Marvel fans were rocked last week by the reveal at the end of the fifth episode of Agatha All Along and this week we got some more answers. The whole dynamic of this show has shifted now and it’s starting to look like this series may have a big impact on the larger MCU. But for now, we need some more information about Teen.
This sixth episode opens up with a look at Teen’s Bar Mitzvah. A quick shot of a program confirms what we were already mostly sure we knew: Teen is William Kaplan. Billy Kaplan is the adopted name of Wiccan, the son of Wanda Maximoff, in the comics.
After the ceremony, Billy celebrates at his party and we meet his parents. It’s clear they have a very loving relationship, which only makes what’s about to happen that much more heartbreaking. The party is fittingly magic-themed and Billy heads into the tent of a fortune teller. It turns out that the fortune teller is Lilia who begins to read his palm. She sees a transformative journey ahead for Billy and the lights begin to flicker as she tells him “your lifeline is broken in two.” She then blurts out another Tarot card: The Tower reversed, which represents personal transformation, fear of change and averting disaster. Billy returns to the party and it’s clear Lilia has some concerns about him. After he leaves she draws a symbol on a small tile and places it into Billy’s jacket pocket, which he left behind in her tent. She then passes the jacket off to be returned to Billy.
Billy’s father makes an announcement to the party that something is happening with “the anomaly in Westview,” and that everyone needs to go home. The party empties out and Billy and his parents make their way home past rushing police cars. Billy finds the tile from Lilia in his pocket and then looks out the window to see the Hex from WandaVision is moving. Billy’s parents are distracted by the Hex and they get into a bad car accident. His parents wake up to find Billy unconscious and bleeding in the back seat. As they panic, we hear the voice of Wanda saying “good night, Tommy. Good night, Billy,” and Billy wakes up screaming “Tommy!” His father rushes to his side with a police officer, which happens to be Alice.
We cut to Billy in an ambulance being treated for his injuries. He gets a glimpse of his reflection and begins to panic. Later, in the hospital, we see Billy is conscious and still has the tile with him. His parents enter and Billy is able to read their thoughts.
This seems like as good a place as any to explain what’s going on here. In the comics, Wanda created Billy and Tommy using her magic, just like she did in the MCU. However, their souls were eventually lost, much like we saw in WandaVision. They were later dispersed and reborn in the bodies of existing people. That seems to be exactly what has happened here. William Kaplan died in that car accident and the soul of Billy Maximoff took over his body.
The Kaplans return home and Billy inadvertently reads his parents’ thoughts some more and it begins to make him panic. Billy heads up to his room to try and jog his memory. There are plenty of fun references in the room, including a Houdini poster, telling us William was always interested in magic. We also see Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz posters, giving a nod to the Witches’ Road. It’s clear Billy doesn’t remember his past life as he looks at his reflection and tries to assure himself he is William Kaplan.
We then jump to three years later and we see Billy sitting in a car with his “boyf” who we saw calling his phone earlier in the series. We don’t have a name for him just yet, but it would make sense for this to be Teddy Altman, also known as Hulkling, a member of the Young Avengers. For now, though, we’ll just call him “Boyf.”
Boyf asks Billy about the tile, which he is still carrying all these years later. Billy plays it off as a puzzle and changes the topic. As they kiss, Billy reads Boyf’s mind and learns that he plans to say “I love you.” Billy pulls away and begins to tell him about what has been happening to him since the car accident. He also refers to him as “Eddie.” So the name Boyf is short-lived. It’s also not quite Teddy, but it’s close enough that Marvel might just be trying to throw us for a loop.
He tells Eddie he died in that car accident and he came back as something different. He also says he pretended to recover so his parents wouldn’t worry, but he still doesn’t remember his life as William Kaplan. He then slips up a bit and says “I love you too,” to Eddie who questions him a bit before Billy corrects himself. Eddie seems willing to move past all the crazy things he just learned but he asks Billy if he is not William Kaplan, who is he?
Billy brings Eddie to his room, where he tries to explain everything he has learned over the past three years. His room is now noticeably different, with posters for films like The Craft and Saw. Billy shows Eddie newspaper clippings and other findings from the anomaly in Westview. He then opens his laptop to a video from Jen Kale, which he laughs off before switching to a video from the anomaly, in which you can see a rune inside the Hex. He tells Eddie the cause of this was witchcraft and that he found someone on Reddit who used to live in Westview and is willing to talk about what happened.
Billy and Eddie go to a parking garage to meet the mystery Westview resident, who turns out to be none other than Ralph Bohner, the substitute Pietro from WandaVision. Ralph is much more skittish than when we met him under Agatha’s spell. He tells the kids about his experience in Westview, describing it as a nightmare. Billy asks if he has been able to do things he couldn’t before ever since the anomaly, which seems to confuse Ralph.
Billy changes the subject and reads Ralph’s mind to hear that he doesn’t want him to ask about Agatha Harkness. Of course, Billy does, which sends Ralph into another crazy fit. He eventually explains that Agatha was the one who hijacked his life and brings up Wanda and Vision’s kids. Billy asks about that and gets the names Billy and Tommy, as well as the fact that Billy was a mind reader. Ralph says no one knows what happened to the twins but that Agatha is still in Westview.
Billy returns home and his parents ask where Eddie is. Billy goes up to his room where he listens to Lorna Wu’s version of “The Ballad.” He begins to research Agatha Harkness and finds some old photos and information on the ancient witch. He also learns that she’s the only survivor of the Witches’ Road. Listening to the song, he puts together that Tommy is what’s missing from his life and that he needs to travel down the Road himself, so he sets off to find Agatha.
Billy arrives in Westview and the site of Wanda’s former home. He then sees Agatha’s home and reads his spellbook to learn that the release spell requires a close personal item. So, as we saw in the first episode of the series, Billy breaks into Agatha’s house. He finds her locket before Agatha chases him out of the house.
It turns out, things don’t exactly go as Agatha saw them in that first episode. Their police interrogation actually takes place in Agatha’s living room as she wears a “Bohner Family Reunion” shirt. Billy plays along with the spell until it begins to fall apart. Billy jumps on his opportunity to chant the release spell and Agatha tapes him up and puts him in a closet.
We then get a recap of the first episode and the conversations between the two, only this time, when Billy tries to tell Agatha his name, the sigil is no longer muting him. He tells her his name is William Kaplan but when she asks him to repeat himself, he says he is Billy Maxmoff.
We then cut back to the Road, where Agatha claws her way out of the mud. She confronts Billy, who crushes the sigil in his hand. Agatha reveals she had a feeling of who he was when they first met. He learns that the sigil is officially broken as he says his names out loud. Agatha gives Billy credit for finding a new vessel for his soul to take, again playing off of that same story we know from the comics.
Agatha moves along to discuss their plans for making it down the road but Billy protests that he doesn’t need her anymore. They argue before Agatha pries regarding what Billy actually wants from the road. She eventually gets him to admit he’s trying to find Tommy. He also eventually agrees to work with her but tells her he doesn’t trust her and they set off down the Road once again.
So Billy is who we thought he was and now we know he is off to find Tommy. The dynamic between him and Agatha is now very different though and it will be very interesting to see what the Road has in store for them and how they are going to handle it. It also seems as though we have in fact seen the last of the rest of their coven, which is unfortunate because we were left with some unanswered questions regarding those characters. Perhaps some magic will bring them back in the end. Either way, we have two episodes left and some very interesting dominos set up. Let’s see where this goes.
Marvel’s Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+.