Agatha All Along wraps things up successful a two-part finale (“Follow Me My Friend/To Glory astatine the End” and “Maiden Mother Crone”) offering a fewer legitimately clever twists, but yet ends up different successful a agelong drawstring of Disney+ MCU projects that ends astir precisely wherever it began.
Though Agatha All Along was pitched arsenic a redemption story, the large uncover of the bid is that the Witches’ Road truly was a con perpetuated implicit the centuries by Agatha (…all along!) to harvest witches’ souls, leaving them arsenic desiccated husks portion she walks disconnected with their powers. Harkness herself, alongside her son, Nicholas, invented the ditty and took it connected the road, performing it astatine pubs and campfires to lure occult-practicing victims similar a murderous organ grinder and her repentant monkey.
She intended to bash the aforesaid with her latest coven we’ve spent the bid getting to know, but the ritual really worked this time. As we find out, Billy/William/Teen/Wiccan unknowingly utilized his ain repressed powers—borrowing from the reality-warping bequest of the Scarlet Witch—to marque Agatha’s centuries-long con a reality. The show’s popular civilization themed-trials were not conscionable acceptable dressing aft all, but inspired straight by elements from Billy’s ain bedroom, similar a spiritual conception board, albeit with astir everything tally done the filter of his beloved Saw poster.
This was each precise satisfying and clever (although not rather arsenic immaculately constructed arsenic past week’s twisty-turny Patti LuPone love-in), but again, didn’t magnitude to overmuch for our heroes successful the agelong run. Though we observe Death claimed Agatha’s son, and that she and Agatha bash so person a history, their narration isn’t decently explored successful the last 2 episodes beyond adjacent much textually acknowledging what was already insinuated. We larn Death has been providing Agatha with “special treatment” for centuries aft allowing her lad Nicholas Scratch to past a fated stillbirth, lone to assertion him either mode a fewer years later.
Death, I suppose, besides didn’t caput Agatha’s innumerable assemblage count; I’d beryllium funny to cognize if that ever aroused the suspicions of either the FBI oregon mummy enthusiasts. It’s wide Death and Agatha person a analyzable love/hate relationship, but we were denied the brace getting their ain occurrence to unpack it successful favour of a comparatively speedy confrontation.
In the series’ last trial, Agatha, Jennifer, and Wiccan find themselves wrong a morgue lined with turn lights for indoor plants, and are tasked with planting a effect kept successful Agatha’s locket with the elements astatine manus (because decease fosters life, you know?). While the 3 reason astir the champion mode to bash this, it yet comes to airy Agatha was besides the 1 who “bound” Jennifer aft an anonymous benefactor hired her to bash it (though it’s suggested she ne'er needed her powers, truthful I was close idiosyncratic would interval the thought earlier the end).
Upon learning this, she’s capable to execute a counterspell and alert off, leaving Agatha and Wiccan down to decorativeness the proceedings themselves aft gaining what she sought connected the road. Around this time, Agatha additionally assists Wiccan successful harvesting a donor assemblage for his member Tommy, whose tone is inactive seemingly successful limbo, allowing him to implicit his desired extremity and get him disconnected the road, too.
Though Agatha’s capable to implicit the proceedings connected her lonesome with immoderate ungraded and her ain tears, Death inactive wants to termination 1 of them—either Agatha, her centuries-old romanticist interest, oregon Wiccan, who we larn volition continuously reincarnate successful different dying bodies unless helium yet turns himself successful to Death herself. After a conflict betwixt Death and Agatha (one that lone concisely indulges Marvel’s emotion of a large VFX blast-off, astatine least), Wiccan returns Agatha’s assistance implicit successful his superhero costume, and they person the hard speech of who volition unrecorded and who volition die. Though Wiccan, feeling blameworthy astir the portion helium played successful the deaths of the remainder of the coven, initially agrees to autumn connected the sword, of course Agatha takes the bullet, walking straight up to Death and kissing her connected the lips.
Though Death is seemingly satisfied with the offering—and we and Wiccan alike bash so ticker Agatha die, her assemblage forming a Rio-approved furniture of flowers arsenic it rapidly decomposes—in the last episode, aft a agelong flashback to explicate Agatha’s past with her lad and the instauration of the story of the Road, Wiccan discovers Agatha remains connected Earth arsenic a ghost. She’s refusing to walk implicit due to the fact that she can’t bring herself to spot her lad again. Luckily, this tees up a imaginable 2nd season, and her wisecracking tone (now with much comics-accurate achromatic hair, making it precise comic that the comics person lone conscionable comparatively precocious acquiesced to making Agatha look a small much Hahn-esque) embarks connected a travel with Wiccan to find his recently ensouled brother, Tommy.
So, unless the bid is renewed for different season, that’s each she wrote for Agatha All Along. There’s a batch to bask successful the infinitesimal to infinitesimal here, but it’s inactive hard not to flight that the bid didn’t bash each that overmuch to dramatically inch guardant galore of these characters. By the end, Agatha remains avoidant and morally dubious—but it’s not similar determination aren’t immoderate consequences here. Agatha mightiness inactive beryllium astir successful immoderate form, but decease did drawback up to her. Wiccan is inactive looking for his brother, but has travel into his ain arsenic a practitioner of magic. Jennifer is backmost successful enactment and hopefully gets to bent retired with Man-Thing, determination down the line. Sharon, Alice, Lilia, Wanda (no cameo here), and the Salem Seven are each dead, it seems, and we inactive person nary thought wherefore the elemental unit of Death itself was posing arsenic a pistillate named Rio Vidal for a fewer episodes, different than a distanced involvement successful William Maximoff’s soul.
But adjacent with those consequences, however overmuch of Agatha All Along volition person been worthy it yet remains to beryllium seen. Like the different Marvel shows astatine Disney+, things happened, recently introduced characters died, and thing to peculiarly displacement the presumption quo of the more-important-movies truly happened. We’re different measurement person to Young Avengers, if that’s your thing, arsenic Marvel dilatory but surely begins to tick disconnected introducing versions of that celebrated Gillen/McKelvie mentation of the team.
But we’ve been done this earlier with Marvel TV: if Wiccan does ever look successful an MCU movie, Young Avengers oregon otherwise, he’ll beryllium reintroduced successful specified a mode you won’t request to person seen this bid to recognize what his woody is. Even taking it arsenic its ain thing, abstracted from the machinations of the wider MCU, thing of overmuch value happened successful Agatha All Along, speech from a fewer well-executed quality deaths. When our heroes observe they’ve been waking successful a circle, uncovering the shoes they removed astatine the opening of the journey, I felt that.
Still, astatine slightest determination was that pitch-perfect Mare of Easttown parody.
Agatha All Along is present streaming connected Disney+.
Want much io9 news? Check retired erstwhile to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s adjacent for the DC Universe connected movie and TV, and everything you request to cognize astir the aboriginal of Doctor Who.