Agatha All Along had another MCU death this week, and the way that moment ties into WandaVision makes it even more heartbreaking. Ali Ahn’s Alice Wu-Gulliver dies trying to save Agatha Harkness from her ghostly mother. That’s right, Evanorra Harkness is back as an apparition this week and still played by Kate Forbes. True to her name, the older Harkness witch is out here causing trouble and possessing her daughter during the latest Trial of The Witches’ Road. (The Wizard of Oz has been referenced numerous times over the course of this series…) Agatha’s personal struggles include the loss of her son, NIcholas Scratch and facing down her own family trauma in the form of Evanorra. While the rest of the coven discovers the key to escaping Agatha’s trial, Alice steps in to save her when the elder Harkness takes control of Kathryn Hahn’s character for the second time this episode.
Alice puts up a good fight in the magical struggle, but she’s drained of her powers in the exact same way we saw Agatha suck the life out of those Salem witches back in WandaVision. Teen is noticeably distraught by the loss of their new friend. Meanwhile, the Harkness curse has claimed another victim and it’s not clear if Agatha has control over her magic-leaching abilities. When everyone is taking a moment to understand what happened to Alice, Kathryn Hahn’s witch just scampers up the ladder to continue down the road. It will be a couple more weeks before we get to see the Harkness curse defined in full. Evanora argued that Agatha was evil from the moment she was born. Could she have more in-common with Alice than we could have realized at the start of the series? It sure seems like it.
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But, there’s another layer of family trauma being passed down in this week’s Agatha All Along. Teen was revealed to be Billy. Agatha directly told him “you’re so much like your mother.” That directly points to Wanda Maximoff being the mysterious parent that the entire Internet has been speculating about. Billy argues that witches shouldn’t hurt other people for their personal gain. But, then the boy goes and tosses the entire coven into the tar pit of The Witches’ Road because he got mad. (That’s some Scarlet Witch-level power if we’ve ever seen it.) Billy is going to have to wrestle with the complicated legacy of both his mother and his mentor moving forward in Agatha All Along. Mothers and children are proving to be a major theme here and there might be even more intrigue coming as this MCU series settles into the homestretch.
Agatha All Along Says Goodbye To Alice In A Shocking Sequence
Unfortunately, because of the massive reveal at the end of Agatha All Along Episode 5, some people are just going to gloss over Alice’s death. But, Ali Ahn really deserves her flowers for showing some real fire as the Blood Witch in Agatha’s coven. Last week, her trial was one of the most fun installments of Agatha All Along yet. Alice’s strained relationship to her mother because of a generational curse was something that a lot of viewers could relate to. It feels like the writers probably gave the witch that measure of closure ahead of the tragic fate waiting for her in Episode 5. (Not to mention another signal to the fans that anyone and everyone is vulnerable in this show. After all, Agatha herself was literally tossed down into the murky soil of The Witches’ Road by the end of this episode.) It’s going to be weird to be missing multiple members of the coven after things had seemingly turned a corner.
Clearly Marvel Studios wanted to prepare the fans for the tragic events of Episode 5 this week. Ahn talked to The Official Marvel Podcast about her experience going down The Witches’ Road so far. Episode 4 was her trial and Alice played a massive role i n solving the generational curse and demon that was trying to pick off the coven members one by one. She also got to sing “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road” as a 70’s cover song. The fans appreciate all the costume changes and the new versions of the popular song.
“She’s got a lot of armor because she’s really mushy on the inside. I think that’s really interesting to see, if you can fight your inherited defense mechanisms,” Ahn explained. “I think everyone can relate to ‘Mommy Issues’, right? Everyone’s got a little ‘Mommy Issues.’”
When it came to the actual performance of the ballad, Ahn was absolutely prepared for a live performance if need be. “I was practicing my little hiney off on this rented keyboard because I wasn’t sure if I was playing the song live, I didn’t know what it was going to be,” she continued. “But, it’s cool! We got to be in a band together! It was so fun. And that song is amazing. It felt like such an honor to play an original song like that.”
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