Agatha All Along Ep 6: Heeere's Billy!

I love that Episode 6 is a complete break from the pattern that began on the Road, and was starting to get repetitive. It's clear that Teen is Billy, Wanda's kid. And now we get some answers about how that came to be. The clues were there all along.

Half the episode is spent on connecting the dots of Teen's backstory which in itself is a lot of fun as we see fragments of the puzzle fall into place, explaining how a life conceived in a delusional woman's fever dream could possibly manifest itself in corporeal form, along with his true motivation for walking the Road. The other half is a complete re-shoot of Episode 1, but from Teen's perspective rather than Agatha's. It's hilarious as we get to see how her neighbours would have interacted with someone whom they would have rightfully considered delusional for the past three years. It's nice that they treated her kindly all that time while she behaved like a complete lunatic in their midst.

Although it's Agatha's show, this episode is almost entirely Billy's vehicle. Agatha survives her attempted drowning in the bog -- which seems to be her forte -- so she gets to be the sole audience to hear Billy's sigil-uncensored self-reveal. I'm not clear how she knows, but with Billy seemingly having killed off Jen and Lilia in the previous episode, Agatha senses a kindred witch-killing spirit in him. As the two surviving members of the coven that started this journey proceed further down the Road looking for the next trial, their relationship dynamic is now more master-apprentice, less owner-goldie. In the meantime, Rio's whereabouts are unknown and no one's looking for her anyway.

How will Coven Harkness pass the next trial if it's meant for Lilia or Rio? Could a resurrection be in store for Lilia if it's hers? Will we return to formula and the Oz motifs in the next and subsequent episodes? Only a week to find out.

Agatha All Along Ep 5: you can't go home again

Consider me thrown. This episode has upset many of my expectations. First, we're no longer on a merry jaunt through the creepy woods. This episode is really leaning a lot more into the 80's horror vibe. The reintroduction of the pursuers, the Salem's Seven, puts them directly in contact with Agatha's coven, who manages to get away this time. We also get a backstory about the Seven's origins, as told by Lilia and Rio. It's interesting that Agatha, herself, neither confirms nor denies the story. After all, she was there when it happened, and was also probably responsible for how it turned out -- but she says nothing other than "mercy is overrated". Hmm...

The trial begins with the coven dressed like teenagers having a sleepover Cabin in the Woods style. They are comfortably dressed for bed but are made to commune with the dead instead. Surprisingly, this trial is Agatha's. Instead of it being the climactic trial like I expected, Agatha's trial takes place at the mid-point of the season. Again, the parent-child relationship is at the heart of trauma. The ghost that manifests is Agatha's own mother with whom she has had a very different relationship from Lorna and Alice Wu's of the last episode. It seems that Agatha had no love from her mother since birth. Instead of protection, Agatha's mom wants to punish her daughter and tells the coven to continue on the Road without Agatha.

In the tussle over Agatha's fate, history repeats itself and once again, Agatha gains power at the expense of a coven member. I'm not sure if Agatha passed her trial, but she certainly got what she wanted out of it. Her response, though, doesn't look like she was happy with the price she paid. Agatha is a complicated woman. I speculate that Agatha would rather everyone believe the worst of her, than pointlessly defend herself for her mistakes.

While Teen usually takes Agatha's side in arguments, this act of betrayal disillusions him. When Agatha spitefully tells Teen how much he and his mother are alike, she has clearly accepted that he is not her son. Her trial confirms what Rio told her in the previous episode, so Agatha's hopes are finally dashed. Having eliminated one possibility, Agatha suspects another witch who could be Teen's mom, Could he really be Wanda's?

We don't find out immediately as Teen lashes out with a power we never knew he had: mind-controlling the remaining coven to toss Agatha into the bog that threatened to drown Sharon Davis in Episode 2. He also uses telekenisis to toss the coven (sans Rio -- where is she?) into the bog too. These are Wanda's powers, though not her colour. It's a jaw-dropping moment as Teen stands alone, magical sparks crackling from his fingers, and wearing what looks like Wanda's headpiece, with Billie Eilish's "You Should See Me in a Crown" playing in the background.

If Agatha is Dorothy's parallel, in a way, she did go home to her mom, but found no welcome there.

I wonder if next episode, the journey takes us literally "down the Road" -- as in down underground -- since that's the direction the coven has taken, thanks to Teen.

Agatha All Along Ep 4

I have to be honest and ask if this series needs to be 9 episodes long. While it kicked off with an intriguing premise, and gathered a quirky, dysfunctional coven of mediocre witch people, we seem to be repeating a formula for each character's trial. Episode 3 was a scavenger hunt of common household items. This episode involved nothing more than singing a song. While it was a competent performance with the occasional dramatic moment, that was it. Trial complete and let's move on.

In performing the song, Alice discovers that her mother composed it as an expression of love for her daughter. It also functioned as a spell of protection over Alice, saving her from the fire that killed her mother. So, the tin-man finds her heart when before she was empty of belief, and had numbed her emotions (except anger) having never got over the loss of Mommy. It's a redemption arc, neatly summed up in the title of this episode.

We also learn that each trial represents an element that will kill the aspirants on the Road should they fail. The previous episode threatened them with drowning, while this one would have offered them to the flames. So far, both causes of death are common means employed to execute witches.

Perhaps the depiction of Alice's trial had to be shortened for scenes of the coven members starting to respect each other and begin the process of bonding over past trauma. But I feel that Sharon "Mrs Hart" Davis deserved better than a simple burial, which while mostly respectful was unceremonious. To also have her immediately and dramatically replaced by Rio Vidal (which was not unexpected) did her dirty. I suspect we're not quite done with Sharon yet, though. She's had too much build up to not return in perhaps a different form later.

As for Agatha, Rio more or less confirms our suspicions of her intentions towards the members of her current coven. As for Agatha's seemingly maternal behaviour towards Teen, Rio seems sincere in informing Agatha that Teen isn't Agatha's. But Rio also looks to be carefully curating these information drops, so if she inadvertently lets a proverbial cat out of the bag, it was perhaps no accident.

Overall, I found this episode exposition heavy while going through the motions of yet another trial. A show loses its fun factor when it repeats formula and becomes predictable Here's hoping that Episode 5 will do something crazy, or at least different, to throw my expectations for a refreshing loop..

Agatha All Along Ep 3 -- character notes

'Agatha' episode 3 scatters a lot of little clues about the company on the Road. Other than introducing the first trial on the Road, the Wizard of Oz theme takes a backseat. Good choice, as now we can follow each character's backstory without needing to forcibly connect them with their Oz doubles (oh, really?).

Let's start with Agatha. She becomes very unlikable as her cowardice and selfishness amp up in this episode. She is either lying about having walked the Road before, and she's just winging it, or judging by her behaviour on this current journey, she might have survived the last one at the expense of her travelling companions back then. While she has no inclination to face the dangers of the trial, she unexpectedly becomes very protective of Teen when he offers himself as her replacement. Could there be some maternal instinct kicking in? Possibly. Jen recounts a rumour that Agatha had sacrificed her child for the Book of the Damned (the Darkhold?), and if that were true, she doesn't seem willing to repeat the experience. The glimpse she has into her past suggests how horrified she is about what she did, but it's too early to say. Terrible friend though she is, she is a terrific coach, giving Jen a heartfelt pep-talk that snaps her out of a panic attack, allowing her to complete her crucial task.

Teen, the Gen-Z representative comes in clutch navigating the trial which is set in a modern yuppie house. Making use of the kitchen sink as a makeshift cauldron, Jen the Potions witch needs to bring her brew to a boil fast. Teen immediately comes up with a 21st Century solution. In fact, early in the episode, Teen figures out that the trials are meant to be faced without witchy magic but with practical magic, emphasis on the "craft" in "witchcraft". This realization opens up for us a glimpse into the witchy codenames for what are otherwise ordinary household ingredients like "eye of newt" referring to mustard seed, and "gut of a eusocial insect", meaning honey. We also learn that none of Agatha's coven can hear Teen's backstory either. It's been censored by a sigil that keeps his secrets secret from the witching community.

It is Jen's expertise that is under trial in this episode. It is up to her to remember the ingredients of the potion needed to save the lives of their coven. A vision of her past shows how terrified she is of a mysterious Victorian-looking man who calls her "an inconvenient woman", appears to have abused her and possibly stolen her power. When Jen freaks out, being unable to remember the last ingredient of the potion, Agatha reminds her that knowledge IS power. Jen the fraud, the scarecrow, finds her brains and completes the potion, ending the first trial. Jen is the first to name-drop, Mephisto, who is widely speculated to make his MCU debut in this series, but it could be just as well be a fan service red herring.

We get only a fragment of Lilia's past in her vision. Giving off a Renaissance horror vibe, her vision hints that her trauma has to do with survivor's guilt. "They're all dead", Lilia says in Italian when she returns to reality. If Lilia is the Lion, she may have stayed quiet and hidden while she watched some horrific event happen to the people around her. As such, her trial may have to do with confronting her act of cowardice. We'll see in subsequent episodes.

Similarly with Alice, her vision is fragmentary. It speaks of a generational curse, and hints at Alice's abandonment issues. She tells Teen that her mother "wasn't well", and in her vision, her mother drinks out of a suspicious-looking vial immediately after declaring that she was "next". Perhaps the heart Alice the Tin-man is looking for has to do with forgiveness for her mother.

'Mrs Hart'. The whole of this episode, she has been responding as a normal, non-magical person would, having been dragged unwittingly on a magical journey. She constantly reminds us that she is "Sha-ron" which is the identity badge she carries around with her throughout the episode. She is endearingly hilarious with her lines and behaviour. Her character is built up a lot, so what happens to her at the end is unexpectedly heart-wrenching. With Agatha simply responding "Who's Sharon?" to close the episode, I suspect that the human "Sharon" identity will take on a new magical form, which would be crucial at the trial of the Green Witch. Or if Rio Vidal is actually meant for this task, it's important for Sharon to be separated from this group so that she can transform into the Good Witch whose role is yet to be filled.

No sign of Rio or the Salem's Seven, but I believe their absence gives us a chance to understand the underlying motivations of our main characters before pursuit begins again.

Anticipating along with Agatha

Marvel's latest Disney+ series, "Agatha All Along" began with a 2-episode drop. The first 2 episodes set up what looks like a "Wizard of Oz" journey, leaving lots of references and parallels in the plot and characters they introduce. What follows is a list of "Agatha" characters that parallel Baum's classic tale.

Wanda's body is discovered. Cause of death: being crushed by something large and heavy. The Wicked Witch of the East (WWE) is killed by Dorothy's house falling on her. Wanda's body is repeatedly shown to have no shoes. Dorothy subsequently takes possession of WWE's ruby slippers and wears them for the rest of the story. Agatha finds a locket which she wears presumably for the rest of the series. The power Dorothy is looking for is in the slippers she wears. Presumably, the power Agatha is looking for resides in the locket. The power in both objects are unlocked at the end of the journey. Perhaps then we will understand the significance of the lock of hair in the locket -- a secret possibly closely connected to the character played by Joe Locke(!).

Agatha parallels Dorothy. Unlike Dorothy who wakes from her dream at the end, Agatha wakes from her dream at the beginning. She finds herself in the town whose inhabitants were terrorized by Wanda, like the Munchkins were terrorized by WWE. The locket and the lock of hair inside it are likely to be connected to the empty child's room in Agatha's house. Joe Locke's Teen says that what is "missing" is at the end of their journey, so perhaps what Agatha is missing is a son. It'll be too convenient for Teen to be Agatha's son, though. I anticipate further complications.

Agatha introduces Teen as "Toto", the name of Dorothy's dog, who is a silent companion on the journey. While Teen proves very smoothly loquacious, a spell keeps him silent about his origins. Teen is the instigator of Agatha's journey, just as Toto, for whom Dorothy is searching, keeps her from reaching shelter in time, thus resulting in them both being sept away by the cyclone that starts their journey.

Lillia, the Divinations witch, parallels the Lion. Agatha calls her "Coward" which is the Lion's identifying trait.

Jen, Potions, likely parallels the Scarecrow. Agatha calls her "Fraud", which is what a scarecrow is. It's job is to scare crows by pretending to be human.

Alice (and here I admit I'm stretching the parallels) is the Tin-Man. Agatha calls her "Disappointment", but the parallel I'm seeing is that as an ex-cop and the Protection witch, she carries a badge of law-enforcement that was once made of tin in the USA's early days.

Rio Vidal is probably the Wicked Witch of the West (WWW) who is Dorothy's pursuer. There is bad blood between Rio and Agatha, a love-hate relationship. There is betrayal between them, and I wonder if Agatha's missing son might have something to do with that. Jen accuses Agatha of child sacrifice, so could something have happened to Agatha's son, Nicholas Scratch, that might have given the impression that she had sacrificed him in the past?

Salem's Seven: for the moment I see them as the flying monkeys WWW sends after Dorothy the same way that Rio had informed the vengeful group of Agatha's hereabouts.

The one wildcard is Sharon "Mrs Hart" Davis whom Agatha brings in as a misdirect. It is likely that Mrs Hart is an undiscovered witch. She is a substitute for a Green witch required to complete the party (so Agatha isn't lying when she invites Mrs Hart to a "party"). Mrs Hart describes herself as having a "green thumb", and her dress is full of botanical motifs, so she could very well be as magical as her counterparts, she just doesn't know it yet. She is the only one wearing white, though. By process of elimination, Mrs Hart could be the equivalent of the Good Witch of the North, Dorothy's adopted fairy godmother along her journey.

It'll be another few hours before I can watch Episode 3 at time of publication. I really want to see how this series will continue and twist our expectations now that the players are set and the journey has begun.

Reviewing the much maligned Star Wars Outlaws

Played the Prologue chapter of Star Wars Outlaws which came free with the new PC. This Ubisoft game is currently receiving much flak. So few people have bought it despite it being a Star Wars property that it's being blamed for the company's stock nosediving significantly since its launch.

Apart from complaints about poor gameplay, dumb enemy AI, and other glitches, the central issue most critics take with it is the ugly female avatar you play as. Normally, players would have little problem playing as a female character, as long as there's an option to play a male character as well (like Shepard in Mass Effect), but nobody wants to play an ugly female character. To be fair, I think Kay Vess, while no supermodel, is still kinda' like a normal, somewhat athletic everyday woman. For a game that involves a lot of sneaking around, it makes sense that she isn't an attention-grabbing glamourpuss, anyway.

As for the game itself, right off the bat there's a lot to learn about the mechanics of character movement, the use of your companion, um, animal, the puzzle minigames (which can thankfully be switched off), and character and equipment progression. I'm not used to sneaking-around games, and having to keep track of which buttons do what messes up my pathetic attempts to scuttle undetected from cover to cover, so I end up running and gunning instead. The game does allow for that option too, but it's punishing in the early stages given the rudimentary state of our weapons and gear. Like I wish I had found out sooner to just get into the unattended spaceship, instead of dying so often, fighting off wave after wave of armed guards. You don't level up from killing people, so there's no point being a hero, anyway.

Is it a bad game? It's frustrating, at times, but I'm having a masochistic kind of fun learning from my mistakes, and redoing scenarios repeatedly until I don't die and can move forward to the next thing. There are layers of complex systems to master (skill specializations, and faction reputation management, for example), and I've barely scratched the surface. After leaving the home planet, I'm carrying around some backstory, a load of guilt, a substantial bounty on my head, not enough pocket change, and perhaps a score to settle with the Rebel Alliance for recruiting me under false pretenses. The whole setup is intriguing enough to see where it's all going to lead, plus the promise of open-world exploration once the main campaign is complete.

I don't believe Star Wars Outlaws deserves the cold shoulder. People should give it a chance for what it is, rather than allow prejudice to excoriate it for what it's not, and not meant to be. To play it as a fresh new experience, and not play it to find fault with it and use that criticism to discourage others from playing the game for themselves. As it is, I hesitated purchasing the game because of the criticism it got even pre-launch, and I'm only playing it now because I got it for free. I think I'm having a good time with it.

Lingering for lox

Went for my semi-annual teeth cleaning. They do a very thorough job, getting right into the crevices to eradicate food debris and stuff. So with a little guilt (and no prior breakfast) I sought out the nearest available nosh and the M&S cafe was it. Time to put back what the dental hygienist had taken out.

I immediately gravitated to the salmon and cream cheese bagel without thinking about it. My mouth already tasted bloody from the oral scouring not 10-minutes earlier, and I worried that the bagel might be so well toasted that every bite would erupt into shrapnel, as I've experienced in other places before.

Thankfully, the bagel here was soft and fluffy, with a light, super-fragile crust for the tiniest crunch. The salmon (lox) came in a generous portion, complementing the cream cheese -- an unusual combination, but somehow it works. The sandwich (?) included lettuce, dill and a pickle slice, subtly sweet-sour, adding a fresh flavour to every mouthful.

The cappuccino was milky and smooth going down. Good for sipping while people-watching, but because parking was expensive in the area, I couldn't hang around as long as I would've liked.