The following is a recap and review of the ninth and final episode of WandaVision, available exclusively on Disney+. Expect story spoilers and general Marvel Cinematic Universe spoilers.
In the ninth (and supposedly final) episode of WandaVision — appropriately titled The Series Finale — Wanda Maximoff (played by Elizabeth Olsen) must fight for her family’s continued existence as Agatha Harkness (played by Kathryn Hahn) threatens their safety by trying to absorb Wanda’s life force and powers. Meanwhile, the Vision (played by Paul Bettany) goes up against an all-white version of himself, who is on a mission to terminate Wanda Maximoff. In the series finale, our friends and foes battle it out while the future of the Hex is very much up in the air.
The season (or series) finale, with the appropriate title, was released on Disney+ many weeks ago, and I have been spending the time since then merely trying to make up my mind as to what my overall thoughts on the series were. By now, I have gathered my thoughts, and so I thought it was only right to finally release the final episode review of the series, prior to the release of my season/series review in the next few days.
The previous eight episodes were a great joy to recap since a great deal happened both inside and outside of Westview. There were scenes that needed to be analysed, reactions or revelations that were puzzling, and so much more. However, this final episode was basically just a battle (at least for the most part). It was definitely the least interesting episode of the series, even though its final scenes were very moving. So, instead of a normal recap, I’ll be more brief in this episode review, and go over my thoughts on some of the major events of the episode in a brisk manner.
Although it was a little bit disappointing to me that the final episode was just a major battle that sidelined select characters and pushed pivotal character development to the very end of the episode, my biggest point of frustration with the episode as a whole was the way the show unveiled exactly who Evan Peters’ character was.
For weeks, fans had naturally been speculating as to whether it was realistic or not to expect him to be a version of Quicksilver from an alternate universe, and, while that never needed to be true to keep me happy, I was extremely annoyed by the fact that his character reveal is not much more than a penis joke. Furthermore, the episode as a whole didn’t manage to conclude the individual storylines of Kat Dennings’, Evan Peters’, and Randall Park’s characters in a way that gave us proper closure, and since this is supposedly the series finale that feels like a missed opportunity, to say the least.
On the flip-side, I greatly enjoyed how they wrapped up the story of the Vision. I think that it was a very smart choice to have the Visions go head-to-head by outsmarting, or perhaps hypothesising, each other. Who is the real Vision? It’s all up to interpretation. Though I thought it was interesting to have an open ending with regards to the so-called ‘White Vision.’ What I mean is that he was sent on a mission to destroy the true Vision. So, if he suddenly becomes the true Vision has the ‘White Vision’ left Westview to destroy himself or merely to soul-search? We’ll probably find out in another show or an upcoming film.
Although I was less-than-thrilled by the way Monica let Wanda leave Westview, I otherwise really loved what the episode did with Wanda. I think there are several really smart choices made in the final fight. I loved how Agatha used her own ‘bad memory’ against Wanda, I loved the way in which Wanda outsmarted Agatha at the very end, I loved ‘the costume,’ and I was really impressed by the fact that the show actually had the people of Westview confront Wanda with the trauma that she had inflicted on them albeit unintentionally. They may not have made Wanda an out-and-out villain, but this scene, as well as the second post-credits scene, helped to show her less-than-ideal place in the world at the end of the show.
Though the beating heart of the show — i.e. what made me fall in love with it from start to finish, warts and all — was undoubtedly the connection shared by Paul Bettany’s Vision and Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff, and I thought the way Wanda said her ‘goodbyes’ was pretty much note-perfect. It was a heart-wrenching and moving ending to the show to see the way they looked at each other, when they knew what had to be done.
This episode is at its worst when it comes to its many supporting characters who feel much too sidelined here at the end, but it succeeds when it focuses on its two main characters whose relationship now perhaps feels more real than any other relationship in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This episode is one of the weakest episodes of the season though, which is disappointing when you consider that the penultimate episode was flat-out fantastic.
B
To reiterate, in the days to come, I’ll try to release full season reviews of both WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
– Review Written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 