@ LunchGoddess I think the bottom line is they did a poor job characterizing her in WandaVision. I think Feige was trying to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted to setup Wanda as a complex antagonist for Doctor Strange 2. But he also wanted her to be the protagonist for her own series, thus, he created Agatha to be a "villain" she could go up against and "defeat" allowing Wanda to remain in the "hero" category on a technical level.
However, I don't think that works. If Agatha is the villain, then she should have been responsible for the Hex, not Wanda. If Wanda is being set up as a villain, then the Hex shouldn't have been an accident and the series shouldn't end with anyone on her side.
I think part of the reason WandaVision is so divisive because the indecisive way the show frames Wanda as both a sympathetic hero and cruel villain.
The show makes a point to show us that the Hex was born out of a grief explosion and that it was an accident (and that she didn't know everyone had her nightmares); even the magical chokehold was an an accident.
The problem is, after the Hex was created, Wanda did nothing to investigate how it was affecting people or whether people were hurt. That's the problem. Wanda was negligent and careless.
Wanda's morals aren't being called into question because she accidentally trapped everyone. Her morals are being called into question because she very purposefully kept everyone trapped.
In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin kills children - but the film makes it clear that that's a bad thing. The film doesn't have him get drunk and black out, only to find he accidentally killed them. The film makes it clear he does it on purpose and makes no attempt to justify it. The fact that Vader "made things right in the end" by killing Sidious isn't used to excuse all the other stuff. The problem with WandaVision is the fact that it's an accident ant that she fixes it is treated as though it erases everything else. The show shouldn't have done that. It should have either made her deliberately create it, or make someone else deliberately create it and make them the villain.
Instead, they had Wanda accidentally create it -- but then deliberately maintain it. That's still bad.
I'm actually ok with her not fully understanding her powers and creating the Hex by mistake. The problem is after she created it, she did nothing to try to decrease it to just her house or release anyone (especially the people on the edge who can barely even move). She could have tried experimenting with freeing people's minds, giving people a choice to stay or leave, or changing its nature so it's not a Hex field but an open magical field that people can enter or exit willingly (like Storybrooke after the Dark Curse was broken).
But throughout the show, she's shown to actually be quite ruthless. She resets time itself to get rid of the bee keeper, whom we never see again (did she erase him from existence??). When she finds out Monica is infiltrating the Hex, she blasts her out of it at super speeds, which could have killed her. Ironically, by doing this, she technically frees Monica, but she's clearly doing it to prevent Monica and SWORD from disabling the Hex. And she actively prevents other people from leaving (like that doctor guy who was trying to go on vacation). That guy at work said he hears "her" voice in his head. Not sure if he meant Agatha or Wanda but given that Agatha doesn't have the power to affect that many people, I'd say it has to be Wanda. When Vision confronts Wanda about Westview, he says, "You can't control me," to which Wanda replies, "Can't I?" and makes the credits roll in an attempt to control him. That's very totalitarian. And then there's the conversation she has with "Pietro" (really Agatha) where he/she discusses the parameters of the Hex, that families stay together but kids are kept out of it, etc, and Wanda says, "You don't think that's...wrong?" implying that she (a) has considered the ethical ramifications of the Hex, (b) has decided that it's ok, and (c) despite that, is aware that it is still questionable to the point where she's worried she'll be judged for it. Yeah, you're right to be worried about being judged for that because that's kind of not ok. And of course, there's when she expanded the Hex to save Vision - but kept expanding it to engulf not only SWORD but any unfortunate souls who lived nearby who were oblivious (remember Westview was cloaked before; no one knew the Hex was a thing). Now those people are the frozen people on the edge. Wanda's grief isn't actually the problem here. The problem is her ruthlessness and carelessness after the fact.
And I think this needs saying -- thank goodness Wanda's interest was in cheerful sitcoms instead of, say, Dante's Inferno. That's what's so terrifying about the implications of the Hex. It could have literally been anything. It was only sitcoms because that was what Wanda liked. What if her passion had been super gory horror movies? That would be a whole other level of twisted. These people are not only trapped but they're at the mercy of whatever Wanda likes.
And yes, Clint is the other elephant in the room, but the writers should have done more to have Clint reach out to her, not just her reaching out to Clint. Clint should have offered to have Wanda stay with his family, since she has no where else to go. Then maybe his wife is uncomfortable with that and Wanda ultimately leaves. That could have at least been explored.
Quite frankly, I don't like this direction of "WandaVillain" in general. At the time of Endgame, after everything she's been through, she deserves to have some things work out. Having her subsequently enslave a town and go on a killing spree is just downright depressing, and not necessary. I understand that it's compelling to have a villain that used to be a hero, but I think there are better ways they could have done that.
The biggest problem with WandaVision & Multiverse of Madness is that they demonize grief while simultaneously romanticizing cruelty. They effectively say, "People who lose everything and try to find closure are monsters," while at the same time saying, "But being a monster isn't that bad in general, as long as you say oops." I'm not really a fan of either of these messages.
Most people on either side of this debate either have no sympathy for Wanda's grief or too much sympathy for her cruelty.