WandaVision

 

CREATOR-: Jac Schaffer

STARRING-: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn
AIRED IN-: 2021
PREMISE- Blends the style of classic sitcoms with the MCU, in which Wanda Maximoff and Vision - two super-powered beings living their ideal suburban lives - begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. 

Wanda Maximoff and Vision were never really fan favorites among the general audiences and justifiably so - we never got to spend much time with them as a couple and their relationship in 'Avengers: Infinity War' felt a bit out of place, sudden, and rushed. While it was really depressing to see Wanda experience the death of her lover not once but twice, there was still a lot of room left to drive home the actual weight of her loss. 'WandaVision' aimed at portraying Wanda’s emotional and mental state after Vision’s death and how her inability to grieve and move on was going to affect the MCU moving forward. As the official kickstarter to Phase 4, fans all around the globe hoped that this 9-episode limited series would promise an ambitious path that Marvel was willing to take with its stories. So, did the show actually manage to meet those expectations? Well yes, for a while. 

The first three episodes of the show were genuinely great in terms of telling an entertaining and intriguing story in the format of classic sitcoms while at the same time maintaining an undertone of foreboding mystery. Various snippets of dialogues, odd characters, easter eggs, production designs and the peculiar commercials that were aired in between segments were more than successful in arousing fans’ curiosity and reinvigorating the Marvel fandom which had been dormant for more than a year. For the first time, Marvel Studios had decided to take an unconventional route in terms of storytelling and their courage was being rewarded unanimously by delighted critics and excited fans. Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen’s beautiful chemistry worked as the cherry on top and the show was genuinely starting to look like the best content Marvel has managed to churn out in years. 

Unfortunately though, as the show progressed, the leads’ performances was the only aspect of the show that remained consistent right till the end.

The quality of the show very clearly started to decline from episode 4. As the procedural workings of S.W.O.R.D started becoming more central to the plot, the pacing suffered immensely. Storylines felt very generic and too familiar to other Marvel movies or blockbuster movies in general. Characters felt more like archetypes (the dick chief who orders everyone around, the annoying nerd who cracks one liners occasionally, the curious bystander who’s just a stand-in for the audience, and that one character who's only present to gain superpowers and appear in future installments) with one-note dimensions and the responsibilities of moving the plot from point A to point B through conveniences, coincidences and sheer luck. In any other marvel project, these storylines and tropes would’ve fit in seamlessly. But in a show like 'WandaVision', which was attempting to mix multiple genres and trying to immerse itself in the exploration of unhealthy grief and the affect it can have on others, these standard templates often felt stale, frustrating, and only made the audience crave for the uncanny sitcom format more.  

Because the end product was so disappointing, I’ve decided to break down each episode separately. So if you want to avoid spoilers, just jump ahead to the conclusion or my final rating. 

EPISODE 4

This episode basically recaps the events of episodes 1-3 from the perspective of S.W.O.R.D employees and also introduces us to Jimmy Woo (from ‘Ant man and The Wasp’), and Darcy Lewis (the astrophysicist from the 'Thor' movies). The one positive stand-out in this episode is the opening sequence of Monica reassembling after the events of 'Endgame' in the hospital where her mother passed away from cancer. The scene was gripping, chaotic, and gave us a glimpse of the chaos that would've ensued after 'Endgame'. 

With that being said, let's take a look at the problems with this episode-:

• Through the conversations that Monica has with Hayward, it is clear she suspects that Hayward is involved in some shady stuff with Vision. Yet, she does nothing about it - no inspection, no inquiry, and not even a call to Quantico. She IS the daughter of the founder of S.W.O.R.D after all, so you'd expect her word to carry significant weight to her contacts above. 
• We learn that Woo’s arrived at Westview because a person under his witness protection program has gone missing. But the show never reveals who the ’missing witness’ really was.
• Along with Darcy, experts of chemical engineering, Artificial intelligence and Nuclear Biology are also brought on the base of operation. But we NEVER see these people again.
• The show (through Darcy) is able to explain that Wanda is broadcasting her show within the hex to the outside world but never explores WHY Wanda is choosing to do so. 
• S.W.O.R.D decides to send a guy into the hex in a protective suit through the sewage line without sending a drone through that passage first.

EPISODE 5

After Monica is finally free from Wanda’s control and is thrown outside the hex at the end of episode 4, she undergoes a medical examination and Hayward calls in a briefing in which Woo and Darcy are also present. Woo briefs the team about Wanda’s past and Hayward rightfully states that Wanda is extremely dangerous and has also gone against the Avengers in the past. But Woo, Darcy and Monica are shown adopting a scoffing attitude towards Hayward, calling him names behind his back, and unnecessarily antagonizing him. The show presents these three characters as immensely sympathetic towards Wanda, who are willing to defend her at every opportunity and also turn a blind eye to what she has done with the people of Westview.

In spite of being under Wanda’s mind control herself (where she was feeling ’hopeless, excruciated, terrified and violated’), Monica stands up for Wanda and says that she isn’t as dangerous as Hayward is depicting her to be because she could’ve enslaved a thousand people more but chose not to. Yes, I suppose it should be considered really heroic of Wanda that she chose not to put MORE people in agony. 

Also, Monica being under Wanda's control directly contradicts the scene inside the hex where Monica broke character and asked Wanda about her brother, at the end of episode 3. How was she able to do this if she was under Wanda's influence? If she WASN'T under Wanda's control, then what was protecting her? She hadn't procured her superpowers yet, right? Does Wanda's control over people come and go as the script pleases?

In 'Ant man and the Wasp', Jimmy Woo was portrayed as a strict, by-the-books character who didn't let his emotions get the better of him and was strongly determined to arrest and apprehend those who broke the law. He's shown to be a constant antagonistic force against Scott Lang for breaking the law in Germany and helping Captain America in 'Civil War' (even though Scott didn't harm any innocent citizen). But in this show, Woo is inexplicably supportive towards Wanda, constantly defending her and making no efforts to apprehend her, even though there is legitimate proof that she has enslaved an entire town. It is fascinating how the show manages to assassinate not only the central characters, but also the one-dimensional, side ones. 

In this episode, unfortunately, the problems of the script slowly start to creep into the events taking place within the hex. Problems like-:

1. When Agatha ‘’messes up’’ her scene while visiting Wanda’s home to help with the babies, why does she ask Wanda if she should ’’take it from the top again’’? Why does Agatha take the risk of breaking Wanda’s illusion, and exposing herself in the process? What did Agatha achieve from doing this? 
2. When Vision frees Norm and discovers the constant, agonizing pain he is in, why does he put him back under Wanda’s control? Why didn’t he free the rest of the town too and have them band together to confront Wanda, just like we’re shown in the finale ?
3. Why did Agatha kill sparky? 

Anyway, in the next scene that takes place in the S.W.O.R.D base, our trio (Monica, Woo and Darcy) is having a discussion about various mysteries of the hex. Darcy says that if the sets, props and wardrobe inside the hex is actual solid matter and not an illusion, then Wanda’s powers have grown multifold. Upon hearing this, Monica has a eureka moment and brings Woo and Darcy along to the lab where her costume is being examined. She takes Woo’s gun without his permission and shoots 3-4 bullets at her clothes. The bullets bounce off and that’s how she concludes that Wanda is rewriting reality through the hex as her clothes now have some percentage of kevlar (which is what she was wearing before she was sucked inside). There is also a monitor next to her clothes from where she learns the exact percentage of Kevlar present. 

The following are the problems with this scene- 

• The information that Darcy provides is in no way suggestive of the fact that the composition of objects is being rewritten. Then how did Monica even get the idea of her clothes having kevlar?   

• Did Monica really need to shoot bullets inside a tension-filled facility, which is on high alert and is filled with security personnel, in order to prove a point which could’ve easily been proven had she just looked at the monitor screen present right next to her clothes? 

• The show rewards Monica’s stupidity by having it so that her clothes did actually have kevlar in them instead of something more dangerous, say, an inflammable substance, which could have jeopardized not only the important equipments in the lab but also the lives of the people on the base and the entire Westview operation of S.W.O.R.D. 

• Even after multiple gunshots are heard, not one security personnel comes in to check on the well being of the components of the lab or apprehend the person who just opened fire inside a highly sensitive and critical base of operation. 

EPISODE 6

My complaints about this episode begin with Darcy smirking and making a snarky comment about how Hayward almost got killed by his own ‘’murder squad’’. Here’s why Darcy’s comment comes across as immensely ignorant-

• Isn't Darcy aware that Hayward’s soldiers pointed their guns at him not out of their own volition but because they were under Wanda’s control?

• By calling soldiers ’murder squad’ Darcy reduces everything that soldiers do (the services and protection they provide, the sacrifices they make for their country) down to just ‘’murder’’.

• Darcy should know that indiscriminately and instinctively killing enemy threats in a combat zone is not only lawful and necessary for the safety of the country but is also very different from ‘murder’, which is unlawful, targeted and usually premeditated. 

The conflict between Monica and Hayward in this episode also comes across as very forced and clunky. It starts with Monica being angry at Hayward for sending in a missile at Wanda (in episode 5). Hayward remarks that he now knows how powerful Wanda really is, which is a reasonable conclusion to arrive at. 

Monica and Hayward get into an argument about what steps to take moving forward but none of them are actually focussed on pitching solutions or discussing about the problem at hand. We are instead shown the two of them spewing out personal jabs at each other. Monica calls Hayward a ‘coward’ for attempting to neutralize Wanda (although he was totally justified in trying to do so) and Hayward makes an unprofessional remark about the death of Monica’s mother.  At this point you realize that the only way the writers are going to progress the plot is by making experienced and qualified adults behave like petulant children.  

We also get dialogues like ‘’If Wanda is the problem, she has to be our solution!’’ which sounds sophisticated but doesn’t actually bring anything new to the discussion. This frustrating and convoluted conflict finally ends with Hayward deciding to de-base Monica since she clearly is not able to see past her personal bias (which again, is justified). 

Hayward also decides to de-base Darcy (which is understandable) and Woo. I couldn’t understand Hayward's need to de-base Woo, who had been nothing but obedient and had never really raised any voice of opposing nature up until that point.

Anyway, when our trio is being escorted out of the base, Woo and Monica overpower the soldiers escorting them and wear their uniforms while there are other soldiers literally strolling right behind them. I suppose they only hear and see things when the script requires them to. 

Our trio is then shown waltzing in and out of places which have crucial information stored, hacking into computer mainframes and obtaining said crucial information, and getting into S.W.O.R.D trucks to depart the base, with not one person batting an eye. 

The following are the problems with the ease with which our trio is able to do this-

• Does Hayward not know that Monica, Woo and Darcy have managed to escape? Has no one bothered to check upon the soldiers who were responsible for escorting the people who were considered an impediment to S.W.O.R.D’s entire WestView operation?

• If Hayward does know that our trio has managed to escape, why hasn’t he amped up security throughout the facility, especially in places which contain ‘’shady’’ information about his operation? 

After hacking into Hayward's systems, Darcy finds that Hayward has a way of tracking Vision and the people of the town inside the hex. She also finds Monica’s blood work and shares that her cells have  been re-written twice and going through the hex’s boundary a third time might kill her. But we’re shown that Monica isn’t afraid because she has seen ‘’cells metastasizing and cells in remission’’ throughout her life. Yes, she believes that cancer cells and having your molecular structure being completely re-written are two comparable things. It is played out as a somber moment but I was struggling to contain my laughter. 

We get yet another platitude from Monica in the form of ‘’I know what Wanda is feeling and I will help her’’ which again, might sound really emotionally resonant but doesn’t actually mean anything in the broader sense.  Her plan is to appeal to Wanda’s sensible side by going inside the hex and convincing her to move on I guess? But the last time she tried that, Wanda threw her halfway across New Jersey. So what makes her think that she will be successful this time? 

Anyway, the episode concludes with Vision discovering the plight of the people of Westview (again), and deciding that he needs to help them. But just as he manages to escape the boundary, Wanda expands the hex, engulfing Vision, Darcy and a bunch of other sword officials. The following are the problems and inconsistencies with these sequence of events-:

1. We see Vision notice Agatha’s car at the edge of the town. He sees that something is wrong with her and uses his powers to ‘’free’’ her of Wanda’s control. But we’re later shown that Agatha was NEVER under Wanda’s control. Then how did Vision’s powers work on Agatha? We see the special effects after Vision touches Agatha’s head so clearly he did SOMETHING to her brain, right?
2. Why was Agatha in her car at the edge of the town ? How and Why did she expect Vision to come there? Was she just going to wait there for him the whole night? How did she know that after arriving to her, Vision was going to try and ‘’free’’ her? How did she even know about Vision’s ability to free people?
3. When ‘’Pietro’’ asks Wanda how she managed to build the hex, she says ‘’I don’t know how I did it’’ but in this same episode, she is shown expanding the hex at her will and encompassing Vision and S.W.O.R.D officials.

EPISODE 7

This episode opens up with Wanda fumbling around her house and being confused at the turbulent nature of her powers. Agatha very easily manages to get Wanda’s kids out of her sight and Vision and Darcy try to get back to the town in a clown bus. But this is where the logic within the hex also starts to fall apart. Vision doesn’t really NEED Darcy to be able to get back to Wanda. He might need her for answers but does he really need to take a ride in a clown bus with her to be able to accomplish that? He has the ability to fly at supersonic speeds, so why doesn’t he just pick Darcy up, fly to a quiet location and then ask all the questions he wishes to? Almost half of this episode is spent with Vision and Darcy but that much screen-time is completely unjustified if we just take a moment to think about Vision’s abilities. Almost 10-15 minutes of screen time could’ve been reduced to a 3 minute straightforward conversation. Instead, we get a very childish journey with occasional silly marvel humor we’ve all grown tired of. And to make matters worse, Vision’s morbid realization that he has actually died in the real world isn’t given time to breathe but is instead undercut by a bunch of kids crossing the road and blocking the way. Heavy dramatic moments being nullified by silly humor is something that I’d really like Marvel to abandon in its upcoming projects. 

This is also the episode where Monica Rambeau disobeys several orders and protocols and decides to penetrate the hex with the help of an entire group of soldiers who have decided to go rogue on Hayward because they are convinced that Monica is right. A bunch of soldiers & employees deciding to help Monica, who has a personal bias for Wanda- a Witch who has enslaved a whole town- is extremely convenient to say the least.

It is also very convenient that instead of getting mind controlled again or having her whole body turned to mush upon crossing the hex, Monica gets undefined captain marvel-like powers, which prove to be helpful to her inside the hex (another instance of the show rewarding her stupid decisions). This also raises some questions like - How did Monica know that upon crossing the hex, she is going to get powers that would be helpful to her, instead of getting mind-controlled? If she did not know that she was going to get powers, then what was her plan anyway? How was she sure that Wanda isn't just going to throw her out of the hex again? 

Anyway, Monica then tries to convince Wanda that Hayward is apparently the nefarious person even though it has been established that his goal is to neutralize Wanda as a threat and bring normalcy to Westview. The dialogue in this episode also becomes more hollow and devoid of real meaning. Everything that comes out of Monica’s mouth sounds very forced and shallow because the character is given no personality or depth. 

Overall, this episode has Characters moving from one point to another but the way they get there and their motivation behind it is either very weak or very poorly translated from script to screen. 

Finally, as the final twist of the episode, it is revealed that Agnes is actually a witch named Agatha Harkness who has been doing mischievous things the whole time. But the problem here is that almost everything ‘’Mischievous’’ that Agatha is shown doing is actually inconsequential and irrelevant to how the broader story unfolds. She’s shown interfering a bit in Wanda and Vision’s magic show, messing with the mind of Wanda’s neighbor, being a bit dramatic in front of vision, and killing sparky-things which are never woven into the larger story in any meaningful way. She’s also shown to be the one who’s controlling ‘’Pietro’’ but that particular storyline is concluded in a very frustrating way (more on this later). Even the information that she gets about Wanda through '‘Pietro’' is something that she could’ve gotten in her exposition tour (episode 8) anyway.  

Furthermore, it absolutely infuriated me that the writers deemed it necessary that the show have a cliched power-hungry villainous character when Wanda is herself a pretty great villain with sympathetic motivations. By shifting away the role of the ‘’villain’’ from a grieving person who went too far to feel loved again, to a regular ‘’Give me all your power’’ type of Witch, all of my hopes of seeing a nuanced take on grief and acceptance went down the toilet. 

EPISODE 8

There is a great scene in this episode which takes place in Wanda’s room in Avengers headquarters right after age of Ultron. Wanda is on the bed watching 'Malcolm in the Middle' and Vision comes in to have a conversation with her and comfort her in her time of grieving. Wanda expresses the pain and sadness she’s been experiencing since Pietro’s death and Vision shares his perspective of how grief is essentially love persevering. It is clear that Vision’s perspective not only lightens Wanda’s mood but also helps Vision feel better about himself. They also bond a little over the sitcom and share a humorous moment, which further helps in laying the foundation of their relationship. This scene has brilliant dialogue, beautiful chemistry between the leads, incredible pacing. It establishes a solid emotional core between Wanda and Vision and might just be my favorite scene in the whole show.

BUT, the rest of the episode, which basically comprises of a backstory of Agatha Harkness and Wanda, is almost completely useless to the overall plot and is very uneventful. The episode does a poor job of translating Agatha’s motivations behind taking Wanda on her expository tour. Agatha states that she is curious to know how Wanda managed to create the hex and mind-control numerous people. 

But by the end of the episode she comes to the conclusion that because Wanda was grieving from the loss of Vision and Pietro, she was able to manifest this immense magical power from within herself and force a whole town into playing along with her charade — information which is neither useful nor new to Agatha in any way and doesn’t help her in learning Wanda’s ’Witchcraft’.  So the question then arises - Did she really need to take Wanda through the significant events of her life in order to obtain her powers? Well, no, not at all. Agatha could’ve just lead with kidnapping and threatening Wanda’s kids, provoking Wanda in the process and then absorbing all the power she needed from Wanda’s attacks. Agatha’s and Wanda’s life summary in this episode could be completely removed from the show and practically nothing would change. I reckon this episode was essentially included to catch up the audience on the respective backstories of the ‘villain’ and ‘hero’ so that Agatha Harkness as the antagonist didn’t feel contrived and shoe-horned in at the last minute since the show-runners apparently decided that Wanda could not be the main villain of the show. My speculation was further strengthened when we were shown Agatha explaining and describing almost everything that is happening on screen.

The reason why this episode also feels very uneventful and empty is because Vision is nowhere to be seen. WandaVision was at its best when Wanda AND Vision were on screen together and were interacting with each other. The moment these two were kept apart, the show devolved into a monotonous and unexciting sludge. 

We were shown in the last episode that Vision had finally decided to fly back to Wanda after spending almost half of the episode in the clown bus with Darcy. But the amount of time it took Vision to get back to Wanda (an entire episode) was very odd given his ability to fly at supersonic speeds. If he had perhaps used his abilities to reach Wanda in time before Agatha could get to her twins, the entire finale could’ve been avoided.   

The final gripe I have with this episode are the backstories themselves. 

Firstly, Agatha is unintentionally painted as a hero in her own ‘’Villainous’’ backstory. She is shown using her powers to save her own life from witches who are hell-bent on killing her simply because she ‘’Went outside the magic book’’ . I mean, Dr. Strange is also seen maneuvering around the rules in his own origin story and his disobedience is played humorously in that film so why does the show expect us to think that Agatha has committed an execution-worthy crime here?  

Secondly, Wanda’s backstory is completely retconned from Age of Ultron. 

In Age of Ultron we learnt that Wanda and Pietro were stuck in the rubble of their house for a few days after it had blown up. During this time, an explosive shell with the word ‘’Stark’’ on it had landed in front of them which, unbeknownst to them, was defective. Wanda and Pietro spent their days in the rubble worrying every passing second for their lives, hoping that the bomb doesn’t go off. This led to their hatred for Tony Stark which further led to their decision to volunteer for Strucker’s experimentations in order to crumble the Avengers, which is how they obtained their mutant powers. This cause of hatred was not only gritty and compelling but also shed light on the negative effects and consequences that Stark Industries’ military and weapons division had on the world. It also made the MCU feel more coherent as it further tied in Tony’s decision to shut down that particular division of Stark Industries in 'Iron Man'. 

But in this show, we are told that the bomb wasn’t in fact defective, and that it was Wanda’s powers (which she supposedly had from birth) that kept the bomb from going off. Wanda was apparently Scarlet Witch all along and it wasn’t her decision to volunteer for Strucker’s experimentation that gave her powers. The experimentation simply amplified her pre-existing abilities. It wasn't her determination to get revenge on Tony Stark that helped her endure and persevere through the pain of the experiments but it was simply dumb luck that she was born with these powers. I don't reckon I have to point out why this retcon is immensely lame and frustrating. It not only completely undermines the development these characters had in 'Age of Ultron' but also unnecessarily messes up the continuity of the franchise. It also raises questions like - If only the ''chosen ones'' or those which had their powers from birth were able to survive the experimentation, then how did Pietro get his powers? The show never indicated that he was BORN with super speed then where did his abilities come from? Why wasn't he dead like the rest of the regular volunteers?

We then arrive at the sequence where Wanda decides to go to S.W.O.R.D headquarters, looking for Vision’s body. This sequence is filled to the brim with problems like-

1. With the Sokovia accords still in effect (as stated earlier by Jimmy Woo), how is Wanda able to walk around freely and enter S.W.O.R.D headquarters? Wasn’t she still a fugitive in 'Infinity War' ? 
2. Wanda can’t feel the essence of Vision as we’re shown later. Then how did she know that S.W.OR.D had Vision’s body? 
3. Why was Vision’s body being dismantled FIVE YEARS after his death? Why did S.W.O.R.D wait until AFTER the events of 'Endgame' to break him? What were they doing with him in the five year period?
4. Why did the Avengers decide to give away Vision’s body to S.W.O.R.D to be dismantled and broken down? Why didn’t Vision receive a proper funeral after the events of 'Infinity War'?  
5. Why does Hayward jeopardize his facility and his employees by showing Wanda the dismantling and disfiguration of Vision? Why does he villainously say ‘’HE ISN’T YOURS’’ as if trying his hardest to provoke her? Did he not see the aggressive way in which Wanda had marched in through the doors? There are two explanations for this - Either the dialogue is just very poorly written OR Hayward is actually trying to provoke her. If it is the former, then that is a testament to the devolved quality of the show. But if it is the latter, then what does he aim to accomplish by making Wanda upset? Does he just derive pleasure out of it or Can he foresee that the footage of her breaking and entering the lab is going to be helpful to him in events that haven’t even occurred yet? 
6. Hayward is really lucky that Wanda didn’t just blow up the entire facility out of anger at the sight of her lover being broken down and after hearing that Hayward won’t let her take the body for a burial. 
7. The show forgets that there are Avengers still ALIVE in this universe. Dr. Strange, Pepper Potts, Nick Fury, Bruce Banner, Hawkeye, Steve Rogers, Shuri, Peter Parker, Bucky, Sam Wilson, Rhodey, Thor, The Guardians, Captain Marvel, are all people who could very easily persuade and pressurize S.W.O.R.D to return Vision’s body for a proper funeral. So why doesn’t Wanda go to them for help? 
8. Hawkeye also lost his entire family and went down a dark path. So if anyone understands unhealthy methods of coping with loss, it’s him. They also share personal history as he motivated Wanda to become an avenger in 'Age of Ultron' and take Cap’s side in 'Civil War'. So why isn’t he or any of the other Avengers present to comfort Wanda? In fact, why doesn’t S.W.O.R.D contact Hawkeye or the remaining avengers to come and alleviate the situation after the hex has been created? 
9. Where Does Wanda live after 'Endgame' ? Does she live on her own or is there a new Avengers headquarters where all the remaining heroes are living now? All these questions would come under world building but the show is hardly ever interested in doing that. 

Lastly, in the post-credit scene, we see Hayward powering up White Vision, that he and his team have built, through Wanda’s residual energy left on the drone. How convenient is it that the only power source that could start up White Vision was inadvertently provided by Wanda herself JUST in time for Agatha to start executing her evil plan in the next episode? Also, WHY was Wanda's energy still present on the drone? Alas, we never get the answers to these questions either. 

EPISODE 9

• This episode kicks off with Agatha threatening Wanda’s kids in order to provoke her so that she can absorb her energy once she attacks.

  But, Agatha’s plan doesn’t really make a lot of sense. Her plan was to just sit around and play along with Wanda’s shenanigans until Wanda trusts her enough to hand over her twin kids so that she can use them as leverage against Wanda and then through expositional life stories, learn how Wanda had enough power to be able to create the hex?

  Why didn’t Agatha just create one of her runes in her own house in the beginning and then invite Wanda over, or make one of her runes in Wanda’s house itself, thus disabling Wanda’s powers and forcing her to spill out whatever information she wanted? OR What was stopping Agatha from attacking Wanda from the get go and hence prodding her to use her powers so that she can absorb them? She could’ve also used ‘’Ralph’’ to distract Vision. The point I am trying to make is that it was very bizarre that she waited 8 episodes for her plan to fall into place when she could’ve easily got what she desired in the first episode itself.

• Anyway, we see Wanda getting scared for the life of her children and attacking Agatha. But why is Wanda scared for the well being of something that is literally a creation of her own psyche? Why didn’t Wanda just disassemble her kids out of Agatha’s grasp and then re-assemble them at a safe location? As we see later, it is clear that this sort of experience is not going to affect them or harm them in any way. So Wanda’s decision to let her kids get choked by Agatha for a while before doing anything was very bizarre and illogical. 

• After Wanda’s first attack towards Agatha, we are shown that her hands have become ‘’dried up’’ so to speak. But this NEVER affects her ability to fight Agatha. It doesn’t make her weaker in any way or reduce any of her powers. In fact, she kind of becomes stronger than she’s ever been before. If there was going to be no decrease in her abilities, why even bother to show the dried up hand? 

• Agatha says that she wants Wanda’s powers because Agatha is the one who ‘’knows what to do with so much power’’ and in return she will let Wanda keep her Westview hex. But how is Wanda going to maintain the hex when all of her power is gone? 

• White Vision has been specifically programmed to kill Wanda and Vision on sight. Yet from the moment he arrives, he takes his time caressing her face, delivering ominous dialogues, attempting to crack her skull and lifting her up so that Wanda has ample time to react fearfully. Why doesn’t White Vision kill her ON SIGHT like he has been programmed to do? It’s not like he was programmed to record fearful reactions of Wanda before she dies, right? 

• Even though Wanda is a magical & powerful witch, the one vulnerability that she’s always had in the MCU is that of being human. As in, a bullet through the head or breaking of neck IS going to kill her. In this episode, White Vision very clearly cracks Wanda’s skull, which should do SOME damage, if not kill, a regular human. But, again, it has no effect on Wanda’s abilities and powers AT ALL .  So her hands can get ‘’lifeless’’ but she’ll still remain extremely powerful. Her skull can be cracked, but she’ll still remain extremely powerful. And as we see later on, even if someone manages to manipulate events in her own manufactured nightmare sequence, she will still come out on top. Is it not obvious how ridiculously difficult it is going to be to create stakes with this character moving forward? 

• While White Vision is busy lifting Wanda up and delivering dialogues like a sentient villain, the actual Vision arrives at a very high speed and tackles White Vision WHILE WHITE VISION IS STILL HOLDING ON TO WANDA. Realistically, Wanda’s head should’ve come right off of her body as White Vision gets thrusted away with that much force. But won’t you know it, it doesn’t affect her in ANY way. 

• It is very convenient that Hayward decided to send in White Vision into the hex on the SAME day that Agatha was going to execute her evil plan AND just in time before the real Vision got back to Wanda. What if Hayward decided to send in White Vision a week later? Agatha would have to go against Wanda AND Vision and we all know how quick that fight would be over.

• Wanda says to Vision that she should have told him everything ‘’the moment she realized everything she’d done’’ implying that she wasn’t actually aware of what she was doing to the people of Westview. But this is in direct contradiction to her actions in previous episodes which very clearly indicate that she’s fully aware of her actions. 

For example-

1. In episode 1, when the boss starts getting too intrusive about Wanda and Vision’s personal life, he starts choking on food and is only helped by Vision when Wanda tells him to.
2. In episode 2, when the guy in the hazmat suit appears inside the hex, Wanda sternly says ‘’No’’ and rewinds the episode to remove the person from her show.
3. In Episode 3, when Wanda is suspicious of Monica’s identity and intentions, she throws her out of the hex.
4. In Episode 5, Wanda comes out of the hex with the disabled S.W.O.R.D missile in her hand, warns everyone to ‘’stay out of her home’’ and literally confesses to taking the entire town hostage. The dialogue in this scene makes it crystal clear that she is the one in control. 
5. At the end of Episode 5, we’re shown Vision slowly getting a grip on things and inquiring Wanda about the various anomalies that he’d observed within the hex such as the absence of children in Westview and the pain that Norm was in when Vision freed him from Wanda’s ‘suppressing oversight’. When Wanda tries to dodge the situation, Vision tells Wanda that she can’t control him the way she does the people of the town to which Wanda replies ‘’Can’t I?’’ and rolls the credits over her show. But Vision continues to tell Wanda about how Norm can’t reach his family because of Wanda’s control and asks what is outside of WestView. Wanda says that whatever she’s done, it is all for herself and Vision, and that he really wouldn’t want to know what’s outside of WestView. Both of them argue a bit more and Vision repeatedly tells Wanda that what she is doing is wrong. Wanda doesn’t deny the allegations that Vision puts forth but just says ‘’I don’t know how this all started in the first place’’ meaning she IS aware of what she’s doing but doesn’t quite remember the way it started. Even when ‘’Pietro’’ rings the doorbell, Wanda says, ’’I didn’t do that’’ implying she DOES control every aspect of WestView but just the arrival of ‘’Pietro’’ was not her decision.
6. In Episode 6, When Pietro tells Wanda that he is very impressed with how she has managed to build the hex and control the people of the town, Wanda asks ‘’You don’t think it is wrong?’’, implying she is VERY much aware of what she is doing. 

• Moving on, Agatha makes a ‘’funny’’ comment about how Wanda’s ‘’ex and boyfriend’’ are at the same party. But shouldn’t she be clueless as to who this new Vision is? In fact, shouldn’t Vision also be clueless as to who White Vision and Agatha are? How is he sure that they are not just creations of Wanda?

• Wanda says to Vision that the hex is their home and Vision says ‘’then let’s fight for it’’. But wasn’t Vision having problems with the very existence of the hex in earlier episodes? In episode 6, He even risked his life to just get out and inform S.W.O.R.D about how the people inside need help. I am fine with Vision defending Wanda from a threat, but the lack of meaningful reconciliation between the two of them was utterly baffling. You can’t just insert two lines of dialogue and expect the audience to believe that now all the tension that was between Wanda and Vision as a result of the existence of the hex is completely gone.  

• We then cutback to outside the hex and we are shown Woo, who is in cuffs, having a conversation with Hayward. And in the presence of at least 4-5 security personnel AND Hayward, Woo very casually sneaks in a safety pin and mobile phone in his pocket from the table which is in FRONT OF Hayward and NO ONE notices.  To make things more convenient for Woo, he’s also left in a corner all by himself, unsupervised, so that he has enough time to un-cuff himself and make a call to Quantico. 

• Hayward’s plan is absolutely bonkers. His plan is that once White Vision kills Wanda and Vision, he will convince Quantico that Wanda stole the Vision in their facility (by showing the altered footage), all the while ensuring that the entire base of soldiers and employees of S.W.O.R.D are telling the same lie. But there are still thousands of witnesses in Westview who have literally seen Vision with Wanda so what’s Hayward plan for countering that? 

• We then get an exposition scene from Agatha about how Wanda is studied among the witches and how she is more powerful than the sorcerer supreme himself (I’ll come back to this later). Agatha then frees people from Wanda’s control and the people start begging Wanda to let them go so that they can reunite with their families and kids whom Wanda has locked away in rooms. But why does Agatha do this? If Agatha supposedly does this so that she can ‘’absorb’’ Wanda’s powers once Wanda decides to free the people after realizing what she’s done, there are several problems that arise-

1. We already know from previous episodes that Wanda IS totally aware of what she is doing to the people of the town (the first half of the show sets this up pretty well). So ideally, the revelation of people’s pain shouldn’t be news to Wanda.
2. What if Wanda decided not to help the people of WestView and continued living in her augmented world with Vision? It is clear that Vision doesn’t have major problems with the existence of the hex (at least not in this episode) and S.W.O.R.D’s operation is useless and weak anyway, so Wanda will have no opposition. What would’ve Agatha done then?
3. When Wanda does eventually use her powers to free people, Agatha has a lot of time to absorb Wanda’s powers but she doesn’t do anything. She just keeps hovering and floating in the side without doing the one thing she’s supposed to do.

• Now, There are two broad ways in which the major conflict in WandaVision could’ve been written which would’ve felt the most natural and satisfying-:

1. The first is to have Wanda be completely unaware of what she is doing to the people of the town. Vision slowly discovers and understands the mysteries of the hex, makes Wanda realize what she has unintentionally done to these people, and then helps Wanda move on by helping her let go of the hex (with the help of S.W.O.R.D) and freeing the people of their pain in the process.
2. The second is to have Wanda be completely aware of what she is doing to the people of the town. Vision still discovers what’s really going on in the hex, but this time when he tries to discuss things with Wanda, she gets confrontational and is not ready to let go. We could have a sad, dramatic moment where Vision no longer recognizes the person he fell in love with and is heartbroken upon seeing how Wanda doesn’t care about anything other than living in her fantasy world. Maybe they can fight each other or maybe S.W.O.R.D could contact Dr. Strange to help out. The series could perhaps end with Wanda in jail, wearing the suit that inhibits her powers (like we saw at the end of Civil War) OR have her be the villain in the upcoming Dr. Strange sequel.

• In both the ways, the focus of the show always stays on building the drama and conflict between Wanda and Vision, as it should be, given the title of the show is literally WandaVision. In both the ways, Vision is the one who helps Wanda complete her arc and the development of Wanda AND Vision as characters is interlinked & mutually dependent.
• But what you absolutely cannot do, and what the show goes out of its way to do, is to have Wanda be aware at first, then have her be unaware in the latter half, then have her be made aware again by some Witch who was apparently waiting in the hex for 8 episodes for some evil plan that could’ve been executed in the first episode itself, THEN keep the titular characters apart from each other for 2 whole episodes, AND give screen time to a shoe-horned villain who no one cares about, and an annoying side character who’s supposed to be funny. 

• Now, it's time to talk about the scene that exasperated both MCU and X-Men fans alike. Evan Peters’ guest appearance in episode 5 as Wanda’s brother was mysterious and extremely exciting because it meant that an X-Men and MCU crossover is just around the corner and the stories that could be born out of that merger were potentially countless. The show itself hypes this up by having the ‘’live studio audience’’ clap upon his entry. Darcy also says ‘’she recast Pietro?’’ as a wink to the audience. So, what was the pay-off to this extremely electrifying build-up? Well,  it was all a very big joke. We (through Monica) discover that Pietro's real name is ''Ralph Bohner'' and he's being controlled by Agatha. Let me reiterate. The writers introduced a character from the X-Men universe AND gave hints about a crossover, all so that they can write in a fucking boner joke. Kudos, Marvel. 

• Monica then tackles Ralph to the ground and learns that Ralph had the powers of Quicksilver by having a special necklace that Agatha made. First of all, how does Monica tackle Ralph when he still has super speed and strength? Secondly, the broader implication of this scene is that now anyone in the MCU can have super speed and strength by just having a necklace around their neck. Wanda can easily force Agatha to make several necklaces for her OR since Wanda is shown reading the ‘’book of the damned’’ in the end, it won’t be difficult for her to make one herself. So now, if any big threat arrives on Earth, and our heroes DON’T use the necklaces to their advantage, there will always be the question of ‘Why not?’ And if our heroes DO use the necklaces to their advantage, then there will be no real vulnerabilities, tension, or stakes left in the fights. Either way, this decision by the writers  is equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot. 

• Upon supposedly seeing the people’s pain for the ‘’first time’’, why does Wanda not SHRINK the hex immediately instead of opening tiny slits in the hex? Does she want the people to run OUTSIDE of WestView, the town where they live?

• Hayward then makes the stupid decision of ordering his soldiers to enter the hex, as if they are now immune to mind control and won’t just be manipulated again by Wanda’s magic. 

• After getting weakened and losing the fight with White Vision, Vision conveniently and coincidentally lands right next to where Wanda is, so that she can see him getting disintegrated. Even though Tommy and Billy had sensed Wanda being in danger a long time ago, they conveniently and coincidentally decide to arrive next to Wanda right after Vision has plummeted to the ground, so that Wanda can see her kids get disintegrated too. 

•  Why can’t Wanda generate a hex just around her kids and Vision, which will surround them wherever they go? That way she won’t have to harm other people and can still live out her fantasy. Even in the final moments, their departure is played as a sad moment but it is really avoidable if she just made a hex over her home or around themselves. 

• When the S.W.O.R.D trucks arrive inside the hex, why don’t Wanda and Vision tell them that the hex will be taken down? Why do they do an ‘’attack’’ pose and make matters worse? You could argue that trying to appeal to S.W.O.R.D in a peaceful way might not have worked but it is very bizarre that they don’t even TRY. Vision, who had previously risked his own life to warn S.W.O.R.D and beg them for help, is also okay with fighting them all of a sudden. 

• Why does Wanda leave her kids alone in the fight against armed grown men? Why doesn't she mind-control the soldiers like she did in episode 5?

• Wanda’s kids incapacitate the soldiers outside the trucks but conveniently forget to do the same with the people INSIDE the truck so that Hayward can get out and make yet another stupid decision of shooting at the kids. 

• Why does Hayward decide to shoot bullets in the GAP between Tommy and Billy? Is it so that Monica can conveniently appear in that gap later?

• Why does Hayward not stop shooting once he sees his colleague, who is also the DAUGHTER of the FOUNDER OF S.W.O.R.D, has arrived?

• When Hayward misses Monica and the bullet approaches Billy, we see Monica follow the bullet along with her eyes. Does this mean that she is faster than a bullet, i.e, she has super speed too?

• If Monica can casually trace the path of a moving bullet, why did she let the bullet go towards Billy? Why didn't she catch it mid-air or deflect it?

• We're shown that Billy was able to look at the approaching bullet and react to it, implying that he is ALSO faster than a bullet and ALSO has super speed.

• When Hayward tries to escape, Darcy appears out of nowhere and slams Hayward’s truck with her clown bus. A few questions that don't get answered - Where was she all this time? Why does she attack Hayward when she doesn’t even know what his nefarious plan was? Did she see him shooting at kids? Why didn’t she try to escape when Wanda opened the hex for a brief moment? 

• We then see Vision ‘’defeating’’ White Vision by engaging him in a philosophical debate and ‘’restoring’’ his memories. I guess its really convenient that Hayward and team decided to let White Vision be conscious enough to understand philosophy and not just make him a missile-like killing machine, which would have made their whole plan go a lot smoother but oh well I suppose we needed SOME way to have Vision come back in the future movies. You know, it's not like the emotional weight of a character's death MEANS anything.

• In the final fight of the episode, we see Wanda pull a trick where she disappears in thin air in order to confuse Agatha. Where did this new power come from? Why didn't she use it earlier in the MCU? Wouldn't it have been really helpful to use this ability when she was going to get arrested at the end of 'Civil War'? 
• We then see Wanda getting frustrated and giving all her powers to Agatha. She then appears to be hovering as a lifeless and powerless corpse. But then, as Agatha tries attacking Wanda, it is revealed that Wanda is not in fact powerless, and has actually managed to build her own runes in the clouds thus disabling Agatha from fighting completely.  The problems with this scene are as follows-

1. Why Does Wanda fake her own death for a brief moment? What did she accomplish from doing this? Did she simply want to troll Agatha? Or was it only to build un-earned tension among the viewers at home?
2. In this same episode, Wanda very clearly says that she has no training, doesn’t know how to cast spells and hasn’t been taught magic or witchcraft by anyone. Then how is she able to build her own runes, the very existence of which she had learned just in the previous episode from a brief line of dialogue?
3. If the creation of the runes stripped Agatha completely of her powers, then how is she still able to float in the air? Did the writers forget that flying is also a power? 

• Wanda tells Agatha, ''I don't need you to tell me who I am'' and yet proceeds to embrace the Scarlet Witch suit, and read the book of the damned.

• Wanda then defeats Agatha and entraps her forever in Westview as ‘the nosy neighbor’. But in the end, Wanda completely removes the hex over Westview. So what happens to Agatha once the hex is gone? Does she still remain in character? Why didn’t Wanda just hand over Agatha to S.W.O.R.D?

• In his final moments, Why doesn’t Vision tell Wanda that she can still find him in White Vision's body since he restored all of his memories? 

• We then get what has got to be one of the worst scenes in the entirety of MCU. So, After Wanda has removed the hex, she is shown taking a walk to Monica to say goodbye. On her way, the people of the town give Wanda hateful and repulsive looks. On observing this, Monica says, ’’They’’ll never know what you sacrificed for them’’ to which Wanda replies, ‘’That wouldn’t change how they see me’’. Wanda then asks Monica, ‘’You don’t hate me?” to which Monica replies, ‘’ If I had your power, I will bring my mom back’’. Wanda then says that she’s sorry for all the pain she’s caused and Monica replies with ‘’I know’’. Wanda also says ''I don't know how to control this power, but I will'' and flies away. The primary problem with this scene is the laughable lack of a basic moral compass in Monica. She thinks that letting go of your imaginary friends justifies enslaving an entire town of people and locking away their children. Even the show paints Wanda as the victim here by having her say ’’That wouldn’t change how they see me’’ as if the people are wrong to see her they way they do. As many communities on the internet have rightly pointed out, the scene could be made way better by just having Wanda say ‘’That wouldn’t change what I did to them’’. Yes, that still wouldn’t account for Monica’s crooked morality but it’ll still be miles better than the garbage we got.
• Another example of how obtuse Monica really is that she doesn’t think there is a difference between bringing your loved one back, and bringing your loved one back AND playing pretend while enslaving thousands of people to play along in your charade. 

• The other major problem with this scene is that Wanda faces no consequences for the things she’s done and is allowed to fly away by Monica, who’s apparently just satisfied with Wanda’s apology to HER, not the people of the town. This instance also gets worse if you think about how Wanda's apology to Monica is void because there is clear evidence at the end of episode 3 which proves that Monica was never really under Wanda's control. 
• Wanda says that she doesn't know how to control her power, and yet is shown to know how to disappear, shrink and expand the hex at her will, make her own runes, astral project, and read a sacred book even though she doesn't understand the language, all with NO TRAINING or mentor.

• It is also bizarre that even Monica doesn’t face consequences for letting Wanda go. In the end of the show, Jimmy Woo, being the idiot that the show has made him, asks ''Where's Darcy'' not ''Where's Wanda''. I couldn’t help but imagine a scenario in which after Wanda flies away, one of the residents of Westview comes over to Monica and says something like, ‘’My son is dead because of lack of food and water for so many days. That Wanda Maximoff is in your custody and will face serious judgement right? And Monica is like ‘’Um no you see she was very sad after letting go of her imaginary buddies and she also apologized so I HAD to let her go.’’

• Paul Bettany said in an interview that the show gave him the opportunity to work with an actor with whom he had never worked before. Fans began speculating that it must be Dr. Strange since his appearance in a show about magic makes absolute sense. Kevin Fiege in an interview also confirmed that initially the studio was planning to have Dr. Strange be the one responsible for broadcasting the weird commercials as a way of contacting Wanda. He also said Dr. Strange was going to play a big role in the show towards the end — perhaps help Wanda control her power or help in S.W.O.R.D’s operation. BUT Fiege remarked that they shelved that idea because they can’t have ‘’A White guy teach magic to a woman’’ as it will ''take the focus away from Wanda'' which is not only blatantly racist but is also disrespectful to the character of Dr. Strange himself. Firstly, How did the forced introduction of 'Agatha Harkness' NOT take the focus away from Wanda? Secondly, Dr. Strange is the sorcerer supreme and the master of the mystic arts who has sacrificed his life infinite times to save the planet from Dormamu and has learned magic from the ancient one herself. It is very obvious that he is more mature, has more experience, and has a better understanding of magic compared to Wanda, at least up until the show forcefully made him weaker than Wanda for some reason. The problem with this is that it messes up the continuity of the franchise and also turns away passionate fans of the MCU like me, from their upcoming projects. We don’t have any likable or vulnerable characters left to root for anymore. Wanda and Monica are both over-powered and have undefined powers, and Dr. Strange’s abilities are already undermined before his own sequel could release. 

CONCLUSION

Although I had a really fun time in the beginning, the show’s increasing disregard for - logic in the plot, sensibilities of characters, and continuity of the world it is set in, ruined my viewing experience with each consecutive episode. Ultimately, 'WandaVision' is a show that I think would’ve been better off with less Marvel-isms, more focus on the drama between the main characters, and more time spent on building the world after the events of 'Avengers: Endgame' rather than on forced jokes, unnecessary villains and lame humor.

RATING -: 2/10