#we're not supposed to view agatha's development and the other witches' trials/stories as strictly separate things

[a-couple-of-notes]

I too loved everything about Agatha and Rio this week ("she is my scar"--that's my shit!) but I do want to give flowers for how efficiently that relationship is connected to and contextualized by Alice's story.

Alice has spent a long time dismissing her mother and being angry at her, not seeing that Lorna worked as hard as she could to protect her. Agatha and Rio both immediately see it--Agatha is the one to put the pieces together, and Rio's the one who answers the question of "what were Lorna's intentions?" with "to save her daughter"--because, in some way, they are Lorna. They would do the exact same thing to try to protect their child (as we see Agatha desperately attempt to save/protect Teen later).

At the same time, like Alice, Agatha has retreated into anger to avoid grief. She doesn't, or refuses to, understand it was Rio's job to (presumably) reap Nicholas' soul. Alice has to "face" the curse and her own grief by the end of the episode, and likewise, Agatha has to face both her feelings for Rio and the truth about Teen.

This is just really smart writing; it weaves the themes of mothers and children throughout, has two parallel narratives about bridging an impossible gap in a relationship, and furthers the larger arcs of every character involved. Plus it's super gay.

(And they even throw in the bit about Jen's backstory as a midwife! More thematic weaving of motherhood and children--it makes a lot of sense that Agatha specifically would consider midwifery "important work" worth leaving someone alone for, as she said in Episode 3.)