Someone find the costume designer and give them a medal.
Recap
The group has to bury Sharon on the road and find a replacement for their green witch, despite Agatha’s insistence that they can do without. They learn that their assumption that Alice was hoping to find her mother here is false; Alice’s mother died on tour in a hotel fire. She’s walking the Road because her mother believed it would save her. The group decide to do a summoning spell for a green witch, and wind up bringing Rio directly to their location. Everyone is uncertain what to make of her, but glad that her presence seems to have upset Agatha. They come across a new house, one that Alice doesn’t want to enter. The Road doesn’t give them a choice and they come to a ‘70s-style rock star pad, their clothes once again changing accordingly. The home contains some morbid tapestries of ways witches can be killed, as well as some tribal masks. Lilia realizes that Alice’s mother toured with the song to try and open the Road herself; Alice explains that her fans were her coven.
Agatha suggests that she and Rio strike a truce while on the Road, then puts on the recording booth speaker so the group can hear Rio suggest that Agatha kill the coven so she can get the power and Rio gets the bodies. The Teen puts on a record that says “Play Me,” but it plays backwards—the group is cursed and a metronome starts, signaling the start of the trial. Alice feels suddenly lighter, but Lilia falls, smoking and screaming in pain. After Alice draws a circle of protection around her, it stops. The same happens to Jen shortly after and Alice puts a circle around her as well. They both bear terrible scars on their shoulders now. The coven finds out the record is the Witches’ Road ballad that Alice’s mother Lorna used to play, and this is Alice’s trial. She always believed that the problem was her, but is now coming to realize that her difficulties in life are part of a generational family curse that is now after the coven; she has the same scars and so did her mother.
The Teen is thrown through the recording booth window. Agatha realizes that Lorna’s version of the song was a protection spell to keep her daughter safe, and that the song’s popularity has seen Alice through the years. The group has to play the song in order to protect themselves and hopefully break the curse. Alice plays the piano, Teen is on guitar, Rio on the drums, Jen on bass serving as backup vocals with Lilia while Agatha and Alice sing. The house begins to catch fire and the group’s rendition brings forth the curse, making it manifest; Alice destroys it. The Teen, however, had a shard of glass in his belly from being thrown earlier and falls unconscious. The group take him out through the exit and back to the Road.
Rio thinks that the Teen is toast, but Agatha won’t have it. She asks Jen what she needs to heal him, and Jen asks for water and moonlight. Using both she casts a healing spell and saves the Teen’s life. Agatha watches over the Teen as he recovers, while the rest of the group sits by a fire and talks. They learn that Jen was also a midwife in addition to being a potions specialist and root worker. She was bound without magic by a doctor who invited her to an obstetrics conference to share her expertise. Alice admits that she stopped believing in everything her mom taught her after her death, and that she hoped none of this was real so she could stay angry. Lilia points out that knowing it was all for her probably makes Alice sad, but that’s better.
The Teen awakes and asks Agatha what happened to her son. Agatha walks away without answering. She sits down at the fire where the group is comparing battle scars and shows off one she claims to have gotten from the Daughters of Liberty. Rio insists that she also has a scar: She claims to have loved someone, and says that one day she had to do something she didn’t want to do because it was her job. What she did hurt the person she loved, and that person is her scar. Agatha is affected by this story and walks off. Rio follows and they embrace, nearly kissing—but Rio tells Agatha that the Teen isn’t hers. Agatha backs away from Rio and leaves.
Commentary
Let! Them! Kiss!
No, you’re right, string us along. If it’s not queerbaiting, I’m fine being teased. Let these lesbians cook, I need the completed dish.
There’s a lot of comics canon here that the story could be leveraging, and I kinda hope they’re not using too much of it? But they probably are. The comics version of Blackheart is a demon that works for his “dad” Mephisto, after all, and plenty of MCU fans have been champing at the bit for that guy to show up. It would also make sense of why Rio claims that she did something that hurt Agatha because it was her job. If Mephisto ordered her to do something, that’s a pretty solid reason for betraying the love of her life.
Or did she? Because someone put a sigil on that kid. And according to Agatha, they wouldn’t know that they’d done it…
Are we gonna get another version of the song later on in the show, by the way? Is each version going to slap more than the last? I want them to keep it going, but the full folk-rock treatment was glorious.
The show is doing a real sharp job of using each member of the coven as a showcase for different ways and reasons women have been persecuted for witchcraft. Alice’s journey is couched in generational trauma and mental illness; it’s impossible to know if the curse played a part in Lorna’s mental state, but it doesn’t really matter when looking at the cost. It certainly didn’t help her while she worked tirelessly to save her child. The inability to fully articulate their plight to her daughter resulted in Alice blaming herself for difficulties caused by the family curse, believing that she was the problem and that it was her job to save her mother.
Lilia later tells Alice that knowing the truth has made her sad, but “Sad is better than angry,” which I’d argue is not universally true, but accurate in this instance. Anger can be incredibly useful if it helps a person act, but Alice’s anger was clearly stagnant, a way to avoid feeling anything else. Getting the chance to move through to sadness will finally allow her to heal.
For Jen, we get another piece of the puzzle: We learn that she was bound by a doctor who invited her to share her midwifery knowledge with other doctors at an obstetrics conference. So we have a very direct version of a known historical trend: Men taking child-birthing medical duties away from women who had more knowledge of women’s bodies and the birthing process. Again, the timeline seems important here, but this is an issue that has cropped up across generations. While Jen is hoping to get her powers back, it’s important that her confidence in her potions abilities are growing again at the same time.
What’s happening with Lilia’s abilities is very interesting. There are points where she appears to be talking to another unseen person, and then moments where she gives warnings to members of the coven. Following those episodes, she has no memory of what she’s said. In effect, Lilia’s abilities resemble both dementia and conditions with hallucinogenic factors, such as schizophrenia. Combine this with the ability to see into the future, and you’ve got a perfect recipe for public fear and ridicule. It’s likely that some women were persecuted as witches simply for displaying cognitive decline that frightened their neighbors, and Lilia’s powers play right into that.
Lilia is also the member of the coven who is most concerned with how witches are perceived and reacts visibly to the images of witches being murdered in the home. So we’re also looking at a witch who has likely lived through trials and rounds of persecution, or something similar. I’m guessing we’ll find out in the next trial…
And in the meantime, we’ve got Agatha, still learning to be part of the group while her former probably-lover causes chaos and hurts her feelings. It doesn’t get much more fun than this. If you like gay drama and theatrics and familial strife and aesthetic excellence. This episode truly had it all.
Tarot Readings and Witchy Thoughts
- There are some great trippy asides to go with the vibe of this episode too, including Lilia’s insistence that they “Ask Alice” when it comes to correct ballad lyrics.
- Both Jen and Alice aren’t certain if they’re scared of Rio or want her phone number because this show understands that most witches are queer, a-thank you.
- Doing the “play the record backwards” thing to put a curse on everyone was inspired, loved it. If you didn’t experience much record-playing when you grew up, playing records backwards was a common activity while high, and also a place where some fans would insist you could hear secret messages in the music… (Look up “Paul is dead.” No, don’t actually do that. But do it.)
- Lilia mentioning an encounter with a vampire is great way to let audiences know that yes, there are vampires in the MCU. For whenever they finally get Blade off the ground. We’ve been waiting an age, y’all.
- Agatha’s comment that her scar came from the Daughters of Liberty is a twofold reference: There’s a historical Daughters of Liberty group that formed during the American Revolutionary War against England. But the Daughters of Liberty is also a group within the Marvel comics canon, a generalized party working toward freedom to protect humanity. The comics called Peggy and Sharon Carter members, as well as historical figures like Harriet Tubman. (Is it extremely awkward when Marvel does stuff like that? You bet it is.)
Next week, new trial…
