Warning! This review contains major spoilers for Agatha All Along episode 7.
Another week, another episode of Agatha All Along – and this time, Patti LuPone's Lilia Calderu is put to the test as the unlikely coven gets drawn into a divination trial. A penultimate chapter of sorts, ahead of the Marvel show's double-billed finale, it beautifully recontextualizes all we've seen before while moving the story along, too, as Lilia confronts her past, power, and prophecy – and sacrifices herself to save her fellow witches.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, though – which would be appropriate given the focus of 'Death's Hand in Mine' – let's start at the beginning. Episode 7 kicks off with a bickering Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) and Billy (Joe Locke) stumbling across a tower all set up for a tarot reading. The pair start reading each other's fortunes but quickly discover they're not so hot at the whole 'predicting the future' thing, as swords start raining down on them with every nonsensical card pick. "I wish Lilia was here," Billy, deliciously (and hilariously inexplicably) dolled up like a drag version of Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent, groans, as it cuts to a muddied Lilia navigating the tunnels beneath the Witches' Road with a similarly banished Jennifer (Sasheer Zamata).
Release date: October 24, 2024
Available on: Disney Plus
Showrunner: Jac Schaeffer
Runtime: 37 minutes
It's here that the new installment starts to get creative with its storytelling, as Lilia – flipping in and out of lucidness – explains to Jen that when she was little, she used to experience her life "out of sequence" and that, after a while, she became so tired and confused of the "gaps" she basically chose to neglect her abilities and shut it off.
"It's happening again, and it's getting worse," a teary-eyed Lilia says to Jen. "Maybe because I'm close to the end…" "Of the Road?" Jen replies, but Lilia's melancholy look makes it all too clear that's not what she means. (Sob!)
Divine intervention
As episode 7 leans into the idea that "time is an illusion", gorgeous flashbacks to her childhood in Sicily and earlier moments in the show – "Am I wispy or am I kooky?"/ "Alice, don't… try to save Agatha" – help both Lilia and the audience piece everything together. It's expertly paced and plotted, as she slowly works out that her flashforwards are a gift and the very thing that'll enable the coven to make it through the trial.
Confirming that Lilia has been living through the events of the show in visions before, we suddenly catch-up to her in another version of reality, where she (fittingly dressed as Glinda, the Good Witch) and Jen (as the Evil Hag from Snow White) are in Tarot Tower with Agatha and Billy. Adamant that the cards must be read properly in order to pass the challenge, a coherent Lilia takes over. Initially, Billy sits for her, but it doesn't take long for Lilia to realize that she needs to pick cards for herself. "I'm The Traveler," she settles, referencing her propensity to travel through time.
LuPone does exquisite work here, exuding gravitas and poise seen all-too-little in the MCU
She identifies herself as 'the Queen of Cups', an intuitive empath with an inner voice to be trusted, and pulls out 'Three of Pentacles', a "collaboration" card that highlights the importance of her newfound coven, and others that symbolize Alice, Jen, Agatha, Billy, and finally Death, who not only turns out to be Aubrey Plaza's Rio, but Lilia's ultimate "destination".
Accepting her fate, Lilia finishes the reading and ushers the others through a freshly opened portal, as she tells them she "loved being a witch" and elects to stay behind to stop the rapidly approaching Salem Seven. She triumphantly grins to herself, as she flips one of the cards she pulled, causing the whole room to turn upside down. The members of the Salem Seven fall fatally onto the sword ceiling now below them, as Lilia clings to the tarot table. After taking a few breaths, she finally lets go and falls in slow-motion, as her younger self is told by her former mentor in a memory, "Let us begin".
A good witch in a bad sitch
It shouldn't be overlooked that Lilia is played by 75-year-old LuPone. "You look at me and you see some doddering old broad," she stutters to Jen during one scene, so seeing her reclaim her power and make sense of the things that have left her so disorientated later on is incredibly powerful. She doesn't beat up the bad guys, as we've come to expect from the heroes of such comic book fare, she uses her mind and skills that are uniquely hers to best them – and it's awesome. Age is a weakness? Hardly, when it comes to ancient, wise witches…
If episode 7 has any faults it's that it doesn't have enough Agatha; something that has been true of the show for two weeks in a row now. (I'd be lying, as well, if I said I wasn't itching for another musical number to follow up episodes 2 and 4's earworms). Hahn is so excellent in the role that it's tough to spend so much time away from her, though it's hard to stay mad at such things when the supporting cast are this brilliant, too. Like Locke in the previous episode, LuPone does exquisite work here, exuding gravitas and poise seen all-too-little in the MCU. The wonderfully witty Sasheer Zamata is finally given more time to shine, too, with Jen dropping some of the series' funniest zingers, from "Damn, we're using his full name" to "Always, but collectively we've moved on".
With showrunner Jac Schaeffer behind the camera, the latest chapter isn't just stunning from a narrative perspective, but visually too. All the slow-motion, high-contrasted light, and ornate sets adds to all the drama, and ramps up the emotional stakes. Heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure, 'Death's Hand in Mine' is one of the best episodes of the WandaVision spin-off yet.
Agatha All Along episodes 1 to 7 are streaming now. Ensure you don't miss a thing with our Agatha All Along release schedule.
For more on the wider MCU, check out our guide to all of the upcoming Marvel movies and shows or get up to speed with our breakdown of the Marvel timeline.
