Agatha All Along Episodic Coverage: “Through Many Miles/Of Tricks and Trials”

The First Trial Sets A Strong Pattern For The Series

“Through Many Miles/Of Tricks and Trials” answered the question that I posed in my initial article for Agatha All Along. And that is: what is The Road like? And the answer given was so good that we’re doing episodic reviews like we did for the last season of Doctor Who. I want to see how The Road’s death traps play out.

Because that’s what this show turned out to be: a series of death traps with specific solutions tailored to each type of witch present. And, though I have no idea how the “green witch” role will work now that the team lost the person “designated” for the task, it seems like four more trials are in play.

And, to be clear, the first puzzle was incredibly layered with storytelling moments. I suspected it would be characters facing their fears and overcoming personal trauma. That seemed to be the idea from the beginning. But the first challenge in “Through Many Miles/Of Tricks and Trials” blended all of that with even more. I don’t know how well the series will/is handling the topics already utilized—including a longish scene of domestic abuse—but, through this first death trap, we learn a ton about our potions witch. The “house” was basically designed to be as cruel as possible to her. It forced her to use the products she lied about to prevent herself—and everyone else—from dying in roughly the same way she was abused.

The episode also uses that poison—specifically its hallucinations—to do a ton of narrative setup for later. We already knew why everyone is willing to do this quest; now we have inklings about what most of the remaining characters will face on the quest. I’m sure there’ll be more in-depth exposition about each of them as challenges occur, but the template is set, and the adventure can keep up a quick pace without feeling too rushed.

The Series’s Quick Pace Now Feels Under Control

That said, there are a few aspects of the magical rules established in “Through Many Miles/Of Tricks and Trials” that bugged me. Specifically, the timer, the poison, and the escape. They don’t seem to work in harmony quite right. The timer ticked down to zero and then technically gave them more time. It just started the water. And why is water the danger in the first place, besides previously mentioned thematic elements? The timer starts when someone drinks the poison and then everyone else needs to have it (except Teen: he didn’t sing the song) and then drink an antidote for the door to open. That’s lethal all its own. The poison should either kill at the end of the timer, or the door should simply not open anymore once the timer goes off. And why, on top of all that, does the antidote not need everyone’s hair to make the door open—but they all have to drink it anyway? If the rules were always cruel and unwieldy, that would be one thing—The Road clearly doesn’t want people to get to the end—but why is it sometimes forgiving and sometimes not? I’m seriously hoping that the answer is some foreshadowed thing I simply haven’t thought of yet, but I have my doubts.

The only other thing of note to go over—since this is a quick episode—is that death. I’m sad about that death. I really liked that character. But I guess I should’ve seen it coming. You can’t have a series make such a big deal about the lethality of The Road and then not kill a single character. And having a death very early in the story reinforces that. It also deepens the conflict of the group. Even Teen is learning to not trust Agatha—and showing that she selfishly pulled a random person into this place, knowing she’d more than likely die, could widen that fissure. It’s all very effective writing.

Really, I think that’s the main takeaway for “Through Many Miles/Of Tricks and Trials.” The writing was effective and economical. So much so that the uncertainty I had in the first two episodes is mostly gone. The story now has a clear pattern and arc to it. Every episode is likely going to be full of dramatic moments, explorations of trauma, and reality-breaking locations as it examines each witch’s talents. And as long as the series remains this creative, I’m curious to see where The Road leads next.

  

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