Did 'Doctor Who' Steal It's Season Finale From 'WandaVision’?

After having a few weeks to absorb the surprising events of Doctor Who's two part season finale 'Wish World'/'The Reality War', many Whovians a still struggling to decide exactly how they feel about it. While some enjoyed the finale's ambitious nature, there have been some complaints surrounding Belinda Chandra's ending, the episode's treatment of Ruby Sunday, and Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa's unexpected regeneration into former companion Billie Piper.

Others have pointed out that certain plot ploints across the two-part finale are just a little too familiar.. almost as if they were lifted directly from Marvel's hit 2021 miniseries, WandaVision.

Let's take a look at the similarities..

50s Vibes

The altered reality seen in part one of the finale, 'Wish World', is presented as highly traditional and hetero-normative. This results in a world heavily based on late 50s/early 60s type values, such as married women being expected to give up work and stay home to keep house/raise their children.

This aesthetic is similar to the first two episodes of WandaVision, in which the town of Westview, New Jersey has been altered to match sitcoms from the 50s and 60s.

Both altered realities are also maintained by the whims of just one person. In WandaVision, it was Wanda, while in Doctor Who, the Wish World is maintained by Conrad Clark.

Just a little slip..

The residents of Doctor Who's 'Wish World' are highly discouraged from expressing any differing a opinions or doubts about the lives they live. Any big doubts manifest as a 'slip', usually a smashing mug, which startles anyone involved back to 'reality' and seemingly restabilises the world.

There are similar occurences throughout WandaVision, when an intrusion or mistake briefly breaks Wanda's hold over Westview.

The biggest slips lead to Wanda rebooting Westview by jumping forward to the next sitcom decade.

One character within the altered reality knows something is wrong

For reasons that are not entirely explained either in 'Wish World' or 'The Reality War', The Fifteenth Doctor's original companion, Ruby Sunday, has more awareness than most that something about Conrad's world is not quite right. She eventually forms a plan to try and fix the problem.

At the beginning of WandaVision, Vision, Wanda's synthezoid husband, is fully onboard with her sitcom life. However, as odd occurrences begin stacking up, he realizes that things are not as they seem in Westview, and begins investigating the town and Wanda's influence in it.

However, unlike Conrad, who knows exactly what he is doing, Wanda's enslaving of Westview was unintentional, and Vision supports her in setting things right.

An Outsiders attempt to contact our heroes in the altered reality

One of the most unexpected moments in 'Wish World' was a brief return from Jonathan Groff as Rogue, introduced in the season 1/14 episode of the same name as a new love interest for The Doctor. Despite becoming trapped in an unknown hell dimension during his previous appearance, Rogue manages to momentarily hijack Conrad and The Rani's TV signal, delivering a message to The Doctor to try and help free him from Conrad's wish.

Throughout WandaVision, multiple attempts are made to contact Wanda inside the Westview anomaly, with varying results and goals.

The most succesful attempt comes from Monica Rambeau, with help from Darcy Lewis and Agent Jimmy Woo. After being cast out of Westview in an earlier episode, Monica re-enters the hex in an attempt to warn Wanda of Tyler Hayward's sinister motives.

The Friendly Neighbour is actually Evil

At the beginning of the Fifteenth Doctor's era, we are introduced to Mrs. Flood, the initially normal neighbour of companion Ruby Sunday. The Sundays seem to share a friendly relationship with Mrs. Flood, even calling her to watch over Ruby's elderly Grandmother, Cherry, during the season 1/14 finale.

However, it eventually becomes apparent that Mrs. Flood is not what she seems, especially when she appears as a neighbour again, this time living next door to The Fifteenth Doctor's second companion, Belinda Chandra, and then beginning to pop up everywhere The Doctor and Bel visit, often with cryptic warnings about Earth's future. It is eventually revealed that Mrs. Flood is an incarnation of The Doctor's former enemy The Rani, and had been observing both Ruby and Bel on purpose.

In WandaVision, Wanda quickly befriends Agnes, her typical sitcom style nosy neighbour. Agnes is often seen seemingly trying to help Wanda, even babysitting her children. Episode seven of the series brought the twist that Agnes was actually a centuries-old witch, Agatha Harkness, who had infiltrated Westview to learn about and potentially steal Wanda's chaos magic.

Reality must be restored.. but at a cost

Of course, The Doctor eventually discovers the truth about the altered reality. While this would normally mean he would immediately set about reversing the damage, Conrad's wish has inadvertently resulted in the existence of Poppy, the half-human, half-Time Lord daughter of The Doctor and Belinda Chandra.

Poppy is a miracle, as Time Lords were rendered sterile via a genetic explosion caused by The Master in series twelve. Conrad's wish must be ended to restore true reality, but that would also mean the end of Poppy.

This is rather similar to events that unfold towards the end of WandaVision. Wanda discovers that Vision and their twin sons, Tommy and Billy, cannot survive outside the boundary of the hex. If her spell ends, they will cease to exist.

The Hero makes a sacrifice for the greater good

Unfortunately, Poppy does in fact fade from existence following the end of the Wish World. The Doctor is convinced to induce a shift in reality to restore Poppy, but this requires an infusion of energy that brings on The Fifteenth Doctor's regeneration, effectively sacrificing his life.

This leads to the birth of a new reality where Poppy always existed, not as a miracle hybrid, but the entirely human child of Bel and an ex-partner. No other characters have yet been made aware of exactly what The Doctor sacrificed for Poppy.

WandaVision ends with Wanda deciding to free the people of Westview, ending the spell she had unintentionally cast over the town. Tragically, this also means losing her family and the happy life she had built with them. Only Monica Rambeau acknowledges Wanda's sacrifice.

While Doctor Who's finale episodes feature enough differences to keep them from being a complete rip-off of WandaVision, there were certainly enough similarities to give some viewers pause. We may never know if the homage was intentional, but hopefully, Doctor Who rediscovers some unique adventures in the future.