The End of WandaVision: A Tribute to the Shows that Got us Through Lockdown

By Kyran Leahy, Film & TV Editor As we hopefully approach the tail end of what has felt like an eternal lockdown, we have once  again reached the end of another show that has been on most people’s screen the last few  weeks. The show that forced people to log off from social media as discussions, spoilers,  memes, and theories plagued timelines from all over the world has reached its conclusion, and  now we all have to decide what the new show we will all watch together will be. Marvel Studios’ WandaVision has entertained us for the last nine weeks, and it has become another  staple in a long line of shows that we will forever associate with keeping us entertained during  this Covid period. I am not a big Marvel fan myself; I could just never get into superhero movies no  matter how hard I tried, but WandaVision’s unique approach that pays homage to the history of television sitcoms had me intrigued immediately, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the series. While we have all sadly been stuck inside for most of the past year and most of us have  succumbed to the cabin fever customs of banana bread and risky hair decisions, we have all  been brought a little closer together thanks to television series that we all watched at the same  time. The lack of social activity available to all of us, along with less gossip going on because of  restrictions, meant that we had to find new ways to interact with one another, and one of those ways was to talk about what show everyone else was talking about during that time. Despite all the negative connotations that have come around with the word ‘lockdown’,we have all done our best in isolating ourselves from the negatives and surrounding ourselves in the positives of being invested in a new show alongside our friends from the comfort of our own home. As I have stated in a previous article, the show that we will forever associate with the very first  lockdown and will hold a special place in all of our hearts is Tiger King. The unintentionally  wacky world of Joe Exotic and his hatred of Carole Baskin was just the material we needed to  entertain ourselves. Despite all the troubles that I faced in the period surrounding its release, I  look back with fondness of the documentary series, as it genuinely felt like I found solace in a  time of need, being reminded that my life could not possibly have gotten worse than Joe  Exotic’s. We also had The Mandalorian finally being available in Ireland, legally of course, at the start of the first lockdown, with many people making use of the free Disney+ trial for all of their Baby Yoda needs. We sadly found ourselves back for Lockdown 2: Electric Boogaloo in October 2020, but  thankfully, a few days after the announcement, we all had the pleasure of viewing the fantastic  mini-series The Queen’s Gambit. The coming-of-age drama gave every viewer a newfound love  for chess, and all the chess apps were downloaded onto everyone’s phone as soon as they  finished the series. Beth’s story was amazing and Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance even better.  The second lockdown brought great opportunities for us to catch up on shows we may have missed, such as Emily in Paris, or to get up to get up to date with a series that had a new season  on the horizon like Umbrella Academy or The Crown. The sequels rarely live up to the  excitement of its predecessor, but Lockdown 2.0 still gave us a great series that we all became  very attached to. It still sounds ludicrous to even think that we somehow ended up in another lockdown shortly  after, but thankfully, we had several shows that kept us from falling into insanity by our  fingernails. Bridgerton captivated the world when it was released on Christmas Day in 2020,  and it quickly became the most-watched series on Netflix ever. We all had nothing better to do  with our lives, so why not get invested in the constant scandals occurring within the Bridgerton  family? We end where we began by once again talking about WandaVision. We all must  appreciate the little things in life, and what I appreciated most about WandaVision is the fact  that I could say one small thing about it to a friend and it would allow us to have a conversation  for ages about the smallest detail found while watching Wanda and Vision’s suburban  misadventures. There is one last push to go before we can finally meet up with friends once more and slowly,  but surely, be allowed to socialise more and hopefully put this nightmare well and truly behind  us. Despite all the problems that we have had to deal with regarding the pandemic and the  measures taken, I will carry fond memories of all the television series that got my full  investment and helped take me away from reality for just those small few hours a day.  WandaVision, thank you for making these past few weeks a little more entertaining.