WandaVision has come to an end, and I feel sad now. In a good way.
The finale did not do many of the things that fans thought it might do. It did not open up a multiverse or introduce a big new Marvel villain. It didn't introduce the Fantastic 4 or the X-Men, and it didn't even introduce Dottie (Emma Caulfield) as a third Westview witch. Evan Peters was revealed to be a man named Ralph Bohner, which felt like a joke that came out of nowhere.
We only got a glimpse of Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) showing off her new powers, Ultron did not return, and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) made no appearance.
And yes, it feels a little disappointing to have not gotten any of those big, game-changing moments, but that doesn't mean that what we did get from the WandaVision finale wasn't a breathtaking, heartbreaking, worthwhile ending to the past eight weeks. I feel sad not because so few fan theories came true, but because the show is over, and it ended with a terribly sad finale.
We all knew this couldn't end well, of course. It's not like the sitcom world that Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) created could remain intact. For one thing, she had caught up to present day. There were no more decades for her to race through, unless she was planning to explore sitcoms of the future or start all over again. For another thing, it just wasn't a sustainable way to live, and she was hurting the random Westview citizens who had gotten caught in her hex. For a third thing, Wanda had lost her parents, her brother, her boyfriend, and most of her childhood, and hadn't properly dealt with any of it. She wasn't mentally stable, and she had no reason to be.
But we had hopes and dreams that Wanda could somehow figure out a way to keep Vision (Paul Bettany) and her kids, and the slow realization that she wouldn't be able to do that—or at least that she really shouldn't—was simply crushing. Then we watched as Wanda let the hex close, taking Vision and the kids with it, leaving her standing alone on her empty plot of land.
By the end of the episode, Wanda had fully embraced her power (and a new look) as the Scarlet Witch, trapped the attempted magic thief Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) in her nosy neighbor character forever, accepted that she had to learn how to grieve properly and moved herself into an isolated little house in the middle of nowhere. There, she apparently learned to astral project, just in time for her to make total sense as a character in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Vision, meanwhile, had a showdown with himself. The rebuilt Vision was supposed to destroy the real Vision, but magic Vision convinced him that neither Vision was the true Vision. Magic Vision then used his magic-given powers to restore the rebuilt Vision's memories, and then rebuilt Vision flew away while magic Vision went to die alongside Wanda.
So what happened to the new, Mind Stone-less Vision? We don't know. He never reappeared, so maybe there's a weird reunion still in the cards for him and Wanda. Plus, it sounded like Wanda's kids were yelling to the astral projected Scarlet Witch for help, so maybe her family can come back together after all, someday.
In the end, WandaVision probably could never have given us a finale that lived up to what we had all started imagining, but boy was it fun to watch a show that got our imaginations running wild like that every week. I had more fun with TV over these past eight weeks than I've had in years, scrolling theory-filled TikToks and listening to "Agatha All Along" on repeat. I rewatched every movie in the MCU and stayed up each Thursday night to watch new episodes at midnight, devastated when the "stand by" screen would appear with seven full minutes of credits left, but too filled with adrenaline to sleep afterwards.
This show was the most fun I've been able to have since this pandemic started, even as I always knew that what the show was really about wasn't fun at all. At some point, we were all going to have to deal with some of the same emotions Wanda was suppressing. Her suburban TV life was secretly creepy and depressing, but I would have given a lot to be able to live in a sitcom this past year. I found myself desperately, futilely trying to figure out how her sitcom world might actually work out, knowing all along that it could not, and Wanda would have to face reality eventually.
I knew it was all going to go wrong, but had the best time trying to live in the world Wanda made.
There's a reason I and so many other people love the MCU so much. This isn't perfect storytelling, and a lot of times it doesn't make the most sense. Many questions are left unanswered, and if you dig too deep, it becomes messy. But if you give me two seconds to start thinking about the way Captain America (Chris Evans) looks as he's about to face Thanos (Josh Brolin) all by himself during Endgame, only to suddenly find himself surrounded by the heroes he nearly just died trying to bring back to life, I am in tears. I saw Avengers: Endgame, a three hour movie, three times in the same weekend, and I'm still thinking about it two years later.
I don't crave watching Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) die at the end of the movie over and over again, but I do crave that feeling of reaching the end of a story and earning that cathartic cry when something actually does end.
All along, I could guess what kind of sadness was coming at the end of WandaVision, and I craved the feeling of having earned it. After all the fun I had, it felt so good to cry as the hex crept up on Wanda and Vision standing in their living room, wiping it all away.
WandaVision gave us a world where we got to watch a little Marvel movie each and every week, and the best part is that this is just the beginning. There are so many more shows and movies on the way, starting in just two weeks with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I don't expect that show, a story of two former soldiers carrying on the legacy of Captain America and dealing with their PTSD, to be quite the same as WandaVision, but I'm so looking forward to loving it anyway.
All of WandaVision is now streaming on Disney+.