Let’s Talk about Agatha All-Along Episode 1-9
Warning: There are MASSIVE spoilers ahead.
Please don’t read any of this until you have watched the climactic eighth and ninth episodes of Agatha All Along.
Otherwise, you WILL regret it. Okay, here we go…
When last we left Agatha All Along, the title character was dead.
Will that change during the show’s series finale? Also, what’s the deal with the Witches’ Road being entirely fake?
I have tons of questions, and I’ll tell you right now that this episode doesn’t answer them all.
So, let’s cover what we know and go from there. Let’s talk about Agatha All Along episode 1-9, the one with the semi-friendly ghost.
Last Witch Standing
Okay, I’m starting this recap with a lie because that strikes me as fitting. After all, the entire Witches’ Road was a lie.
The Teen is NOT the last witch standing from those Trials. Jennifer Kale also escapes during the episode.
A clever cut shows her emerging from underground, and the camera spins to review the Westview sign. She has gotten out!
Poor Herb is apparently never going to be that lucky. But he’s probably getting a new neighbor. That’s because Agatha is dead.
The show legitimately killed her off, and I’ll tell you right now that she stays that way the whole time.
That’s why it’s a clever twist when the climactic episode starts in the past.
We meet Agatha at a different time in her life. She’s pregnant, which is bad because her ex has just found her in the woods.
Also, her ex is literally, not figuratively, Death. The character known as Rio Vidal knows the truth.
Agatha is birthing a sick child named Nicholas, and he’s not going to make it.
So, Agatha works out a deal with Rio. If Nicholas doesn’t die at birth, Agatha will feed witches to Death.
This is NOT a good deal for any living creature, but Rio understandably accepts.
From there, the story shows the next few years of Agatha’s life, starting with right after the baby’s birth.
A hungry Agatha encounters fellow witches in the woods. They’ve cast a ward to prevent evil.
However, when the women notice a mother with a starving baby, they readily agree to help.
The camera cuts to the sky. And then the murders began. A pleased Agatha looks at the baby and says, “I think we’re gonna be very good at this.”
A Grieving Mother
Sure enough, as the boy grows older – but still under ten – his mother teaches him to lure witches for Agatha to kill.
Eventually, the increasingly ill child wonders aloud about the morals of killing witches.
Agatha curtly explains that the witches would try to kill them if they didn’t act first. In her defense, that has been her experience.
Then, an odd thing happens. Nicholas Harkness starts singing a song about walking the winding road. Agatha sings along.
During their next few adventures, they create new lyrics for this oddly familiar song.
Yes, he is the singer responsible for The Ballad of the Witches’ Road.
The implication here is unmistakable. Agatha has played a hand in making up this song.
So, she’s known all along that the story is fictional. That fact explains several of her actions during previous episodes.
Agatha is in on the secret and thereby knows it’s Billy Maximoff bringing a fake thing into reality.
As for Nicholas, he develops enough of a conscience that even though he’s deathly ill, he refuses to lure a witch who is kind to him.
That night, Rio Vidal appears to claim Nicholas. First, she kindly reminds him to kiss his mother goodbye. Rio cares about Agatha.
In the morning, Agatha wakes up alone. For all her faults, the witch loved Nicholas completely. He was her everything.
Permanent Heel Turn
Grieving and wounded, she encounters a witch who wants to know the path to the Witches’ Road. She has heard the song.
Yes, Nicholas’ song has taken on a life of its own as a plausible myth. After a moment, Agatha agrees to take the witch.
As you might expect, Agatha does this to steal the witch’s power. And this victim becomes the first of many.
Whenever anyone asks her to follow the path to the Witches’ Road, Agatha readily agrees, knowing they’ll attack her and thereby give them her power.
For generations, Agatha performs this murderous con…until she tries it with The Teen.
For the first time, we witness Agatha’s reaction when the door magically appears. She takes note of the dirt as well.
The witch knows that strange things are afoot, but before she can express her confusion, The Teen runs downstairs and opens the door.
So, there’s a logical explanation for why she never hesitated. The Salem Seven wanted her dead.
Agatha obviously had no reason to believe that they could find her in the illusion of the Witches’ Road.
The unexpected twist is that Billy’s powers are so strong that he brings these things to life. But Agatha doesn’t know that yet.
Instead, the final thing Agatha does before entering the Witches’ Road is smile directly into the camera.
Immediately afterward, the episode cuts back to Billy’s bedroom and the mocking laughter of Agatha…who is now a ghost.
Ghost Agatha and The Teen
Obviously, the two of them have much to discuss, starting with why she’s not dead like the rest of the coven.
I mean, Agatha IS dead, but she has returned in ghostly form.
During their discussion, The Teen states that since he created the Witches’ Road, he was responsible for all those women’s deaths.
Agatha counters that he has the math wrong. Since she would have killed the witches, she argues that, if anything, he saved a life.
That life is Jennifer Kale’s, as I referenced earlier. Still, Agatha has her reputation to protect. So, she tells The Teen that she didn’t sacrifice herself for him.
Also, Agatha learns that since she lacks a corporeal form, she cannot pick up any objects.
The Witch died without her broach and wants it back because it contains a lock of her son’s hair. Billy has it, but she cannot grab it.
Meanwhile, Billy processes the fact that he created the Witches’ Road. And even though she’s dead, Agatha isn’t mad.
More than anything, she is impressed. So, the two debate the ethics of the situation and evaluate what just happened.
What becomes clear is that Agatha wants to remain The Teen’s tutor. And he knows that he needs the help.
At first, The Teen tries to cast a spell to banish Agatha by using her broach as a personal item.
At this point, Agatha learns a new ability and emotionally knocks the broach from his hands. Then, she picks it up.
Agatha puts the physical object on her noncorporeal body.
Fittingly, this entire encounter occurs on top of the still-real door to the Witches’ Road.
Denouement
Fittingly but frustratingly, Agatha All Along ends the same way that WandaVision did.
We get a bit of satisfaction as Agatha and The Teen join forces and agree to search for Tommy together.
Agatha cannot help herself, as Billy Maximoff reminds her of the best qualities that Nicholas had possessed.
Beyond that, we learn nothing more about Jennifer Kale, aka the High Priestess, and the other coven members do not return to life.
Instead, Billy magically engraves their names on the door to the Witches’ Road.
Presumably, should Marvel greenlight a second season, some or maybe even all of them may return.
I raise that possibility because the Coven of Chaos lives. Billy and Agatha agree to become (or stay?) a coven of two.
Agatha warns him that she tends to kill her coven members. He tearfully but forcefully responds, “So do I.”
Billy magically closes the door in the floor, but then he points out that another door has fittingly opened.
These are stairs going upward toward a bright light. While that could just be the outside light from Westview, it’s symbolic.
Ghost Agatha and the child of Wanda Maximoff and Vision walk into the light together.
The series concludes without additional answers and no appearance by either parent. However, Vision Quest starts filming soon.
So, we’ll learn more then, but this show ends anticlimactically. It finishes on an expositional bent.
Still, I think the majority of viewers would place this one on the MCU Disney+ podium alongside WandaVision and Loki.
The story is told exceptionally well and encourages repeat watching. Kathryn Hahn’s performance will be studied for years.
This was terrific stuff, and I wish we were getting more of it.
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