All 9 ‘Wandavision’ Episodes, Ranked From Worst To Best

Despite what some may think of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's overall track record with its Disney+ shows, they had a really good start with WandaVision in 2021, which follows fan favorite Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and her now husband, Vision (Paul Bettany), after the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Somehow, at the beginning of this Disney+ show, Vision is back and better than ever. He also lives with Wanda in... the 1950s?

For the first half of the show, WandaVision is smart and inventive, switching its style with every episode to represent past television eras. It's a wonderful tribute to sitcoms that helps it stand out and be unique compared to the rest of the MCU's projects. Regardless of what people think of the latter half of the show, its batting average overall is excellent and makes this an almost perfect kick-off for Marvel's Disney+ TV projects.

9

"Breaking the Fourth Wall" — Episode 7

While they began a few episodes earlier, it's Episode 7, "Breaking the Fourth Wall," that really establishes the show's major issues in the latter half of the show. Halfway through the series, it kind of ditches what made it special in the first place — the stylistic television eras — and simply becomes what is essentially another MCU project. This makes it feel more boring, not to mention less visually interesting, in comparison.

While it's important for the outside world to be introduced to the transformed Westview by this point in the show to move the plot forward, it didn't need to sacrifice its style to do so. This would prove to be a problem with other Marvel Studios shows to come, like Ms. Marvel. Instead of truly embracing the modern era of television, the execution comes off a bit lazy. However, this is also the episode in which it's revealed that Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) has been pulling strings behind the scenes and debuted the breakout hit song, "Agatha All Along," so it's far from a total fail.

8

"The Series Finale" — Episode 9

The series finale, titled, funnily enough, "The Series Finale," is still pretty decent. Despite how people felt about the post-television tribute era of the show, the final episode does everything that it needs to do and wraps up most characters' arcs (besides Vision with that whole White Vision debacle) in a satisfying manner.

The completion of Wanda's character arc for the series was very well done. It finally transforms her into the Scarlet Witch that comic book fans know from the source material, and said transformation brings all of her actions from the show before — turning the people of Westview into mind-controlled bots, essentially — to the forefront. Most people's complaints with the episode come from the defense of Wanda's actions in the final scenes of the episode. She objectively did a terrible thing, so Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) telling her "they'll never know what you sacrificed for them" upset a ton of people, and rightfully so.

7

"Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience" — Episode 1

The debut episode of WandaVision is a huge part of what made people fall in love with it in the first place. The way it depicts the way television looked and was produced back in the 1950s, with homage to shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show, is very stylistic and engaging. It promised that WandaVision was going to be unlike anything that came in the MCU beforehand and that Disney+ shows were going to take risks and be great (though whether they followed up on that promise is to be debated).

It also doesn't give the secrets of the series away right off the bat. In fact, it barely references that something is clearly off with this world. This first episode dives into the premise and acts like nothing is wrong, leaving the questioning up to the audience. This helped keep viewers intrigued and looking forward to the second episode to come, which is what Marvel Studios needed if they were going to do a weekly-released series, rather than an entire series drop like Netflix does. Episode 1, "Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience," is a very well-done pilot.

6

"Don't Touch That Dial" — Episode 2

After the wonderful pilot, the second episode had a lot of weight on its shoulders to be great and continue to build on what made the first entry great. Episode 2 continues to build on the teasing that the first one did regarding the potential problems with Wanda and Vision's occupation of Westview, giving the audience just a little more to chew on.

Still, though, what kept the show so engaging at this point wasn't just how the episode executed this classic style and eventually transitioned to the next era at the end — it was the question of why Wanda was in the situation she was. Was she being held hostage? Was this of her own doing? No one really knew at this point (besides comic fans who had a pretty good idea they were adapting the "House of M" storyline in some way).

5

"Now in Color" — Episode 3

In Episode 3, the show finally made the transition into color, and therefore, the era of the 1970s — the time period of shows like The Brady Bunch, Three's Company, and Little House on the Prairie. As the show neared its mid-season, things slowly began to reveal themselves. This makes things a bit more chaotic, as Wanda suddenly becomes pregnant! Here's the thing about a Westview pregnancy, though — it's incredibly accelerated ,withWanda's magic the culprit.

Her two sons are huge parts of not just the series, but the MCU moving forward. While they're just babies here, this introduction is huge and very exciting, thanks to the pregnancy's magical properties. The new simulation of the '70s makes things a lot more comedic and zany, too. The ramping up in tone makes this third episode the perfect final hook for the rest of the season. There's also a massive moment between Wanda and Monica that changes everything for the series moving forward and begins unraveling the mystery.

4

"We Interrupt This Program" — Episode 4

After the wild ending of Episode 3 ,it was up to the next entry to finally sit back and answer the questions everyone had on their mind — or mostly answer them at least. Episode 4, "We Interrupt This Program", takes a step outside of Westview for the first time and shows the outside world as it decides to instead follow the story of Monica Rambeau. Taking the audience back a bit in time, the fourth installment brings the first true turning point to the story by showing the audience Monica's "origin" of how she got into Westview.

The confirmation that Westview is a real town under the control of Wanda is found here, thanks to Monica's assignment, and this shocked non-comic readers to their core. Taking the perspective of Monica and the S.W.O.R.D. agents stationed outside of the town, the terrible deed that the Scarlet Witch has committed is finally shown in its true light. This puts things into a whole new perspective for the audience and changes the story moving forward.

3

"Previously On" — Episode 8

As the title of the episode would suggest, Episode 8, "Previously On," takes a massive step back in time. Agatha Harkness takes Wanda through her past, from her post-Avengers: Endgame actions that led to the Westview incident, all the way to her childhood with Pietro.

Like the rest of the series, the episode is directed by Matt Shakman, who's also behind The Fantastic Four: First Steps. He's an excellent director who's done incredible work on series like Game of Thrones and 43 episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but this episode is undoubtedly one of his best, as the shot choices and emotional character moments are both extremely well done.

2

"All-New Halloween Spooktacular!" — Episode 6

After the groundbreaking (and internet-breaking) reveal of a new Pietro Maximoff in the form of actor Evan Peters, the Halloween episode comes around, and now that the Maximoff sons have grown, their powers are finally coming in. What makes this such a special episode, though, is the tease that Wanda isn't in full control here. She's truly not sure how this Pietro got to Westview, as her brother died in a dark twist during the fight against Ultron (James Spader).

The Agatha behind the curtain is slowly being revealed, and it makes for a suspenseful episode, as Vision is also beginning to discover the truth. With only three episodes left after this one, things were finally falling into place, and it pulled people in and kept them engaged as more questions were also being raised.

1

"On a Very Special Episode..." — Episode 5

The best episode of WandaVision is by far Episode 5, "On a Very Special Episode." This entry acts as something of a "mid-season finale" of sorts, with Vision beginning to catch on to Wanda's Westview incident and the truth about where they're living. This adds a whole new type of tension that the show didn't have before and escalates things to a higher level.

There's not only that, though. The climax of this fifth episode finds Wanda finally walking out of Westview as her real-world self and confronting S.W.O.R.D. It's a thrilling scene, as Wanda starts acting more aggressively, and her whole "I'm going to take over an entire town" thing begins to fit a lot better. An ending like that was the perfect one to cap things off before heading into the final four episodes.

WandaVision

Release Date

2021 - 2020

Showrunner

Jac Schaeffer

NEXT: 10 Notes the MCU Reboot Should Take From the Ultimate Universe

Source link