Episode Discussion ➝ WandaVision 1.8: Previously On

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EPISODE 1.8: PREVIOUSLY ON

Expect HEAVY SPOILERS FOR ALL WANDAVISION EPISODES up until this point, as well as all other MCU properties currently released!

Comments

[fueschgast]

OMG, that episode hurt so much! I want to talk about it, but first I need to make my notes into sentences. I don't know how I'm supposed to do that - I'm too busy drowing in feelings, send help.

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So... What happened to the whole "Wanda stole Vision's body from SWORD HQ" thing?

[fueschgast]

I so desperately wanted Agatha to be good, but couldn't find any innocent explanation for her sucking the energy from the other witches *sigh*.
What's with the crown-like energy on Agatha's mom's head? Is she the queen of all witches or something?

Just after talking about fake Pietro
, Agatha moves on to the topic of mind control. So I guess at least we're still on track for X-Men!Peter. Unless "crystalline possession" means something other than my first guess. There was no crystal in Agatha's demonstration of mind control, so at first I thought maybe one is necessary for stronger psyches or whatever. But maybe crystalline possession means you put something mind-like in a crystal that's turned into a human form? God, I hope not, don't let this Pietro be just stunt casting!

It hurts so much that Agatha is only after Wanda's magic. Making her live through her trauma again, what a psycho witch. Though it's nice to see a flashback to Wanda's family when it was still whole.
So... what, did Wanda magically disable the bomb or not?

WHOA, Wanda saw her powerful future self in the light of the Mind Stone! Complete with the crown thingy. So there is an in-story reason for her Halloween costume!

For a flashback episode this is really good! Because we're getting to see all the things we haven't yet. The problem with these ensemble movies is that they don't have enough time for all their characters. That conversation about Pietro's death really should have been in Civil War.

OMG, Wanda only wanted a funeral for Vision!
Hayward shows Wanda how his scientists are taking Vision apart. JFC, did he ever at any point consider Vision a person and that these are not just machine parts but mangled remains and you can't just spring that view on a loved one?! Or does he have such disrespect for Wanda, does he really consider her just a terrorist? What a humongous dick.
Holy shit, Hayward planted the idea of bringing Vision back to life!
"I can't feel you." Is this episode trying to find out how many times it can rip our hearts out?

OMG, that's their piece of land! And I thought it couldn't get any more painful! Is this is where Wanda meant to bury Vision?
Whoooaaa, I didn't expect the Hex to have been such a spontaneous creation.

The Minimoffs are still there! Ooh, and we get to see Agatha's outfit. But where are Monica and Pietro?
The Scarlet Witch! I bet Wanda isn't really dangerous, that's just how Agatha feels about Wanda because she's discovered someone more powerful than her. And does the crown thingy only symbolize Wanda's superiority or does it make her the actual witch queen or something?

Ghostly white Vision, way to be creepy! For a moment I thought they made another Vision, but from what Hayward said it's clear that this is Vision's original body. Oh, look who's a lying liar and disregarding Vision's will!

Hey... Wanda has the power of the Mind Stone and during Vision's manifestation the energy was Mind-Stone-yellow, so we can assume that this is actual Vision's consciousness. But what happens if the Hex falls apart? Would that be the end of the real Vision's body? Would Wanda be able to transfer his mind into white Vision?

My god, this episode was so emotionally exhausting! Now this show owes us a full-on happy ending. The kids survive, Vision survives, Westview stays shiny and so Wanda & co. lived happily ever after.

But I really can't see how this story can be resolved in a satisfying way in just 1 episode. I have all my fingers and toes crossed that the WV Twitter didn't just awkwardly phrase that tweet, but that there are actually 2 more episodes.

[readera]

I watched it with my so last night & I have so many feelings.

Her family is so cute! Tv night + english night. 💖
I love that Wanda is a little nerd & knows what episode she wants to rewatch. I saw the theory way back when this first started that the sitcom set up was due to a love of old reruns in her childhood, so I'm glad to see that confirmed.

Soo if Wanda got her powers directly from an infinity stone, did Pietro get them the same way? Or did he get them from her? I wish we could have more Pietro, or Fake Pietro this episode. Nothing with him or Monica. 😢

Wanda continues to be nerdy & comfort watch malcom in the middle at the avengers compound. 💖

Also I was kinda expecting tony stark to be mentioned giving up Vison to Sword since he made JARVIS & Ultron. But it never came up.

Agatha being the evil is so much fun. I hate what she is doing to wanda & co. But she is my witch of childhood dreams. And I want more Agatha after this series.

Hayward is such a jerk.
He completely blind sides her with them taking apart Visions body. I found them pulling him apart & ripping wires so violating & unnecessary. Was he trying to trigger her into an episode? Like how did you think this was a good idea.

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The first scene with Agatha's backstory felt very odd to me. There were moments when Agatha was looking conspiratorially to the side with a little quirk in her demeanor - it felt like a performance for an audience that we couldn't see. I wonder if there's a twist there we haven't seen yet.

I don't have much to say about the episode proper. It was really well done; I love how they deftly folded in Wanda's probability powers and witchiness from the comics. There isn't much room for speculation or theorising, though, being a very straightforward story about a young woman's grief.

I wonder if Wanda is going to put the "soul" of the Vision she created into the body of Hayward's proto-Vision. I really loved (hah) the detail of the main arm of hex energy used to create Westview's Hex / Vision coming from Wanda's heart.

Super excited for next week and potentially finding out who the actor that Paul Bettany's always wanted to work with was. I hope it's Sir Ian McKellan.

If anyone is interested, WandaVision's composer posted this really cool video about how the melodic motif of the show led to the viral sensation song Agatha All Along.

some more thoughts

[fueschgast]

If Wanda really stopped that bomb from going off, it would mean she had some powers from birth and that's why the Mind Stone made her more powerful instead of killing her like the other test subjects. Does that mean witches are mutants? Is it a mutation in the X chromosome and only those who have 2 can be witches?

Would be cool if in the next episode Wanda saw Pietro approaching and thought he was about to attack, but it turns out Monica saw the purple glow of Agatha's mind control on him, and then Vision had arrived and debrainwashed Pietro. And then the only missing character would be Darcy, who'll probably only arrive when all the cool stuff has already happened. Which I guess is okay, since she doesn't have superpowers and so it'll be safer for her to be far away. No, wait, there's still Jimmy. I can't imagine he'll get anything to do before the end (Unless... Can anyone think of any good reason for him to go back to SWORD's camp?), which would be a shame.

Speaking of Monica seeing various types of energy: What if there's another aura around Pietro? If he's from another dimension, maybe that leaves a distinctive trace (like Void Stuff).

And now a cracktastic idea about next week: After a normal-length episode we get the credits and then a mid-credits scene that's also episode length.

theories

[ironymaiden]

Hayward was trying to goad Wanda into taking action.

Bettany's comments about wanting to work with the actor all of his life is a reference to doing scenes with himself as the Project Cataract Vision.

How does time work???

[fueschgast]

I'm still trying to figure out how time works inside the Hex. I thought time of day was more or less parallel to the outside and that there was one dacade per sitcom episode, and one sitcom episode per day, but now I looked deeper into that and am confused.

Day 1 started out in the 50s and, as far as we know, the sitcom is broadcast live.

I assume it's day 2 when Jimmy and Monica arrive outside Westview, Monica is sucked in, Hayward sets up the base.

ETA: Moved Darcy's bit to the next day. I shouldn't just have skimmed through the episodes. Only noticed while taking caps that it says "24 hours later" when Darcy is on her way to the base.

Day 3: Darcy picks up the first episode's signal. Wanda probably needed a day 2 days to reorient herself to get the sitcom going.
Still on day 3 (Jimmy speaks of having met Monica the day before) Darcy and Jimmy spot "Geraldine" in the 60s. Or maybe it is still the 50s, as Darcy says. That bit wasn't in the sitcom episode we got to see, so I'm confused. The decade hopping (which interestingly reminds me of some X-Men movies) seemed to happen daily/between every episode. But Darcy says that Wanda doing the dishes "by her count happens once an episode", so she's seen at least 2 episodes. Thus there have been at least 2 episodes set in the same decade.
Darcy says she has an idea and we cut to outside of a tent. I think we can assume that it's still the evening (or morning?) of day 3 (We can indeed, because before they went outside, Agent Beekeeper went into the sewers and only emerged after the contact scene) when she and Jimmy try to contact Wanda. For Wanda it's daytime in the 60s. And there were 3 episodes in one day.

Then I guess it's day 4 and the 70s: It's day when Wanda expels Monica from the Hex, but outside of it it's night.

It's daytime in the real world, so presumably it's day 5 when the 80s episode happens and Hayward briefs the team. He says the footage of Wanda in the SWORD HQ is from 9 days ago, but that happened on day 1. Is Hayward lying again and what would be the point? Or have there really been 5 more days in between? Were they spread out between the days we've seen or did all of them happen between the creation of the Hex and Jimmy & Monica arriving (which would make that one day 7)? How often would one check on a protected witness? Did Wanda spend a whole week in the 50s? But if the sitcom was broadcast live, that means that the first episode wasn't the first.
Also on day 5: Wanda deals with the armed drone during daytime, but outside of the Hex it's night.

To continue with the previous counting, even though it might be wrong: Outside it still seems to be the night beween day 5 & 6 when Darcy, Jimmy & Monica desert and inside the Hex the noughties Halloween day and evening are happening.

On what might be day 6 or 11, time inside and outside the Hex seems to be the same. How nice and unconfusing! Although... I am a bit weirded out that we're about to have a 3rd episode set in the same day. First time flew, now it's slowed down.

(Not to mention that, if this Pietro is X-Men!Peter, he'll be from a different decade and therefore time travel would be involved too. Whaaaat?)