What Really Happened on WandaVision?

So, fans, we're down to one episode left of the Disney + series and this eighth and exciting episode ended with more of a cliffhanger than any of the previous episodes. At the end of the episode, we finally understand what really happened in the post Endgame world we were left with and how Vision came to be back in Westview. We know now, that Agatha Harkness has been manipulating things behind the scenes but it certainly doesn't look like she is the only one. Wanda has done a fair amount of manipulating along the way, creating a world that her grieving, fractured and traumatized mind could live within, finding a sort of peace after everything we knew she had gone through. So let's take a look at what we've learned.

Agatha is a near five hundred year old witch with incredible powers and at the beginning of the episode we learn a little about the origins of the superpowered Ms. Harkness. Things continue right from the basement as Wanda is finally face to face with Agatha as she reveals her entire reason for being in Westview was always, in fact, because of Wanda. Wanda knows very little about her powers when it comes to the magic, still not facing the truth of her very existence in the world. Never fear, Agatha is hear, to take Wanda for a walk down memory lane. It's the only way she is going to come face to face with the truth and it's the way we the fans are going to learn about the Scarlett Witch's powers.

If you have followed the Avengers, then you remember the story of the hatred Pietro and Wanda had for Tony Stark from the very start. Agatha takes Wanda all the way back in her memories, giving us a look at Wanda and Pietro as two innocent children in the eastern block. There is a cold war feeling to the sequence as Wanda watches her much younger self enjoying some fifties and sixties sitcoms with her family. That's when the bombs fell, killing her parents and leaving young Pietro and Wanda to fend for themselves in a cruel world. We get to see the rocket with the Stark Industries name on it, the one the kids spent time waiting for it to explode, but it never does. This is where it gets' intriguing. As the children hide beneath the rubble, Wanda reaches for the bomb, her hand outstretched, perhaps hinting that even as a child she was gifted.

Agatha still can not see where the powers come from, being specifically interested in her power to control the magics at the level she is in the Hex. After all, she's maintaining illusions from miles away as things on the outskirts of town are as mysterious as they are in their own little suburban neighborhood. So, Wanda is taken back to the place where her powers truly began to grow. The lab of Barron Von Strucker. We see the young teenage Wanda volunteer, her anger and grief over her parents death driving her and Pietro to join an anti-freedom terror group.

Wanda was exposed to the stone in Loki's staff, what we now know was the mind stone. Unlike most humans, including Tony Stark at the end of Endgame, Wanda was able to touch the stone and as she does, the stone becomes a brilliant, bright light until Wanda sees a silhouette in the center. Interestingly, the mysterious shape in the center of the bright light, appears to be the shape of Wanda herself, as Scarlett Witch. The head of the figure definitely is shaped like Wanda wearing her Scarlett Witch headpiece from the classic costume. Then the power knocks Wanda to the ground, leaving her unconscious. So, it appears that a fledgling witch with unrealized powers was amped up by the mind stone. Mysteriously, nothing about her experience is recorded on the cell cameras where she is held during her time as a Hydra volunteer in the VonStrucker lab. No wonder her first thought was that she didn't want to go back there when Agatha opens the door to that part of her life.

As you can tell by now, this episode is all about explaining Wanda and what she has truly been up to since facing the loss of Vision, finding herself alone and the Avengers seemingly splintering with Tony gone and Captain America returning to his time, resuming his life with Peggy Carter. What did she want though, what did she expect? She wanted the love of her life back.

Agatha forces Wanda to remember Vision, the guy that helped her through the loss of Pietro, as she develops her own opinion of what Westview and the mysteries all truly mean. From the Avengers compound we see Wanda as she storms into S.W.O.R.D. What we thought was the truth becomes all the more murky. Wanda wanted to do the right thing, she wanted to bury Vision. He certainly deserved it after being a hero, facing Thanos and dying at the hands of the mad titan. Vision, however, is comprised of the rarest element on earth, Vibranium and Director Hayward is not about to see billions in this rare metal just buried in the ground.

Hayward takes Wanda over to a window to show her Vision, who's for some reason, five years after the events of Infinity War, still being reassembled. Nothing about the episode explains this plot point, except possibly the fact that they tried for a long time to reactivate the Vision as he is the most advanced sentient weapon on the planet. Government types love their weapons. Wanda is offered the opportunity to say goodbye, after a tense discussion with Hayward where he floats the idea that she could bring back the love of her life. Wanda doesn't believe it's possible, at least at that point in the timeline.

Originally, we were lead to believe that Wanda took Vision. In reality, she said what looked like a fond goodbye to the super being referred to as, "All I have" by the fiery Wanda. Storming out, Wanda finds herself in her car with something on paper. She's lead to New Jersey, specifically Westview, where we find her in episode one of the season. The heart breaking reality that Vision wanted to build them a home on a spot he picked for them proves to be too powerful an emotion for the traumatized Wanda, causing her to unleash her powers on the world. In moments, Vision is recreated, along with a world she can have the life she always dreamed of as a child. Wanda has created the myriad of sit com reality, modeled after the very shows she watched with her parents and her brothers, and Vision is there to share it with her as he planned before his untimely demise. The Vision we know, came from Wanda's own imagination.

In the final showdown, Wanda begins to run to her children as they're drug off by Agatha Harkness in full on witch regalia. It's a public showdown right there in front of their homes in good old Westview. Agatha magically threatening the children, announcing to Wanda she knows what she is. A being capable of spontaneous creation, of such powers, powers of chaos.

"That makes you a Scarlett Witch."

The episode ends on that cliffhanger of a note, leaving little left for the showrunners to accomplish in the no doubt turbulent finale in one week. There are fewer questions than answers, finally, but wait for it fans because this is reality. When the episode ends, we are unlikely to know what the outcome will be until sometime in 2022 when Dr. Strange and the MultiVerse of Madness is finally released, barring more pandemic delays. Especially, as the after credit scene opens up the reality that the Vision that S.W.O.R.D. and Hayward had been trying revive, is finally coming online, although missing his once vibrant color scheme in favor of an all white look with glowing eyes. Is this Vision? If not, who is it? It's all from the comic cannon so I won't spoil that but I recommend getting ready for a wild ride next Friday as we reach the end of what's been a successful outing by the sick geniuses at Marvel Studios.