WandaVision: The 5 most heartbreaking moments from episode 8

WandaVision has thrown curveball after curveball at viewers, but this week’s episode of the Disney+ series takes a step back and reflects on the history of Elizabeth Olsen’s character — and how her past trauma led her to create a place like Westview in the first place.

The episode brings fans back through Wanda’s childhood, early adulthood, and straight to her first night in the Avengers compound. We get a closer look at how the Scarlet Witch, never given a chance to breathe and take in her situation in the earlier MCU films, felt about everything that happened to her — and it makes for a brilliant and emotional episode of television.

With Agatha as her guide, Wanda revisits her ghosts, remembering who she is and how she came to create Westview — and, well, let’s just say there aren’t many “wacky moments” to speak of from “Previously On…”

So, just as the series took a detour during its eighth episode, we’ll be taking a breather from our round-ups of wacky moments and tackling the most heartbreaking developments from WandaVision this week. Trust us, there are quite a few to delve into.

The origin of the sitcoms

If you’ve been wondering why Wanda would model her fake reality after a bunch of sitcoms of all things, this week’s episode delivered an answer: Her family used to watch sitcoms together to improve their English, and they were her favorite stories to fall into.

In fact, Wanda, Pietro, and their parents were watching sitcoms when weapons from Stark Industries destroyed their lives and left Wanda and Pietro orphaned. And it seems Wanda has continued to watch the genre into her adulthood because, as her younger self puts it, sitcoms always have a happy ending. Someone always wakes up from the bad dream.

Wanda’s early adulthood

Although the scenes from Wanda’s early adulthood — during which she and Pietro joined a terrorist organization in the misguided hopes of doing good — are meant to provide more background on her powers, it’s actually sort of sad seeing Wanda living in squalor and being experimented on.

It’s clear that whoever was running the group she and her brother lent their powers to didn’t truly care whether they lived or died, and it’s heartbreaking to see them in these desperate circumstances — especially knowing the good they come to do and the relationships they form after joining with the Avengers later.

Vision’s perspective on grief

Viewers, sadly, haven’t gotten much joint time between Wanda and Vision in the past couple of episodes, but “Previously On…” reminds us why they’re so perfect for each other.

Returning to Wanda’s first night in the Avengers compound — after she just lost her brother — Vision attempts to comfort her. The two talk about grief, leading to the one liner of the episode (one that’s bound to leave you crying): “What is grief if not love persevering?” Ow, that hurts.

What happened with Hayward

“Previously On…” doesn’t just provide insight into Wanda’s never-before-seen past, but it fills us in on the chain of events leading up to the creation of Westview. As some fans already guessed, Wanda didn’t show up at SWORD’s headquarters with the set intention of bringing Vision back to life. In fact, she simply wants to bury him, despite Hayward’s suggestion that she could turn him “back online.”

Hayward refuses to let Wanda take Vision, however, repeatedly treating him like a mere weapon and so far as to tell Wanda that he’s “not hers.”

Wanda’s grief during this moment is difficult to watch, and the aftermath is her traveling to a suburban town and losing control. It seems Hayward had more to do with Westview’s inception than he’s let on.

Wanda defending her kids

“Previously On…” ends with Agatha threatening to harm both of Wanda’s boys, and Elizabeth Olsen’s acting is top notch as our Scarlet Witch rushes out to save them.

Although Wanda’s powers are likely to trump Agatha’s — especially if the twins are at risk — we can’t help but feel like she didn’t need yet another thing to worry about. She’s already lost enough; the least this series can do is leave the twins alone.

There’s just one episode left to wrap up this crazy, heartbreaking story Marvel has brought us. The WandaVision season 1 finale arrives on Disney+ on Friday, March 5.