WandaVision Finale's Divisive Response Explained

MCU movies and shows. Every episode was filled with subtle clues, complete with mysterious "commercials" that have still only been partially explained. And finally, in WandaVision episode 7, viewers were delighted to officially meet the villain - ancient witch Agatha Harkness, who even got her own popular theme tune, "It Was Agatha All Along."

The last two episodes took a more traditional MCU approach, with episode 8 explaining a lot (but by no means all) of the mysteries and episode 9 drawing all the threads together in a dramatic confrontation. While there was certainly a lot of action - two Visions went head to head in what some are jokingly calling a "Double Vision" scene, while Wanda Maximoff finally became the Scarlet Witch as she traded fireballs with Agatha Harkness in the heavens - the focus was on the emotional beats.

WandaVision will be ed the best for its handling of repressed grief, a theme that became heartbreakingly topical given the events of 2020 and into 2021. And yet, as emotionally cathartic as the show may have been, WandaVision's finale has proved surprisingly divisive. What's going on?

WandaVision Always Had An Impossible Task

WandaVision Episode 1 2 Cast Character Guide

There's a sense in which WandaVision always had something of an impossible task. It's important to the MCU's Phase 4 hasn't really launched how Marvel intended it; the coronavirus pandemic has caused chaos in Hollywood, with both production and theatrical releases affected. All this has led to a veritable drought of Marvel content that has left fans increasingly frustrated. It doesn't help that the year has been such a painful experience for so many, and consequently many were eager to return to the warm, comfortable familiarity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

But WandaVision dared to be different. Marvel has always loved to blend their superhero adventures with other genres - Spider-Man movies channel John Hughes - but WandaVision went one step further. It took advantage of the MCU's small-screen, episodic debut to become a superhero sitcom, subverting expectations and only gradually returning to a more standard MCU approach. This was bold and inventive, and as a result it left some viewers dissatisfied. Marvel promised an explosive finale, but the weight of those deferred expectations meant the pressure on the finale just kept increasing. Paul Bettany didn't help, by teasing a major cameo in which he got to play alongside someone he'd never acted with before; he was referring to the "Double Vision" battle, where he acted against himself.

Why Some People Loved WandaVision's Finale

Scarlet Witch uses her powers in WandaVision.

This isn't to say everyone is critical, of course. The truth is that WandaVision has been incredibly popular, with the vast majority of viewers willing to accept the show on its own . To these viewers, the main interest in WandaVision is in seeing Wanda confront her grief, and her final moments with Vision were the perfect climax. This is the third time Wanda has seen the love of her life die before her very eyes, but this time she chose to accept it, and even recognized that he would live on in her. Meanwhile, Wanda's journey to becoming the Scarlet Witch - essentially one of self-acceptance, in which she finally acknowledged who she has been all along - has resonated powerfully with viewers who have experienced their own journeys of self-discovery.

Why Others Hated WandaVision's Finale

Ralph Bohner takes Monica captive in WandaVision

Others, however, have openly expressed dissatisfaction. Fans had various hopes and expectations that weren't met, surrounding everything from the multiverse or Mephisto, but one particular lightning-rod appears to be Evan Peters' Quicksilver. WandaVision episode 9 revealed he was actually an actor named Ralph Bohner who Agatha Harkness had cast as Pietro, most likely because he had the right hair color. The gag is an amusingly meta one, but to fans who were eager to see the X-Men enter the MCU or for some other big reveal it was downright disappointing - and frankly frustrating.

If WandaVision Disappointed, It's Because Fans Made It Happen

WandaVision Episode 8 Wanda Uses Chaos Magic

Ultimately, though, the truth is that the disappointment is more a result of fans' own expectations rather than WandaVision itself. The show sold itself as a superhero sitcom, an intimate portrait of a woman struggling to deal with grief and the make-believe family she had created for itself. But fans, longing for more MCU content after a drought of over a year, were more interested in a show that would transform the MCU. They wanted alternate realities, Magneto as Wanda's father, the world rewritten so as to unleash mutants in Phase 4. The problem is that these ideas are focused more on fans' own ideas of where the universe should go, than they are on the reality of the show they are watching right now. They further assumed Marvel was in a hurry, simply because they were themselves eager for the likes of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, whereas Marvel has surely developed a reputation by now of taking their time and enjoying the journey.

There's nothing wrong with fan-theories - they can be tremendously fun, as of a community bond together over creative ideas, and anyone whose theories are proven correct feels an understandable thrill of delight - but the problem comes when the theories do not allow the show to exist on its own . WandaVision was only ever going to be about Wanda Maximoff's journey of self-discovery and her struggle to cope with the grief that overwhelmed her, her desperate flight to a fantasy world where she could live a "Happily Ever After" life. While it does have a Multiversal impact - the finale literally prophesied Wanda as the one destined to destroy the world, and granted her the Darkhold, a book of dark magic to tear apart the fabric of reality itself - this was not its focus. The fan-theories were dealing with WandaVision as the fans wanted it to be, not as it was. Given that is the case, WandaVision was always doomed to disappoint.

All this isn't to say some of the criticisms of WandaVision are not fair. No TV show is perfect, and there are legitimate criticisms about some of the secondary character arcs that weren't satisfactorily resolved; the confrontation with Director Hayward was particularly low-key after such a significant amount of build-up. But disappointed fans would be wise to go back and rewatch WandaVision, to judge it on its own merit. And meanwhile, if they aren't in the mood for a superhero sitcom, the good news is that Marvel's next Disney+ show is Falcon & Winter Soldier, which promises to be much more the high-octane action-adventure they were looking for in the first place. Perhaps that, in the end, is the true magic of the MCU; that, precisely because Marvel embrace so many different genres and styles, there is something for everyone.

More: WandaVision: Every MCU Easter Egg In Episode 9