Spoilers below for the latest episode of Agatha All Along, so be warned if you haven’t yet watched.
With its fifth episode, “Darkest Hour / Wake Thy Power," Agatha All Along may have very well changed the game for upcoming Marvel movies and MCU TV shows by confirming the Disney+ series’ worst-kept secret: Teen’s true identity. Yes, Joe Locke’s crown piece essentially confirmed that he’s playing Wanda’s son Billy Kaplan/Maximoff, better known in the comics as Wiccan. It was indeed a cheer-worthy moment, but ended the episode on a curious note for Aubrey Plaza’s Rio.
The green witch was nowhere to be seen by the time Agatha, Jen and Lilia were being forced down into the muddy depths straddling the Witches’ Road, and that wasn’t the only time during the episode I had questions about Rio’s actions. So let’s hop on a hastily crafted (and shamelessly co-opted) broom and fly through these currently unanswered questions about Plaza’s character.
Why Did Rio Seem So Intimidated By Evanora Harkness' Ghost?
Whatever the specific case may be, Rio is an extremely powerful entity whose abilities stretch beyond witchcraft, and she returned to the show in Episode 4 by climbing out of the ground like a zombie. But while it seems like she should be immune to feeling intimidated or overpowered by others — not even in her scuffles with Agatha — her demeanor became far more vulnerable and subdued once the ghost of Agatha’s mother showed up (with Kate Forbes back in the role).
To be expected, given the pair’s romantic past, Rio was quick to step up in Agatha’s defense when Evanora attempted to convince the witches to leave her daughter behind. As it went:
- EVANORA: Leave her with me.
- RIO: No! No way!
- JEN: A minute ago, you were ready to slit her throat.
- RIO: Yeah, well, her mother can't have her!
Here, Evanora gets a little angrier, causing Rio to lose her aggressive manner, and it's quite possibly the first time in this series that Rio looks legitimately worried. But if I'm reading things correctly, Plaza's character didn't look as if she was worried about what might happen to Agatha, whom she'd already seen turn into a possessed Deadite. Rather, she looked potentially worried for herself, which is very interesting.
Could it be that Rio was suddenly worried about herself being possessed by Evanora or some other ghostly entity? And if Rio is indeed an interation of Death, would possessing her give Evanora the power to take the souls of anyone she wanted? It's something I hadn't considered before, but now want to obsess over for a bit.
Did Rio Tell Agatha Teen Wasn't Her Son Just To Jumpstart Agatha's Evil?
Near the end of Episode 4, Rio kicked up gasps all over the MCU fandom by derailing a potential kiss with Agatha to share the update that, despite what the latter may have been thinking or hoping for, Teen is not her son. (A detail that appeared to be doubled-down on by the Ouija Board spirit spelling out her son’s name, “Nicholas Scratch.”) In the moment, I thought it was a sign of offbeat compassion, where Rio wanted to make sure Agatha’s libido wasn’t fueled by false expectations.
But now I feel silly for even flirting with such an idea, considering Rio is chaos incarnate, and probably can’t do anything positive without having some kind of negative consequences to follow. And so now I’m thinking that Rio just wanted to continue her initial goal in the premiere of turning Agatha back into her original, devious, body-dropping self. And what better way to do that than to strike at the witch’s most vulnerable wound?
Is it possible she knew what was coming with Teen's Wiccan unveiling, and wanted to try and keep Agatha safe? That could serve as circumstantial proof for my theory that Rio threw him through that window in the recording studio. Or were her intentions to make that reveal happen sooner than it might have otherwise?
What Was Rio Doing With Alice's Body While Teen Was Busy Dunking The Other Witches In Mud?
I think most viewers would agree that Teen was absolutely correct in assessing that Agatha could have readily stopped herself from sapping Alice's powers and life force whenever Ali Ahn's character tried blasting Evanora's ghost out with fire. Agatha's face was no longer all zombie-like, and she seemed to be getting pleasure out of it, even if she may not have been 100% back to her normal headspace.
Rio presumably could have stepped in to halt things and save Alice's life, but didn't. And in the aftermath, as the others were in shock over what happened, Agatha rather quickly made her way up the steps and back out onto the Witches' Road where she seemed unable to manifest Alice's power for more than a few seconds. Then Teen came out and all the Wiccan gloriousness happened.
But curiously, Rio wasn't ever shown to have exited the spooky cabin during the final sequence, and thus wasn't involved with the other witches' being sucked underground. So I'm guessing she was busy doing something with Alice's body, though it's obviously not clear what. I'm secretly hoping Rio is able to dislocate her jaw and eat adult bodies whole like an anaconda, but that's probably a stretch. (Pun sorta intended.)
For Rio to not have followed everyone else, she must have been doing something somewhat time-intensive, and I have to wonder if Teen only did what he did to Agatha & Co. specifically because Rio wasn't around to stop him. She likely couldn't have known that Teen and Agatha would have that tiff leading to him snapping, and thus maybe didn't think it was vital enough for her to stick with everyone.
But let's not forget that Alice's death didn't eliminate Evanora's presence from the cabin. So what if the next time we see Rio in Episode 6, she's possessed by Agatha's mother? I don't even want to think about the Oedipal complications that would spawn from that.
Hopefully we'll get some more answers soon, as well as a full-body shot of Joe Locke's Wiccan costume. Tune in every Wednesday night at 9:00 p.m. ET with a Disney+ subscription.
