Through Many Miles / Of Tricks and Trials
Agatha Harkness and her coven of witches finally hit the Witches’ Road to face their first trial of Earth, Fire, Water and Air. The coven must work together through the trials as they have no true power among them, but four of the five have experience in witchcraft and as Teen mentions, “emphasis on craft.”
Hitting the Road
The coven makes its way down the road until it finds a house they must enter. Once inside, their signature styles all change into a traditional white, suburban housewife style. It’s basically a shallow homage to Big Little Lies. Not as much fun as the Mare of Easttown homage in the first episode, but still a nice tribute.
Once inside, the coven must drink wine to poison themselves and then the potion witch, Sasheer Zamata’s Jennifer Hale, must come up with an antidote while they are all suffering from hallucinations and before the poison claims their lives. It’s the first of the trials, and it’s meant to test them on water.
Mephisto Confirmed?
While in the house, Jennifer pulled the teen aside to warn him about Agatha. She mentions that Agatha once traded her own son for The Book of the Damned. She then mentions one of the big bads of Marvel’s mystical side, Mephisto. It’s just a passing mention, but it’s unlikely to just be an Easter egg for diehard fans. It feels like it’s setting up something more important later in the season.
This raises more questions about the teen’s identity. The way Jennifer told him that Agatha “probably wouldn’t recognize” her own son “if he showed up on her door” was about as subtle as a punch to the face. If this means the teen is definitely Agatha’s son, Nicholas Scratch, it will be predictable, but predictable doesn’t always mean bad. Still, if this is really Wanda’s son, Wiccan, it means there could be a Nicholas Scratch appearance later in the series. Still, I want to see one or both connected to Mephisto.
(Special thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe Podcast for the Mephisto Confirmed? line they've been using since WandaVision.)
The Death of Sharon Davis
While Jennifer tries to make the antidote, Sharon Davis, the former Mrs. Hart from WandaVision, suffers the most as she drank the wine first. The coven tries to administer the antidote as time expires, but the episode ends with Teen declaring “Sharon’s dead.”
This can be devastating when it’s time for the Earth trial as Sharon was the woman with the green thumb that Agatha grabbed to be their Green Witch. Obviously, Sharon Davis was not a witch at all as she accused the coven of kidnapping her earlier in this episode. Still, she knew about plants and could’ve been useful to the coven.
Is she really dead? Is she gone from the series completely? I don’t think so based on the interviews Debra Jo Rupp did when asked about the series. Other reviewers got the first four episodes in advance and most thought she was dead when she started being coy. Either she’s definitely gone, or she’ll return after a few episodes. My money is on a return, but it wouldn’t be the first time Marvel had a top tier performer and wasted them.
Rating
After a bit of an uneven set up in the first two episodes, episode three finds its footing. The show seems to know what it is and what it wants to be. That’s good, because some shows that have so much potential end up failing by not knowing what they are or what they want to be (I’m looking at you Star Wars: Acolyte).
The series has room to grow which is great because it needs to grow. It’s not perfect. Of the three big shows I’m currently watching, it’s my least favorite of the three, but it’s improving each and every week.
Check out Agatha: All Along exclusively on Disney Plus!
Article Written By: Jeremy Brown for Stelmach Brown Media 2024
Add comment
Comments