Review: Marvel's "WandaVision" Episodes 8-9

Over the course of nine-episodes, Marvel’s WandaVision proved to be something that audiences really latched onto, but no one knew they wanted it from the outset. Even going back to when the series was initially announced, the reaction was somewhat tepid. It didn’t sound like the typical Marvel fare and a sitcom-like show based around two second-tier Avengers seemed like an odd choice.

But when the project finally debuted in January, it proved to be a refreshing update to the Marvel formula, with mystery oozing from every scene, even if that did to prove something of a tough pill for non-die hard’s to swallow. And episodes eight and nine are no exception. While the final stretch did fall back on the traditional plot lines Marvel has perfected, especially the finale which was rife with all the superhero action that audiences said was missing, it still held to the core of what the series first established itself as: different.

WandaVision is, arguably, the most intensely personal production Marvel has done since Captain America: Civil War. This is showcased beautifully in episode eight, which is essentially a flashback episode surrounding Wanda’s childhood and her transformation into a superpowered being, which had been largely unexplored. It does a lot of heavy lifting in terms of fleshing out her character. The most important bit comes from the revelation that Wanda wasn’t transformed by the mind stone, but rather, it “took what would have otherwise died on the vine and enhanced it.” In other words, Wanda was born with power, she just didn’t have any knowledge of it. And because of that, her power atrophied, until the mind stone that is.

The episode also gives audiences a glimpse at Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness, who has quickly become a fan-favorite villain. And much like with Marvel’s most successful villains, like Loki and Killmonger, Agatha Harkness strikes the right balance between relatability and wickedness. It is shown that her own mother had turned against her, and, as such, it’s understandable that she grew into someone who both craved power and feared anyone with greater might.

Moreover, this episode critically linked the future of the MCU with the past, specifically with the mind stone. It gave some much needed backstory to the universal element and tethered the plot going forward. Following the events of Endgame, the question of what happened to the infinity stones remained. While it was made clear that they couldn’t be completely destroyed, no one had any idea what happened to them. Now, though, audiences know that a piece of the mind stone resides within Wanda, and, as such, she could be the key to finding them again.

And while episode eight did the heavy lifting in terms of explaining the history of Wanda and how the Westview phenomenon came to pass, episode nine was all about wrapping things up. Wanda got a fairly by-the-numbers standoff with Agatha, which went as it usually does, with the villain getting the upper hand at the start, only to overextend themselves and see their power turned back on them. Even so, that didn’t stop it from being satisfying, and Marvel bucked the trend of one-off villains by having Wanda spare Agatha’s life.

Vision, on the other hand, who’d been somewhat shortchanged as far as character building had gone, really shined in the final episode, coming face-to-face with the existential dread of his existence and a twisted version of himself with “White Vision”, the reanimated body of the original Vision. Westview Vision, as some have taken to calling the android, was a construct purely created out of Wanda’s desire to have her great love back, and watching him confront that truth, while battling his evil doppelgänger in epic fashion, and ultimately teaching his replica the truth of situation, was both cathartic and exciting. It was exactly what audiences needed to say goodbye to the OG Vision and move onto what’s next for the character, or at least the White Vision iteration, which had it’s eyes opened to the reality that the Vision he was programed to terminate didn’t exist and that he was being used as a weapon.

And while that was certainly a touching moment that paid off years of MCU story, it touches on the big issue of the final two episodes: closure. The final two episodes seemed laser-focused on wrapping up the stories of Wanda and Vision, but they seemed to forget about the supporting cast. Monica Rambeau, who was very much the heart of the series until this point, was relegated to being a prisoner of fake Pietro and was barely present throughout.

Much the same could be said of FBI Agent extraordinaire Jimmy Woo and the true shining star of the show, Kat Dennings’s Darcy. Both characters got some throw away dialogue to close out their arcs, with Darcy not even appearing on screen again after heroically stopping the rogue S.W.O.R.D. director Hayward. This makes sense, to a point, as the series is titled WandaVision, after all, but this show assembled, perhaps, the best supporting crew in the history of the MCU and it was a shame to see their stories basically abandoned.

Another issue with the series was simply fan expectation, which really cast a pall over the proceedings. Wild theories had sprung up constantly over the show’s run, with overeager fans hypothesizing everything from Marvel’s resident devil, Mephisto, proving to be the ultimate villain, to Captain Marvel coming to save the day and having a showdown with Wanda. The biggest tease was that Evan Peters’s Pietro was the link between the MCU and FOX’s X-Men universe, but that, just like everything else, turned out to be some well-played bait-and-switch. Even so, by the end, it was clear that if something along these lines didn’t happen, then the series would be a failure. And when that epic, Avengers-style ending didn’t happen, many fans were left scratching their heads.

But, for what it was, the final two episodes provided an excellent cap to the first Marvel Studios-produced MCU show. Wanda was setup as a huge part of Phase 4 of the MCU, and perhaps the MCU’s heaviest hitter. And the after credits scene, with Wanda casually making coffee while the Scarlet Witch version of her steadfastly flipped through the Darkhold, was equal parts creepy and fascinating. It’s quite possible that Wanda/Scarlet Witch could be something of an antagonist going forward, especially given the tease that her children, which were more being created from her magic, are still out there somewhere and in peril, especially as she’s already shown a willingness to do anything to protect her family.

But not everything was tied up with a perfect bow. White Vision was left to the wind, with no word on where he went or what was next for the sentient android. After his showdown with Westview Vision ended, he simply left, feasibly to contemplate his own mortality and figure out what life meant to him, but nothing was said and that is a huge gap. And the existence of the Darkhold further complicates the canon of the MCU, as that particular artifact was a big part of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and it’s now even more unclear how those old Marvel TV shows fit in with the MCU.

But, overall, these are minor gripes. WandaVision proved to be a satisfying and well-thought out series. It was a nice switch up from what fans had come to expect and it turned Wanda and Vision into the A-list Avengers they always deserved to be.