“Agatha All Along” Episode 5 Recap: Mommy Issues

Agatha all the time

Darkest hour, awaken your strength

Season 1

Episode 5

Editor's Rating

3 stars

***

Photo: Chuck Zlotnick/MARVEL

The theme of the evening is clear before “Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power” even begins. The first recording of the “before, on Agatha all the time“The montage recalls Agatha’s spooky backstory and recalls the moment from the time of the Salem witch trials WandaVision showed us after revealing her true Harkness identity. We see again Agatha tied to the stake, surrounded by her coven, begging her own mother to spare her life. We see her again as she is struck by her blue lightning bolts, screams in pain, and then sucks the last drop of strength from her body until everyone – her mother Evanora included – falls to the ground as nothing more than husks. Jen in particular keeps trying to remind everyone that Agatha isn't the type to share, and that her track record doesn't particularly suggest that she's interested in helping others when she could otherwise be helping herself.

On the other hand, Rio has a different interpretation. “Her own mother tried to have her executed,” she reminds them, sharp and clearly defensive, like a woman whose throat she keeps trying to slit. She may not have much to counter the accusation that Agatha is too power-hungry, but her soft spot for Agatha seems to be at least rooted in some understanding of what led her to this stake and everything that followed. As with most villain origin stories, it seems that Agatha's can be traced directly back to a particularly harsh parent.

Motherhood — its nature, the generational wounds it can cause, the inevitability of reenacting cycles you swore you never would — haunts “Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power.” The opening scene does this extremely literally, revealing that the Salem 7 hunting Agatha are actually the otherworldly descendants of the witches Agatha turned into mummies. Apparently our intrepid witches have “left the door open for Salem 7” after summoning “The Road” and are now on Agatha’s trail. I hope Lilia is speaking metaphorically here, because if not, there's really no reason to defend such a stupid move. The first rule of escaping an enemy is to close the door behind you, come on.

As with their appearance in the premiere, these hooded horrors immediately created a scene fit for a Disney ride, with the witches' brave escape on – the horror of all horrors – broomsticks. Everyone (except Rio) rejects this suggestion from Teen's on the grounds that brooms are tacky and over the top. Plus, Lilia sighs, they're “an obvious symbol of female domesticity.” But there's no time to argue (or ask if she's referring to a particularly iconic scene). Batman: The Animated Seriesso let's just go with “yes” because it would make me very happy). So they take to the sky and reluctantly have fun on their “simple” steeds as they fly over a blood-red moon. Even though Teen loses his precious spell book, the boy who played The Road before the game shouts a wholesome “WELCOME, COVEN!” Banner couldn't be more thrilled.

Of course, the very concept of joy is completely alien to The Road, which quickly sends them all plummeting back down and straight into the unhinged jaws of a Salem 1 full of insects. It's absolutely terrible, and yet it gets much worse!

They narrowly escape into the house, which sets the stage for this episode's trial. Everyone's clothing transforms into 1980s pajamas (and matching side ponytails) as they enter a candlelit cabin to spend the night. Although they might have preferred to play Parcheesi, the game of the day is apparently a group Ouija board session to communicate with the dead. Rio immediately realizes that this is Agatha's trial, and deduces that her worst nightmare – aside from having to embody that preppy '80s aesthetic – would be having to deal with one of the many deaths she has caused over the centuries. Agatha is so unsettled by the whole thing that when they shake hands at the table, she quickly pretends that the ghost of Mrs. Hart has possessed her and not the person she is supposed to be contacting. Kathryn Hahn exaggerates her impression of Mrs. Hart: “There I lived my little life in the suburbs, baking casseroles, linking to conspiracy theories on Facebook, drinking before noon…” – just enough that it's obvious that Agatha is full of shit , but that's pretty much the last moment of levity we get in any episode, so we'll still appreciate it.

When Agatha finally gives in, her mother's spirit surges through her, fueled by angry malice and CasperEsque CG. With her demand to “punish Agatha,” she destroys any team spirit that the circle had on their broomstick joyride not ten minutes earlier. Rio, who clearly hates Agatha's mother on a cellular level, hisses in protest, but Jen in particular is only too happy to listen. It seems harsh, but the fact that Jen's ultimate road fear comes true in such a horrific way at the end of the episode shows that she may have been right.

If last episode was ultimately about the wild beauty of a mother's protective love, this one is the exact opposite. While Alice's mother spent her life protecting her daughter from a curse, Agatha's mother spent her life believing her daughter Was the curse. Although the script makes a few attempts to keep the joke alive (“Stop embarrassing me in front of my friends, Mom!”), the episode takes an inevitably dark turn from here on out. “You were born evil,” Evanora spits at her dejected daughter. “I should have killed you as soon as you were born.” It's a slap in the face and everyone – especially Agatha and Rio, but even Jen – feels the pain.

It's so terrible that Alice steps in and tries to make things right, while Evanora tries to take the life away from her daughter like Agatha once did. But even blowing up a possessed Agatha proves to be a terrible idea as her instincts, or something deeper and darker, kick in. There's nothing left to do but watch as Agatha steals the life from Alice, another of The Road's undeserving victims.

Since the episode lasts just 24 minutes, the series' shortest running time to date, “Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power” doesn't allow for much grief for Alice — who, like Mrs. Sharon Davis Hart, deserves better. This is both true and a little surprising Agatha all the time This really isn't a matter of life and death, but Ali Ahn brought a welcome warmth to the show that we will miss.

The trial ends at the same time as Alice's life, apparently because a desperate teenager discovers that they are supposed to recognize the ghost of Agatha's son Nicholas Scratch. It's worth saying at this point that this “trial” isn't really the strongest in the series, if only because its inciting incident and end goal aren't nearly as clear-cut as the previous two. Is it a punishment to let Agatha hear the voices of her mother and son if she also manages to regain her purple powers? Although she seems genuinely surprised by what she's done, she's also not-so-secretly thrilled to feel the spark between her fingers again.

The grieving and angry teenager notices this. “So this is what it means to be a witch? “Kill people to serve your own agenda?” he asks her. “NO. Not for me.”

Agatha, hungover from the worst EMDR session imaginable, seems less convinced by his attempt at justice. She sneaks up on him, her face contorting into a kind of amused disgust that proves once again why Kathryn Hahn really is one of the greats. “Are you sure?” she asks in a sickening little singing voice and a Rio-esque grin. Agatha puts her fingers under his chin and then drops the bombshell: “You’re so much like your mother.”

Teen's anger quickly manifests itself into something colder. Jen and Lilia – now apparently under the spell of someone (teenager?) and whose eyes glow a frosty neon blue – throw Agatha into the quicksand. When they turn to Teen, he does the same to them, watching as they choke on mud and their own screams. The camera pans out to show him again wearing his Hot Topic eyeliner and earrings – but also an extremely Scarlet Witch-esque metal crown that seems to confirm all of our suspicions. Congratulations to Joe Locke for taking on the role of Wiccan's not-so-imaginary son, aka Billy, aka Wanda Maximoff.

“Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power” is dark, dramatic and ultimately overwrought; Again, everything mentioned above happens in less than 25 minutes and not always convincingly. But the '80s dressing (and the once again questionable wigs) kept bringing Stranger Things Keep in mind that I really appreciated the show's commitment to editing. It's notable that scripted television threatens to become completely formless with each episode of it Agatha all the time made an effort to have a clear purpose as part of the overall story rather than dragging things out just for the sake of it. I have to admire Agatha's efficiency, although I wish it didn't speed past us faster than a broomstick from hell.

• I haven't looked into all of this in depth Agatha There are no fan theories yet, but the one about Rio being an envoy of death seems more plausible to me by the minute. In this episode alone, she bursts into laughter at the idea of ​​Death visiting the cabin and noticeably disappearing from the Circle's side between Alice's death and Teen's confrontation with Agatha. Maybe you'll take care of business?

• On that note, I now call it that her and Agatha's story is explained in an episode entitled “The Ballad”: “I hold the hand of death in mine” (how much Dickinson).

• Kathryn Hahn's Line Reading of the Week: It's tempting to use “Pack up your shit!”, but it has to be “Are you?” secure?”, which will definitely haunt my dreams this week, cheers.

• Did anyone else miss the singing? I somehow missed the singing! At least we got another great track for the end credits with Billie Eilish's “You Should See Me in a Crown.”

• Upon closer inspection, Evanora Harkness's ghost animation looked less Casper as A Muppet Christmas Carol's Ghost of Christmas Past… which excites me much I was more afraid of her, that shit was scary.

• Agatha: (obsessed with her rude as hell mother who screams evil nonsense and sticks to the rafters like an albino bat) Rio: “Honey? Are you okay?” That’s romance, baby!