#poor kaplans

[stormythalamus]

i am very curious about what billy’s explanation to the kaplans was. like he was gone for 24 hours and comes home in some goofy outfit with blood and dirt all over him and tells them… what exactly??? i need ideas

[purcydoodles]

Bye can you imagine being a WestView citizen dealing with post hex trauma seeing a storm of green clouds and witchy laughter erupting from the house that is just beside Wanda's "would have been" house

And then out of nowhere the clouds clear and a twink in a witch outfit just walks out, his mannerisms very similar to the witch that tormented them three years ago

I don't think WestView parents have "monsters under the bed" stories

They probably have "Maximoff under the bed" stories

[thestarlightforge]

Because this “Agatha All Along” thought almost made me burst into tears in the middle of minding my own business, washing dishes and listening to Lorna Wu’s cut of “Ballad,” I’m inflicting it on all of you—

If I can’t hold you…

Remember what I told you…

Now that the sigil is lifted (and the rest of whatever WandaVision memories may have muddled in his mind likely restored), what if this is one of the final episodes’ titles?

This—Billy reciting/remembering this, and casting his first Wish spell in the MCU at the end of the Road to get his family back—intercut with the last (or some similarly sweet) conversation between Agatha, Rio and Nicky?

Imagine: They’re all standing there, after the last Trial, and nobody’s hurt, they beat it—but nothing’s happening. They start getting mad at each other, screaming about WandaVision & Salem & the Darkhold & Sharon & the sacrifices & Alice… He’s sorting through the lyrics, the different lyrics, and it hits him.

Billy: “If I can’t hold you, remember what I told you… It’s the only way we survive.”

Agatha: Lorna was a pop rocker. That’s not even in the Ballad. And you don’t remember shit, do you? William? Billy?

Billy: “You know, a family is forever.”

Agatha turns, curious.

Billy: “We could never truly leave each other, even if we tried.”

Tears well in Billy’s eyes, remembering how Wanda turned to Tommy—how knowing his lack of mind-based powers, she wouldn’t leave until he had understood.

Billy: “You know that, right?”

Rio looks on solemnly, having witnessed this moment in waiting to take the twins to the beyond.

Billy: “Boys?”

Billy barely chokes it out.

Billy: “Thanks for choosing me to be your mom.”

Rio and Agatha’s eyes meet. And they’re young women, playing with Nicky in Salem, 400 years ago.

Billy: “Goodnight, Tommy.”

A stream of flashes: Wanda and Vision and Billy and Tommy—Agatha and Rio and Nicky.

Billy: “Goodnight, Billy.”

Wanda and Vision hugging the boys, Billy and Tommy playing—Agatha watching while Rio tosses Nicky in the air, both of them cackling like mad. Wanda and Vision kissing. Rio and Agatha kissing. All of them happy. Together.

Back to the present. No dry eyes left in the room. Billy’s power warbles as the Road unlocks.

Billy: I’m not missing power, or magic, or memories. I miss them. They are what I’m missing. And I wish… I could have them back.

Maybe he thinks it doesn’t work. Maybe they don’t all appear. But there’s a crackling burst of blue magic, and the Road is done. Because the actual most famous Witch to walk the Road—perhaps who it was created by, even—is not Agatha Harkness, even if she is its only living survivor. And perhaps Agatha even knows this—met this Witch 400+ years ago. The real person the Road is for is the ancient, ancestral, legendary Scarlet Witch. Not Wanda Maximoff—but an earlier incarnation. So of course, it is her most modern incarnation’s words—Wanda’s last to her sons, including this warrior boy who has survived all seven Trials—that unlocks the road’s ending.

Then, we cut away in an end credit sequence to each of Billy’s missing, wished people who we don’t see here—Wanda and Tommy resurrecting across the world, and White Vision fully unlocking Hex Vision’s memories (where previously he may have just had everything through “Infinity War”).

[plutonicbees]

one vital part of the billyteddy dynamic is that teddy is always getting kidnapped and billy is always going insane having to save him

[revanhaed]

sorry thinking out loud it’s nothing. rio, billy, and jen are the only ones who get tarot cards as part of the major arcana (death, the tower, and the high priestess) in lilia’s spread, and they’re the only ones who leave the road alive… hm

[racetrackmybeloved]

the newsies cast still being buddies a decade later brings me SO much joy

i dont look through their stories often anymore to but decided to yesterday and was so glad that i did

alex wong (OBC sniper), adam kaplan (2013- morris and jack u/s) and michael fatica (OBC swing/dance captain) going on tommy bracco (OBC/livesies spot)'s bachelor trip?? adorable. (also, tommy and joey having a 'bachbill' made?? iconic shit)

jack sippel (toursies mush, livesies darcy/kenny), kaitlyn frank (toursies kath u/s) and demarius copes (toursies henry) posting on their stories for josh burrage (toursies/livesies jojo)'s birthday? adorable

ben cook (livesies/toursies race) and iain young (livesies/toursies finch) being at josh burrage's birthday party? adorable (iain is in the back in the burgundy tee and ben is carrying the cake!)

in conclusion i love them

[good-day-batey]

I LOVE REWATCHING WANDAVISION

I LOVE WANDA MAXIMOFF

I LOVE AGATHA ALL ALONG

I LOVE WATCHING THIS CRAZY POWERFUL FAMILY

[pikapig183]

Actively gaslighting myself into thinking “Teen” is not actually Billy, or at the very least IS Billy but going to pull a 180 at the end of the show and betray Agatha. Because I did not wait for YEARS to see Billy in live action and this being all I get.

[checkxmaster]

{out of code} Friendly reminder that yelling at Kaplan to hurry up, telling him he's doing something wrong or not well enough, pressing him to complete a task, or reminding him of the urgency of a situation... will not make him work faster, better, or get the job done more efficiently. Quite the opposite. It will actually make him slower, less proficient, more mistake-prone, more insecure, and more anxious. Just leave him alone, let him breathe, let him work. Treat him as though he's got an instruction label that reads: "For best results, leave alone and trust the process."

[alexistalkscomics]

Why Is The Jewish “Representation” In Agatha All Along So Problematic???

When it was first confirmed that Joe Locke was going to have a role in Agatha All Along, most fans quickly came to the conclusion that he would be portraying Billy Kaplan AKA Wiccan which unfortunately ended up being correct.

The problem with that casting you ask?

Joe Locke isn’t Jewish and he is playing one of Marvel’s most prominent Jewish characters. Whilst many goyim (non-Jewish people) often inaccurately perceive Jewishness to solely be a religious identity which is a massive oversimplification of what it means to be a Jew, Jewish people are actually an ethnoreligious community which means that we’re our own distinct ethnic group and culture that have a traditional religion that is intrinsically tied to our identity and culture regardless of individual Jewish people’s levels of observance.

And because we are an ethnoreligious group, that makes the casting of Joe Locke, who is not ethnically or religiously Jewish, inherently problematic to say the least, especially when placed into the wider context of Jewish representation in the MCU.

Marvel Studios has previously been criticised for the way that it’s approached adaptations of Jewish characters for the MCU with the two main examples being casting Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, who is Romani and Jewish in the comics, and Oscar Isaac as the Ashkenazi Jewish Marc Spector in the Moon Knight streaming series and in both cases, the heritage of the characters were either downplayed or just outright erased. So for anyone who understands the issue, it should be clear that the MCU has a poor track record when it comes to representing Jewish characters and that Agatha All Along’s adaptation of Billy Maximoff/Kaplan is just another addition to the list of disrespectful adaptations of Jewish characters.

What is the specific problem with how Billy has been adapted in the MCU?

Well, in order to answer that question, the answer has to effectively be split into two parts:

In the most recent episode of Agatha All Along, we finally learn the backstory of Billy (who had previously only been referred as “Teen” due to a spell that prevented his identity from being found out) and as part of that, we are shown a flashback to the day of Billy KAPLAN’s (the capitalisation will make sense in a bit), Bar Mitzvah, a sacred Jewish ritual that marks the transition into adulthood and the responsibilities that comes with being a Jewish adult. In this flashback, Billy (who if you’ve payed attention, is being played by a non-Jew) is shown wearing traditional religious garments and handling what is potentially an actual Torah scroll.

Within Judaism and Jewish culture in general, handling a Torah and then reading from it is seen as both a great honour and responsibility for any Jew who is called for an Aliyah so seeing a non-Jewish actor who has no experience as a Jewish person and in interviews, has mocked fans who criticised his role in the show, wearing my culture and religion as a costume to advance his career just felt wrong to me. I love Marvel and I take great pride in superhero comics being an art form that was created by Jewish immigrants so seeing one of the biggest franchises in history cast a non-Jewish actor to appropriate Jewish culture just felt disgusting to me. At least with Moon Knight, all we got was the smallest references to his Jewish heritage rather than being subjected to seeing the christian Oscar Isaac partake in sacred closed rituals.

And now, moving onto the second part of the answer to the above question, after we see Billy reading from the Torah and are then shown the party following the ceremony, we learn that the flashback takes place concurrently with the final episode of WandaVision. Because of that, the party has to end early so that guest can evacuate and soon, Billy and his parents are in a car accident where Billy dies…

…until his body is quickly revived after the soul of Wanda and Vision’s artificially constructed son, Billy MAXIMOFF possesses and takes control of Billy Kaplan’s body whilst erasing everything that made Billy Kaplan who he was. The reason why this is especially problematic is because of the great importance of the soul within Judiaism. According to Jewish laws, one of the most important things that distinguishes Jewish people from goyim is a Jewish soul and in Agatha All Along, one of the main protagonist who is an adaption of a Jewish character who was created by a Jewish writer is reimagined as a non-Jewish soul that hijacks the corpse of a Jewish teenager to use as a meat puppet. It becomes even worse when later on in the episode, “Billy” is shown rejecting his identity as Billy Kaplan which effectively takes the undertones of ethnic erasure and cultural appropriation of Joe Locke’s casting and makes it an essential part of the characterisation for this incarnation of Billy.

In Conclusion?

In the Marvel Comics, Billy Kaplan is a proud queer Jewish man who was partially based on the lived experiences of his creator who is also a gay Jewish man. Becuase of that, he holds a special place in the hearts of many fans who see a piece of ourselves in him and we deserved to see the really Billy Kaplan be brought to life in a way that would honour the source material that we love and introduce mainstream audiences to a really cool and fascinating Jewish superhero who can open up so many possibilities for the more supernatural side of the Marvel Universe to be explored in further MCU instalments.

But instead, we got the bare minimum of Jewish representation followed by the complete erasure of that “representation” with the ultimate end product being a show riddled with the underlying rot of antisemitism.

[hcrrifying]

"what the fuck does it look like, little red?" viktor opened their arms, gesturing back towards their masterpiece - grin slow but sure. they knew feyza more than she'd like, probably - knew this was something she wouldn't be able to just drive by. with the creaking of bones - god, that chair was tiny - viktor stood from their seat, mimicking a little bow before reaching down and picking up a baseball bat. "you want a fucking - swing? free of cost, unless you embarrass yourself and can't break shit. then i need fucking - financial compensation for witnessing it." they offered the weapon towards the redhead, kicking aside the splintered skull of a poor gnome who'd already met his fate. "it's fucking - good for the soul. or whatever. i think the deceased would want you to do this. for them, feyza - for them."

normally, fey wouldn’t be anywhere near viktor because she hated them with a passion that she normally reserved for just a select few, but it was almost comical how quickly she stepped on the brakes of her car when she saw the sight. it was a good thing there wasn’t a car behind her because of her sudden stop, but she quickly parked her car, slamming the door closed before she stood in front of them, her hands on her hips.

“what the hell is this?” fey asked, eyebrows furrowing, though there was no denying the interest behind her eyes. she had missed out when jieun and azra threw plates a couple of weeks ago, and god knows she had a lot of pent up rage herself, especially with her cousin now six feet under, but she didn’t want to give viktor the satisfaction of her being intrigued by anything they had planned.

[agentem]

Poor Tommy

He was alive for like five days. Then he was dead for three years. And then he's shoved into the body of a random kid.

If the comics are anything to go by, his "new" parents suck compared to the Kaplans. He'll end upa criminal and in juvenile dentention.

Billy's gonna show up with two loving parents and a ghost aunt, plus Vision might be back by the time that show is made. Tommy's gonna be like, "why does he get all the adult role models?"

[hadesisqueer]

It's been a long time since I read any Marvel comics and even longer since I read any Young Avengers comics (I was more of a Runaways fan tbh) but I do remember that Tommy had a pretty bad background. Bad parents, in juvie, experimented on to turn him into a weapon-- yeah. And it seems like they're gonna stick with him having a worse background than Billy in the MCU because of this:

“It's underwater! There's a boy. It's a prank. They tricked him. He's gonna drown. It's a bad place. And the people, the family. There's no one to love him! He's got no one!”

Yep, it seems like they're giving Tommy the saddest backstory possible. The fact that Thomas Shepherd dies like this, being killed by bullies who'll never know they killed him is horrifying. And Tommy is gonna wake up to that. The kid is gonna go through hell.

It has a lot of potential for angst between him and Billy. And it could create a very interesting dynamic. I think Tommy and him will bond, but there's also potential for some resentment from Tommy's side. He gets reincarnated into the body of a bullied kid, with family that doesn't care about him and could be abusive. Meanwhile, Billy got two angels like the Kaplans as his parents, and now a cool gay ghost aunt. So there's a chance that this poor other kid might be like "Why? Why did you get all the good things while I got stuck with this?"

Also with his background being like that, I get the feeling he will most likely be the twin that considers Wanda his mom and Vision his dad, 100%. Eventually I really think Billy will see them as his parents too along with the Kaplans, but unlike Billy, Tommy doesn't get a new good, loving dad and a new good, loving mom. And we don't know if he'll fully remember Billy's voice as Billy did his (I think so). Maybe he will remember his voice, maybe he'll remember Vision's voice saying "We're very proud of you," maybe he'll remember Wanda's voice saying “A family is forever, we could never truly leave each other" or "Thanks for choosing me as your mother". Maybe all three. Maybe just one. In any case, this poor kid is probably gonna wake up wondering where are his brother or his parents and get stuck with the Shepherds and it'll be a 1000 times worse than what Billy went through and I really pity him.

[goodfish-bowl]

Check Your Sources

DP Side Hoes Week 2024 Master Post

Day 2: Jazz Fenton - university times

Summary: Jazz has a misunderstanding with a professor over her selected topic for her paper.

Word Count: 1271

AO3 Link

Jazz Fenton had remembered turning in her psychology paper on ecto-psychology, particularly the role of obsessions in the mental state of Ecto-entities, with utmost confidence. She had meant it as a draft for the final paper she intended to published after the completion of her degree. She had already sent in her paper on Ghost Envy for her application to the college, and it was currently in the process of being peer-reviewed, so she needed something new for her current psychology paper. She had compiled the information for it during her last trip to Amity Park, and organized it into this assignment, including multiple citations both within the ecto-science fields and otherwise, to make sure her paper was well-rounded. She had quadruple-checked everything, from her grammar, to her formatting, to the way she cited each of her sources. 

For these reasons, Jazz was absolutely confounded by the red ink and stark zero written at the top of her returned paper. There was a sticky note attached, telling her to talk to the professor after class.

Jazz glanced between her paper, and the professor in horror. During the course of the term, Jazz had developed a deep respect for Dr. Kaplan, and her work on the psychology of people with PTSD. She must have a good reason for giving her such a poor grade, but the fact she received it at all filled her with mortification. She had never gotten a grade so low in her entire education. Jazz needed to know why, but she couldn’t even figure out what she had done wrong in the first place. In the corner of her mind, she had a sinking suspicion, but hoped with everything she was wrong. 

Jazz spent the entire class in a tizzy. Constantly flipping back and forth between the day’s class-work and her paper. Outside of the first page, the rest of the paper was completely unmarked. Frustration began to simmer underneath Jazz’s skin. How was she supposed to fix this if the professor never even told her what she did wrong?! But it would be fine… she was meeting with the teacher after class anyways. 

From that point forward, class moved forward at a crawl. Jazz still couldn’t pay much attention, and found her notes were much less organized than she would prefer. But when the professor dismissed them, Jazz practically darted to Dr. Kaplan’s podium. 

The professor was a thin, wiry woman, dressed professionally, and looked down upon Jazz from behind equally wiry glasses. She gave Jazz a hard-look, almost one of disdain, and it was only the years of facing the nightmares of Amity Park that kept her from physically recoiling. She removed her eyes from Jazz and gazed around the still-emptying classroom. 

“It might be better to have this conversation in my office,” Dr. Kaplan stated, leaving the room, with Jazz practically at her heels. 

Dr. Kaplan’s office was a fair reflection of the woman herself. Neutral colors, her degree on display, and psychology books lining her singular bookshelf. Her desk was dark wood, and chairs cushions a beige leather. The plant sitting by the window was fake. It was all very professional, and at the same time very impersonal and lifeless. Despite the light colors and the sunlight streaming in through the window blinds, the atmosphere was near stifling. 

The professor took her seat behind the desk, and Jazz hesitated, waiting until Dr. Kaplan gestured for her to take a seat. The seats were more stylish than they were comfortable. She gingerly set her paper on the edge of the desk, sitting board-straight in the chair. 

“Ms. Fenton,” Dr. Kaplan practically sighed, “is there a reason you’re not taking my class seriously?”

The question came completely unexpected. “What are you talking about, Dr. Kaplan? I’ve been giving this class my best efforts,” Jazz pleaded. 

Dr. Kaplan frowned, tapping her carefully manicured, neutrally colored nails against her paper. “This assignment says otherwise.”

Jazz frowned, mentally skimming over the paper. “I… I don’t understand. I’ve followed the assignment criteria almost exactly, I’ve even collected first-hand observations.”

Dr. Kaplan looked like she had sucked a lemon. “Ah, yes,” she said flatly. “Ms. Fenton, while you’ve followed the semblance of the rubric for this assignment to a near exceptional degree, a paper on the theoretical psychology of fictional beings is hardly an acceptable paper topic.” 

 Ah, there it was. Jazz had suspected as much, but it still didn’t calm the simmering frustration, boiling into anger under her skin. 

“Honestly,” Dr. Kaplan continued, “for such a brilliant girl, I can only see the submission of a paper like this as a lack of care, and simply unprofessional to boot. To go as far as to make up sources, as properly cited as they are, is simply-”

It was taking everything within Jazz not to blow up in her professor’s face. Her nails were starting to bite into her palms, and her teeth felt sharp in her mouth as she grit them. Had Dr. Kaplan stopped at the whole ‘ghosts aren’t real’ bit, it wouldn’t have been anything she hadn’t heard before. But to accuse her of lying, and making up sources, that was getting a bit too close to unforgivable. She was losing any respect she had for this professor with every word out of her mouth. 

“Those are real sources and I have recordings of the data I collected myself,” Jazz had to keep herself from hissing. “You’re welcome to check my sources. Of course, due to the analog nature of the recordings, they will require a tape player to view. As for the other second and third hand sources, they are all from qualified journals.” 

“I admire the lengths you’ve gone to make your work of fiction as realistic as possible however-”

“Have you heard of Amity Park before?” Jazz could not stop herself from growling out the question, shooting to her feet, unable to take this sitting down any longer. “Have you done any research to support your claim over mine?”

Dr. Kaplan had a deer-in-headlights expression as Jazz towered over her desk, while also simultaneously adding the only color to her entire office through the reddening of her face. “Are you delusional? Ghosts aren’t real.”

Jazz felt what little ectoplasm that lived under her skin hum in tune with her rage as she slammed a hand down onto the desk, crinkling her paper underneath her wrath. This wasn’t about the grade anymore.

 “Ecto-science is a pseudo-science at worst. It is young and mostly unexplored, but it is hardly fictional. Psychology used to occupy the very same space not too long ago. If you had done any research to check your biases, you would have found this out.” 

Something was burning. 

Jazz quickly snatched her paper back into her hands, gritting her teeth, and reigning in her anger as fast as she could. She cleared her throat hard enough for it to sound like a snarl. 

“It appears your classroom will no longer be a conductive learning environment for me,” Jazz spoke evenly, tone carefully measured. “It would do you well to actually look into the topics your students write about.”

Jazz collected her things, already mentally filing out the required paperwork and emails to the Registar’s Office to have her transferred to a different class. She moved to the doorway and gave her professor a polite nod, ignoring the gobsmacked look on Dr. Kalplan’s face. 

“Have a nice afternoon, Professor.”

Jazz fled the room, dead set in ignoring the hand-shaped burn she had left on her professor’s desk and the smoldering paper in her hands.

[to-be-a-dreamer]

Oh it's absolutely not the same thing but it's similar enough that it creates some really fascinating parallels between the Maximoffs and the Harknesses. Agatha and Billy are not the same obviously but a lot of the key points in their journeys have been really similar and I'm really interested to see how their relationship is going to develop when they realize how much they actually have in common.

And there's also. Like. This is fully me inventing character backstory with no basis in canon but is it so hard to believe Evanora really did love Agatha at some point? Not love in the way that Wanda loved her sons and not love in the way a mother is supposed to love her child. Something more like possessive love. The way you love something you own, something you feel entitled to. And to me, that conjures an image of Wanda, who did truly love her children at one point, but was not acting out of love for them when she planned to go to another universe, kill their mother, and take them for herself. It's not hatred like Evanora but the parallel themes of when can a mother's love be corrupted are definitely there. That hubris of believing they alone know best and their decision is law, despite their children's pleas to stop.

Wanda may have loved her children but she was corrupted by the Darkhold. She didn't care about them then, she cared about power because that's what the Darkhold does to you. But she was able to do what Evanora wasn't and listen to her children. Agatha begged Evanora to stop and she didn't. Billy and Tommy begged Wanda to stop and she did. It's completely different situations but they're so similar at the same time.

And even ignoring MOM their actions in WV are just similar enough that I think Agatha could use that to try and manipulate Billy into turning against Wanda and I'm really interested to see how that might go. Evanora's actions are not forgivable in the same way as Wanda's but does intention really matter to a child whose mother was prepared to knowingly let him die? Does Billy remember enough to know Agatha is twisting the truth when she says Wanda chose a group of strangers over him and his brother? Does he have a right to be angry with her even if he does remember? That's why I love this show the characters are all so complex and interesting and all of their motivations are understandable, even if they're not forgivable or defendable.

(The original post has been edited to better explain my train of thought)

A brain dump of thoughts after Agatha All Along ep 6:

Okay but like. The parallels between Agatha and Billy that we get to see now????

Both of their mothers chose to protect other people, complete strangers, over their own children??? Like. We know Wanda made the right choice, sacrificing her family for the greater good, but in her own way wasn't Evanora doing the same? Surely on some level she did love her daughter, otherwise she wouldn't have tried to teach her to be good while "knowing" she was "born evil"? Surely it must have hurt her to choose to kill her own child but she believed Agatha would bring countless death and destruction. Was it not a selfless choice just like Wanda's? Does that make it right? Does Billy not have just as much right as Agatha to be angry with his mother for choosing to let him and his brother die? Both of their mothers saw them as extensions of themselves, as things they alone got to choose to sacrifice but they're still people. What right did they have to take their lives just because they gave birth to them?

Both of them were forced to do something horrible just to survive??? Agatha had to murder her own family. Billy had to steal the body of a boy who had just died. He had to pretend to be the child of these poor unsuspecting parents who just want their son back. Who have no idea their child is dead. The Kaplans will never get to bury William. He has to look them in the eye every single day knowing he's not really their son but what else was he supposed to do? He hates what he's doing to these people but what choice did he have? Could he even control it or did his soul instinctively seek out a new vessel to protect itself? Agatha was just a child who didn't want to die. Billy was just a child who didn't want to die. Were they selfish? Could they control it? Can we truly blame them if they could?

Both of them do terrible things when they feel backed into a corner or overwhelmed or emotional??? Things that they come to regret as soon as the emotions clear??? Billy looked horrified when he finally realized what he had done to Lilia and Jen but he's an intensely powerful and traumatized child who was overcome with grief and anger. Do we really think every single one of Agatha's kills was 100% self-defense? Do we really think she never killed someone in a fit of anger only to regret it after? And maybe Agatha has come to accept and embrace that now but she must have been like Billy when she was young. (Billy is literally the same age Agatha was when she killed her coven and was even younger when he took William's body) She must have been horrified at her power, at the things she did when she felt trapped. She must have bent over backward trying to defend herself and justify her own actions before realizing no one would believe she didn't want to do those things so she might as well embrace her power to its fullest potential ("I'm not that nice").

Both of them are walking the road for someone they lost??? I know Agatha says she's on the road for her power back but that's not how the road works, right? It doesn't give you what you want it gives you what you're missing. I think if Agatha was really able to get anything at all in the world, it wouldn't be her magic. Agatha is looking for Nicky. Billy is looking for Tommy. I don't know if either of them will really get that at the end but they are absolutely in this for the same reason.

I know there are mixed responses to this episode (at least when I first scrolled through the tag) but I for one really enjoyed it. I was really worried they were going to half-ass the explanation for why Billy was being Like This and fuck up one of the only queer Marvel Comics characters but comparing his actions to Agatha's and showing us this kid who is SO MUCH like how Agatha must have been when she was his age is so much fun actually. Like, it would have been really great but pacing-wise we probably couldn't have spent the necessary time going back into Agatha's past and diving deep into her progression from "scared child who does horrible things out of desperation for survival" to "cutthroat witch who is more than eager to hurt and betray others for her own personal gain". But we get to see it happen to Billy over the rest of the season and maybe even multiple MCU projects!!! Or maybe we'll get to see him make different choices. Maybe Agatha will be able to give him the chance no one gave her. Maybe history doesn't have to repeat itself. Maybe Billy's journey will give Agatha the chance to change her own story once and for all.

Idk this is really rambly and maybe my opinion will change as I think about it more but my first reactions are positive. Yeah on a meta level it sucks that the wlw couple is moving so slowly in their own show while the young, conventionally attractive mlm couple got to kiss within their first few minutes of screentime and they probably could have put in the effort to intentionally combat the miserable lesbians trope. But on a story level, I'm personally glad they're not rushing Agatha and Rio's arc. They're definitely going to get their moment but the reason they're so compelling is because of their history and the tragedy between them. We don't have all the details of what really happened between them yet but I don't think it's something you can just kiss and make up about. Billy and Eddie are teenagers with no real baggage between them. Agatha and Rio have possibly centuries of hurt and anger and betrayal to work through Let Them Cook! It'll be that much sweeter and their relationship is one of the CORE overarching plots of the show you don't want them to rush it. (Also I personally am too ace for the "we're gonna make up by having hot sex about it" type of conflict resolution and would have hated if Agatha and Rio were intimate before sorting at least some of their shit out but that's just me ik a lot of people would have enjoyed it and I'm sure it could have been really compelling but I actually cannot stand those kinds of plots most of the time.)

Also just keep in mind that the only other named queer characters we've had in the MCU literally ever are Phastos and Ben in the Eternals and like. Yeah it shouldn't have taken this long for a queer lead but the massive jump??? We went from one character (out of like ten mains) whose partner has minimal personality traits and like five minutes of screen time to a show with two main character on-screen queer romances!!!! In the Marvel Cinematic Universe??? And one of them is a season-long complex and interesting story that is a central plot of the series and not just half-baked fanservice!!! And one is just sweet innocent love between kids who care about each other!!! I do wish wlw stories didn't always have to come with attractive cis gay men but do y'all understand how huge this is for the MCU????? It shouldn't have taken this long and we can definitely criticize the negative tropes the show falls victim to but net positive progress is always something to be happy about. If you're not familiar with the greater MCU and the history of Marvel in general just understand that this is actually insane for them and I'm so excited for the doors that just opened for future queer storylines, but that can only happen if we show Marvel that, yes we do want queer characters being openly intimate on screen. Be happy for Billy, keep being happy for Agatha and Rio during all stages of their story and maybe we'll get to see more of this!!!

[vaspider]

Agatha All Along Thoughts:

The thing that I've been thinking about that hasn't been touched on yet: the Witch's Road gives "what is missing."

Billy is CERTAIN that this means his brother, or that he gets to choose what it means. However, the MCU has been pretty clear up to this point that this is often not at all how magic works.

Also, if you look at the way the Witch's Road is laid out, like, look at the way the trees look and how stylized they are, look at the decorations in a few places... the same lights that are in Billy's room show up in Agatha's trial, those triangular string lights, and the trees on the Witch's Road are extremely stylized. Some look like the tree on the cover of the Torah Ark, and some look like the tabletoppers/centerpieces from William's bar mitzvah, and some have items hanging from them which look like the items hanging on the centerpieces. Additionally, the door didn't show up until Billy came downstairs. This may just be because the coven wasn't complete until Billy was in the room, but it may also be because he's the driving force behind getting everyone on the Road at all. The Road responds to the coven, right? It forms itself to the coven? And if each of the witches gets a trial, then the only place where William's influence might leak out, the only space that might be 'his,' where he's trying to, maybe, get Billy's attention would be in these liminal spaces. (His ability to reach out only happening in those most liminal of spaces would make a lot of sense if he's sort of been hovering for years in a sort of limbo.)

Oh fuck, I just realized that we got Randall/Ralph Bohner telling Billy "it's like watching yourself on TV." FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. That's not an accident. Ahhhhh fuck. Poor William.

I think what episode 6 has telegraphed to us -- one of the things it has, anyway -- is that what he is "missing" is William Kaplan, and he's going to have to integrate these two personalities/two lives into one thing.

(My theory re: Tommy is that the "quest" in VisionQuest, the third part of this trilogy, will be finding Tommy. I also think that Eddie is Hulkling -- his immediate explanation for the Hex was 'aliens,' Hulkling is often sleeveless, lots of little things. That might be a red herring, but I think they may be giving us Hulkling there.)

I really, really appreciate the level to which these choices have clearly been thought out. I'll be pulling apart the implications of this show for magic in the MCU for a while.

(If you're here to tell me that the MCU is dumb or you hate it, please go away. I'm not interested in that conversation.)