protection.

That person was supposed to be in Westview, a town no one knows or remembers. The 3,892 people inside forgotten by everyone they once knew … except that Jimmy does remember the missing person. And he can also see the town, just like Maria. It is not clarified why they aren’t affected by the selective amnesia, except for not having a personal connection to the town.
In an attempt to investigate, Maria gets sucked into Westview, prompting S.W.O.R.D. to step in and hiring a couple experts. Enter Doctor Darcy Lewis (known from Thor), who finds the broadcasting waves that let the agents watch the Wanda and Vision show.

credit: Marvel Studios

In general, I feel like this episode answered a lot of question, even if it opened up some new ones in the process. We now know that things/people that pass the threshold to Westview forget who they are (except for rare moments of lucidity) and get transformed to fit into whatever time period is currently the most recent one.
We also have confirmation of Wanda’s awareness of the situation. Not only did we get to see how exactly she threw Geraldine/Monica out of town, but we also see her reassuring Vision that she has “everything under control”. As sinister as that already sounded, it is yet again verified when Monica comes back to herself and tells S.W.O.R.D. “It’s Wanda. It’s all Wanda.”

One of the things I adored was that Jimmy Woo had pretty similar questions to those we as viewers had the past couple of weeks as well. Let’s take a look at what he put on the whiteboard:

  • Why hexagonal shape? – good question! That shape has been present everywhere and could be an indication of so many different things. Is it just hex as in magic? Does it have something to do with Hive? All still very unclear.
  • Why sitcoms? – they sure are entertaining, but why indeed? With their silly logic and happy world, they might just be a comfort for Wanda. Who knows?
  • Why the different decades? – this is similarly unclear as the previous question. However, S.W.O.R.D. also asked themselves whether the broadcast was live, which I could not tell. It was hard to know how much time had passed outside of Westview and if they saw more/less than what we did. It seemed to me like they only had access to “episode 1” for a long time before things changed, but I could be wrong about that.
  • Is Vision alive? – I think the answer here is no. For a brief moment, we saw Wanda acknowledge that Vision’s death happened, but it wasn’t enough to startle her back to reality. I think, in part, this just might have made her more determined to stay in Westview and keep everything neat and tidy, especially after Vision suggested they could always leave. However, he does seem to question the world they are living in, which might hint at part of his mind having been preserved before Thanos took the mind stone from him. Otherwise, why would Wanda allow him to question the perfect little world she made for them?
credit: Marvel Studios

All in all, I believe this episode might not have been as much for the casual viewer as previous ones. It required a lot of information on what had happened in the Marvel universe before and if you wanted any kind of connection to the characters introduced, you would have had to watch a variety of movies (from Ant Man and Captain Marvel to Thor) to have known them from before. I personally love the connection to all those previous works, but I am still not sure how I feel about the POV change. If it’s only for this episode, I think I can live with it, but it was still quite the info dump buffer episode.

If you have missed my previous reviews, you can check them out here:

How was this episode for you? Did it catch you off guard or did you enjoy it? Let’s chat!

WandaVision: Episode 3 “Now in Color” Review

Kat Impossible3 Comments

As promised, I am back with another WandaVision review! As with the previous post, I would like to point out that this is meant to be read after watching the episode to avoid any kind of spoilers. I will not hold back!

credit: Marvel Studios

What was it about?

After discovering Wanda’s fast pregnancy, the pair tries to prepare for the imminent birth as best as possible, all the while fighting off their growing suspicions of something being off in Westview.

My thoughts?

As we are hurtling through the decades with WandaVision, now squarely in the 70s, I adore how easily recognizable they make their inspiration in terms of intro and style of the episode. This time we clearly got an homage to the Brady Bunch, which seems fitting as it was the birth of the (at least to Wanda and Vision) unexpected twins.

In the comics, their sons William and Thomas (on the show only lovingly called Billy and Tommy for now) mirror the powers of Wanda and her late twin brother Pietro. It will be interesting to see where they go with the boys on the show as their lore in Marvel history thus far is quite scattered. It does, however, point to the much suggested involvement of Mephisto in whatever is happening to Wanda. Since it has been said that WandaVision will also heavily tie into Doctor Strange’s Multiverse of Madness and Mephisto is a main antagonist of Doctor Strange (and often Spider-Man too) as well as Stephen Strange being a big part of the twins’ lives, things are shaping up to go even more into that direction. We shall see!

credit: Marvel Studios

I do enjoy the general progression of the show! Much of the appeal is due to the dichotomy between fun, silly sitcom tropes and the complete tonal shift to dread and more serious matters. Both, Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, deserve a tremendous amount of praise for how quickly they manage to switch between these contrasting emotions and portrayals. It’s often quite chilling to go from discomfort to bliss in an instant. I wasn’t sure how soon they would get into the nitty-gritty of their world, but I thought there were some incredible revelations this week.

I’ve mentioned before that I believed that important moments were shown mostly through Wanda’s eyes, but this week had an interesting shift to include major moments with Vision alone. He seems to be more plagued by whatever is off about their town and neighbors than Wanda is, which makes sense in that we believe she is partially responsible for what is going on. Once again, he got cut off by Wanda when he started asking too many questions (prompting me to believe my internet wasn’t working right, when it really was some smart editing choices). It shows an awareness and consciousness on his part that I probably did not expect in a character that is supposed to be deceased and possibly only imaginary.

This time, I have no useful theory about the “commercial break”. It was obviously a Hydra reference again, prompting the potential customers to find their inner goddess. If my suggestions last time had been correct, with the ads pointing to significant events in Wanda’s life in chronological order, there should have been an Ultron or Quicksilver reference, but we got that from Geraldine instead.

UPDATE on Hyrda Soak and it’s possible connection to previous Marvel content:

credit: Marvel Studios

While Vision was off on his own, getting warnings about Geraldine having no home, family or husband in Westview, Wanda also had a confrontation with the very same woman. If the final scenes of the episode are anything to go by, it looks like Westview is a very real town, but shut off from the rest of the world and suspended in old-timey sitcom bliss. Whoever lives there is bound to it and cannot leave. It looked like Wanda was not pleased to have her possibly self-made reality disturbed by a S.W.O.R.D. agent and therefore kicked Geraldine/Monica out, once again confirming that she has tremendous power over what is happening.

Now that we know all that, I simply have to wonder why Agnes and Herb showed concern about Geraldine’s presence in Westview and why Agnes stopped Herb from saying anything more to Vision. Clearly, they are stuck in that town as well, but do they not want to get out or are they worried that confronting Wanda (and Vision) with reality would end up putting them in danger? As Agnes is rumored to be Agatha Harkness, a fellow witch and potential villain, she might also have her own interest at heart in keeping Wanda put. It’s fair to say that I am curious! While the episode definitely answered some questions, it also opened up an onslaught of new ones!

I have to say, I wish they would continue with airing two episodes each week. On the one hand, I am glad that I am forced to be patient instead of binging it all in one go and then being miserable it’s all over, but on the other hand, 30-minute-long episodes are just not enough. This show is so much fun and so brilliantly intricate, I just want more.

Are you all caught up on WandaVision? Did you enjoy their take on the 70s? Let’s chat!