All language subtitles for MPower.S01E03.WEBRip.x265-ION265

I'm the youngest of four kids.

And we had a ladder
that went up to this attic.

The attic was the playroom.

That's where all the imagination came in,
all the make-believe stories.

I would want to play
with my sisters and my brother.

But I never had a speaking part.

So I would therefore be
the pet of the family.

But I had so much emotion

and wanting to be heard as the youngest.

When I was seven or eight, I started
doing these camps with my friends.

And we did three musicals a summer.

And that, like, sealed it for me.

I just loved having a space
to be seen and heard.

So much mugging, and so much being a ham.

And it was like, I could do it for my job.

It was amazing.

I'm unstoppable

I'm a Porsche with no brakes

I'm invincible, yeah,
I win every single game

I'm so powerful,
I don't need batteries to play

I'm so confident, yeah,
I'm unstoppable today

Unstoppable today,
unstoppable today

Unstoppable today

I'm unstoppable today

Most superheroes start
from something very traumatic.

Wanda Maximoff,

orphaned at ten when a shell collapsed
their apartment building.

Something that they'd use and overcome.

And become a hero version of themselves.

But they're always still vulnerable.

There's a notion
that vulnerability is not heroic.

But Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch,
is such a troubled and tragic heroine,

and yet still manages to be
an incredibly powerful character.

Wanda
in the Marvel Universe...

...is one of
the strongest superheroes ever.

Her vulnerability and her emotional life
is when she's at her most powerful.

We get to see
that feelings are okay.

You took everything from me.

And sometimes,
life is not easy.

It can be very turbulent.

But you have
everything you need inside of you.

We are the source of our own power.
Trauma happens to all of us.

That's just part of life.

We can't reverse death,
no matter how sad it makes us.

But we can get through it.

I lost the person
closest to me, too.

There are extreme issues
that these characters are dealing with.

I can't control this pain anymore.
And I don't think I want to.

But we can take their motivations

and bring it into our own lives,
and it empowers us.

I think there's something
about the power of "I can"

that somehow rings a bell.

And your superheroness
shows up at that door.

Who is Wanda Maximoff?

Very complicated answer.

I think at the most simple, it's...

Wanda came from
an immensely traumatic childhood.

She was radicalized and was given
the power of the Mind Stone.

Wanda Maximoff is from a made-up
Eastern European country called Sokovia,

who lost both her parents
at a young age from a Stark bomb.

So she thinks that Tony Stark, Iron Man,
is one of the worst people on Earth,

and volunteers for a program
that could do experiments on her

to potentially avenge
her parents' death with her brother.

When we first meet Wanda in the movies,
she's part of Hydra, um,

and she's being experimented upon
in their facility with her brother.

And she's framed as this kind of creepy,

uber-powerful goth girl
with telekinetic powers.

But once she realizes that she's being
somewhat manipulated by Ultron...

You said we would destroy the Avengers,
make a better world.

It will be better.

When everyone is dead?

She changes her tune
and, and joins our heroes

and, and becomes a part of the Avengers.

She loses her brother,

who's her everything.

He was her last remaining tie
to her humanity.

And so the Avengers becomes
a surrogate family for her.

So she's now processing
a lot of grief and trauma

that she has dealt with
as a displaced person.

But she's able to sort of
keep moving forward

but not really
at a full version of herself.

We see her almost as a young, fragile girl
who's encouraged to seize her power.

Doesn't matter what you did
or what you were.

If you step out that door,
you are an Avenger.

It's a character
that has a huge evolution.

And Elizabeth was
the perfect person to play this

because she has such depth
and complexity as an actress,

and such vulnerability.

But to see where the character's gone,
I honestly never could've imagined.

She's a magical gal in a small-town locale

He's a hubby who's part machine

How will this duo fit in and fulfill...

With WandaVision
it was this gorgeous opportunity

to see so many other sides of her.

Wanda
WandaVision

- Is that...
- Yeah, it looks like her.

You move at...

In WandaVision, we get
to see her be funny, and silly,

and sweet, and charming, and effervescent.

Yes! Yes!

Such a strange sensation.
It's kind of fluttery.

Jeez Louise, did you have
to learn to walk?

I finally got to be funny.

- WandaVision.

You're welcome to draw
your own conclusions,

but that's just where I'm at.

Wanda's literally trying to escape
her grief through television.

This dream world where she doesn't
have to face any of her sadness.

Zip. Zero. Zilch.

She has an entire town captive,
living in a sitcom space.

- What are we lookin' at here?
- It's a sitcom.

The comfort for her are
these TV shows that she loved as a kid.

And because she happens to be
an enormously powerful psychic individual,

she can literally physicalize
that comfort for herself.

Well, we're just tickled pink.

It's the most ambitious possible concept.

It's over decades, it's through sitcoms,
it's just unbelievable.

WandaVision!

What are they?

What the stone was warning me about.

These superhero movies become
the highest stakes every time.

The world's ending
or computers are taking over.

There's something so massive.

But the really human experience
of falling in love

and finding a partnership and a comfort...

- We should've stayed in bed.

...is such a basic desire and need.

So that is the element
that we took from these movies

and blew up for WandaVision,

and made it
the central relationship to root for.

So as opposed to saving a planet,

it became trying to save
this relationship.

We wanted to bring a little bit more
of that personal journey for her

and how it can be developed with Vision.

Thank you for humoring me
and wearing this ridiculous getup.

I know you have a secret thing
for Mexican wrestlers.

- Oh!

In the comic books,
Wanda Maximoff was a mutant.

She was born with the power
to manipulate probability,

which is a crazy power,

and so was always a bit on the fringes
of people not trusting her,

people not understanding
how she could be heroic

when she didn't punch the hardest
or shoot bolts out of her hands.

And then later, in the Avengers,
people not quite understanding

her relationship with the Vision,
because he was a synthezoid.

In the comics,
Wanda and Vision's relationship

is a big part of the story
that we wanted to bring forward.

So it was exciting to me that
that's where I ended up with WandaVision

and we were able to honor the comics.

I loved seeing Wanda Maximoff

in this flourishing,
loving relationship with Vision.

Aw.

I loved seeing her as a mother.

We get to live in a bubble
with her for a little while

that she never got to live out.

Wanda Maximoff gets her own space
in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

And we get to see what an ideal life
for Wanda and Vision actually looks like.

Through Vision, she has found comfort...

All I feel is excitement, happiness.

...after the loss
of her parents and her brother.

And so this idea of family being
this ultimate need for her

is the "why" for WandaVision.

I remember whenever
I watched those movies...

I haven't actually ever
eaten anything before, so...

- May I?
- Please.

...seeing those little moments
between them,

and just feeling so much for them
in the middle of all this chaos.

- What is it?

The irony is not lost on me

that the most human of the Avengers
happens to be the android.

I'm sorry.

His purity and vulnerability is so tender.

So I was very excited
to be a part of something

that took those little moments
and drew them out.

The arc of Wanda and Vision
in the movies and in the show

is the love story of people
who find this commonality

in being different than everyone else.

So, when the Vision is taken from her
at the end of Infinity War...

...you also understand the psychology
that thrust her into WandaVision.

No!

It was the ultimate loss
that she could have.

After the loss of
her parents and her brother,

then for Vision, who helped her
find her footing, to be ripped from her.

Really at that point,
she truly had nothing.

We always knew that WandaVision
would be the story of Wanda's grief...

What is grief, if not love persevering?

And that we wanted to see
her become the Scarlet Witch.

And so to do that,

we aligned the episodes
according to the stages of grief.

It's a special day!

- Perhaps an evening...
- Of great significance...

- To us both!
- Naturally.

You really are very dashing.

Mmm. Thank you, darling.

- It stopped.
- Yes.

The first three episodes
really are in the denial space...

Have a good day, dear!

...especially the first episode
in the 1950s.

I mean, that's post-war optimism
and it's peak sort of appearances only,

where Wanda didn't have to plum
any of her own depths at all.

And looking at shows
like The Dick van Dyke Show,

and Bewitched,

there's this real sort of frothy,
sexy innocence to those couples.

And to see Wanda and Vision be loose
and in love and unencumbered.

- You were tremendous, Glamour.
- As were you, Illusion.

There is an element of denial in there.

I have everything under control.

Wanda creates
a safe place

where she can try to live out
the life she thought she was owed.

Welcome home.

Shall we stay in tonight?

If I could create my own world
and be happy for a short time,

wouldn't we all do that?

We wanted to pay Wanda the respect
of taking her mental health seriously.

And so we had a grief counselor come
and speak to the writers of the show,

which was really helpful
making the story of Wanda's pain...

...a black dress.

...have all of those layers.

It's so helpful when you know
that the people behind the scenes

identify with your character.

Teyonah's character, Monica Rambeau,
of course, loses her mom.

When we first meet Monica,
she's trying to process

what it's like to lose her mom.

- Dr. Highland!
- I can't believe it.

Where's my mom?

Your mom, she died, honey.

- What?
- The cancer came back.

Okay, stop, stop. No, you're...
My mom is Maria Rambeau.

I have a really,
really close relationship with my mom,

and she's pretty much my best friend.

I cannot imagine going through life
and some of the things I've been through

without her support and love.

But how Monica feels
with the loss of her mom

is she just wants to get back to work.

Monica Rambeau, S.W.O.R.D.

She doesn't want to deal with
falling too deeply into the loss.

She is really compartmentalizing,

and says, "You know what?

"That will be dealt with,
but right now there's other things to do."

Maximoff located.

Well done.

She's also processing her grief
by trying to help Wanda...

This is Captain Monica Rambeau.
Can you hear me?

...by just being
a voice of reason for her.

I just wanna talk. That's it.

Both of them
are in denial,

trying to not address
what they really need.

And I think that's a big part of the show,
is like, figuring out what you need.

Who are you?

Wanda's really good at anger.

At the end of Episode Three,

Wanda sees Monica as being a threat.

Wanda feels threatened
at the moment she becomes a mother.

Wanda...

And so mama bear really kicks in.

And any other that feels like
a potential threat to her and her family,

like, just forget about it.

You're definitely not my friend.

And then we see in Episode Four

that she kicks Monica out
of this hex that she created.

But what Wanda didn't realize

was Monica Rambeau,
the person that she feared the most...

...was the woman who was
her real, honest ally.

But what took over her judgment was anger.

But Monica keeps going,

trying to be a voice
and an ally, really, for her.

The thing that is always unspoken
is their mutual pain of loss.

And that is something
that really connects Monica and Wanda.

At the end of Episode Five,

we see Wanda wants
to keep things as they are.

Our big bargaining moment is
when she storms out of the hex...

Is this yours?

...then interfaces with Hayward.

Stay out of my home.

You don't bother me, I won't bother you.

I wish it could be that simple.

It's her trying to, you know,
have her cake and eat it, too.

You've taken an entire town hostage.

Well, I'm not the one
with the guns, Director.

But this is not something

where, like,
she, doesn't have a handle.

It's like, no, actually, she is very much
in control of everything.

What could you possibly have to offer me?

With bargaining...

What do you want?

...Monica tries to move in

with the least amount
of impact and destruction.

It's about understanding really
what's going on with people

and trying to untangle things.

I want to help you.

Monica is coming in, saying,

"Let me help you."

And that's just not the place
that Wanda is in.

- Wanda.
- Stand down.

She's going through grief.

And she didn't want to accept
that this woman

is potentially someone
that could help her.

And so she goes back
to this safe space she created.

Look, we've all been there, right?

Letting our fear and anger
get the best of us,

intentionally expanding the borders
of the false world we created.

We had a lot of fun
with Episode Seven,

leaning into the tropes
of depression, you know.

She's in her pajamas,
and her hair's messy,

and she's eating,
and she's watching TV,

all that sort of like
"girl who's been dumped,"

you know, like,
"can't kind of keep it together."

I'd get up, but...
I... just don't want to.

But the subtext is so much more profound.

Who hasn't had those moments
of depression, or anxiety, or pain?

It's probably just a case of the Mondays.

Am I right?

And there's something
different on the inside

than they're presenting to the world.

I mean, it's so human.

You really can see how vulnerable she is,
how fragile she is.

I'm fine.
I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.

I'm fine.

Everyone goes through loss...

I'm fine.

...and to explore that
on such an intimate level,

I found really, um, cathartic.

My dad died
almost seven years ago of cancer,

and so I knew how difficult it was
to go through that.

You lose a little bit of yourself
and implode a little bit.

We all in different ways can relate

to a feeling of either
loneliness or abandonment

in different aspects of our life.

And feeling like
there's no bottom to hold you.

Her acceptance is
when Agatha offers her

the opportunity to live without pain.

The name's Agatha Harkness.
Lovely to finally meet you, dear.

What I thought was so brilliant
was that we would see

Agatha first playing
a character called Agnes,

this nosy neighbor trope
that we've seen in sitcoms

throughout the entirety of sitcoms.

Oh!

Hello, dear.

- Hiya, kids.

Hi, Agnes, come on in.

I think it was really fun
and challenging to write Agatha.

That you should stumble when
you walk into a room so he can catch you.

Because she is a mentor
and a villain and a friend.

And to kind of set her up as Agnes,
who's like that friend that's there

and always comes in when she needs help.

Auntie Agnes is here, and I've got
a couple of tricks up my sleeve.

- Why don't we give your mom some me time?

But then you see
that she is like a succubus,

constantly on the prowl for more power.

Agatha Harkness is
a centuries-old witch...

...that has been told that she was bad.

You have betrayed your coven.

Please...

I can be good.

No, you cannot.

And so what happens to a being...

...that is told that they are not worthy?

Is that of course it becomes this person.

I think that's very relatable to anyone

that, like myself, would consider
themselves a weirdo.

When I was a kid in Cleveland,
I had a lot of feelings of self-doubt.

But I knew I was gonna be an actor.

I felt the biggest,
and most beautiful and powerful,

and most myself, when I was performing.

And to be able to have scale
and have voice and have power

was a really thrilling thing
about this part.

And I think Agatha considered herself

the most powerful witch
that there ever had been

before this young hotshot showed up...

...who's created a world
and held hundreds of people captive.

A lot of jealousy and a lot of also just

trying to figure out how,
and then steal it.

Wanda, Wanda.

You didn't think you were
the only magical girl in town, did you?

So finally, Agnes shows herself
as Agatha to Wanda.

I need you to tell me how you did this.

I didn't do anything.

From Agatha,

Wanda is given this gift
of knowledge and tools...

You'd rather fall apart
than face your truth.

...that help her process her grief.

Parents dead.

Brother dead.

- Vision dead.

What happened when he wasn't there
to pull you back from the darkness, Wanda?

- I can't do this anymore...
- Come on, Wanda.

You are right there.

And one of her tools is the Darkhold.

Did you know there's an entire chapter
devoted to you in the Darkhold?

That's the Book of the Damned.

And it's something
that Wanda learns from.

Your power exceeds
that of the Sorcerer Supreme.

I'm not a witch. I don't cast spells.

Oh, really?

She didn't really know
the extent of her powers.

They'd gotten away from her.

And she's forced to look inward
to solve that problem,

once she learns from the Darkhold

that she's created this bubble
so she didn't have to deal with her grief.

We feel your pain.

- No. No, stop.
- Your grief is poisoning us.

- Please, let us go.
- Please stop.

Once Wanda realizes
that the reality is of her own making,

she can't un-know.

And we go with her
on a journey of self-discovery.

She has to choose
between this false world she's created

and the safety and happiness
of innocent people.

And Wanda Maximoff is,
in her core, a hero.

I will let you go. I will. I will.

She owns her power,
quite literally,

and embraces that part of her
that she was running away from.

It's her acceptance.

Come on, run!

The lesson is, maybe you have
more power than you think you do.

That's Wanda's whole arc.

And it's only by realizing
that the power is inside her...

that she can control her power.

And we see her become the Scarlet Witch.

We all have
to confront grief sooner or later,

but this makes you stronger.

I have personal losses in my life.

And I tell you that it's two ways,

you go down or you go upward.

And she became strong
through acknowledging this,

so she could become the Scarlet Witch.

And so now having this new discovery
of her own mythology,

of being this witch,

is where we pick up with her
in Doctor Strange.

The Darkhold.

You're familiar with the Darkhold.

I know it's the Book of the Damned.

The Darkhold only showed me the truth.

Doctor Strange
in the Multiverse of Madness,

that power has grown even more
since she started to study the Darkhold.

If you knew there was a universe
where you were happy...

- Chocolate!
- Hey!

...wouldn't you wanna go there?

She wants to recapture
this family nucleus

that she created from WandaVision.

I'm going to leave this reality,

and go to one
where I can be with my children.

This is where she uses the most power

that she has yet.

And it's for the love of her children.

In a negative way,

Wanda Maximoff could be distilled
into female hysteria.

But the way I like to think of her arc

is through mental health.

We're in this amazing time
of embracing mental health,

and it becoming less taboo
to use the language

of depression, and panic and anxiety.

And the more we can tell stories about it,

- then the people having the experiences,
-

potentially, could stop feeling shame

or isolation.

And that's a very important topic for me

because it's everywhere
and we don't see it,

because it's private,

but you need to communicate with someone.

It shouldn't be
an, an isolated experience.

I am Dr. Janina Scarlet.

I am a clinical psychologist,
author and a full-time-geek.

And my favorite character in the MCU
is Wanda Maximoff,

aka the Scarlet Witch.

When I was a small child,
my family and I lived in Ukraine,

and I was exposed to Chernobyl radiation.

I spent most of my childhood
in and out of the hospital,

not knowing
if I would make it to adulthood.

When I was 12,

my family and I managed to immigrate
to the United States

as refugees in secret

in order to get away from violence.

I had experienced health trauma,
I had been subjected to bullying,

antisemitism.

And so I was that awkward and weird kid

that didn't quite fit in.

I thought I was the only one going through

PTSD and depression and anxiety,

but I didn't know any of those terms,

because nobody talked about mental health.

And so I really became fascinated
with Wanda

when I went to see Age of Ultron.

Watching the way that she deals
with trauma and grief

really resonated with me.

Like Wanda,

I had to learn that the only way we heal
is by processing our emotions.

And, like Wanda,

it was a really painful lesson
for me to learn,

but it was a life-changing one.

A lot of times,

what I do with my clients
is ask who their favorite superhero is.

And if there was a time that character
went through loss, grief, or trauma

that they can relate to.

Because realizing
that there is at least one other person,

or even a fictional character,
that has gone through something similar

can allow that person to feel less alone.

And can actually help people understand
that their traumatic experience

is merely an origin story,

but the rest of our life choices
are up to us.

Seeing Wanda become the Scarlet Witch
was a really important reminder for me

that I had my identity change
from the little quiet girl that I was,

to the woman that I am now.

And that I was able to find
what my own superpower is,

so that I can help other people
find their own superpowers, too.

I think most people can find a superhero
that they specifically relate to.

I think that's
the power of, of superheroes.

Oh, no!

If watching WandaVision...

Oh, that's better.

...And seeing these women in these roles

had helped anybody through a tough time,

or helped them to find their own power,

or to not be afraid to be weird
or not afraid to come out,

not afraid to, like,
be exactly who they are

in their beautiful, whole selves,

then I'll never forget it,
and I'll hold that to my heart forever.

Superheroes are
not always successful,

and they don't
always make right choices.

But to see someone
try to use their power for good

I think is just so important
to internalize and to aspire to.

Playing this character,

it's quite literally been
watching a young woman become a woman,

and have emotional growth...

...and acceptance and love for herself.

And I think we all
in different ways in our lives...

I love you.

...can relate to Wanda's journey.