And so, after 8 episodes of witchery and secrets, we literally reach the end of the Witches’ Road as Agatha All Along arrives at its final destination. To call it how I see it, it’s been something of a fantastic ride and a much needed shot in the arm of a franchise that was feeling in need of some good press after being perceived as being at somewhere of a “low point” (Deadpool’s words, not mine) and this shift of perspective managed to feel as genuinely diffrent from the MCU’s usual menu of hero brawling to give us something that – in its own way – felt as diffrent as the two seasons of Loki. I don’t know, maybe it’s a villain thing.
But with the previous episode essentially giving us the standard, Marvel finale complete with tumbling stuntmen and costume reveals (lookin’ good Wiccan), what can be left to possibly say in what is essentially the series’ epilogue?
Well, believe it or not – it truly was Agatha all along…
After seemingly closing the door once and for all after his spell binding adventures on the Witches’ Road, Billy Maximoff ponders on what comes next after realising that he’s now a super powered being who has recently given his brother’s consciousness a home in the body of a recently drowned boy. However, before any move can be made to locate the whereabouts of Tommy Maximoff’s new form, a horrible realisation hits Billy like a lightning bolt after he takes a closer look at some of the items in his room.
It seems that much in the same way his mother’s reality bending powers managed to turn the town of Westview into her own, personal fantasy land in order to handle he grief, Billy managed to bring the entire world of the Witches’ Road into being with his own abilities. However before he can fully react to this devastating revelation, it’s flashback time to fully understand how such a thing could possibly occur.
It’s starts – as most things do – with Agatha who, years after killing her mother’s coven by draining their powers for her own, has managed to settle down with her own child whom she names Nicolas Scratch; however, she is warned by Death that sooner or later, she will come for him and that the witch best make best of the time they have left. As the years go on, both Agatha and Nicholas gradually perfect a scam which she uses him to lure in other witches for her to consume their powers for her own and as they do so, the two concoct the legend of the Witches’ Road from nothing, even going so far to invent a song which, eventually, becomes the oft played Ballard Of The Witches’ Road we keep hearing. Eventually, Death does indeed come for Nicholas and as a result, Agatha becomes the murder happy woman we met in WandaVision as she uses the Ballard about a Road that doesnt even exist in order to ensnare witches and leech their power.
However, after Billy unconsciously made the Road real with his powers, events transpired as they did – but just because Agatha (eventually) sacrificed herself in order to let Billy live, it doesn’t mean she’s actually gone.
Resolutely earning the title of Agatha All Along by pulling the ballsy move that our lead practically made up all the shit that Billy made real just in order to help her murder more witches, the series ends on a fittingly bombshell laden finale that not only irons out its plot once and for all, but does it in a way that legitimately surprising and moving. We’ve had flashbacks for Agatha before courtesy of WandaVision, but this is an entirely different kettle of fish altogether as it expands greatly on just how tragic and heartless the woman really was. Never entirely painting her entirely as a power hungry monster or a once virtuous mother grieving her loss, we manage to get a endearingly nuanced look at a slice of Marvel villainy that plays in just as many shades of greys as Loki, Thanos or Nebula. Yes, Agatha did have her son cruelly taken from her by Death – but she was using him to lure witches to their deaths for her own gain; and furthermore, we’re not actually told how Nicholas was born to begin with. Agatha claims she made him “from scratch” which infers that she may have conjured her pregnancy with magic, Wanda-style and we know, thanks to her views on Billy’s existence, that this is something which would have concerned Death greatly. Still, while it’s been fun to have Agatha deliver scathing put down after scathing put down over the last few episodes, it’s nice to see Katheryn Hahn get some real dramatic weight once again and her journey through the ages as she goes from flawed mother to cackling mass murderer to the tune of (what else) the Ballard manages to hit some impressive emotional notes.
However, as the flashbacks go on to show how she improvised at the sudden creation of a legend she literally cooked up hundreds of years earlier, the episode goes from sad to smart as it finally fills in all those little narrative gaps and odd line readings as Agatha realises that she’s ostensibly in yet another Westview scenario. This, of course, brings up up to date with the final revelation that Agatha is still hanging around, but in the form of a ghost who still feels the need to annoy Billy constantly.
Not only do we now have a virtually comic accurate Agatha (no beehive yet, but her hair is now white), but it means that the two can finally have it all out without any more secrets or maneuvers left for them. Agatha reveals that she won’t move on because she can’t bear facing her son in the afterlife and Billy admits huge waves of guilt as he realises that he’s essentially responsible for the deaths of Sharon, Alice and Lilia by creating the Witches’ Road for real. While her reasoning may be a mite skewed (Agatha fesses up that she was planning to murder her new coven in her basement anyway), she does point out that Billy did spare Jennifer, who we see escape and fly away with her powers fully restored.
From here, in true Marvel fashion, we set up where Billy Maximoff is going next and before that long tantalised Young Avengers team-up (the comic arc Children’s Crusade seems like a no-brainer to try for next as it not only resurrects Scarlet Witch, but it also ropes in Doctor Doom too), however, the fact that Agatha agrees to become his ghostly guide means that her story thankfully hasn’t come to a halt just yet – dying in Marvel is just like catching cold, remember.
After Billy seals up the Road for good and leaves an inscription of remembrance for the members of the coven that fell, we finally come to the end if a series that’s proved to be one of the MCU’s most solid yet. While some might argue that the trial based nature of the show got in danger of getting repetitive, the visual verve and constant plot twists meant that it never got dull despite lasting a whopping (for Marvel) nine episode run. But now we’re done, the sprawling saga of the Maximoffs continues – not only fo we have Tommy to locate but it’s been confirmed that Vision will be getting his own show at some point, so fully expect more family reunions in the future.
The MCU needed another TV hit and it got it – but while some thought it might have come from the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again or somewhere else, fitting it ultimately was Agatha All Along, all along…
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