In last week's season finale of WandaVision, the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) was forced to give up her "family" in order to release the residents of Westview from The Hex and return them to their normal lives.
While the character clearly knew what she did was wrong and seemed to feel remorse, she didn't really face any consequences for basically enslaving and torturing an entire town, and some felt that Monica Rambeau's "they'll never know what you sacrificed for them" line was an attempt to put a more heroic spin on Wanda's actions.
During an interview with THR, head writer/showrunner Jac Schaeffer was asked about the conclusion of the episode, and explained that she never intended to make it seem like the character was being excused or let "off the hook" for what she did.
"We wanted it to be really visceral and painful for Wanda. And also necessary," said Schaeffer of Wanda's 'walk of shame.' "She did a terrible, terrible thing. You can argue in the beginning that she didn't know what she was doing, but once she truly knew what she was doing on a conscious level, she continued to perpetuate it for days."
"You can't entirely forgive her for that," she continued. "But our goal with the show was to understand Wanda and Vision in a complete way. So I feel we have a complete picture of why she did what she did. That does not justify it; that does not make it okay. But we have empathy for her, and we were with her on the journey. So I don't think that she's off the hook, and it wasn't my intention to write it in a way that seemed like we could just forgive all of those sins. But I do think that the empathy for her as a character is still very present at the end of the show."
What do you make of Schaeffer's comments? Do you think Wanda got off too lightly? Be sure to share your thoughts in the usual place.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.