Knowledge Trumps Power in “Agatha All Along”
“Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials” ramps up humor and horror
Spoiler-free thoughts on Agatha All Along episode 3 “Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials”
After two fine tune-up episodes to start the series, Agatha All Along found just the right notes in the third episode, “Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials.”1 It’s the perfect blend of humor and horror in an ’80s pastiche.
The ensemble continues to be a highlight. Kathryn Hahn serves as the pitch-perfect antagonistic lead, but Debra Jo Rupp stole the episode as the misplaced visitor who goes after the trial with gusto.
Let’s hope Agatha All Along can keep up the right witches brew as they go down the Road.
Spoilers for Agatha All Along episode 3 “Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials”
After being chased down onto the Witches’ Road by the terrifying Salem Seven, Agatha and her makeshift coven begin their journey. But not before “Teen” can’t share his name with any witches, and Mrs. Hart Sharon Davis wanders off to almost get sucked into a mud pit along with her Talbots handbag.
Agatha helpfully recaps each witch and what they want from this trek Lilia (Patti Lupone) wants to regain her divination skills, Jennifer (Sasheer Zamata) wants to reclaim her potion magic, and Alice (Ali Ahn) wants to discover what happened to her mother.
Jennifer spots a giant beachside mansion in the distance.2 Once inside, the group—dressed in ’80s preppy clothes—quickly solves a riddle leading to the answer of wine.
Jennifer tells Teen to be wary of Agatha because she supposedly traded her son for the Book of the Damned. Now, no one knows what’s become of him.3 Agatha may not even recognize him if he showed up at her door. Later, Agatha seems overly protective of Teen.
They’re trying to hint that he could be Agatha’s son, Nicholas Scratch. This could be overt clues to his identity or a misdirect for his eventual reveal. I’m still assuming he’s Billy Kaplan, Wanda’s son who becomes the superhero Wiccan.4
Everyone but Teen drinks a glass of the wine—he is underage after all—though Agatha tries to avoid it. Thanks to the comical face swelling, they realize the wine was poisoned. This is the trial designed for Jennifer, the potion witch.5
The witches go in search of the needed ingredients for the antidote. Thankfully, they don’t violate the number one rule of horror movies and go off alone. But each begins to see horrific hallucinations.
Mrs. Hart Sharon begs Wanda to “let him breathe.” In the first episode of WandaVision, Sharon, then known as Mrs. Hart, and her husband visit Wanda and Vision’s home for dinner. Mr. Hart begins choking on his food before Wanda tells Vision to save him. She passes out on the sofa.
The others have creepy visions that appear on screen. Alice believes her mom is there screaming that she’s about to be killed. Lilia sees two women with decaying faces and cries in Sicilian, “She’s dead. They’re all dead.” Jennifer encounters a man in some type of robe who says, “You are an inconvenient woman.” As he tries to drown her, he continues, “And now, you are nothing.” All totally normal going-ons in the ’80s.
After a backhanded compliment pep talk from Agatha, Jennifer realizes the last ingredient needed for the antidote—blood from the unpoisoned. Agatha cuts Teen’s head into their potion. As they all drink and pour some down Mrs. Hart Sharon’s throat, the timer that had been counting down since they first drank the wine expires. Water bursts through the windows and begins to flood the house, but the oven door opens up.6
Everyone slides down the chute in the back of the oven and back out onto the Road. They’ve passed the first trial, but not without a casualty. Mrs. Hart Sharon looks as dead as dead can be. Obviously, that could be a temporary circumstance on the Witches’ Road. We can also hope that’s not the last we see of Rupp because she was tremendous.
It may simply be the first trial, but the lesson so far has been the importance of knowledge over power. The witches on this journey have had their power taken from them in some way.
After Agatha tells them that the Road will test them and their knowledge of the craft with one trial for each skill, Jennifer asks, “How do we pass them without any power?” Teen brings up they can still do witchcraft, “manual acts of magic.” Later, as she is inspiring Jennifer to complete the antidote, Agatha says, “They can take your power, Jen, but they can’t take your knowledge.” It may be easier to have all the power, but knowledge is more valuable as it can’t be taken away.
So far Agatha continues to strike the right balance of mystery and revelation. We find out new information and answer some questions, but others still linger. If the rest of the show feels like this third episode, I’ll be a happy adventurer along the Road.
I seriously doubt there’s a connection, but my church hymn brain can’t help but read that as “Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come” and start singing Amazing Grace in my head.
Agatha tells Jennifer the house is “right off your vision board.” That connects Jennifer to the house, but the use of “vision” can’t be coincidental, right? We get both a Wanda name drop and someone says vision. What are breadcrumbs if not mystery persevering?
We get our first mention of Mephisto, the devil character of the MCU who was oft-rumored to be part of WandaVision. Jennifer says Agatha’s son may have become an agent of Mephisto.
Additionally, Teen says something traumatic happened to him when he was 13. He also says his dad loves a sous vide. I have no idea if that means anything or not, but you have to imagine every line he gives about his family is immensely important.
I wonder if it will be established that the trial will always belong to the first witch to see the house or location.
There is the obvious irony of a witch being forced to go into the oven for salvation, with the story of Hansel and Gretel shoving the witch to her death in her oven. Lilia initially refuses to go into the oven, saying, “That happened to a friend of mine. She had a lovely house.”