WandaVision spoilers follow – including episode 8.
“What is grief, if not love persevering?”
With those words, Vision was able to comfort a devastated Wanda as she mourned the painful loss of her twin brother Pietro.
But this wasn’t happening in the comfort of their Westview dream home; the ‘safe space’ in which we’ve seen Wanda taking refuge for much of WandaVision. Instead, we were treated to a flashback of one of the pair’s earliest interactions, back in the Avengers’ compound.
This conversation would have taken place after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, which saw Quicksilver and Wanda joining forces with the superhero ensemble to fight Ultron, only for Pietro to die in the battle.
While her grief (further compounded by the later loss of Vision) is undoubtedly palpable in Marvel’s new Disney+ series, Wanda was never afforded much opportunity to process any of her deep-rooted trauma on screen in the movies.
Some might attempt to explain this away by the fact that Vision’s brutal death in Avengers: Infinity War acted as the catalyst to bring everything she’d buried so deeply to the surface.
But this is not the only area of Wanda’s life that has long been lacking in detail, and it’s indicative of the disappointing and one-dimensional character development that was afforded to her before this show came along.
It’s refreshing to now see Marvel rectifying this past mistake, finally giving Wanda the room to flex away from the crowding of the other Avengers. And it’s a move that is not only propelling her forward as a character, but is also filling in some of the blanks from the past.
While we always knew that Wanda and Vision were together, the MCU never really delved below surface level to offer up much of a backstory as to how exactly that unfolded.
Across the films we saw glimpses of their affection, and them planning for the future. But when did they first connect? What formed the foundation of their relationship?
And, more relevant now than ever, how did this grow into something that was so meaningful to Wanda that she spontaneously created a whole micro world out of an explosion born from his loss?
Now, we know. At her darkest and most desperate hour, in a new country and all alone, Vision was suddenly there (quite literally: he walked through a wall) for Wanda to turn to.
Back in that compound, she invited him to sit with her while she rewatched old sitcoms. Answering one of the other mysteries that’s been hovering over Westview, it transpires that these classic shows have always provided a source of comfort to Wanda. A reminder of her childhood; a safer, more innocent, time.
As Wanda and Vision sat together, breathing into each other’s company, she opened him up to a world of pop culture references, while he offered a new perspective on the real, much more painful, world in which they inhabited.
That world doesn’t stop when someone that you love dies. “It can’t all be sorrow,” he said.
It was a heart-wrenching scene that had us all reaching for the tissues – heck, even Agatha Harkness, whose witchy ways were taking Wanda on a whistle-stop tour of her trauma, had to pause to wipe away a tear.
(Although the sincerity of that moment is definitely up for debate.)
Wanda went back to this particular moment because it held so much significance for her. It was, after all, “the first home Vision and I ever shared.” But it was also so much more than that: it pinpointed the real starting point for them.
Their relationship wasn’t formed out of a one-sided need, either. Vision spoke, almost longingly, about never having had anyone. “I’ve always been alone, so I don’t feel the lack,” he explained.
This quite possibly helped Wanda to see a different perspective; that you have to push through the pain in life, in order to embrace and enjoy the joy. But Wanda also helped Vision to tap into emotion and humanity. While he was clearly intrinsically ‘good’, he was a synthetic android, after all.
Armed with this further context and depth, the weight of Wanda’s grief only pulls down harder.
Agatha asked, “What happened when he wasn’t there to pull you back from the darkness?”
Well, episode eight confirmed what we’d long-suspected about the origins of the small-screen version of Westview that we’ve watched evolve each week. And that post credit scene could hint at even more tragedy for Wanda.
But this time around, we’re fully invested and are on this journey with her.
WandaVision airs weekly every Friday on Disney+.
Source: Read Full Article
