So, Wandavision?

[MarkB]

I honestly dare not make any predictions regarding the final episode. I just hope Vision survives in the end, though in my heart that seems unlikely. And what will happen of the kids? Are they real, or just more of Agatha's trickery?

We've seen the kids still being themselves in a scene where only Agatha was present. That speaks to them being more than just her constructs.

 

[Staffan]

She had to try to weasel herself out of an accusation that she broke the rules - a weaseling they didn't buy. So, there was some infraction already extant for which they came.

The charges were "stole knowledge above her age and station" and "practicing the darkest magics". That's super vague. They don't say she summoned a demon, or hurt anyone (or to what degree), or used it to enrich herself at the expense of others, or anything like that. Here's how I see this going down:

The coven has some sort of system for providing access to magical knowledge based on seniority. Presumably there are dual reasons for doing so – both to make sure you have the requisite skills to actually make use of the knowledge, and also the emotional maturity to be ready for such power. Young Agatha is probably exceptionally talented, and breezed through the earlier lessons, and she's arrogant and wants more. She gets her hands on a book she's not meant to have, and reads it and gains access to its magic. Likely, she has the skills to use the magic ("the rules bent to my power"), but not the wisdom to control it and to know when to use it. There's probably some sort of incident where something minorly bad happens because of it, alerting the coven to the problem. The coven goes "Nope, last time a baby witch read the Necronomicon we had Pompeji, so let's nip this in its bud", which leads to the attempted murder we see on screen. Note that Agatha begs them to train her to control "it", and she tells her mother that she can be good, but they evidently decide she's too big a threat.

I definitely see the parallels to Wanda here: Wanda tried using her magic to protect her allies from a bomb and throw it away, but didn't account for the fact that she instead put other people in harm's way leading to their death. Had she had more training, perhaps we'd never have the Sokovia accords.

 

[Imaculata]

Remember that Dr Strange also took a magical book and artifact he wasn't supposed to have, and they didn't kill him for it. The Coven are not good people.

 

[Nilbog]

Until we know the nature of power Agatha 'took' it's hard to guess her true status, maybe whatever it is has corrupted her or maybe even controlling her, so although so may have been harshly judged at her trial, she is now way beyond that point

 

[Staffan]

Until we know the nature of power Agatha 'took' it's hard to guess her true status, maybe whatever it is has corrupted her or maybe even controlling her, so although so may have been harshly judged at her trial, she is now way beyond that point

Is she? What have we actually seen her do? Messing with the stage magic show? Some whammy on Herb to enlist his help in sowing doubt in Vision's mind? The whole Fietro thing? I mean, those are certainly (bleep) moves, but I don't see them as indications of unforgivable corruption.

There's Sparky, and there's the kidnapping/hostage-taking of the twins, but at this point I'm not sure if those are even real or just constructs of Wanda's imagination.

 

[tomBitonti]

I dunno. We are missing a lot of details re: The fight with the coven. But ...

Who else would police secretive and powerful witches except the witches themselves?

it is conceivable that certain powers irrevocably cause a descent into madness or evil. It is also conceivable that the coven’s acts were entirely lawful, with already explained rules and consequences, which Agatha knowingly broke.

Agatha’s lack of apparent grief after her mother died is telling, to me. I can see the deaths as being accidental. But they seem to have no impact on Agatha.

TomB

 

[Staffan]

Sure. For all we know, she could have sacrificed a whole village for the purpose of summoning Mephisto. But I think that if there was a concrete atrocity, the writers would have specified that, but couching it in vague language leaves things open. And so far we've only seen Agatha do things to try to understand Wanda and to test her. Maybe not nice things, but certainly not things she deserves to be killed for.

Edit: And as for the lack of grief... well, they attacked her. If you punch Colossus and break your hand, do you expect Colossus to feel sorry for you?

 

[Umbran]

What's the over/under on how many of the takes in this thread since last episode will have shed poorly by Friday?

Oh, goodness, most of what we speculate is nonsense. If anyone has ego tied up in being "right", then that's apt to turn into a problem.

 

[tomBitonti]

Sure. For all we know, she could have sacrificed a whole village for the purpose of summoning Mephisto. But I think that if there was a concrete atrocity, the writers would have specified that, but couching it in vague language leaves things open. And so far we've only seen Agatha do things to try to understand Wanda and to test her. Maybe not nice things, but certainly not things she deserves to be killed for.

Edit: And as for the lack of grief... well, they attacked her. If you punch Colossus and break your hand, do you expect Colossus to feel sorry for you?

Sure. But staying within what was presented: Agatha trifled with forbidden power, and Agatha’s mother truly believed that Agatha could not possibly control them or do good with them. “Daughter, you’ve saturated your body with radioactive plutonium.” “I can suppress it so that it won’t hurt people.” “No, you can’t.”
Then, instead of presenting grief, Agatha takes her mother’s broach.
TomB

 

[Umbran]

The charges were "stole knowledge above her age and station" and "practicing the darkest magics". That's super vague.

So?

Think, a minute, about the storytelling going on here. Do they have sufficient time left to tell Wanda's story of grief and trauma, as well as a nuanced story about Agatha's past?

I'll repeat - this show is not Agatha's story.