Agatha All Along Episode 5 Looking Back: Wiccan Arrives With a Crown Like Wanda's

Teen turned out to be Wiccan in episode five of Agatha All Along, arriving only halfway through the 2024 season and wearing a crown like his mother's. When it aired, I called it an incredible episode. Whatever spell Jac Schaeffer had cast on Marvel's Disney+ shows, we had good episodes again, and this one was right up there with the best episodes of WandaVision.

The series has long since finished its run and its finale is resolved, so this is a look back at what I saw in the episode and the predictions I made at the time. It was a little disorienting. After two episodes of establishing very strong patterns, many of them seemed to get thrown to the wind. I believed I'd gotten to the bottom of what was going on, and I figured it out while writing my notes.

Wiccan arrived in Agatha All Along wearing a crown like Wanda's

Why were so many of us losing our minds? Wiccan is an extremely popular character in the comics. I would argue he's the most popular gay comic book character in mainstream comics. There are other characters for sure, but I'd say he's the most popular, and I'd also argue the most powerful. In some stories, with their different futures, he even becomes the Sorcerer Supreme.

He's also Wanda's son, Billy Maximoff, all grown up. My reasoning at the time was that if her son was here, Wanda couldn't be too far behind. I thought she was a couple of projects behind, but I said this confirmed Wanda would return pretty soon. I thought her family members were breadcrumbs working their way back to her. We had one of her sons, and still needed her other son and her husband.

And what an entrance. He doesn't have a crown in the comics. He has a headpiece, but not a crown like Wanda's. It's such a good idea. A crown like mother, and the perfect song to herald his arrival. It was beautiful.

I thought Billy had sigiled himself

Even though the episode was short, so much happened, at a very fast pace. I thought Billy had definitely sigiled himself. The point wasn't only to hide his true identity, but also not to look like he was hiding anything. The person who casts a sigil doesn't know they cast it, so he wouldn't act oddly, because he wouldn't even think to.

At the time, I hoped the following episode might give us an origin story for how Billy got so big. I think most of us agreed the car crash that had been referenced would probably factor into that. I also guessed the sigil would be destroyed once it was no longer needed. Agatha figured it out, and then he gave himself away, so I expected it to dissolve in the next episode.

"Darkest Hour" and "Wake Thy Power" pointed to what awakened Billy

At first I thought he'd been playing them the whole time and already had power. But the episode title, another lyric from The Ballad of the Witches' Road, told a different story: "Darkest Hour," then an ominous slow fade up with the rest of the title, "Wake Thy Power." I believe that was the first time they did a secondary reveal on a title. We all knew it was coming, since we knew the song so well by then, but it was neat. When that title came up, you knew something good was going to happen.

I think Agatha made him so angry by going full villain, not only figuring out his identity but mentioning his mother, whom she tormented. I think that's what finally awakened his power, just like when Wanda was finally activated in WandaVision. He was very powerful right off the bat, and not only with the blasts. I didn't notice until I went back over the episode, but he was controlling Lilia and Jennifer at the end. You could see the blue in their eyes, just like his mother, whose red light you could see in people's eyes in Age of Ultron.

This was only episode five, with four more to go, and he was already this powerful. I wondered how much more powerful Wiccan would get over the season. I hoped he'd fly. I wanted to see him float around, because he does that often in the comics, just like his mother. We did see him fly earlier in the episode, though, on a broom.

The broom ritual made Agatha All Along feel progressive to me

I thought the broom sequence was wonderful. Agatha All Along was proving to be a very progressive show, and it was both old school and new to see these witches on their broomsticks joined by a young man. I thought that was very powerful, and I bet it moved many people who saw the episode. I think what Jac Schaeffer did for the LGBTQ community here was commendable and amazing, and high time, after many promises made by Disney and not delivered on.

I liked the ritual itself, where you get a broom by choosing one for another witch, although it was funny when some of them didn't like the brooms selected for them. It was also interesting to see them enjoying a part of their powers they'd cut off because they didn't like what brooms had come to represent, not only for witches but for women. Yet it's part of who they are, and they don't have to reject it just because they don't want it to define them. They ended up reveling in it, and it felt magical and, I think, powerful. I thought it was emotional.

Wiccan's crown was a new idea I could not love more

Observant fans online pointed out that even his look in this episode mimicked Wiccan's costume. But here's the significant change: Wiccan has never had a crown like Wanda's in the comics. This was a new idea introduced by the show, and I could not love it more. Why wouldn't he have a crown like his mother? It's also a very genderbending idea, especially this style of crown.

At the time, I thought we were going to see a ton of Wiccans at Halloween, and it was nice of them to debut the look early so people had time to work on costumes, with the finale set to air the day before Halloween. I was impressed that Disney approved this, because it's perfect, and Disney owes its LGBTQ fans.

With his power awakened before reaching the end of the road, I wondered what he would ask for. Would it be Wanda? I didn't think he'd get Wanda directly, or that she'd show up at the end of the road. But I said I wouldn't be surprised if he got the next piece of the puzzle to put his entire family back together. I also thought it would be odd if he wasn't part of the Vision show that was in the works at the time. As I asked then, do you want Wanda fans to watch Vision or don't you?

How Agatha worked out that teen was Billy

Going back through the episode, she seemed to start piecing it together when Lilia said death comes for us all. Wanda isn't Death, although she is dead, so the dead might come for us all. In a trial where Agatha's enemies have come after her, I think that may be why she thinks of Wanda, a very powerful witch she very much wronged.

And she knew for sure by then that teen wasn't her son, Nicholas Scratch. Someone pointed out one giveaway: teen was able to say the name Nicholas Scratch even though he'd been sigiled, so if he were Nicholas Scratch, he couldn't. Also, very hauntingly, we hear her son's spirit, and clearly he's very young, which is so sad. He was in that cabin along with Agatha's mother: all the Harkness generations together, grandmother, mother and son. A broken family, just like Wanda's.

When Agatha figures it out, she quickly gets back in her game, because she realizes she's facing a potential adversary, though at that point she thinks he's still powerless. She says "come with me pet," but not in a nice way anymore. I think maybe that's also what angers Billy and awakens his power: the witch who tormented his mother now thinks she can do the same to him. Billy was there the whole time. That's his former babysitter, and I hoped they might make a funny joke about that.

The trial may have been meant to stop Agatha, but it came too late for Alice

With his power, Billy definitely punishes Agatha, and all the witches, although I had a theory on that too. What seemed to stop the trial was the realization that Nicholas Scratch was there, pleading for his mother to stop, and his mother claiming she can't control it. Was the point of this trial maybe to make Agatha stop hurting other witches, less like her mother and more like her son? I wondered.

It came too late for Alice, though. She's dead. Five episodes in, we already had Wiccan and two dead bodies, Mrs. Hart and now Alice. I was surprised a certain detail about Mrs. Hart still hadn't been revealed. As Rio pointed out in the previous episode, Agatha does what she always does: steals other witches' powers and leaves behind bodies. It came true.

Someone also noted that one of Lilia's premonitions came true. In an early episode she said "Alice don't" and also "save Agatha." It turned out to be "Alice don't save Agatha." That's no fair, they're out of order, but I'll allow it even though I don't like it. And isn't it interesting that Agatha's symbol is the blood moon, death? For those who know a certain spoiler: she's a killer.

The Salem's Seven are the children of the witches Agatha killed

At the start of the episode, the Salem's Seven access the Witches' Road because the summoning spell used to get a new green witch left the door open, as Lilia puts it. All those animals from episode two turn out to be the Salem's Seven, because they can turn into animals. They continued to move very much like dark Wanda, which means they must also be powered by dark magic.

We find out they're the children of the witches Agatha killed back in Salem, whom she let live. I think she'd already lost her son at that point, so she could not take anyone else's children. It occurred to me while putting this together: did her son have power? Did she maybe accidentally take her son's power, and is that why her mother thinks she's evil? What could make a mother turn on her daughter? That could be it. That's pretty bad, and fascinating.

But children always come back to take vengeance for their parents, just like Billy. We've got many kids trying to avenge their parents. Avengers. I think that's brilliant and incredibly clever. Maybe that helped tip Agatha off too, as this episode seems to be about parents and children. Even in the trial, Lilia was the mom at the sleepover. They weren't all teenagers.

The trial's 80s teen theme and the return of Agatha's mother

They ran into the cabin so fast that we never saw the moon symbol on the door, so we don't know what the death would have been, if there even was one. They skipped over that, after we established rules. The trial starts with the Ouija board and a great line where teen says they must Ouija and Agatha says "Ouija is not a verb." I like it as a verb. The timer is everyone's electric watch, so 80s. I didn't know why a witch from Salem would have an 80s themed trial, but I think it's because of teenagers. Teen, get it? Very clever. One game I think would have worked well here is truth or dare, which Agatha certainly would not want to play.

Sure enough, Agatha's mother returns, and Rio is right to defend her ex girlfriend, because Agatha's mother is so cruel to her. Maybe she has good reason, and it's likely a big part of why Agatha is the way she is. The ghost effect of her mother materializing was a 10, no notes. I was enthralled. They didn't have to go that hard, but I'm so glad they did.

There's also an exorcism theme, with Agatha's mother possessing her body. When you think about it, that's what it's like in real life with parents and children, as they possess us in a way. Don't you sometimes feel like you're becoming your parents? Maybe Agatha needs to truly get her mother out of her. Maybe her mother was bad, so Agatha is bad. And maybe that's why Agatha figures out teen is Billy, because in many ways he's possessed by his own mother too. Agatha points out like mother, like son: both pretend to be so much better than her. But are they? Wanda got pretty evil in Multiverse of Madness, though that was the Darkhold. And at the end of WandaVision, at least Agatha thinks she was pretty mean, when she locked her in that spell.

Billy turns on everyone, or does he? I think, like Wanda, deep down he's a kind person. They're both troubled; it's hard being a witch. At the time, I thought there was a chance he threw them off the Witches' Road, because of that shot of Jennifer crawling out of the ground into the regular world. Maybe he didn't want them there and would walk the rest himself. Although he didn't throw Rio out, did he?

I believed Agatha when she said she can't control it

I believed her. I don't think she can control it. I think something takes over her, like a hunger. And I said that couldn't be the last we'd hear of Nicholas Scratch. I believed he might be waiting for Agatha at the end of the Witches' Road, and I hoped he was, because I'd been quite moved by Agatha's plight.

Poor Alice. She was still working overtime as a protection witch, looking after teen, making sure he got a broom, and she stepped up to save Agatha. Very sad. Billy said to get away from her, but I'd have asked whether this is a two way street and the power could be put back.

I can't believe how quickly the rest of the coven turned on Agatha, even before the Alice situation. She's pretty selfish, has an attitude and a horrible track record, but within this show I think she'd been pretty nice, especially considering who she is, and a pretty good leader. I wouldn't have turned on her like that. Although who's to say you're not next?

The laughs, Rio's loyalty and the best looks

There were still great laughs. Rio did a witch's cackle as they were hurtling toward the ground on their brooms, which I thought was fantastic, and she also laughed when they said death was in the room. Some know why. Agatha pretending to be Mrs. Hart was fantastic too. I think Kathryn Hahn did such a good impression of Debra Jo Rupp that I was buying it, and I was a little disappointed that it wasn't really happening. Maybe that's why the moment sold so well, and that was intentional on the writing team's part.

I loved when Jennifer took out her retainer and put it in its case before going to take care of Agatha. I also thought it was very touching that Rio refused to abandon Agatha. She covered by saying she wasn't going to let her mother have her, but I think she didn't want to leave Agatha. My two favorite Agatha lines were "And people ask me why I don't have female friends" and "Stop embarrassing me in front of my friend's mom."

Best look was hard to judge, since it was very dark in that cabin. I had to give first place to teen, aka Billy, because it references his character in the comics. For runner up, I went with Jen, who looked terrific. And a shout out to Alice's abs, which were impressive. Alice, gone too soon.