With Episode 8 now available for viewing, there is only one more installment of WandaVision left before Disney+ and Marvel Studios moves on to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
I'm already feeling a sense of great loss. I think it started after Episode 6, really, when I realized we were already two-thirds the way through the shows.
It's only intensified since then. More on that later though. Let's get into the meat of the last two episodes, 7 and 8, and I'll share my thoughts on how quickly things are coming to an end later.
As usual, spoilers and speculation await. I also presuppose that you've watched all the episodes currently available, including the latest, No. 8.
Episode Seven Crashed The Disney+ Servers
Apparently, people really wanted to see who the aerospace engineer Monica Rambeau first referred to in Episode 4 and built up in Episode 6. (Her "guy" was supposed to be meeting her and FBI agent James Woo over the ridge.)
I mean, I doubt everyone wanted to see how WandaVision would tackle the Modern Family-esque style of sitcom, though I think they did a wonderful job with it, just as they have done with the previous five decades worth of television fare.
The Reveal That Wasn't
The funny thing about it is, it was more or less for naught. No Reed Richards. No Blue Marvel. Not even a guy, as far as we know. There was a Major Goodner and her section of SWORD who professed loyalty to not only Monica's mother, the founder of SWORD, but what sounded like Monica herself.
Major Goodner has no match outside the MCU, so who she is very much up for grabs. There's a fan theory that she's actually a Skrull, which means she could be a he, but that seems like a stretch, since Monica refers to her as Major Goodner and not a Skrull name. Maybe that's to keep it secret from Agent Woo, but since there wasn't anything about Monica, Woo or the Major in Episode 8, we're still left wondering just who the aerospace engineer is supposed to be.
I'm holding out for someone else, given the build up in WandaVision and the hype outside of it, but now there's only one more show to wrap that up, and so much more.
The Reveal Everyone Expected
Well, not me, but it's more of a hoping it wasn't rather than being surprised that it was. Agnes, at the end of Episode 7, does confess to being Agatha Harkness. That's kind of where No. 7 ends, though, but we get all kinds of backstory for her in Episode 8.
In the end, I suppose it was inevitable. And even though I didn't want Agnes to be Agatha, I'm happy with the way things are turning out.
I had imagined that somehow Agatha was more involved in the Hex existing than she was, but as it turns out, she was actually drawn to it because of the immensity of the magic being conjured. In Episode 8, she demands Wanda tell her how she did it, when she's an obvious novice when it comes to witchcraft. Wanda doesn't know rudimentary runes or spells, and yet this complex series of magical incantations that makes up Westview somehow exists, and effortlessly, I might add.
So, I'm glad there wasn't meant to be a relationship between the two in just a couple of weeks. However, the possibility is now opened up for it to happen, I think, since Agatha seems pretty concerned that Wanda doesn't really know who she is.
Episode 8 Catches Us All The Way Up
Whereas Episode 4 gave us an idea of events running concurrently outside the Hex that disrupted goings on inside of it, Episode 8 provides us the Way Back machine so that not only Agatha can find out how Wanda got to where she is, but the rest of us, too.
Since WandaVision drops us into the middle of things without any explanation, we as viewers have been playing catch up, piecing together through their own knowledge of the Scarlet Witch and Vision in the comics along with what's already happened in the MCU. As far as Wanda and Vision go, though, the MCU doesn't give us much to go on. However, with so many different story arcs intertwined from the Marvel source material, it's obvious the show's creators are trying to involve as much of it as they can, given the limitations.
The fact is, as good as the MCU has been at laying foundation and overlapping and running through the entirety of its movies a central theme, it's only introduced as many characters as it needed to get us through it. As far as Wanda and Vision are concerned, not being center stage for most of it, there's quite a few characters attached to them that are still nowhere to be found, even though we've been marching through quite a bit of Scarlet Witch and Vision lore.
So, where this will all end up next week is still very much up in the air.
However, there are some things that happened in Episode 8 that I'm glad we now know.
Wanda Created The Hex, Mostly
This for me, is probably the biggest question revolving around Wanda personally. Her grief has been a common theme running throughout the installments, and that comes to a masterful culmination in Episode 8. Thanks to Agatha's magical portals, we get to see Wanda at different stages in her life.
The bombing of her apartment and the subsequent deaths of her parents when she and Pietro are 10. The Stark bomb that didn't go off (it's the inspiration for the toaster in the first commercial, as the beeping sound and blinking red light are the same on both) may or may not have been thanks to Wanda.
The experiment that wasn't—Wanda's time with HYDRA wasn't much more than her being asked to touch Loki's Sceptre, but we find out that the Mind Stone broke loose of its moorings and that some being appeared to Wanda, bathed in the Infinity Stone's yellow/golden light. Specifically who that person was is yet uncertain, but it's looking like some iteration of the Scarlet Witch—or some other Nexus being.
When Wanda first fell in love with Vision. This is one of the most tender scenes in all of the MCU, and it doesn't take long for it to develop. We get to see just how much Wanda may have been relying on Vision for moral and emotional support. It also makes his insistence that she destroy the Mind Stone and thus him in Avengers: Endgame feel like a betrayal. Wanda, I believe, wasn't only upset, naturally, that Vision was so cavalier about it, but that he didn't seem to realize that she would be left alone again, after their relationship blossomed on that bit of knowledge.
Whether or not that little tidbit will get explored in Episode 9 doesn't seem likely, but I hope it does.
- What Really Happened At SWORD. It makes what SWORD Director Hayward said about her all the more suspicious, or cowardly, but Wanda didn't take Vision's body at all. And she didn't really storm the place, either. Instead, she asked rather politely, though rightfully indignant. When Hayward shows her what they've been doing to Vision, she's again, rightfully upset, but after using her magic to try to feel Vision, she can't.
Ultimately, she leaves SWORD HQ alone. Hayward won't let her take $3 billion worth of Vibranium just to bury it (nor does he seem convinced she doesn't want to somehow resurrect him).
- Her trip to Westview. We now know why she even went to the small town in the first place. And we get a stark glimpse as to what the town really looks like. Run down. It's citizens not all that happy looking. They seem to be scrabbling to carve out a life. And right in the middle of it is a plot of land with nothing more than the beginnings of a foundation that Vision bought so that he and Wanda could grow old together.
It is this moment that we see just how the Hex was created, and it is more out of grief than actual conscious thought. It seems to me that something takes over Wanda in that moment and she's not really in control of what she's doing. Rather, it's born from her losses, that she is indeed alone again, and perhaps feels she always will be. She has to wonder why anyone close to her ends up dead.
Wanda Created Vision
The question Agent Woo writes on the whiteboard in Episode 4—Is Vision Alive?—gets answered here. At the same time Wanda's magic builds their home and changes Westview to a 50s, black and white version of itself, it also gives form and life to a new Vision. The energy used to bring him to life is more like the Mind Stone and not her own red chaos magic. That makes me wonder at the distinction. It also makes me wonder why he doesn't appear able to leave the Hex.
So, the question of whether or not Vision was reanimated is answered. He wasn't. Not by Wanda, anyway. This is a different version entirely, accounting for why Vision doesn't remember anything before that moment. Basically, he's not aware of his creation, and the limited backstory—they were married, they bought a home, moved to Westview—is all there is.
Agatha's String Pulling Was For Information Only
So we know Agatha didn't create the Hex. Unless she's pulling another fast one (no thank you), she's just been trying to figure out who Wanda is and how she's done what she did. Agatha's constant popping over when she did wasn't so much to save Wanda from embarrassing questions or circumstances, but rather to take advantage of them and see what she could learn.
Pietro, or Fietro, as she refers to him, is her doing, but he's most likely an existing person rather than an illusion. He's been turned into Agatha's spy, basically, and has come the closest to getting out of Wanda what really happened. The fact that he didn't look like her brother (oh, and that the MCU-version is dead), was enough to keep Wanda from going to her memories she's buried while in Westview.
Still, the catchy theme song for Agatha was well worth it at the end of Episode 7, becoming an internet sensation over night. I've really enjoyed the music throughout the season thus far, especially the theme songs.
How Are They Going To Wrap This Up?
With the literal white version of Vision now up and running, thanks to Hayward and company, it looks like there's going to be a showdown between it and the one Wanda created. Monica and her newfound powers, another reveal from Episode 7, are on the board, and who knows what Darcy might be able to do. Of course, there's the fake Wanda's brother that will surely figure into the mix somehow.
There are still plenty of questions to answer, and not a whole lot of time left, unless the last show ends up having an actual run time of at least an hour (not including the credits). So far, not a single episode has come close to that amount of time, even though Episode 8 is the longest to date.
Will There Be More Character Reveals?
There certainly could be, but time's running out. If they are revealed, it will likely be towards the end of Episode 9 and thus leading directly into a movie. The jury is still out on a few characters, like the Fox Pietro, who Hayward might actually be, Major Goodner, the actual aerospace engineer Monica teased, and how about Mephisto, Nightmare, Master Pandemonium or Kang the Conqueror?
Not much was said about the book in Agatha's basement. It's probably a book of spells of some kind, but which one has not been revealed. Depending on what it is, it could lead to one of those interdimensional or time traveling beings. Agatha could be an agent of anyone of them.
What About The Twins?
Are they, like Wanda's Vision, only able to live inside the Hex? Will they make it out alive? In Marvel Comics, their history is pretty convoluted, but eventually, they seem to be reincarnated as actual young boys. I guess it depends on just how deep into the character bag Marvel Studios wants to go.
However, since their deaths eventually lead to all kinds of Wanda unhinging, there's a chance that's still in the works. We seem to know that there's some sort of multiverse of madness that will pop up for Doctor Strange to combat, and at the beginning of the season, signs were pointing to WandaVision to be how that can of worms gets opened. Well, we're down to the last episode without any multiverse in sight.
We know things can change in the blink of an eye. Pietro came from somewhere. Is he Agent Woo's missing witness? We don't know where Agatha snagged him from. He could be anybody, including the Fox version of Quicksilver.
Maybe all that needs to happen is for the right basement portals to be opened.
No More Sitcoms Starring Two Avengers
This is the loss I feel. This is the kind of thing that would be perfect for an actual sitcom, starring Wanda and Vision. I can't see how it will ever get made, but having had a taste of what could be, I know I'm going to long for an actual sitcom of the two for quite some time.
I don't know just how much more time Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany want to continue to dedicate to these characters. My guess is, they wouldn't want to do it for another 5-7 years as a television show.
But, it worked so beautifully as their own standalone bits inside the actual story, it's just a shame there can't and won't be more of it as its own thing. There doesn't seem any way possible that Wanda and Vision just get to grow old inside the Hex with their two boys, so even with fictional characters, there's still a need to deal in reality.
Sad, but true.
Back to waiting for another seven days and an ending I'm not wanting to happen yet.
Thanks, Disney and Marvel Studios. Thanks for making such a great show, just for it to end all too soon.
All images source—WandaVision media kit at Disney.com