Agatha All Along – Episodes Eight and Nine Review

Was that a perfect ending to Agatha All Along? No. But did the series come closer to fully sticking the landing than pretty much every single MCU series to date? Absolutely. I’d say it was probably only a minor deduction for a step at the end, to continue the metaphor a bit longer. On the whole, the two-part finale of Agatha did what it needed to do: Wrap up the series in a mostly satisfying manner without compromising the characters we knew while also providing just enough to tantalize us moving forward.

Let’s talk about the final big reveal of the series: Billy created The Road on his own, mastering an illusion that took our characters through trials his own mind created (which explains how they were all so indelibly linked to each witch’s needs at that moment) and, in a way, killing three people along the way*. Pretty impressive innate magical ability for a teen who hadn’t fully come to terms with his own power and place in the world. And yes, that theory had been floating around online for several weeks, so kudos to the writers for dropping those breadcrumbs along the way. Nothing bugs me more in a series than when the amazing final revelation seems to have come out of nowhere. This one? Definitely fully formed and under our noses. It also means that Agatha was onto Billy from the jump, so her acting was even better than it seemed. Makes me want to re-watch the series with that knowledge and see just how the great Kathryn Hahn laid the groundwork for that reveal throughout. Because you know she did.

*It was one of Agatha’s more kind moments, telling Billy that he was really only responsible for the death of Sharon (who she, of course, still can’t remember the name of). And yeah, Lilia made the choice to die to save them all (the Salem Seven? That’s all Agatha’s fault, so she might even take some blame there). And Agatha definitely killed Alice. But, as Billy stressed, they were all there because of him and his illusion. Even if Agatha had planned to kill them all as soon as the song finished. So, a very complex web of blame between the pair here.

It was also really interesting to get the chance to flashback to Agatha’s time with Nicholas – who presumably was also Death’s child, which was why she needed to take him as he was born – as well as how the pair created the Ballad as a fun little ditty between them. And how Agatha, in her grief, co-opted the song as a means to entice and then drain witches throughout the centuries. That Agatha, she really got into the pop culture zeitgeist over the years. But what was most important in that flashback was seeing her deep love for Nicholas. His death was not the result of a deal with the Devil. She didn’t sacrifice him for her own gain. She begged for time, and Death, in love with Agatha and presumably their son, offered what she could. Of course it would never be enough, and by making that deal, the pair doomed their relationship in the process. A tragedy on all sides, but one that explains who Agatha became as a result. She lost the loves of her life in one fell swoop and became a hollow shell of a person as a result. She kept giving Death bodies, but it was in an attempt to fill the hole in her soul from all she lost. Oof. That’s pretty rough. And poetic.

Now, for the two things the finale didn’t really flesh out as well as it could. First, the relationship between Death and Agatha, while clearly present throughout the two episodes, was never fully grounded the way it needed to be. We heard them both claim to love the other. We heard Death’s side in her fireside confession earlier in the season and saw Agatha beg Death using their love as the draw to save Nicholas. But we didn’t get to see anything that really drove home how deep their love really was. It was telling, not showing. Sure, they were attracted to each other and had crazy chemistry. And we got the first Sapphic kiss in the MCU and it was a doozy. But I wanted to see them in love. I wanted to see how that relationship worked. Because to be in love with Death, a love so encompassing that Death is willing to give you time with, presumably, their child before taking him? Knowing Agatha would never be able to forgive Death for upholding her end of the deal? That’s something impressive. But we never got to see that play out in any way on screen*. As for the second, that would be Wiccan coming to terms so damn quickly with his role in creating The Road. Yes, we were under time constraints, but he went from wanting to banish Agatha to wanting to learn from her and accepting that his illusion led to the death of three people pretty fast. Hopefully, once we check back in with the pair (and what a fun buddy dramedy that should be), we’ll get some more on how he’s processing things. But still, it felt a tad too fast for my tastes.

*In addition, Death got Agatha’s body, but not her soul since she’s still a ghost on Earth. So, does that count? Is Death just letting her have this time? How does one get to be a ghost? Because Agatha claims she’s avoiding having the face Nicholas and atone for all she did – which also likely means facing Death and dealing with their own issues. Hopefully this gets dealt with somewhere down the line.

But, despite those issues, I wholly enjoyed this series. I loved the incredible work of this cast – getting to see Ali Ahn one more time as Alice was a delight and knowing that Sasheer Zamata is still out there in the MCU as Jen is awesome. Hahn getting to return as a ghost in the future is going to be a hoot (and a nice call-out to Agatha’s comic counterpoint who acted as a ghostly guide for Wanda at one point). And Joe Locke’s Wiccan is going to be a great addition to the Young Avengers once Kamala Kahn manages to get the rest of that team together. Marvel has the ability to attract pretty much any actors it wants, and they really put together the absolute perfect cast for this series.

Kudos to Jac Schaeffer for once again striking gold with an MCU series. This journey through Agatha All Along was just such a joy from start to finish and really went a good ways towards restoring my faith in the MCU. For once, this was a series that didn’t feel like it was racing to the end in order to set up the next thing. Sure, we know Agatha and Wiccan are going to appear again – and I’m sure Death will be around as well – but there’s no clear “next steps” for them. Their next projects haven’t been announced, this wasn’t in service of a new film or the massive introduction of a key storyline. This felt like a character driven story, focused far more on making sure we understood our central characters than a stepping stone to their next project.

Hopefully the success of this series serves as a template for future MCU outings. They don’t need to be exposition for the next big thing. All they need is a smart, compelling story focused on a character – a character whose motivation drives that story forward to its conclusion. Storytelling should be character-first. For a while now, Marvel has lost sight of that. Hopefully this series helps bring them back down the right road.