Any time you open on a mangy fox, a single raven, a snake in the grass (literally) and a lone owl, you know there's gonna be trouble. Not to be outdone by last week's walk through the fire, episode 5 opens with a dire warning from Lillia as the coven once again regroups to journey forward. "They're coming."
Who, exactly? Well, remember that bit about Agatha having murdered her entire coven in cold blood? Well, that's come back to haunt her. Quite literally. See, though Agatha's rather ruthless, she spared the children of the women in the coven. In doing so, she created what Rio refers to as a 'feral, hive-minded coven bent on revenge.' Uh oh.
Even if the others think Rio's a "creepy lurker" and sniffing out some clues that she might be more than she seems, she's not wrong. The Salem Seven are out to get Agatha, and by extension her new coven, and it's not as though Agatha's famous for protecting anyone but herself. After all, she traded her son for the Darkhold. Allegedly.
Even worse, since the Seven are on the trail, they'll have to take brooms. Teen suggests it, and everyone else is vehemently opposed. Why? Stereotyping, image of females as domestic, take your pick. But the Seven are surrounding them and the only way out is up (though, I'm not exactly sure why up works, since at least two of seven fly...) After some quibbling and drama about the making of the brooms, they're up up and away, and safe, at least for now. Or so they think, in a moment of brief levity before the Road takes them straight back down to Earth and luckily, heading straight for the house that contains the next trial. Unfortunately, that path also directly converges with one of the most terrifying of the Seven, a bee lady. Fantastic.
They escape, rushing in the door to... a very '90s slumber party. Which it turns out, is host to Agatha's trial. There's a blood moon, and it's time to talk to the dead. This one's easier for everyone to figure out, and soon they're on their way to the answer - with a simple task. Use a Ouija board and listen to the spirits on the other side. Teen reads a list of rules for the group. Listening is key to the task, but the coven shows a remarkable inability to not talk over each other and to just listen, which Teen may have included in the existing rules, which also include not talking about death, curiously. But they figure it out, settle down and start to commune.
Mrs. Hart is the first to arrive, and when Lillia loses her hold on the planchett, she in turn possesses Agatha. Or does she? As it turns out, Agatha's running a con again. Once the group's had time for their eye-rolling, they sit back down and get to work. So who is it really? As it turns out, it's Death. No surprise, this amuses the hell out of Rio. They ask what Death wants, and the answer is 'Punish Agatha.' This time we know Agatha's not in on it because she's just as terrified as the others as the lights start flickering and a horrible shrieking begins.
After all the obnoxious shenanigans, the coven's all too eager to punish her, with everything from simply being tied up to actually slitting her throat. True to form, Teen's against it, urging the group to recall that there was unity, but he's quickly shot down. "Familiars don't get a vote."
Before they go all vigilante justice on her, the trial takes over. Agatha appears on the ceiling in corpse form, sickly skin, black veins and all. She drops down and begins writhing inhumanly, but at least at first, nobody's buying it. Rio queries "Sweetheart, are you okay?" seemingly not even a little alarmed. Agatha lunges at Teen first, and Rio calls it like a soccer match while Agatha chokes out Jen. Meanwhile, Lillia hits the lights, stopping the attack in its tracks. And then? A ghost appears. Agatha's mother, Evanora Harkness of the Salemites, who it turns out had just been possessing her daughter.
Mom's not happy the coven's banded together with Agatha. Meanwhile, and perhaps more importantly, Rio's not happy about the entire situation. "I hate ghosts" she complains. It becomes clear this trial is about punishing Agatha, and that it's to be at the hands of her mother, who wants to keep her captive for what seems like eternal torture, given that her mother thinks she was born evil and, ultimately, shouldn't have been born at all. The trial is to finish the Road without Agatha. Rio's adamantly against this, screaming at the ghost that she can't have her- but how will the trial be won? "Her mother can't have her."
It's hard not to feel bad for her in this scene, at least until the moment she proves that Jen's right when she says "The only danger to us in this trial is Agatha Harkness." Agatha pleads to be saved, begging to not be left behind, as she's again being taken hold of by her mother. Alice uses her powers of protection to try to help, but just as soon as she does, Agatha's released from her mom's grip, and starts absorbing her powers, mercilessly, as Alice begins to wither away right in front of them. Everyone watches in horror, seemingly unable to do anything, until Nicholas Scratch reaches out from the Ouija, his voice pleading for his mama to stop. It's too late though, and Alice is nothing but a dried out corpse.
"I didn't" she protests, but no one's having any of it. Teen is frantic, angry, and unwilling to let Alice go, begging the group to use the panacea. But it's too late. Agatha crawls away and retreats to the Road. Teen follows, in a rage. Agatha says she couldn't control it, but Teen is having none of it, and neither are Jen and Lilia. All the unity and togetherness seemingly means nothing, and he's absolutely rage-drunk. Of course Agatha only pokes the bear, taunting him by saying he's 'so much like your mother' and beckoning him as her pet.
Teen's entire demeanor changes and a bright blue energy emanates from him as Jen and Lilia hold her back, but ultimately, the earth swallows them all. and all that's left is Teen himself, now wearing Wiccan's crown. Cue Billy Eilish.
As per usual, we couldn't have remotely predicted the episode going like this. Not only is there more and more proof that our suspicions that Rio's death are accurate, it's also revealing that Teen is as central to the story as we suspected. More importantly though - everyone's dead, or at least looks to be. Where could this go from here? Unfortunately, it'll be another week til we see what's left.
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