We’ve reached the end of the road in Marvel’s Agatha All Along. As it turns out, it had a hell of a final twist.

I guess we can’t be surprised.

The story

We begin this episode with Jen and Billy mourning the loss of Lilia. Agatha doesn’t seem phased at first, but it’s fairly clear she’s hurting. At least, it’s clear how she’s lashing out at everyone around her.

Eventually, the three find themselves in the final challenge of the Witch’s Road. There, Jen and Billy get what they want, though through some unexpected means.

Agatha, though, doesn’t get what she wants. Instead, she gets a knock-out fight with Rio in the real world. And Rio is playing for keeps. In the end, she has to decide between her own life, and Billy’s.

What worked

I don’t think I’ve said this once, but it does bear saying. So let’s get it out of the way first. This episode, and frankly the whole show, was so pretty. The effects are lovely, dark and gothic. The costumes were like something out of a witchy or emo teen’s wildest dreams. Every single building from every single challenge was gorgeous. And the road itself was, frankly, too beautiful to be scary. Even though it probably would have killed me.

There was one scene in this episode that knocked it out of the park, visually. And it was the result of one character’s death. I won’t say who, but you’ll know it when you see it. The colors and atmosphere were just fantastic.

Of course, that isn’t all this episode had going for it. We also saw one of the most touching moments of the series, and maybe one of the most heartbreaking scenes from anything I’ve seen this year. If you’ve been online at all since the episode came out, I’m sure you’ve already run across it.

Billy asks Agatha if he’s killing a teenage boy so that his brother can live.

No, she tells him. Sometimes boys just die. Of course, it’s her son she’s thinking of.

This was such a quiet, sad moment from a show that has been so loud and fast-paced. It’s a moment of deep sorrow from a character who’s always had a smile on her face. Even if she’s laughing at someone else’s tragedy.

Finally, I couldn’t possibly review this episode of Agatha All Along without talking about the season-ending twist. And my Goddess, it was a good one. I don’t dare ruin it for you. So let me just say this.

I complained loudly about the twist ending in a recent episode of American Horror Stories. There, I said that a twist isn’t satisfying unless you can look back and realize it was adequately foreshadowed. It’s a hard thing, to foreshadow something without giving the whole thing away. But this twist, when you get to it, makes so much sense. It could never have been any other way. And so many things make more sense now. I can’t wait to watch the whole series again now, with this new perspective.

What didn’t work

It’s honestly hard to say anything bad about this episode. But I do have one complaint. And that complaint is about Jen.

I love this character, don’t get me wrong. But I feel like we missed a step in her character arch.

In the beginning, Jen is self-centered and angry. She’s full of herself. By the end, she wants to protect Agatha and Billy. She wants to make sure they make it off the road. And while I suppose one could argue that she was moved by Lilia’s sacrifice, it doesn’t seem like enough. I think this could have been solved with a flashback, or something from Jen’s point of view. But without it, this just doesn’t feel right.

We may have reached the end of The Road, but we are still not quite done with the story. So check back soon for our final review of Agatha All Along.

Follow me, my friend, to glory at the end. (4.5 / 5)

You can’t beat a good old haunted house story. One of the classic tropes of the genre, it allows for some old-school spooks while providing some character development. Now dress it up in a new generation suit and you get something completely different. How does Haven measure up as an addition to the trope? Let’s find out!

Plot

We start the story with a family of four headed on a month-long holiday at a distant relative’s mansion. We have Jeff, the ever-so-average husband, Jenna, the thriller-reading health nut wife. The kids are JJ, the loner gamer son with a passion for swimming, and Jessie, the social media addict with severe insecurities.

I would say that personally, their dynamic was the most interesting and promising part of the novel. It’s clear from the get-go that Jeff and Jenna are trying against all odds to preserve the American Dream. Except right away there is resentment bubbling underneath. Jeff is a pretentious asshole who thinks Jenna’s taste in books is inferior (as a domestic thriller fan I take great offence). Jenna wishes for him to have more career ambition so she can afford the lifestyle she wants. Safe to say there is barely any intimacy between the couple.

When it comes to the kids, both JJ and Jessie feel like an extension of the worst traits of their parents. Jessie’s entire world is social media and her following. For JJ, he is arguably the character with the least development. His main traits are that he hates his family and can’t wait to move out. Oh, and the food.

This is something that I found more discomforting than the horror in the book. Both of the kids have severe food issues, with JJ overeating to the point of obesity while Jessie starves herself and has developed bulimia from the pressure to stay ‘perfect’. The horrifying thing is that neither of the parents notice these things about their kids or if they do, they choose to ignore it.

The haunting in this story is very family-focused. Missing things, Jenna’s harassment, Jeff’s seduction – all these things seem to be specifically catered to break whatever was left of this family unit. Not that it takes much to push them over the edge. This begs the question that whoever is haunting this place is methodical and feeds off their misery.

Gussie’s excerpts break up the pace but personally, I wasn’t as engaged with them as I was with the main story. That being said, I understand its necessity in order to develop the lore.

Writing style

I would say one of my biggest gripes with Haven is not the story itself but rather the way it’s told. The writing style seems like it was trying to adapt to the new times and be tongue-in-cheek. This has varying degrees of success, with some genuinely good nuggets of writing scattered. However, some of it falls flat, especially in the beginning, with the characters doubling down on the points we already knew through the narrative.

Overall thoughts

Haven is a good effort at a haunted house story where there are scarier things than ghosts. It does a good job exploring family dynamics and dealing with negative emotions. The setting is also a strong point of the novel, the house and the forest surrounding it being quite immersive.

As I mentioned, for me the main negative was a bit too try-hard type of writing, although it got better as the book went on. I found the end to be a bit too soft for my liking but it fits with the story. Overall I would still recommend.

If you live in the United States, it’s time to rock the vote for real. I shared this video before in conjunction with my identity-based costume work, and I feel it’s important to revisit now, with the election coming up in just a few days. Besides which, Jack Black and Tenacious D are brilliant and given the current political climate, who doesn’t want to do the time warp? But seriously, get out and rock the vote, your life kinda does depend on it (at least insomuch as being able to make for yourself the life that you want, without the government telling you how to do so – especially if you live on the fringes of socially acceptable awkwardness like me and so many of my friends).

Besides which, this video is so good, it’s worth sharing again anyway. And again, if for some reason the video doesn’t load, you can find it here.

Art Attack

And here are some artworks I made awhile back as political commentary. The photograph was shot of the scene exactly as found, of a sign above a parking lot in a quickly gentrifying neighborhood making sure all knew that any unauthorized vehicles were unwelcome, and hung right in front of a flag that was tattered and torn from being caught on the chain link fence driving the point home. The flags were meant to be interactive, with gallerygoers waving them while singing The Star Spangled Banner in its elitist entirety. The whole really spoke to me regarding some of the political climate at the time (this was right before Trump was elected President the first time). How much has changed since then? In some ways, a lot. In other ways, I guess we shall see.