WandaVision

[Totenkindly]

Kathryn Hahn On WandaVision Fan Theories, The “Hahnissance,” And Her Agatha Harkness “Bible”

to give credit to Kathryn Hahn, I really did pick up that on some fundamental level, Agnes is lonely. She kind of has to be, because she's never met anyone quite like herself, she's outlived anyone she knew, she ended up destroying those she might have cared about at one point because they were a threat to her.

So yes, she's self-absorbed and a bit haughty, and has this wonderful dark dramatic flair to her, but the whole time she is hounding Wanda, I still got the idea that she's desperately hoping that Wanda will be an equal person to herself -- friend, foil, whatever. So she wouldn't be alone. Even her disdain for Wanda ending up being this untrained unworthy individual (rather than an accomplished witch) with that much power, is driven in part because she really wanted an equal enduring person to react against. In a way, Agnes was pleased when Wanda spun her own tricks around her -- she just wants to find a worthy witch out there, regardless of animosity level.

I really hope after Agnes has some time to chill, Wanda will come back to her for help and maybe they can be of actual use to each other.

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Disney+ also released the Assembled series today (one episode -- for Wandavision); obviously they could not release it ahead of time, because it has spoilers in it. It's basically a "Making of..." series, so it's interesting to see behind the scenes.

I'm glad Paul Bettany is still around, he's been an established actor for years outside of Marvel and it's nice to see him get more exposure.

 

[Seymour]

I didn't like how cartoonish Hayward was as an antagonist. A little more motivation for him would have helped make him more three dimensional.

I agree that it's not satisfying that Wanda mostly gets off the hook despite having done some objectively terrible things. Still, at the end of Age of Ultron the Avengers haven't yet paid a long term cost. They created Ultron (especially Stark and Banner). While them working against Ultron is the right thing to do, it doesn't undo all the damage they caused. I feel similarly about Wanda at this point. She worked to undo what she could, but there's still a longer term price to pay.

I think it's fine (if unsatisfying) that the long term cost for Wanda's actions in Westview remains to be seen. While it's clear the TV series isn't completely condoning her actions, I think her final interactions with Monica could have been more nuanced. If Monica had responded to Wanda's, "I’m sorry for all the pain I caused." With, "I know... but there will be a price to pay." or "I know... but until you learn control you are a danger. You could become the monster they fear you are."

I hope Agatha makes a return... Kathryn Hahn stole the show in that role! In general I liked the way WandaVision was mostly about women in a way that didn't feel cheesy or forced. Wanda, Agatha, Monica, and Darcy were all strong characters who weren't stereotypical "strong female characters." Jimmy Woo was a confident character who was happy to support the women around him without seeing them as a threat. It's always great to see a show that passes the Bechtel test without one ever being aware of it.

 

[Totenkindly]

I didn't like how cartoonish Hayward was as an antagonist. A little more motivation for him would have helped make him more three dimensional.

Just to add to that -- I guess it's why I was frustrated, because I felt like the seeds were there and the writers simply didn't bother to follow up on it.

Like that spiel he gives to Monica about, "Hey, you weren't here for five years. You didn't have to keep the lights on." Well, come on dude, then; that's actually a valid point; tell us more about that.

But once the finale hit, he was just a moustache twirler. Are they really going to throw him in jail? And for what exactly? Wanda did take a town hostage. I guess maybe... promoting violence without proper care for civilians? But I'm still a little unclear on what exactly he would be charged with, since he was responding to an actual threat to 3000+ civilians. That is more people than died on 9/11. I don't think it was ever stated whether Vision had "legal citizen status" in the USA, he was a piece of hardware in the eyes of the law even if we saw him as a person; so there wouldn't be a crime there either.