Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
AGATHA ALL ALONG
Starring Kathryn Hahn (Agatha Harkness), Joe Locke (Teen), Aubrey Plaza (Rio Vidal), Debra Jo Rupp (Sharon Davis), Sasheer Zamata (Jennifer Kale), Ali Ahn (Alice Wu-Gulliver), and Patti Lupone (Lilia Calderu) with a special appearance by Evan Peters as Ralph Bohner
Directed by Jac Schaeffer
Produced by Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Mary Livanos, Robert Kulzer, and Jac Schaeffer with Julie Herrin and Cameron Squires
Music By Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Debuted on Disney+ under the Marvel Television Banner
Number of Episodes: 9
Initial Streaming: September 18, 2024-October 30, 2024
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Agatha All Along Facts
Agatha Harkness was created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, debuting in Fantastic Four # 94 in January-1970. In her comic book debut, an elderly Agatha served as the Governess of Franklin Richards, the son of Fantastic Four co-founders Reed Richards and Susan Storm. After fending off the villainous Frightful Four, Agatha revealed to Reed and Sue that she was a Witch, belonging to a Coven in New Salem, Colorado. Agatha’s son Nicholas Scratch turned her coven against her, asserting that Agatha had both betrayed and endangered her Coven by working with The Fantastic Four. Nicholas had Agatha abducted so that she could stand trial, and when The Fantastic Four intervened on her behalf, they came into conflict with Agatha’s grandchildren, collectively known as the Salem’s Seven. The Fantastic Four emerged victorious over the Salem’s Seven and Nicholas was banished to another dimension.
From there, Agatha began mentoring Wanda Maximoff / The Scarlet Witch, tutoring her in the ways of the Witch.
In time, Nicholas Scratch returned from the dimension he was banished to and targeted Agatha once again, seeing to it that she was burned at the stake. Agatha’s spirit lived on following the destruction of her physical body and she reached out to Wanda from beyond the grave. Wanda bested Scratch and the Salem’s Seven, but absorbed some of the group’s powerful magical energy, which she later harnessed and utilized to impregnate herself with two children: Billy and Tommy, to complete the family that she longed for with her synthetic lover The Vision.
Agatha would soon return to the land of the living where she found Wanda in an unstable state of mourning following the dismantling of The Vision. Agatha deduced that Billy and Tommy were fragments of the soul of the evil and immensely powerful demon Mephisto, who soon deviously reabsorbed the boys. Knowing that the horrific fate of the children that she created would shatter Wanda’s fragile sanity and send her over the edge, Agatha cast a spell that erased Wanda’s mind and all of her memories of Billy and Tommy.
Eventually, a random poolside discussion with her friend Janet Van Dyne (The Wasp) smartened Wanda up to the spell that Agatha had cast over her, and an enraged and unhinged Scarlet Witch murdered Agatha and then declared war on The Avengers. The details of this story can be found in the excellent Avengers Disassembled miniseries written by Brian Michael Bendis, which begins a riveting character arc for Wanda that flows through the House of M event series, culminating with her decimation of Marvel’s mutants.
Ultimately, Agatha Harkness would return (you just can’t keep a good Witch down) in James Robinson’s amazing Scarlet Witch series. This is for me, the greatest Scarlet Witch story that I have ever read! This series dives deep into the lore of The Witches’ Road while exploring Wanda’s Wiccan roots in an unusually grounded way! Agatha predominantly appears as a ghost throughout the series, but ultimately regains a physical form. (Read the comics – they’re great)!
In 2021, Marvel Studios’ WandaVision premiered on Disney+. Actress Kathryn Hahn was cast to portray a character that was described as a “Nosey Neighbor” named Agnes. Hahn’s character was eventually revealed to be Agatha Harkness, looking much, much younger than her comic book counterpart and boasting a far more sinister persona. Agatha was revealed to be an Ancient Witch that had become obsessed with Wanda after Wanda (in her grief following the destruction of her lover The VISION) manipulated Cosmic Background Radiation while wielding her own Power of Spontaneous Creation to transform the town of Westview, New Jersey and its residents into a television series titled WandaVision that could be viewed on select monitors that were tuned into the right frequency outside of her constructed “Hex.” Agatha too, was transformed to fit into this world, but her powerful magical abilities (some of which were derived from the ancient tome known as The Darkhold) enabled Agatha to retain enough of her memories to resist Wanda’s spell and then to manipulate Wanda and others within the Hex into making select decisions that would most assist her agenda, and her agenda was to take the power of The Scarlet Witch into herself and therefore, become one of the most powerful entities in the entire Multiverse.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
During her time within the Hex, Agatha experienced an unfathomable Flow of Time and witnessed Wanda’s spontaneous creation of two baby boys: Billy and Tommy. From there, it was Hahn’s Agatha that first informed (and warned) Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda of what she had created in her grief and what it really meant to be The Scarlet Witch, but after doing so, she was bested by Wanda in magical combat, and in a panic, she realized just how powerful Wanda was, prompting her to desperately warn Wanda against embracing this prophesied destiny that Agatha knew all too well. Perturbed by all that Agatha had put her through, Wanda gleefully – and sinisterly – cast a spell over Agatha that reverted her back to her “Agnes” character. From there, Wanda saw to the destruction of the Hex and the erasure of her husband VISION and her children Billy and Tommy from existence.
Agatha would remain brainwashed in Westview while Wanda (corrupted by The Darkhold) would wage war with Doctor Stephen Strange while traversing the Multiverse in an effort to screw fate out of ensuring that she would never be a mother. Wanda’s murderous war with Strange that crossed dimensional and Universal boundaries ended with her death at Mount Wundagore.
The popularity of Hahn’s Agatha in WandaVision inspired a reimagined younger version of the character in the Marvel Comics.
Agatha All Along went through several name changes after it was first announced by Marvel Studios as Agatha: House of Harkness, then changed to Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, and then changed to Agatha: Coven of Chaos, and then to Agatha: The Lying Witch with the Great Wardrobe, before landing on Agatha: All Along.
The Agatha: All Along title is a callback to the popular Agatha All Along musical number that was featured in WandaVision.
In the Spring of 2024, Marvel Studios made the creative decision to divide its productions into new promotional labels: Marvel Studios (theatrical movies), Marvel Television (Disney+ shows), and Marvel Animation (animated projects). Agatha All Along was the first project to be produced under the new Marvel Television branding.
In the first episode of Agatha: All Along, Kathryn Hahn bares her backside, marking the 3rd case of nudity in an MCU production produced by Marvel Studios. The first instance was when the CGI Hulk bared his bottom in Thor: Ragnarok. The second was when Chris Hemsworth’s Thor bared his bottom during a confrontation with Zeus in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Episode Six of Agatha All Along features the return of Evan Peters’ Ralph Bohner character from WandaVision in which he fell victim to a spell that cast him in the role of Wanda Maximoff’s brother Pietro (Quicksilver), who’d previously died while fighting alongside The Avengers against ULTRON (as seen in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Age of Ultron). Peters previously portrayed Quicksilver for Fox, with his most iconic scene coming in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, set to the tune of Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce. At the time of his debut in WandaVision, many Marvel fans (including myself) were hopeful that this version of the character had been snatched up out of the Universe and inserted onto Earth-616 to obliviously play the part of Wanda’s brother, but the character was ultimately revealed to be a mere actor named Ralph Bohner. This remained true with the utilization of Peters in Agatha All Along, but those hoping for some sort of satisfying future revelation including myself) were further emboldened by the use of none other than Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce during the credits for Episode Seven. Time will tell.
Upon the MCU (Sacred) Timeline, the primary events of Agatha All Along take place in 2026, three years after the destruction of Wanda’s Hex. A rewarding way to experience this series is to watch it in a three-project block, beginning with WandaVision, followed by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and concluding with Agatha All Along.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
My Agatha All Along Review
Seekest Thou the Road
(Written and Directed by Jac Schaeffer)
I feel like I should give a quick confession before I start reviewing this show and admit that I’m a sucker for Witch movies and shows. Bewitched, Hocus Pocus, The Craft, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Practical Magic, Sleepy Hollow, American Horror Story: Coven, all of the Harry Potter movies, The Wizard of Oz, and of course, WandaVision are some of my favorite productions that feature some of my favorite Wiccan characters, and I was beyond thrilled when Marvel Studios announced Agatha All Along for release during Spooky Season!
The first episode appropriately catches up with Agnes of Westview three-years since she was cursed by Wanda Maximoff. During this time, she has been unwittingly trapped in the role of a police detective in a would-be television series, that exists only within her mind. “Detective” Agnes soon becomes obsessed with a Jane Doe murder case after a corpse is found in the woods (it is suggested that the identity of the deceased woman is none other than Wanda Maximoff). Agatha soon crosses paths with a curious teenager that she believes could be connected to her case and she receives a visit from an FBI Agent named Rio Vidal, who quickly confronts Agatha with the truth: that she is a witch, and that she is trapped in a spell that was cast over her by another witch (Wanda Maximoff / The Scarlet Witch), whose recent death has opened the door for Agatha to be freed from the spell that was cast upon her.
As the spell over her begins to break, Agatha, shifts through various stages of the identities that she personified during the many time-jumps that the residents of Westview experienced while contained within Wanda’s Hex. At long last back to her senses, a bitter Agatha begins to come to terms with not only the fact that The Scarlet Witch is dead and that The Darkhold has been destroyed, but also that her magical power is gone and that Rio (a sort of witch herself) wants Agatha dead but can’t seem to carry out the act herself for reasons that aren’t explained here. Rio nonetheless threatens Agatha, insisting that the “Salem’s Seven” are coming for her and that they will mean her certain harm!
With Rio gone, Agatha turns her attention to the mysterious young man that she had obviously kidnapped while under Wanda’s spell.
I really enjoyed this first episode! It was cool to see all of the Westview residents from WandaVision return and Kathryn Hahn was wickedly delightful as the sassy Agatha throughout the episode. She just oozes charisma, and she’s the star this time around and I’m excited to follow her journey! As great as Kathryn was though, I felt like Aubrey Plaza stole the show as Rio Vidal! She was enigmatic, vindictive, and unabashedly evil! Rio Vidal is an original character created by Marvel Studios for Agatha All Along, but I’m already wondering if this is a mere front and if Rio is actually someone else? Time will tell, but either way, I feel like she is going to be a very memorable antagonist!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Circle Sewn with Fate / Unlock thy Hidden Gate
(Directed by Jac Schaefer. Written by Laura Donney)
The second episode of Agatha All Along sees Agatha Harkness recruit four members to comprise a new Coven with which she seeks to walk the Witch’s Road and at the end of said Road, be granted a wish (quite similar to Thor: Love and Thunder and Eternity). The idea of this unique journey was pushed by the mysterious teen that Agatha abducted. Agatha soon discovers that she is unable to hear understand anything about him, despite his eagerness to share.
We see Agatha and “Teen” as she calls him, recruit three witches: Jennifer Kale (potions expert), Alice Wu-Gulliver (protector witch), and Lilia Calderu (divination) after their respective names were conjured. She also recruits oblivious Westview resident Sharon Davis (the former Mrs. Hart under Wanda’s spell), ignoring the name of the fourth person on the list: Rio Vidal (Green Witch).
Agatha’s Coven recruitment journey was a lot of fun! Kathry Hahn and Joe Locke have great chemistry together and I really like their dynamic so far. Throughout this episode, Agatha was mean and disingenuous and pessimistic and manipulative, and Kathryn Hahn is just so great in this role! Debra Jo Rupp was also very funny throughout the episode, and I really liked The Witch’s Road song that Agatha’s coven sang together to open the required magical portal just in time to flee the threatening wrath of the Salem’s Seven. I’ll be adding this song to my Halloween playlist for sure!
So far, this series has been very well-paced, successfully juggling mystery with subtle humor and a pinch of horror while honoring the tradition and complex history of Witchcraft.
Two episodes in, this series has been everything that I hoped it would be!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Through Many Miles / Of Tricks and Trials
(Directed by Rachel Goldberg. Written by Cameron Squires)
The trials and tribulations of Agatha and her makeshift Coven begin as the witches (and “Teen”) continue upon their path on the Witches’ Road! The first trial begins when the Coven happen upon a coastal house, which they enter and receive instant makeovers. After discovering a bottle of wine and knowing they must partake, the witches, some reluctantly and others enthusiastically, drink the wine, sans Agatha and “Teen.” Each one of the women suffer an allergic reaction and their respective faces swell up, which allows them to deduce that they’d been poisoned. After discovering that Agatha had not consumed the wine, the others demand that she does so, and she does (“Teen” does not partake due to being underaged). Things become urgent when the women realize that they have to devise a cure for the poison, or else die. In the meantime, the witches begin to suffer personal and horrific hallucinations. Lilia sees her younger self and her abusive maestro from the Renaissance era. Jen finds herself trying to fend off a doctor that is trying to drown her. Alice sees her rock star mother attempt to kill herself. Agatha sees an empty crib containing The Darkhold (which this episode seemingly reveals that Agatha came to obtain by trading away her only child).
A race against time commences once everyone comes back to their senses … sans the former Mrs. Hart. With a watery grave threating the lot of them, a successful antidote is ultimately conjured, and the witches make it back to the Road. Sharon Davis (the first to drink the wine) is dead, however, which noticeably upsets “Teen.”
I had a lot of fun with this episode! The trials offered a glimpse into the fears / regrets that the members of Agatha’s coven have endured and provided a great deal of suspense along with some great visuals. I hated seeing Sharon die (she had been a comedic highlight), but I also understand that her death raises the stakes of this series. Kathryn Hahn continues to shine with her nonchalant wickedness and the mystery of “Teen’s” identity is keeping things interesting!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
If I Can’t Reach You / Let My Song Teach You
(Directed by Rachel Goldberg. Written by Giovani Sarquis)
With interim Green Witch Sharon Davis departed, Agatha’s Coven is forced to summon a new Green Witch, and wouldn’t you know that the call is answered by Rio Vidal, much to the chagrin of Agatha. Rio arrives by crawling out of Sharon’s grave, in what was a truly horrific moment! As the trials for the Coven continue, they venture into yet another house; this one with a 1970’s aesthetic. Once again, everyone receives a makeover upon entering the premises. Inside, the Coven discover a recording studio that troubles Alice as it invokes feelings of grief tied to her late mother Lorna.
Rio and Agatha soon find some alone time during which Rio proposes that she and Agatha work together to betray the others who have embarked upon the Witches’ Road. This proposal is overheard by the others thanks to Agatha, but before it can be addressed in any sort of way that matters, “Teen” inadvertently plays a record backwards, which summons a demon that ends up being revealed as the root cause of the curse over the Gulliver Family. To conquer the demon and break the curse, Agatha leads the Coven in a rendition of The Ballad of the Witches’ Road, the lyrics of which serve as a protection spell.
The demon is vanquished in a blaze of glory, but after exiting the house, the women discover that “Teen” was severely wounded during the altercation with the demon. Luckily, Jen is able to heal the wound, saving the boy’s life.
From there, Jen bonds with Lilia and Alice while Rio references her mysterious past with Agatha, labeling Agatha as her “scar”, after she insisted that she’d hurt Agatha by doing something that Agatha did not want her to do in her past.
After Agatha talked with “Teen” and resisted his inquiries into the fate of her son Nicholas, Rio privately reconvened with Agatha, who succumbed to her emotions and manipulatively attempted to kiss her past lover, but Rio resisted Agatha’s advances and left her by bluntly assuring Agatha that “Teen” was not her son.
This was a fantastic episode! It was wonderful to have Audrey Plaza back here and she stole every scene that she was in with her mischievous demeanor! That subtle glance that she gave to us, the viewers, before the musical number was SO good! Beyond that, I loved the band version of The Ballad of the Witches’ Road, (Kathryn Hahn rocked it on lead vocals!), and while I’m quite sure about who “Teen” is, I’ve really enjoyed the misdirection by the producers and their efforts to make that a big reveal! All around, fun, spooky, and most of all, intriguing stuff and I’m loving this ride!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Darkest Hour / Wake Thy Power
(Directed by Rachel Goldberg. Written by Laura Monti)
The mystery pertaining to the identity of “Teen” has finally been solved! “Teen” is none other than Billy Maximoff! For fans of the comics, this was something we figured all along. While I appreciated the efforts that were taken to make it feel like “Teen” could have been Agatha’s long-lost son, the look and portrayal of the character made it pretty obvious that “Teen” was the child of The Scarlet Witch, as blatantly presented with the physical manifestation of a tiara / crown that very much resembled the one worn by Wanda as The Scarlet Witch. Billy Maximoff is no small role. In the comics, he’s a member of The Young Avengers and within the MCU, Wanda’s love for Billy and his brother Tommy triggered her decent into madness. The last time we saw Billy or his brother Tommy on the screen, they were small children living on Earth-838 who grew to fear Earth-616’s Scarlet Witch when she dream-walked into their Universe by possessing the physical body of their mother. Obviously, Billy has been aged-up and I imagine the how’s and why’s of this will be forthcoming.
This was a short but sweet episode as the Salem’s Seven attacked Agatha and her Coven on the Witches’ Road. This attack provokes Agatha and her sisters (and Billy) to gift each other with flying broomsticks. This particular trait is one that most people associate with Witches and that fact is even called-out during this scene, but I really liked the imagery and seeing the joy and wonder that it brought out of these characters.
The Witches’ Road doesn’t allow the gang to get too far away and after they come back down, they begin their next trial, entering a cabin and being transported to a time period resembling the 1980’s. There, the group use a Ouija Board and make contact with the spirit of Agatha’s long-dead mother: Evanora, who was murdered by Agatha after she took part in the efforts of her Coven to burn Agatha at the stake in 1693. Evanora, who declares that Agatha was “born evil”, physically possesses her daughter in what was a rather horrific sequence and urges Agatha’s fellow travelers to abandon her. As the situation intensifies, Alice invokes her magical power to cast Evanora out of Agatha’s body. As she does this however, Agatha begins stealing her power, which as we know, ends in death for the victim (as seen in WandaVision). Evanora is properly expelled when “Teen” invokes the name of Agatha’s sob Nicholas Scratch, whose presence he believed he sensed in the cabin. To Billy’s horror, Alice is the latest victim of the Witches’ Road.
Though Agatha insists that she didn’t mean to kill Alice, “Teen” – her greatest defender up to this point – doesn’t believe her. Billy lashes out at three of the four still-living Witchy Women but freezes when Agatha defiantly tells him that he is “Just like” his mother.
From there, Billy’s crown materializes as he wields magical power to force Lilia and Jen to toss Agatha into a sinking mud pit before blasting the both of them into the pit as well. Rio is mysteriously nowhere to be seen as Billy’s power emerges. Cue Billie Eilish’s You Should Me in a Crown, and this episode is over!
This may have been my favorite episode of this wonderful series yet! There were some true horror beats here with some wicked body horror and spiritual possession. There was also a really funny scene with Agatha pretending to be possessed by the spirit of the late Sharon / Ms. Hart. The death of Alice was sad and kept this story grounded in high stakes and consequences. Heading into the next episode, I’m beginning to wonder if Jen and Lilia are going to make it out of this series alive.
I’m also very interested to see what Billy’s motives are here. Could he be seeking to resurrect his late Mother Wanda, or could he be searching for his brother?
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Familiar by Thy Side
(Directed by Gandja Monteiro. Written by Jason Rostovsky)
After the big reveal in episode five that “Teen” was Billy Maximoff, this week, we were treated with Billy’s origin story, and this was an incredible episode!
To get Billy Maximoiff’s origin story, we had to see the origin story of a young man named William Kaplan, a teenaged Jewish boy that resided in Eastview New Jersey. Through the boy’s Bar Mitzva, we see that young William is surrounded by a loving family and he delights in all of the festivities that are being held to celebrate his coming of age. Most notably, William partakes in a palm reading session with none other than Lilia, who becomes noticeably troubled when she notes that William’s lifeline splits into two different directions. knowing this is alluding to William’s untimely death, Lilia tries to play it off as no big deal, but she was clearly troubled and what she saw inspires her to cast the sigil that Billy has had protecting his identity for most of the Season and even the sigil caster is oblivious to the identity of one who boasts it, which explains why Lilia did not know who Billy was.
Moving on, thinks get crazy! The flashback next takes us to the destruction of “the Hex”, seeing it from the other side of Westview. Police cars are rushing to the scene, and during the erupting chaos, William and his parents are involved in a horrific car crash. William’s parents survive, buy young William dies in the crash. Meanwhile, in Westview, the Hex continues to come down and Wanda consequently has to erase from existence her beloved children Billy and Tommy, whom she magically created out of nothingness. At the moment that she bid Billy and Tommy farewell, William Kaplan died, and Billy’s soul transferred from Westview into William’s body. Suddenly, little Billy was in a new, teenage body! Billy was taken to the hospital by none other than Alice, who was working as a police officer at the time.
Billy is obviously confused. He doesn’t remember his life from before, and no one that William knew realizes that William died. Billy therefore makes a conscious decision to simply live his ongoing life as William. Billy maintains a good and loving relationship with William’s parents and falls in love with a young man named Eddie. Billy struggles with the quiet lie that he is living as well of his mind-reading powers, which he was bestowed with by his mother Wanda.
Billy grew to be fascinated by Witch culture. His room was decorated with Witchy art and posters, and he owned a record featuring Alice’s mother Lorna Wu and her band the Coral Shore; a record on which the Ballad of the Witches’ Road was recorded. Billy was also consumed with curiosity over what really happened with Wanda in Westview beyond the official story. Soon, all of Billy’s roads combined when he met with a Westview resident that he found on Reddit. This person was none other than Ralph Bohner (the faux Quicksilver from WandaVision)! I loved seeing Evan Peters back here and it was cool to see and hear how much being manipulated by the Witches of Westview had traumatized him! Ralph tries to play coy about Agatha Harkness and also name-drops “Tommy” while expressing regret that he had been such a bad influence over Wanda’s twin kids, whose magical abilities Ralph describes as mind-reading (Billy) and super-speed (Tommy). Ralph furthermore explains that the Twins had been missing for three-years, with their fate uncertain before revealing that Agatha was rumored to be living obliviously in Westview, under Wanda’s lingering spell.
Billy slowly but surely pieces together the facts to realize that he is Billy Maximoff and that his brother Tommy is somewhere out there, perhaps in a similar situation. All of this sets Billy on a path to find and free Agatha, which takes us up to episode one where Billy stole her sacred locket and was then tied-up by an under-the-influence Agatha, who’s situation was beginning to unravel due to the apparent death of The Scarlet Witch. Agatha was freed, and then joined Billy to gather a Coven worthy of traversing the Witches’ Road.
Catching back up to the present, Agatha drags herself out of the mud and admits that she knows that Billy is Wanda’s child when she mutters “Good to see you again, Billy.” Within the Hex, Agatha both nurtured and tormented Billy and his brother Tommy, and she seems here to boast genuine affection and respectful fear for Billy, and together, sharing a really unique dynamic and with so many questions now answered, they vow to continue their journey down the Witches’ Road.
I loved all of this. Joe Locke really brought his A-game here in his acting. He expertly played William and Billy differently and was just SO likeable in all of the flashback sequences. His is a truly tragic tale as it came at the expense of the boy whose body he inhabited and now, having to deal with the death of a mother that he doesn’t remember ever knowing and the complexities of her legacy as both a hero and villain, while working closely with a woman who tried to kill her! It’s the kind of spin that works so very well branching off of WandaVision, and I’m pleasantly surprised by how much this show has served as a sequel to that amazing series.
Can’t wait to see what comes next!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Death’s Hand in Mine
(Directed by Jac Schaeffer. Written by Gia King and Cameron Squires)
The seventh episode of Agatha All Along was one of the most unique 35-minutes in Marvel Cinematic Universe history! This episode primarily revolved around Lilia, revealing that she’s nowhere near as kooky as she seems, but rather tortured by a mental flaw that causes her to experience time in ways that are anything but linear! Lilia glimpses confusing visions of moments in both the past and the future, which drastically complicates her mood as well as her sanity. We find out as this episode progresses however, that what’s left of Agatha and her Coven needs Lilia’s “gifts” in order to continue to their march down the Witches’ Road!
This episode started out with Billy and Agatha coming across a castle and the chemistry between Joe Locke and Kathryn Hahn is off the charts here! Again, Agatha is both leery and curious when it comes to Billy’s power, and she is working overtime to manipulate the son of The Scarlet Witch, notably answering when Billy asks if The Scarlet Witch is really dead: “Yes. No. Maybe.” Billy then asks Agatha if she had seen Wanda’s body, Agatha replies “yes.” A frustrated Billy then asks Agatha if anyone else had seen Wanda’s body, and she replies: “It’s hard to say. If you want straight answers, ask a straight lady.” Great stuff!
Agatha and Billy soon enter the aforementioned castle and are made over into the image of iconic Cinematic witches. Agatha takes on the guise of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz (whom Agatha insists she was the inspiration for … loved that!) while Billy takes on the guise of Maleficent (from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty). Agatha and Billy are presented with a series of tarot cards that they must place in the proper sequence or else be impaled by one of the many swords that are positioned above them.
Lilia and Jen soon join the “party” and through flashbacks, we see their emergence from the mud that Billy cast them into. Both of the women are themselves made over when they join Agatha and Billy in the castle. Lilia is dressed like Glinda (the Good Witch) from The Wizard of Oz, while Jen takes on the image of the Evil Queen in Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Knowing that this trial is hers, Lilia enters a rare state of clarity, during which she is able to place the tarot cards in their proper order, with the selected cards representing individual members of the Coven. Lilia rushes everyone to safety, but chooses to stay behind, flipping one of the cards and causing the entire room to flip with it, impaling the invading members of the Salem’s Seven, as well as herself. Before her death, Lilia declares her pride in being a Witch, as well as her love for the other Coven members. So yeah, Lilia is the latest victim of the Road.
And that leads us to another huge reveal as this episode ends! Lilia’s power was divination of course, and before her death, she deduced that Rio is none other than Death herself! I’ve been waiting for Death to come into the MCU ever since the mid-credits scene of The Avengers and what an amazing job by everyone that had a part in casting Aubrey Plaza as Death! I can’t think of a better person for the role, and I am immensely curious to find out more details about Agatha and Rio’s past!
I really enjoyed all of the costuming in this episode. Agatha looking like a green witch and Billy warmly embracing the Maleficent look were both great. Then, Rio (THE Green Witch as she told us earlier this Season) being Death incarnate was perfect! Watching the last two episodes of this Series on All Hallow’s Eve is going to make for a wonderful Halloween experience!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Follow Me my Friend / To Glory at the End
(Directed by Ganedja Monteiro. Written by Peter Cameron)
It was Billy Maximoff all Along! Following the big reveal of Rio being Death to conclude the previous episode, Rio’s motives for being where she is are revealed. As it turns out, Billy’s reincarnation into a new body is seen as an abomination that defies the natural order of things, and Death is looking to remedy the situation at the expense of Billy’s life. Agatha too, in having lived some 400-years, is also a Cosmic anomaly and Agatha at long last venturing to the afterlife seems to be something that could also appease Rio, but Agatha, selfishly declares that she will see to it that Death can have her way with Billy.
From there, Agatha, Billy, and Jen (the only surviving members of Agatha’s Coven) continue their path down the Witches’ Road, only to discover that they’ve made a complete circle and that the end of the Witches’ Road is simply the beginning of the Witches’ Road! After Billy puts his shoes back on, the three witches are propelled to Agatha’s basement which (now glowing) births some critical revelations. The first is the reveal that Agatha was the witch that bound Jen 100-years earlier. Furious, Jen casts an unbinding spell, regains her abilities, and vanishes, and having gotten what she wanted out of the Road, she is off to live a new and unbound life. Next, Agatha joins with Billy, and they cast a spell together to locate the soul of Billy’s brother Tommy. With this accomplished Billy seems to guide the soul of Tommy into a boy that is drowning. Having gotten that which he wanted from the Road, Billy vanishes also.
This leaves Agatha alone and she desperately pulls hair from her cherished locket and plants it as a seed. She then exits the basement and finds herself outside where Death is waiting. Rio and Agatha exchange words and Billy soon arrives to join the confrontation. Billy and a wounded Agatha work together on the surface, with Billy even allowing Agatha to absorb some of his power, but having reclaimed such power, Agatha really does seem willing to betray Billy and allow Death to claim his life. Billy reasons with Agatha however and breaks through to her by invoking the name of her long-lost son Nicholas and Agatha ambitiously approaches Death, passionately kisses her, and falls into Death’s embrace. Agatha Harkness is dead.
Feeling that enough of the Cosmic Order had been balanced through Agatha’s sacrifice for the time being, Rio leaves Billy be.
Billy returns home and ventures to his room, and it is here where we get perhaps the biggest reveal of them all … As he walks around his room and takes-in all that he sees, Billy begins to realize that everything surrounding him were key parts of the experiences of the Witches’ Road and Billy suddenly realizes that HE was the architect of the Witches’ Road. He created it through his magical abilities much like his biological mother Wanda created the Hex!
Just wow!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Maiden Mother Crone
(Directed by Ganedja Monteiro. Written by Jac Shaeffer and Laura Donney)
This ninth and final episode of Agatha All Along finally gave viewers the answers to so many of the lingering questions that pertained to the mystery of Agatha Harkness. We knew that Agatha killed her own Mother and her Coven during the Salem Witch Trials, but in this episode, we learned the true extent of Agatha’s selfishness and wickedness, for Agatha Harkness has killed countless witches over the ages by draining them all of their power and lifeforce after baiting them in under the falsehood that she could lead them to the fabled Witches’ Road.
As for the Witches’ Road itself? A lie. There was no Witches’ Road and Agatha knew there was no Witches’ Road. In fact, the legend of the Witches’ Road was born out of a song that she shared with her beloved son Nicholas. Agatha and Nicholas would lure unsuspecting witches to them by performing the song in their travels.
As for Nicholas, he was destined to be stillborn, which Agatha realized when she saw Rio approaching while giving birth. Agatha pleaded with Death to give her more time, and Rio complies due to her love deep for Agatha, but of course, no amount of time is ever enough. Death eventually came for Nicholas, as it comes for us all, and losing her son just provokes Agatha and a bitter and heartbroken Agatha begins to embrace her wickedness all the more.
So, Agatha really is a murderous piece of work! Though this episode goes a long way to show that she is no hero, it also showed how emotionally deep she was once upon a time. She loved Nicholas dearly and sincerely and his loss took from her perhaps the last piece of her soul. It also made her hate Rio, for again, no amount of time with her beloved Nicholas would have ever been enough. Death took Nicholas from Agatha, and this was and is something that Agatha can never forgive. Back in the present, we now know that Agatha, in putting together this latest Coven, was a simple case of her being up to her old tricks. Her goal was simple and familiar. Unite the women with the goal to walk the fictitious Witches’ Road and then relentlessly insult them until they use their powers against her, which Agatha would then absorb.
Her plans changed dramatically of course when Billy created the Witches’ Road! Agatha simply went along for the ride.
Is Agatha really dead? Well, it certainly appears so. In fact, she shows up during the finale as a ghost, but Billy, repulsed by the fact that three women had lost their lives upon the Witches’ Road that he’d unwittingly created, ventures back to Westview to banish Agatha’s spirit, but he ultimately reconsiders after Agatha mentions that Jen had not died, and that Agatha would have killed the other three anyway. Again, Agatha is no hero, but she nonetheless vows to serve as Billy’s spirit guide, assisting him in the quest for his brother Tommy.
I loved Agatha All Along! It was a very different project compared to most MCU adventures. Rather than subtle winks and nods to the audience through these characters, the producers unabashedly grounded the entire series in the lore of Witchcraft and fully embraced the rich and storied history of the Craft! In the real word, Witchcraft is viewed by some as a religion. For others, it’s a symbol of female authority and resistance to male domination. To many, it is both of these things. Agatha All Along gave us ghosts, demons, possession, magic, palm reding, tarot cards, hysteric cackles, flying broomsticks, and even a Mephisto namedrop! The show boasted an empowering cast and enhanced the MCU without relying too much on past successes and stories! With the final two episodes dropping on the day before Halloween, the show perfectly cemented itself as a show worth revisiting the next time spooky season rolls around. This series was everything that I hoped it would be and I’m looking quite forward to catching up with Billy Maximoff somewhere down the road!
Agatha All Along was top tier MCU stuff for me. The only thing missing was a cameo by Stevie Nicks! Happy Halloween, everybody!
Highlights of Agatha All Along
Aubrey Plaza as Rio Vidal / Death
Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness
Joe Locke as William Kaplin / Billy Maximoff
Chemistry Between Kathryn Hahn and Joe Locke
Debra Jo Rupp as Sharon Davis
Tension-filled chemistry between Aubrey Plaza and Kathryn Hahn
Patti LuPone as Lilia Calderu
Ali Ahn as Alice Wu-Gulliver
Music
The return of so many Westview Residents from WandaVision
Costuming
Evan Peters as Ralph Bohner
Callbacks to WandaVision that enriched that Story
Reverence for real-world Wiccan culture and the way that it was Honored
Callbacks to the many great Witches from Popular Culture
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