Episode 7 was a masterpiece in storytelling, creating a flawless narrative that kept viewers captivated from start to finish. In an episode devoted almost entirely to Lilia and her backstory, Marvel showcased their ability to surprise audiences and do it exceptionally well and through well-thought-out writing. Although the focus was Lilia, the present story still progressed, setting all the characters one step closer to the end of the series. It shows that the show successfully balanced, once again, a character study while moving the overarching narrative one step forward, leaving fans eager for the finale.

Saying Both Hello and Goodbye to Lilia

As mentioned, this episode was not only based on Lilia due to her trial but on her as a character. Lilia, who symbolizes the struggle for older women to be overlooked and thought less of due to their age, proved why she was important and how she has technically been a step ahead of everyone this whole time. Looking at Lilia, her ‘gaps’ as she refers to them made her appear not all there, even a little crazy as Jennifer points out. It made her easy to be overlooked by all the witches in the coven, even though in the end it was her divination powers that were needed for information beyond the trial. Her showing her fears that lie within the power she holds and proving her worth turned the entire perspective of her around, even for viewers, and taught a powerful lesson in not overlooking those who have come before, as they are far more knowledgeable than given credit.

Beyond the lessons taught, Lilia’s episode and trial healed her as a character, allowing her to peacefully accept being a divination witch and a member of the coven before sacrificing herself. Throughout the episode, it was revealed that Lilia struggled with her abilities, specifically after she saw her first coven die at a young age and couldn’t change their fate. It seemed implied that since that point, Lilia tried her hardest to avoid and hide her powers, as she couldn’t handle seeing people’s futures and being unable to do anything. Within Episode 7, her trial went beyond just what we saw with the tarot cards. In reality, her trial has been happening the whole time they’ve been on this journey, through the gaps that she couldn’t make sense of before but have all come together now. Using her abilities, she not only saved her coven from the trial, passing it successfully but chose to sacrifice herself, taking out the Salem Seven with her, to ensure her coven escaped. Lilia learned to accept her gaps and abilities, accepted her title as a witch, and sacrificed herself as a self-proclaimed member of the coven. While it will be sad to not see her again, Lilia made the decision to die when she was ready and on her own terms, taking back the power and making her death one of the most moving moments in this series.

In the End, All Roads Lead to Death

Lilia’s powers also revealed what many have been theorizing about for quite a while, which is that Rio is actually Death. This shouldn’t have come as too much of a shock, since there were many clues, some that were actually highlighted in Lilia’s gaps. Yet, in all the theorizing about who she was, we never stopped to think about what Rio being Death would bring to the story. It’s obvious Agatha knew her identity from their history and that she was, at one point, trying to force Rio to out herself, as seen in Alice’s trial when she turned the Soundbooth mic on. However, Rio on the Road only brings more to the All Roads Lead to Death sentiment and so far, the coven has technically lost 3 members.

The Road may be almost like Rio’s feeding ground for her to capture witches, as witches don’t follow the natural laws of nature and die. Witches use their abilities to expand their lives, living for centuries rather than decades. By doing so, they are indirectly cheating Death, something I’m sure would annoy and frustrate Death themselves. If Rio/Death created the Road or had help from maybe someone more powerful, such as Mephisto, they could use it as a witch trap, capturing witches as they fail to make it to the end. This would explain why no one, except Agatha, has finished the Road because the Road is never meant to be finished. It’s likely. for whatever reason, Rio either took pity on Agatha, fell in love with her, or was impressed by her and spared her, allowing her to leave the Road. This would explain many of the missing ends that we now only have two episodes, and one week, to solve. Additionally, it would explain her involvement here and some of the history that the two of them have.

Billy vs. William

It appears Billy’s identity struggles are not quite over, as this episode once again highlighted how unsure he is of himself. Though the focus was primarily on Lilia, it could easily be seen that the b-plot of this episode remained the inner struggle between Billy’s two souls. It is most strongly highlighted within the tarot card reading, as he uses that as the guiding question. Although she doesn’t finish his reading, as she realizes that he isn’t the right person in the chair, it can’t be forgotten that Lilia still puts a few cards down for Billy’s reading. We also see his inner turmoil when he doesn’t claim Wanda as his mother, instead saying that Mrs. Kaplan is his mom. While I will be the first to admit this annoyed the crap out of me, the truth is this hybrid of Billy/William has only truly existed for 3 years. He doesn’t hold any memories of William’s life from before but also doesn’t remember anything from the Hex. Episode 5 did have me convinced that the crowning of Billy Maximoff was a full acceptance of that soul, but it’s clear that is not true.

Regardless, his struggle remains in question, and with only two episodes left, some sort of answer has to come from the finale. Even though our theory on what the Road is possibly going to give Billy has changed nearly every episode as more information comes out, it now seems possible the Road might help Billy with his identity issue. He clearly has power but can’t control it fully, likely because of his inability to figure out if he is Billy or William. Instead of giving him power, or even Tommy’s location, the Road might simply give Billy his memories back, in the form of Williams, Billys, or both. With some version of his memories back, Billy would have a much better chance of understanding and using his power, on top of then using his full abilities to locate Tommy. Going off last week’s theory of Billy being a coven member, we might also still see a trial for Billy, which could be what helps him get his memories back as well.

Jen, the Last Remaining Member

Removing Agatha and Billy from the mix, Jennifer is the last remaining member of the original coven (yes, we’re including Mrs. Hart). She has gone through intense character growth, seen most prominently through her treatment of Lilia in this episode and it’s clear that Jen is important after Lilia’s reading. Yet it does need to be addressed whether Jen will make it through the final two episodes. She left the trial with Agatha and Billy, but scenes not yet seen in the show from the trailers do reveal only Agatha and Billy together. It may be some good editing or that Jen is not directly in that shot, but it’s also something we have to consider means she also doesn’t make it. Although Episode 7 might have just proven that she does.

Lilia’s reading revealed Jennifer as the High Priestess, meaning “Immense Spiritual Power, Unable Or Unwilling To Use It.” We know that Jennifer is bound, but theories have been flying that discuss she may not be magically bound, but instead may be trauma-bound, not letting herself use her powers even though she does physically have them. This is similar to something we discussed with Storm in X-Men ’97 after Forge’s machine to give her her powers back seemingly doesn’t work, even though it should, and it turns out to have been a mental roadblock. This being said Jennifer has not yet gone through the healing she needs to show her apparently immense power, and it can’t be forgotten that her tarot card was pulled under the Path Ahead slot. Could Jennifer regain her power be the key to all of this? While the numbers are against her since all the other coven members have died, Lilia made it clear that Jen is important, something we hope is not a wasted point in the remaining two episodes.

Image: “Agatha All Along Episode 7”, Ashley, Ashley & Company