Agatha All Along Just Gave Us a Saw-Meets-Beaches Mashup

And we’re off: now that Agatha has awakened from the Mare of Easttown-inspired spell she was under, formed a coven, and successfully landed connected the Witches’ Road, the latest occurrence of Agatha All Along finds our heroes traversing their archetypal “trial”—a gauntlet of tests we observe are tailored specifically to the fears and anxieties of those who participate.

After 2 precise antithetic opening episodes, successful occurrence three—titled “Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials”—we yet get to spot what the bid plans to beryllium going forward. For each its popular civilization and witchcraft acceptable dressing, that appears to beryllium an homage to the 2 Escape Room endurance fearfulness movies from 5 years ago. We weren’t expecting that, either. 

As our occurrence begins, the larger coven larn a spell has been enactment connected Teen to shield his individuality from witches. As Madame Calderu opines, “it looks similar idiosyncratic enactment a sigil connected you…” While anyone with a fleeting involvement successful witchcraft knows a sigil is simply a tailor-made symbolic practice of its caster’s desired outcome, it seemingly has a full different meaning successful the MCU. Teen, a self-taught adept successful witchcraft and Agatha’s biggest fan, asks the group, “A sigil is simply a spell?” Alice replies, “A sigil is simply a redaction spell that hides something.”

Since the connection “sigil” derives from the Latin “sigillum,” meaning “seal,” I accidental that’s wherever they got the idea, truthful we’ll conscionable spell with it. While this is happening, Sharon/Mrs. Hart wanders disconnected and her handbag from Talbots is sucked into a bog. As the lyrics to the “The Ballad of the Witches Road” authorities “do not stray from the road,” and Agatha reminds the radical there’s obscurity to spell but forward.

It’s present the way takes them to a formation location consecutive from a coastal grandma imaginativeness board, with a beforehand doorway emblazoned with a afloat moon, suggesting the tide volition beryllium coming successful soon. As they caput inside, the character’s outfits abruptly morph into Diane Keaton-inspired ensembles from Something’s Gotta Give, replete with achromatic turtleneck sweaters and salmon-colored slacks. Teen finds a invited paper confirming the radical is present successful the heavy of their archetypal trial—and there’s a riddle: “My property has value, I’m nary amusive alone, I messiness with your mind, my tricks are good known.”

Sharon/Mrs. Hart unpacks this to mean “wine,” and discovers a adjacent vessel of reddish surrounded by 5 glasses—one for each, excepting the underage Teen. Apparently, this past occult proceedings inactive respects 20th period drinking laws. 

© Marvel Studios

While searching for a corkscrew, Jennifer Kale warns Teen not to spot Agatha arsenic she “traded her kid for the Book of Damned” and mediocre Nicholas Scratch whitethorn present beryllium moving arsenic “an cause of Mephisto.” Alice additionally reveals she has a tattoo serving arsenic a ward against evil that her stone prima mother, Lorna, made her get. We’ll person to hold for different occurrence to larn much astir that, though, since upon imbibing, the group’s faces detonate into exaggerated parodies of botox recipients. All but Agatha’s, naturally, who did not portion the vino herself. Jennifer deduces they’ve been poisoned by “Alewife’s Revenge,” and are doomed if they bash not find an antidote—which, by nary coincidence, happens to beryllium her specialty.

It’s astatine this constituent successful the occurrence the Escape Room/Escape Room: Tournament of Champions comparisons truly statesman to radiance arsenic the coven fundamentally embark connected a scavenger hunt astir the location to find the ingredients indispensable for their potion. Naturally, knowledge of mediate school-level subject comes into play, arsenic the seemingly outrageous elements they’ll request are successful information mundane household items.

For the antidote to work, Jennifer volition request frankincense, oculus of newt, “the gut of a eusocial insect,” and “the corpse of thing that’s been decaying for astatine slightest 30 cardinal years.” Agatha reasons petroleum jelly would suffice for the latter, portion “eye of newt” is besides known arsenic mustard seed. It’s besides reasoned chromatic would beryllium a perfectly acceptable alternate for insect gut, and Teen finds the frankincense, but doesn’t uncover wherever oregon however (a perfume, maybe?).

As the radical searches the house, each are met with disturbing spectral entities from their pasts. Calderu meets up with a pistillate successful Regency-era attire flanked by the Grim Reaper, Jennifer a mid-century doc who calls her an “inconvenient woman” and tries to drown her, and Alice her ain parent who says “I can’t support you” and perchance attempts to acceptable her connected fire. Naturally, they each flight arsenic these are hooks for aboriginal episodes. Agatha, too, receives a imaginativeness of her lad crying successful his crib, lone to observe he’s been swapped retired for the Darkhold similar a changeling.

However, the tide has travel successful and is present breaching the windows of the formation house, truthful the witches indispensable propulsion each their potion ingredients into an industrial-sized sink, quickly. They deed a snag though, upon realizing the h2o needs to boil, too. Thinking quickly, Teen uncovers a sous vide, a fancy room instrumentality for cooking nutrient evenly, and is told to disturbance the brew counterclockwise, which indispensable beryllium explained to him. Finally, everyone indispensable adhd a strand of their ain hairsbreadth to the pot. However, the concoction is not turning cerulean blue, meaning Jennifer has forgotten the last ingredient. Turns out, they request the untainted humor of idiosyncratic who did not portion the poisoned wine, and luckily, Teen has got them covered.

The radical manages to portion the potion successful the nick of time, barring Sharon/Mrs. Hart, who succumbs—presumably allowing Debra Jo Rupp to fulfill her contractural duties to That ’90s Show. In a motion to Hansel and Gretel, the doorway to the room oven opens, forming an exit from the archetypal proceedings and into the second. They’re not accelerated enough, though, and the water h2o yet shatters the windows of the house, sweeping the coven done the stove doorway and down a h2o slide, successful a wide but not-very-witchy homage to the h2o descent country successful Goonies. Down 1 member, the coven alloy themselves for their adjacent escapade arsenic “Heads Will Roll” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs leads america into the extremity credits.

© Marvel Studios

For each the treatment of witchcraft and witch-related media the bid has been hyped to absorption on, it seems (if this occurrence does so corroborate wherever we’re heading from present connected out) this was each a ruse to revisit the tropes of the Saw and Cube franchises with further comedic leanings. As a instrumentality of the Saw, Cube, Meander, Escape Room, etc. genre of movie successful which disparate characters are forced to lick puzzles unneurotic portion being picked disconnected 1 by one, I’m not disappointed successful this development, but it surely feels similar a bait-and-switch.

The episode’s rom com-inspired beachfront  mounting is besides perplexing, arsenic it’s meant to evoke Desperate Housewives alternatively of, you know, the seaside witch media promised. Instead of The Witch Who Came From the Sea or Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, this latest installment takes its cues from Mamma Mia! and Mermaids. Honestly though, if the full bid turns retired to person been a roundabout justification for Cube-meets-Beaches, I truly can’t beryllium excessively upset. All things considered, I’m funny to spot wherever we extremity up adjacent week.

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