2024-10-17 18:10:04
This review contains full spoilers for Agatha All Along Season 1, Episode 6.
With last week’s not-so-shocking reveal that Joe Locke’s Teen is actually Billy Maximoff, son of the Scarlet Witch, it was on this followup episode to provide a logical explanation as to how that can be, what with Billy (and Tommy) disappearing into nothingness at the end of WandaVision. Episode six, titled “Familiar by Thy Side,” sticks the landing, offering new insight into Billy’s character and revealing his true motivations. Best of all, this episode feels the most focused since the premiere, largely because it’s squarely centered on one character instead of bouncing around between everyone in the coven.
It was great to see William Kaplan’s Bar Mitzvah given the importance of his Jewish identity in the comics. The party scene contained an excellent moment with Lilia (Patti Lupone), as she foreshadowed his fate and finally revealed it was she who placed the sigil on him. It’s not entirely clear why seeing his future prompted her to protect him from witches. Perhaps she sensed something else that went unsaid and placed it to protect him from what was to come. Hopefully we’ll learn the truth behind her actions in a future episode, assuming she didn’t drown to death in that goop.
Speaking of, it felt like a bit of a copout for Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) to just pull herself out of the muddy depths of the Witches’ Road, when it was initially made out to be so deadly. If she can do that then why didn’t Lilia and Jen (Sasheer Zamata)? Maybe they did and we just didn’t see it. But either way, making it so easy to get out really reduced the sense of danger on the road.
It was nice finally watching Billy and Agatha speak to each other with all of their cards on the table. Turns out the real Billy has quite the attitude and isn’t the goofy fanboy he made himself out to be. I’m unsatisfied with Agatha’s explanation as to how she knew his true identity. She said he has the same tell about his mother, but what’s the tell? What were the other clues that tipped her off? For a twist this pivotal, that definitely should have been explained.
There are a lot more nitpicky issues one could have with this episode (which I’ll list off later, just for fun), but ultimately it was a well-executed character study that brought together many of the show’s story threads in a cool way. William Kaplan dying in a car accident, only for Billy to take over his body moments later as the Hex dissipated, is such a tragic backstory. It was heart-wrenching watching Billy try to adjust to living in another person’s body, especially the moment when he practices saying “I’m William Kaplan” in the mirror. Learning about what happened to him, while also seeing how the witches of the coven were always a part of his life, made the show come together and feel more cohesive. Watching Billy piece it all together as Lorna Wu’s version of the ballad played gave me chills. Hats off to Joe Locke for showing us the full breadth of his acting ability, going from playing the shy William Kaplan to the moody Billy Kaplan who also got to show his comedic side while roleplaying The Mare of Easttown with Agatha.
The big unexpected surprise of this episode was the return of Evan Peters as Ralph Bohner. His presence in WandaVision never really made any sense, but I think this scene with Billy and boyfriend Eddie (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) redeems him somewhat. He’s become a paranoid mess (understandably) after being controlled by Wanda and Agatha, and the whole sequence was entertaining for how he bounced back and forth between comedy and despair. The revelation that he is the one who was forced to kill Sparky was a true shock, but I’m glad that the loose end from WandaVision was finally tied up. RIP Sparky.
