After last week’s episode of Marvel’s Agatha All Along on Disney+ gave us answers about the mysterious teen, we were left with a whole bunch of questions about some of the series’ other characters. Luckily, the seventh episode provided some new answers and delivered them in one of the most compelling episodes of Marvel Television we’ve seen to date.
The episode opens with Lilia falling, a panicked look on her face, but we can’t see where she is. We then cut to Billy and Agatha walking the road alone. Agatha accuses him of trying to read her mind and eventually tells him to simply ask her his questions. He first asks where Rio is and she moves him along to the next question. When she brings up Wanda as Billy’s mom, he snaps at her that she is not his mom.
Eventually though, Billy asks if Wanda is really dead. Agatha’s answer is interesting. “Yes… no… maybe.” So it seems the Scarlet Witch may yet still be alive. Of course, that’s a complicated question when you’re talking about a being as powerful as Wanda Maximoff, made even more complicated by the MCU’s ongoing multiverse saga. We’re going to have to wait and see if Wanda makes another appearance in the MCU, but I would say the chances are pretty good.
The two arrive at an ominous castle and the site of the next trial. As they make their way into the castle, their trial costumes transform them into classic witches. Agatha becomes the Wicked Witch of the West and Billy becomes Maleficent. They see that the trial is tarot reading, which was clearly meant for Lilia. However, given their very recent mishap, Billy attempts to read the cards for Agatha.
The two sit down at a table and Billy begins to pull the cards. Immediately, it is evident that he does not entirely know what he’s doing. He places the first card on the table and a sword falls into the floor just a few feet from Agatha. They look up to find that the ceiling is littered with swords ready to drop and impale them. Billy pulls another card, this one meaning Agatha is being truthful. He knows this can’t be right, but he puts the card down anyway and another sword falls from the ceiling.
Agatha takes over the cards and lets her opinions on tarot being a con be heard. She recklessly throws down cards and swords begin raining from the sky. One sword falls into Billy’s chair and he dives out of the way just in time. Agatha’s plan is to simply throw down cards until they happen upon the right combination. As she argues they have time for this method, the table turns and the entire ceiling, still full of swords, begins to slowly move down towards them.
This is where things get really interesting. We cut to Lilia and Jen. Lilia is waking up from one of her episodes as she says “I was falling.” She begins to recap what she knows and Jen lets her know she knows Teen is the son of the Scarlet Witch, and that she knows this because Lilia told her. They begin to walk down the tunnels beneath the road and Jen tries to catch her up on their conversation. Jen tells Lilia she is being wispy and kooky. We then flash back to a few episodes ago when Lilia looked at Alice and said “which is it, am I wispy or am I kooky?” When she realizes she’s talking to Alice, she tells her “don’t.” We cut again to an episode prior where she said “try to save Agatha.” She was trying to warn Alice about what happened in Agatha’s trial, where Alice was killed.
Next we see Lilia as a young girl speaking with her teacher. The teacher realizes she is not speaking to the young Lilia, but rather an older version who is flashing back to this time. Lilia is receiving a lesson in reading tea leaves. She looks into her cup to find herself and Jen walking in the utilidors of the Road. That Lilia snaps back “awake,” for lack of a better term. Jen tells her she hasn’t heard the Salem Seven since the subway station, which confuses Lilia and probably the audience.
Lilia tries to explain her affliction to Jen. She says the flow of time is an illusion and she experiences her life out of sequence. She says it happened as a child but now it is happening again and it’s getting worse. When Jen asks why, she says “maybe because I’m close to the end.” Foreshadowing at its finest.
Lilia jumps into the room with Billy and Agatha, with the latter on top of her claiming to have saved her from impalement. We see Jen is there too and they are both in costume as well. Lilia is Glinda and Jen is the hag from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Lilia goes after Billy and calls him “teenager,” prompting Jen for the best joke of the episode, calling that his full name.
Billy begins to apologize to Lilia but then seems to have an argument with himself as she just looks at him. Eventually she realizes he’s reading her mind. Jen tries to calm Lilia down and Agatha refers to her as Dory, of course pointing at her apparent memory loss condition.
Lilia snaps back to it and tries to get back to doing a reading for Billy. He asks her if she was the one who put the sigil on him. She says she saw who he was and who he would become and she knew he would need time. If other witches had found out he was the son of the Scarlet Witch, he likely would have been killed or even influenced by some ill-meaning magic-wielders.
More swords fall from the ceiling and they realize they need to get back to the trial. We see some more flashbacks for Lilia before she is brought back to her childhood teacher. The teacher asks her about her coven and Lilia argues it’s better to be alone.
Back to the tunnels, Lilia finds Billy’s spellbook on the ground and takes it. Jen asks her about how her time jumps stopped when she was younger and Lilia explains that she “put it away” because all she saw was death. We’ll come back to that later.
The two suddenly hear voices and find a book shelf. Back in the castle, Lilia and Jen emerge from a book shelf right as Billy is saying “I wish Lilia was here.” They quickly get caught up on what’s going on and Lilia begins to do a reading for Billy. She pressures Billy to ask a question and eventually he asks “am I William or am I Billy?” It seems he is doubting his own identity at this point.
Lilia begins the reading and the first card Billy pulls is “The Magician,” which Lilia explains means he has enormous potential and the ability to turn all of his goals into reality. Agatha visibly takes note of this. In the comics, Billy is an immensely powerful character who can alter reality.
Lilia places the card and a sword falls. They continue the reading by pulling the card for what’s missing and Lilia explains this card means reunion. Billy takes interest because he is hoping to be reunited with his brother Tommy. Another sword falls. Another card is pulled and another sword starts to fall right toward Lilia as Agatha jumps in to save her. However, we cut again as Lilia flashes back to the coven summoning the Road, then to their fireside chat, then to the first trial.
Back with her teacher, Lilia asks what she is missing. We learn that Lilia’s original coven was killed by a fever and that she tried to warn them but they did nothing. The teacher tells her “death comes for us all,” a line Lilia uttered herself after it appeared Billy might be killed several episodes ago. She realizes death is coming for her and that was what she saw when she was falling.
Back to the tunnels, where Lilia wakes Jen up after they initially fell down there. Lilia gives Jen all of the information we learned previously regarding Billy, the Scarlet Witch and the trial. They check the path ahead and see two options: a subway station which appears to be a way off the road, or more tunnels. Suddenly, they hear the Salem Seven. They hide and watch the Seven pass them as they still search for Agatha. Lilia tells Jen she is going to help Agatha and Billy and that she hopes she will join her. Jen eventually agrees and they head into the tunnels.
Back in the trial, Lilia realizes she needs to be reading for herself. She begins to pull cards and when she places the first, no sword falls. As she pulls more cards, we flash back to all the times Lilia called out tarot cards throughout the series. The ceiling continues to come down on them as she pulls cards, finally getting to the destination card.
As she pulls the final card, we flash back to Lilia and Jen falling into the tunnels. Lilia looks up to see a figure approaching. She asks who it is and we hear Rio’s voice. We see a skeletal face beneath black robes and Lilia realizes Rio is actually Death. She pulls her destination card and sees that it is death. So yes, all her abilities showed her was death.
In the comics, there is in fact an embodiment of Death, sometimes referred to as Lady Death. The most notable story arc for the character is actually “Infinity War,” in which Thanos wipes out half of all life in the universe in an effort to make Lady Death love him. This is of course a stark (pun intended) contrast from the MCU version of the character who wiped out half of life in an attempt to make life better for the remaining half.
As Lilia hesitates, staring at the Death card, Agatha pulls the card from her hand and places it on the table, ending the trial and saving their lives. The exit opens and Lilia explains to the coven that Rio is Death. Billy asks if Agatha knew this and she admits it in the most Agatha way possible. They hear the Seven coming for them and they make their way for the exit. On their way out, Lilia tells Agatha to hit the deck “when she calls you a coward.” She also returns Billy’s spellbook and calls Jen the path ahead. It appears she has used her gift to provide some more assistance for her coven.
After Jen heads through the exit, Lilia closes the door behind her, trapping herself in the castle to the protests of Jen. Lilia steps back into the room and watches the Seven enter in their animal forms. They eventually take their witch form, surrounding Lilia. However, Lilia flips the tower card, which represents sudden upheaval. In this case, that is taken literally as the actual tower flips and everyone inside is hurled toward the ceiling, which is still littered with swords. We see the Seven impaled by swords before seeing Lilia still holding on. Eventually she lets go and falls to her death, only this time, she smiles. We again see a young Lilia approaching her teacher, who begins her first lesson.
This was perhaps the strongest episode of Agatha All Along yet! While it seemed we were going to be left with unanswered questions for Lilia and Jen, this episode delivered those answers in spectacular fashion, at least for the former. And on top of that, we got the reveal of Lady Death in the MCU, which could be very interesting for the future. With only two episodes to go (both debuting next week), this series if set up for a very fun finale.
Marvel’s Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+.