Agatha All Along finale: Billy's road, Nicky's fate and Agatha's ghost

The last two episodes of Agatha All Along closed the series by revealing that Billy created the Witches' Road, showing what happened to Agatha's son, and bringing Agatha back as a ghost. We came away very satisfied. In our discussion the ending was scored an eight and a nine, and the full spoilers follow below.

Agatha struck a deal with Rio to deliver Billy

The episodes picked up right after Lilia's death. Agatha had an encounter with Rio, who by then was known to be Death. Lilia took the Salem Seven with her when she went. Rio's problem was Billy. In her view he had stolen a life, which disrupted the sacred balance, and he wanted to pull the same cheat to bring back his brother.

Agatha brushed off any attachment to him, saying she had known the kid for two minutes. Then she offered a deal. If she delivered Billy, Rio would let her go. She promised to get him off the road and have him volunteer himself. In return, Rio had to give her a very long life and never see her again, and even when Agatha eventually died, she didn't want to see Rio's face. Rio agreed.

The circular road brought out Agatha's secret about Jen

Jen and Billy came back upstairs, and the group moved toward the next trial. The road turned out to be a circle. When they reached the beginning again, Billy put his shoes on and woke up in a strange, circular morgue. Agatha and Jen woke up too.

Jen then learned that Agatha was the one who had bound her powers for a hundred years. Jen grabbed some of Agatha's hair, cast a spell to get her powers back, and vanished from the road. Agatha pushed Billy to get them out, but he was angry and refused. So she told him to sit down so they could find his brother.

Billy seemingly helped Tommy into a new body and Agatha planted a seed

Agatha helped Billy search mentally until they found a young man dying somewhere unknown. I guess Billy helped Tommy's energy enter that boy, and then Billy disappeared, leaving Agatha alone. She opened her brooch, took out the lock of hair, and found a tiny dandelion seed underneath.

The place had cracked open, leaving a small patch of earth. She buried the seed and watered it with a tear. I'm not getting into the herbology of salt tears, but the seed grew and she made it out. Outside, she faced Rio, and there was a moment where the word coward came up between them. Agatha ducked as everything flew at her, including the kitchen sink.

Billy showed up and protected her. Rio told them one of them was coming with her, and Billy volunteered, which was what Agatha had promised. Then he spoke to her telepathically, and Agatha turned, kissed Rio, and accepted the kiss of death. She died on the spot, surrounded by mushrooms and flowers, and Rio told Billy he was done and could leave.

Billy's bedroom held a reveal on the level of The Usual Suspects

Billy went home to his family and his room, and that is when it dawned on him. I've seen moments like this in other things, and it's brilliant. It's Keyser Söze, it's The Usual Suspects: all the pieces of the puzzle were right in front of your face the whole time.

He had the yellow brick road, a leaf mobile, bronze shoes and more. As he remembered more, it occurred to him that he is the son of the Scarlet Witch. He is a reality warper. He did the same thing Wanda did in Westview, only he did it locally.

The comment that "this is how you do a penultimate episode" sparked a debate. The other view was that the previous week's episode was the penultimate one and these two worked as one episode. Both views have a point. The second to last episode usually sets things up, and the previous week did that well. The first of these two delivered the climax, leaving the finale to show the new normal. We agreed that the finale worked as an epilogue.

Agatha as an unreliable narrator kept the twist hidden

Neither of us understood how we didn't see the reveal coming. Part of the problem is that Agatha is an unreliable narrator. She's a liar and a manipulator, so the truth she tells is not always the truth.

One interpretation in our discussion was that Rio objected because Billy had upset the balance, and that Agatha, by planting the seed with her tear, repeated the cycle of life. That may have been her trial, given what happened to her son. The way I see it, Billy had no control over the road once it existed. He created it, and that initial creation was his only manipulation. Everything else ran on rules he had put in place.

That's why everyone got out once they did their thing. The prize is the friends we made along the way. Each learned the lesson they were supposed to learn. Jen discovered she always had power, bound up by Agatha, and Billy helped his brother's floating energy find a kid who had just died, as Billy once did. That will likely be another thing down the road.

Nicky's backstory showed how the Witches' Road con began

The finale opened in the past, with the backstory I had said would eventually have to come. While Mrs. was getting ready, I was online reading other people's theories, and many were great but wrong. Agatha did not extend her life by sacrificing her son. Her son was going to die at childbirth, and Agatha begged Rio to let him live.

Rio could only offer more time, and Agatha got around six or seven years to raise him. He became her little con artist. Agatha was a witch without a coven, killing other witches and draining them, and her son lured them in. Over the years the two invented a song about the winding road, adding to it bit by bit.

At the end, Agatha lay down with her son one last time, and Rio took him while she slept. The way they wrote that came across as merciful, since Rio knew Agatha would suffer already. Agatha woke, buried Nicky, and sang their song while mourning. Witches heard it and followed, and inspiration hit. Agatha began a centuries long con: telling people they needed a coven, gathering them, watching nothing happen, provoking them into blasting her, and taking their power.

There was a thought that this might explain how Alice's mother died, but the series said she died on tour, and there was a family curse.

Agatha's ghost returned with the gray hair that was hoped for

Back with Billy, he turned around to find Agatha as a ghost. That was the hope going in: that she would show up with gray white hair, looking like her comics counterpart, and she did. She wanted her brooch back. Billy, still a teenager, was irritable and could not get out of his own way.

She followed him home while he tried to banish her. She said she couldn't face him, and Billy realized she meant Nicky. When he said Nicky would probably forgive her, she said that was why she liked him: he sounded like her son. Then she said they should go find his brother, and they left together.

Some people think this sets up a new series. I don't think so, but they ended it open-ended, so they could continue if they wanted to, and if not, this is fine too.

A finale that made the case for how the MCU should build shows

We wondered how we missed the clue on the floor and landed on good storytelling. They kept us enthralled throughout. Billy got rid of the road, and Jen crawled out of the dirt and flew away. Westview residents came out wondering if it was happening again, and Billy ignored them, got in his car and drove away.

Loki seasons one and two, WandaVision and Agatha were named as favorite MCU shows. This needs to be the bar for MCU shows: give it a showrunner and figure out how you want the story to unfold. On the Young Avengers, I don't think that is a thing yet, though Kamala visits Kate Bishop at the end of The Marvels, I think.

I love that the song was something to pass the time on a walk, which Agatha turned into a lure and Billy turned into a powerful spell. I don't know whether she's more or less dangerous as a ghost, but she's very realized, and I'm here for it. The ten came the week before, but this was a solid ending that stuck the landing and left us happy and satisfied.