Ever since the Teen appeared in the first episode of Agatha All Along, questions have been swirling around about his origin. Who is he? Where did he come from? What is his future in the series and beyond in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? In Familiar by Thy Side, some of these questions began to be answered. Be warned, there are spoilers ahead in this recap and review of episode 6 of Agatha All Along.
In this episode, the backstory of Teen is explored.
The episode begins with Teen getting ready for his bar mitzvah and then this event happening. As a nod to his powers that were revealed in the previous episode, he is wearing a blue yarmulke. He is accompanied during this transition into manhood by his parents.
After the bar mitzvah, a party is held. During the party, Teen visits a fortune teller to have his palm read. It turns out, this is Lilia Calderu. When reading his palm, she predicts that he will have a “long journey” ahead of him, one of “transformation and…” the lights flicker as she continues to say “Your lifeline is broken in two” as a future and more familiar version of Teen is shown in the crystal ball.
Lilia continues and mentions “The tower of reversed,” as she dazes off before Teen brings her back to the moment. She says, “I just remembered something I think.” As the conversation continues, Lilia says that Teen is a “good egg” and that he should enjoy the “now” as it is the only thing that is certain. Teen leaves but forgets his suit coat. Lilia then draws a design that matches the sigil onto a small piece of wood and then puts it into the coat.
Moments later, she exits her tent with the suit coat. She gives it to someone and says she can’t remember who the coat belongs to. Teen’s father takes to the stage and announces that something is going on with the anomaly at Westview. Soon phones are getting notifications instructing people to go home. The party is over and soon the Teen is in a car with his parents as they head home.
Police race by as the trio drives home. On the radio, moments from WandaVision can be heard. Teen discovers the piece of his wood in his pocket and mulls what it is as his parents get distracted by Wanda’s hex shrinking. Teen calls attention to their distraction but it is too late, they crash and he is killed. His parents survive, however. In the moments after the crash, the soul of Billy Maximoff enters Teen as he calls out “Tommy!” Alice shows up as one of the police officers.
Soon, Billy is in the ambulance headed to the hospital. Once there, his dad calls him “Buddy” and then expects him to point out that this isn’t what he normally does. Instead, it turns out that Billy can now read his parents’ minds. This leads to Teen telling his parents not to fight and his dad saying they aren’t… as they weren’t fighting aloud.
Moving forward, Teen is going home and it is expected that his amnesia will be over soon. It is clear that Teen feels out of place. While he looks like William, his former self, the dog can tell that something is wrong and barks at him. He can hear his parents worrying in their minds. This leads to him shouting at them to stop worrying. He then suggests he should just go see his room, which his mom had thought. He says he will go check it out alone.
Once in his room, he finds posters of Harry Houdini, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and others. He also sees a picture of him with his parents. He looks in a mirror and says three times (perhaps in a not to “there’s no place like home” from The Wizard of Oz), “My name is William Kaplan.”
The episode then fast-forwards three years. Teen is sitting in a car with a guy who seems to be his boyfriend. The boyfriend grabs the sigil and questions it. He asks if Teen has solved it, but it seems to be impossible. At this point, Teen can again read minds and hear him say “I love you.” At this point, he shares about how something happens to him when he has intense feelings. He also shares how he died the night of the car crash and when he came back he was different.
“I’m not William Kaplan, at least not entirely,” he says. He also says he can’t remember anything before the accident. Billy says he is sharing this because he wants his boyfriend to know the true him. He also says “I love you too.”
“If you’re not William Kaplan, who are you?” the question is then asked. This leads to the duo going up to Billy’s room and looking at his extensive research into the answer to this question. Ultimately, all of the research seems to be pointing to Westview and the hex that once could be found there. Billy says that he is meeting with a guy who used to live there the next day.
The meeting is about as creepy as one would expect. The boyfriend accompanies Billy as they meet a guy with the username @bohnerific69, who also is wearing a trenchcoat and does something to the security camera in the dark parking structure they met in. He reveals that he is Ralph Bohner (Evan Peters), aka Wanda’s false brother Pietro from the hex. He asks Teen to call him Randall.
Randall shares that he remembers Wanda’s hex and gets angry when Teen says Wanda Maximoff. Once again Teen can hear thoughts, this time it’s Randall’s. He doesn’t want to be asked about Agatha Harkness. This leads to a moment that shows his fear of witches, including some sort of witch-repellent spray and an object meant to keep witches away. The conversation continues. “Agatha hijacked my life,” Randall says. “She called me her husband, but I was her puppet. She stole my house, completely ruined the market value. She made me do horrible things. I kept a woman hostage. I was a terrible influence on Wanda and Vision’s kids, and I poisoned a dog.”
Teen asks about the two kids and it is revealed to him that their names are Billy and Tommy and described as “the little speedster and his mind-reading brother.” When asked what happened to them all, Randall says that Wanda is dead, Vision was sold for parts, and the twins disappeared. He guesses they were sucked up when the red bubble disappeared.
Randall then reveals that Agatha is still in Westview and also still under some sort of spell. Teen thinks she is harmless. Randall disagrees vehemently saying, “You seriously don’t know what kind of crazy that lady eats for breakfast.”
Once home, Teen’s parents ask if he wants to watch a thriller with them. He says he has to do homework. At this point, it is revealed that his boyfriend is named Eddie (could be important in the future?). Once up in his room, Teen goes over his notes and soon takes to searching the internet for more information on Agatha Harkness. Eventually, he discovers that Agatha is the only witch to survive “The Witches Road.” He also discovers that a witch may “discover what’s missing” at the end of the path. He suddenly realizes that he wants to know where his brother Tommy is and this is a way to do that. Throughout this scene, Teen is listening to Lorna Wu’s version of the Ballad of the Witches Road on a record.
Soon, Teen is driving to Westview. He looks up a “release spell” and discovers he needs something of importance to the person. This necessitates him breaking into Agatha’s house to get just that. Unfortunately, this doesn’t go as planned and soon another look at the break-in scene is shown. After breaking into the house and discovering a broach with a maiden, mother, and crone on it, Teen is chased by Agatha. Instead of being hit by a car, he runs into the door and is called a “hooligan” by Sharon Davis.
The Teen, now captured by Agatha, is back at her house. Agatha is wearing a Bohner Family Reunion T-shirt and is in full detective mode as was seen at the beginning of the series. This leads to a humorous scene with Teen saying “I came here with an unorthodox spell to release you.” He then continues and says “Can we maybe not with the physical violence?” Of course, he gets hit anyway as Agatha goes to get him water.
The interrogation from the first episode that happened at the Police Station really happened in her house it turns out. She also doesn’t have a gun, but what appears to be a garden tool. Changes in reality continue to be displayed. This includes putting photos of flowers on the table as evidence. Teen points them out as such. He also begins to chant the release spell. This ultimately leads to him getting his mouth duct-taped shut and getting thrown in the closet. He notes that he is missing “power.” Agatha then asks who he is. He first says, William Kaplan. When asked again, he says “I’m Billy Maximoff.”
Back on The Witches Road, Agatha crawls out of the muck that she was put into by Teen in the previous episode. She discovers Teen looking at the sigil and then crushing it. The spell is no longer needed. Teen also no longer is wearing the blue crown he had at the end of the previous episode.
As they discuss his powerful debut, Teen asks Agatha when she realized his true identity. She says that both he and his mother have an obvious tell and then mimics the noise of the magic explosion before saying, “It’s nice to see you again, Billy.”
“Billy, William, you can hear me now” Teen says as Agatha tears up. “Ah, Lilia and Jenn, what you did was … Life goes on.” She begins to count how many people she has killed. “I’m not like you,” Billy says. Agatha replies, “Where have I heard that before?”
Agatha then asks about how Teen got into his “fresh body.” She continues, saying, “Don’t you dare feel guilty about your talent. You survived, like witches have been doing for centuries. You saw an empty vessel and moved in. So you broke the rules, that’s what kept you alive. That’s what makes you special, a witch.”
Teen then acts like he doesn’t need Agatha any longer. Unfortunately, his power no longer works. Agatha questions what he is looking for at the end of The Witches Road. She goes through the list of possibilities eventually saying, “You’re after Toby!” Teen corrects her with “Tommy.” He continues, “He’s out there, I can sense him.” He tells Agatha that he doesn’t trust her. Agatha replies, “Got it. Let’s go find the next trial. Last one there is a nice person.”
The episode ends with Teen following Agatha down the road saying “I’m not that nice.”
This episode continues the trend of Agatha All Along growing stronger as it continues to move forward. It revealed some fairly significant details that could impact the future of Teen, the series, and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. It reveals that Lilia is the one behind the sigil, the exact motivations of this are still unknown. Was this to protect Teen from Agatha? Did it have to do with Wanda’s future? Hopefully, this will be answered at some point. With three more episodes still coming, there are plenty of questions to be answered and stories to be explored.
What did you think of this episode of Agatha All Along? What do you think of the entire series so far? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
