Agatha All Along's second episode has Agatha gathering her coven in her next step to regain her power! It had its Disney+ premiere on September 18th with two episodes. Premiere re:cap; Detective Agnes O’Connor is on a case involving an unknown woman victim who was crushed by some force. The only evidence is a book card that she finds a burned section of the library. Agnes has also found a brooch which turns out to be a locket of hair. Agnes returns home, there is awards in a room for her son(?), Nicholas Scratch. She finds a rival in Agent Rio Vidal. Agnes captures a young intruder who is looking for The Road. He chants words and the interrogation room twists with a painting instead of a window.
Agnes goes to the coroners that looked empty and then has the victim’s body, hinted at being Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, and Rio. She breaks free of the spell (and her clothes) finding that she was trapped by the Scarlet Witch’s spell for three years! Maximoff’s spell has taken away all of Agatha Harkness’ powers and identiy! She goes to her basement and picks up her pet rabbit, Señor Scratchy, connected to her son, holding his soul or something? Then, Agatha hears a thumping upstairs. She opens a closet to find the Teen with his mouth covered by electrical tape. Then, she is thrown back as her door explodes! Rio enters in black as Agnes is thrown back to a wall with Rio’s dagger at her neck! Rio knows that Agatha had the Darkhold book, but lost it.
Agatha’s throat is cut and the Teen watches the fight as Agatha grabs the dagger’s blade! She knocks down Rio and they both say they can’t kill each other. Agatha tells Rio doesn’t want to kill her without power. Rio taunts her with taking her own power, but Agatha says would die. She agrees to wait for Agatha, but will tell Salem’s Seven where to find her! Rio leaves, but licks Agatha’s hand healing the knife wound. Agatha turns to see the Teen. The second epsiode, “Circle Sewn with Fate Unlock The Hidden Gate”, is written by Jac Schaeffer. Directing duties is now helmed by Laura Donney who was the staff writer for WandaVision. Agatha is looking at the damage to her house as the Teen hops over. He manages to move the tape to ask to go to the Witches’ Road.
She tears off the tape and he doesn’t believe the lie that the Witches’ Road is not real. It will give “the thing you want the most” if you reach the end of the road. Like the Soul Stone? It is also like the promise of The Wizard with the Yellow Brick Road. The Teen, 16, says Agathat wasn’t killed on the Witches’ Road. He had read everything about Agatha including her time in Salem. The Teen says he studied, but wants to “blast, shield, to levitate” which Agatha says is a shortcut. He warns her about the people coming and she picks up her brooch. Agatha asks who the Teen is and a spell weaves around his mouth, he is a secret to her, I’m still guessing Nicholas Scratch. She says she will drive and gets into mock car with table, wheel, and fuzzy dice. She has to find a covern to reach The Road.
Wanda’s house is now just foundation and they leave the town by the Westview welcome sign. The Teen gets a call from his boyfriend, but doesn’t answer. One theory has The Teen being the reborn Nicholas in the body of Billy, Wanda’s son. Is the boyfriend Teddy Altman, later Hulkling, a shapeshifter, of the Young Avengers? Agatha tells him the Covenstead Rule that a covern will be around in a three mile radius. I like rules for world building. She has him stop by Madame Calderu’s Psychic Readings. They enter the shop, Agatha uses a Southern accent, and out from beaded curtains is Lilia Calderu. She is played by Broadway legend, Patti LuPone, her rendition of “Memory” in Cats is iconic. LuPone was in American Horror Story. Agatha says her husband had died and left behind some gold bars. Her “son” pays for the reading. Lilia makes some goofy sounds and says the gold bars are in a bowling bag.
Agatha is about to leave when Lilia says she was “under the influence of another” whom she hurt and took her “agency” for three years! Lilia knows why they are there, says she’s not interested, there is almost tears in Agatha’s eyes. She knows that she is Agatha Harkness. Lilia turns and suddenly screams. Agatha guesses that Lilia is 450 years old. Lilia was chased out of towns for predicting the future. Agatha tells her that she is going to walk the Road! She needs Lilia as a Divination Witch, but Lilia says Agatha is the most infamous witch. Agatha whispers that she can’t take her power unless she is blasted by her. She takes an eviction notice and she offers Lila a return to her greatness. Suddenly, lights burst around the kitchen, Lilia has written four names for Agatha. Her name is also on the list, the Teen leaves the address on a card, Agatha says, “Plenty of street parking”, funny!
The Teen is happy that they have found a new member for the coven, but Agatha is distracted by the cawing of a crow, a shapeshifted form of the Salem Seven? It is has supernatural connection including divination. The next member is Jennifer Kale played by Sasheer Zamata. The actress is known for SNL and she also voices Adria in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. The character is familiar to me from the comics as a sorceress tied to Man-Thing. Her first appearance was in Adventure into Fear #11 (1972). She lights a candle for two customers and has them taste the wax! It is a probiotic candle. A fortune teller and now an alternative health store, the whole supernatural type scams is fun, there needs to be a carnival worker. Agatha enters and asks about jade eggs, a Goop item, Jennifer stares daggers at her. Hahn is just too funny!
Agatha comes right out with it needing Jennifer for Potions, alchemy, to walk the Witches’ Road. She knows that Jennifer also has a binding spell on her for a hundred years! Jennifer calls Agatha “witch killer.” She had killed her first coven that included her mother, Evanora, in the WandaVision finale, “Previously On” (2021). Agatha is about to walk out when the Teen says he loves Jennifer’s products, she asks if he is “another child sacrifice”! Agatha sacrificed maybe her son, Nicholas?, for the Darkhold? Similar to Thanos with the Soul Stone? He points out the class action lawsuits against Jennifer. Agatha joins him and The Teen adds that she faces jail time. He offers her the card with the address. Agatha gets hungry and munches on a corn dog at a mall food court. She says the next member is a Blood Witch, the child of a witch.
He realizes that the witch is talking about is Lorna Wu and the Coral Shore who recorded the ballad. The Teen says his mother saw her tour before she died. Agatha sees a rat scurrying along a fence, the Salem Seven closing in, and she finishes her meal. They enter a Hot Topic and Agatha watches an Asian security guard, Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn). The actress played Dagon in the Supernatural show. She was a character introduced in Doctor Strange: Last Days of Magic #1 (2016). Agatha tells the Teen that Lorna Wu was rumored to be lost on the Witches’ Road! Agatha tells the Teen to run so he could get tripped up by Alice. She tells Alice that they need a Protection Witch. The owner walks in and Agatha says that Alice assaulted her son! He says he gave her the job as a favor from her police lieutenant. They offer to join them on the Road, Alice says she doesn’t believe in it, The Teen says forty million copies says she’s wrong! Agatha tells her that they can find what happened to her mother!
On the way back to Westview, Agatha asks where the Teen is from and his answer starts with Eastview and then his words are drowned out. Agatha turns up the radio volume, but must know it is a spell that hides his identity from her. Agatha walks out of her house and sees a grey wolf howling down the street. The Salem Seven have been following her everywhere! They may be sending animals to follow her or only able to take animal forms by day. The Teen has put up a “Welcome Coven” sign above the fireplace, but Agatha rips it down! Then, Jennifer enters, The Teen brings her appetizers, granola bars. Lilia takes one and recognizes Jennifer as “high priestess. Alice is at the door having tracked down Agatha since she is an ex-cop.
Jennifer asks about the Green Witch and adds that it is the only way to get to The Road. The Teen asks Lilia about the last name on the list and she says it was a heart, a black heart, sinister. There was a demon, Blackheart, that was son of Mephisto. He was in the film, Ghost Rider (2017), and had first appeared in Daredevil #270 (1989). Agatha leaves them to find the Green Witch. Mrs. Davis is trimming her hedges and Agatha invites her to a party. She says she hasn’t been to a party since Mr. Davis died! He was in WandaVision played by Fred Melamed. One of the Westview residents missing. Agatha and her coven are assembled at her basement. She sends up the Teen up stairs.
Agatha has them circled around the empty basement floor to sing the Ballad. Interesting, since we just had witches sing about the Power of Three in The Acolyte, but those lyrics were not from Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. The Teen picks up the rabbit, the music is eerie, and then sees a dark form in the road! Agatha begins singing the “Ballad of the Witches’ Road” joined by Jennifer, and then the legend, Patti LuPone, I think LuPone didn’t want to overwhelm the voices in this chant. Next, Alice, but Mrs. Jones is uncertain about the lyrics. The song continues. Outside, Herb wonders at the witch on the road who splits into the Salem Seven, and then runs! They start to walk and The Teen turns to run into the house! Agatha All Along has the coven assembled and they are a misfit bunch that have to be strong enough to face the dangers of the Witches' Road!
Five Lockets out of Five!
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