Agatha All Along Season 1 Episodes 8 and 9 Review: An Emotional High Point for Marvel Television

Marvel’s Agatha All Along Season 1 Episodes 8 and 9, “Follow Me My Friend / To Glory at the End / Maiden Mother Crone,” ends the series at an emotional high point.

The final episodes don’t answer every question — particularly Agatha’s relationship with Death — but the pathos of the episodes is so powerful that those answers don’t really matter.

Episode 8 feels the most cramped, dealing with the fallout of Lilia’s sacrifice, going over the final trial, and Agatha having her fight with Rio/Death.

The final trial doesn’t have room to breathe, with the remaining coven members and Agatha discovering and solving the trial quickly.

The reveal that Agatha is the one who cast the bound spell on Jen feels specifically rushed. There is no time for either woman to deal with that revelation before Jen breaks the bound spell and leaves the Road.

Jen has the least to do in these last two episodes, yet she at least gains her happy ending.

Billy’s and Agatha’s moments in the final trial are more emotionally cathartic. Billy discovers a way to bring back his brother in the body of another dead teen. Billy’s desperation to find someone for Tommy to take over is palpable, with Joe Locke delivering a powerful performance.

Contrastingly, Agatha learns to be vulnerable and casts a spell that grows a plant.

Kathryn Hahn delivers the most poignant quote during Episode 8. To reassure Billy that he didn’t kill someone for his brother to inhabit, Agatha utters, “Boys just die,” a reference to her deceased son.

After the emotional high of the last trial, Agatha and Billy are thrust into combat with Death.

It’s a traditional Marvel final battle – nothing to write home about. The major exception this time is that the climactic battle takes place on the penultimate episode rather than the final.

Agatha All Along Season 1 Episode 9, “Maiden Mother Crone,” is more character-centered, focusing on Agatha’s life leading up to the series.

The big reveal comes: the Witches’ Road didn’t exist before the main characters went on it. Billy willed the Road into existence in Agatha All Along Season 1 Episode 2, “Circle Sewn with Fate / Unlock Thy Hidden Gate”.

He used magic similar to the Hex on WandaVision.

It’s a good twist that many eagle-eyed viewers are not able to guess, despite how similar the road was to things found in Billy’s room. It may seem dissatisfying that there was no Road to begin with.

However, like in The Wizard of Oz, the true message of the series is that everyone already has the power to get what they want inside them the whole time.

It matches the series’ themes so well that it doesn’t matter that the Road is fake.

The pathos of the Agatha All Along final episode stems from Agatha’s relationship with her son, Nicholas Scratch.

The interesting aspect of Agatha’s life beforehand is that the show never justifies her actions. The series firmly establishes Agatha as a villain, but her relationship with Nicholas humanizes her. The show deserves praise for not sugarcoating Agatha’s actions.

Predictably, tragically, Nicholas was living on borrowed time. Death gave Agatha six years with her son before taking him away, explaining their strained relationship.

The finale doesn’t touch on how Agatha and Death knew each other already. While some may find that disappointing, it’s probably best to keep Agatha’s and Death’s first meeting a secret. It leaves it up to fans’ imagination.

One of Hahn’s most heartbreaking performances is when Agatha discovers her son’s body. It’s genuinely devasting to see Agatha reacting to a motionless Nicholas.

The montage of Agatha luring and draining witches of their powers with the Witches’ Road Ballad is another major highlight of the last two episodes. It’s a beautifully haunting scene where Agatha transforms her son’s innocent song into a scheme to lure witches.

Nevertheless, the series ends by giving audiences a glimmer of hope that Agatha can be redeemed.

The character is now a ghost, acting as a mentor and guide to Billy. Refreshingly, there is no mid-credits scene with a surprise cameo. The series ends where it needs to end, with the characters achieving satisfying climaxes.

While the show ends with Agatha and Billy setting out to find Tommy, it’s an appropriate endpoint for the series.

Agatha All Along doesn’t answer everything, particularly what led to Agatha being put on trial as seen on WandaVision, or how she came to know Death herself. The show also doesn’t reveal how Agatha got the Darkhold.

Nevertheless, those questions are inconsequential to the overall story.

The series focuses on humanizing Agatha while also serving as an origin story for Billy as Wiccan.

The series succeeds with great emotional moments and solid character acting. Agatha All Along’s passion and sincerity rank it as one of the best Disney+ series yet.

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All episodes of Agatha All Along are now streaming on Disney+.