As we approach the finale of WandaVision next week we’re finally starting to get some answers on what is happening in Westview and in the sitcom world created by Wanda. Last week’s episode ended with the reveal that Agnes is actual long time Marvel comic book character Agatha Harkness, and complete with Munsters style theme tune it was said that she was behind things all along. That may not be the full picture however as we found out this week…
This episode started with a scene a few hundred years back in time where Agatha is tied to a stake and put on trial by her mother and a group of other witches in a nice twist on the Salem witch trials. This version of the story would indictae that it was witches putting other witches on trial, and Agatha has apparently used the darkest of magic beyond what she should be using in the eyes of the others. As the others attempt to put Agatha to death it appeared that even Agatha herself was at least a little surprised that she was able to deflect back their magic and in turn killed all the others. This showed that at this stage Agatha wasn’t aware just how much power she wielded. She then begged her mother that she could be good but she once against turned the magic that was used to attempt to kill her back onto her mother who ended up dried out and dead as the others.
After this backstory for Agatha was shown we come back to the present where we had left things off last week with Wanda and Agatha down in the spooky basement where Agatha had lured Wanda. This episode is titled ‘Previously On’ and beyond the Salem flashback the focus of the story is on Agatha wanting to find out from Wanda how she was able to create this sitcom world, and taking her into flashbacks of her own past to see where her power originated. What’s interesting about this is it seemed to quickly go against the thought that it was ‘Agatha All Along’ as the theme tune stated last week. Agatha was been around Wanda in Westview manipulating certain events we’d seen in the prior episodes, but it would seem is not completely behind all that we are seeing.
This puts Agatha in a strange situation of undoubtably being a baddie in the show, but perhaps not the absolute big bad many had suspected her to be. So, if it’s not Agatha who is the main villain here? With only one episode left in the series it’s slightly concerning that Marvel may not have left themselves much time to establish a big enough threat for Wanda and Vision to take on at the end. Not that there aren’t candidates. Agatha certainly could be the big bad working with another who doesn’t get as much focus and is more involved in what’s happening here then what she has let on. Rumours that another Marvel villain could show up are high with Nightmare and Mephisto being the prime contenders.
Would it be a waste to introduce a big comic book character in the finale just to have them beaten by the heroes? Maybe, but it’s also very possible that as a Disney Plus series that this is just a huge set up for the next movie that will be at the cinema. If Mephisto were to show up here he could escape and then turn out to be the main villain that Doctor Strange has to take on in the Multuverse of Madness.
Another countender for the big bad in this episode was revealed at the end, but we’ll circle back to that in a little while, as there was a bunch of big things happen in the episode that we should cover before the ending.
The story took an almost Christmas Carol style approach to the flashback as Agatha took Wanda back into her past as an observer to see events unfold that may explain how she got her powers.
A scene where Wanda and Pietro are children with their “parents” (we’re still hoping for Magneto somwhere) revealed that the dad was a DVD salesman and had a collection of lots of classic sitcoms which have inspired all the previous episodes of WandaVision. It’s weird to see actual DVDs and pop culture references in a MCU film and I’m not sure why. It was weird in Endgame when they kept discussing Back to the Future as well, but I digress. Wanda had the choice of what the Maximoffs would watch and she chose an episode of the Dick Van Dyke show which dealt with a nightmare about an alien invasion, which I’m sure may have more layers of meaning to the events of what is happening in the MCU then we may currently be aware of.
Then during the watching of this episode of the DVD Show (maybe there’s a reference in that too as they watch it on DVD) an explosion happens which kills Wanda and Pietro’s parents and they see that a missile is labled as from Stark Industries which of course is tont Stark/Iron Man. This isn’t new information as we were aware of it from Avengers Age of Ultron, but it certainly fills in some of their origin story to show it. Agatha wonders in Wanda had powers to protect herself and Pietro even from this age, but just may not have been aware. This hints that there may be a mutant gene involved and would be another indication that Wanda and Pietro are mutants and not just enhanced by the Mind Stone.
We also see where Wanda is captive with Hydra who expose her to said infinity stone and she gets her powers when apparently everyone else who they tested to be near it died. Again this could be down to mutant powers that already existed allowing her to survive.
We skip forward to the time frame of Captain America Civil War after Iron Man was basically holding Wanda captive with The Vision guarding her, and we see how Wanda and Vision’s relationship began. They found connection whilst watching sitcoms which are revealed to be a comfort to Wanda obviously reminding her of her time growing up. Paul Bettany gets a great piece of dialogue about grief being love persevering which will no doubt become one of the most quoted lines from the MCU in the future.
Finally we see that Agatha takes Wanda to the previously hinted at scenes where she ‘stole’ the Vision’s body from S.W.O.R.D, and it’s revealed that she actually didn’t do any such thing. S.W.O.R.D director Haywood lied to Monica in a previous episode and showed security footage to make it look like Wanda had broken in and stole his body, and it feels a little weird that he did this, as the truth of what happened didn’t really make him a bad guy. Wanda wanted to bury his remains to say goodbye and he said that she couldn’t as he was 3 billion dollars worth of vibranium, which to be fair is acurate and comepletely reasonable. A supervillain could easily grave rob his remains to create a weapon if she just buried him.
This lead Wanda to driving through Westview where it would seem Vision has bought a plot of land with the intention of them building a home to grow old together there…can we get an awwwww? Stricken with grief Wanda then sent out a huge shockwave of her chaos magic which transformed the town into the 1950s Dick Van Dyke style sitcom world we saw in episode 1.
So now we know how all of this began, and the episode ended with Agatha showing that she has Billy and Tommy with magic beams around their necks threatening them in front of Wanda. Some have commented that Billy and Tommy almost look like marionettes being controlled with string here, which is interesting as in the comics they are revealed to be pieces of Mephisto’s soul and are shown like puppets attached to his arms to manipulate Wanda. Agatha then called Wanda ‘a Scarlett Witch’ which is the first time Wanda’s ‘funny name’ as Haywood previous teased is said out loud in the MCU, but is also interesting as she says ‘A’ Scarlett Witch which suggests there can be more than one.
This episode did leave a few questions and a few slightly frustratingly non addressed things from last week. Due to the focus on Wanda’s past we didn’t see anything new from Monica, Darcy, Jimmy or even Vision after where things were left last week. If next week’s episode wasn’t the finale I would assume it’d do that thing that The Walking Dead always does that slows down the story telling and just show you Vision’s side of the story next week. But seeing as next week is the finale I expect it will still do that but more rushed to then get on to the final showdown with…whoever the big bad is.
We also didn’t see any more of Evan Peter’s Quicksilver which was frustrating as I’m sure his involvement in the series has been the biggest talking point for many fans. After a surprise when he showed up at the end of episode 5 he was featured a lot in episode 6, but we didn’t get answers to who exactly he is. Episode 7 only featured him in a post credits scene, and this episode only had him reffered to as a fake Pietro. It seemed to suggest he’s not Pietro at all, and it will be very disappointing if that is the route they go as it would make his bieng in the show a stunt casting only. This said we definitely saw him use super speed and the intro credits a couple of episodes back listed him as playing himself…so there is hope yet. He may turn out to be Mephisto in disguise, but I still feel Marvel will better pay off having him there as being a real version of Pietro.
This brings us to the post credits scene and the potential other big threat if not big bad to show up in the finale. We saw that Haywood has the Stark Industries drone Monica sent in which Wanda ejected from Westview and that it is surrounded by Wanda’s hex magic. This magic is harnessed and used to bring the remains of Vision back to life who appears in a bleached pure white form. This will probably set up a Vision vs Vision battle in the finale and maybe the Westview Vision will combine with the white version to become a whole version of himself that can exist outside of Westview.
This episode was a good part of the puzzle that is this series, although with a focus on looking back it did take the steam slightly out of where we got to last week.
With rumours that next week’s finale will be two hours long there is sure to be a hell of a lot still ahead so make sure you check back for our review of the finale here on XStreamed.tv
For more Marvel and MCU news and reviews check out the Comics Section of the site.
