The season one finale of “WandaVision” premiered  March 5 on Disney+, and all I have to say is it was emotionally destructive. Before we dive into the finale, let’s start at the very beginning.    

      Scarlet Witch and Vision met while pursuing a higher calling with the Avengers. While Wanda joined the team after working for HYDRA alongside her twin brother Pietro, the synthetic Vision joined after he was created by their enemy Ultron to destroy the Avengers.

    At first glance, “WandaVision” might seem like a joyful show with playful satire, but it presents a twist. Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision’s (Paul Bettany)  happily-ever-after is a delusion of Wanda’s, especially given that we know Vision died in “Avengers: Infinity War.” Wanda, who has the power to alter probability, has retreated into a fantasy where she and Vision can live “normal” lives in the most all-American setting possible: a sitcom.  

    “Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience”

     Set in the 50s, directors opted to showcase the episode in black and white to channel the vibes of a sitcom from the era. Wacky hijinks ensue, following Vision as he pretends to be normal. Wanda meets her next-door neighbor Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) and explains the mystery of the day’s date, which Wanda and Vision were trying to figure out earlier in the episode. 

     “Don’t Touch That Dial” 

     Inspired by 60s sitcom “Bewitched”, the second episode opens with a catchy theme song entitled “WandaVision!” Before heading to the neighborhood planning meeting, Wanda hears a buzzing noise outside. When she goes to find the source of the noise, she finds a red helicopter with a S.W.O.R.D. logo. At the time everything was still in black and white, which made the red helicopter even more significant. Later on in the episode there’s another thump and they go outside to investigate. This time, they see a manhole cover moving. Frozen, they watch as a man in a beekeeper outfit gets out, surrounded by a cloud of bees. His uniform sports the same logo as the helicopter. 

    “Now In Color” 

     This episode opens with the couple visiting a doctor, who tells them Wanda is pregnant, and is the first full-color one of the series and moves the setting from the black-and-white 60s of the previous episodes to a vibrant Brady Bunch-esque Technicolor of the early 70s. Throughout this episode the expecting parents get ready for their unexpected child. After an accelerated pregnancy, the episode ends with the sudden birth of Vision and Wanda’s twins, Billy and Tommy. While helping with the twins, Wanda’s friend Geraldine (Teyonah Parris) mentions that she knows how Wanda’s twin brother was killed. Wanda then gets so angry that she removes “Geraldine” from her make-believe world.

     “We Interrupt This Program” 

     This episode mostly focuses on “Geraldine,” whose real name is Monica Rambeau, daughter of Captain Marvel’s longtime friend Maria Rambeau. Within moments of astrophysicist and ‘Thor’ character Darcy Lewis’ (Kat Dennings) arrival, she picks up the broadcast of Wanda’s sitcom. What follows is a retread of all the big moments from “WandaVision’s” first three episodes from the perspective of outside Westview. With FBI agent Jimmy Woo(Randall Park) returning from “Ant-Man” and Dr. Lewis now in the fold, “WandaVision” has graciously begun to explain what direction the series is heading in, while providing a brief reprieve from its weekly fake-sitcom format. 

     “On a Very Special Episode”

 Taking place during the 80s, this episode opens with the new parents struggling to keep their newborn twins quiet. Suddenly the crying stops. Have the twins finally gone to sleep? Nope; turns out they magically aged up to five year-olds. Throughout this episode, Visions suspicions grow as some of their neighbors start acting odd. Vision says to Wanda, “You can’t control me the way you do them.” The episode ends with Wanda and Vision arguing over his suspicions. The return of Wanda’s late brother Pietro, played by X-Men’s Evan Peters instead of Marvel’s Aaron Taylor Johnson, ends the episode.

      “All-New Halloween Spooktacular!”

     Episode six is titled follows the family as they navigate their first Halloween. Something longtime fans will notice is that Wanda and Vision are wearing costumes from the Marvel Comics. “Pietro” is also aware that Westview is Wanda’s construct and is apparently okay with it. It seems like Wanda is giving Vision more agency after their fight in the last episode. She lets him go out on his own instead of joining the family for Halloween fun. As Vision gets farther away from Wanda, he finds the townspeople going in loops or just standing still — perhaps hinting at the limit of her influence. Vision discovers Agnes sitting in her car, having seemingly gotten lost. When he “wakes her up,” she refers to him as an Avenger, tells him he’s dead, and says Wanda won’t let them leave town.

     In the same episode, Billy and Tommy discover their powers. Tommy gains super-speed like his uncle, while Billy displays magical abilities similar to his mother. At the end of the episode, Vision steps out of the Westview barrier and immediately starts to deteriorate. Warned about Vision’s situation by their son Billy, Wanda saves him by expanding the Westview boundaries. In doing so, she also consumes the S.W.O.R.D. base. 

     “Breaking the Fourth Wall”

      Through Wanda’s interview confessionals inspired by 2000s sitcoms, we learn that she is unraveling, succumbing to her grief. What’s more is that Wanda is letting her reality unravel, too, as the designs for everything from the milk in the fridge to the twins’ video game controllers begins morphing across generations. Elsewhere in Westview, Vision is suddenly surrounded by a traveling circus of recently transformed S.W.O.R.D. agents.

    Earlier in the season, fans started circulating that Agnes was really the witch Agatha Harkness, and it turns out they were right. Wanda enters her creepy basement looking for her missing twins, and Agnes reveals herself to be the witch. Turns out she was responsible for everything that’s gone weird in Westview, including the fake Pietro and the casting of Evan Peters. 

     “Previously On”

     During this episode Agatha takes Wanda back in time to relive her past, from the death of her parents to her experience with the mind stone. During one of the flashbacks, Vision delivers one of the most impactful lines of the whole series, “But what is grief, if not love persevering?” Towards the end of the episode, we see Wanda visiting Vision’s deconstructed body at the S.W.O.R.D. headquarters and then driving to the town of Westview where, if he had not been killed, they would have lived. After breaking down, Wanda creates the barrier around the town of Westview so she can have a happy ending. 

     “The Series Finale”

      The finale brought us Wanda’s acceptance of her identity as the Scarlet Witch. It did away with Wanda’s fantasy Vision after a fairly rote battle between him and the stark white Vision, who was designed to kill Wanda and  had been reconstructed from Vision’s physical body. Wanda defeated Agatha in an epic battle of witch-slaps that left Agatha trapped in Westview. Fortunately, she freed the town full of people Wanda had imprisoned and tortured for however long she’s been living with Vision. In doing so, everything, including Vision and the twins, disappeared.

     The very last scene in the finale illustrated what the show wrestled with for nine episodes: the existence of two Wandas. The mythical, legendary, super-real Witchy Wanda, floating and glowing; and the deeply human, traumatized, lonely Sweatpants Wanda, drinking tea and trying to figure out what happens next now that she’s alone again. Even if you don’t much care about the former, Olsen’s work kept the latter visible and unforgettable throughout.