‘Agatha All Along’ Further Deepens The Mystery Of Rio’s Identity

Rio Vidal on Agatha All Along Episode 5

We’ve just dispensed with one huge mystery on Agatha All Along: the identity of Teen (Joe Locke). But that means it’s time to turn our attention to the other big mystery in the show, the identity of Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza). And while we thought we had it figured out last episode — the clues were all there — this week’s brisk half-hour confused things a bit. But don’t worry, we’ve figured out these clues for you, too.

Spoilers for Agatha All Along Episode 5 “Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power” past this point.

So look, I’m serious about the spoilers here, particularly because a Funko Pop seemingly spoiled Rio’s identity weeks ago, and I’m going to openly talk about it here — so turn away if you don’t want to know. Rio, according to the leaked toy box, is Death. Which has thus far made some sense. Rio has been intimating that she’s there to reap the witches’ souls. There’s an indication that she knows a little something about Teen, and probably had something to do with the death/disappearance/whatever of Nicholas Scratch, Agatha Harkness’s (Kathryn Hahn) son back in the day… As driven home by last week’s stand-out “She is my scar” speech. And Agatha has repeatedly told Rio to stand back when someone’s life is on the line. Not to mention she was first seen on the Witches’ Road popping out of Sharon Davis, aka Mrs. Hart’s (Debra Jo Rupp) grave.

And in fact, there’s a big clue in this direction in this week’s episode. The trial the coven is facing is an ’80s-infused sleepover, complete with Ouija board. While the first round with the board finds Agatha playing around with the coven, things get serious really quickly once Agatha decides to do the trial for real. When they ask who is with them, the board answers: “DEATH.”

(L-R) Teen (Joe Locke), Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) and Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata) in Marvel Television's AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2024 MARVEL.

…Which makes Rio laugh out loud. Because she is Death, right? The thing that confuses things, though, is when the ghost of Evanora Harkness (Kate Forbes), Agatha’s mother, shows up, and Rio says she doesn’t like ghosts. Specifically, “That is a ghost. I hate ghosts.” And then through the rest of the episode, she emphasizes how much she dislikes spirits.

So why, if Rio is Death, would she not like ghosts? Ghosts are dead. Ergo, they should be friends.

Well, I’ve got a theory there… Ghosts are spirits that have unfinished business, as we establish later in the episode (and most literature throughout history). If Death is doing a job ushering souls to the afterlife, ghosts are a crimp in that plan worse than the crimping going into Agatha’s side-pony in this episode.

There are a lot of details about this whole “Rio is Death” thing that don’t quite connect yet. Why, when Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) dies doesn’t Rio do anything? She mostly stands there and watches Agatha as she leaves the trial. I’ll note that we see Agatha, Teen, Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), and Lilia Calderu (Patti Lupone) on the Witches’ Road after that, but Rio isn’t present. Perhaps she’s tidying up in the trial, and taking care of Alice’s soul? Or perhaps there’s more to these deaths on the Witches’ Road than we know.

Either way, we’re just getting started with the mystery of Rio. Let’s hope the show kills it with this particular mystery. Otherwise, it’s going to haunt the MCU for a long time to come. And just like Rio, we don’t like ghosts.

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: “Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power”
  • 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

Where To Watch Agatha All Along:

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