Seekest Thou The Road
Episode 1: Seekest Thou The Road
0:15 - We open with Agatha humming The Ballad as she drives to the crime scene - I feel like this has been pointed out a lot but I swear I still see people in the tag on tumblr pointing this out - so if you don’t know, now you know! I don’t feel that this particular moment is really connected to anything in the story and plot - it’s more so a meta thing, in the same vein as saying the name of the show.
1:12 - When Agatha talks about her “undeserved disciplinary action” I believe the real-world (read: the canon/non-cop-show world) connection is to her fighting Wanda and then being trapped in her spell in Westview. I feel like this is maybe the exact moment that spell cracks - when Wanda dies. She just got “the call from the chief”. Agatha’s subconscious is kind of feeding her information as to what’s been going on in the world.
1:27 - “You punched a suspect”: Wanda; “Now a convicted felon”: that’s certainly how the Multiverse of Madness painted her.
“You can’t be right and wrong at the same time.” “Yes you can” I have a feeling this line will come into play as one of our themes for the series.
1:36 - The case that “only you can solve”, I’m guessing, is the mystery of Teen, and/or just the general plot of the show.
“Hibernation is over”: Again, I think this is the moment the spell starts to break.
1:46 - “Dispatch was tipped by an anonymous call” I wonder if that was Teen, or Agatha’s subconscious.
2:02 - At this point I would like to point out that the body is Wanda. We learn this later in the episode as well, but with the cause of death being “blunt force trauma” - that’s a reference of being buried under the rubble of Darkhold Castle/Mount Wundagore (you’ll have to bear with me with any references to Multiverse of Madness - I haven’t watched it, and I don’t plan to.)
2:16 - “She is really most sincerely dead.” I saw someone else point out that this is one of the many Wizard of Oz references - and based off of clips from the trailers we are going to get a Wizard of Oz themed trial.
“You never know” so fucking true. Also it’s possible that this line is foreshadowing for Wanda to show up later but… who knows.
2:38 - We see Wanda’s blackened fingers - this is the first piece of concrete evidence that this is Wanda, and her death’s connection to the Darkhold, along with the library checkout card Herb handed to “Agnes” earlier.
3:12 - Now we find the cameo/locket/amulet. This is the first kind of reference to my theory that Agatha is just wandering aimlessly around her house while this all plays out in her head. I can imagine her finding this is her house and knowing that it’s important somehow, and the spell trying to rope it into the story.
I also think it’s related to the “car crash” referenced later but… let’s move on for now.”
3:58 - I feel like this moment, where they’ve rolled over Wanda’s body and Agatha asks “Who are you? What happened to you?” while it does play into this Crime Show storyline, where it’s an unidentified woman and Agnes is the sympathetic but hardened cop - I think it also references something more.
The Darkhold made Wanda unrecognizable. It changes people - it changed Agatha. I think that’s something we’ll see more later in the show.
4:12 - Herb asking if Agnes is okay, how she doesn’t seem like herself. I think this is a glimpse of what’s happening in the world around her. Later on Herb will tell her that the neighbors have been checking in on her and bringing her groceries. I think this line is a blurring of the two worlds. Herb stopped by to check on her, or she went over/he found her outside etc.
4:51 - The theme is, of course, a play on The Ballad.
6:26 - This book was stolen three years ago - stolen from Agatha three years ago when Wanda defeated her.
7:05 - This part to me feels like another brake in the illusion. The books don’t look like the regular books in the library - they look like tomes, they look like Darkholds. Again this is Agatha’s unconscious mind telling her all the Darkholds have been destroyed.
7:15 - I don’t know who this man is. But this whole part feels like it doesn’t fit in the “show”. Like it was mentally jarring for her.
Really this whole episode feels like a push and pull. The spell wants to rope Agatha along, but she keeps getting caught on things, on little moments, on pieces of information, and the spell is weakened, but she needs more help to break her out of it.
7:43 - Like this. This to me feels like a breakthrough was about to happen and the spell tries to smack her back into focusing on the story.
8:08 - Again, Agatha’s mind seems to be focusing on the books, the library - she’s trying to stick to that train of thought before she loses it, and the spell is trying to shut her up “Well I’ll have one of my guys look into it but…”
8:18 - Pointing out the spot on the chief’s shirt feels, again, like this might have been another moment of a neighbor stopping in and trying to help, and this was one of the details Agatha picked up on.
8:50 - Here she is! Rio as an FBI agent. I feel like Rio is using the same tactic here as Agatha did in WandaVision. Try to blend in to sneak past the alarm bells of the spell. In this case it’s all in Agatha’s head, so both Rio and Teen could be using some sort of meditation/mind-melding technique to bypass the spell.
9:30 - “It’s been a long time.” Rio says this later in the episode too - I have a feeling that every time we see her here she’s working at chipping away at the illusion and trying to get the real Agatha out, but keeps getting turned down when Agatha doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
“What are you doing here?” “My job” there have been theories that Sharon (who dies in episode 3) was always meant to die at that Rio (who is highly speculated to be lady Death) was already in town/waiting for Sharon to die when she realized Agatha’s spell had started to fall, or maybe even that Agatha was here (which I also think would have to do with the spell starting to crumble.) So Rio could have been here on business, stopped in to check on Agatha and slowly starts to learn what storyline she’s supposed to be fitting into.
9:50 - “The body was moved across state lines, is that your play?” Again I feel like this is another push from the spell to keep things on track.
“Is this really how you see yourself?” This is a push from Rio to try and get Agatha to wake up, but I feel like she has to keep a low profile otherwise the spell will kick her out. She senses this and agrees to get back in character to make sure she can stay here. “Sure, let’s talk about the case.”
10:22 - “Magically appeared,” is another push from Rio to get Agatha to wake up. It doesn’t work. Another, more successful attempt happens when Rio points out “you’ve lived here your whole life.”
What I think is really cool here is that Kathryn Hahn plays this like she’s really in the show - Aubrey Plaza plays this like she’s acting in the show.
“It’s about the place. The specific small town, the history of it, the people of it, the secrets buried beneath it. That’s where the answers lie.” Someone has pointed this out on tumblr as well, but the Road, as we see it is “underneath” Westview, and Westview has already played a very big part in WandaVision, of course - I believe this line has bigger implications for the plot of this show.
11:14 - “I don’t want you here” I feel like Rio poked too much, and the spell is soft kicking her out.
And of course, “te veo” “I’ll see you”. Which we hear again later in the episode, and surely will hear again. Not quite sure what it means for the story, but I do think it has to be something of significance.
11:35 - The locket is being assessed by the jeweler in this scene - some notable things about it are that it is from 17th century (1600s) New England. The Salem Witch trials, where we know is Agatha’s origins. We know this from WandaVision too, with the flashback, as that is where she gets the locket in the first place, but it really solidifies that.
Another piece of information here is that the artwork on the cameo is the triple goddess - Maiden, Mother, Crone. I’ve seen a few interesting theories as it relates to the triple goddess in the show, both with the locket and with the Ballad, but none that seem relevant right now.
Finally, we open the locket and find the lock of hair. Now - I strongly believe this hair belongs to Nicholas - Agatha’s son. It could also be a lock of Rio’s hair - but I really don’t think so given that we have Rio here, with us - we don’t have Nicholas. And the sight of this hair seems to motivate Agatha a lot throughout this show.
Finally, I think here is a moment where Agatha is reminded of Nicholas, reminded that the hair is even there. We know from what Rio says later that Agatha “hid behind dark magic” after she got the Darkhold. I also mentioned this earlier when we were looking at Wanda’s body and wondered who she was, and what had happened to her. The darkhold changes you - I wonder if it made Agatha lose touch with herself for so long - hence why all these repressed memories and emotions are surging up now.
12:20 - The “Good to see you too, Agnes,” could be another kind of thinning-of-the-veil moment where we catch a glimpse of the neighbors coming to check on Agatha.
12:46 - here we break down that the title of the book on the library card from Wanda’s body has the acronym of DARKHOLD. It’s written by Andrew Ugo - do we know this guy? I haven’t cracked that one.
This seems to hit Agatha, again. She’s pushing against the spell and the spell pushes back - it doesn’t want her to break out. It turns the light off.
“I am home chief,” is an interesting line - she really has been at home this whole time.
14:28 - We see Nicky’s room. I feel like with the reveal of the hair in the locket, and this resurgence of memory, if the spell is once again trying to warp to justify it. It wants to keep her here, so it wants this world to make sense to her.
15:00 - Rio is back - she’s gonna try again. She really starts to play into the character the spell wants her to take in order to try and break Agatha out. I also wonder if she’s enjoying this time with Agatha.
15:55 - There was a car wreck about an hour before the time of death. This line is very very interesting to me. So interesting I have to put on my tin foil hat. Because this point never gets resolved.
Skip to the next time stamp if you want to avoid any potential spoilers:
My theory here is that the two deployed airbags and the bloodstain in the backseat has nothing to do with “the death of Wanda.” Where/How did this info get into the spell - I’m not sure, but I think it actually has to do with the death of Billy Kaplan.
It’s been heavily theorized that the Teen is Billy Kaplan. My theory is that Billy Kaplan (the normal 13 year old boy) died around the same time Wanda’s spell broke - and by that I mean within a matter of moments. When Billy and Tommy Maximoff’s souls (which is another part of my theory I won’t get into here) were released from the spell - they had no direction, so they took on new hosts - someone whose soul was leaving just as they arrived. So Billy Kaplan died in the car crash and was resuscitated by the soul of Billy Maximoff.
This is why Agatha feels like she’s not looking at it right - in combination with the fact that this would all be allegory for things that actually happened because this Crime show isn’t real.
Actually, Teen would have entered the spell right about this time - so Teen’s memories of the car accident might have infiltrated the spell as well - because we never find out or see how Agatha gets this information. Now that Teen is in the spell - here to break it better than Rio can, his memories of that crash might have entered the spell too - even if he doesn’t quite realize how important they are yet.
Spoilery part over
16:45 - Here Rio leans forward and asks if Agatha remembers why she hates her. Agatha genuinely seems to be startled by that - but when Rio asks if she’s hiding evidence (Which she is, as Agatha thinks the locket has something to do with evidence) Agatha says no - more confidently. But she takes a sip of her drink, which hides her mouth - concealing the lie. Now Rio knows that Agatha isn’t lying about not remembering - she’s just lying to herself.
17:18 - Teen is here! Baby boy. I really don’t think Teen was actually looking for anything - just a way to weasel himself into the story so he could break the spell. As he says it - he’s looking for the Road.
18:30 - This is actually the first we see a bit of Agatha’s motherly instinct. She’s terrified when teen gets hit by Mrs. Hart’s car - which honestly we all would be but still - I feel like their connection is there from the jump.
18:51 - He won’t give his name - first mention of the sigil.
19:19 - the vibes of this scene are so fun. I have a feeling this side of Teen is going to come out more in future episodes. I love his fun energy, but he has this major duality.
20:12 - Agatha talks about how the fact that she’s fresh out of “the respect of her peers and a fulfilling homelife” is what makes her dangerous - it is. That’s the main theme of this show is how Agatha pushes people away and isolates herself - this has helped keep her safe, both physically and emotionally. This is what Agatha needs to overcome.
20:56 - Teen starts to poke, like Rio has been, but he’s going to push harder. As Agatha says in Episode 2 - he’s got the goods to break a spell cast by the Scarlet Witch. Rio doesn’t have that.
The ink from the fingerprinting is very clearly supposed to be a reference to the Darkhold - but I’m still stumped on why. Is it to show a potential connection to the Scarlet Witch? To Agatha? To the Darkhold itself? I’m sure future episodes will make this more clear.
Teen shows Agatha the things she’s been using in her house to play out this show. The pictures we see later are plastered all over her walls. The painting hangs over the fireplace (Teen hangs the banner over it in episode 2.)
Finally I think that the fact that Agatha can hear him chanting to break the spell is more so a continuation of this thinning of the veil that’s been expedited by Teen breaking the spell - he’s been chanting this whole time, it’s his mental projection that’s been doing the talking.
22:56 - So we pull up to the morgue, to make sure the body is real.
24:02 - It’s the hair color that starts the trickling of Agatha’s awareness - she remembers all on her own who Wanda is. Or rather, with the help of Teen, her consciousness starts to stream back in.
Rio shows up to keep prodding her along. I think it’s interesting - Agatha is genuinely worried here about how Wanda died - I don’t really know if she truly cares about Wanda, or if she’s still trying to understand what happened. All the same - it’s the wrong question.
24:52 - I feel this scene is fairly self-explanatory - Agatha starting to claw her way out of the spell - she’s even starting to act more like herself. Rio’s wide-eyed haunting expression, combined with the swinging light, are really creepy and cool.
Such a great scene, and having her go through all the outfits is an amazing way of calling back to WandaVision and showing how she’s breaking out.
26:40 - clearly, in real life in her house, clawing her way out has also had her taking off her clothes in real life too. This scene really feels like Agatha has been reborn - because not only is she breaking out of this spell, but she’s also entering a new territory for her - one that’s unfamiliar. She doesn’t have powers, but also she’s no longer being tainted by the Darkhold. Her exterior shell has been removed. She can throw her walls up as much as she wants, but they aren’t as strong as they were before.
28:27 - It’s interesting here “Herb” tries to help her and she rejects it (granted I don’t think she really felt like she needed the help - but it still shows that Agatha will reject help, often.)
29:30 - I really wonder if there’s more to this bunny than we know.
30:41 - As we get to the end of this episode, I really feel like a lot of what happens here is just reaffirming points I’ve already made.
Also in the closet with Teen you can see Agatha’s outfit for the next episode.
31:04 - Again - here is where Rio mentions that they really haven’t seen each other since Agatha got the Darkhold. The Darkhold changed Agatha - she hid behind all that dark magic.
Rio asks Agatha if she remembers pain - this may mean that the person who possesses the Darkhold is immune to pain.
More potential spoilers
If Rio is Lady Death, as has been highly speculated - Agatha says that Rio can’t kill her - it’s against the rules. Rio probably just collects the dead, or souls - she can’t cause the death itself. But it’s also mentioned that Agatha can’t kill Rio - it’s probably impossible.
Possessing the darkhold probably also means you can’t die - Rio talks about how Agatha is vulnerable now.
Finally - taking Rio’s power would kill Agatha. Interesting. Once again I am sure all of this will come up again later.
Spoilers over
33:08 - Rio doesn’t disagree that she likes Agatha formidable - I’m still confused, personally, as to why Rio let Agatha get away - what was Rio’s point in coming here, and why does she so easily let Agatha go?
34:12 - I also need more info on who the Salem Seven are in this world!
34:30 - “It’s black and it beats for you,” This is of course setting up that later, in episode 2, Lilia specifies Rio with a Black Heart.