It's hard to ever know what to expect out of Agatha All Along and Episode 7 certainly opens on the unexpected, with Lillia dressed all in white, falling in an infinite black space. If you didn't hit skip recap, Disney spoiled you a little on the fact that this episode might be more about Lillia and her time skips than anything else, but we frown on spoiling ourselves right before the show starts like that.
After a beautiful but concerning performance from Patti LuPone, we're back with Agatha and Teen on the Road. Agatha's doing what she does best and tormenting him. He's been trying to read her mind but can't, so she tells him to just ask her questions. His first one cuts right to the chase: "Where's Rio?" Seems she can also be tormented and she quickly tells him "Not that question."
She asks if she has any more questions but pretty soon it's more about her prying into his mind. She wants to know what he wants at the end of the Road, and insinuates she knows his mom very well as her "ex best friend."
"I have a mom. " Teen says. "I'll get what I want at the end of the Road."
If this was Agatha trying to play nice, Teen's having none of it. He asks if Wanda Maximoff is really dead, but even though Agatha says she saw a body, she still says "No. Maybe." and basically shrugs it off with more vagaries. He challenges her, and insinuates she's never been on the Road, and effectively ends the conversation. A large castle looms ahead, where the group will find their next trial.
The wonderful transformation begins here. Teen's sporting Malificent's look, and Agatha's of course THE wicked witch. There's a tarot card deck on the table and as soon as Teen touches it, a timer flips over. He attempts to read for Agatha, but it's not exactly his forte, and when he places a card on the table, a sword drops from the ceiling. Unfortunately, it's one of many, many swords hanging over their head, so he'd better learn tarot pretty quickly.
"I wish Lillia was here" he sighs.
And then, she is. It seems she and Jen did indeed get sucked under the earth, but are alive and mostly ok (though totally filthy) in a subterranean tunnel system with glowing roots. It seems Lillia's been lost to time a little bit.
"I was falling."
Jen doesn't understand that she's not referring to the fall we saw in the opening sequence, and is more concerned about how confused Lillia is, seemingly having just "wisped" away. She doesn't know where she is, and doesn't remember any part of the apparent journey she and Jen have been taking under the Road.
She tries to recall and Jen fills her in, saying she told her to go down the "gross" path and find shelving, also letting her know that Teen, the son of the Scarlet Witch, kicked them off the road. Lillia's alarm is unmistakable, and she asks how she knew. "You told me," says Jen.
This begins a series of vignettes where we actually get to see Lillia beginning her training in witchcraft in Sicily. It paints a better picture of who Lillia is, and the things she's struggled with. Lillia's someone who doubts herself and always has. Her strange time trips have also made her seem weird and out of touch with reality, and both of these factors have kept her isolated. She encourages her to not sell herself short, but it's clear she doesn't feel good enough.
Back in the present underground with Jen, Lillia's distraught and explains the time jumps to Jen telling her that it's getting worse. But before long, things start making more sense. And while Jen was initially dismissive or at the very least irritated by frequently having to remind Lillia what she actually said, she actually softens visibly.
She's suddenly wisped away again though, this time to the sword room Agatha and Teen are in trying to figure out the puzzle. Teen's happy to see her, but she doesn't feel the same, irate at him for concealing his powers. But as she's seething he's reading her thoughts and reassuring her that he didn't know and if he would have he would've saved Alice. They make peace only after she refers to him as Teenager, which elicits the funniest line in the series so far out of Jen (Sasheer Zamata). "Damn, using his full name!"
This particular part of the episode manages to be hilarious and emotional simultaneously and that's what takes this whole episode to another level. There are so many heart to hearts happening at the same time Hahn and Zamata are punching it up with a whole lot of humor. It seems like everyone's making amends. Lillia realizes she has no beef with Teen, and tells him the truth about the sigil and how she placed it so that he would have time to come to grips with it, essentially.
But they're still in a D&D style trap room with swords that fly down from the ceiling and a neat little lowering sword ceiling. They've let the puzzle go unsolved during all the amends and now the trial's reinforcing its chokehold on them. Lillia's again facing her own failures, or so she thinks as she wonders what she did wrong, only to end up back in time again. Desperate to stop it so she can help everyone she's physically tapping her head and chanting "Stop stop stop stop stop" but the visions don't stop.
She's back with her mentor again, and her present age. Her mentor gently inquires about her life and what she's missed. Lillia's quick to disparage herself. She's asked if she has a coven, and when she scoffs at the notion that a witch needs a coven, she says she'd rather be a fraud and a hermit.
Then we're back at the beginning of the root path and Jen's starting to put the pieces together about Lillia. Meanwhile, Lillia finds Teen's spellbook, and re-remembers what they're supposed to be doing. Jen asks about the time jumps that Lillia mentioned having when she was younger and she confesses the reason they stopped was because she wanted to, because all she saw was death. Then they see the shelving, and hear Agatha and Teen bickering, and we're back to the future but everyone's caught up.
Teen and Lillia are cool, and the tarot master, the fraud, becomes the only one with the answers. But there needs to be a question, and after some bickering about the validity of tarot which Agatha throws shade on, Lillia takes over. They've determined that Teen is to be the querant (queer-ant, he quips) and they have to have a question. After some frustrated wheelturning he blurts out "Am I William or Billy?"
The swords stop descending and she begins to read for him. Jen backs up Lillia pointing out that she knows what she's doing and she launches into it. Her entire reading is extremely accurate for Teen but a sword still drops as though something's still wrong. It's not working.
Agatha, reckless, obnoxious and angry, takes the deck and Lillia goes back again, with flashes back to her time with the coven and finally back to her mentor. Her mentor inquires as to why she came and she says she wants her power back -- but it was never gone.
"I'm a forgotten woman" Lillia cries out in frustration and fear.
"Remember yourself."
We've been doing these recaps for 7 episodes with this one, but I feel like further describing everything from this point forward spoils the perfection of Patti LuPone's performance in this final act, and that's something I don't want to do.
What follows is a testament to the power of great writing and great actors like LuPone, who can elevate something beyond what might have been something very good and make it unforgettable. Every single thing Lillia's been through, every line spoken by LuPone, paints a portrait of a woman who's lost herself, lost her way, and sold herself short. When she takes her power back and saves them all (which, spoilers, but trust me, the magic is in the details) it's something you just have to witness yourself to really appreciate, and to say I teared up is an understatement. If you've ever felt that you weren't good enough, or that you were a fraud or weirdo - if you're neurodivergent or just different for a reason you didn't choose, you'll see yourself in the anguish and fear Lillia has, and you'll be cheering through tears as she realizes who she really is and lays waste to every obstacle in her way.
It's an episode that's worthy of watching even if you never cared about Marvel - a story that's important and relevant and can connect to women (and people) of all ages who feel like they don't belong and can't do it. I can't do it justice in a recap, and I can't recommend watching this episode enough. Not only that, but there's some third act reveals in the B story that not only confirm our suspicions, but have serious implications.
I'm a little sad we're about to run out of Agatha All Along but with this episode I can solidly say this is my favorite MCU TV show and I've loved the entire journey. Let's see where the Road takes us.
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