***WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION EPISODE 8***
After episode 8 of WandaVision, I felt personally attacked with emotions. The only way to vent: write an article ranking the top 10 most emotionally devastating scenes. Cry with me all the way to number 1. (I will not be discussing the Scarlet Witch thing because my emotions are too crippled to even think about the bigger plot of the show. I didn’t know it was possible to pack so many emotional punches in a 40 minute TV show).
10. Agatha’s Backstory
Did not hurt at all. I did feel a little sorry when she dropped the bop of the century at the end of Episode 7 (“Who’s been messing up everything? It’s been Agatha all along!”) and now, I had to watch her get abused by a pack of witches and be disowned by her own mother. But she did kill Sparky…and I cannot condone animal murder, so in my eyes, the woman got what she deserved ages in advance.
9. “We wanted to change the world” (aka the Hydra Experiment flashback)
More made me confused than hurt. The only thing that hit me was that line at the very beginning. I feel like it applies to everyone. At some point in our lives, we do something we really regret because we hope it’ll help change the world. But, instead, it ends up leaving more pain than good. Also, the fact that Wanda saw the Mind Stone, the one that would be Vision’s, and that it showed her what I assume is the future version of herself -or the more comic-realistic version- in the vision (no pun intended) was really interesting. And I love that it kinda means that she sees more of herself in Vision than in anyone else.
8. “I just want to bury him.”
When I tell you that men are trash, I’m talking about Mr. “I cannot allow you to take 3 billion dollars worth of vibranium just to put in the ground.” Mr. “He isn’t yours.” Yes, Tyler Hayward. Not only does he literally show Wanda the remains of Vision being dismantled, but also just makes her watch from above. It felt so unnecessarily cruel to me that he put her on the balcony to watch. He didn’t even walk her down there or instruct the people to stop literally breaking apart his body for a minute while Wanda got to say goodbye. She had to do that herself. And even then, he would not even give her a scrap of Vision to bury, to mourn, and put in the ground even if it’s just symbolically. It’s so demeaning that they literally don’t think of Vision as a person and won’t even allow Wanda, someone who helped save the world, a funeral for him. I think several billion dollars of vibranium is a fair trade for the entire planet and half its population restored. Also, Tony Stark is literally a billionaire. He could have bought Vision’s remains off of SWORD and given them to Wanda to bury if only the other Avengers cared about her at all. All of them get to have happy endings at the end of Endgame, and she only gets the foundation of a house that was never built and the love of her life’s body being torn apart to make into a weapon of mass destruction! No hurt, only anger.
7. “At the end of the episode, you realize it was all a bad dream.”
I would like to thank this scene for officially breaking my heart and somehow making it so relatable and sad and beautiful at the same time. Like there’s that sense that the sitcoms are what has always been there for Wanda. They are just as present in her life as Pietro was in some ways. And seeing how she can see this scene in a TV show with this terrible thing happening to her in reality and make light of her situation and strengthen herself, it’s beautiful and tragic. And it made my heart hurt.
6. Wanda picking out a sitcom for “TV night”
I knew there had to be some reason for her to choose to reenact sitcoms in her created reality. But this…I was not expecting this. A childhood comfort shows that she associates with love and family and that she uses to cut herself away from the feelings of grief and mourning that she never got to have for all the people she lost. It’s just. Ouch. I could feel my heart cracking in my chest.
Especially the line, “shenanigan is like a problem, but more silly than scary, but can sometimes be a little scary.” “-Like mischief.” “-But a silly mischief that always becomes fine.” It really shows how Wanda is tired of having to be in all these life or death situations. It expressed how she finally wants trouble that isn’t really trouble. She wants to know that at the end of the day, nothing bad can ever really happen to her and the people she loves.
5. “It’s not that kind of show”
Okay, ouch. Just the insinuation that she wanted to put them in a reality where nothing bad could ever happen. Well, that hurts.
But even more than that. The way the scene happens and feels so natural. Wanda, staring emotionless at the TV, just grateful for some company. And Vision trying to make her feel better. Not mentioning the stack of DVDs piled up on her floor that sit in front of them for a good portion of the scene, which not only reflect that dark past where Wanda’s father used to sell American sitcoms but now tell us they’re the only tie she has left to them. These TV shows are how she feels connected to all the people she has lost. Only now she owns the DVDs in a big tower in America. There’s something about that just…stings.
4. “You were so crippled by your own self-doubt that you believed it [fake Pietro]!”
Okay, so this one, getting a glimpse into Wanda’s mind, how broken she is under the facade of Westview, how the weight of everything she lost was catching up to her. Really getting a look into just how much all that did to her… well, it just hurt so much. Especially since I’ve really found parts of myself in her character through this show. I’ve related to her and see echos of my own self-doubt reflected in her as well. It just hurts. Also, this one made me a little angry because I was so ready for Evan Peters to be the new Pietro, and now knowing that it was just a trick…that hurts even more (for personal reasons).
3.“I can’t feel you.”
When I tell you that this hurts me emotionally, I mean it. The man talking down to Wanda, and then her breaking the glass and coming down to say goodbye only to be greeted with the fact that the last person she loved is actually gone. Heartbreaking. Devastating. This scene really made me have those silent but painful tears. And afterward, I played “Nobody” by Mitski (after adding it to the Wanda Maximoff playlist I made after episode 7) for an hour straight as I stared at my TV in shock. Elizabeth Olsen deserves so many awards for this scene. It is just… it is beautiful.
2. “What is grief if not love persevering?”
This scene made me pause the TV and cry into the plushie I was holding for emotional support at that point. It was such a beautiful scene, and the acting and staging are just *chef’s kiss*. Everything Wanda says before Vision’s beautiful reply (“I’m so tired. It’s [the grief of losing her brother] just like this wave washing over me again and again. It knocks me down, and when I try to stand up, it just comes for me again. And I…It’s just going to drown me.”) was just so relatable to me. I’ve never lost a loved one to death, but I have suffered from depression. And I know that feeling, that thought that no matter what, you’re going to lose to the darkness, those dark thoughts, the “wave.”
And Vision’s perfect reply; his beautiful words just made my heart hurt. Not only because he’s so right in so many ways, but because it’s something that just filled my heart with so much hope the moment he said it. And then that hope is immediately shattered when you remember that this is all just a memory, that she does lose him, and all the love she had for him just made that grief even worse. The more you love someone, the more you grieve, and then what’s left when it’s over? When the loss of all that love tears you apart, what’s left?
1. “To grow old in. -V”
I would like to personally thank Disney+ for destroying me emotionally for the rest of the day. That was completely uncalled for, and I am beyond hurt. Especially after I went on TikTok and saw all the videos of people talking about how at the end of Endgame, everyone gets to reunite with their families. And it’s all happy for them while Wanda is literally suffering, having to deal with the traumatic loss of the love of her life. And adding to that, the fact that Wanda chose Westview as the place to put her sitcom, living out what her and Vision’s life would have been like had he lived, had she gotten the happy ending that all the other characters got. Tragic. It just hurts. I will be writing “to grow old in <3” on the concrete outside my home when I’m old and financially stable enough to have one, though, just for that little bit of ~spice~.