Why WandaVision Is Bad At Mysteries

WandaVision was Marvel's attempt at a paranormal mystery. But how do mysteries work and is it fair for a show about magic and robots to be held to the same standard as Agatha Christie?
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0:00 Intro
4:45 The School of Hard Knox
9:51 From the Inside Out
15:53 What's Wrong With David?
21:44 From the Outside In
26:22 The Library
30:26 Agatha All Along
36:47 The Summation
Film grain by:
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Featuring Sound Effects by:
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Featuring Music by:
awimachinegun / awimachinegun
Background Music For Videos / twisterium
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Kevin MacLeod incompetech.com/wordpress/
Mongulous / mongulous
Paul Tyan / jazz-big-band-swing
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Sam Kužel / samkuzel
Scott Buckley www.scottbuckley.com.au/library/
#wandavision #marvel

[@elenaphisher244]

My jaw dropped when they revealed that Scarlet Witch was The Scarlet Witch. I didn’t see that coming.

[@FondueTheGoober]

Ik I'm 2 months late but it wasnt meant to be a plot twist for fans Nobody ever called wanda the scarlet witch in the movies before

[@littlesamu5920]

"No way!"

[@oteragard8077]

reiterating what foxy said yet two months later, it was also a moment of character development for wanda. She didn't even know she was the scarlet witch or what that meant for her.

[@astrolatte_]

Also when they show us that Vision is Vision, but _not_ Vision... But it's totally Vision. But in true it was Wanda all along.

[@WhiteRaven696]

It’s a great show, but a horrible mystery. The core audience (die-hard Marvel fans) clocked both Wanda being behind it all and Agnes being Agatha Harkness long before the show even premiered.

well i didn't know that agatha character

[@violetlavi2207]

the second one was only clocked by comics fans. And as stated in this video, comics knowledge is not something the whole audience has (especially not the general/mainstream audience)

[@Zelda00Gamer]

As someone who has seen zero MCU content except wandavision (I was bored and the old tv shows are what I watched growing up without cable). I had no clue what was going on at the end lol which def ruined it a bit for me personally but obviously that’s more a me issue I guess? I mean it would be nice if the show could be a self contained story that doesn’t require a lot of lore to watch but. Whatever. I didn’t clock any of the mysteries but I had no hope of doing so. I did dislike how they moved off the Wanda perspective to the agents perspectives because I found them confusing and boring. I wanted it to be just Wanda’s side. Not the outsides side. Or at least a more clueless outside like how I would feel in that position. Instead it was an agency that knows the main characters already so that did spoil a few small things here and there that I wouldn’t know going in. So yeah. Not a good standalone show but also it wasn’t made for me.

[@Scarleto]

Having now watched WandaVision, I wonder why they didn't simply go all the way with Agatha mind controlling Wanda into creating all of this, creating events to stress her out to trigger her evolution into The Scarlet Witch to then steal her power or something like that. You can still explore the grief aspect, as people are very often more vulnerable to be taken advantage of in their grief, and you can still stage the entire thing like it was Wanda All Along - because it was, just someone else would be pulling her trigger. Maybe Wanda even accepted a deal from Agatha like she presents in the finale, so Wanda can still have all that guilt. It would have cleared up Agatha a bit too, whose actions seemed....really bizarre. Like is this a therapy session or are you trying to steal this witch's powers? What's the point of helping Wanda confront her demons and sort through her trauma and...make her more powerful because shes healing? I know Agatha was all "omg when did you take the steroids and where do I get some" but the way she spoke to Wanda, backhanded or no, really reminded me of a therapy session LOL I could handle the fucketry of the timeline if that'd been smoothed out a bit.

[@Queef_Storm]

damn dude thats a really good idea. Been racking my brains as to how they could have tweaked the story so that it would actually work and couldn't come up with anything myself until I read this.

[@mollysun7340]

i really enjoyed this analysis and felt similarly about the show! The last show that made me feel this way was the BBC Sherlock series, similarly in how they created a "mystery" that the audience could never solve, only to create an unsatisfying plot that mocked the audience along the way

[@Sandra-rc5uc]

I never made that connection but it's brilliant actually. Sherlock never intended to reveal Reichenbach definitively. Both seemed so mean-spirited to their audience. Joke on people for caring I guess.

[@thedestroyasystem]

Agreed. I love both shows but the fun of a mystery is being able to follow along as an audience member. The “I knew it!” Is a great feeling, so is “wow! I never would’ve expected that!” when looking back and recalling all the clues you didn’t notice. “What? How was I supposed to know that?” Is just frustrating.

[@Rognik]

The thing is, I don't think WandaVision ever could have been a fair mystery. A good portion of the audience are comic book readers, and thus, everything that's ever been in them can be seen as introduced before. Casting the Other Pietro was unfair, because it got people to expect something it never intended to pay off on, and used its metanarrative element to throw people off track. It didn't play fair, but it never could win. Plus, how many times have we heard stories of the audience figuring out the mystery ahead of time and discussing it online, only for the writers to specifically go, "Aw man, they guessed it! We have to change the answer now!" Detective novels never had this problem, because the mystery was all in one book, and people couldn't discuss it with one another between chapters. Even if they did, it generally wasn't going to change. With the internet, though, fair mysteries seem to have disappeared.

[@JamesWoodall]

I actually don't think fairness need be affected by what the audience actually knows, though I concede many writers nowadays seem to think it does. Of course you want to surprise your audience and it's a shame if that's ruined by sources outside than the show. But above all the most important thing is that your story should work as a story. It needs to build to a satisfying conclusion regardless of whether or not your audience already know what that will be. It can still be satisfying to watch a spoiled story--otherwise nobody would rewatch anything--but not it the story isn't well constructed. And there's always going to be some portion of your audience who don't go on the forums or are watching years from now and haven't been spoiled.

[@kayleejazz1669]

Can I put my two cents in? Was Wanda vision released on a streaming service? So wasn’t it released all at the same time? Like a book. However you are right about how people will figure out the mystery and the writers will intentionally rewrite it to be “shocking”. You think they’d learned after all this is what the game of thrones writers did. Now one of my favorite things to do is watch a mystery and pat myself on the back for solving it. Not because it was shocking. And if i didn’t see the twist coming go back and look at the episode and go “wow what a clever detail I can’t believe I didn’t pick it up. I’m glad the writer or writers included this.” But the problem wandavision had is- I watched this show with my grandparents whom never seen or any of the marvel movies but grew up with the tv shows they were referencing. And me who has almost seen all of the Marvel movies. We both ended up explaining the other shows to each other. But what I picked up is the show doesn’t hold up on its own unless you watched marvel portion of the movies. I felt like they put themselves in a box. A want to have my cake and eat it too situation. On one hand they have people who watched the movies and read the comics so if the people who are aware of that will know what coming but on the other hand it might be a reward to those who read or watched the movies. But on the other hand people who never seen these shows could get invested but also might be confused with the movie Reference and the comic. Their literally stuck in a rut. I hope this makes sense.

[@nischalprajapati6157]

@@kayleejazz1669 wandavision and afaik every MCU Disney+ show was released on a weekly basis, not all at the same time as with netflix

[@penngheeney]

@@kayleejazz1669 The show was released on a weekly roll-out, 1 new episode each week.

[@Genevieve1023]

Mystery books used to be released chapter by chapter in magazines. People did used to discuss them in their parlor rooms.

[@edwardsjcblues]

"There's an idea in classic mystery fiction called 'Not A Fucking Boomerang!'"

[@kat8559]

Imo you're right that the mystery plot would have been better served with monica as the detective from the beginning, and they could have still done the different sitcom styles while she was investigating. The who comparison was good at illustrating that point. Agatha maybe should have been left as something like a post-credits scene to set up the next installment. Idk.

[@leogunnemarsson4178]

Agatha could have been good. What I first thought she was, and which would have fitted, is for Agatha to have been made a fake outside villain by Wanda. She was at a point of the illusion getting cracks and needing a scapegoat to ease her guilt and Agatha turns up at the perfect time. Wanda creating herself a villain that is behind the bad things would have fitted so well. It's a pity Agatha was real.

[@kayleejazz1669]

That’s what I thought had a civilian play the villian to either get her off the hook, or accidentally do it as in her subconscious trying to snap her out of it.

[@Poorstargazer23]

You make a lot of fair points, though I still enjoyed WandaVison, there was some room for improvement and telling a better mystery. I think Marvel focused more on the emotional backbone and the setup for future releases and didn't focus enough on the art of a well told mystery. Maybe that was intentional or maybe they are revealing a story telling weakness of theirs... Time will tell I guess. Well produced video btw, edits and animations were very enjoyable.

[@vividao4123]

I can't help but think that the Mephisto theorizing was basically in reaction to WandaVision's poor quality of mystery. If the fans only had what the show offered to work with then it was bound to be a negative experience for a lot of people but the theorycrafting carried the show because the audiences were looking for a mystery within the mystery, things that weren't easy to guess since the majority of the fan base already knew the plot of the show before the third episode.

[@edlithamagni1750]

I love that you brought the amazing "Silence in the Library" episode into the mix. You're so right that this should be the standard Marvel should try to achieve. Thank you for this brilliantly made analysis/video essay. I thoroughly enjoyed it. A German Whovian

[@JesusCreamCakes]

You said you were having fun with the edit... you were not lying! 😅

[@aroree]

This perfectly described the issue I felt I had with the show but couldn't put into words! I was never surprised by anything other than the existence of Agatha, but I've never read the comics and didn't know I was meant to be looking out for a 3rd party. After her reveal, I was so hoping she was somehow a fake "bad guy" made by Wanda's subconscious to justify Wanda's actions (because it wasn't Wanda, it was Agatha, who is actually Wanda, yadda yadda), because then it would've been a mystery for no one to figure out but the audience. Love the videos you have so far and can't wait for the next one! ♥

[@morgandavis4026]

I actually found that moving the sword twist reveal episode to after the Halloween special fixes almost all problems. I watched through by skipping all sword scenes then went back and skipped all sitcom scenes. It worked very very well. Cause then the sword stuff works to contextualize events we've already seen.

[@oliviab4079]

Thank god I wasn't the only one confused by the "Agatha All Along" twist I thought I was missing something...but it turns out the show was

[@leewitten4758]

A really fun whodunit is tony winning The Mystery of Edwin Drood, based off of the unfinished novel of Charles Dickens. An engaging story, where the audience decides the murderer each night, and they have a song recanting their motives, some of them being tounge and cheek saying "It makes no sense, but you voted for me.".

[@samantha-uw3ky]

Honestly. the premise and the hook is so well done, so interesting, the set up is great..and then the ball drops soooo hard.

[@Nellipusen]

thank you for not spoiling legion btw, I had never heard of it before, but now I really want to watch it, so I was a bit nervous you would reveal the mystery

[@JamesWoodall]

In the first draft I did, but then I realised I didn’t need to. And I’d much rather intrigue people to seek out such a great show!

[@Nellipusen]

@@JamesWoodall much appreciated

[@reysquadron7820]

Same!

[@hew34]

This! What you have shown has gotten me wanting to watch it now! :)

[@TheMelonFarmers123]

@@JamesWoodall just when I needed some new shows to watch :) I low key really hate when a KZbin channel spoils a secondary show or movie when reviewing or critiquing the primary material. A lot of content creators don’t give a damn.

[@claireisacamel]

You’ve precisely explained why I didn’t like WandaVision as much as I wished I could have. I wasn’t familiar with Wanda or Vision ahead of time, so I wasn’t having to bridge that gap. But even as a stand-alone, so much seemed to be over explained, or completely unexplained, so by the end - when the “gotcha” was happening, it just seemed like a throwaway.

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

Mon ami! Hercule Poirot himself in the thumbnail. Have a cookie! :3

[@alinac5512]

11:50 I mean theres also the clue that Wanda says "no" and it rewinds immediately after. That is a clue that she has some form of control. For the sake of argument.

[@rue...whenwasthis]

they way wanda fell under her own spell instantly upon seeing vision if front of her gets me in the heart everytime

[@cirospedale7511]

I'm SO happy you did Legion. I love that show beyond any other, it really feels like it's too forgotten because it was a Fox thing and not released by Disney. If Disney actually did release it, it would have made more waves

[@RestlessChildcz]

When this video started I screamed "there better be some poirot in this!" and i was not disappointed ♥ such a good video and such good points! I enjoyed WandaVision a lot but I have to agree with what you're saying. You have articulated a lot of things that felt off about the series. Great job!

[@mrgreenpickuptruck]

Ok, but when are you writing the Murder Mystery about the Cyborg Cat from the Future?

[@Lady_de_Lis]

This is also why I hated the villain reveal in Frozen so much. They intentionally added misleading evidence of Hans's innocence, not to mention that his motivations for his behavior only made sense if he was a good guy.

[@JamesWoodall]

The Hans reveal may not be the most sophisticated twist in cinema history, but I don't think it's unfair, in the Knox sense. I'd say it's actually quite predictable. Narratively, we're primed to think of Hans as the "wrong guy". The trolls sing a whole song about it, and both Elsa and Kristoff remark on how unwise it is to marry somebody you just met, because does Anna really know Hans? So when Anna goes to Hans for an act of true love, we've already been setup to expect she's wrong. I don't know what evidence you consider misleading, but red herrings and misdirection don't necessarily make a mystery unfair. Pre-reveal Hans is characterised in way that makes him appear noble and honourable, but can be read a different way once we know his true motivations. 'Love is an open door' is about how in-sync Hans and Anna are, but the truth is he's just agreeing with whatever she says so he can convince her to marry him. Hans handing out cloaks and caring for the citizens of Arendelle makes him appear charitable, but he's just currying the favour of the public he hopes will accept him as King (and also so they won't suspect him of murder). And he repeatedly states his intention to go out to find Anna and Elsa, repeating how dangerous it is for them, which makes him seem gallant but actually he just wants to get them alone so he can stage an accident that will be believed. The truth is there if you're looking for it. We know Hans has 12 brothers, so can infer that marriage into another kingdom is his best shot at power. And he never actually says he loves Anna, he only talks about loving Arendelle. "I've been searching my whole life to find my own place." He doesn't want her, he wants a place he can own. Unfairness is about omitting crucial details, making the truth impossible to see. Disguising the truth as something else is fair game.

[@Lady_de_Lis]

@@JamesWoodall There's various small instances where they attempt to paint him as an extremely sweet guy when no one is around to watch him (which they really didn't need to do). Even if he just changed from having a warm smile to a blank/stoic expression once everyone left, that would have been good enough of a "clue" to his true nature. Or at least don't show him while he's alone at all if they refuse to do that. But the biggest instance of him not behaving in way that made sense was during his attempt to "arrest" Elsa. First of all, we learn later that he was always planning to kill Elsa, even before she ran away. He wanted to marry her at first, but since she was unreceptive, the plan switched to marrying Anna and then staging an "accident" for Elsa. Once Elsa ran away, his plan was shifting a bit. Anna ran off after Elsa and had already put Hans in charge, so now all he has to do is try to find some way to make the marriage between him and Anna binding (so for now he needs her alive, until later when he doesn't), and besides that, he only needs to keep feigning innocence while secretly attempting to get Elsa killed without it being tied back to him. So, naturally, when he goes on the trip to "arrest" Elsa, he would not be opposed to Elsa being killed during the struggle, as long as he was not seen as the direct culprit. Sure enough, a chance for her to die is presented: a man is pointing a crossbow at her, and she's so busy dealing with other captors that she doesn't notice him. Hans is the only one who notices the bowman. Instead of doing the natural thing for his motivation and letting the guy try and kill her, he runs over and intervenes. Even if the script demands that she doesn't die, they could have written Elsa noticing the bowman at the last moment, or some other distraction causing the guy to miss. The script did not require Hans to step in, and yet that's what he does. His intervention causes the chandelier to fall instead. Some people attempt to make this itself purposeful on Hans's part, but it makes no sense. An arrow to the heart is not any less likely to be deadly than a falling chandelier. Elsa does end up surviving it, after all. So there's no need for him to see that as a better murder method, especially as such a death would be more directly tied to him due to it being caused by his actions. It was sheer luck that she didn't die, so his hands were "clean." And as far as we know, no one would know he didn't step in to save Elsa from the bowman. And even if someone was watching him, Hans could have simply pretended to try and stop the bowman but ended up being "too late". And he could pretend to be all guilt ridden that he "failed her" and garnered even more sympathy and support that way. In any case, that is probably the most glaring problem, but not the only one. And there doesn't seem to be any purpose behind it accept to mislead the audience.

[@JamesWoodall]

@@Lady_de_Lis I don't recall many scenes where Hans is on his own, you may have to jog my memory. But you're right that stopping the crossbowman from killing Elsa is an odd choice. As is attempting to talk Elsa down as she's about to murder the Duke's henchmen. If he'd just let that happen, it'd turn the people against her further without him having to do anything that might implicate himself. So you're right his behaviour seems a little unconvincing here. However, in the next scene between Hans and Elsa in the prison cell, Hans urges Elsa to end the winter. Perhaps the idea is that Hans wants to fix Arendelle before killing Elsa--there's no guarantee killing Elsa will unfreeze his desired kingdom after all--so his intention may genuinely be to arrest her at that point, thinking he could decide the best course of action once Elsa was safely in a cell. (I think severing the chandelier was not his intention either, a genuine accident). Even so, you're right this is a little clunky. Hans is clearly a cautious plotter, but it's not established that he doubts killing Elsa will solve the winter. And I'm sure they could have gotten that across by having the Duke and the townsfolk leap to that conclusion and having Hans oppose it in a way which seems like he's defending Elsa. As for making his marriage with Anna binding, I think that was his original intention, but, as you say, his goal shifted. Elsa refuses to give her blessing to the marriage, so that plan is by no means guaranteed. And Anna leaving him in charge makes him the best thing the kingdom has to an heir. We can even see the moment he realises this. He tells the dignitaries he wants to go out to find Anna because "If anything happens to her..." the unspoken part being he's worried he might lose his connection to the throne. But a dignitary says, "If anything happens to the princess, you are all Arendelle has left." Suddenly, it's clear they've forsaken Elsa and are already considering him as next in line. It's only then he knows for certain killing both of them will guarantee his rise to power. Again, it's not the most sophisticated and you're right, it's clunky. I do agree that Hans as a character often feels restricted by the narrative, unable to behave in the way most natural to him because it would spoil the reveal. But because the clues are there and because it is possible to make an interpretation of his actions that kinda make sense, it is not unfair in the way Wandavision is.

[@Lady_de_Lis]

@@JamesWoodall Just to clarify, I don't claim it's as unfair as Wandavision. Just that I think it was unfair. Wandavision is certainly worse. But that could partly be because Wandavision has more time to make more problems than a film does. Regardless, Frozen sticks out to me because it just so happens to be the first film I saw which was unfair in it's reveal. There have been more since, but it holds a special place for me for that reason. (And I don't even dislike Frozen. I actually really like the movie. Just hate how the villain was handled.)

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

Oh wow, I discover your channel only yesterday, and here's a whole new video! ^.^

[@_vallejos]

before you said the solution in the doctor who story I paused the video and watched it myself, it was worth it

[@swanofoceane]

You put so much work into these videos, I hope more people start subscribing and supporting you!

[@levihogue]

john im so glad youtube put your devil wears prada video in my recommended! loving the channel, can't wait to see more.

[@levihogue]

also i'd love to see what other TV shows you're into! how to get away with murder is one of my favorites and i feel like it did mystery and suspense very well, but i'd love to know your take.

[@AgnesAmaralbr]

James, I discovered your channel some weeks ago and watched your Devil wears Prada video (and it's amazing!). I clicked this video thinking "HEY but I liked Wandavision so much even though I'm not a Marvel Fan", but I loved this video. Like you said, it's a change on Marvel narrative but still, could be improved. Great analysis! I learn a lot with your videos :)

[@setheus]

I love all of your video essays, this one is finishing off my binging of them! I hope you continue, these are all great! (If I may posit one criticism; during the grainy film-reel sequences in this, there's a subtle but present and steady high-pitched tone that's a big trigger for tinnitus/auditory issues!)

[@Scarleto]

Me, knowing full well I'm stupider than Watson: ....Uh oh. Also those Poirot sketches were hilarious. The entire video was very well formulated and put together, and your logic was well formed and presented. I remember thinking while you explained the mystery rubric that clearly the BBC Sherlock showrunners could have used a good dose of that, instead of throwing it out the window like they were, seemingly, too smart for it. Thank you! Good stuff.

[@gamecrazy132]

very very well made, and finally an explanation that covered my feelings

[@marswag666]

same here! i enjoyed watching the show sure but i didn’t get any satisfaction and this video explained why i felt like the show dragged for a bit

[@CallMeRuben_]

so just watched all your videos, so excited to see what comes next, we need more creators with an objective brain, thank you for doing this work

[@peachie5000]

I was SO surprised to see Legion mentioned here - an absolutely great example to use for comparison that I don't often seen brought up in discussion about superhero media in general. I think it also is important within this discussion about mysteries because it refutes the idea that a comic book series can't keep mysteries from hardcore fans - the way in which the series weaved and interpreted storylines (Especially in season 1) kept it fresh for non-comic readers and X-men fans alike. Edit: Also noticed you defended s2/s3 , really cool seeing that - I agree Legion sometimes gets too over its head for its own good (especially in season 3) but I honestly think the philosophical concepts structure of season 2 and the way that affects the story going forward is brilliant and deserves more credit.

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

It took me this long to find the time to watch the video and OMFG, it was great! I don't do the MCU (though I love 90s X-Men and the FOX movies - well, the good ones), but this video having media criticism, Poirot, Doctor Who AND a 'do better' attitude... *I think I'm in love* :D My favorite new channel! Easily.

[@BearinBG]

Just discovered your channel and wanted to say that I really enjoy your content! I've never watched WV but the video was so intriguing and well written/spoken that I continued watching to the end.

[@paigehansen8944]

As a comic reader but not an excessive MCU fan, I had assumed popular heroes would be rebooted in different mediums post End Game. At the beginning of WandaVision I truly thought it was an outside of MCU reboot & I was down for a silly period-based sitcom. By the end of the first ep I figured it would tell a cohesive story instead of being episodic. Until ep 4 I didn’t think it’d tie directly in to the MCU current timeline. The mystery worked for me 🙂

[@paigehansen8944]

Having watched further, I agree that the mystery wasn’t fair play I didn’t expect to be able to solve it, so it didn’t impede my enjoyment at all - but I can see that I misunderstood the critique (:

[@mrashley]

Thoughtful and well made. Thanks James! :)

[@danielbostrom1831]

How on earth do you only have 42.8 K subscribers? Your content is amazing!! Keep it up

[@plunkdaddy4505]

I haven’t watched the video yet, so there’s a good chance you will bring this up. I feel that they played their hand way too soon. In episode 3 or 4 when the woman wakes up after getting expelled from Wanda’s world they explain nearly everything and pivot into an action show. I feel the mystery would have worked better if the reveal happend two episodes later and if some of the cameos happened sooner, like the woman from the thor movie. These changes would have added more to speculate and scratch our head over, but also make the mystery feel like it was actually important and not ham fisted to have a sitcom romp for 3 episodes

[@Daezmond]

Oh, such a nice vid, I'm very happy to find your channel! Love and support from Russia

[@ralekwashere1519]

Love your work!

[@katdeasyy]

excited for this!

[@reysquadron7820]

As soon as I saw "The Library" I was like "ahh, Doctor. Too bad thats not it. I've never heard of The Library show.." and then I hear David Tennant's dulcet tones!

[@gdg4686p]

king! i just watched all your videos the other day :)

[@Grubenhaus]

Brilliant video. Really great detail and very fair with it to. Very refreshing in the world of mass media criticism.

[@lorettabes4553]

15:15 This greatly bothered me on my initial viewing of WandaVision. I was new in the mcu, had just watched all the movies and shows. My brain was running on all the logic of all those previous shows, with no comic book knowledge. So when the Agatha reveal happened... I was super confused. (The scene with Agatha being strapped to the pole). I was wondering if Wanda had suddenly changed the genre of the show, if this was a new trick. Massive confusion all around. I felt like I was watching a different show or maybe I had missed an episode. *Then* I realised the show was serious, witchcraft is a thing in this world. Magic that was different from Dr. Strange exists. And Agatha is a witch, an antagonist. It was so out of left field, it knocked all my immersion away and I had trouble getting back into it during the whole finale.

[@italoblu]

It’s a crime you only have four videos up. I’d love to see you deconstruct Cruella, Mulholland Dr, Robert Altman, 2046, Spike Lee, and what the hell happened to Ang Lee’s career.

[@ninino86]

I wasnt near my phone, just listening via bluetooth, and suddenly I hear my favorite doctor saying "The library!" a line from one of my favorite episodes, out of nowhere. Well done in making this whovian stop everything she's doing and smile 😊😊😎

[@tishaanants]

This is Absolutely Lovely, thanks

[@untitleduntitled4740]

i feel that once people became unsatisfied with wanda vision's ending, that it was a sign that the MCU was starting to dwindle in popularity.

[@jessicap.848]

As someone who did not exactly watch the Marvel movies, I genuinely enjoyed the mystery, because I didn’t know anything about Wanda and Vision. So I suppose this series is for someone like me, who is yet not very familiar with the Marvel universe. I believe that’s why they actually explain what happened in the movies through the series.

[@DarthPoyner]

This was a masterful examination. Earned a new sub with this. And the 1st season of Legion WAS amazing. Too bad the remaining seasons never reached that level.

[@JamesWoodall]

I can agree the first season is the strongest, but seasons two and three are by no means weak. Season two is a bit obtuse, and I didn’t feel I’d fully appreciated it until my second watch, but it builds to a stunning conclusion. And while season three is perhaps a bit too goofy, it’s playing with some fantastic ideas. The time eaters are terrifying!

[@kayleejazz1669]

I liked your film analysis Spoilers for anyone below- who hasn’t seen Wanda vision or watched this video. When Agatha was revealed to be the big bad. I kept getting hocus pocus and Halloweentown vibes. I mean burning at the stake the evil book had to be a reference from hocus pocus and there seemed to be a lot of Halloween town references. Agatha outfit looks similar to Calabar from Halloweentown, the chanting in Latin, the being the friendly next door neighbor (he was the mayor but he also the grandmas next door neighbor and the mothers ex boyfriend in the movie I think) Even her standing on a billboard confronting Wanda is similar to him confronting the kids at the ending of Halloween town. Not only that but Wanda kids have visions similar to the youngest daughter in Halloween town which is how they were able to defeat him in the first place. And Calabar was also aging people in the movie theater similar to what Agatha was doing and in the sequel Calabar was turning them into black in white and “normal”. Not only that but in the movie the kids find out their “witches” very similar to what Wanda was told. She’s a witch. The scarlet witch. At the end of the movie the oldest daughter Marine is allowed to come to or stay in Halloween town and continue her training. And something very similar happens to one of the characters on wandavision- Rambeau in the movie theater is told by someone at the end that she will be able to go into space and by her mothers authority no less or because of her mother. (I even think she’s still in Wanda “hex” when she’s told this) (and earlier was told she couldn’t fly into space because of her mother’s orders) Now we see Wanda keeps transitioning people and herself into different tv shows of the decade and in later American television (I think) I remember there being a resurgence of “witchcraft” shows but with more or less storyline involved. Both for adults and kids shows. (Charmed and W.I.T.C.H.) So I thought Agatha wasn’t going to be a witch but a person casted by Wanda subconscious to play the antagonist of her tv show. So I thought Agatha wasn’t going to be a villain but Wanda own subconscious was ironically playing into her own television show.

[@Mr1Churchy]

Great video. Very enjoyable to watch. My main question; What happened to the bee man after the rewrite?!

[@JamesWoodall]

I have the same question! He’s never mentioned again!

[@alejandrocervantes3624]

A wizard did it!

[@valeriarossini543]

Thank you!!! I've been looking for a video like this, I HATED wandavision but had no idea how to explain why

[@vegetableman4619]

As far as mysteries go, in my opinion Westworld season 1 and 2 is absolutely legendary. Not to spoil anything too much but these guys were showing us two different time periods/timelines and we didn’t even realize it until the end. Many others will agree but it’s honestly so unique and creative that even those same writers and producers couldn’t duplicate it (season 3 and 4 are…unfortunate?) I’d love to see the notes written down while they were figuring it all out, lol that must be like reading a schizophrenics journal

[@yupitsjessbbyx3]

The Agatha thing is wild because comic fans clocked Agnes as Agatha almost immediately because of some stupid broach she wore in one episode. In the same breath comic fans we’re getting annoyed with the set up of the show and LOVED episode 4 for explaining what was going on, so if the goal was to satisfy MCU fans then they arguably did. But like everything in the MCU it’s not really for casual viewers even if it’s more welcoming then other MCU shows.

[@emilyrln]

"Silence in the Library" is one of my all-time favorite Doctor Who episodes!!!

[@mwillmer6074]

OH MY GODDD I absolutely LOVE Legion, I screamed when you showed it!!!!

[@TheMelonFarmers123]

I agree bro. On first viewing, I really liked wandavision, and I think there was enough there to make a compelling show. But I’m second viewing, the cracks are much more visible. It sucks because it had so much potential, but like you said, it spoils itself at times and has reveals that really didn’t have anything leading up to them.

[@cryingpsycho]

Why is the production quality so high on this video? Like wtf? Good points too!

[@jeronimoledesma6804]

I know the video is old and this commentary probsbly will be forgotten, but I really want to say that this video is really good, it helped me understand lots of things from back when the show was airing and why I couldn't make those around me fully interested... And also gives me the perfect change to recomend that, if anyone wants a good supernatural mystery that also plays fair (extremely fair, you'll understand if you watched it) and has the time for it, Umineko: When They Cry, is one of the best examples I could ever think of that, specifically in it's novel version for PC, not the TV adaptation

[@Thayra]

This video is fantastic and deserves sooo many views. Come on algorithm!!

[@dazzlingburritoes5693]

I KNEW it was the cyborg cat from the future. It was obvious

[@xarityfan4370]

I love Legion. Glad you brought it up!

[@amateur_astronomer9380]

6:10 oh my god the way I felt that in my soul. Thank god Knives Out saved my love for detective dramas because that whole season of BBC Sherlock made it shrivel up and DIE inside of me for YEARS.

[@AkashWShah]

As much as I agree that WandaVision did not do a very good job with its mystery, I disagree that its premise was flawed and unworkable from the start. I think that both viewpoints, both from the inside out and the outside in working in parallel could've yielded and incredibly interesting mystery. Rather than have Sword show up three episodes in and have to play catch-up with things we already know, they could have cut back and forth between both perspectives. Each team would work on two different aspects of the mystery, alternating which one gets the clues, slowly getting closer and closer until they meet in the middle and find the solution. When they first introduced Sword, I actually thought they were going to continue the show in this manner with Sword on the outside trying to get in and Vision on the inside trying to get out. I think that it could've built up some incredible tension for when the two teams finally meet, and made for an ultimate "ah-ha" moment. I truly think that if the first Sword episode was interspersed throughout the first few, then it would've been a much more interesting and entertaining mystery.

[@uhuhuh1966]

I’m very shocked he didn’t mention Harry Potter, mysteries with magical rules

[@JamesWoodall]

I definitely considered it, but these days mentioning Harry Potter comes with some baggage.

[@uhuhuh1966]

@@JamesWoodall haha true good point ☺️

[@UltraVioletKnight]

It's not that good anyways. The bad guy of the first book was some rando teacher nobody cares about. JK Rowling is a mediocre writer who got lucky.

[@uhuhuh1966]

@@UltraVioletKnight ....clearly you’ve never read the books lol but I won’t stop your bandwagon, she’s an awful person that deserves everything being thrown at her today 🤮

[@BeautifulEarthJa]

this was great! i just listened to a great murder mystery on Horrorbabble and this just explains so well why I was so hooked! and the answer was there all along! it was definitely the 'oh yes' moment described!

[@AnaBrigidaGomez]

I think you make a good points for traditional linear ONE mystery rules breaking but that was sort of the point, IMO. To do something different with the genre in various ways. They had three mysteries going on introduced once they solved the one before. 1) They let us enjoy the role of detectives in the first three episodes and 2) They changed the mystery from who to why and how and was she evil now or now and how to fix the anomaly and give Monica the role of detective which I think why a lot of us enjoyed the ride. 3) How are we going to fix this specially since we discovered that Vision can't exist outside the Hex and we already were attached to him . We were given new things to ponder and dropping things that were not important anymore just like in real life if you lose a penny and looking for the penny you lose your cell phone suddenly the penny not longer counts as much. And the lack of reaction of exploration of the other characters makes sense because this was about Wanda not the other characters. Asides from Ralph Boner I feel the show hit all the things they wanted to hit perfectly.

[@samhwwg]

To me, the real subversion would be to twist the source material. If the writers were bold enough to not make it out as Wanda herself crafting the Hex-field but truly instead be her under some form of manipulation, and have Agatha be behind all that, it would’ve been much more appealing. The source material is a widely known reference to the show, and having the show actually built on it and built on subverting it the same time would probably have been more interesting.

[@matthewneil6606]

you should do a similar video comparing this mystery to the mystery in Loki but idk if that has enough focus on mystery to make a video on it

[@KelidaJ]

I scared my cat when I cheered for The Library episode being mentioned, haha! Delighted to discover this video! For me, a sign of a good mystery is that it doesn't fall apart once you guess the correct answer - there is still a satisfying narrative, the mystery aspect is how we discover it. The rules are a roadmap of things that can completely derail the experience. The level of secrecy Marvel has about certain aspects of their stories isn't paired with much emotional pay off. While WandaVision claimed it would do something different, the effort never went into any aspect with any depth. Overall Marvel's latest efforts have just convinced me I shouldn't ever really care about Marvel ever again.

[@peterraber5198]

Would love to see an essay like this on LOST

[@cheleste1642]

Great to see that Doctor Who episode analyzed. Great story and mystery

[@swishyclang9175]

I haven't watched WandaVision but it's been almost universally praised in the internet circles I hang out in - it's interesting to see it covered from a different perspective, and as a Christie fan you've definitely got some solid points here.

[@copioustime7029]

Awesome vid, absolutely agree. I never put it together that it was a poorly done mystery. I love the show visually but story wise it was a disappointment.

[@RobertoLopezH]

Thanks again.

[@fernandod4046]

Wandavision was a mystery?

[@saccharinesilk]

i feel like you could maybe do inside out and outside in both in one story, but you'd have to do it simultaneously. you could even do interesting things with each perspective giving different sets of information, some of which may conflict, forcing the audience to come to their own conclusions about which information is more likely to be accurate

[@PenguinsOnStilts]

This is a great video and also nicely articulates the issue I had with Sherlock. None of the mysteries in that are remotely fair which is why it was always so infuriating.

[@GippyHappy]

I personally find it annoying how Marvel seems to cater to the comic fans at the expense of movie only fans. Like, someone who already knows who Agatha is can still enjoy the mystery if it's written well; knowing the twist doesn't ruin the story, if that were the case we'd never rewatch anything. But writing poorly just to throw people off who already know everything ruins it for everyone!

[@kenyakia4374]

You explained to me why the show's ending was so unsatisfying for me. I am a huge marvel fan and was really excited about this while it was coming out, I had intentionally put off doing any back ground research info after finding out it was a mystery like I normally would. And I was sucked in. Until the end. Agnes had been made to feel wrong and out of place in a lot of places but ultimately she DIDN'T MATTER. But then it was Agatha all along. But was it? Does her inclusion matter? She gives more exposition, but what does this contribute to the actual mystery aside from a secondary antagonist. All of my most prominent questions had been answered for me, but I kept thinking it's Marvel. IT'S DISNEY. There's something more. There has to be. Sword is figuring everything surface level out? Ok, that must just mean there's another twist hidden under the surface. Vision is getting suspicious? This is going to lead to some huge reveal where we find everything out. And we did, we get the confirmation that it's Wanda, we get the why and the how. But there was still episodes left. There is more right? RIGHT?!?! No. It was fan bait. Marvel is so successful at creating its Cinematic Universe because it gives you the outline of the comic book characters and fills them out over time. In doing this, it is enjoyable for first time watchers and even more fun for comic fans when they throw in a reference or foreshadow something we remember from the source material. They leave out exposition that would bog down the story of a current work and reintroduce it later when it's relevant. For instance Wanda's love for sitcoms wasn't as important in civil war, but the bombing and death of her parents was crucial to the plot. Introducing this new info can sometimes be hard to dobecause it often means shoe horning a lot of new ideas onto a character that for a lot of viewers is either fleshed out enough on their own or was already fleshed out by the source material boring the audience. WandaVision, or at least the end of it, was Marvel's attempt at filling out the Scarlet Witch cinematic sector without boring the audience. Fans of the comics are supposed to look at this and be like recognize Agatha. We are supposed to get excited about Monica becoming Captain Marvel/Photon (first black female Marvel hero which was super topical at the time) and the possible implications of this for the other Captain Marvel. Are we going to get a movie from this or new projects including these characters? And for people not into the comics, this will be their source material when new projects involving these characters come up at a future date. (Captain Marvel 2 is in the works and Monica will show up there probably with powers they no longer have to explain)

[@annabelletolley8916]

16.8k subscribers, a full length video essay, and less than 1000 likes? this is the second video on this channel I've watched and even I can tell something is afoot

[@b3An404]

When there was the whole thing about Agatha, even though I haven't read the comics I was like "mmm...okay?" And then she was defeated like the next episode so what was the point and when Agatha was like "The Scarlett Witch!😦😳" I was like...yeah? Obviously, don't we already know all of this? Why is this supposed to be shocking?

[@EvonneLindiwe]

Clicked because I saw Poirot. But the content made me a new sub 😉🙌🏿

[@saminyasir1847]

I found your video more Cinematic and interesting than the whole series 😬

[@TomSketchit]

I see a lot of your points, and I agree that the show would probably have been stronger if it was more of a mystery. I didn't go into it expecting much of a mystery personally, but I can see how making it one would have been compelling. There is just one point I'll contest you on. When you mention Agatha playing her role too well, specifically in the scene where Vision "wakes her up". When I watched that scene, personally, it immediately told me that the fan theories were true and that Agnes was lying about who she was. Because compare her waking up to Norm. Norm gasps and looks around, asks Vision what day it is and where he is, panics, talks about needing to get in touch with his sister about his sick father. Agnes? She immediately starts talking in this really hammy awe-struck tone that just sounds so fake to me, which I feel was most likely on purpose for this exact reason. I mean think about her reaction. The first thing she does is realize that she's talking to The Vision and ask if he's there to save them, then does the overly dramatic "You're dead!" shout over and over again before laughing and saying all is lost. It's so corny, I immediately bought into the idea that it was Agatha putting on a show, partly for the fun of it and partly to see if she could get any more hints of information from Vision. Sorry to ramble on about that, I just love that detail of that scene, and sometimes it feels like I'm the only one who sees it since I've seen no one else bring it up, everyone seems to take that scene at face value.

[@libbybeatham1659]

Please do something on Knives out! I’d love to hear your view on it

[@JamesWoodall]

I love Knives Out! But I'm not sure I have an insight about it that Movies with Mikey hasn't covered.

[@marcusbrothers5221]

you're right. this should have taken place on the Orient express

[@eatatjoes6751]

My whole beef was that WandaVision led us into thinking Mephisto or someone (Dr. Strange?) commanded by Mephisto was setting everything up for Wanda with Aggie playing the quirky Drop-In Character because Mephisto's watching Wanda play around in the world and using/puppeteering her power the longer she's in it, only for Monica to catch on and try to rescue her but Wanda is too consumed by grief to want to leave/so sucked into the "sitcom" that she tries to stop her, thinking that it's her "time to have fun." Instead, nope. The sitcom was *all her fault.* The commercials weren't Dr. Strange at all, *nope.* Also, your mystery is bad if by the 4th episode where SWORD pops in it immediately hijacks the rest of the show to the point where you forget it originally began as a sitcom pastiche.

[@yumnax]

Thank you! I loved your analysis. When I started watching WandaVision (not familiar with the MCU universe at all) I actually was fond of it. But by episode 4 the mystery was over and most action seemed unecessary. I quickly realised that they feared alienating their typical fans so I didnt mine them moving away from the sitcom formula however them just solving the whole mystery at once made me just mad. Why get me invested in a question if you dont want me to solve it. I disliked the plot twist with Agatha because I was never suspicious of here before and then they just were like: aha, she’s an evil witch!. And the mesh with conventional mythical beings like coven witches with the MCU superheroes was rocky. I love witches but they just felt out of place and they never hinted at them before. Should I now explect werewolves and vampires to be a part of the MCU? Also I feel like the action scenes alienated those of us who enjoyed the first three episodes and enjoyed something light hearted. Lastly her transition to becoming a scarlet witch felt uneventful and meaningless because we don’t know what it means to be a scarlet witch and how she fits into the grandeur universe. Anyways thank for your analysis! I really loved it and I’m looking forward to more of your videos!

[@imissjoonie1551]

Does anyone know what is the song that plays at 3:19, I tried looking through the links in the description but I can't go through every piece in their profiles so it's not very helpful

[@X2Magneto]

Liked this allot. I, too, didn't care for the show, and while I have some of my own thoughts on the matter, I was glad to see a 'Wandavision's not good" video that wasn't an angry, reactionary cry for help.

[@Margatatials]

now if they had had an entire season of those first 3 episodes of actual sitcom episodes and then in the final episode be from the outside ending with the airing of episode one and Monica entering and becoming Geraldine that could have been a good way to approach the mystery from 2 angles, the second season could have been from the outside in. OR alternateively starting with the anomoly and watching S.W.O.R.D. getting the camp set up ending on Darcy finding Episode 1 airing. followed then by episode 1 being the second episode. ALSO Even Peter's character should have been X-men Peter Maximoff, living under the Witness protection program as "Ralph" and that he had been brought there from another universe.

[@TalysAlankil]

36:32 the worst part is, i was following some of the chatter from comic fans when the show aired, and starting in episode ONE (1) people figured that Agnes was AGatha HarkNESs from the name alone.

[@makamatin9257]

the commandment #6 is one of the things i hate. It is lazy writing.