The act of subverting
expectations in creative media can be an experience that ranges from pleasantly
surprising, to shocking, to unsettling. It can come across as it did in “Star
Wars Episode VIII – The Last Jedi” where the Resistance flees the pursuing First
Order only to be gradually whittled down to a handful of escapees fitting inside
the Millennium Falcon. Or it could be
like the penultimate episode of “WandaVision” on Disney+, which finally answers
most of the key questions (other than how the whole situation will be
resolved), but in a way that still threw viewers for a loop.
“WandaVision” episode 8 is
entitled “Previously On,” and for good reason. While the frame of the episode’s
plot is in the here and now, central character Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen)
does get taken for a trip to the past via her now-revealed magical neighbor
Agnes, aka Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn). Harkness is an honest-to-goodness
who was alive even in 17th Century Salem, Massachusetts, capable of
feats like draining life. It turns out however that she is not in control of
the Hex that covers the town of Westview. Or rather, she is not controlling
Wanda. She demands to know how Wanda is doing it instead.
It is tough darts there because
Wanda is not sure either. Not even Agatha threatening her children could get a
coherent answer. So Harkness and Maximoff go on a magical mental trip to access
the latter’s memories. They start at Wanda’s childhood with her brother Pietro
and their parents in war-torn Sokovia, where their favorite pastime is watching
imported American TV sitcoms. This writer can confirm that in the 1980s for
instances, countries like the Philippines tended to put American sitcoms in
early-evening primetime slots before or after the news, long before they were
able to produce their own content.
This idyllic childhood is shattered
when the war destroys the Maximoff house, kills the parents, and traps the
siblings in the wreckage with a bomb made by Stark Industries. Wanda has always
assumed that they were lucky that it did not explode, but Harkness sees
otherwise and reveals that Wanda herself hexed the bomb to be a dud, using powers
she has had since birth. Sounds like a Marvel mutant (!). These powers were
magnified when she and Pietro joined HYDRA and were experimented on to gain
powers from the Mind Infinity Stone. The stone however reacted by itself in
Wanda’s presence, indicating her potential.
Her next memory stop is with the
Avengers post-“Age of Ultron.” Her brother has died in Sokovia, but Wanda was
rescued by the android Vision (Paul Bettany). Their mutual feeling that they
were forced by the world to solitude causes them to become kindred spirits, a
sentiment that leads to love. The last mental stop is Wanda’s visit to SWORD to
petition acting director Heyward (Josh Stamberg) to be allowed to bury Vision’s
body. Heyward refuses, leading Wanda to break in later in an attempt to steal
Vision from storage.
It turns out however that she did
not take Vision with her. The discovery that the vibranium android body was
disassembled caused Wanda to flee. She went to Westview, where Vision told her
pre-“Infinity War” that he had bought a lot, intending for a house to be built
for them. Her grief drives her Mind Stone-enhanced magic into overdrive, creating
the house and enveloping Westview in a peaceful environment according to her
ideal world, depicted in those old TV sitcoms. Not for nothing did the
production team add snippets of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Malcolm in the
Middle,” among others, to reference Wanda’s perspective of a peaceful life.
What about Vision? Viewers were
operating on the assumption that Wanda stole Vision’s body and reanimated him
with her magic. That is the last subversion. She did not take Vision and
instead created a new one to join her inside the Hex. The actual body remained
in SWORD custody, with Heyward lying to fellow operative Monica Rambeau
(Teyonah Parris), FBI Agent Woo (Randall Park) and consultant Darcy (Kat
Dennings) about its circumstances. He has also reassembled and reactivated it
using residual magic from the drones destroyed by Wanda.
Now it will likely be sent after
her, though since Agatha has dubbed Wanda as a mythical figure of witchcraft,
the “Scarlet Witch,” there is assurance that she could take care of herself.
However Westview and the world outside of it might not be sturdy enough.
Assuming that episode 8 is the end of “WandaVision,” we could be in for a
confrontation that might remind us of the main MCU films. There is also the
tie-in to “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness” to consider. It might
explain the deal with “Pietro” as portrayed by Evan Peters. There will be a lot
to unpack when the conclusion comes on Disney+ Friday.
Image courtesy of Polygon
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