Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Agatha All Along, “Familiar by Thy Side”, Review!

The stunning reveals of last episode of Agatha All Along leads to the 13th year of the Teen to the current time! Re:Cap - Episode 5; Last ep, Agatha faced her trial in a cabin with a game of Ouija. A spirit appears, Evanora, her mother. Alice uses her power to force out Evanora from Agathat, but Agatha takes her power and drains her life! Teen confronts Agatha and Jenn confirms Agatha only wants their power. He refuses to take life, becoming a protector witch?, Agatha whisopers that he is like his mother. She walks away, heartbeats, and Teen’s hands spark blue. Agatha is held by Lilia and Jennifer with glowing blue eyes. Teen’s hands crackle blue and he throws his right arm out. Agatha thrown to the road and then begins to sink in like Sharon Davis. Agatha screams, but the others just watch. The last of her air bubbles pop. Lilia and Jenn are possessed by Teen’s power. He yells and sends them flying to the Road. Both slip into the black earth of the Witches’ Road. 

Teen is corrupted by his new power? A closeup of his face as he wears the diadem of Wiccan, Billy Kaplan, the son of Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch! The last we saw of young Billy Maximoff was in the alternate reality in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022). A portal was opened by America Chavez. Billy and his brother Tommy saw the Scarlet Witch choking her. The Scarlet Witch slams the Wanda of that world. He was afraid of the Scarlet Witch. America seals the portal. Mount Wundagore collapsed under the Scarlet Witch who destroyed every copy of the Darkhold across the multiverse. The director of the sixth episode is Gandja Monteiro. She has directed episodes of Wednesday in 2022. It is written by Jason Rostovsky who is the story editor for this series. He also wrote the “Before Sundown” (2019) episode of the Deathcember anthology series. Quiet closeups as William Kaplan gets his suit ready for his Bar mitzvah, his 13th birthday. 


His parents, Rebecca (Maria Dizzia) and Jeff (Paul Adelstein), proudly smile. Dizzia was in the supernatural series, School Spirits (2023). Adelstein was in the teen mystery show, Cruel Summer (2023). They were introduced in Young Avengers #7 (2005). Billy Maximoff was reborn as William Kaplan in the comics. Wiliam reads in Hebrew and this shifts to a dance party. Jeff hugs his son and Rebecca kisses him proud of William. He is taken to the dance floor to sit in the chair for the hora. Afterawards, he heads to a Palm Readings tent. William is greeted by the palm reader, Lilia! His sigil must have hidden him from Lilia. He asks about the future, Lilia says he will be going on a great journey, one of transformation. The lights flicker and she says his lifeline is broken in two! His two lives! Lilia mentions, “The Tower Reversed”, a tarot card meaning personal transformation. William nervously leaves and Lilia draws a symbol, the sigil, on a wood chip to put in his jacket left behind. Lilia cast the sigil to save William. 


Lilia gives his jacket to get back to William. Jeff makes an announcement about the Westview anomaly. It is 5:02 p.m. on everyone’s phones. Jeff says that the party goers should go home. It is chaos outside. William is in the back seat of his parents’ car as they drive past police cars. He sees the sigil. William looks outside to see the pink dome. He warns his mother and she swerves past a car to send the car smashing sideways into a tree! His parents revive, but William is in the back, bleeding. There is the distorted voice of Wanda saying the names of Billy and Tommy. William suddenly wakens and shouts Tommy’s name! Tommy was reborn as Thomas Shepherd, Speed. I think it will be Billy’s quest to find his brother. It really does feel like Wanda Maximoff will return to face Agatha Harkness. Agatha’s quest may be to gain enough power to face the Scarlet Witch. Jeff has brought a police officer to check on his son, Officer Wu-Gulliver! It is great to see the witches before the coven was formed, it was no coincedence that they were chosen. 


She says not to move him with an ambulance about to arrive. In many ways, this show reminds me of The Acolyte, witches, a song, and characters that die whom we see in flashback. The difference is that this series is well written in developing characters and secrets. William has an oxygen mask as his parents reassure him. He panics seeing his reflection in a mirror. The sigil rests by his patient ID wristband. William has recovered in his hospital bed. His parents enter and he can hear their thoughts! They say the doctor reported that he doesn’t have permanent damage and can be discharged. William returns home, but he has the look that it is unfamiliar to him. He sees photos of himself as a child. His dog, Greg, suddenly barks at him. Jeff takes the dog away. Again, William hears his parents’ thoughts. He can’t take the thoughts adn they overwhelm him. Interesting, Billy Maximoff had a form of telepathy.  


William shouts out, “Stop worrying!” He goes to his room, the thought of Rebecca, again it all looks unfamiliar. Ther is a poster of Houdini, and he holds up a vacation photo of his family. William says his name. We get “3 Years Later”, the current time, he is with his boyfriend, Eddie (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) in a car at night. Gutierrez-Riley is in the upcoming horror movie, Smile 2. In the comics, Wiccan’s boyfriend was Teddy Altman, Hulkling. Eddie asks about the wooden symbol and William says it is a sigil. They kiss and William starts hearing Eddie’s thoughts. He starts to explain that “this thing” happens when he is around people with whom he has “intense feelings”! William explains that he died in the car accident and he came back different. He wanted to tell Eddie, says he loves him, and they kiss. At William’s room, he has papers spread on the floor, he explains that the car was near Westview with the fall of the anomaly. Eddie says he thought it was a failed Avengers training mission.  



William opens a laptop showing Jennifer Kale’s Probiotic Candle Mask video and then shows the skies of Westview. Kinda disappointing that Jen did not figure into William's life before the accident. He points out a rune and tells Eddie that it was a spell. William says that no one remembers what happened, but he is going to meet someone who lived there, Mr. Hart? They are at a parking garage waiting for William’s contact. William sees the man in the trenchcoat and bucket hat place something at a security camera. They get out and the man pockets something else into his jacket. They give their contact names, CraftCrazy17 and Bohnerrific69! The contact turns, it is a bearded Ralph Bohner (Evan Peters)! This is a great call back to WandaVision, Peters was a surprise as Quicksilver, and now is a surprise in Agatha All Along! He says he remembers everything, Wanda controlled his every action in her sitcom world. William hears Ralph’s thoughts trying to stop him from saying, “Please don’t ask about Agatha Harkness”! William asks and Ralph sprays them with what he calls “witch repellent.” I love that Ralph’s mind was broken by the experience and that Peters gets to play the paranoid conspiracy contact. 


He said Agatha made him her puppet, husband, took his house, and made her keep a “nice  lady”, Monica Rambeau, prisoner. Ralph also says that he was a “terrible influence” on Wanda and Vision’s sons. William asks about their names. Ralph mentions Billy, the “mind reader”, and Tommy, the speedster. He says the twins disappeared. Ralph thinks they were taken into the anomaly and he left town. He adds that Agathat is still there under a spell and warns Billy about her. Ralph asks for cash or half off his one man show in Paramus! Funny. At home, William sees his parents, but goes to his room. He listens to the “Ballad of the Witches’ Road” by Lorna Wu and the Coral Shore on a record player. Wiliam is writing the fates of the players in Westview. He has the sigil and circles “Agatha Harkness still in Westview.” He does a search of Agatha Harkness and then the Salem Witch Trials which has an old photo of Agatha! William begins searching for Agatha, a newspaper headline about a zeppelin explosion, and then gets to her Fun Fact as the only survivor of The Witches’ Road. 


Lorna Wu’s song is heard clearly. He looks again at “Tommy Maximoff - missing.” He has to find his brother. William drives to Agatha’s house and looks at his pocket spellbook for “Release spell.” He gets a text from Eddie and thanks him for protection. Eddie sends back that William is his black heart emoji! He gets out of his car and pulls the hood of his sweater. He sees Detective Agnes and then enters her room to find a personal item for the spell. William finds the locket in a bag, but knocks over a lamp! We get his perspective climbing onto the roof. His version is more realistic as he apologizes, Agnes has a leg cramp, and he runs into the open car door of Sharon Davis. William is in a chair as Agnes has rope and electrical tape. She has a green lawn sprinkler instead of her gun and is wearing a sweatshirt, “Boehner Family Reunion”! I like the reality that confused Agatha under the spell. Agnes sits down in the next chair, not an interrogation room, and questions him. The photos snaps her out of the spell for a moment and William starts to read the Release spell. 


Agnes ties him up with the electrical tape and shoves him into the closet. It snaps to the end of the premiere when Agatha asks his identity. He says, “My name is William Kaplan.” This wouldn’t have any clue to Agatha at the time. She takes out her locket and asks him again. He says, “I’m Billy Maximoff”! On the Witches’ Road, we hear Agatha as she pulls herself out of the muck using a tree root. Agatha tries to wipe the mud from herself. Billy spins the sigil and then crushes it. Behind him, Agatha brings up his words about power as all an act. She says she knew who he was since Agatha says Billy and Wanda have the same tell. Agatha says she didn’t know for certain until the explosion, she mimes his action. She says he killed Lilia and Jen and then tries to count of her kills. Agatha asks how he came across this new body. Then, she seems almost proud of Billy taking a “fresh vessel.” Hahn is able to revel back as the Agatha Harkness villainess! We don't know the fates of Jen and Lilia, but Billy maintained he is not a killer, the Road may have moved them to a pivotal point. Then, there is Rio. “Familiar by Thy Side” takes away enough of the mystery to get us to the end of the Road! 


Five Lockets out of Five! 

#AgathaAllAlong, #GandjaMonteiro, #JasonRostovsky, #JoeLocke, #MilesGutierrezRiley,#KathrynHahn, #PattiLuPone, #AliAhn, #EvanPeters, #MariaDizzia, #PaulAdelstein  

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