Sorry, Mrs. Hart followers: It seems to be like Sharon is admittedly lifeless. Lifeless sufficient to be buried, at the very least. The primary scene in “If I Can’t Attain You, Let My Music Educate You” picks up proper the place the earlier episode left off. Having escaped the flooded seashore home, Agatha, Teen, Jen, Alice, and Lilia are again on the Highway, attempting to regroup after their near-death expertise. Teen’s digging Sharon a grave, Agatha is complaining concerning the wasted time, and the coven is haranguing Agatha about needing a brand new inexperienced witch. (Technically, this might be their first inexperienced witch since Sharon wasn’t truly a witch, however with an episode runtime of much less the 40 minutes, there’s no time for small particulars like that). It’s all fairly normal table-setting for the following trial. 

It struck me as odd, although, that Agatha All Alongside makes a degree of exhibiting the coven burying Sharon. It doesn’t look like a very important plot level. If this episode had picked up, say, with the group heading down the Highway towards their subsequent trial with a fast line of explanatory dialogue indicating that they’d buried her earlier than persevering with, I wouldn’t have batted an eye fixed. Stroll and speak, individuals. Let’s get shifting. We’ve obtained 4 extra trials to get to. As a substitute, this concentrate on bickering and burial makes for a listless begin, like they’re simply ready round for one thing to occur.  

Nevertheless, it turns into obvious a number of moments later why the episode kicked off this fashion. After the coven performs a spell to name down a substitute inexperienced witch—the specifics of how that is even doable are muddy and actually not value stepping into—Rio crawls out of Sharon’s grave. Right here she is, the beating black coronary heart that Agatha knew all alongside was supposed to finish their coven. If the present hadn’t made a degree of exhibiting Teen digging Sharon’s grave, we wouldn’t get such a dramatic re-introduction for Rio. It’s admittedly enjoyable, nevertheless it’s additionally extraordinarily apparent that all the things that occurred from the start of the episode till this second was superficial. Fairly than the characters’ actions and dialogue serving the story or advancing the plot, they have been simply stalling for time.

Within the lead-up to Agatha All Alongside’s premiere, Rio’s id was one of many greatest questions. Her character was created particularly for the present, however followers have been satisfied that she was actually the Inexperienced Witch, a gender-swapped model of Emerald Warlock from the comics. This, it seems, is at the very least partially true. The primary few episodes made it clear that “inexperienced witch” refers to a witch who attracts her energy from the Earth. It’s an archetype, not a selected particular person—except, in fact, you’re essentially the most highly effective one round. Rio explains the distinction to Alice: “[I’m] much less a inexperienced witch and extra the Inexperienced Witch,” she says, as her voice will get deeper and extra demonic. Okay then! Predictably, Agatha’s not glad to see Rio, however the others are enchanted. “Actually, I don’t know how one can really feel,” Jen says. “Do I hate her? Or do I would like her telephone quantity?” 

The present’s inherent queerness has been a serious speaking level for the forged. “It’s within the bones of the present for certain,” Hahn instructed Complete Movie forward of the premiere. However there’s a delicate stability to keep up when depicting queerness in media, between recognizing that illustration issues and acknowledging queer relationships as no extra novel or value commenting upon than heterosexual relationships. The latter strategy is extra reflective of actuality, nevertheless it additionally runs the chance of feeling like tokenism or queer-baiting. “I feel it’s nearly like individuals maintain describing it as the following stage of illustration. We have now had these unimaginable exhibits which have put queerness to the entrance of the characters and the plot, and now it’s like, nice, we will have queerness as simply a part of them,” Joe Locke stated in that very same interview. It’s clear that’s the sort of illustration Agatha All Alongside goes for, however I used to be anxious after the alternate between Agatha and Rio in episode one the place Rio tells Agatha that she’d choose her “horizontal … [dramatic pause] … in a grave.” The sexual pressure between them is palpable, nevertheless it’s all very rigorously cloaked in innuendo. Is that this simply teasing, or do these two even have a romantic historical past? And in the event that they do, will Marvel explicitly acknowledge it or go away the implications unsaid? 

In episode two, we see the sort of unambiguous however low-key illustration Locke talked about when Teen will get a name from his “Boyf.” Now, in episode 4, this tossed-off line from Jen is extra proof of the present’s dedication to weaving queerness into the material of its world. Later, too, Agatha and Rio have a dialog about placing apart their variations and spending another evening collectively. That dialogue remains to be considerably missing in specificity, however I feel that’s most likely extra a symptom of the writers wanting to maintain the main points of Agatha and Rio’s historical past hidden for a number of extra episodes than proof of the present gesturing at queerness with out totally committing to representing it. I’m not 100-percent certain how I really feel about this type of low-key illustration within the context of the MCU as a complete—the franchise is, for higher and worse, extraordinarily loud and simple in its themes, so purposefully understating simply this one appears like a foul selection—nevertheless it works on this particular present.

Now that the coven is definitely full, they’re off to see the wizard to tackle trial No. 2. This one seems within the type of a cabin within the woods. The entrance door depicts a waxing moon, a hearth section that represents a interval of development and rebuilding. Inside, everybody will get one other costume change to match the inside adorning scheme. It’s full-on Nineteen Seventies-rock-star vibes this time, with fake fur, shag carpets, and classic devices littering the luxurious recording studio through which they’ve discovered themselves. Alice’s response makes it clear that that is her trial when she instantly emotionally shuts down and tries to get everybody to depart. It looks as if she acknowledges this particular location (versus Jen’s trial, which was extra symbolic), however she doesn’t elaborate on it. 

The remainder of the group wears her down till she lastly reveals what’s obtained her so spooked: Her household has a generational curse. It affected her mother, who died mysteriously, and it impacts her, too, within the type of uniquely dangerous luck. Agatha has the answer this time: “The one method to finish a curse is to face it,” she says. Given their environment, Agatha accurately guesses that going through the curse means an epic jam sesh through which the coven has to play Lorna’s (Alice’s mother) model of “The Ballad Of The Witches’ Highway.” It’s essentially the most well-known model of the music, and it differs from the normal music in an unspecified small however important approach as a result of Lorna’s model is definitely a safety spell that’s been holding Alice secure from extra extreme hurt all these years. It doesn’t make a complete lot of sense within the second and holds up even much less below scrutiny, however the present doesn’t take the time to develop on that, focusing chunk of the episode on a dialog between Agatha and Rio within the recording sales space as an alternative. Rio thinks it’s a personal dialog, however Agatha secretly activates a microphone that lets everybody else hear in when Rio hints that she thinks Agatha doesn’t care about the remainder of the coven and is just utilizing them to get to the top of the Highway. Which, duh, nevertheless it nonetheless stings for the others to listen to it so bluntly. 

Very like with Jen in episode three, Alice is sidelined though that is ostensibly her episode. All the large moments belong to Rio and Agatha. Agatha even sings the lead vocals on the Ballad, relegating Alice to the piano. And look, I’m not going to fake that the efficiency isn’t extraordinarily cool, between the setting and the costumes and the forged. However that is the second time in solely 4 episodes the place the climax facilities on the coven singing this identical music. The scenes are visually and tonally completely different, however they’re thematically the identical: The characters are singing the identical music in service of reaching a purpose that may solely be achieved by collaboration. What number of occasions is the present going to make use of the Ballad as a crutch?

Throughout the efficiency, the curse remains to be stirring up hassle, and Teen is thrown by a glass window. He’s badly injured as they full the trial and escape again to the Highway, although it looks as if he’s going to stay. On this episode, I wished extra background on Alice. From her preliminary dismissal of Agatha, it appeared like she didn’t even consider in witchcraft, however she was performing safety spells right here, so perhaps she was simply mendacity. I’d additionally like extra particulars on what being a safety witch even entails, however by the point the credit rolled, I used to be extra preoccupied with one thing Rio stated to Agatha about Teen: “That boy isn’t yours.” She sounded fairly certain of that.

Stray observations

• • Aubrey Plaza’s little Wizard Of Oz Scarecrow-style hop as she skipped down the Highway was a pleasant contact.
• • We obtained one other out-of-the-blue tarot reference from Lilia: “Three of swords.”
• • I’m sticking with my earlier prediction that Teen is Wanda’s son, not Agatha’s. It appears like Rio is implying that Teen can’t presumably be Agatha’s son, as a result of Agatha’s son is lifeless, and it looks as if one thing she stated as extra of a wake-up name than out of cruelty.
• • Agatha is on lead vocals, Lilia is on backup vocals, Alice is on piano, Jen is on bass, and Rio is on drums throughout the efficiency of the Ballad. 
• • I’ve to confess that I used to be charmed by the demon hanging out within the rafters of the home. When was the final time we noticed such intensive make-up and sensible results within the MCU?