when you become a twist

Upfront, I do not see Agatha as a victim in this situation, in any form. As I read Agatha during Wandavision, she was a hunter and murderer who was staking out her prey, and that went ass up for her. She lost the fight, and the Hex following was a form of imprisonment that Wanda thought best fit, for what I read as a multitude of reasons. So, I want to unpack all of this. What the Hex was during WV, what Agatha's personal Hex is, and the Wanda of it all.

The Hex within the context of Wandavision seems like a near bodily reaction to Wanda's grief. It is interesting how much emotions seem to matter to witches for the fulfillment of their magic (Billy, the fear of the Seven, mixed with the belief of the Road; witches blasting Agatha after a certain point of verbal abuse). The Hex is her pain manifested, mixed with the fantasy of what she was denied and desired.

Wanda is, at this point in her life, only a few decades old. She is not a child; however, in the short time she has been on the planet, her life has been riddled with pain and suffering. She has taken blow after blow, and this blow seems to have broken the lid on the jar of her magic. Protective and self-soothing, it flows out to give her what she wanted. However!

She is not the only one taken into the Hex. All of Westview falls under it, and becomes tethered in the strings of her magic (and her grief).

While Wanda shows throughout the show she understands to some extent her power over what is going on, wishing to keep it going even though the specter of Vision is slowly awakening to the false reality--I would argue it is not until the finale that she fully understands the extent of what she is doing. She believes at first that it is Agatha making Sarah (Dotty) say what she is saying. She even looks distressed by what is being said.

Just a great shot of Darkhold Agatha, and fantastic lines, okay, back to the ramble.

And this is where we understand the extent of how mixed in with her emotions that Wanda's magic is. The resonance of her magic is dragging others through her pain, her nightmares.

Which Wanda, does not want to believe! Wanda is at her heart, a very mixed up, but wants to be better person. She is at her core, hurt, but has wanted to change the world for the better. This, in my opinion, is one of the greatest differences between her character and Agatha's. Agatha hungers for power and knowledge, and I do not think young Agatha was deeply different (and not as a slight against her character, this is why I like her). Wanda's wants and desires, on the other hand, is exemplified by the genre she chose for her Hex: a sitcom. She wants a place to belong, to be safe, to have friends and a family, to be loved.

Even as this begins to dawn on her, she sees what she has done as righteous, because this isn't about them...

This is about Wanda. This is how Wanda wants to/needs to feel. She needs to be at peace, to feel safe. Because the reality is, even in the Hex, there have always been cracks... At the end of the day, she cannot wish away the pain.

Oof Sharon.

And the overwhelming pain and anxiety and stress Wanda feels, her magic lashes out.

And it fully dawns on her the extent of what she is doing, and what is going on.

Wanda is not being heroic, but this is not active malice. While that does not change the trauma she put the residents of Westview through...

She tries to do her best with what she is working with, as reality really is sinking in. She is a mess, but she wants to be good.

So, it comes back to Agatha now.

This evil cockroach watching from the sidelines!

With Agatha the Hex she is put under is somewhat different. It happens once the Scarlet Witch is fully realized. Once Wanda has resurrected herself by reclaiming her powers and claiming her identity.

Agatha bit off more than she can chew with this situation!

So smug for someone who is about to lose badly.

Yeah.....

Agatha led to her own downfall too, which is so on point for her! Agatha's arrogance, her hunger for power led her to Westview, and it is also what made her yap the exact thing that gave Wanda the way to win.

She is resigned to her loss. Even if she will beg and plead in a moment.

And Wanda fully realizes her potential, her crown manifests.

Agatha, in some ways, made the Scarlet Witch! She helped forge her! And Wanda drains Agatha of centuries of stolen magic while forging herself as the Scarlet Witch.

This is not the Wanda who cast the Hex over Westview anymore. This is not the girl who is doing magic by merely her emotional outbursts.

What Wanda has done?

Okay, let's get back to the point of this entire ramble: what does Wanda do with Agatha at the end of Wandavision! Put her under a Hex.

Agatha first asks if she will send her to prison, which Wanda responds in the negative to. And for good reason from Wanda's perspective: Agatha, like a bloodhound, came into Westview to kill and take all of Wanda's powers! Wanda also knows now: Agatha is a centuries years old witch! What's a prison going to do?

And the moment Agatha got out? Would Wanda be promised any peace or protection? And if Agatha did manage to befriend her again, is that a promise of a reality--because Agatha lied and wheedled her way in before. How long until Agatha uses the comforting lie of friendship to turn on Wanda and reclaim all of that magic that Wanda just took?

In Wanda's mind this is self-preservation. And beyond that: this is not the spell cast as it was before. No dramatic falling to her knees, no! Wanda merely waves her hand and traps Agatha in her role of the nosy neighbor. Because of this, I do not personally read Agatha as genuinely trapped in the same way the other residents were--Wanda's grief and pain are not part of this spell, this is not broken in that way. This is the Scarlet Witch fully bending reality.

This is house arrest! From Agatha's perspective: it sucks; however, Agatha is not stupid enough to think she did not have a heavy hand in creating this scenario. She does not want it to happen, of course!

I think it is fun to explore other routes, about the Hex still emotionally tormenting Agatha. And yes, her identity and self being locked away is terrifying and terrible! It is cruel to an extent; however, Agatha wanted to murder Wanda, threw the first punch, dragged her through her grief (gave Wanda false hope with a fake version of her very dead brother), lied and manipulated her...

And eventually, in 'Agatha All Along,' we get to see Agatha find the keys to her prison and begin to wiggle her way out--dropping the Nosy Neighbor, and donning Detective Agnes to solve her own imprisonment.

Wanda's role to Agatha is a strange one, not easily given name. She's a jailer, certainly, but she also does not truly know Agatha Harkness. At the end of the day of Wandavision, she is a former Avenger, trying to take care of a scenario the best way she knows how, and the safest way she can think of.

Agatha, the reason we love her, is the Witch Killer. And she lost the bet on this Witch she came to kill, this time.

I am certain for some folks I earned the NGL I got back in the day for this, so please enjoy the silly meme I made of it... But I promise I do like her!!

“Katherine?” Sadie calls, dropping her double racket bag somewhere along the entrance hall as she steps carefully into the giant, bright, quiet house. She’s yet to familiarize herself with it, and really, why would she? Sadie’s not meant to spend any time here. She’s not meant to know these rooms any more intimately than a delivery boy who’s been offered a glass of water during an extremely hot day. She’s not meant to know that if she would round the corner to her right here, and look up towards the top of the stairs that rise dramatically in the middle of the room, she would see the edges of a sculpture of Hebe on the landing of the second floor, the only sculpture Katherine likes around this place. Or that all the good alcohol around the house is in the secret kitchen downstairs. Or how to find her way to Katherine’s bedroom.

But she does. 

Her white sneakers, newly purchased, squeak when she steps a little too hard on the hardwood flooring, and Sadie grimaces with every step. She feels cheap in comparison to everything around her, and that makes her feel stupid for allowing herself to become comfortable in Katherine’s company. Way too comfortable.

As she debates whether she should check the nearest kitchen or the south-facing drawing room first, Katherine emerges from behind her, making Sadie jump when she says her name. Instead of being practice-ready in her tights and tank top, Katherine is covered in her favorite kaftan and on her feet are her favorite house shoes. Sadie is always taken aback by the casualty of her, how she’s impeccably put together and yet deeply unbothered at the same time. She never expects to see her this way, but that’s how Katherine is more and more these days. Ever since—well.

(Ever since she rubbed herself against Sadie’s thigh while Sadie had her hand in her hair and said, are you gonna come for me? I wanna see you come for me.

Katherine did so fast she sobbed unexpectedly and kissed Sadie so hard Sadie couldn’t breathe.)

“Did I get our time wrong?” Sadie asks.

“What?” Katherine replies.

“I thought we scheduled—”

“Oh, we did,” Katherine cuts her off with a wave of her hand. “Let’s not.”

“You could have told me before.”

“I’ll pay you anyway.”

Katherine steps past Sadie into the south-facing drawing room, signaling Sadie with her eyes to follow.

“That’s not the issue,” Sadie says. It should be. Sadie’s forgotten herself. She was here to do a job. Now she finds herself leaning against a console table where Katherine is pouring them both a serving of martini out of a silver shaker.

Katherine hands Sadie her glass. “Then what is it?”

“My time. I can teach other people. Or—”

“Or what?” Katherine deadpans, eyes locked on Sadie’s in that vaguely intimidating way of hers. The one Sadie can’t figure out how to navigate.

“Or make plans,” she squares her jaw and says.

Katherine’s eyes fall shut as she sips her cocktail. “You can go,” she says.

And here’s the crux of the matter: Sadie doesn’t go.

“Where’s Richard?” she asks.

“Oh, who knows,” Katherine sighs. It’s always somewhere, doing something. It’s always Katherine who’s here, doing nothing. Sadie gets it. She thinks. She gets the feeling of it, at least. She doesn’t want to think too much about this sense of stagnation that Katherine uses Sadie to alleviate. Every time Katherine traces the scars on her shoulder absentmindedly, Sadie refuses to think about it.

She reaches out, brushes a stray strand of Katherine’s hair into place and bites her tongue at the way Katherine’s gasps when she touches her. Whenever she touches Katherine, there is something.

“You can’t pay me for fucking you,” she says. There’s a limit to how cheap she can allow herself to feel.

“Whatever you prefer, Sadie,” Katherine says.

“Next time,” she murmurs as she steps into Katherine’s space, cradles her cheek in her palm. “You can just call.”

Katherine’s breath leaves her in a rush when Sadie kisses her. There’s always something. Sadie’s not sure what happens when the novelty runs out. But as long as it’s here, she lets herself get drunk on how desperate Katherine is when she kisses Sadie's neck, saying, “Okay,” without listening.