Episode eight of WandaVision series from Marvel is here, streaming now on Disney Plus, how does it move the story forward, here’s our review.

Episode eight is all about back stories. Specifically Wanda’s, but it also gives us an insight into the origin of Agatha Harkness.

SPOILERS: If you’re reading this then you’ve probably seen the show, but if not there are spoilers ahead.

The Salem witch trials

I thoroughly enjoy the character of Agatha, and Kathryn Hahn has played her magnificently. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that she has been the star of the show. Agnes has been brimming with humour, cheekiness and fun. But she always given us glimpses into her darker side, and it’s great to see that finally shown in all its purple glory. We see what is seemingly the beginning of her Machiavellian side, back in Salem in 1693. She is taken to task by her coven, which is led by Agatha’s mother, who chastises her for indulging in dark magic ‘above her station’. The coven attempts to kill her, but as a result of the dark magic she’s able to overpower their magic. Then kill them all, stealing their life force at the same time. She also steals her mother’s brooch, which she is always seen wearing.

The mind stone

Back in The Hex Agatha then uses her dark magic to control Wanda, demonstrating her own power. She then takes Wanda on a journey into her past, so that Agatha can try to understand how Wanda’s powers are different, even though they are both witches. Agatha is also the first person in the MCU to refer to Wanda as The Scarlet Witch. We see glimpses of presumably what is to come for Wanda in the MCU during the flashback to Hydra doing experiments on her. We briefly see the silhouette of The Scarlet Witch’s costume through the mind stone before Wanda passes out as she inadvertently absorbs the power of the mind stone.

Agatha admits that she created Fake Pietro (Evan Peters) as she was unable to resurrect the real Pietro on account of him being ‘riddled with holes’. We still don’t know what happened after ‘Fietro’ disturbed Monica Rambeau discovering Agatha’s lair at the end of Episode seven. But this will certainly be paid off in the finale.

It was really interesting to see Wanda being virtually powerless. Particularly after being in almost complete control of everything around her. It showed a side to her that we haven’t seen before. Yes, we’ve seen her feeling vulnerable, but she’s always had her powers to get her out of any situations that she wasn’t comfortable with. In Agatha’s crypt she doesn’t have access to those powers and was at the mercy of her captor. It forced her to retrace her steps and go back through some key moments in her life.

The sitcoms

It allowed us to discover the genesis of WandaVision. Namely her Dad bringing DVD’s of classic American sitcoms into their home in Sokovia for Wanda & young Pietro to watch. As this is Marvel there were a lot of callbacks to things that had happened in previous episodes of this show, and a number of MCU movies as well.

It also allowed us to witness more of Wanda’s pain, from the loss of her parents to the experiments on her by Hydra after their death. The jump backs gave us further insight into her genuine love for Vision. And then her genuine grief after he died at Thanos’ hand in Infinity War. It showed us that she had created him in The Hex using the power of the mind stone, hence why when he tried to escape he was almost ripped apart.

Overall, I found this episode to be somewhat perfunctory. If you’re a fan of the MCU then you already know Wanda’s basic backstory. Even if there were parts to fill in they could easily have been done as cutaways, post-credit or pre-credit scenes. To take an entire episode in a nine-part series at this stage to do that just seemed very odd to me. With Marvel there is always a reason behind such production decisions, and I’m sure it will make sense in time.

Part of my disappointment about this episode no doubt stems from how good the previous seven have been. As a result, I’m desperate for more of that level of entertainment. But, I did enjoy the meta aspects of this episode. Especially Wanda actually witnessing herself in a sitcom studio, while Agatha sat in the audience seats testing her. I’m convinced that any disappointment anyone may have had with this episode will be blown out of the water by the series finale.

What next?

The post-credit scene was an enormous twist, clearly setting us up for the final battle. That battle looks like being between Wanda, Agatha and S.W.O.R.D. With S.W.O.R.D likely using a new white version of Vision as a weapon to destroy The Hex and Wanda. With magic being the key weapon throughout this series, it gives us a clear route into Doctor Strange 2 as well. Expect a cameo from Benedict Cumberbatch in episode nine.

CULTURE CROSSING SCORE 6/10

Thank you for reading our review of WandaVision episode eight. Do you agree or disagree with our points or have anything to add? If so, leave us a comment below.

Read our WandaVision episode seven review HERE.

Read IMDB information about WandaVision HERE.