History Recap / WandaVisionEpisode8PreviouslyOn

* SeriesContinuityError: ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has Pietro's detailed description of the destruction of the Maximoff home, including that it was during dinner and that the floor fell from under them. This doesn't happen in Wanda's flashback here; instead, the family was watching an episode of ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' when the bomb hit, and it caused the roof to collapse. However, this can mean that either Pietro remembered the incident differently, or he was giving an alternative description.

'''Agatha:''' ''[[[BriefAccentImitation in a bad Russian accent]]]'' [[CopycatMockery "Where are my children?"]] ''[in her normal voice]'' That accent ''really'' comes and goes, doesn't it?

* DoingInTheScientist: Up until now, Wanda's powers had an explanation loosely anchored in science, being empowered through HYDRA's experimentation with the Mind Stone, and them being psionic in nature instead of "hexing". [[note]]Though WordOfGod is that they were always magical.[[/note]] Here, Agatha theorizes that Wanda always had an affinity for magic, presuming that she unconsciously used a probability hex to keep the Stark missile from exploding when she was a child. Exposure to the Mind Stone merely amplified this affinity to a level Wanda could use to create the Hex.

* DoingInTheScientist: Up until now, Wanda's powers had an explanation loosely anchored in science, being empowered through HYDRA's experimentation with the Mind Stone, and them being psionic in nature instead of "hexing". [[note]]Though WordOfGod is that they were always magical.[[/note]] Here, Agatha theorizes that Wanda always had an affinity for magic, presuming that Wanda unconsciously used a probability hex to keep the Stark missile from exploding when she was a child. Exposure to the Mind Stone merely amplified this affinity to a level she could use to create the Hex.

* JumpScare: An explosion that destroys the Maximoffs' apartment in war-torn Sokovia suddenly goes off while the family is enjoying a night of watching ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow''.

** Done inadvertently by Wanda in the scene where the Mind Stone unlocks her powers: when HYDRA views the video footage, it inexplicably cuts from Wanda approaching the Mind Stone to Wanda passed out on the floor. This is similar to what she has been shown to do on the ShowWithinAShow, editing out unscripted moments like Dottie cutting her hand, blasting out Monica, and the S.W.O.R.D. drone.

* SeriesContinuityError: ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has Pietro's detailed description of the destruction of the Maximoff home, including that it was during dinner and that the floor fell from under them. This doesn't happen in Wanda's flashback here; instead, the family was watching an episode of ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' when the bomb hit, and it caused the roof to collapse. However this can mean that, either Pietro remembered the incident differently, or he was giving an alternative description.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: During Agatha's failed execution, there's a deep, gravelly voice. It's difficult to understand over the screaming of all the witches. It says "Bloody human" and suddenly Agatha breaks her restraints. Was that Agatha saying that, or, as the show has implied all along, Mephisto?

** However, they are both very similar to the magic used by [[Series/{{Runaways}} Morgan Le Fay and the Minorus]], which use a combination of the above two versions.

* ItIsDehumanizing: In the mid-credits scene, Hayward refers to Vision as "this thing", which is a stark contrast to when he referred to him as "he" in Episode 6. He also refers to Wanda bringing Vision "back online" instead of "back to life", though he corrects himself on that occasion.

* SeriesContinuityError: ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has Pietro's detailed description of the destruction of the Maximoff home, including that it was during dinner and that the floor fell from under them. This doesn't happen in Wanda's flashback here; instead, the family was watching an episode of ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' when the bomb hit, and it caused the roof to collapse. However this can mean that, or Pietro remembered the incident differently, or he was giving an alternative description.

** The "Pietro" we've been seeing is not actually Wanda's brother with a new face, but someone Agatha's possessing to spy on Wanda. She couldn't raise Pietro's body from the dead (though more for practical reasons, like his body being buried in Sokovia and being damaged beyond repair, rather than lack of ability). This is why his appearance and memories are off: looking like [[Creator/EvanPeters a different version of the character that we know]], and thinking he got shot "like a chump for no reason" rather than the HeroicSacrifice his death actually was.

* AbsenteeActor: Monica, Jimmy, Darcy, and "Pietro" do not appear in this episode, although Wanda and Agatha discuss the latter.

** "Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience" opens with Wanda and Vision driving into Westview together. They spot a house to live in, with Wanda using magic to buy their new home. In reality, Wanda drives into Westview alone, having just seen Vision's broken body. The neighborhood is dilapidated, and upon reaching the empty lot where their house was supposed to be built, Wanda drops to her knees sobbing. And in her grief, her chaos magic not only builds the house, but reshapes the rest of Westview along with it.

** In the flashback to Vision consoling her about Pietro's death, Wanda's accent is much less prominent than it was in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', which this scene appears to shortly follow.

** As seen in ''Endgame'' and the flashback in this episode where she creates the Hex, Wanda's abilities only reach their maximum potential when her emotions overcome her. With no training or insight into how to do it, she's incapable of calling up that much power on short notice. She also knows nothing of actual spell work, which led to her walking right into Agatha's trap and not knowing how to defeat her and save the twins.

* TheUnreveal: Did the Mind Stone recognize something in Wanda and choose to unlock her power as the Scarlet Witch or did her latent magical abilities recognize the Mind Stone and connect with it?

* VisionsOfAnotherSelf: No pun intended, but when the Mind Stone empowered Wanda, she saw an image of a figure in the full Scarlet Witch costume silhouetted by its blinding light.

** "Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience" opens with Wanda and Vision driving into Westview together and spot a house to live in, with Wanda using magic to buy their new home. In reality, Wanda drives into Westview alone, having just seen Vision's broken body. The neighborhood is dilapidated, and upon reaching the empty lot where their house was supposed to be built on, Wanda drops to her knees sobbing. And in her grief, her chaos magic not only builds the house, but reshapes the rest of Westview along with it.

** Back in Episode 1, Wanda and Vision drive into Westview together and spot a house to live in, with Wanda using magic to buy their new home. In reality, Wanda drives in alone, having just seen Vision's broken body. The neighborhood is dilapidated, and Wanda drops to her knees sobbing in the empty lot their house was supposed to be built on. Her chaos magic not only builds the house in her grief but reshapes the rest of Westview along with it.

** [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Once again]], Vision enters Wanda's room at the Avengers Compound by phasing through the wall, instead of [[ThereWasADoor using the door]].

** The next is when Wanda is in Agatha's basement, discovering that she can't use her powers due to being within Agatha's wards. Agatha then binds her in similar chains that also suspend her in the air.

* CelebrityParadox: The clip from ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' that Wanda and Vision watch is of Hal during the season 7 episode "Health Insurance". Hal is played by Creator/BryanCranston, who co-starred with Creator/ElizabethOlsen and Creator/AaronTaylorJohnson in ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}''. While ''Series/BreakingBad'', where Cranston played Walter White, featured Creator/KrystenRitter (Series/JessicaJones) as Jesse's season 2 girlfriend Jane Margolis.

* AdultFear: The episode ends with Agatha holding Wanda's children hostage and threatening to strangle them with ropes of magic.

-->--'''Agatha'''

!!Tropes in this episode include:

* AnachronismStew:
** The Maximoff family has a collection of sitcom [=DVD=] box sets in a scene that the series had already established to take place in 1999 (or 2000, depending on when the twins' shared birthday is); while [=DVD=]s did exist by 1999, they didn't become massively popular until the early 2000s, and some of the specific packaging seen comes from post-2000 releases; and it is ''extremely'' unlikely they would be available to a poor family in Sokovia, which itself has been established as an impoverished {{Ruritania}} stricken by civil war.
** Additionally, their the collection includes numerous anachronistic titles, such as ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', which first aired in 2000 and wasn't released on [=DVD=] until 2002. Both ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' and ''Series/ILoveLucy'' didn't start getting released until 2003, with the former's complete series coming out in 2005.
* AngstNuke: Thanks to Agatha forcing Wanda to relive her recent past, we see Wanda breaking down emotionally and her powers going haywire after all she has lost, creating the Hex as well as the Vision that we have been watching [[AchievementInIgnorance by complete accident]]. The scene is foreshadowed during Monica's debrief in [[Recap/WandaVisionEpisode5OnAVerySpecialEpisode "On A Very Special Episode"]].

* BeyondTheImpossible: As part of her interrogation of Wanda, Agatha lists off all the reasons that the Hex should be impossible. It is too big, it affects too many people, it is too complex, it operates "on autopilot," and it is all created and managed by a single witch who doesn't even know the basics of witchcraft. She wants to know how Wanda did something that should not be possible.
* BookEnds: The prologue ends with Evanora attacking Agatha, a younger and more powerful witch, by floating above her and blasting magic. Agatha reverses the spell and kills her. The episode ends with Agatha floating above Wanda, a younger and more powerful witch, while holding her sons hostage with magic.
* BoringButPractical: Agatha subverts the need to fight Wanda directly by luring her into the basement - which, as proven by the AspectRatioSwitch in the previous episode, is outside of Wanda's area of influence - where she has already cast basic protection spells that completely negate Wanda's powers.

* CallBack:
** [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Once again]], Vision enters Wanda's room at the Avengers Compound by phasing through the wall, instead of [[ThereWasADoor using the door]].
** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', Wanda told Vision "I just feel you" when the Mind Stone was troubling him, which was also one of the last things he said to her before she killed him in Wakanda. Here, Wanda says, "I can't feel you," when she stands next to his disassembled body and probes his head with her magic.
** Agatha chides Wanda for using her powers to [[MundaneUtility do frivolous things]] like making breakfast for dinner, which is what she did in [[Recap/WandaVisionEpisode1FilmedBeforeALiveStudioAudience the first episode.]]
** When Wanda creates the Hex, there’s a wide shot of the town being transformed, during which you can see an advertisement on a building being changed to an ad for [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Lagos]] [[Recap/WandaVisionEpisode5OnAVerySpecialEpisode paper towels]], with the slogan “Make cleaning up a [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar snap!]]”
** When Wanda warps the movie theater, the movie being showcased on the marquee is changed to ''[[Recap/WandaVisionEpisode2DontTouchThatDial Big Red]]''.
** When Wanda sees Vision being disassembled, she begs Hayward to "Stop it!", much like how Mrs. Hart subtly tried to get Wanda to save her husband from choking in [[Recap/WandaVisionEpisode1FilmedBeforeALiveStudioAudience the first episode]] by saying "Stop it!"

* CelebrityParadox: The clip from ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' that Wanda and Vision watch is of Hal during the season 7 episode "Health Insurance." Hal is played by Creator/BryanCranston, who co-starred with Creator/ElizabethOlsen and Creator/AaronTaylorJohnson in ''Film/Godzilla2014''. While ''Series/BreakingBad'', where Cranston played Walter White, featured Creator/KrystenRitter (Series/JessicaJones) as Jesse's season 2 girlfriend Jane Margolis.

* ContinuityNod: All over the place in the flashback sequences.
** To even begin the flashback sequences, Agatha has to pluck a strand of Wanda’s hair and use it to create doorways to Wanda's past memories. Doctor Strange had to do something similar to Thor to summon a portal to Odin's location in ''Film/ThorRagnarok''.
** We finally get to see the frequently-mentioned scene of Wanda and Pietro losing their parents and hiding from the Stark Industries bomb under their bed.
** Loki's scepter makes a return from the first two Avengers movies, where we explicitly see how HYDRA used it to experiment on Wanda in [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier 2014]].
** The third flashback scene is explicitly shown to be taking place between the events of ''[[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Age of Ultron]]'' and ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Civil War]]'', with Wanda still grieving her brother and opening up to Vision about it.

** Neither Wanda nor Agatha resurrected Pietro in a new body-- the one we've been following in Westview is a person who has been possessed by the latter. Nonetheless, it remains ambiguous as to who this "Pietro" really is.

* DigitalDeaging: Creator/KathrynHahn is digitally de-aged for the flashback scene of a younger Agatha in 1693, making her look as if she’s in her 20's.

* DistinctionWithoutADifference: Agatha explains she didn't break her coven's laws; they "bent to my power." Which is akin to defending against a charge of trespassing with "I didn’t break in, the lock bent to my power."

* DoingInTheScientist: Up until now, Wanda's powers had an explanation loosely anchored in science, being empowered through HYDRA's experimentation with the Mind Stone, and them being psionic in nature instead of "hexing." [[labelnote:*]]Though WordOfGod is that they were always magical.[[/labelnote]] Here, Agatha theorizes that Wanda always had an affinity for magic, presuming that Wanda unconsciously used a probability hex to keep the Stark missile from exploding when she was a child. Exposure to the Mind Stone merely amplified this affinity to a level she could use to create the Hex.

** Wanda may have created the Hex and magically controls every person in Westfield, but she did so in a [[AngstNuke burst of uncontrollable grief]]. Furthermore, it's heavily implied that deep down, she feels she's making their lives better, since she saw how miserable and run-down they were before making their lives a cheerful romcom. Fake Pietro noted in the Halloween episode that she tries to make them as comfortable as possible, even creating better jobs for them. When she sees Agatha [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals slowly torture and kill a small bird]] ''on purpose'', Wanda is visibly horrified.

** '''Anger:''' The second flashback in Agatha’s words: “Your reaction to the bombing of your civilian apartment building and the murder of your parents was to join an anti-freedom terrorist organization?”

** '''Bargaining:''' The final flashback shows Wanda going to S.W.O.R.D. headquarters asking (with varying degrees of forcefulness) for Vision’s body, so that [[DueToTheDead she can bury him]] and hopefully find closure. Though Hayward refuses her request, she could’ve taken the body if she believed it would've made her feel better, but she realizes it wouldn't.

** When Wanda creates the Hex, there's a very brief wide shot of the town being transformed, during which you can see an advertisement on a building being changed to an ad for [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Lagos]] paper towels, with the slogan “Make cleaning up a [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar snap!]]”

* IntangibleTimeTravel: When exploring Wanda's past, neither present-day Wanda nor Agatha can interact with said past.
* IsThisThingStillOn: During Wanda's flashback to HYDRA's experiments on her, the head scientist mentions -- on an open mic which Wanda can ''hear'' -- that no one else survived the experiments so far, much to the irritation of his fellow scientist, who then turns the intercom off.
* ItIsDehumanizing: In the mid-credits scene, Hayward refers to Vision as "this thing," which is a stark contrast to when he referred to him as "he" in Episode 6. He also refers to Wanda bringing Vision "back online" instead of "back to life", though he corrects himself on that occasion.

* MeaningfulRename: While we don't yet know his new code name, the 'white' Vision is the product of a S.W.O.R.D. project called Cataract. Cataracts are a whitening of eye lenses, or in other words, 'a whitening of Vision'.

** When Vision is reconstructed and brought back online by S.W.O.R.D., he's pure white, much like one of the more prominent times that he was brought back without his personality or his memories of Wanda in the ''ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers'' comics (only there, Vis turned white ''after'' he'd been taken to pieces by sinister government figures, not because).

** In a 1998 issue of ''Avengers'' written by [[ComicBook/TheAvengersKurtBusiek Kurt Busiek]], Agatha Harkness revealed to her former magic pupil Wanda that her powers were not just probability-altering hexes, but an ability to channel "chaos magic." Here, the reveal is given by Agatha again, but under completely inverted circumstances.

* NeverTrustATrailer: The shot where the reflection of the Scarlet Witch can be seen in Wanda’s eyes was edited in the trailers to just be the glow of the Mind Stone radiating on Wanda, with no reflection of the Scarlet Witch visible.

-->'''Agatha:''' Oh, he’s loud, isn't he?\\
''(after Pietro starts yelling for Wanda to come over)''\\

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Lampshaded by Agatha, who dryly notes that Wanda's Sokovian accent comes and goes after she asks where her children are.
-->'''Wanda:''' ''[in her native accent]'' Where are my children?\\

* {{Portmanteau}}: Agatha calls the Fake Pietro she's summoned "Fietro."

* PreviouslyOn: In addition to the clips of previous episodes and MCU installments that play at the beginning to establish the happenings in the show, this episode is ''titled'' "Previously On," as Agatha takes Wanda on a trip down Memory Lane to find out what gave her the capability to exert such power over Westview.

** Wanda has '''always''' had some iteration of her Chaos Magic powers, which is why Agatha believes the bomb in her apartment building never went off-- she was subconsciously using a probability hex to keep it from exploding, and exposure to the Mind Stone just expanded what she could already do. For her part, Wanda still believes that the bomb was simply a dud.

** Project Cataract was an attempt by S.W.O.R.D to bring Vision back as a sentient weapon using his remains, which failed until Wanda threw the drone she destroyed at Hayward in Episode 5. They then siphon the energy from the drone into a new, pure white Vision.

** [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking "Dennis," the mailman/delivery guy, is actually an unnamed pizza delivery guy.]]

* SarcasticClapping: Agatha does this when she is the only person sitting in the 50s studio audience to mock Wanda after revealing how she made her own sitcom paradise.

** When Wanda creates the Hex, the original movie being played at the theater was [[Film/BladeRunner Tannhauser Gate]], which is suspiciously appropriate for a TV show involving a sentient android.
** Agatha mentions that she is holding Wanda's children in her "bewitched basement." As shown in the last episode, the house that Agatha/Agnes lives in is the actual ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' house, whose basement would be the "Bewitched basement."

* SilenceOfSadness: No dialogue is spoken for about 4.5 minutes from when Wanda leaves S.W.O.R.D. HQ up to the constructed Vision welcoming Wanda to their 50s sitcom home.

* TheStinger: The mid-credit scene reveals that Hayward has managed to revive Vision's body with the help of the leftovers of Wanda's magic on the 80s S.W.O.R.D. drone. He prepares to send this new Vision into the Hex.

* WhamLine: When Wanda finally escapes Agatha’s house to confront her, Agatha gives some insight into what Wanda really is:
-->'''Agatha:''' You’re supposed to be a myth. A being capable of spontaneous creation. Here you are... using it to make breakfast for dinner. \\

'''Agatha:''' Oh, yes... your children... Vision... this whole little life you’ve made... This is Chaos Magic, Wanda. And that makes you the ComicBook/ScarletWitch.

* [[invoked]]WriteWhatYouKnow: InUniverse, the episode reveals that Wanda has always loved sitcoms since her childhood, hence she [[RealityWarper rewrote/warped the reality of Westview]] to look like them.

->"It's been fun playing pretend for a while, hasn't it, Wanda? But it's time to look at some ''real'' reruns."

* ManipulativeBastard: Hayward has been working to bring Vision back online under his control for as long as his body was in S.W.O.R.D. custody. Everything he's done so far has been to this end, including subtly gaslighting Wanda into trying to bring him back and flat-out lying to Monica about Wanda stealing Vision's corpse.

->'''Wanda:''' I don't want to go back there.\\
'''Agatha:''' I know you don't, but it's good medicine, angel. The only way forward is back.

-->'''Agatha:''' Oh, he’s loud, isn't he?
-->''(after Pietro starts yelling for Wanda to come over)''\\

** In a 1998 issue of ''Avengers'' written by [[ComicBook/KurtBusieksAvengers Kurt Busiek]], Agatha Harkness revealed to her former magic pupil Wanda that her powers were not just probability-altering hexes, but an ability to channel "chaos magic." Here, the reveal is given by Agatha again, but under completely inverted circumstances.

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