With everyone still singing along to “Agatha All Along,” another new episode of WandaVision debuted today on Disney+. With only one episode left after this, “Previously On” dives into Wanda’s origin story as the newly discovered Agatha Harkness searches for answers in her past.
Spoilers ahead!
The episode opens with several cloaked figures making their way through the woods in Salem, Massachusetts in 1693. It appears they have Agatha as their prisoner as they magically bind her to a stake. A woman accuses her of betraying her coven and practicing dark magic. Agatha admits to bending the rules and the witches begin to chant. As Agatha pleads, she notably calls out “if only you would teach me.” In the comics, Agatha serves as a teacher to Wanda. Agatha also refers to the head witch as her mother.
The witches use their powers on Agatha, causing her to scream in pain. After a few seconds though, she recovers and begins to reverse the energies toward the other witches. Her mother joins in but Agatha is again unaffected. Agatha breaks her bindings and unleashes energy, killing all of the witches but her mother. She pleads with her mother again, telling her she can be good. Her mother tells her she cannot and tries to kill her again only to have Agatha reverse the power once again and kill her own mother. This appears to be a departure from the character’s comic book origins as their is certainly more of an evil energy about her here.
In the present, Wanda tries to read Agatha’s mind but she is laughed off. Agatha makes it clear that she knows much more about magic than Wanda, pointing out a protection spell that won’t allow Wanda to use her powers in this basement. Agatha reveals that she has been trying to learn who Wanda truly is and that fake Pietro was her eyes and ears. She explains that she sensed the hex and so many spells being cast at once and she couldn’t understand it.
Agatha grabs what appears to be the cicada we saw last week and uses it as a puppet to show Wanda some simple magic, once again destroying a fan theory that the insect may have represented the presence of Mephisto. She turns the bug into a bird and eventually tosses it to her bunny, Senor Scratchy, who curiously eats it in seconds. We’ve had thoughts that there was more to this rabbit than meets the eye, perhaps even being Nicholas Scratch, Agatha’s son.
All the while, Agatha is pointing out how complex the magic is that Wanda has been using to create the hex and asks her what her secret is. While Agatha is clearly more in control and knows far more about the magic she wields, Wanda appears to be the far more powerful witch.
Agatha brings up what Wanda said to the fake Pietro – that she couldn’t recall how she created the hex, she just remembered feeling “endless nothingness.” That prompts Agatha to drag Wanda through her past. When Wanda initially refuses, Agatha reminds her that she has her children and we can hear the twins screaming for help in the distance.
The two witched walk through a door into Wanda’s childhood home in Sokovia, where they see her parents and Pietro. Young Pietro calls for his sister and Agatha tells Wanda to join them. She is transformed into her younger self to join her family. Wanda’s father opens a case of old sitcoms on DVD and tells Wanda to pick one for TV night. Some of the shows that can be seen include I Love Lucy, Bewitched and Malcolm in the Middle, all shows that have served as inspiration for previous episodes.
Wanda says her pick isn’t in the case and her father pulls The Dick Van Dyke Show from a secret spot. Young Pietro points out that Wanda always chooses a sitcom. They sit down to watch the show and young Wanda seems at peace before they’re interrupted by an explosion. As described in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Wanda and Pietro hide under the bed next to a Stark bomb that doesn’t detonate. Young Wanda slowly reaches out toward the bomb but is pulled out from under the bed by Agatha. Wanda is now back to her normal self and Agatha asks her if she stopped the bomb. Wanda says the bomb was just defective and explains that they were trapped for two days. Agatha points out that doesn’t add up and asks again how she got so powerful to create the hex.
Another door appears and Wanda immediately refuses to go through it. Agatha insists and the door opens to the Hydra labs where she was the subject of experiments. We see Wanda enter a room with Loki’s scepter from Avengers, which houses the mind stone. The stone breaks free of the scepter and hovers toward Wanda before shattering its casing to reveal the yellow stone inside. It releases and explosion of power and Wanda looks into it to see what appears to be the silhouette of a fully-realized Scarlet Witch. As it approaches her, Wanda faints.
Now in her own cell, Wanda sits on a bench watching The Brady Bunch. Hydra scientists examine the footage of what happened to Wanda during the experiment but it only shows her standing and then instantly lying on the ground. Agatha assess the situation, saying the Infinity Stone amplified Wanda’s already-existing powers where they otherwise would have “died on the vine.” She explains that she has a theory regarding who Wanda is but she still needs more.
Another door appears and Wanda immediately approaches it. The door leads them to the Avengers compound where anda sits in her room watching Malcolm in the Middle. Wanda explains that this was after the events of Age of Ultron and that she is now in a new country after her brother died. She calls Vision into the room and has him sit with her on the bed.
Vision tries to comfort Wanda and she explains that she is overcome by the loss of her brother. He tells her he can’t understand because he has never experiences anything like that, having never had a loved one to lose. Agatha recaps everything they’ve seen, pointing out that Wanda has now lost her parents, her brother and Vision and asks what happened to her when he was no longer there to pull her back from the darkness. She reminds her that Vision was gone and she wanted him back.
A door to the S.W.O.R.D. facility appears and Wanda rushes through it. We see Wanda pleading with the guard at the desk to see Vision’s body. After he receives a call, he allows her through the doors, further into the facility. Wanda uses her powers to open the doors and makes her way to an office. Inside, she meets Hayward and he shows her that S.W.O.R.D. is disassembling Vision’s body.
Hayward explains that they are dismantling the sentient weapon and Wanda objects. She tells him she just wants to bury him and he asks if she’s sure. When she questions him, he explains that “not everyone has the kind of power that could bring their soulmate back online.” She tells him she can’t do that and that’s not why she’s here. He explains that he can’t let her bury Vision’s body but that she can say good bye to him here.
Wanda shatters the glass between her and the lab and approaches the pieces of Vision’s body. Guards draw their guns on Wanda but Hayward tells them to stand down. Wanda goes to Vision’s head and tries to use her powers to read his mind before saying “I can’t feel you,” a callback to their touching moment from Avengers: Infinity War. She then leaves without Vision’s body.
What’s most interesting about this scene is that it is very different from the footage Hayward showed several episodes ago and the story he told Monica, Woo and Darcy. He clearly altered the footage and made it seem as though Wanda attacked S.W.O.R.D. and stole Vision from them.
Wanda returns to her car where she sees and envelope on the passenger seat. She then drives to Westview, New Jersey. As she makes her way through the town, we see the various citizens we’ve gotten to know throughout the season, living their normal lives. Wanda drives to the site of what has been their home for the previous seven episodes. As she walks up to the site, we see that the house has not yet been built. She opens the envelope to see the deed to the property, with a note from Vision that reads “To grow old in.”
Overcome with emotion, Wanda drops to her knees and cries, giving us the image we briefly saw when Monica recalled her experience in the hex several episodes ago. Wanda lets out a scream and with it, a burst of energy. Without controlling it, her powers build her home and expand to alter the entire town, converting everything to black and white and 50s theming. She also uncontrollably creates Vision, entirely out of thin air. Wanda steps toward him and instantly receives her own 50s makeover before they sit together on the couch.
Present Wanda appears behind them and sees that they are actually living on the set of a sitcom. Agatha applauds form the audience and then disappears. Wanda hears the twins screaming for help and rushes outside. She finds Agatha levitating in the street with magical tethers around the necks of both of the boys. Agatha tells Wanda she has no idea how dangerous she is and that she is supposed to be a myth. She refers to Wanda’s powers as “Chaos Magic,” a name that has long been used in the comics. She also explains that this makes Wanda the Scarlet Witch, and the episode comes to a close.
Like last week though, we do get another mid-credits scene. In this one, we see Hayward being informed that S.W.O.R.D. is ready to move into the hex. Without us being able to see what he’s looking at, he explains that they’ve tried everything to get “this thing” back online. As we see the old S.W.O.R.D. drone, he explains that all they needed was “a little energy directly from the source.” We then see that they are using Wanda’s energy to power up a rebuilt Vision, who is now sporting an all white look as he once did in the comics.
This episode provided a lot of context and explained how we got to this point in the story, with just one episode to go. However, it has also left us with a lot of questions and loose ends to tie up next week. Why couldn’t Wanda remember creating the hex? Why did “Fietro” confront Monica? Where are Vision and Darcy? What is Hayward’s plan for this new Vision? A lot needs to happen in next week’s finale, and we’re just going to be counting down the days until it’s here.
You can watch WandaVision on Disney+ now.