Why must Marvel ruin all good things? WandaVision honestly started so strong. I was amazed by the creative risks being taken in a Marvel project—the mystery lingering throughout the first half of the series, the domesticity, the dystopian small town setting. I really enjoyed the glitches that started appear as the episodes progressed.
*Spoiler Alert*
Even the concept of Wanda taking an entire town captive and designing her ideal life and family as a way to cope with her grief was truly compelling. Is was a beautiful illustration of what grief can look like, as a character’s interiority was projected into every element of the show—the town she constructed, the characteristics of classic tv shows she incorporated as the days progressed, the way that other characters that were under her control actually felt her pain and grief and were scared by it. But Marvel, in typical Marvel fashion, had to end it with a CGI showdown in the last episode in which Wanda battles Agatha the witch and makes things right. After most of the episodes prior to the finale were so carefully designed and modeled on classic tv shows, all the red cgi splattered across the screen simply looked messy. How could the show have ended differently and maintained its intimacy? I think Marvel missed a great opportunity to explore that, without relying on the classic hero CGI fight. It reminds me of how The Mandalorian ended by having Luke Skywalker come to claim Baby Grogu. Even shows that are extremely well executed can falter as they rely on formulaic and reliable elements in order to please audiences for finales. It’s kind of lazy writing. But I think these larger franchises—Marvel, Star Wars—have definitely conditioned us to expect grand endings, instead of offering more subtlety.
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