Both Witches get backstories in revealing, emotional WandaVision E8, setting up epic final showdown
Updated: Mar 2, 2021
“Previously On” was very appropriate title for episode 8 of WandaVision, as no sitcom theme occurs this week; because Agatha is now in control. Instead, the backstories of both Wanda and Agatha are revealed. With Agatha’s tortuous coercion, Wanda is forced to relive the painful, key events of her life. We finally learn more about Wanda’s childhood, the reasons why she has created Westview in the way that she has, her tortured teen years at the hands of Baron Strucker and Hydra, the nature of her abilities, and what she is potentially capable of. We also learn much more about what Agatha’s intentions are with Wanda, and they aren’t good.
Now that Agnes has "properly" introduced herself to Wanda as Agatha, she wastes no time going after the knowledge she has been seeking all along: how Wanda was able to create Westview, and how she is able to control so many people at once. Agatha’s backstory revealed she is a very powerful witch who is hundreds of years old, with the ability to sap the magical energy and life force of other witches, and she is so cold-blooded she killed her own mother for more power. It becomes apparent in this episode that once Agatha learns what she wants to know from Wanda, she will be next. However, when Agatha learns from Wanda’s backstory that Wanda has had some cosmic help to become what she is, she realizes she will never be able to do what Wanda does. At the same time, Agatha is also genuinely afraid when she realizes what kind of witch Wanda truly is. Will Wanda be able to break free from Agatha’s control in the final episode, and have an epic witch showdown?
Part of Agatha’s forcing Wanda to recollect her past includes her visit to SWORD to retrieve the Vision’s body. Wanda was wiped away by Thanos’ Snap, and five years passed before she returned. In that time, SWORD has been experimenting on Vision, trying to reanimate him. Wanda attempts to do just that, unsuccessfully, and seems to accept his death is final, and to have some closure. That is, until she finds a romantic, tragic gift from Vision that sends her over the edge. Her emotional and mental breakdown lead to the creation of Westview, and her Happily Ever After.
However, as revealing as this all is, this episode begins to feel like torture porn, as we see and feel how tragic Wanda’s life has been, since bombs destroyed her home and killed her parents. Elizabeth Olsen deserves an Emmy for her performance in this series.
The end credits scene is a blockbuster, with story roots from Avengers comics, and sets up a major confrontation in the final episode. Wanda will have her hands full as she will likely be attacked from two sides, by Agatha and SWORD.
Don’t miss the final episode of WandaVision, airing Friday on Disney+
Scroll down to see THEORIES / SPOILERS
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
SPOILERS/THEORIES
Wanda’s creation of Westview is influenced by watching Western sitcoms as a child. As I suspected. Watching a video collection of American sitcoms was a beloved Maximoff family evening tradition, and formed Wanda’s ideal vision of the perfect family life and her Happily Ever After. Some of her childhood memories of these shows are fuzzy or flawed, which explains why her recreation of their Westview homes aren't exact replicas of the Petrie's, or the Brady’s, etc.
The name Scarlet Witch is a dreaded one. For the first time, we hear Wanda’s comic book codename used in the MCU. According to Agatha, a Scarlet Witch is a chaos witch, a chaos-bringer with the capability of reshaping or destroying reality. While it is cool that “Scarlet Witch” now has a deeper meaning beyond Stan Lee’s harmless costume color-coding, it’s a shame that the title is one to be feared. Shades of Dark Phoenix come to mind...
Who is the Big Villain? It seems Agatha may be the only Big Villain, but I can't help but think there may still be a larger presence looming or pulling strings. And it remains to be seen if SWORD Director Hayward is more than he seems. Is he a stereotypical power-tripping control freak, or someone else in disguise?
The “Ghost Vision” is being used as an assassin. It was shocking and heartbreaking to discover that the Vision we have been seeing in Westview isn’t real, but another recreation by Wanda. The real Vision was never removed from SWORD by Wanda, and is later reanimated using some chaos magic on a
recovered drone as the spark. In the comics, this white “Ghost” Vision was reassembled and reanimated, but his mind isn’t the same. Looks like Hayward intends to use this reprogrammed Vision as a weapon against Wanda.
Are Wanda’s twin sons real? In the comics, they were creations of her chaos magic, with a little help from a malevolent supernatural entity. When it was revealed to Wanda they weren’t real, she had a mental and emotional breakdown very similar to the one shown in this episode. However, Marvel has revived the twins, who have appeared as Young Avengers Speed and Wiccan. It will be interesting to see which direction they take in the MCU.