It turns out it wasn’t actually Agatha All Along, but rather, the imagination of another character.
The two-episode finale of AAA on Disney+ came with an embarrassment of riches witches, reveals, and big moments, including the death of one beloved character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Episode 9 (“Maiden Mother Crone”) also teased a major journey ahead for another character, potentially in a Season 2 or an entirely new series or film.
That said, we cannot begin to get into any future TV show or Agatha All Along Season 2 possibilities without dissecting Season 1’s wild and momentous end, which left many scratching their heads and with questions to be answered about the fate of Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), Billy Maximoff (Joe Locke), Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), and Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza).
Episode 8 (“Follow Me My Friend/To Glory at the End”) begins with a return to the death of Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) who died while protecting Agatha in Episode 5. The moment sees Rio — who was revealed at the end of Episode 7 (“Death’s Hand In Mine”) to be Death — collecting Alice’s spirit, a scene that foreshadows Rio coming to collect Agatha later on. After jumping to the present — moments after Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone) sacrificed herself during a tarot card trial and took out the Salem Seven — the three remaining coven members are back on the Witches’ Road and pushed to complete their final trial. That is not before Agatha and Rio discuss Billy, who Agatha promises to have turn himself in to die. During this interaction, Rio calls Billy — who is the reincarnated soul of Billy Maximoff, born into the body of Billy Kaplan whose soul died in a car accident — an “abonimation” who “stole a second life.” The show explains that Rio is unable to kill Billy as his soul will just reincarnate again, meaning that he will have to turn himself in to end the cycle.
Even more than Rio worrying about Billy, she is worried about the teenager looking for his twin brother, who would present another future problem for the witch all about the circle of life. “His brother isn’t out there. Not yet, anyway,” Rio tells Agatha, teasing Tommy’s ability to reincarnate just like his brother.
Here’s where things get a little complicated. Earlier in the season, we learned that Jennifer — a potions witch with incredible skin — had her powers bound and was seeking to have the road help regain her magic. In the final trial, we learn that it was none other than Agatha who was responsible for binding Jen’s powers, not a red herring male figure featured in Episode 3. After acknowledging that Agatha has no power over her and breaking the binding, the potion sorcerer sets herself free, both from the magical blockage and the Witches Road.
Jen’s exit leaves us with just Billy and Agatha in the trial, and it’s there that Agatha helps Billy to overcome his own hurdle in his quest to find his twin brother, who he last saw in the final episode of WandaVision. The elder witch helps Billy triangulate the location of Tommy, whose soul appears to have reincarnated into the body of a drowning boy. While we don’t really get to see Tommy’s face, the scene explains that he is out there somewhere and confirms that we will be seeing a reunion of Wanda Maximoff’s (Elizabeth Olsen) sons in a future MCU project.
The moment sets Billy free from the Witches Road and leaves only Agatha to make it out or fail. While she does ultimately kick her way out, it’s only so that she can face Rio, who is finally coming to collect her soul and take her to death. And while Billy (now fully dressed in a sick Wiccan costume) attempts to save her from her fate, it’s no use as Agatha and Rio kiss, resulting in Agatha’s death. R.I.P. to yet another witch.
It’s in the final moments of Episode 8 — yes, we’re still only on Episode 8 — we discover the big plot twist of the show in finding out that the Witches Road was never real and was merely something Billy conjured up with his powers. As Billy is looking around his room, he realizes that all of the details from the Witches’ Road have come directly from the corners of his mind and that he and Agatha were never walking the road with the other coven members. The Wizard of Oz references have been a little on the nose, in retrospect.
So what was up with the Witches Road then? Well, the truth is that the only thing Agatha has been all along is a snake oil saleswoman.
Episode 9 finally details Agatha’s true backstory involving her son, Nicholas Scratch, who she worked with to swindle witches out of their powers.
Nicholas was intended to die in childbirth, something we learn as the first scene in the finale shows Agatha in labor and Rio showing up to collect his soul. A desperate and heartbroken Agatha — still actively pushing — begs Rio to not take him away. “Please let him live,” Agatha says through tears, “Please, my love.”
Rio — blinded by her love for Agatha — backs away and concedes that while she cannot let him live permanently, she can give them some time together. It’s not long, however, because she does come back to take Nicky in the middle of the night as a child, leaving Agatha to wake up and find her son dead in her arms.
Broken and bereaved, Agatha channels all of her energy into turning into the most powerful witch she can become, which is when she becomes synonymous with the Witches’ Road. A montage then shows her taking advantage of desperate witches by leading them into the woods under the guise of summoning the (nonexistent) Witches Road, only to anger them and have them blast her with their magic. Yep, it was all a scam.
Even when Agatha gathered the witches for her most recent coven — Lilia, Alice, Jennifer, Billy, and (sort of) Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp) — it was with the intention of stealing their powers. The realization that the Witches Road was never real and that it was Billy’s powers that helped to create the illusion of the road has even become a meme on social media.
Episode 9, after giving the viewers Agatha’s back story, picks back up with Billy realizing what he and Agatha did together — killing the other witches on a fake road — and memorializing Alice, Lilia, and Sharon. As for Agatha — who is fully in ghost form now (bad witches live forever) — she has accepted her fate and opts to work with Billy to find the one thing he has been looking for since the start of the show: Tommy. The show ends with Billy and Agatha understanding their anti-hero status and deciding that they will head back out into the world to find Tommy together.
In summary, the Witches Road was never real, Agatha is dead, Billy is Wiccan, and Tommy is alive and out there. Phew, talk about a lot to cover. Thankfully, we can say that while the show used a lot of deception, it wasn’t a lie and it wasn’t a dream.
All episodes of Agatha All Along and WandaVision are now streaming on Disney+.