Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff in WandaVision
(Disney+)

Fan Theories Are Amazing but They Shouldn’t Turn You Against a Show

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I love fan theories. It is one of my favorite things to do in community with other fans, to get into the gritty details and see what they could mean. But sometimes, it can take over to the point where the story you are crafting in your head can no longer match up what creators are coming up with.

WandaVision’s director has clarified, “I know there are so many theories out there; there will be a lot of people who will no doubt be disappointed by one theory or another.” Any deep dive video on YouTube will give you details about who Dottie might be and what colors might signify, and all of that is good. But … maybe sometimes just exist and that’s fine, too.

Agatha’s reveal was excellent because while people had predicted it, there was something about how it was presented that just made me gasp. I would rather writers craft well thought out shows where things like this make sense, rather than trying to force something to shock us.

Remember Game of Thrones?

“For… God, I think it’s probably three years now, we’ve known that it was going to be Arya who delivers that fatal blow,” Benioff says in a behind-the-episode clip. “She seemed like the best candidate, provided we weren’t thinking about her in the moment,” Weiss adds. “Jon Snow has always been the hero, the one who’s been the savior, but it just didn’t seem right to us for this moment,” Benioff says.

While yes, Arya defeating the Night King or whatever he was fit into her skill set, it was also not as telegraphed as the writers thought it was, and it didn’t fit in terms of what it meant narratively for Jon Snow.

Typical Jon Snow.

Playing with expectations is something that all writers do, but we also do not need them to panic when we figure things out like the Westworld creators did.

“Reddit has already figured out the third episode twist, so we’re changing that right now,” co-creator Jonathan Nolan said during a Westworld panel at the 24th annual Paleyfest in LA this week.

“It’s annoying sometimes when people guess the twists and then blog about it, but the engagement is gratifying, on one level, because if someone guesses your twist, it means you’ve done an adequate job [of structuring the series]. “You can’t complain when people are that engaged. It’s very gratifying—but stop doing it, please.”

We can’t stop doing it and that’s fine, just stick you own landing. At this point in my life, I am no longer trying to outwit every story. I want to be engaged and entertained. With tomorrow’s series finale of WandaVision, the only thing I want is to have this journey come to an organic and fitting conclusion. Marvel has always had third act blunders, so to pull it off without that happening is the one fan hope I would love to see come true.

(image: Marvel)

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Princess Weekes
Princess (she/her-bisexual) is a Brooklyn born Megan Fox truther, who loves Sailor Moon, mythology, and diversity within sci-fi/fantasy. Still lives in Brooklyn with her over 500 Pokémon that she has Eevee trained into a mighty army. Team Zutara forever.