'WandaVision' Comes To An Emotional Close With Its Series Finale

Hello all, and welcome to your weekly recap of whatever wildness occurred on the latest episode of WandaVision. These are meant to be read after watching, so they will go deep into spoiler territory. You have been warned!

In an effort to discover the source of Wanda's amazing power, Agnes took the character on a tour of the saddest moments in her extraordinarily horrible life, ultimately revealing the origin of Westview in the process. Not only that, but we can finally start calling her the Scarlet Witch now. It only took like six years.

Let's begin with a list of concerns "The Series Finale" needs to wrap up, or at least address. One, Vision versus Vision. Two, Wanda versus Agnes. Three, Wanda versus SWORD. Four, what's up with Rambeau? Five, what's up with Pietro? And finally six, what's going to happen to Wanda, Vision, and those kids (if the kids even exist)? These are just off the top of my head before even watching the episode. It's a tall order. Luckily, this is a slightly longer episode than normal.

The main brunt of this episode revolves around the conflict between Wanda and Agnes. Essentially, Agnes wants Wanda's power, which she can absorb however Wanda gives it to her. This means Wanda's offensive actions just get turned against her. While they fight, Agnes goads Wanda and offers more hints at the nature of her power, telling us it is Wanda's destiny to eventually destroy the world. And she's probably not wrong.There has been a lot of talk about Wanda being the real villain of WandaVision, a somewhat obvious conclusion that became muddled with Agnes' arrival. "The Series Finale" reaffirms that original premise. Wanda comes face to face with the reality of what she did to the people of Westview. Her reaction is to throw another tantrum, one that chokes everyone out before she comes to her senses and lets them go. The episode resolves with her accepting her losses, taking ownership of the Scarlet Witch persona, and getting forgiveness from audience-surrogate Rambeau. But that's not the same as letting Wanda off the hook. Before she locks Agnes into permanent sitcom prison, Agnes calls her "cruel" and she's right to do so. We can feel sorry for Wanda and see this show as a journey through her pain, but I think it's also fair to say WandaVision wants us to walk away a little afraid of her as well.Meanwhile, her fake family gets to have a very Incredibles superhero pose, and it's just the cutest thing ever. So the morals here are complicated.

Thankfully, we do get a bit of big-budget Vision on Vision action in the episode as well. The fight is exciting, and takes advantage of Vision's powerset in cool ways, but the real action begins once they stop punching and start debating. The conflict becomes something akin to Captain Kirk talking a computer to death except both sides are computers and neither of them die.The White Vision is ordered to kill the Old Vision. But Old Vision argues such a goal is impossible since he is not truly Vision. Neither is White Vision. They are both missing elements. Old Vision lacks a body; White Vision lacks the memories that made him who he once was. So Old Vision unlocks that part of his brain. This should make him a more or less resurrected Vision for the MCU. We'll have to wait and see as he flies out of the episode and this show completely, leaving Wanda's Vision behind for all the emotional payoff. This saddles us with new questions for sure, but at least we can be certain to see Paul Bettany in the role again.As for Wanda's Vision, it is truly heartbreaking to see him and Wanda put their kids to bed and kiss each other goodbye as she brings down the walls of Westview. This has primarily been a show about Wanda, but it also acted as both a showcase for and funeral for Vision, one of the MCU's most interesting characters. While he will apparently remain in the MCU, it will not be in the form of a suburban husband and father, and it's very sad to see him go.

Rambeau is a full superhero now. According to the first of two credit stingers, she will continue her story in outer space with Captain Marvel. Good for her! Before all that, she solved the mystery of Pietro, the resolution of which might disappoint some. It turns out Evan Peters' involvement was more a clever nod than some opening of the X-Men floodgates. He was just another resident of Westview, taken over by magic. The question is: who has the sweet mancave filled with Steven Seagal movies, fake Pietro or the real "Boner"? Woo and Kat take care of the SWORD business, in a rather neat and abrupt fashion. Hayward gets arrested and there's really not much going on here. Look... it appears my theory that this SWORD stuff was another TV parody was wrong. And a little stupid. And I'm sorry I wasted anyone's time with it. The thing is, the SWORD stuff was kind of stupid too. These performances were heightened compared to the movies, and no one can tell me different!As for the kids... they're dead. Except maybe they're not? The series leaves us with the final image of Wanda, peacefully making tea in some remote part of the world while, simultaneously, the Scarlet Witch is studying up on chaos magic when she hears her boys cry for help. It's a chilling conclusion for a character that was making us cry five minutes before. Wanda may not be the ultimate villain of WandaVision, but what if she ends up being the next big bad for the entire MCU? 

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is on next. And it has no chance of not being a step down in comparison to this remarkable exploration of grief and sitcom tropes within a superhero vocabulary. On the other hand, after all this emotional drama, maybe two bickering heroes is just what we need.