One of the biggest mysteries in Agatha All Along is the identity of Teen, played by Joe Locke. There are several popular theories about who he could be — but one of those theories seems to have been definitely shut down by this week’s episode. Or… Has it? Spoilers past this point, but here’s why Teen isn’t really Nicholas Scratch, Agatha’s (Kathryn Hahn) son. Except maybe he is.
Spoilers for Agatha All Along Episode 4 “If I Can’t Reach You Let My Song Tech You” past this point.
In the hour, we find out a lot more definitive info about the relationship between Agatha and Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), specifically that they were lovers, and are in love with each other… Though something is keeping them apart. One of those things? Teen’s identity. We know he has a sigil placed on him that redacts the info any time he tries to say his name. And we discover the sigil will only be lifted when it’s no longer needed.
Add in that we know, or think we know that Agatha traded her son, Nicholas Scratch, for the power of the mystical tome known as the Darkhold. And it’s pretty clear that Agatha thinks Teen is her son, somehow brought back to her. She’s clearly not someone who is very close to people, or even likes other people, generally speaking. Yet she’s become protective of Teen — almost motherly.
All of this info seems to be building up to the reveal that Teen is Nicholas Scratch, and on a thematic level Agatha will get what she needs at the end of the Witches’ Road… Not power, but her family back.
Except, oops, Teen is not Nicholas Scratch. As Rio and Agatha draw closer at the end of the episode, clearly about to kiss, Rio stabs a knife through the heart of the moment with one heartbreaking line:
“Agatha? That boy isn’t yours.”
So yeah, if we take Rio at her word… Teen isn’t Nicholas Scratch. Unless he is.
If Teen Isn’t Nicholas Scratch, Who Is He?
We’ve already covered this extensively here, but every bit of speculation about Joe Locke’s character has been that he’s playing Billy Kaplan, aka Wiccan. In the comics, Billy was the resurrected soul of Billy Maximoff, the son of Wanda Maximoff (played onscreen by Elizabeth Olsen), aka the Scarlet Witch. He was reborn in the body of Billy Kaplan, to new parents, but kept the magical powers of his original mom.
How that happened exactly has never been made completely clear. But we do know that both Billy and his brother Tommy were created by Wanda’s chaos magic, and then were destroyed by the demon Mephisto. Years later, Billy came back, joined the Young Avengers, and then started dating a character named Hulkling.
Joe Locke is playing a 16-year-old, which is about Wiccan’s age. In WandaVision, Billy and Tommy were created by Wanda’s chaos magic and then destroyed. So probably the same story here, right? We’ve even had a mention of Mephisto in the previous episode to tee things up. Ergo, Teen is Billy Kaplan, aka Billy Maximoff, aka Wiccan.
There’s another possibility here, though.
Teen Is Billy Kaplan, AKA Wiccan… And Also Nicholas Scratch, Not Billy Maximoff
Look, the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) is very much its own thing. It has never followed the comic books one to one, but instead used them as inspiration to bounce off of. What if Agatha All Along is doing the story from the comics for the most part, but with one enormous twist: Nicholas Scratch died, and was reincarnated as Billy Kaplan?
In this scenario, Agatha sacrificed her son’s soul to Mephisto in exchange for the Darkhold. That happened centuries ago, as far as we know (no specific timeline has been established). So Nicholas Scratch’s soul has been in hell since then. For reasons unknown Nicholas Scratch is reborn, this time as Billy Kaplan. He still has a magical heritage. He still gets to be Wiccan. But he’s the son of Agatha, not Wanda.
To take this one step further, fans have noticed that every member of the cast is associated with something about their character in the closing credits. Joe Locke’s frame? A newspaper headline that states “Near Death.” Is it possible that the “real” Billy Kaplan died three years ago, and Nicholas Scratch’s soul entered his body? After all, Teen did say during last week’s episode that a lot has happened to him since he turned 13.
This wouldn’t even contradict what Rio told Agatha this week… Teen isn’t her boy, it’s Billy Kaplan; but with Nicholas Scratch’s soul reanimating his body.
Is this all a lot of speculation? For sure. The easier answer is that Teen is not Nicholas Scratch, as we’re told. And if he’s not, he’s probably Billy Maximoff. But we’ve already been through many miles of tricks and trials with this show… What’s one more twist for the (witches’) road?
Agatha All Along Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
The first two episodes of Agatha All Along premiered September 18 at 6 pm PT / 9 pm ET on Disney+. It streams weekly, leading up to the two-episode finale on October 30. There are nine episodes, in total.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Agatha All Along, with premiere dates:
- Wednesday, September 18, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 1: “Seekest Thou The Road”
- Wednesday, September 18, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 2: “Circle Sewn With Fate Unlock They Hidden Gate”
- Wednesday, September 25, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 3: “Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials”
- Wednesday, October 2, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 4: “If I Can’t Reach You Let My Song Teach You”
- Wednesday, October 9, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 5
- Wednesday, October 16, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 6
- Wednesday, October 23, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 7
- Wednesday, October 30, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 8
- Wednesday, October 30, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 9
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