The joy of having an antagonist leading the story is that by keeping her essentially evil, in addition to being coherent, it becomes fun. Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) has her motivations for being who she is, but the path she has taken has made her false, narcissistic, arrogant, and attentive.

The journey to recover her powers does not need to be without laughter precisely for this reason and this is what the third episode of Agatha All Along proves. Mixing humor and horror, and even with only 9 episodes, we have already had the first trial! With apparently tragic consequences. Let’s go back in time to contextualize.

To have a map of the series’ adventure, it is necessary to observe the lyrics of the song that opens the portal, the spectacular The Ballad of Witches’ Road. It reflects everything that will happen and the episodes have titles taken from it. We opened with Seekest Thou the Road, then moved on to Circle Sewn with Fate Unlock Thy Hidden Gate, the first two episodes that brought Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) as Agnes and trapped by the magic of Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and managing to regain consciousness of who she really is.

Without her Powers, she has to follow “the Witches’ road” because at the end of it, she may receive what she wants most, which is, of course, the Powers. Since she cannot go alone, she needs a conspirator to, as the lyrics say, “sew fate” and “unlock the gate”.

With that, we arrive at Through Many Miles Of Tricks and Trials, which warns that they will have complex tests to advance. The episode, terrifying at times, shows exactly that. Everyone will have to face their worst fears and traumas and overcome them, something so easy to say and difficult to do.

Agatha, always a trickster, remains dubious at each stage. She is the leader, but she does not have the morals to have followers and the witches take the first steps disagreeing and provoking each other. Clearly, Agatha knows more than she is letting on, so much so that she claims she considered it obvious – because it is in the song – but they should not stray from the path because it is riskier to take a step off it. “Marching ever forward, ‘Beneath the wooded sanctuary, I do not stray from the path”, warns the ballad, and of course Sharon Davis, Mrs. Hart – who is not a witch, but was “kidnapped” to form the group – does not know and deviates from the path trying to return to Westview.

With that, the group is taken to a house where they are locked up and face the first test. I’ll pause here to praise the fact that, as a continuation of Wanda/Vision, Agatha All Along maintains the tradition of quoting TV series or shows perfectly. In a mix of Big Little Lies and Desperate Housewives, we have the brightness of a beach house contrasting with the ocean of emotions and darkness that threatens to invade. We could go on and on, but we’ll try to stay focused here. Brilliant series have that.

Well, I already knew that we would have to say goodbye to someone at some point because the ballad warns: “If someone leaves, we follow Spirit as our guide” and I confess that I was distressed by the teaser. We’ll get there.

The test is as follows: everyone has to drink the poisoned wine, prepare and take the antidote in 45 minutes, but of course, it’s not said that way. First, the wine appears, they hesitate to drink it, but Sharon, stressed, quickly downs her glass. When the timer starts counting, they understand that they have to drink it too, and only later do they discover that it is poisoned. First, their faces become distorted, and then they start hallucinating what they fear or resent most about their lives as witches.

The ever-swing Agatha tries to trick everyone by not wanting to drink the wine but ends up being forced when the antidote is only complete when everyone participates. Her cruelty is clear in everything, in her selfishness and in her pleasure in knowing that they need blood for the formula. “How much and from whom?”, she asks excitedly.

I will return to the fears of each of the witches, but the blood was from the still unnamed teenager (Joe Locke) whose secrecy magic prevents people from hearing his name. Everyone thinks it is Agatha, but she warns that “sigil is beneath me”. The fact is that he is important, otherwise he would not be under sigil. And since he did not drink the wine (they do not allow it because he is underage), it is his blood that completes the antidote.

The witches barely escape the house invaded by water, but they pass the first test. The sacrifice is Mrs. Hart, who drowns even after being rescued. Or so we think, remember the lyrics that they will follow a “spirit as their guide”.

For Marvel fans, the episode came with great confirmations and revelations.

First, Jennifer Kale suggests that Agatha Harkness’ son, Nicholas Scratch, has become an agent of Mephisto and this mention led fans to madness. My theory is that Nicholas was transformed into Scratchie the rabbit, but the other possibility mentioned in the series is that he “could be a demon” and “an agent of Mephisto”. This happened because she would have exchanged him to gain access to the Darkhold. As a result, Agatha would never “recognize her own son if he showed up at her door”, leaving it open to the possibility that the young man could be him.

The most accepted theory among the networks is that the teenager is actually Billy, one of the Scarlet Witch’s sons, but since it has not yet been revealed, we are going with all the clues given. This one was not subtle.

As we saw in episodes 1 and 2, each witch is with Agatha for reasons that came up in this first test. Alice Wu-Gulliver tried to leave her mother’s death behind, but a man took Jennifer Kale’s magical powers, Lilia Calderu is hesitant to use her magic and Agatha regrets having lost her son. That’s why in the hallucination we saw Alice watching her mother suffer in front of her, Jennifer being drowned by the man who took her magic Lilia seeing the personification of death, as well as Agatha seeing the Darkhold in a baby’s crib. It was terrifying.

We part ways with the witches now fewer in number but with more challenges ahead. The title of the next episode has not yet been revealed, but it’s worth studying the lyrics of the Ballad of the Witches’ Road. What else is coming up?

The Ballad of the Witches’ Road

Seekest thou the road to
All that’s foul and fair
Gather sisters, fire
Water, earth and air
Darkest hour, wake thy power
Earthly and divine
Burn and brew with coven true
And glory shall be thine

Down, down, down the road
Down the Witches’ Road
Down, down, down the road
Down the Witches’ Road
Down, down, down the road
Down the Witches’ Road
Circle sewn with fate
Unlock thy hidden gate

Marching ever forward
‘Neath the wooded shrine
I stray not from the path
I hold Death’s hand in mine
Primal night, giveth sight
Familiar by thy side
If one be gone, we carry on
Spirit as our guide

Down, down, down the road
Down the Witches’ Road (down the Witches’ Road)
Down, down, down the road (down the Witches’ Road)
Down the Witches’ Road (down the Witches’ Road)
Down, down, down the road (down the Witches’ Road)
Down the Witches’ Road (down the Witches’ Road)
Blood and tears and bone
Maiden, Mother, Crone

The road is wild and wicked
Winding through the wood
Where all that’s wrong is right
And all that’s bad is good
Through many miles of tricks and trials
We’ll wander high and low
Tame your fears, a door appears
The time has come to go

Down, down, down the road (down, down, down, down)
Down the Witches’ Road (down the Witches’ Road)
Down, down, down the road (down the Witches’ Road)
Down the Witches’ Road (down the Witches’ Road)
Down, down, down the road (down the Witches’ Road)
Down the Witches’ Road (down the Witches’ Road)
Follow me, my friend
To glory at the end

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