With an enthralling and at times tragic storyline and constant twists, Wandavision is a captivating show for a wide audience. I have never really been a regular Marvel watcher or fan. I’ve seen a few movies here and there with my friends who love Marvel, but I found it hard to really get into the films. However, Wandavision hooked me from the start. Even with very little context (the only film I’ve seen with Wanda and Vision was Avengers: Endgame), I soon found myself sucked into the story.

I never cared for Marvel because I felt the movies had an imbalance of storyline and action. I think Wandavision balances the two elements well, leaning a bit towards storyline for the beginning half of the series. The first three episodes walk us through Vision and Wanda’s life together, but from the fourth episode on, Wanda is forced to confront all of her traumas. I think the way that Wanda walks through her journey of grief and healing is very well done.

 It is because of this I’d recommend the series to someone who isn’t necessarily an action or Marvel fan to test the waters before jumping into the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you haven’t seen Wandavision yet, hop over to Disney+ and start watching!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

One of my favorite things about Wandavision was the complexities and depth of Wanda’s story. A few of my favorite details were the decade structuring and when Wanda took down the Hex.

The sitcom through the decades structuring was both entertaining and beautiful once you gain more context. When Agatha takes Wanda through her past, the audience is shown Wanda’s origin and her childhood where she loved sitcoms. Now even only at this level, it is still slightly tragic but beautiful that Wanda created her own comfort sitcom to live in. This effect is magnified when we see a distressed Wanda visit the lot that she and  Vision purchased “to grow old in” together. It is then that we realize Wanda didn’t stay in the first decade because she wanted to simulate growing old with Vision by moving through time with him. 

Another beautiful yet heartbreaking detail was when Wanda and Vision tuck the boys into bed before the Hex comes down. Minutes before, it had been daytime, but Wanda changed the time to night so the boys would be asleep when they disappeared and wouldn’t feel it. Like most things in Wandavision, there is more to the story. Billy had inherited the power to read minds, so most fans theorize he was able to read Wanda’s thoughts and realize what was about to happen making the scene even more bittersweet. 

If you love the little complexities of the series, I would highly recommend watching or reading an analysis of the finale.

Additionally, I think that Marvel displays grief in an incredibly gut wrenching way but ultimately real way. When Agatha walks Wanda through her life, we see a picture of Wanda going through each stage of grief over all of the losses she had encountered. It is incredibly real that after so much pain and loss of everyone she ever loved, Wanda completely shut down. 

First Wanda is angry at the agents keeping Vision from her, then she is in complete pain and agony. It is from this agony that she builds the hex, a world of denial and bargaining to keep what she has lost. Finally once she has to confront the fact that the hex cannot last, she finds acceptance that what is lost cannot just be fabricated through her magic. Wanda accepts that she has to let go of Vision, the permanence of separation is not clear, and finds peace even in her pain. 

This portrayal of grieving and pain is glossed over or sugar coated which I think significantly contributes to the beauty of this series. Not only is it visually beautiful, but somehow between the magic and fantasy, at its core, Wandavision addresses a universal human experience.