WandaVision's Finale Succeeds Where Watchmen's Failed

 
  Watchmen asked us, in its final moments of televisual life, whether or not Angela Abar would become a God. But a more important question wasn't being asked: Should she become one?

   Ozymandias sermonizes "anyone who seeks to attain the power of a God must be prevented, at all costs, of attaining it" before he executes his ego-maniacal daughter and her plan for deification. But unlike Trieu and now-liquefied Senator Keene, Angela doesn't seek power, but since she does abuse what power she has as a police officer--throughout the series she brutally beats and tortures 7K cronies--the ending is shockingly naive. Am I taking some moral high-ground to a black woman (who's already survived a murder attempt) beating up terroristic white supremacists? No. But do I think someone who just broke someone's fingers should be a God? Same answer but emphatic: No.

  Angela's a great character and her complexity is exactly why this palatable ending is so baffling. It's implied that she'd use her Ostermanhattan powers responsibly, but... I'm doubtful. As strong-willed and sharp as she is, she's just as scared, angry, and violent - no matter how justifiable or righteous that anger is, it negates the ending's hopefulness.

  Giving her God-like abilities is a cop-out that eschews her dealing with, not only her own trauma, but the compounding generational trauma she lived through in Episode 6. Just south of her finding the egg, but north of watching Jon die, her Grandfather tells her "you can't heal underneath a mask [...] wounds need air." Angela has wounds she hasn't even begun to open, which is dangerous when you can bend reality at will. Later on he says that he admired Jon but "with all that power, he didn't do everything he could have done," it's an inspiring sentiment but that's all it is. By walking on water she's running from her pain.

 I see the "If You Could Have Any Superpower, What Would It Be And Why?" icebreaker a lot on dating apps Not just from the app itself but other users posting it to stoke a response. After WandaVision, the real question is "Are You Emotionally Stable Enough To Even Have Superpowers?" WandaVision's finale picks up what Watchmen neglected and examines it, showing us the damage that someone who's compartmentalizing their pain does with Godly control. In the best scene of the series (and I'd argue the entire MCU), Wanda's confronted by the townspeople she's been unintentionally torturing all season. They're angry, anguished, exhausted, confused, and afraid. These aren't just innocent bystanders, they're fully-realized human beings who each get a moment to address their abuser...who happens to be our 'Hero.'

  I was knocked flat on my ass that they were going in this mature, necessary, thoughtful, and nuanced direction with it. Not to mention its placement in the episode, too: it barges into the middle of the show's first big cgi Superhero Fight™ and completely subverts the MCU's 13-year Good vs. Bad formula. Wanda's not so much an antihero as she's slowly melting into a full-blown villain in denial, which is one of her more subtle superpowers. She created a world of TV make-believe but her cathodic Heaven is Hell for the extras. It's like the inverse of The Truman Show but it's even worse than that: she's been suppressing her grief by burdening them with it.

  She tries to convince them they're fine, quivering desperate lies that they're "at peace" but they're not having it - they haven't had control of their own minds so they refuse to shut up now. She screams to drown out their noise and reflexively chokes them with her power. She's not actively choosing to do this but, because of her instability, her powers aren't wielded: they're misemployed. Agatha, the indirect villain to Grief Itself, tells her "heroes don't torture people," which is less sobering than a mocking prod to her failures as an Avenger - to add another layer of humiliation to the mounting emotional summit Wanda's falling from. Of course Agatha has her own agenda and wants Wanda to use her power so she can absorb it, but it doesn't take away from how right she is.

  One of Wanda's last lines in the series is "I don't understand this power, but I will" before she whisks off to isolate herself. She can't undo the damage and she doesn't seek forgiveness for it (nor does she deserve it) but she takes the necessary steps to not cause anymore suffering while confronting her own. It's a complicated, challenging way to end this superhero show - which is why it's the perfect way to end this superhero show.