WandaVision WandaVision: Season 1, Episode 8 "Previously On" (spoilers)

[Bren]

Apologies if already mentioned... But how, by implication, would Hayward know Wanda could bring Vision 'back online'?...

 

[terry78]

Apologies if already mentioned... But how, by implication, would Hayward know Wanda could bring Vision 'back online'?...

He's a machine and she could manipulate or destroy the mind stone.

 

[HammerDown]

Alright i've been seeing some people speculating online that hexagon Vision would use the reassembled Vision/Ultron body to come back to life. I surely hope not... that would be such a cop out if it happens. It would be so dumb i just hope it doesn't happen, otherwise we've seen a whole season play out in order to reset things to the same old status quo.

 

[psylockolussus]

Looks great.

Though we could have seennthis sooner or at least in posters.

It is reminiscent of Daredevil season 1 in which they saved the proper iconic costume for the finale.

Or she'll say it to end the Westview illusion, ie "No more Westview" or "No more illusions" or "No more sitcoms".

Okay the last one made laugh.

 

[Doctor Jones]

So am I misunderstanding or is it implied that Wanda had her powers as a child before she was experimented on?

If so, they just retroactively introduced us to mutants.

 

[HammerDown]

So am I misunderstanding or is it implied that Wanda had her powers as a child before she was experimented on?

If so, they just retroactively introduced us to mutants.

That’s basically it. Of course they tried to keep it a bit vague because there’s the witches angle, the mythical being stuff(Scarlett Witch) and she was suppose to be born with a certain innate connection to the stone but yeh they basically left that bit unambiguous so that they could later on probably bring back to the table when they decide to run with the X Men stuff.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I feel like they left enough room to take it either way. That she was always magical, or that Agatha was assuming.

 

[HammerDown]

I wonder who Wanda parents really where. The mother specially acted a bit strange, that whole situation with a war breaking outside and she almost turning a blind eye to it was suspicious.

Also it almost felt like the apartament they where in was almost like a bubble of sorts. I even thought it could’ve been some sort of illusion or spell to keep the outside chaos separate from their daily lives.

The way that scene played out was a bit odd.

 

[Marvolo]

So am I misunderstanding or is it implied that Wanda had her powers as a child before she was experimented on?

If so, they just retroactively introduced us to mutants.

She was a witch, but her powers would have "withered on the vine" had she not been exposed to the Infinity stone. The stone was like miracle grow on nutrient starved soil.


I'm guessing the vision of herself that Wanda saw was the stone showing her what she could be if she took the stone for herself and wielded it. But she never did that. Hydra had it, and then she let Vision keep it.

I still don't think this episode justifies Wanda's actions.


I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point, but leave it to Marvel to make witches, the Salem witch trials, magic, and a 300 year old witch bland as hell. It was presented in such a rote way with no distinction from Infinity Stone powers. Not an ounce of creepiness or atmosphere.

 

[Donner]

So am I misunderstanding or is it implied that Wanda had her powers as a child before she was experimented on?

If so, they just retroactively introduced us to mutants.

I don't think they introduced mutants. Agatha called her a myth which says to me that Wanda is something else. A reincarnation of a powerful witch. No mutant gene necessary.

 

[Iceman]

i think the conversation at avengers HQ shows that they fell in love with each other through conversation and interactions, not the mind stone.

Yeah, all the way through it has seemed like a genuine relationship.

 

[DawnWarrior]

This week we got flashbacks of young Wanda and Pietro. This morning I suddenly wondered if the actors playing them were the same ones in that 'Halloween in Sokovia' cutaway gag from two weeks ago.

I double-checked and...the answer is no. They're two different sets of young actors. They don't even look alike. Almost as if this week features the "real" twins' past, while that gag was just a couple actors pretending.

Wanda wasn't kidding when she said "That's not how I remember it."

 

[Hannibal75]

I don't think they introduced mutants. Agatha called her a myth which says to me that Wanda is something else. A reincarnation of a powerful witch. No mutant gene necessary.

Yeah, if anything they shut the door on the mutant question. The way Agatha was talking about it, being the Scarlet Witch is something like being the Chosen One in the Star Wars universe, or The One in Matrix.

 

[DawnWarrior]

Doesn't mean they've shut it. Illyana Rasputin's mutant power was portals, then she trained as a demon-slayer. They can stack mutant powers with magic powers.

I noticed that the silhouette that Wanda saw also wore a skirt. That seems odd since Wanda's always preferred capes.

(Also just realized that both Wanda's headpiece and Pietro's hair resemble horns.)

 

[def28]

Yeah, there's been multiple Mutant Sorcerer Supremes. Magik being the most notable and recent but I think alt versions of Beast and Storm when she's training Magik were up there. Many of 616 Ororo's ancestors used Sorcery and Witchcraft.

X-Men is connected and cross all over this stuff. We're just not used to seeing it on screen... yet.

 

[#root]

THE SCARLET WITCH

This episode was incredible. We got so much great stuff. Agatha’s backstory scene, the bomb scene, Wanda finally getting a moment to react to Pietro’s death, the explanation for the whole sitcom conceit ( ), chaos magic, the SCARLET WITCH . They even touched on the accent complaint that a lot of people seemed to have been having . Just awesome stuff all around. They’re doing Wanda so right and I love it and I want more. I really, really hope Wanda gets to kick a healthy, satisfactory amount of ass in the Multiverse of Madness.

 

[SirStrangefolk]

I noticed that the silhouette that Wanda saw also wore a skirt. That seems odd since Wanda's always preferred capes.

I don't think it's a full skirt. Her legs are still visible in front. I think it's more something like this that just gives it the silhouette of a skirt, but is open in front and with pants under it:

 

[LauraT]

Lying about Vision does seem to put him into a villain role. And I kinda wish that hadn't been the case. I figured he'd be portrayed as a jerk and a bad boss from the moment he was introduced as the guy who replaced Monica's mom as the head of SWORD. And sure enough, not only is he a jerk but a corrupt one at that.

I have two problems with that. First, I find the character to be bit too clichéd and predictable for an otherwise imaginative show. Second, I'm not crazy about the way every sympathetic human character is on "Team Wanda". Hayward's aggressive attitude towards a mentally unstable former Hydra asset who has imprisoned thousands of people isn't exactly unreasonable. But because he's an a-hole and quite possibly evil, his arguments are easily dismissed by the three plucky heroes. And that is ultimately less interesting than if Monica and Hayward were both portrayed as well-intentioned characters with an understandable disagreement.

I agree that making Hayward both the jerk AND the villain AND the terrible boss is a pretty cliched way to go and it might have been more interesting for him to have been a jerk and also kind of right and not (probably) go full on "I hate superpowers and love making weapons I can't possibly understand or control".

But "the three plucky heroes" weren't "Team Give Wanda a Cookie!" They were Team lets-not-bomb-the-town-and-potentially-kill-everyone-BUT-Wanda". They weren't stanning her and saying she did nothing wrong. They were using actual intel and logic.

Hayward is right that Wanda is a threat who is hurting people but he's been wrong from the start on how he handled it and dismissive (and sexist) of every other POV even though Monica herself wants to stop Wanda, she just realised that the best way to do it would be to talk Wanda down. Which Hayward *himself* probably knew because he saw how Wanda was grieving, didn't hurt anyone and walked out of SWORD empty handed. It turns out he just had another agenda.

In some ways it's a shame that they didn't go more grey but Hayward was shown as an narrow minded from the start.

 

[metaphysician]

This episode man...

Seriously all Wanda wanted to do was just watch her sitcoms, learn her English and live happily ever after in Dirty Jersey with her synthezoid in peace. Director Hayward is such a SOB. And Agatha Harkness and her shade in this episode was great.

They were wrong as hell for that explosion scene at the beginning.

I mean, being fair, freeing the people of Westview is the right thing to do and needs to happen. . . but one, this episode makes clear that Wanda never *intended* to imprison anyone ( and indeed, didn't even really *intend* to do anything as such ), and two, that Hayward was never especially interested in the well being of the locals.

One interesting takeaway I get from the "Wanda creates the Hex" scene: the initial burst of power when she loses control and lets her grief out? Only encompasses the "house" and its property. Its only after she is completely lost in the emergence/recreation of the Vision that a second wave expands beyond that to encompass the whole town.

 

[metaphysician]

Was I the only one that got the implication that Wanda had her powers before she interacted with the Mind Stone and that it only amplified what already existed? Has to be a clear lead into mutants...

How exactly can it be a "clear lead into mutants" when said powers are very explicitly described as magical? *cough*

 

[Dark Raven]

This week we got flashbacks of young Wanda and Pietro. This morning I suddenly wondered if the actors playing them were the same ones in that 'Halloween in Sokovia' cutaway gag from two weeks ago.

I double-checked and...the answer is no. They're two different sets of young actors. They don't even look alike. Almost as if this week features the "real" twins' past, while that gag was just a couple actors pretending.

Wanda wasn't kidding when she said "That's not how I remember it."

Unless they just hired some actors for that week to play the parts as stand-ins, but hadn't yet decided or finalised the look they wanted for their parents. Then when it came to this episode they hired actors that were more suitable.

 

[metaphysician]

I love the lines Agatha had during Wanda’s walk down memory lane and at the beginning.

“Love the Cold War aesthetic!”

“That accent comes and goes doesn’t it!”

“All those costumes and hairstyles, I was SOO patient!”
View attachment 43453

This kind of thing is one of the many reasons why I find the "Hey, maybe Agatha is secretly a good guy all along" takes almost incomprehensible. Since dropping the facade, Agatha only really has two modes of operation: subtle, backhanded mockery and cruelty; or open and flagrant sadistic cruelty. She's shown no sign of being anything but a truly awful person.

 

[Shuri]

I don't think they introduced mutants. Agatha called her a myth which says to me that Wanda is something else. A reincarnation of a powerful witch. No mutant gene necessary.

I hope so. I know majority of the fans want her to be a mutant, but I want her to be a witch. We'll still get mutants in the MCU.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point, but leave it to Marvel to make witches, the Salem witch trials, magic, and a 300 year old witch bland as hell. It was presented in such a rote way with no distinction from Infinity Stone powers. Not an ounce of creepiness or atmosphere.

Yeah, I agree. I was excited to see that, but all it was was just a just dark enough set with that MCU same-ness in execution and generic music. Even the dead witches looked generic. Salem was dirty, dark and miserable. There's a lot more you can do even if it's one scene. Give me something like The Witch! Do it Marvel! I'm not saying make it R Rated or dark for the sake of it, just spice it up. That scene should have been disturbing.

I gotta be honest, I'm disappointed with Hahn as Agatha. I think they should have cast an older actor for the part. Her being younger sort of takes away that uniqueness about the character. And I don't really like Hahn's acting. She's acting like a Disney villain or like a theater student playing a witch in a play. Same for her getup at the end. She looks like a villain from Enchanted, as if they just pulled the wardrobe off the rack and put it on her. Even her type of magic looks just like Wanda's but with a purple filter.

That's my problem with Marvel. They nail it with the character stuff like the excellent flashback scenes but they fall short with the direction, look and characterization of their stories. It all has that very same-y look to it despite the uniqueness of their characters and situations. Yet it's so weird because the sitcom stuff was so well shot and spot on. And then when you get to the modern day real world it all feels like Marvel.

I'm liking this show a lot, but I can't help but feel Marvel won't really change from this. I have hope for Doctor Strange 2, because Raimi is the best director they've ever gotten, but we'll see.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

But that’s also part of how Marvel stays in the stratosphere. I mean who would’ve thought in 2021, an obscure ass character like Agatha Harkness, Franklin Richard’s witch nanny, would be the Internet’s latest obsession?

Only Marvel Studios all along.