WandaVision writer Laura Donney has revealed episode 8’s flashback sequences were always a priority for the series. After the end of episode 7 and the big reveal of Agnes’ true identity, WandaVision stepped back into the past for its penultimate episode. The episode, titled “Previously On,” followed Wanda and Agatha as they explored Wanda’s youth and the trauma that came from it. Wanda’s grief has always been at the center of WandaVision, but episode 8 dove deep into why Wanda is who she is.
The episode began with Wanda going to her past in Sokovia, revealing that her love of sitcoms comes from TV nights she had with her family as a child. During one of those nights, though, Wanda and Pietro’s parents are killed, and the siblings are forced to hide under a bed for two days as they wait for a bomb in their living room to go off. The episode then zooms through several more events, including the amplification of Wanda’s powers thanks to the Mind Stone and a formative moment in Wanda and Vision’s relationship.
It all ends with the reveal of how Wanda started the Hex, and Donney says these flashbacks were always key to telling Wanda’s story. Donney cited an experience with her own therapist that shaped some of the writing in WandaVision. She goes on to say that the writers were invested in spending time with Wanda in her past to make sense of her future. Donney finishes it off by saying the response to the episode has been overwhelming to her and her fellow writers.
Wanda’s grief has always been at the center of WandaVision and, as the series has pulled the curtain back, the show has helped viewers understand just how and why Wanda came to be in Westview. Of course, this all culminates in her transformation into the Scarlet Witch and her harnessing of Chaos Magic at the end of WandaVision episode 8. With the show potentially setting up Wanda as a villain, it’s a good thing it explored in depth how Wanda got where she is.
With only one episode remaining, WandaVision seems to have hit all the points it needs to hit to truly give Wanda Maximoff the story she deserves, especially if she is turning into one of the MCU Phase 4’s main villains. It’s hard to balance the bombast of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with more grounded stories about grief and trauma, but WandaVision episode 8 shows there is room for stories like this in the world’s biggest cinematic universe.
Source: Laura Donney
Originally from https://screenrant.com/wandavision-episode-8-flashback-scenes-priority-laura-donney/