Agatha All Along hit its midpoint this week with Episode 5, “Darkest Hour/Wake Thy Power” and it was an episode that was full of developments. Not only did Episode 5 see the tragic death of Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) and the revelation of Teen’s (Joe Locke) real identity, but the episode also saw a major status quo shift when the rest of the coven were thrown from the road by Teen, certainly making fans wonder exactly what is coming next. However, the episode also saw the return of the Salem Seven as the terrifying group chased the coven but it’s the reappearance of the group that has prompted quite a few questions — including one about the real nature of Agatha’s trial.
When the coven enters the third trial, they quickly deduce that it is Agatha’s trial and it certainly seems that way. The coven has to use a Ouija board which puts them in contact with a spirit claiming to be Death that says that Agatha needs to be punished. Everything that happens in the trial is very centered on Agatha, specifically the ghost of her mother, Evanora Harkness, and even the death of Alice when the latter blasts Agatha with her powers in an attempt to expel Evanora from her body. However, if you really think about the third trial and contrast it with the first two, there is something a little off about it, almost like it’s not necessarily Agatha’s trial at all.
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In both the first and second trial, the witch at the center of it gained something or their specific powers were an integral part of things. The first trial was centered around Jen (Sasheer Zamata) who had to figure out not only what was happening to them with the poisoned wine, but then had to dig into her knowledge of potions to save them — something that was meaningful because Jen has been bound and, therefore, without her power for a long time. The second trial was focused on Alice and ultimately ended up being about ending a family curse through the use of a protection spell, specifically her mother’s version of The Ballad of the Witches’ Road. Coming out of that trial left Alice with closure about her mother and freed her from the curse. The third trial, however, didn’t really serve to do anything for Agatha. It was bent on tormenting the witch with her own trauma and while one could argue that she got power back with the death of Alice, the trial simply didn’t have the same vibe as the previous two.
If the third trial really wasn’t Agatha’s real “trial”, that could point to something else as being the real thing that Agatha will have to face before her time on the Witches’ Road ends and that thing may well be the Salem Seven. The group showed up on the Road in the episode, having made their way there after a door was left open when the coven summoned Rio, but while the group is determined to attack Agatha, it’s the actual eventual facing of the Salem Seven that could be the real trial because of their connection to Agatha’s past. Rio explains to the coven that the Salem Seven are the children of Agatha’s original coven. As fans will recall, Agatha killed her original coven — and we’re reminded of this in the episode’s opening — when they attempted to kill her for using “dark magic”. Apparently, after Agatha killed the coven, she chose to spare the children but it would seem that they have become bitter over the centuries — Rio describes them as being feral.
Given the very personal connection Agatha has to the Salem Seven, the real trial for Agatha may be facing them herself to deal with what her actions in 1693 caused for them. That isn’t to say that what happened in the third trial wasn’t significant, but it just feels like there is something more that Agatha needs to face that just being tortured by a spirit that is revealed to be her son Nicholas Scratch. Even if facing the Salem Seven isn’t Agatha’s official “trial” however, it’s pretty clear that some sort of showdown is coming and that it will be significant. The only real question at this point is when that showdown will happen and how; after all, Teen did chuck the entire coven off the road and into the mud which seemed to consume them all, including Agatha, at the episode’s end.
Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+. New episodes arrive on Wednesdays at 9pm ET.