Recap and Review of WandaVision, S1E9: “The Series Finale”

There are so many dangling threads as we come into the last episode of the series. How much are we going to get resolved? How much will carry forward into other MCU properties?

Let’s find out!

Recap of WandaVision S1E9 “The Series Finale”

We pick up right where we left off, with Agatha Harkness and Wanda in a stand-off. After blasting Agatha, they both send the boys, Timmy and Billy, to their rooms.

(And here is where I make a confession: writing recaps of fights is hard. There is a reason boxing columns are always about big overarching ideas, even if the truth is the one guy just got his tail whipped by the other guy. So rather than try to go blow by blow, let’s talk big picture.)

Agatha has picked this fight for the very reason she is the kind of witch she is: she want to absorb all of Wanda’s power, to take it away from what and who she calls “the undeserving.” And we see some of the effects of it. The flashback showed us what happens as Agatha absorbs power: people decay, ending up almost mummified.

Early in the fight, we see the first signs of this in Wanda as her hands go dark. After Agatha tries to cut a deal, offering Wanda the chance to keep Westview if she will give Agatha the power, Wanda blindsides her with a car.

But then Ghost Vision shows up. And while no one thought it would be all hugs and kisses, Wanda is surprised as his embrace of her face becomes him attempting to crush her skull.

But, then we get the second fight that is going to key to the episode: Vision versus Ghost Vision. Agatha reappears and like a tag team wrestling match out of control, they partner up and head to different parts of Westview to rumble, as Wanda declares “This is our home” and Vision answers “Let’s fight for it.”

We get a cut away scene that shows us what has happened to Monica. Pietro has her captured in his mancave. When she makes an escape attempt, he stops her. While this doesn’t all happen chronologically, overtime, we learn that Agatha’s house isn’t Agatha’s at all but belongs instead to a “Ralph Bohner”. (I know I always find it helpful when real estate documents are just left on the coffee table in the mancave. Wait, you don’t store yours there? Weird.)

So, Ralph is Pietro and Monica is able to free him when she rips off the purple conch shell necklace at Agatha was using to control him. (More thoughts on this post-recap.)

Because the Visions are fighting up in the sky. Ghost Vision is talking about how Wanda must be killed and the other Vision removed. And we are able to track it all outside at SWORD tent, as Jimmy Woo is in custody and the acting director gives him a speech about the ends justify the means.

But Woo assures him, justice will come, as he cleverly takes a phone and a baby pin off the desk, and calls for backup, even after he told the deputy it was on its way.

The Wanda v. Agatha fight has a turn, as Wanda searches downtown Westview and sees the faces of the people she has been holding hostage. Agatha shows up and gets all exposition-y, letting Wanda know that the magic book the Darkholde, the Book of the Damned, has a whole chapter on the Scarlet Witch inside it.

But Agatha is like the cool English teacher that let you use the CliffNotes on books like As I Lay Dying, which everyone thinks is great but really is unreadable rubbish covered in Southern cliches. (The book, not the teacher.)

The key points:

1. The Scarlet Witch is not born, she is forged.
2. She does not need a coven or need for incantations.
3. Her power exceeds that of the Sorcerer Supreme.
4. And she is destined to destroy the world.

Agatha then cuts loose “Dottie,” who it turns out is really named Sarah. And Sarah is desperate to get her daughter out of her locked room, suggestions plot ideas to Wanda; she just wants to hold her daughter. Agatha then cuts the strings on more of what she calls “The Meat Puppets” and they surround Wanda.

The two Visions are fighting and blasting their head lasers at each other, while the brothers watch from their room. When they sense their mom is endangered by the crowd downtown, they head out.

But Wanda, at first refusing to believe the crowd, eventually decides that she can let the crowd go. And we see her use her enormous power to open up part of the hex, so they can flee.

Of course, this also opens the door for Sword to swarm in. As the Visions fight, Ghost Vision seems to have the upper hand, as his head laser proves more powerful. The Vision eventually crashes near Wanda, and she stops the open door, as both her husband and her now arriving children are disintegrating while she is undoing the Hex, even if for a moment. So, Wanda closes up the Hex and they have a family moment.

Agatha attacks and siphons more of Wanda’s powers and both her hands start to look dead, as SWORD arrives. Vision is quickly slammed into the Library and, for the first time, he is able to gain the upperhand, when he is able to get the Ghost Vision to question his orders to “Destroy the Vision” by pointing out that Westview Vision is but a temporary construct.

And while the boys handle SWORD, Hayward gets out of his car and goes to shoot the twins. Only Monica shows up first, using her new light powers to stop all the bullets but one, which Billy stops. And when Hayward goes to run away, Dr. Darcy slams into his card with the Funnel of Love food truck, pinning him in.

Meanwhile in the library, the two Visions have a discussion around the thought experiment The Ship of Theseus, that is used in identity philosophy. The idea is that a ship and its pieces are replaced as it is slowly due to rot. And if the rotten pieces were used to restore it, which is really the ship?

It is a classic argument that leads them to believe that neither is fully the Vision, but Ghost Vision allows Vision to restore memories to himself. (A good reminder all: Back up your data!)

Ghost Vision gets all the memories back but none of the emotional connecting pieces, declaring himself to be the Vision and flying off.

Wanda ambushes Agatha and drops her in the flashback we’ve seen before. (It has been awhile when Wanda used these powers, which are the first we saw she had in Age of Ultron.) Agatha seems frightened but then the rising dead witch bodies turn on Wanda, calling her the Scarlet Witch, the Harbinger of Chaos.

Then a red glowing tiara appears. Agatha offers to fix the Westview spell, giving Wanda and her family a place to stay forever, if Wanda gives the power. Wanda breaks through and the fight continues over Westview.

But every other shot, Wanda seems to be missing, hitting the walls of the Hex. Meanwhile Agatha just keeps soaking up power, seemingly becoming more and more powerful, then revealing that she cannot fix the Westview spell.

But when she goes for the grand finale, Wanda reveals that those misses were putting magical runes on the walls of the Hex, meaning only her powers would work inside it, learning from the lesson of Agatha’s basement last episode.

Then Wanda transforms into a new outfit, seemingly embracing the moniker of The Scarlet Witch. Fight won, Wanda curses Agatha to the nosy neighbor role, only no one will communicate with her moving forward.

Vision and Wanda then take their family home, both knowing what has to happen, and Wanda begins to undo the Hex, restoring Westview slowly to what it is supposed to be. Inside their house, Vision and Wanda tuck their kids into bed, saying how proud they are of the boys and Wanda promises a family is forever. And then she thanks the boys for choosing her to be their mom.

As Vision and Wanda embrace, they have a few more words, in part ending with the Vision having tears, which is an iconic moment from the comics, after Wanda reveals that Vision is the piece of the Mindstone that lives in her, as well as her sadness, her hope and, mostly, her love.

Vision’s response is “We have said goodbye before so it stands to reason we will say hello again.” And the Hex is undone.

Wanda leaves the lot of land where she started the Hex, and as the townspeople scorn her, Monica expresses sympathy and understanding; if she had Wanda’s powers, she would bring her mom back. Wanda expresses sorrow for the pain she has caused and promises to learn to understand this power that she has, flying away in her new Scarlet Witch garb.

And then we get two cut scenes. In the first scene, Jimmy Woo is handling his business, but Darcy is gone because “Debriefs are for the weak.” Monica is summoned into the theater and once inside, it is revealed the agent she is talking to is a Skrull and an old friend of her mother wants to meet with Monica. And when Monica asks where, the agent simply points to the sky.

In the post credit scene, we see a cabin off by itself and we see Wanda, enjoying a warm drink but inside we see the astral form of the Scarlet Witch, hard at work, learning from the Darkholde. But she comes to life when hearing the voices of her kids asking her for help!

Thoughts on WandaVision S1E9 “The Series Finale”

So, let’s be honest here: there are going to be people who really do not like this finale. Their favorite plot threads didn’t get resolved, yada yada yada.

But this is an incredible end to a fantastic season of televison. The reality is that you cannot leave so many pieces out there and not have some that you don’t resolve. But with that in mind, there are some things that I wanted to point out.

So, maybe the Multiverse thing was a trick? No one loved the idea of the X-Men’s weirdo universe smashing into the MCU. But with the revelation that Pietro is wannabe actor Ralph Bohner, does that undo the rest of the theories and speculation? (I suspect this may be what we see people the most ticked about.)

Frankly, I kind of like that there isn’t a clear resolution one way or another. Kevin Fiege and team can give themselves some room to play around with it one way or another.

The Scarlet Witch stuff. This gives us the appropriate amount of terror and intrigue moving forward and clearly helps us set up what is coming with her and the Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange. And her messing around with the Darkholde just seems like it is going to be trouble.

The sacrifice that Wanda makes in the end. All of this is Wanda’s responsibility. She has done all the things that are happening in Westview. Agatha just showed up to siphon power, not launch or start anything.

So, in some way, Wanda is the Big Bad of the season. But in others, her sacrifice of her Westview family at the end is iconic. And Paul Bettany, in playing both Visions is amazing. That tear Vision cries works because Bettany makes it so.

And what are we to make of the new Vision arriving at who he is and then flying off? Is he going to self destruct himself? Is he going back to Avengers life? What about him having all the memories but none of the emotional connection? That storyline has been well mined in comics and could be good.

The Trio. Listen, if they wanted to give a spin-off series to Jimmy Woo, Dr. Darcy and Monica, I wouldn’t be mad. I was disappointed that we didn’t get much more from them in this finale, but I do love seeing them onscreen.

And who was Jimmy Woo trying to meet with in Westview at the start anyways? Remember, he had someone in the city; if we assume similar to Ant-Man on his probation, who could it be? Monica is going to get involved in the upcoming Skrull plotlines, which is great and it likely helps launch her into Captain Marvel 2 as well!

And what about her fictional children calling for help at the end? Was Wanda just re-visiting old memories?

And the line of Wanda telling Agatha that she knows where she is if she needs her seemed ominous from a character standpoint but awesome from an audience standpoint. It WAS Agatha All Along, you know?

And, finally, about the Finale: The episode title seems pretty matter of factual: “The Series Finale” aka “This is a one and done show, y’all.” I don’t know if I really believe that and you can easily call the next season “The All New Wanda and Vision Show” or similar. Goodness knows that they have been doing it in comics for years!