One of the biggest ongoing mysteries of Agatha All Along has been: what happened to Agatha Harkness’s (Kathryn Hahn) son, Nicholas Scratch? And now, thanks to the finale, “Maiden, Mother, Crone,” we have an answer to that question… As well as who plays Nicholas Scratch, actor Abel Lysenko.
Spoilers past this point, but we meet Nicholas pretty much right at the top of the running time of the season’s ninth episode, albeit as a tiny baby. In 1750, Agatha is pregnant, and about to give birth in the woods. Who is the father? Unknown, though there is an indication that it might have been a self-created pregnancy. More on that in a second.
The important part here is that the baby is supposed to die in childbirth. However, Agatha begs Death (Aubrey Plaza) not to take him. Death says she can only give Agatha more time, not stave off the inevitable forever.
Over the next six years, Agatha and Nicholas travel the countryside, trapping covens so that Agatha can suck them dry of their power. We also discover that Agatha can do a lot of things, but she can’t create food with her magic for Nicholas. She seems to subsist on power — he needs something a little more.
Ultimately, Death does come for him in the middle of the night and takes him away after he gives his mama two kisses on the cheek. So as it turns out, Agatha didn’t siphon his power. She didn’t trade him for the Darkhold. He merely died of a cough, six years after he should have died. Extremely sad!
Did Agatha Create Nicholas Scratch Out Of, Well, Scratch?
There’s a curious thing here where Agatha is pregnant, but we don’t get to find out who the father is. We also don’t get to see how her relationship began with Rio, which clearly predates the whole baby thing. Was Rio the father? Maybe. Agatha did say “I like the bad boys” in Episode 7, so maybe there’s a gender-fluidity thing that happened. Or maybe there’s a random father.
But just to point out what Agatha says when Nicholas is born: “You, I made from scratch.”
…Which is where she gets his last name from, and it’s also a pretty typical thing for parents to think: they created their children out of nothing. But is it possible that Nicholas is the only thing Agatha has created completely with her magic? She can’t do anything else other than blast and move things with her mind, as she explains in the show. But perhaps this was something she did create, instead of destroy? Which is what made his death all the more devastating?
Unless this gets followed up on in some way, I guess we’ll never know.
Who Is Abel Lysenko, The Actor Who Plays Nicholas Scratch?
Abel Lysenko is a young actor who resides in both California and France and per his Instagram, plays tennis, too. He previously played another son, The Son, in the faith-based film Jacob The Baker. He’s also appeared in several shorts and music videos, including one with Christina Aguilera.
Coming up he has a slew of projects, but most notably will appear in Waltzing with Brando opposite Tia Carrere, Billy Zane, Richard Dreyfuss, and Jon Heder.
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