The Scarlet Witch! WandaVision episode 8 Rundown

Picking up from where we left last week, WandaVision episode 8 gave us some much needed answers to what has been happening in Westview. Gaining an understanding of Westview didn’t come easy though as we were forced along with Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) to relive her past trauma, all in order for Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) to unearth the secrets of how her powers created Westview. Along with this, our understanding of Agatha deepened as her backstory was explored. That being said the mystery of her motive still remains a debate.

What are Agatha’s motives?

Keen fans will have noticed that the start of the episode took place during the Salem Witch trials. What we learn from the opening scene is that Agatha betrayed her coven of witches and practices dark magic. We also see a different side to Agatha, a side of panic as she was set to be executed by the witches of Salem, which included her mother. This execution failed as the spells the witches cast on Agatha were rebounded. Immediately Agatha is presented as a killer, a killer that took her own mother’s life.

Moving back to the present day, Agatha begins her manipulation of Wanda in hope of learning about how she managed to create Westview. While showing off her own powers with simple protection spells, Agatha is annoyed that someone with no training could conjure so many spells at once. It is then established that Agatha wants to know Wanda’s secret, especially as she seemed envious towards Wanda. However, the reason why she wants the secret doesn’t get revealed. All we can do is assume that Agatha’s motives relate to the dark magic she has practised.

In order to gain the truth, Agatha uses Wanda’s memory to unlock the secrets of her powers. Throughout each traumatic scene Wanda relives, Agatha pieces together her theory about Wanda which leads to the reveal that Wanda is the legend that is the Scarlet Witch.

While revealing the true extent of Wanda’s powers there was a look of extreme concern and anger on Agatha’s face. She even uses the twins, Billy and Tommy to hold back Wanda. There is a sense that Agatha is annoyed that Wanda can harness the myth of chaos magic only to use it to make “breakfast for dinner”.

There is still shades of grey around Agatha which makes her such an intriguing character. We are still not sure what she wants with Wanda. Does she want Wanda for her own gain or someone else’s gain? There is also a chance that learning about the extent of Wanda’s powers could mean Agatha wants to destroy Wanda because she is too dangerous. Nevertheless the episode suggests that Agatha wants Wanda for her own gain due to how she goes about unlocking the secret. We also cannot forget the fact she kidnapped the twins and has a spell book we assume to be the Darkhold. This would imply that Agatha isn’t there to save anyone, instead her motive is found in using Wanda for her powers.

Pain and Power of Wanda:

Having to relive all your trauma in your life would not be something anyone would want. Watching Wanda have to do this was upsetting to view, but understanding her horrific past helps explain why Westview was created.

After being forced to step into her past in order to keep the twins safe, we get to witness the death of Wanda’s parents. During this scene we grasp the reason as to why WandaVision has played out as a sitcom. Wanda dreamed of having a life like the characters in the sitcoms she grew up watching. This is a common trend throughout Wanda’s past, she would watch family sitcoms as escapism from her anguish, and hence to escape her grief she created a sitcom for herself to live in.

Also, in the Sokovian memory the bomb which didn’t explode beeps and flashes red just like the ToastMate 2000 advert in the very first episode.

When Agatha reviews this memory for the first time it is implied that Wanda had powers before her experimentation with Hydra. Agatha later talks about how the mind stone amplified something already there. Immediately everyone will jump on the theory regarding the mutant gene, but as we know Wanda powers were revealed as chaos magic. This means it is more likely that pre-existing powers of Wanda come from the God of chaos, Chthon!

Chthon is a demon whom originally was an elder-god. In the comics he is the first dark magic user and the writer of the ‘book of sins’ the Darkhold. How this relates to Wanda is that in the comics he touched her at birth allowing her to take a portion of his powers. The exposure to the infinity stone then explains how her chaos magic abilities manifested. This theory has potential because of the connection between Wanda, Chthon and Agatha. We learnt Agatha practises dark magic and if the book in her basement is the Darkhold then it is likely that she serves Chthon. I don’t want to get too carried away about this theory but it needs to be acknowledged that the pre-existing abilities of Wanda could have come through Chthon.

If we once again look at Wanda’s trauma we learn more about her pain. The love Wanda and Vision (Paul Bettany) is deepened as we understand the connection the pair has on a much deeper level. Hence after Vision’s death Wanda feels like she has nothing left in the world. This then explains why Wanda breaks down and creates the hex. We now understand why she did it; the emptiness she had to deal with was too much and was consuming her. Previously we had thought creating the hex was a villainous act, but seeing what Wanda has gone through nobody can blame her for what she has done.

Behold The Vision!

“Previously On” was not the action packed episode many of us expected for the penultimate episode. Instead the episode decided to focus on explaining both the powers and origins of the two witches. However, the post-credit scene did give us a taste of what is to come. Director Haywood (Josh Stamberg) reveals that with the energy from the drone S.W.O.R.D. sent into the hex that they could finally bring the corpse of the Vision back online.

Discovered earlier in the episode Wanda never stole the corpse of Vision which means that Haywood has been lying all along. What is likely to come from Vision’s ‘re-birth’ is that he will lose all personal connections he previously had, much like what happened in West Coast Avengers #45.

With the ‘real’ Vision having no emotion heaven knows how Wanda will react to this; likely she will break down and cause something catastrophic.

No doubt what happens, Haywood is determined to burn Westview to the ground. His reasons are still not clear, but we know that whatever he does it will be the perfect chance to show off his new sentient weapon.

Verdict:

It feels like for the past 3 weeks that we have been expecting a big battle and now we can finally relax as we know the finale is coming and the drama will reach its peak. This episode allowed for us to explore the origins of the Agatha and Wanda while also setting up the final act. Many will have expected a big fight from this episode and may feel disappointed, but with the track record of Marvel Studios we can trust this will be delivered in the finale.

For the final episode there will be many parts at play which is why it was smart not to rush the final battle. Last week established where Monica (Teyonah Paris) is at and gave her powers, while also giving the Vision inside the hex knowledge from before Westview. This week S.W.O.R.D.’s position has been established as well as Wanda and Agatha’s. Therefore we a perfectly poised for the final battle and we only have to wait one more week.

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