Wandavision - Episode 9 "The Series Finale" Spoiler Review


 I am surprised by so many things in the Wandavision finale (episode 9), I am not sure what to talk about first.  In my review of episode eight I had a feeling not everything would get wrapped up neatly, I was a little right, but mainly wrong.  Wandavision episode nine titled The Series Finale was a good ending, but it also did not hit me as hard as I thought it would.  We got an emotional final scene between Wanda and Vision, but the scene ended feeling more like a goodbye for now (which is what I think it actually is).  The goodbye scene with the twins felt less emotional, and it also felt less emotional after seeing the second post-credits scene.  The episode was focused mainly on Wanda, Vision also got a lot of screen time, but we got only one very brief glimpse of Darcy and only slightly more of Jimmy and Monica.  I know the show is called Wandavision, but I grew to enjoy any moments we got with Jimmy, Monica and Darcy.  I am sure (positive in Monica's case) that we will Darcy, Monica and Jimmy again in the MCU.  The final episode was only 49 minutes (43 after removing the credits), I had a hope that the finale might be feature-length (80 minutes or more).  

I know I sound negative, but as I commented in my episode eight review Marvel had built up so many expectations that the finale felt smaller than I hoped it would be.  The quality of the filmmaking and the digital effects were film quality, but I wanted more time with all of the characters.  There was no surprise cameos as some fans hoped, everyone who appeared in the finale (with one exception) was there at the end.  Some fans thought we might get mutants, a Mephisto reveal, or a Doctor Strange appearance.  I have no problem with no surprise appearances, but I am sure the fan theories created some headaches for Marvel.  I am sure once the theories started building up momentum online, Marvel must have started to get nervous at the prospect that the finale will leave fans underwhelmed/disappointed.  I will agree that after spending weeks theorizing, I am disappointed that nothing truly surprising happened.  Evan Peters was just stunt casting (very disappointed at that), I know the rumor got out of hand, but I would if it was just stunt casting than Marvel should have warned fans about it sooner.  In the end, Marvel trolled fans, the fact that Fietro's real name was Ralph Bohner was top level trolling (it was a literal Bohner joke).  

RECAP OF THE SERIES FINALE

Episode nine starts exactly where we left off in episode eight, Wanda and Agatha facing off on the street.  Wanda shoots Agatha, but Agatha is able to absorb Wanda's powers, Agatha wants Wanda to surrender her magic and she'll let Wanda live in Westview.  Wanda throws a car at Agatha and knocks her into a house.  Hayward's white Vision arrives, Wanda confuses him for her Vision, Vision then starts squeezing her head, until Wanda's Vision arrives and stops him.  There is a battle starting, the Visions start battling and Wanda attacks Agatha.  We see that Monica, is being held in a bedroom by Fietro who we see has super speed.  The Visions are in the air fighting, white Vision says you must be destroyed, and Wanda's Vision says I know.  We see Jimmy Woo captured by Hayward's men; Woo threatens Hayward saying the FBI is on the way.  Jimmy is able to steal a phone and then uses a magic trick to break out of his handcuffs.  Jimmy calls "Cliff" and ask for him to get to Westview in under an hour.  Wanda is walking through the tow searching for Agatha.  Agatha tells Wanda there is an entire chapter in the Darkhold devoted to Wanda (The Scarlet Witch), Agatha tells Wanda that the Darkhold is the book of the damned.  Agatha reads from the Darkhold "The Scarlet Witch is not born, she is Forged.  She has no coven, no need for incantation".  Wanda says she is not a witch, nobody taught her magic, but Agatha counters that Wanda's powers exceed those of the Sorcerer Supreme (Doctor Strange) and it is Wanda's destiny to destroy the world.  Agatha brings Dottie (Sarah) out of her spell, and Sarah begs for Wanda to let her daughter out of her room so she can spend time with the twins.  Agatha then awakens the whole town.  

Monica is still imprisoned by Fietro, she searches the rooms and realizes that his real name is Ralph Bohner.  Monica is trying to figure out how Agnes is controlling him, she uses her powers and notices he is wearing a necklace that glows purple, Monica removes the necklace freeing Ralph.  The twins cannot see what is going on, they leave when Billy senses Wanda needs help.  The townspeople confront Wanda, they tell her they feel her pain, that her grief is poisoning them, and that they share her nightmares.  They plead to be let go or to be killed, Wanda lashes out and starts choking all of them, when she sees she is hurting them she stops the spell.  Wanda then starts to bring down the hex so the townspeople can leave, while there is an opening Hayward, and his men enter the town.  We see the Visions fighting and Wanda's Vision is sent falling to the ground, as he is falling, he is also falling apart, the twins arrive but they too are falling apart because the hex is down.  Agatha says Wanda has tied her family to the hex, Wanda closes the hex to save her family.  The family reunites, Agatha attacks them, but Wanda shields them.  Agatha takes more of Wanda's powers.  The military arrive along with white Vision.  Vision takes on Vision, the boys take on the military, and Wanda takes on Agatha.  The Visions are fighting, but then Wanda's Vision says that he is not the real Vision but a conditional one.  The Visions have a tete-a-tete, they are trying to solve their issue with logic and reason.  Agatha attacks the Hayward's men, but Wanda saves them.  Wanda then flies up to Agatha and then uses magic to make herself disappear.  The boys take down Hayward's men, but Hayward attempts to shoot the boys but Monica arrives and takes the bullets.  The bullets hit Monica and seem to pass through her and fall to the ground leaving Monica unharmed.  Hayward attempts to flee, but Darcy arrives in the funnel cake truck and disables Hayward vehicle, Darcy then says, "have fun in prison".  We join the Visions still having their philosophical talk, where they come to an understanding that neither Vision is the real Vision.  Wanda's Vision suggests that white Vision needs the memories to be the true Vision, Wanda's Vision agrees he is not the real Vision anymore.  Wanda's Vision then places his hand inside white Vision's head to restore his memories.  White Vision then says, "I am Vision" and flies off never to be seen again in this episode.  

Wanda sneaks up on Agatha and does her mind magic taking Agatha back to Salem, as the dead witches start to rise, they chant Wanda, they say that Wanda is the harbinger of chaos.  A red crown glows on Wanda's head, Agatha asks Wanda again to let her take her powers.  Wanda and Agatha are fighting in the sky, Wanda keeps attacking Agatha, and Agatha keeps taking Wanda's powers.  Agatha then attempts to use her magic to strike Wanda down, but she can't.  Wanda had tricked Agatha, Wanda used the same runes Agatha did, the runes prevent Agatha from using her magic.  Wanda transforms into the Scarlet Witch; she takes her magic back and all of Agatha's.  Wanda and Agatha return to the ground, Wanda then puts Agatha under a spell trapping her in Westview to play the part of the nosy neighbour.  Agatha says Wanda will need her, and then Wanda changes Agatha back to Agnes, Wanda says if she needs Agnes she knows where to find her.  The family reunites, Vision says he knows Wanda will fix everything, except for them.  The family heads home as the hex comes down, Vision and Wanda tuck the twins into bed.  Wanda tells the twins "a family is forever. We could never truly leave each other even if we tried".  Wanda and Vision then say goodbye, Vision asks Wanda what he is she replies "you, Vision 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".  Wanda and Vision kiss for the last time, Vision says "I have 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" and Wand finishes the sentence saying, "we'll say hello again".  Everything starts disappeared including his Vision, his last words to Wanda are "so long, darling" before he is finally gone, and Wanda is standing in the empty lot that used to be their home.  

Wanda returns to the centre of town, all the residents of Westview glare at her, but they do and say nothing.  Monica tells Wanda that the residents have no idea what Wanda sacrificed for them, and Wanda replies even if they did it wouldn't change how they feel about her.  Monica tells Wanda that if she had those powers, she would use them to bring her mom back, Wanda says she is sorry for all the pain she has caused.  Wanda says she doesn't understand her powers, but she will.  Wanda leaves before the FBI arrives as credits roll.  There are two extra scenes in this episode, the first features Monica being approached by an agent and say she is needed in the theatre.  Monica enters the theatre and finds nobody there; the agent then reveals herself to be a Skrull and tells Monica that an old friend of her mothers wants to see her, and she points up into space (alluding to either Nick Fury or Talos).  The second scene sees Wanda is living in a cottage near a lake in a mountainous region.  We see that the Wanda is on the porch, but inside we see another Wanda (in The Scarlet Witch attire) reading the Darkhold and then we hear Billy's voice saying "Mom, help" before the screen goes to blank.

THOUGHTS ON "THE SERIES FINALE"

Episode nine was a great episode, but I also had some issues with it, the season was fantastic, and Marvel proved their Disney Plus series are high quality television.  The fights scenes looked amazing, but my favourite parts of the episode were Wanda and Vision's goodbye, and the Vision versus Vision fight/metaphysical philosophy talk.  As I have gotten older, I realized that I appreciate a great scene of dialogue and a good emotional core as much if not more than I appreciate action.  I think for me Wandavision has been such a success is because it had a strong emotional story at its core.  The reveals have me excited for the future of the MCU, but Wanda and Vision's story was amazing.  I don't think I ever realized how good of an actor Elizabeth Olsen is, she was amazing on the show, and I hope that leads to recognition, other roles, and being a larger part of the MCU going forward.  Paul Bettany was also fantastic, but that is less of a surprise because he has had a long history of giving solid dramatic performances.  Olsen is younger, and has had fewer notable roles, but with her performance in Wandavision expect her get a lot more interesting roles offered to her.  White Vision and Wanda's Vision having a logic-based conversation about who is the true Vision was fantastic.  It makes sense that a philosophical discussion between the Visions was what decided their battle, the answer that neither is the true Vison was correct.   

Wandavision gave fans something we longed during the pandemic, the MCU, and the finale deliverde the MCU action and spectacle.  Marvel did set up a lot of potential interesting characters with the finale, and it also will have fans buzzing about phase four of the MCU and beyond.  Hayward was revealed to be a simple bad guy, not a take over the world type of villain, but rather a hungry for power and success type of villain.  I hope we see more him down the road, possibly as the head of A.I.M., a rogue group made up of scientists.  Hayward did not get to do a lot in the finale, but I think he will (hopefully) have a bigger part in the MCU.  Hayward, played by Josh Stamberg played the smug, but also charming Hayward very well, I would like to see him again.  Hayward's arrest got just a minor mention and was seen in the background, I hope he is not a one and done villain.  With his charm and possible political connections, he could turn out to be an interesting antagonist in the future.  I think if they gave Hayward a little more depth, the outright villain turn would have been perfect, but he went from a jerk to kid killing villain a little too quickly.  If Hayward appears again, in a future MCU property and we get more depth to the character I will forgive the way Wandavision handled the character.

There were still some plot points that were never wrapped up, most of them were very minor, but we will see white Vision again, I have no doubt about that.  The white Vision is not likely as powerful as the original version since he is missing the mind stone, but Vision still has a body of vibranium, can phase and shoot a beam out of his head.  This white Vision now has the memories of the old Vision, so I wonder if this might be similar to the Gamora from the past that is now running around the universe.  Gamora was killed by Thanos so he could get the soul stone, but the Gamora now in the MCU was a past version of Gamora brought to the present.  We never got the answer to the identity of missing person that was in the witness protection program that brought Jimmy Woo to Westview.  I have to think the missing person was nobody of significance, but why even use that as the reason Jimmy got involved.  The identity of the engineer that got mentioned in episodes five and six never was solved, was it Major Goodner or another character.  Like the missing witness, the engineer was not someone of importance, but I would argue that the fact the character was mentioned twice with no payoff was possibly Marvel trolling us.  I will be curious what Feige has to say when talks about Wandavision and some of the decisions like Ralph Bohner, the witness, and the engineer.  If they were deliberate misdirects/trolling, then I may have an issue with that, but if fans just read too much into those things then I have no issue.  Evan Peters being cast to play Pietro and then revealed to be Ralph Bohner was trolling, nothing anybody could say could change my mind on that.  

The fact that we might see Wanda and Vision reunite, but it also takes away some (not all) of the emotional impact of the goodbye between Wanda and Vision.  The goodbye between Wanda and her version of Vision was absolutely perfect; it was sweet, emotional and incredibly sad.  Wanda and Vision were the heart of the series, and as long as the makers of the show nailed the goodbye, I can forgive almost everything else.  Wanda's comments to the twins were also perfect, it could have been an incredibly emotional goodbye, but Wanda and Vision being good loving parents did not want to upset the twins.  We now know due to the post-credits scene involving Wanda hearing the twins cry for help that their part of the story is not finished yet.  Wanda did villainous things to the residents of Westview, she might not have known how much suffering she was causing them, but once she realized what she was doing she did release them from the hex.  Wanda was the hero in the end, she chose the hard path of taking down the hex knowing it would mean losing Vision and the twins.  Wanda also saved Hayward's men after Agatha threatened them.  I thought the series would end with Wanda becoming a villain, but by the end Wanda to me was a hero.  I do think Wanda's journey after Wandavision will take her to some dark places, we saw her reading the Darkhold in the post-credits scene.  The Scarlet Witch, according to the witches (Agatha included) will destroy the world, Wanda now has opened her connection to the Scarlet Witch.  Will the poisonous power of the Scarlet Witch erode the heroic part of Wanda and lead her down a path of evil.  Wanda might tap into the power with the intent to bring back her children, but she might lose control or become possessed.  Agatha might have been doing bad things in her attempts to steal Wanda's powers, but she might have been speaking the truth that Wanda's power is too much for her.  I guess we will see in Doctor Strange 2 what will happen with Wanda, there is also a chance we get a second season of Wandavision.  

I enjoyed the season of Wandavision as a whole and I think they succeeded in delivering an emotional and thrilling series finale.  I did not like all of the payoffs to the various storylines, but the main characters of the show Wanda and Vision were phenomenal.  Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany were amazing and showed just how versatile as performers they are.  We got an amazing new character in Monica Rambeau, we got more depth to the characters of Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo.  It is time to say goodbye to Wandavision, but in two weeks we will be saying hello to The Falcon and the Winter Solider Disney Plus series.  I will be doing weekly spoiler reviews for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series like I did for Wandavision, I will see you again in two weeks. 

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