Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Agatha All Along Episodes 8 and 9.Last week on Agatha All Along, we got Lilia (Patti LuPone) sacrificing herself and falling to her death in one of the most beautiful sequences Marvel has ever done. This week, we get… Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) sacrificing herself (kinda?) and falling to her death (from a lower altitude) in one of the most beautiful sequences Marvel has ever done? And yet, somehow, each of these scenes feels vastly different. Let’s get right into it by breaking down the two-part finale!
Why Does Rio Want Billy to Die in ‘Agatha All Along’ Episode 8?
Alice (Ali Ahn) wakes up in the cabin from Episode 5, papers scattered around the room. When she does, she sees 1) Rio (Aubrey Plaza) telling her it’s time to go and 2) her own dead, drained body on the floor. Disorienting! Alice doesn’t understand that this is all the time she gets — she finally broke the curse, so now she can finally do something with her life. Rio responds that Alice is the protection witch; she died protecting someone! Alice isn’t ready to go, but Rio leads her out into a green fog anyway.
Outside, Agatha is going through it, disoriented and frightened — especially when she sees Rio, who tells her that her coven is shrinking. The bodies are piling up, just as she promised. Rio doubted that she would actually deliver, as she thought there’d be a trick. And there was! Agatha was distracting her from Billy (Joe Locke), an abomination disrupting the sacred balance because of the whole body stealing ordeal. Rio knows how Agatha feels about him — she watches her just as closely as she watches everyone else. Rio tells Agatha that no one in history has had special treatment like her. Agatha thinks that’s a laughable thing to say, considering Rio gave her nothing — just took. Rio asks Agatha why she lets them believe those things about Nicky, and she replies that the truth is too awful.
Rio says what Billy wants from the Road is a violation; Agatha believes it’s a waste of time. Tommy’s not out there — not yet, anyway. Rio has to take Billy because she can’t let Tommy be Billy 2.0. Agatha defeatedly tells her to take him before realizing Rio can’t — if he’s killed, he’ll reincarnate again, and Rio will lose him, so she needs Billy to turn himself in. Agatha promises to arrange that in exchange for Rio letting Agatha go, but she also wants Death to stop pursuing her and making her life hell. When Agatha dies — a long time from now — she doesn’t want to see Rio’s face. Rio’s clearly hurt, but agrees. She walks away and puts a knife through the wall of the Road, exiting.
Jen (Sasheer Zamata) is pounding on the door to the tarot trial, sobbing to Billy about how Lilia is gone, even though it was her choice to sacrifice herself. Jen tells Billy the Green Craft is above the cycle of all living things, growth and decay. Given that Agatha’s ex is officially Death, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Billy tells Jen the fact she and Rio met over bodies is proof that Agatha has feelings, which confuses Jen. She doesn’t get his loyalty. Billy says he’s aware Agatha can never be anything but a covenless witch, which she overhears before barking it’s time to finish the Road.
What Is the Last Trial in ‘Agatha All Along’ Episode 8?
The last trial is an Earth one — with no Green Witch, tragically — but Agatha says there’s some overlap with potions. She mocks Jennifer, surprised she survived this long, as her money was on Lilia. As Agatha is being an annoying pest, she trips on their shoes, revealing that they’re back to the beginning, as the Road is a circle. If that’s the case, then how the hell do they get off? Billy tries to help, but Agatha screams at him in the most terrifying voice to be quiet if he doesn’t know what to do. Agatha says they have to keep going, and Billy puts his shoes back on. They took them off out of respect for the Road — and the Road doesn’t deserve that!
Billy wakes up in a body bag in a morgue, followed by Agatha and Jen. Agatha realizes they’re in her basement, and Jen notes that the ceiling has grow lights. They each have their personal items back, including Agatha’s brooch and Billy’s spellbook, though he can’t read anything in it. The grow lights start going off, starting the countdown. Jen thinks about how she can save Agatha and Billy, and Billy gives Jen a pep talk that makes her realize maybe she’s the reason why she hasn’t been able to use her magic — she’s not bound at all from her time in Boston. Agatha notes she didn’t realize she ever passed through there, and Jen realizes Agatha’s the one who bound her for 100 years. In Agatha’s defense, she didn’t know it was her! Jen does an emotional unbinding ritual, and her power reenters her again. She then disappears because the Road gave her what she was missing.
Agatha tells Billy that this can end right here, right now, if he juices her up. He doesn’t trust her, assuming she’s going to take all his power, but Agatha tells him to sit down so they can find his brother. Tommy isn’t waiting out there with a body, but Billy can give him a new life, which is what has Rio in a tizzy. She instructs Billy to close his eyes and tell her the last things he remembers with Tommy. He recounts the last few moments of the hex as Agatha walks him through it, instructing him to keep calm and breathe through it all with Tommy in a very touching sequence. Billy places Tommy’s soul in the body of a kid who’s about to drown, but his family is bad — there’s no one to love him. Billy asks Agatha if he’s killing a boy so that Tommy can live, but before he can hear her say no, he disappears.
Alone, Agatha sadly says that sometimes, boys die. She takes the piece of Nick’s hair from her brooch and gently brushes it down her face. Beneath the hair, there’s a small dandelion seed that she uses to successfully complete the trial by placing it in a patch of soil beneath the cracked ground. As the last lights begin to go out, Agatha screams that she needs more time, crying as a dandelion grows out of the dirt. The ceiling lights back up before starting to cave in, and Agatha makes it out just in time, emerging from the storm shelter in Westview.
Does Agatha Die in ‘Agatha All Along’ Episode 8?
Rio laughs and cheers from her perch atop the house, congratulating Agatha on making it through the last trial, but she still doesn’t have her powers. Agatha wants her prize, but so does Rio — where’s Billy? He hasn’t surrendered himself, so Agatha’s coming with Rio, and she’s thinking death by a thousand cuts. The windows break, slicing Agatha all over. The Westview citizens see this and are so unbelievably sick of these shenanigans they never asked for. These two have made their messy breakup everyone’s problem.
Agatha attempts to expel Rio — the evil — but Rio says she’s the natural order of things, that Agatha loves her — and that she’s a coward. Heeding Lilia’s warning from the previous episode, Agatha proceeds to hit the deck, narrowly avoiding the flying debris Rio sends her way. Rio continues beating the shit out of Agatha from the roof and asking Agatha why she doesn’t want her while Agatha tries to escape. Eventually, Rio comes down from the roof, but before she can get too close to Agatha, she’s magically pushed away by Billy, who descends from the sky in his Wiccan costume and offers her some of his magic, telling her not to take it all. Agatha absorbs it and laughs, feeling free and happy and getting an iconic glow-up — but does stop before draining Billy of his power.
Rio gives Billy and Agatha a choice — one of them stays with her, while the other gets to walk free. Agatha’s not having that, deciding to battle Rio in the backyard instead. Billy, who ends up tossed into the shed, reemerges out to help. Agatha tells him this is futile, as they can’t fight Death. She’s willing to sacrifice herself, but Billy doesn’t want that. Agatha tells him he’s not bad, and Billy tells her she’s not, either. Billy tells Rio he’ll go with her, and Agatha seemingly betrays him, agreeing to let Billy go without a fight. What can she say? She’s a covenless witch. Billy reaches out to Agatha in her head, asking if this is how Nick died. At that, Agatha approaches Rio and kisses her. Black smoke swirls around them, and Agatha lifts into the air, a look of peace on her face as she falls back to the ground. Rio sees her body, the life sucked from her, and sheds a few tears. Agatha sinks into the ground, beautiful flowers growing on top of her, with only her brooch left behind. Billy picks it up, and Rio shifts into her Death mask, telling Billy he can go.
As Billy walks away, the people of Westview greet him. Just like Wanda did, he pulls up his hood. He drives away and goes home, where his parents immediately start bombarding him with questions about where he’s been and fussing over him. Billy goes into his room, looking at all the decor there — his Lorna Wu poster, Wicked Witch statue, and Episode 5 pennants among them. He puts the pieces together and realizes it was Billy all along. He’s the one who created the Witches’ Road. He hears a cackle and “boo,” and the episode fades to black.
Who Wrote the Ballad of the Witches’ Road in ‘Agatha All Along’ Episode 9?
In Salem, Massachusetts, in 1750, a young Agatha is running around in a purple cape about to give birth. If only midwife Jen was here to help her! She starts to go into labor, but Rio is there in her green cape, waiting. Agatha pleads with Rio to let her unborn son live, but Rio says she can only offer time. Agatha asks how much, but Rio disappears before she can answer. Agatha gives birth, holding her son and lovingly telling him he was made “from scratch.” Later, she approaches a coven with a newborn Nicholas in tow, pretending to be meek and in need of food. The forest witch is somewhat skeptical but invites her into their circle. Agatha smiles bashfully before stealing all of their power with no remorse. Baby Nicholas giggles, and Agatha tells her son she thinks they’re going to be very good at this.
Six years later, it’s clear Agatha has been teaching Nicholas her scamming ways. He steals things and runs, luring witches into Agatha’s house so she can get their power. Later, Nicholas asks his mother why she kills witches, and she says she does it to survive. Nicholas asks if they can just stay with the witches and survive that way, but Agatha says no — if they do, the witches will try to kill them instead. Nicholas sings an early version of “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road,” and Agatha joins in, the two having fun together. Later, Agatha tells Nick that while she can do many things with her power, she can’t heal him or protect him from what’s coming. Eventually, the inevitable comes, with Nick waking up one night to see Rio waving at him with a torch. He goes over to her, curious, giving Agatha a goodbye kiss at her urging first. Agatha is horrified when she wakes to find her son dead, crying that she wants more time. She makes a grave and sings the ballad over it, tucking a piece of his hair into her locket.
What Does Agatha Do After Nick Dies in ‘Agatha All Along’ Episode 9?
A witch overhears Agatha singing the Ballad and stops her to ask where the Road is, since she seems so familiar with the song. Agatha’s pretty pissed at the interruption, considering she’s literally at her son’s funeral, but then she gets an idea. She tells this woman that she’ll show her the way after they gather a coven. Agatha baits the witches, just like we saw her try to do in Episode 2, gathering the women together and draining their power. She does this for many centuries, gaining more and more power with the same trick. The costumes in this segment are iconic, showing centuries and centuries of her being a killer.
We cut to Episode 2’s ballad, with Agatha looking straight at the camera after realizing who actually created the Road, before a gray-haired Agatha shows up as a ghost in Billy’s room. She wants to make it clear she didn’t sacrifice herself for him — she simply took a calculated risk. (Sure, Jan. You’re the tiniest bit more selfless than you’re ever going to admit.) She’s still figuring out the rules of this whole being an apparition thing and is bummed she can’t slap him without a physical body. Agatha tells Billy that he did something interesting with his powers, unlike Wanda, and reveals the ballad was a con the whole time. The Road wasn’t real until he made it real.
Billy freaks out, feeling guilty for killing Alice, Lilia, and Sharon, given that they’re not ghosts themselves. Agatha tells him she killed Alice, it was Lilia’s choice to die, and Sharon simply doesn’t matter. Besides, if he does the math on it, he actually saved a life — Jen’s. Agatha was going to kill them all in her basement on day one. Agatha tells him if he wants to be a witch, he has to get used to this feeling. He’s adamant he never will. “We’ll see,” Agatha retorts. Billy heads down to the basement — to the Witches Road’ portal — and Agatha’s ghost is there waiting for him, watching as Billy makes a chalk shape and gathers candles around, flying his spellbook to himself. With Agatha’s brooch in hand, he attempts to banish her — time to go toward the light or Rio’s toxic embrace or whatever for eternity. Agatha tells him he can’t just banish her with an incantation and a personal item, but he responds that it worked on Wanda’s spell. Agatha tells him he wasn’t responsible for freeing her before— he just loosened the jar. As Billy tries and fails to banish Agatha, she finally admits she can’t move on because she can’t face Nicholas.
Using enough strength of will, Agatha is able to pick up her brooch and put it on, as Billy points out that he’s sure Nicholas would forgive Agatha for what she did. It’s when he says things like that, Agatha muses, that Billy reminds her of her son. Billy adds that being a ghost suits Agatha — “spirit as my guide” and all — and Agatha tells him they could make a good team, even though she tends to kill her coven members, but then again, so does Billy. Billy uses his magic to close the door to the Witches’ Road, and Sharon, Alice, and Lilia’s names appear as if on a gravestone. One door closes, another opens. Literally! A lit staircase appears, and the two vow to go find Tommy.
How Does the ‘Agatha All Along’ Season 1 Finale Measure Up?
Choices were certainly made in this finale, with some of them paying off better than others. I’m still not sure how I feel about Ghost Agatha. On one hand, I’m so glad it looks like we’re getting more Kathryn Hahn in the MCU, potentially in the Vision spin-off! This entire show has truly been a career-defining performance for Hahn — a declaration that shouldn’t be taken lightly considering just how impressive her career has been. The thought of her being an obnoxious ghost mentor isn’t a direction I saw coming, but it is a bold and frankly hilarious one. She and Locke have proven themselves to be an excellent duo, and I’m satisfied by their ending with each other. Devoting time to Agatha and Nick paid off, too, as seeing her maternal side in Salem gives her beautiful texture.
But I’m not sure I can say the same about other aspects. The Agatha and Rio relationship doesn’t feel like it has a satisfying ending, and frankly, there are still a lot of questions and confusion there. The fact that we didn’t get a chance to see the beginning of their relationship — or really any moments where they were happy together — is puzzling, narratively speaking, considering the build-up.
Zamata gave one hell of a performance during the trial scene — her getting her power back gave me chills and immediately made me teary-eyed — but her ending felt a bit rushed. I wish we had gotten a little more indication of where she goes from here. And Alice really got the short end of the stick until her very last moments! Besides her name on the makeshift grave (admittedly, a gorgeous touch), I never felt like there was any real closure or conclusion for her.
All in all, Agatha All Along is a great beginning or middle chapter for many characters, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a clear resolution for any (save Lilia) by any means. While not every loose end needs to be tied up considering the MCU is known for bringing characters back and continuing their journeys, I do wish they would have wrapped up a few more — or at least fleshed a couple more relationships and backstories out.
Season 1 of Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+.
Agatha All Along doesn’t quite stick the landing as a standalone series, but it does tee up an interesting future for many of our characters.
- Hahn and Locke have proven themselves to be an excellent duo, and the end of Agatha All Along hints that we will be seeing plenty more of them.
- The twist of Agatha having been the one to bind Jen is surprising, and Sasheer Zamata gives an exceptional performance in the morgue.
- The flashback scenes are gorgeously shot, highlighting the excellent work of the costume and set designers once more.
- Even with the scene in the cabin, Alice?s ending still feels unsatisfying.
- The basic details of Agatha and Rio?s past and relationship are still unclear, and not enough time was devoted to showcasing their history.
- The twist of Billy having been the one to create the Road, while intriguing in theory, stumbles in execution.
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