Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Brian Richards | TV | October 7, 2024
Previously on Agatha All Along: Agatha and company continue their trek down the Witches’ Road, and they all encounter their very first trial, in which they find themselves trapped in a coastal house that tests all of their abilities as witches while also forcing each of them to literally confront their personal demons. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the trial ends with one of their own not surviving: Sharon Davis, a.k.a. Mrs. Hart.
THE STORY SO FAR: After burying Sharon/Mrs. Hart, Agatha and company summon another green witch (who turns out to be none other than the Green Witch herself, Rio Vidal) to complete their coven so they can continue their trek down the Witches’ Road, and face another deadly trial that will push all of them (especially Alice) to their physical and emotional limits.
WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT THIS EPISODE?: Teen puts the entire coven in check and ending their attempt to play the Blame Game for Sharon’s death by pointing out that they were supposed to look out for one another but didn’t, at the cost of her life. Rio makes her entrance by climbing out of Sharon’s grave like something demonic from an Evil Dead movie, and how both Alice and Jen are torn between being scared of her and being very attracted to her. (Which Rio overhears and can’t help but smile about.) The costume design for Agatha and company’s 1970s-era hairstyles and outfits. The trial and its accompanying curse are triggered by a rock record playing backward. The coven realizes the only way to defeat the curse is to face it head-on by doing their own version of Rock Band and playing Lorna’s version of The Ballad of the Witches’ Road.
Agatha and company work together once again to see someone’s life (this time, the one in danger being Teen, due to a large shard of glass piercing his abdomen), but with much better results. The coven opens up around the campfire about their personal histories, the rumors and superstitions that witches often deal with, and their worst physical scars. Agatha stays by Teen’s side while he’s resting and healing and informing him that his sigil will only be lifted when it’s no longer needed (and that the sigil also affects the witch who originally casts it) before going back to her usual ruthless self when Teen asks her what happened to her son. Agatha and Rio exchanging hugs, and coming this close to kissing one another and making lies out of the infamous tweet about how “getting queerbaited by the MCU is like losing at chess to a dog,” until Rio suddenly turns into Maury Povich by telling Agatha that Teen is not her son.
WHAT’S NOT SO GOOD ABOUT THIS EPISODE?: Really, Agatha All Along? You just had to kill off Debra Jo Rupp’s character before she could take part in the next episode in which the Witches’ Road trial takes the coven back to the Seventies? Shame on y’all.
DO ANY OF THE AVENGERS APPEAR IN THIS EPISODE?: No.
DOES WANDA MAXIMOFF APPEAR IN THIS EPISODE?: No, and she isn’t mentioned in this episode, either.
ANY EASTER EGGS WE SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR?: The leaves on the Witches’ Road go from blue (representing water from the first trial) to red-orange (representing fire for this trial). Teen stating that he wishes they could just go home, which is of course another reference to The Wizard of Oz, and what Dorothy was hoping for all along. The Latin chant that is used to summon Rio translates to: “We summon a Green Sister above. Above, below, within, without.” The production design of the house where the second trial occurs, particularly its paintings of unnamed witches suffering horrible fates, looks quite similar to the production design of the dance academy from Dario Argento’s horror classic Suspiria. Backmasking (the recording technique of putting a message in reverse into a recording that is meant to be played forward) is largely known to the general public because of its real and alleged usage in rock music from the 1960s and 1970s, such as Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” The Beatles’ “Revolution 9,” and Pink Floyd’s “Empty Spaces.”
(Fun fact: if you play Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Maybe I’m Amazed” backward, you’ll hear an entire recipe for lentil soup.)
In their 1970s outfits, Alice looks to be dressed like Janis Joplin, Teen like Mick Jagger, Jen like Diana Ross, Lilia like Liza Minnelli, and both Agatha and Rio like Stevie Nicks. One of the framed photos on the wall that advertises previous concerts and photo shoots featuring fictional bands like Pinhole includes a concert flyer for Fleetwood Mac. (Is this the MCU’s way of telling us that Stevie Nicks really is a witch?) The comics version of Agatha Harkness was an actual member of the American Revolution-era group of female freedom fighters called the Daughters of Liberty, but according to her story about how she was stabbed in the elbow by someone wielding a knitting needle, it seems that the same can’t be said of the MCU version of Agatha, who most likely killed them all. Lilia giving further confirmation to the existence of vampires, when she reveals her battle scar to be a vampire bite on her neck. (Where is Blade when you really need him? No, seriously, Kevin Feige, where the hell is he?)
ANY FAN THEORIES SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE ACROSS THE INTERNET BECAUSE OF THIS EPISODE?: The reason why Lilia is constantly spouting random phrases that she doesn’t remember isn’t just because she may be predicting events from future episode, but because Lilia’s mind is unstuck in time, and much like Doctor Manhattan in Watchmen and Desmond on Lost, she is experiencing the past, the present, and the future simultaneously. It wasn’t the curse that attacked Teen and sent him flying through plate glass, but it was Rio, possibly doing it out of curiosity to see how Agatha would respond to him being placed in harm’s way, or jealousy because he’s getting the attention and affection from Agatha that she wants. Rio is actually Death, and her lack of patience about wanting to kill Agatha and the coven is because she really does want to collect their souls.
It’s also why there are some Agatha All Along fans who have been debating on social media as to who is truly responsible for saving Teen’s life and healing his injury: Rio or Jen? (Of course, some of these fans aren’t entirely happy about others trying to take credit away from a smart and powerful Black witch, just so they can write more slashfic in their heads about Agatha and Rio.) Teen isn’t Agatha’s son, so does this mean that he is actually Wanda’s son? And if he is, how is Agatha going to respond if and when she finds out, and will she forget all about how much they’ve bonded, all so she can have her revenge against Wanda?
ARE THERE ANY SCENES DURING THE CLOSING CREDITS?: No.
TO SUM IT ALL UP: It was undoubtedly delightful to see Aubrey Plaza as Rio show up to not only cause trouble, but stand back and watch with a quizzical look on her face as trouble happens all around her without her provocation. And her scenes with Kathryn Hahn are incredible at highlighting the chemistry between them, while also leaving the audience wanting more. But the MVP of this episode is Ali Ahn, who is given the spotlight to truly shine as Alice, and she doesn’t disappoint in showing us how her mother’s death has affected her, how her life has never been the same for her since that loss, and how she has convinced herself that she could’ve prevented it from happening. To see her confront the generational curse in its terrifying physical form and shake off her hesitation, guilt, and self-loathing in doing so as she gives her all when singing The Ballad of the Witches’ Road on piano, and realizing the depths of her mother’s love upon discovering that her version of the ballad was a protection spell for her child, was both terrific and powerful to watch. And also, this version of the song slaps. More so when you realize that Lilia somehow ends up playing three different instruments (zils, triangle, maracas) as the song keeps going.
It’s almost enough to make me stop wondering if this level of quality will actually be found in the season finale when we get to the end of the Witches’ Road on Devil’s Night, and not fumble the ball like nearly every other Marvel show on Disney Plus that isn’t X-Men ‘97. Almost.
This episode of Agatha All Along was brought to you by “What Would Happen” by Meredith Brooks:
“Gold Dust Woman” by Fleetwood Mac:
“Light My Fire” by Shirley Bassey:
And “Drop Da Bomb” by Party Posse:
