Because Episode 7 of Agatha All Along was such an emotional ride, and with all that a standout showcase for the powers of Patti LuPone – just give her the Emmy now – it would be OK if you asked what everybody else was doing while Lilia Calderu was sacrificing herself to nurture the greater good. And as Agatha Episode 8 begins, Jen and Billy are coming to terms with Rio’s true nature. (“So Agatha’s ex is Death?”) We see how Rio herself, in her capacity as chief green witch for death magick, showed Alice Wu-Gulliver her drained/dead self before calling her into the great beyond. And Agatha is just over here on the Road, arguing with the lover she has never really been able to get over. 

Rio says that because Billy, as the son of the Scarlet Witch, “stole a second life,” no matter how much Agatha’s connection to him reminds her of what she had with her own son, “I can’t let him do the same for his twin. I have to take him.” But even as Agatha agrees to help, neither of them seem willing to admit the finality of it, like if Death’s body quota was actually reached and Agatha never again saw Rio’s face. And here Kathryn Hahn gives Agatha a look of both terror and longing as her former lover quite literally slices open the veneer of the Road and disappears through the resulting gap.

Is the Witches’ Road itself that fragile? Is it really only the collective artifice of what all witches wish it could be? The reality of where they are is further muddled when Agatha, Jen, and Billy again walk the path, only to arrive back at the beginning. Even their shoes are there. And when Billy puts on Teen’s Doc Martens, they’re all thrust into yet another trial. It’s a trip to wake up as toe tagged bodies in a series of morgue drawers. But things get even more wild when Jennifer realizes it was Agatha who originally bound her powers in Boston one hundred years before. (“You non-stop sociopath!”) With Billy’s support, Jen conducts a ritual unbinding, fueled by “You hold nothing!” as her repeated mantra. Within, her power surges once again, and Jen is overjoyed. But she just as quickly disappears, leaving Agatha and Billy alone in the morgue chamber. “We’re gonna find your brother.” 

Again, this is part of Agatha’s bargain with Rio. As Billy channels the memories of his other life, we hear the voices of Wanda Maximoff and Vision, and there’s a hiccup when the Scarlet Witch folds her world. The echoes of WandaVision grow stronger – even the neighbors of Westview appear, with looks of “Oh no, not this again” – and with Agatha’s guidance, Billy prepares to insert his understanding of Tommy’s consciousness into the dying body of a random drowning teen. Is he really killing that kid so his brother can live? It’s a moral quandary central to Agatha’s being. “Sometimes…boys die.” Agatha Harkness removes from her trusty pendant a lock of Nicholas Scratch’s hair, and with it the sprig of a seedling. She plants it where the floor has split to reveal black earth. And as the roof begins to collapse, Agatha believes she’s won.

She hasn’t won; she’s only unlocked another level. With the memory of Lila’s Episode 7 warning – “When she calls you a coward, hit the deck” – Agatha avoids getting creamed by the kitchen sink hurled by a reappeared Rio, who wants bodies as agreed. But also reappearing is Billy, now fully superhero suited, who descends from the sky over Agatha’s Westview backyard with his red cape, blue crown, and balls of energy. He will allow Agatha access to his power – lit in blue, it becomes a purple surge – and a brief Marvel-style battle ensues, with enhanced people tossing each other through walls. “You’re calling me evil?” Rio as Death says, incredulous. “I’m the natural order of things, baby! And you love me.” 

And Agatha does still love Rio in some way, even if Death did take her son. With a telepathic Billy yelling at her from deep inside her mind – “I know you can hear me; is this how Nicky died?” – Agatha turns back and kisses Rio, a moment that twists from brief and very real passion into a permanent lifeforce suck. Billy and Rio watch as Agatha drifts upward before falling to the earth, accepting the release of her mortal coil. (Remember that other mantra from throughout Agatha, “Death comes for us all.”) Her body is engulfed, and magically decomposes as it’s reclaimed by the soil. Purple flowers spring up, Billy grabs Agatha’s pendant where it lies nearby, and Rio – speaking as Death – grants him permission to depart. The Westview neighbors are shook by the sight of a teenage superhero climbing into his Subaru Forester and driving out of their suburban cul-de-sac.

So, all along, Agatha was meant to die like this? That doesn’t seem exactly right. And sure enough, when Billy arrives back home and enters William Kaplan’s bedroom, he realizes that as the tarot deck’s Magician, he actually pulled a Keyser Sӧze – the details of his possessions informed what he wanted the Witches’ Road to be. This is not to say that Mrs. Davis and Alice and Lilia didn’t die down there, during the course of the ad hoc coven’s dark adventure. They definitely did. But just as Billy is realizing his role in their collective demise, realizing how instrumental he has been to the events of this entire season – and given that episode 8 of Agatha All Along is really just the opening set of its two-episode finale – he hears a familiar cackle from over his shoulder.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.