WandaVision Finale: Episode Nine Recap and Review

The finale of WandaVision was released March 5. The conclusion of this series follows Wanda Maximoff’s battle with Agatha Harkness, as well as her grief in order to let her family go.

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WandaVision Finale: Episode Nine Recap and Review

Debra Garcia, Features Editor/Business Manager

   The highly-anticipated finale to the hit  Marvel TV show, WandaVision, has just been released on Disney Plus. Fans of the program have been waiting to see how the series ended and how this affects the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline. The episode is 50 minutes long; so without further ado, here is a full recap of WandaVision episode nine. Major spoilers are ahead for those who have not seen the finale. 

   To pick up where the show left off, Harkness is strangling Billy and Tommy with her magic while Maximoff stands back, telling Harkness to let her children go. Maximoff then shoots Harkness with her magic, causing her to let go of the boys. Billy and Tommy run home while Maximoff and Harkness continue fighting. Maximoff once again shoots her magic towards Harkness, but this time, Harkness absorbs the magic. The witch then cries “I take power from the undeserving, It’s kinda my thing.” The audience is then shown Maximoff’s hand, which has turned black. Maximoff then throws a car on Harkness, launching her into a nearby house. In a reference to “The Wizard of Oz,”  only her boots stick out from the wreckage. 

   All of a sudden, white Vision shows up. He was last seen being programmed by Director Hayward in the last episode’s mid-credit scene. When white Vision flies down, Maximoff asks if it is really him, where he responds by clasping her face, muttering her name and then trying to break her skull. Such a lovely reunion. 

   But then, colorful Vision ex-machina arrives, throwing Fision (fake Vision) into a car, saving Maximoff from dying at his hands. Maximoff apologizes for not telling Vision everything, but the conversation is cut off by none other than Harkness Harkness herself. Audiences then see Rambeau, trapped in the mansion alongside Fietro (fake Pietro), who was last seen at the end credit scene of episode seven. As she is screaming Maximoff’s name, Fietro explains that no one will hear her.   The scene is then cut back to Vision and Fision fighting, which includes laser blasts and impractical effects. It is funny how Marvel always makes the hero fight a villain who is exactly like them, but evil. Pretty basic MCU formula. 

   The audience is then drawn out of the mayhem in Westview and cut back to the S.W.O.R.D.operating base. Hayward is shouting orders when the beloved Jimmy Woo is brought in in handcuffs. Woo sees a cell phone on a table and tells Hayward, “You’ll never be able to cover this up.” Hayward then explains that he will not have to. “Wanda canceled her show, so there’s no footage proving there was ever more than one Vision,” he said. While Woo grabs the phone from the table, an oblivious Hayward continues revealing his evil plan(why does every villain do this). He goes on to explain that everyone will just be glad that he neutralized Maximoff and they’ll think Fision is the same one Maximoff tried to steal, thus making Hayward a hero for retrieving a valuable asset. He then offers Woo the chance to join him. “You could be a part of that victory, Woo,” he says, “if only you had a little more” — pause for emphasis — “vision.” The audience is then given two seconds to roll their eyes at that awful comment. Woo is then thrown into a barn when he uses this time to break free from the handcuffs and uses the phone to call the FBI for backup. 

   Back in Westview, Harkness hits Maximoff with some magic, telling her about “The Darkhold,” or “the book of the damned.” Apparently, Maximoff is linked to this book, as it is her destiny to become the “Scarlet Witch,” which is prophesied in “The Darkhold”. “Your power exceeds that of the Sorcerer Supreme,” said Harkness, referring to Doctor Strange, the current Sorcerer Supreme. “It’s your destiny to destroy the world!” “I’m not what you say I am!” Maximoff counters. Harkness just smiles and says, “Oh, really?”

   Harkness then starts chanting in Latin, when Dottie, from episode two, is relieved of Maximoff’s control. She, who introduces herself as Sarah, comes up to Maximoff and tells her about her 8-year-old daughter, suggesting different storylines just so she can hold her daughter again. A confused Maximoff asks Harkness to free Sarah, who replies with “She’s your meat puppet, I just cut her strings.” Harkness goes on to release all residents of Westview, who all look at Maximoff with complete hatred in their eyes. 

  Now to check in with  Monica Rambeau and Fietro. While in the mansion, or Fietro’s “man cave” to “chillax”, Rambeau sees a bank statement on a table for someone named Ralph Bohner, as well as an actor’s headshot of this Mr. Bohner, who just so happens to look exactly like a younger Evan Peters, or Fietro. Rambeau realizes that Agnes does not live here, that Bohner does. She also realizes that Fietro is being controlled by a necklace, which she of course rips off.  “Please spare my life!” he whimpers. Back in Billy and Tommy’s room, Billy gets magic visions of what is happening to his mom and they rush to help. 

   Meanwhile, in downtown, the now freed residents of Westview are yelling their grievances to Maximoff. Screaming things like: “When you let us sleep, we have your nightmares,” ”We feel your pain” and Your grief is poisoning us!” Maximoff is spiraling, saying that she did not mean to do this, that she was keeping them safe. Both lying to them, and herself. She freaks out and starts to choke every townsperson around her. “If you won’t let us go, just let us die, please,” someone screams. After she lets go of their throats, she fires a magic bolt into the edge of the Hex, opening up the barrier between Westview and the rest of New Jersey. As the town is glitching between the time periods, she is yelling out, telling the townspeople to run out. 

   This is when everything goes haywire. Both Vision and the boys start to disintegrate, as they can only survive in the Hex. Harkness watches and says to Maximoff, “You tied your family to this twisted world, and now one can’t exist without the other.” As Vision and the twins beg for their lives, Maximoff closes the Hex, but not before S.W.O.R.D. agents can come in. Harkness then tries to hit the entire family with her magic, which Maximoff shields them from, but with the cost of her powers being more drained and her other hand turning black. SWORD trucks and Fision soon arrive, creating the ultimate showdown for the family. 

   The battle is on. Vision is slammed into the library by Fision, who says that it is his programming to destroy Vision. However, Vision claps back, saying that he is not the true Vision, only a conditional one. “I request elaboration,” replies Fision. Before the said elaboration, however, viewers are back to Harkness, who is playing around with the S.W.O.R.D soldiers.  “Same story, different century, there’ll always be torches and pitchforks for ladies like us,” she says to Maximoff. Maximoff then comes up with a plan, telling her kids to “handle the military — Mommy will be right back.” Billy freezes the soldiers with his magic and Tommy uses his speed to grasp their weapons, Pietro style. All of a sudden, Hayward pulls out a handgun and fires at the twins. Not to worry,  Rambeau rushes in to take the bullets. Due to her new powers, they slow down and go right through her. Trying to get away, Hayward rushes to his vehicle but is slammed from the side by Darcy in her circus truck from episode seven. 

   Now, back to Vision’s elaboration. This whole scene is basically philosophy between the two visions, as they circle each other. They both talk about the Ship of Theseus, the mind stone and the definition of identity. Vision soon convinces Fision that he can resist being a weapon of S.W.O.R.D, and after having his forehead touched by Vision, Fisions eyes turn human-like. He says “I am Vision” and flies off, not to be seen for the rest of the episode. This opens the door that now that Fision has the real Vision’s memories, he could find Maximoff in the future and live happily with her, but that is just a theory. A Film Theory-oh wait, wrong series.  

   Cut to Harkness on a rooftop, acting evil. Out of nowhere, Maximoff does her classic Age of Ultron move, where she sneaks and enters her targets’ memories, making them see their past or worst nightmare. She and Harkness are now in 17th-century Salem, right after Harkness murdered her coven. The dead witches around them start to rise, moving towards Harkness, but then turn to Maximoff. Harkness’s mother then starts to chant “You are the Scarlet Witch, harbinger of chaos!”Power isn’t your problem.” “It’s knowledge,” Harkness says to Maximoff. Then, a magic crown starts to circle around Wana’s head. Harkness makes an offer to Maximoff, saying she’ll save Maximoff’s family in exchange for her powers. Maximoff’s answer is to blast the witches away and tackle Harkness, launching them back to reality. 

   After some action scenes of the witches hitting each other with their magic, Harkness starts sucking Maximoff’s magic and life force, making Maximoff turn black and wrinkled.  “Once cast, a spell can never be changed,” Harkness shouts, “This world you made will always be broken. Just like …” — pause for emphasis — “… you.”

   Harkness then tries to hit Maximoff with a large magic blast, but it will not work. None of her magic seems to be working. Maximoff’s cheeks seem to be turning red again and she points upward. There are large runes in the walls of the Hex. Per Harkness’s witch rule from episode eight, only the witch who casts the runes can use their magic, this is why Harkness is now powerless. “Thanks for the lesson,” Maximoff says. “But I don’t need you to tell me… who I am.”

    Maximoff then lowers them to the ground and the sky stops bleeding red. Harkness asks if Maximoff is going to lock her up somewhere, to which Maximoff replies that she will be locked in the Hex with ” the role you chose: the nosy neighbor.” Harkness pleads with Maximoff: “You have no idea what you’ve unleashed! You’re gonna need me!” “If I do,” Maximoff counters, “I know where to find you.” With a touch of the head, evil Agatha Harkness turns into Agnes, the nosy neighbor. 

   The superfamily walks back to their house when it is time to put the twins to bed. In a very heartbreaking scene, Maximoff and Vision tuck the boys in, telling them that they love them.“a family is forever,” says Maximoff, “We could never truly leave each other, even if we tried. You know that, right?” As they walk out Maximoff says with tears in her eyes, “Boys? Thanks for choosing me to be your mom.” 

   What follows is the most tear-jerking scene in all of WandaVision. The couple wanders into the living room, holding hands while staring out the window, watching the Hex coming toward them. “Maximoff, I know we can’t stay like this,” Vision says, “but before we go, I feel I must know: What am I?” After thinking it over, Maximoff replies that he is “the piece of the Mind Stone that lives in me,” “a body of wires and blood and bone that I created,” and “my sadness and my hope. But mostly, you’re my love.” As the couple holds each other’s faces, Vision says,  “I have been a voice with no body, a body but not human, and now, a memory made real.” As a single tear runs down his robotic face he continues, “Who knows what I might be next?” He then adds that they have “said good-bye before, so it stands to reason …” and Maximoff finishes the sentence: “We’ll say hello again.” The Hex then arrives, the house starts changing through the decades and Vision starts to disintegrate. Vision disappears, not before muttering his final words, “So long, darling,” to Maximoff, the love of his life. 

   Maximoff is now alone in the real reality standing in the unfinished foundation of her and Vision’s dream home in Westview. As she walks into town, she puts her hoodie over her head to avoid the scornful looks of the townsfolk. Rambeau of all people walks up to Maximoff, stating that she does not hate her because if she had the power to bring her mom back, she would. Maximoff apologizes for all she has done, saying that she does not yet understand her power, but will someday. Military sirens then start to wail, so Maximoff turns into the Scarlet Witch and flies away from Westview, out of sight. The screen turns to black and the credits roll. 

   After waiting through a few minutes of credits, audiences get a mid-credit scene starring Woo and Rambeau. Woo is with the FBI and rounds up all the S.W.O.R.D. agents, when a cop comes up to Rambeau, saying they need to talk to her in the movie theater. When they get inside, the cop turns into a Skrull, last seen in the end-credits of “Spiderman, Far From Home.” “I was sent by an old friend of your mother’s,” the Skrull cop says. “He heard you’d been grounded. He’d like to meet you.” The “he” in question is Nick Fury, who was last seen on a Skrull spacecraft. “Where?” asks Rambeau. The cop just points upward and Rambeau looks very pleased. The credit then rolls for the second time. 

   But wait there’s more! After another five or so minutes of credits, the camera flies over a huge landscape of trees and mountains. The camera finally stops at a remote cabin in the woods, where Maximoff sits outside, drinking tea. As she goes inside, the camera moves to the back of the cabin, into another room, where there is another Maximoff. This Maximoff is in full Scarlet Witch mode, reading “The Darkhold,”  and practicing her magic. She then hears the cries of her children, which is odd because they disappeared just a few scenes ago. Cut to black. 

  Wow. What an episode. Everything about it was perfect. The acting, the writing, the pacing, heck, even the action was spot on. It was never boring and it went into so much lore, which was very appreciative. The emotions and intentions were so real, it actually felt like the audience was right there with Maximoff, going through her grief with her. The ending to this wonderful show left audiences with many questions, however. These include where Fision went, what Maximoff unleashed, the mystery of Ralph Bohner, who was in witness protection, why is Rambeau going to space, how Dr.Strange will play into this, how Maximoff can hear her kids, how and if Harkness comes back and so much more. All that is really known is that Maximoff will have a large role in “Dr. Strange: Multiverse of Madness.”