In the seventh episode of Agatha All Along, we finally reach a moment we knew was coming from all the teasers and trailers—our Westview coven dressed up as famous pop culture witches. This occurs within the portion of the Witches’ Road trial, the Tarot Trial, designed specifically for Patti Lupone’s divination witch Lilia. But why were each of these witches paired with those specific pop culture enchantresses? Each one has a very specific meaning, and reason for being paired with them.
Agatha Harkness/The Wicked Witch of the West
Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) enters the trial and transforms into a semblance of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. She seems amused by this, saying to Billy “She’s based on me, you know.” This implies that at some point, she met Oz author L. Frank Baum, no doubt left a horrible impression on him and he based his novel’s villain on her. Agatha seems to relish having the embodiment of the evil witch cliché based on herself. So it’s no wonder that became her appearance in the trial. Also, let’s not forget that Agatha killed the Maximoff family’s dog Sparky in WandaVision. This of course reminds us of Margaret Hamilton’s iconic Oz line “I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!” Interestingly, this series is humanizing Agatha somewhat, just as the novel/play Wicked did for the original Wicked Witch.
Billy Maximoff/Maleficent
William Kaplan/ Billy Maximoff’s witch was none other than Maleficent from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. We know from the glimpses into his bedroom posters in episode six that he’s a big fan of classic Disney animation. Let’s face it, of the great pop culture witches, Maleficent is the most diva-esque of all. So it’s no wonder that Billy (Joe Locke), a gay teen, would idolize her over the others. It also makes sense that he’s not just doing Maleficent drag, but it’s more like gender-bent cosplay. Maybe the biggest clue as to why Billy is Maleficent is that she famously has a secondary form as a giant dragon. Now, we doubt Billy is a dragon, but he was certainly adept at hiding his true self for several episodes. Luckily, Billy is better at dodging swords than Maleficent was in Sleeping Beauty.
Jennifer Kale/The Old Hag
Speaking of Disney witches, Jennifer Kale’s witch is actually the Old Hag persona of the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This makes total sense, of course, because the Evil Queen was obsessed with being the “fairest in the land.” Jennifer’s whole business was selling (bogus) age-defying beauty products to unsuspecting customers. Potions were also her specialty, and the Evil Queen mixes magical potions in the classic film. Jennifer didn’t manifest in her glamorous Queen persona in the Tarot Trial, probably because inside, she knows that she is far older than she looks. No doubt her biggest insecurity is that despite any appearances to the contrary, inside, she’s really a very old hag.
Lilia Calderu/Glinda the Good Witch
No one hates the representation of witches in pop culture more than Lilia Calderu (Patti Lupone). We learned this from her very first appearance in the show. So it makes sense that for her Tarot Trial, pop culture witches would be the theme. Lilia was transformed into a version of Glinda, the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz. Honestly, this is probably the witch stereotype that offends her the least. Given the nature of this episode, it also makes sense she would embody Glinda. In The Wizard of Oz, it was Glinda who revealed to Dorothy that she contained the answers within herself all along. In a sense, Lilia had the answers to her time leaps within her all this time too. She just didn’t know how to access it until the very end.
