The latest episode of Agatha All Along was a doozy. Not only did Episode 7, “Death’s Hand In Mine,” finally confirm an extremely popular theory about the show, but — and spoilers past this point — it looped back through Lilia Calderu’s (Patti Lupone) various outbursts to explain her whole history and tie together various threads from throughout the show. Oh, and also Lilia dies.
Like the seer herself, you could have seen her death coming from the beginning of the episode. And in fact, the episode started with Lilia’s final moment: her falling to her death, dressed as Glinda the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz. But it wasn’t until the end of the episode that we discovered what exactly was happening, and why.
Lilia’s Storyline, In Chronological Order:
So, in chronological order, here’s a recap of Lilia’s storyline in the episode. After Lilia and Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata) were thrown into the mud by the side of the Witches’ Road by Billy Maximoff (Joe Locke) in “Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power,” they actually fell through the mud into a tunnel system below the Witches’ Road. There, Lilia laid out everything for Jen: that “Teen” is Billy, he’s the Scarlet Witch’s (Elizabeth Olsen) son, and he and Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) are headed to the next trial and need their help.
However, in the tunnels, they notice there are two paths. One takes them towards the trial; the other is the abandoned Westview subway tunnel that Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp) mentioned back in Episode 3, “Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials.” While trying to decide which way to go, the Salem Seven enters… Though seems to bypass them entirely.
After a little pep speech where Lilia tells Jen she wants her to help her “Because you are my sister in the craft,” they pop into the trial, already in progress. Agatha and Billy are making a mess of it because they don’t know how to do Tarot, and every time they make a mistake either a sword falls from the ceiling, or the ceiling (which is covered in swords) gets dangerously lower. Lilia reads Billy’s Tarot — he wants to know if he is William Kaplan or Billy Maximoff — but it’s not working.
That’s when Lilia has a realization… It’s her trial. She needs to read her own cards. And she pulls them out one by one: The Queen of Cups for herself; the Three of Pentacles, for the coven; The Knight of Wands for Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn); the High Priestess for Jennifer; the Three of Swords for Agatha; The Tower Reverses for Billy. All of these cards she’s called out in earlier episodes, out of order… Except one, the final card.
It’s Death, and that’s Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), who is actually Death — what Agatha calls “the original green witch.”
Lilia Dies On Her Own Terms: “I Loved Being A Witch”
The trial is solved, and the door opens, but the Salem Seven is closing in. She tells Agatha, “When she calls you a coward, hit the deck,” which is likely a reference to whatever Rio will do in the final episode. She gives Billy his spellbook. And she tells Jen that she’s the future, which likely ties into that whole High Priestess card. Then Lilia says, “I loved being a witch,” and shuts the door.
The Salem Seven enter the room, and Lilia explains that you don’t want to stick around a trial after it’s finished. They transform, and she explains what will happen if you stay in a trial house. “Disaster, destruction, sudden upheaval,” she says, flipping the Tower Reversed card right side up. “Like the tower upright.”
…And the tower they’re in flips. The Salem Seven fall, all getting impaled on the swords on the ceiling — now the floor. Lilia hangs on for a moment, then lets go, falling to her own death. She smiles. Presumably, Lilia dies though thankfully we don’t see it. And then we cut to a scene we’ve seen a number of times throughout the episode, Young Lilia’s (Chloe Camp) first divination lesson with her Maestra (Laura Boccaletti).
“Let us begin,” says the Maestra, and Young Lilia smiles.
Your Path Winds Out Of Time
In case you’re confused, Lilia lived her life out of order. She explains this, but I realize it’s a bit of a mind-bender anyway. As she explains halfway through the episode, “The flow of time is an illusion, Jen. Most people don’t realize that.”
So the simple version here is that Lilia is living past, present, and her own future simultaneously. When she dies, she knows it’s not really the end for her, because she’s also beginning at the same time. Yes, she’s about to be impaled on a floor full of swords. But she’s also sitting down to her first divination lesson. She’s just getting started on the Witches’ Road. Lilia is born, living, and dying simultaneously.
The key here is the conversation that the Maestra has with Young Lilia — played for extra potential confusion by Patti Lupone at certain points. Lilia tells the Maestra that she warned her that the entire coven would be wiped out by a fever, and they did nothing. “Death comes for us all,” says the Maestra, with Lilia shooting back, “You say it like it’s a comfort.”
In her final moments, Lilia realizes that it is a comfort because it’s all an endless loop. Death is an end, but it’s also a beginning. As the table in the trial says, “Your path winds out of time.” Lilia is dead. But for her, time was an illusion anyway. There is no end of being. There just “is.”
To be clear, in terms of the show, Lilia Calderu is very much dead. But in terms of the character? She’s only just getting started.
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: “Familiar by Thy Side”
- Wednesday, October 23, 2024: Agatha All Along, Episode 7: “Death’s Hand In Mine”
- 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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