Warning: full WandaVision spoilers ahead!
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The line in question–“What is grief, if not love persevering?”–comes in Episode 8 as Agatha Harkness takes Wanda on a supernatural trip down memory lane to unearth the source of the Hex. One pitstop in Wanda’s memory of Avengers HQ shows her opening up about the loss of her brother Pietro, who was killed by Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Vision consoling her with one of his many philosophical musings on life.
Wanda: It’s just like this wave washing over me again and again. It knocks me down and when I try to stand up, it just comes for me again. And I can’t… It’s gonna drown me.
Vision: No. No, Wanda.
Wanda: How do you know?
Vision: Because it can’t be all sorrow, can it? I’ve always been alone so I don’t feel the lack. It’s all I’ve ever known. I’ve never experienced loss because I’ve never had a loved one to lose. What is grief, if not love persevering?
While the line about grief was received earnestly by some who expressed how they could relate to what Vision said, it wasn’t long before those with an opposing view began to heavily criticize the line, and now the line has completed the full Internet Discourse Cycle by becoming the basis for a viral meme.
Shakman explained how the line about grief and the scene where it is delivered was so significant to Wanda’s life.
“[Episode 8] was so important because it pulls back the curtain on what the whole story has been all season, and hopefully folks can go back and look at episodes one, two, and three in a new light now. This is a story about love, it’s about loss, it’s about grief, it’s about how we move on from loss, something I think we all know too much about in general, but especially this year of the pandemic,” Shakman told IGN in an interview. “And so everything that we’ve done so far, even silly live-audience sitcoms in the ‘50s, is fueled by Wanda’s loss and about how she’s trying to find solace from that loss. So that’s what the Avengers HQ scene is really about.
“And it’s also about [Wanda and Vision’s] connection. We’ve seen them together, they’ve been quite charming together making paprikash, we’ve seen the highs and the lows, but this is the moment where they really come together. This is the moment where [Vision] provides the solace that she needs, a way forward, and that line [about grief] is quite beautiful. But it’s also made especially beautiful by the line before it, as well, when Wanda articulates what loss is like to her and he is able to give her a way forward. He is able to show her that love is the way through that. He is quite a wise person, Vision. Even though he’s not human, he seems to be more human than any of us. He has some of the best lines in the MCU, I think that one [about grief] written by [WandaVision writer] Laura Donney is gorgeous.”
Stay tuned to IGN for the full interview with director Matt Shakman.
For more on WandaVision, check out how that little Monica Rambeau moment is a big setup for Captain Marvel 2.
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Joshua is a Senior Editor and Producer of Features at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Star Wars are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.