WandaVision Episode 8: Previously On Review

For our review of the last episode of WandaVision, click here.

Everything comes full circle in this latest episode of WandaVision. Following the reveal at the end of last week’s episode, this episode gave us more answers as the episode title suggests, serving as a prequel of sorts that dove into Wanda’s fragile psyche and how it lead to Westview though there were clearly other forces at play here. If it wasn’t already clear already, Elizabeth Olsen and Kathryn Hahn are more than deserving of Emmys for their work here as Wanda and Agatha/Agnes and this episode was further proof of that as the latter took Wanda on an emotional journey as she was faced with the many traumas of her past. Meanwhile, some other questions were answered, a term was introduced, and a major bomb was dropped by the end since this is the penultimate episode after all. However, no Monica, Jimmy, or Darcy may be a moot point for some but it allowed the episode to fully focus on Wanda and for that, it truly delivered.

This episode started with a mini backstory for Agatha spanning back to late 1600s Salem that saw her essentially in the process of being burnt at the stake for defying her coven. That obviously didn’t work out. Going back to her basement in Westview, Wanda was powerless. Agatha wanted to know how she created Westview and was playing the long game to find out (Pietro wasn’t real). It was clear she was doing it as some sort of grieving process but now it was time to go back to the root of Wanda’s grief. First as a child in Sokovia, she watched old sitcoms with her family to learn English until one night, a bomb was literally dropped on their house which Wanda may or may not have disarmed with her powers thus implying she had powers at a much younger age. Being experimented on as a teen with the mind stone brought her closer to what we know to be Scarlet Witch. The Avengers compound saw her have a deep conversation with Vision about grief and other human feelings and emotions.

However, the trip wasn’t working for Agatha thus far. She kept poking. Wanda then went to SWORD to get Vision back but found him disassembled to the point where she could no longer feel anything. Leaving empty-handed, she got a map of Westview and a note from what appeared to be Vision but is probably from Agatha. It was odd to see her drive through what Westview and some of the people within it used to be. Once she found an empty lot, she created a house and what we now know to be the hex and also another version of Vision. Getting over the emotion of seeing him again, she stepped right into her 1950s sitcom housewife role.

Getting back to reality, Wanda ran outside of the studio to find Agatha having her kids held by magic and warning her of what she has done and who she is, The Scarlet Witch. Meanwhile, this episode also featured a post-credit scene. Hayward was interested in Vision for how he came back to life as SWORD still needed to find a way to bring back what we now know to be the original Vision back online. Harnessing Wanda’s powers, they now had a way to do so and unleased another Vision into the world.

In the end, the way Olsen takes a look back and harnesses the emotion of Wanda’s past and present in an utterly nuanced way was just so powerful to watch and is just a further testament of her range as an actress. Hahn’s Agatha is a perfect counterbalance to that, whose energy and comedic timing create an entertaining, scenery-chewing villain without being a caricature. The great writing and their impeccable chemistry make this episode as great as it was. Though the filler argument is a valid one, this was still important narrative (a film could never have done this) while the series needed to get this out of the way in order to make room for what looks to be a crazy finale and I can’t wait.

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.