REVIEW: ‘Agatha All Along’ Episode 7 — “Death’s Hand In Mine”

It’s easy to disparage Marvel these days, which makes Agatha All Along Episode 7 such a shocking triumph. It’s not just the best episode of the series to date but one of the best episodes of Marvel’s television slate, period. Bridging past, present, and future together to reckon with the inevitability of time, “Death’s Hand In Mine” is lucky enough to grant Patti LuPone the stage. Episode 6 filled in Billy’s (Joe Locke) history, while Episode 7 filled in the gaps.

One of the greatest hindrances so far of Agatha All Along has been its lousy pacing. Which makes the swift yet cohesive pace of Episode 7 all the more striking. Directed by showrunner Jac Schaeffer and written by Gia King and Cameron Squires, it beautifully strings together all of Lilia’s previous premonitions to see how they all culminate in the current predicament they find themselves in. Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) and Billy have arrived at the most recent trial, which is a test of divination. While Billy appreciates taro readings, he lacks the aptitude, while Agatha believes it all to be subjective. They need Lilia to survive this round.

Lilia, who we learn, lives her life flowing through time. As she tells Jen (Sasheer Zamata), time isn’t linear in how most people experience it. This accounts for Lilia’s spacing in and out of conversations, either in fits of hysterics or acceptance. Jen admits that it sounds like a terrifying way to live life, and it is.

Lilia has pushed this gift of slipping through time  away from herself since her youth as she foresaw the death of her coven, and her foresight wasn’t enough to stop it. Now, as it’s happening again at a much more rapid procession, she worries it means she doesn’t have long for this world — that time is slipping because her hold on it is loose.

Lilia’s storyline transforms Agatha All Along Episode 7 into something more haunting and emotionally resonant. Dealing with the passage of time, no matter how cyclical and piecemeal, is compelling. We catch glimpses of Lilia’s life as she tries to gather wisdom from an old teacher only to, in the next beat, have to impart her own onto a new, stumbling coven. Her acceptance, betrayal, and protectiveness towards Billy is rapid fire as she enters and renters their current interaction throughout different moments in her life. He betrayed her; she doesn’t trust him, but she saved him.

The reveal of the coven as a pivotal part of her taro reading is, perhaps, the most impactful moment of the episode. Shot with urgency, we learn of everyone’s status. Lilia is the Queen of Cups, while Alice (Ali Ahn), seemingly dead, is the Knight of Cups, her power overflowing to protect. Jen is The High Priestess, suggesting greater things to come while Agatha is the Three of Swords. Billy is The Tower inverted, showing a miraculous change that speaks to his life as both William and Billy. But the biggest reveal is that Rio (Aubrey Plaza) is Death.

It’s a powerful sequence that speaks to the significance of camaraderie and the necessity of covens in this world. Lilia wasn’t meant to be alone and has found a greater life and purpose while working alongside others, even as she fears losing them. This makes her final, sacrificial act all the more potent as she lets the others run ahead only to lock herself in the defeated trial. With the Salem Seven approaching, she manages to use her abilities to spin the room so that the Seven fall onto swords beneath them, though it presumably kills her as well.

If not for the amount of context needed to understand the who’s and, where, and why, Agatha All Along Episode 7 would make a wonderful sell for people who are rightfully fatigued by the studio. There’s an abundance of confidence in the writing and the flow of time that makes for a startlingly emotional episode. We care about Lilia and her love for being a witch. We care about the idea of her being alone for so long. Even as we merely piece together the remnants of her stories, they form a complete and complicated picture.

For the most part, Agatha All Along Episode 7 is a success. However, the production drops the ball on some design and prop elements. Namely, the swords, which, when shot up close, look to have no durability, are flimsy and plastic. Similarly, while seeing the cast dressed up as iconic witches is fun, the costumes and makeup don’t live up to the originals. Agatha’s green skin is too vibrant, Billy’s crown too thin, and Lilia’s dress limp. Perhaps the point was to make them all seem like they were bought at Spirit Halloween, but for a Disney run series that is stealing from popular properties — Disney properties — you’d hope they could step up in costume accuracy.

Agatha All Along Episode 7 is immediate in its emotional efficiency. With solid writing and a more formidable Patti LuPone, “Death’s Hand In Mine” is Marvel TV at its very best.

Agatha All Along Episode 7 is out now on Disney+.