The residents of Westview are worse off at the end of WandaVision after being released by Scarlet Witch and are the real victims of the show. All of Wanda Maximoff's bottled-up trauma was bound to end in tragedy sooner rather than later. What nobody expected was that her breakdown was going to manifest itself as a TV show alternate reality that secretly held a whole town hostage.

WandaVision kicked off with Wanda Maximoff and Vision already inside the Hex, enjoying Wanda's fake reality inspired by sitcoms like The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Love Lucy, and I Dream of Jeannie. All of their neighbors also seemed to be enjoying a happy life, but it became increasingly clear that something was off when Mrs. Hart and Norm desperately asked for help. Episode 8 then revealed that Westview was a struggling town before Wanda arrived to refurbish it into her playground and turn its inhabitants into her puppets.

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After failing to keep up her fantasy and after Agatha Harkness revealed to her how much Westview was suffering, Wanda let everyone out of her spell. However, she needed to escape once the Hex was broken, leaving her victims worse off than when she found them and tormented by a brand-new load of psychological trauma and existential distress. WandaVision improved Scarlet Witch's "House of M" story from the comics as Wanda learns to let go instead of falling into a downward spiral that ends up destroying reality. Unfortunately for everyone else, Westview is even more broken than it was before she arrived.

Scarlet Witch and Norm in WandaVision

The Maximoff Anomaly definitely has long-lasting effects. The people of Westview will likely keep questioning their perception of reality, their memories, and their own identity. On top of that, considering the town appeared to be economically struggling prior to Wanda taking it over, its residents may not have the resources to guarantee appropriate therapy, and it's safe to say that the government and organizations like S.W.O.R.D. will be interested in investigating every single detail about their experience to study the effects Wanda's magic had on their psyche and their hometown. Clearly, they have more than one reason to see Scarlet Witch as a villain, regardless of the pain she went through or what her real intentions were.

Superhero stories usually suggest the victory of the heroes help those around them to some degree after the credits roll. But finding oneself in the middle of a superhero battle is already a darker experience than it seems. Besides bodily harm, bystanders have to worry about the high probability of emotional strain. Add the psychological torture of having one's autonomy and agency stripped and being trapped inside one's own body, then witnessing one's self being used as a puppet in a powerful being's teleplay, and it's easy to see how Westview's suffering doesn't end with the conclusion of WandaVision.

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