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Spoilers Agatha All Along discussion and spoilers.

I know that the idea of characters experiencing time out of order has precedent in myth, legend, and literature -- T.H. White's Merlin experienced time backward, and of course there was Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five -- but it occurred to me that this episode's format is reminiscent of the movie Arrival (and the story it's based on). As the most prominent recent example of the device, that may have been an influence on the episode.

I'm not crazy about an episode revolving around tarot, because Agatha is right -- it's all fabricated. It isn't even ancient mythology -- it was just a card game for centuries, until 18th-century occultists invented a bunch of fake history and mythology around the cards and started pretending they had divination powers. I guess the episode acknowledged that to an extent by saying it was "intuitive," implying that it's not that the cards themselves have power as that someone with power, like Lilia, can influence them or use them as a tool.

So now it's confirmed that Rio is Death, which is interesting given that "Rio Vidal" means "River of Life." But I guess you could say that the river of life carries us inexorably toward its end, which is pretty much the theme of this episode.

Hmm... I wonder if next week there will be a bit where Rio/Death mentions having once had to fend off the advances of an eager suitor called Thanos.
 
Honestly think that was the best single episode of Disney+ MCU.

I'm always a sucker for a POV change, which also helped with Episode 6. But the way they used nonlinear storytelling here was pretty incredible. The camerawork, the direction - everything just fit together perfectly. It was also just refreshing to see a comic story (hell, any story) focusing on an older woman at the end of her life. We don't tend to see these kinds of characters have last stands often in fiction.

My only quibble is I'm a little confused why Jennifer is still in the story, and why Lilia said she was the key to things. She already passed her trial and survived. Makes it feel like she has plot armor and they're going to be keeping her around in case they want her for another project after this.
 
eschaton said:
Honestly think that was the best single episode of Disney+ MCU.

I'm always a sucker for a POV change, which also helped with Episode 6. But the way they used nonlinear storytelling here was pretty incredible. The camerawork, the direction - everything just fit together perfectly. It was also just refreshing to see a comic story (hell, any story) focusing on an older woman at the end of her life. We don't tend to see these kinds of characters have last stands often in fiction.

My only quibble is I'm a little confused why Jennifer is still in the story, and why Lilia said she was the key to things. She already passed her trial and survived. Makes it feel like she has plot armor and they're going to be keeping her around in case they want her for another project after this.
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Might be her role as a Potions Witch or her Tarot being The High Priestess come into play. The Moon is important to the Craft, IIRC and the High Priestess is related to the Moon in Astrology.
 
Tuskin38 said:
I'm just not sure, since everyone else was from a different story no overlap

There was a white witch in Narnia
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Looked like she was a toned down version of Glinda for Wizard of Oz (1939)

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I'm concious that I was whinging about this show just a few weeks ago, but damn the last two episodes have been great, and this was in particular was superb (and not just because Hahn was surprisingly hot as the Wicked Witch of the West...)

LuPone was simply incredible
 
eschaton said:
Honestly think that was the best single episode of Disney+ MCU.

I'm always a sucker for a POV change, which also helped with Episode 6. But the way they used nonlinear storytelling here was pretty incredible. The camerawork, the direction - everything just fit together perfectly. It was also just refreshing to see a comic story (hell, any story) focusing on an older woman at the end of her life. We don't tend to see these kinds of characters have last stands often in fiction.

My only quibble is I'm a little confused why Jennifer is still in the story, and why Lilia said she was the key to things. She already passed her trial and survived. Makes it feel like she has plot armor and they're going to be keeping her around in case they want her for another project after this.
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I think they are keeping her alive just because they don't want to kill EVER character. I mean Death can't even be killed I don't think and proably zero chance of Billy being killed. Makes me really think Wanda will die at the end and Death will go back to Hell or whatever the MCU version of that is. Billy and Jennifer will be the last survivors. Part of me thinks she might join with BIlly at the end and help in his search for Tommy.
 
The Left Hand of Evil said:
I think they are keeping her alive just because they don't want to kill EVER character. I mean Death can't even be killed I don't think and proably zero chance of Billy being killed. Makes me really think Wanda will die at the end and Death will go back to Hell or whatever the MCU version of that is. Billy and Jennifer will be the last survivors. Part of me thinks she might join with BIlly at the end and help in his search for Tommy.
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Wanda?
I don't think Death lives in Hell or Heaven for that matter.
 
I said Wanda but meant Agatha. What exactly is the afterlife in the MCU? I mean we got Greek GODs and we also got things like Death and Mephisto.
 
Drunk Superman said:
You get the afterlife of your choosing.
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Not always, I assume, given that Hell is real in Marvel cosmology. Not a lot of people would choose to go there. Maybe it's not so much individual choice as cultural alignment/expectation?

Or maybe it's like the Lucifer TV series (I dunno if it works the same way in the original comics) where people damn themselves to Hells of their own making because of their subconscious guilt.
 
Christopher said:
Not always, I assume, given that Hell is real in Marvel cosmology. Not a lot of people would choose to go there. Maybe it's not so much individual choice as cultural alignment/expectation?

Or maybe it's like the Lucifer TV series (I dunno if it works the same way in the original comics) where people damn themselves to Hells of their own making because of their subconscious guilt.
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I meant one's belief system of choice. The comics have multiple afterlives, including Hell, Hel, Heaven, Valhalla and others. IIRC, all the "bad places" are neighbors.
 
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