SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Episode 3 of Agatha All Along.
Agatha Harkness and her ragtag coven encounter their first obstacle on The Witches Road in Episode 3 of Agatha All Along.
If you’ll remember, the crew narrowly escaped the Salem Seven, finding themselves on the Road in the final moments of Episode 2. Here’s a refresher.
Things pick up right where they left off, as the coven departs down the Witches Road with no idea what lies ahead. All of the witches are stunned to discover that the road is even real, except for Sharon (Debra Jo Rupp), who is convinced that everyone has kidnapped her. The coven, sans Agatha (Kathryn Hahn), is concerned that Sharon is with them at all, since she poses an obvious liability with no actual, obvious magical abilities.
That’s when Agatha informs them that the Road is really a test of sorts, and they’re going to be put through a series of trials in order to make it to the end. The kicker is that none of them have any access to their powers, which means they’ll need to rely on analog magic to succeed.
“Witchcraft! Emphasis on the craft!” Joe Locke’s Teen explains.
Who is this kid, anyway? The rest of the coven would love to know. Too bad he can’t tell them because of that pesky sigil. It’s the first time anyone has actually pointed it out to him, and Agatha denies knowing anything about it. Now they’ve got a new mystery on their hands, as Teen himself points out: Why would anyone want to hide him?
There’s no time for that now, though, because they’ve got to focus on making it down the Witches Road. But wait, they’ve lost Sharon. She’s wandered off, looking for a way out, but instead she finds herself in a bout of quicksand, quickly getting sucked beneath the earth. Luckily, the witches are able to save her, but her purse becomes a sacrifice of the Road.
Now seems like as good a time as ever for Agatha to let everyone know they must not stray from the Road. If only she’d said something before Sharon nearly got eaten.
Anyway, just as their contemplating their next move, Jen (Sasheer Zamata) spots a house in the distance. They set off to investigate. Once inside, they find themselves transformed. No longer dirty from trekking the Road, their clothes have changed so they now giving off preppy, coastal chic vibes as they explore the house looking for clues on what’s next.
Teen finds an envelope sitting on the fireplace mantle, inviting them to the First Trial. The card inside contains a riddle: “My age has value. I’m no fun alone. I mess with your mind. My tricks are well-known.”
Wine! Oh look, there’s a bottle and five glasses waiting for them on the table. Teen goes off in search of a corkscrew, and Jen follows to warn him to watch his back with Agatha, telling him she traded her own child for the Book of the Damned (the Darkhold), and no one knows what happened to him. He could be dead. Or, it’s possible that her son has become an “agent of Mephisto.”
She says, whatever the true story, she probably wouldn’t even recognize him if he showed up on her doorstep. Teen seems shaken by the remark. Could this be a clue as to Teen’s real identity?
The witches pour the wine and, when they do, a 30-minute timer mysteriously begins as Sharon gulps her glass down. The rest of them clink their glasses and start sipping. Well, except for Agatha, who sneakily pours hers into a plant. She’s got the right idea, because within minutes, Sharon’s face is puffy and red as if she’s having an allergic reaction.
In fact, it’s not just Sharon. All the women slowly begin to experience the same reaction. The swelling goes down very quickly, but this causes even more panic, as Jen says only one type of poison could lead to this reaction…Alewife’s Revenge. And this is just the beginning. They’re about the begin experiencing delirium, loss of motor function, racing heart, hallucinations, and eventually death.
Teen is safe, since he’s not allowed to drink yet, and despite Agatha’s attempts to avoid the same fate, it looks like that’s out of the question. Not only do the other witches catch on to the fact that Agatha never drank her glass, it also has already filled up again all on its own.
She tries to smash her glass, hoping to avoid the same fate as the other witches, but then another glass begins to fill. She’s going to have to drink the wine to make it through this trial.
Before long, Sharon experiences a scary hallucination, screaming for Wanda to spare someone’s life, before she faints. The witches decide it’s time to brew an antidote before the clock runs out. As the potions witch, Jen leads the charge, helping the others find household products that will suffice in place of the usual magical elements she’d usually have on hand.
As they’re looking, the others all begin to experience their own hallucinations, which both terrifies them and eats into the time left for them to save everyone’s lives. And just when they think they’ve got enough on their hands, the window in the living room of the house begins to crack. Suddenly, they’re underwater, and before long the glass is going to shatter, and they’re going to drown.
They need to move quick, because the women are starting to lose their motor function. Just then, Agatha hears a baby crying, and she sees an infant in a bassinet. She uncovers the bassinet to find the Darkhold sitting inside. She’s horrified by the image, but is quickly snapped out of it, as the women need her help to complete the potion.
They start mixing the potion in the sink when Jen realizes they’re missing something. There’s only a minute left on the timer, and Jen is panicking. Agatha calms her down for a moment, and she remembers they need the blood of the unpoisoned to complete it. That would be Teen. With his blood in the sink, they’re able to finish the potion and save themselves.
They almost forget Sharon, who is still passed out on the couch, but as the seconds tick away they try to pour some of the potion down her throat to save her. Just as the timer runs out, the windows on the house shatter and the oven door clangs open. That appears to be their only way out. Dragging an unconscious Sharon with them, they crawl into the oven, shutting the door behind them just in time.
Just like that, they find themselves back on the Witches Road. They’ve survived the first trial. Well, not everyone. Sharon is dead.
Dun. Dun. Dun.
New episodes of Agatha All Along land on Disney+ on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. PT/ 9 p.m. ET.