In this week’s episode of Agatha All Along, and spoilers past this point, Lilia Calderu (Patti Lupone) dies, heroically saving her coven from the Salem Seven. Or… Does she? There’s one key line in the episode that indicates Lilia might somehow return. Specifically, when she tells Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), “When she calls you a coward, hit the deck.”
So this is pure speculation here, to be clear. But as Lilia ushers Agatha, Billy Maximoff (Joe Locke), and Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata) out of the trial they’ve been facing on the Wtches’ Road, she offers each of them some parting words — or gifts. She gives Billy back his spellbook, which she found in the tunnels under the Witches’ Road. She tells Jen, “You’re the path ahead, Jennifer… I loved being a witch.”
But the first piece of wisdom she imparts is the line above, which confuses Agatha — because it hasn’t happened yet. Now, it could mean a lot of things. Likely it has something to do with the final fight against Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), who was revealed to be Death in this past episode. Rio promised to kill Agatha after she got her power back, in the series premiere, so it’s likely she’ll try to make good on that promise in the series finale. Whether Lilia means “hit the deck” like fall to the floor, or “hit the deck” referring to a Tarot deck? Well, TBD. But Lilia’s predictions, as we saw in “Death’s Hand In Mine” are rarely straightforward.
There’s another aspect to Lilia’s predictions, though, which was the whole point of this episode: they occur within her own, fractured timeline. She sees things that haven’t occurred yet because she’s living past, present, and future simultaneously (or at least, somewhat out of order). So how is she seeing something that happens to Agatha beyond the point of her death by impaling at the end of this episode?
Perhaps that’s because she’s brought back from the dead. Or at least, is going to appear again in the finale. She sees that Agatha needs to hit the deck after being called a coward because she’s there when it happens. Given that Rio is Death, seeing Lilia return in some form — either to full life or as a ghost, a la Agatha’s mother in “Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power,” seems entirely plausible. Though Rio explained that she hates ghosts, so it’s fair to think she wouldn’t bring back Lilia as a specter from beyond the grave.
Similarly, Lilia seems to know that Jennifer is “the path ahead,” something she likely wouldn’t know if she was dead. This is pure speculation, but adding that in with the High Priestess tarot card that Lilia pulled this episode, it’s possible that Jennifer will become the leader of a new coven once everything is over.
In fact, to get even wilder into speculation, I’d venture it’s likely that Lilia, Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), and Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp) will all return in some form by the finale (I also think Jennifer will likely “die” in Episode 8, then return with them in Episode 9), with Agatha having to trade her power to bring them back to life. I’m sure Agatha will still retain some power — after all, this is the MCU. But Agatha bringing back her not-a-coven from Death could partially redeem her for killing her coven, centuries earlier. It will also show some, how you say, growth.
To be clear, a lot of this is predicated on Lilia’s power following the rules seemingly set up here, that she only makes predictions in her lifetime. And showrunner Jac Schaeffer has been pretty open in interviews that she cares less about the rules of witchcraft than the feeling it creates. So maybe Lilia is dead, permanently, and she was predicting a future beyond her point of no return.
But fingers crossed she does come back for one more goodbye, even if she returns to the afterlife after that. Because we just went seven episodes without Patti frickin’ Lupone getting a solo musical number, and we need this show to end in a big, rousing song and dance routine.
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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