WandaVision Director Matt Shakman Opens Up on Fan Response to Vision’s Emotional Episode 8 Moment

There has undeniably been a lot to process within Marvel’s WandaVision, as the first eight episodes have expanded upon the journey of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and The Vision (Paul Bettany) in some truly profound and unexpected ways. Nowhere was that more apparent than in the series’ eighth episode, which used a series of flashback sequences to showcase Wanda’s journey and her handling of her grief. Along the way, fans were treated to a poetic line from Vision, in a conversation with Wanda following the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, when he pondered “What is grief, if not love perservering?” The line has captivated many Marvel fans in recent days, and according to series director Matt Shakman, the response surrounding it has been surprising.

“Yes, I have noticed,” Shakman recently told Collider. “It doesn’t surprise me, I’m surprised in general by the positive response to the show, which is great and humbling, but that line really is sort of the center point of the show — that exchange, I should say, because I think it’s both lines. I think it’s both his response, but also her line before it, about what loss feels like. It really is what the show is about. And I’m glad to be able to pull back the curtain in Episode 8 so that people realize, when they watch Episodes 1, 2, and 3, that this idea — this meditation on how you come back from loss — is really what the show is all about. It’s about love.”

Shakman recently made similar comments to ComicBook.com, arguing that the line serves as an interesting and beautiful encapsulation of both Wanda and Vision’s sensibilities.

“[It came] from the amazing Laura Donnie’s head. You know, I mean, from the writer of that episode, Jac Shaffer is a genius writer. Everyone she hired to work on that team was incredible and each of them brought a different perspective,” Shakman explained. “And I think Laura’s episode, “Previously On,” which we just had is a beautiful meditation on loss and it includes a line that’s gorgeous. I think it follows in a tradition for Vision, which is that even though he’s not human, he’s almost more human than we are and you know, ‘Something isn’t beautiful just because it lasts.’ He’s had some of the best lines in the MCU about humanity and that’s just yet another one and there might be some more in the future before this wraps.”

New episodes of WandaVision debut every Friday exclusively on Disney+. If you haven’t signed up for the service yet, you can try it out here.

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