WandaVision (2021, Disney+) • Page 49

Monica was written just fine for the fourth most important character on the show whose role exists mostly outside of the main story for much of the series. Looking forward to more from her in expanded roles in the future.

 

Teyonah Parris also starred in Spike Lee's Chi-Raq, which I finally watched this past week & absolutely loved.

Film also has Angela Bassett (Black Panther), Wesley Snipes (Blade II), Harry Lennix (Zack Snyder's Justice League), & Samuel L. Jackson (Spider-Man: Far From Home; Incredibles 2; Kingsman: The Secret Service; The Spirit; Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones). With cinematography by Matthew Libatique (Iron Man; Venom; Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) & costume design by Ruth E. Carter (Black Panther). So, I think y'all would really like it.

 

Chi-raq is a messy masterpiece.

Good writing and storytelling makes every character worthy of investigation, makes them feel organic and like their lives exist outside of the protagonist’s narrative. Monica’s characterization loses that thread midway through. The introduction was strong but she becomes single minded as a “help Wanda” aid and then it becomes set up for her powers, which aren’t really established in character or theme but just as a way to get her from the point A she was at to the point C the MCU wants her to be at. And to give her the “these people will never understand what you sacrificed for them” line rings hollow, partially because it’s an inadequate line at understanding the gravity of everything that’s happened and partially because it’s not really built on her story, just Wanda’s.

 

I’m gonna need a few more examples of prior work from these guys before I even consider.

 

Also I think I’d argue Monica is the third most important character on the show as presented. If you want to count Agatha fine, but her writing was even worse.

 

Well, in addition to the masterpieces I already listed, Samuel L. Jackson was also in Goodfellas, a movie directed by Martin Scorsese, who (believe it or not) has done some other neat stuff here & there outside of have opinions about the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

 

Agatha’s writing was fun and good

 

Samuel Jackson, hmm he’s the guy from Snake Plane right?

 

The crux of my issue with Agatha is that nothing about her is related to the thematics of Wanda’s story. If this is a story about processing loss and trauma, how does the conflict with Agatha represent that? What connection does she have to it? Why is defeating her representative of Wanda’s growth? To compare her to good MCU villains, Killmonger’s worldview conflicts with T’Challas, and all of their actions speak to that difference in philosophy. And when the action reaches its climax, it’s when T’Challa realizes that what Wakanda means to him is not what it means to everyone. It can and should be better. Agatha is an evil witch whose motivations are boring and it skates by because Katherine Hahn is incredible, but if you want to hold anything Marvel does up to critical scrutiny, it doesn’t measure up on that level. It can still be fun and I don’t quibble with anyone liking it or calling it “good”, I largely enjoyed most of it even if I have issues with its fundamental execution and writing, but these criticisms aren’t nitpicking or just because it’s Marvel, it’s because I’m holding it to the same standard I hold all the media I consume.

 

I love Kathryn Hahn & love me a good campy villain, but I feel like everything with the character went downhill fast in the last couple episodes. The actual reveal scene was fun, as was the catchy theme song, ending in her ridiculous comment about killing the dog... and then, she just got very dull & lifeless. I think that Agatha stuff was a pretty good example of how the whole Marvel thing can go flat (especially contrasted with someone like Cate Blanchett's Hela, who thrived under Taika Waititi). She kinda just became a generic "bad person with the same general gimmick as the hero."

Monica Rambeau definitely felt like she was there because Marvel needed to get her from cute kid to the hero we know from the comics. Which, I think Wanda's powers were as good an MCU equivalent to her comics origin as we were gonna get, so I don't mind; plus, she was the Avengers' Captain Marvel during the 80s era that "Vision & the Scarlet Witch" was born out of. But, her stuff constantly felt like a distraction from the Wanda story to me instead of part of it. As much as I love Darcy & like Randall Park (but not really Jimmy Woo thus far), maybe either reducing or removing their parts would've given more space to use Monica well.

 

agatha's writing was fun and good up until the reveal. the last two episodes had truly awful writing and, while I love hahn, not super great delivery. the "you're the scarlett witch!" is the worst of the bunch but also the "wanda, these are runes!" was pretty awful too

 

The name drop should’ve been Wanda transforming, grabbing Agatha, saying “I’m the Scarlet Witch, bitch,” & then blowing her up.

 

That was utterly fine. I like Olsen as Wanda and I like a lot of the characters but that last episode had a lot of what I hate about MCU in one episode. Odd considering I thought the show did a good job avoiding most of that for the season.

I can’t believe they made a boner joke though...

 

To be fair, there's a pretty solid history of boner jokes in sitcoms lol

 

It’s more the timing than the actual joke. That scene stuck out like a sore thumb.

 

I like the theory that Ralph Bohner was Jimmy's informant, and the "headshot" that Monica found was actually a detail sheet of his new witness protection identity that he used to study. His new name was made "Bohner" because he pissed off the FBI agent that was in charge of his placement.

 

do less

 

hey it's not my theory, I just think it's funny

 

Occam’s Boner

 

Enjoyed watching the series but I really had no clue what was going on here. It was such a subtle story line for the first few episodes and it is like it rained diarrhea in this episode. Two visions, the spell book from Hocus Pocus, runes, bad government guy, good government people, the girl from Captain Marvel. It is like the couldn’t fully commit to a final battle idea. All that aside I enjoyed how Wanda and Vision said their goodbyes. Wish they would have just toned it down. Hope this all led to a good direction future projects.

 

'WandaVision': Matt Shakman Opens Up About How the Pandemic Changed the Finale - Murphy's Multiverse -

 

Not surprised that a lot of cuts took place. It felt weird to me that Darcy just had that one small moment in the finale and it definitely felt like there were pieces missing with Monica and Pietro

 

#ReleaseTheShakmanCut

But really, that’s so dumb, lol. Should’ve just waited until they were ready. Unsurprising, but super annoying.