![]() ![]() ![]() Despite the fact Agatha is only poking and prodding to discover Wanda’s secret of controlling the town (“magic on auto-pilot” as Agatha describes it), Agatha unknowingly unearths Wanda’s very specific defense mechanism from trauma – that being the creation of a fictionalized Westview. It may not be for the altruistic reason of trying to heal the wounds Wanda suffers from but there is a reckoning nonetheless. By confronting and coming to terms with the cause of their traumas they can finally move on.Īgatha forces Wanda to confront her trauma. ![]() Our story matches psychological theory: characters are taken on a journey to acknowledge and assimilate the traumas in their past. Ultimately, Wanda’s real world informs her fictionalized world, and as a result, the fictionalized world is a commentary on her trauma from the real world.Īs is it relates to this story of grief and trauma – I will reference John Yorke’s Into the Woods: A Five Act Journey Into Story. This choice is in stark contrast to the fictionalized version of WandaVision Wanda uses to heal the wounds from her past trauma. In other words, what we watched is truly more exemplary of Wanda’s actual reality and how it affects her surrounding world. The difference between our experiences from the previous episode, and this episode, is that our plot mechanics and exposition dumps are relegated to the real world. If you watched WandaVision with a discerning eye, especially those first three episodes, you knew what we were watching was an examination of grief and trauma and this episode very much follows suit. The key to the complexity of this episode is rooted in marrying the plot - such as what happened before WandaVision (the show within our show) became a reality - to telling those events in a compelling manner, and ultimately rooting the whole affair in what matters most to the story: how it affects Wanda and the defense mechanism she has created as a result of the plot.Ĭoncordantly, “Previously On” is an exploration in Wanda’s strengths and weaknesses as it relates to her psychology and how those are reflected through the events we witnessed. We also see how she apparently survived experimentation by HYRDA, how Vision helped ease her grief after Pietro’s death, and ultimately how Hayward lied about about Wanda seizing Vision’s Vibranium corpse upon defeating Thanos in Avengers: Endgame. The plot of it all, though, while important, is not as pivotal as what we learn about Wanda’s character via the Agatha induced trek through Wanda’s complex past – the creation of the defense mechanism she has utilized to shield herself from her reality. Yes, we witness how Wanda lived through the famed story of waiting for a Stark bomb to explode in her living room as a child (as originally told by Pietro in Avengers: Age Of Ultron). Like Lindelof’s trip down memory lane in 1.09 of The Leftovers, “ The Garvey’s At Their Best“, WandaVision’s “Previously On” feels purposeful and extremely specific in its intent. While the exploration of Monica’s circumstances in 1.04 was a success in it’s own right, this extensive journey through Wanda’s past feels very different. ![]() Heck, it’s not even unprecedented within WandaVision’s own run as we had a similar style episode in 1.04 “We Interrupt This Program” when we took a little detour to explore what happened outside Wanda’s cosmic bubble in the greater MCU world. Damon Lindelof pulled the same maneuver (to widespread acclaim) with the penultimate episode for season 1 of The Leftovers - which, oddly enough, is show also based on the effect of grief. Of course, setting focus on what brought us to this moment is not an unprecedented choice in television. In what is a choice only an extremely talented writing staff would dare take on, Jac Schaeffer and crew chose to look back for the penultimate episode, as opposed to the more conventional choice of building momentum toward what will surely be an epic finale between Wanda, Agatha, White Vision (we’ll go over that in a a little bit) Tyler Hayward, Fietro (we’ll discuss that too) and Monica. In this exposition heavy episode, we have been shown new information, examined previously known facts, and even re-contextualized information we thought was based in a solid footing. We’ve finally been made privy to the entire story leading up to the creation of Wanda’s sitcom life. The penultimate episode of WandaVision – episode 1.08 “Previously On” serves as an exercise in Wanda’s fragile psychology while also exhibiting a magnificent balance of exposition, plot, and character. UNLOCK BONUS EPISODES, PREMIUM PODCASTS & MORE Join The #NerdClan ![]()
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