Agatha All Along has been surprisingly fun, largely thanks to the clever setup and the really diabolical performances from Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness and Aubrey Plaza as Rio Vidal (who is almost certainly Death). Last week's episode ended with a really terrific reveal that the mysterious Teen was in fact Billy Maximoff, Wanda's son, and this week we explore more of how that came to pass.
The episode opens with Billy three years in the past, only this isn't Billy Maximoff at all -- it's William Caplan. Joe Locke plays both versions of this character this episode, and I have to say it really felt like he found his feet this episode, especially in his hilarious interactions with Agatha while she's under Wanda's spell and thinks she's Mare of Easttown. (Mare of Westview?)
It's William's bar mitzvah, though they don't bother casting him as a younger kid, which is fine. We can suspend our disbelief and avoid an awkward temporary casting. At the party, he meets with a mysterious fortune teller -- who we know as Lilia -- who does a palm reading that shakes her to her core. When she realizes that his lifeline splits, she draws a sigil and puts it in his pocket. This is the sigil that prevents him from revealing his true identity to Agatha (though we learn later that she suspected all along thanks to a "tell" both he and his mother have -- though she does not divulge what that tell is).
The celebrations are cut short because something big is happening with the anomaly at Westview and as he drives home with his parents, they get into an accident and William dies. Somehow, the spirit of Billy Maximoff enters his body and the two become one. William/Billy has no memories of either life before the accident, but he knows he feels different and has to fake it -- all while hearing everyone's thoughts.
He also hears the voice of his brother, Tommy, and senses the other boy's presence. This, we learn, is his driving motivation for going on the Witch's Road -- not to raise Wanda from the dead, but to find his lost twin.
The investigation leads Billy and his boyfriend Eddie to a mysterious redditor who was there during Wanda's takeover of Westview. They meet him in a parking garage -- it's a very Deepthroat moment -- and it turns out to be none other than Ralph Bohner, played by a returning Peter Evans. His reddit handle made me laugh out loud: Bohnerific69. Indeed, the Bohner jokes don't stop there. Later, when we get the replayed scene of Agatha interrogating Billy from his point of view, she's wearing this hilarious shirt:
This was another laugh-out-loud moment for me, partly because it's just hilarious to see this kind of joke in a Disney show. Hahn is also just wildly funny as the fake detective character, and she and Locke play off one another really well in this scene, as he realizes she's under a spell.
I'm jumping ahead a bit. It's Ralph who reveals Agatha's presence in Westview and part of her role in the events that occurred there. When Billy can't find much of anything about her online -- except for a reference to her being the only known survivor of the Witch's Road (as he just so happens to listen to the track on his record player) -- he decides to go to Westview and find answers.
We basically get the whole scene playing out very differently from how Agatha saw it in episode 1, and it's a very enjoyable revelation because it's just so ridiculous. And then things speed up and we find ourselves back on the Witch's Road as Agatha claws her way out of the mud and confronts Billy who, it turns out, can't access his powers unless he "throws a hissy fit" (I'm paraphrasing Agatha here).
(I have to make a side-note here in case anyone is confused, but I was reading the AV Club's very peculiar recap of this episode earlier and the author wrote "Billy can't use his powers at the end of the episode because Agatha stole them when he blasted her into the mud, right?" Um, no. He didn't use his powers on Agatha at all, actually. He used them to control the other witches and made them throw Agatha into the mud hole, then blasted them with his powers. I'm not sure if this was hard to follow or if the reviewer was on their phone during this scene, but I wanted to make sure that was all clear. Billy -- in his new body, without his memories -- has not harnessed full control over his powers. That's all).
In any case, Billy doesn't want to team up with Agatha who he rightfully doesn't trust for very obvious reasons -- including her trying and failing to count how many people she's killed -- but he has no choice. They have to walk the Witch's Road together, just the two of them. And Rio, of course, wherever she's gotten to. I suspect she'll pop back up next week, though things look bad for the other witches. Then again, we haven't seen their bodies so they may very well claw themselves back out of the mud as well.
All told, a very fun episode that brings us up to speed on Billy's backstory, ties this show even closer to WandaVision and sets the stage for the final act of Agatha All Along. I think this might be my favorite episode since the season premiere, actually, though I also have to admit I'm kind of sick of that damn song. It's not bad, I just don't buy it as some big international hit. That's a small quibble, however. We're entering the end-game now, and I'm definitely curious to see where this goes and what it's leading to for the larger MCU.
A Wanda / Agatha / Wiccan / Mephisto movie could be great if they ever resurrect Wanda, that is. I didn't like how she was used and how badly her arc was abused in Dr Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness, so I'd like to see her get the story she deserves, whether that's a movie or a third series that brings all these characters together once again. Either way, I hope Jac Schaeffer (the creator of both series) helms it, because she's done a really great job with both these shows and writing such juicy characters.
My colleague Paul Tassi has a much more critical take on this week's episode than I do, saying that the episode "fell flat" which I suppose I just fundamentally disagree with, but I'm sure there are plenty of others in the fanbase who wanted more of a "Billy mastermind" plot or who are disappointed he's not out to bring Wanda back. I like that the show has taken a less expected approach. The path -- or road, perhaps -- less traveled by.