The seventh episode of Marvel Television’s Agatha All Along is a feat of storytelling held up by its masterful writing and rigid story structure that creates a beautiful commentary on death and the comfort that can be found in it. 

The episode follows the character of Lilia Calderu, a 450-year-old Sicilian witch who experiences her life out of sequence, closing the loop she has been caught in for centuries. 

The episode follows as her mind jumps across time in a manner confusing to her, but easy to follow for the viewer due to the episodes structure.  

There is three act structure each following Lilia to a visit with her Maestra as her present mind visits her past self’s body, then to her in a tunnel with fellow witch Jeniffer Kale, then to a castle where she meets Agatha and Billy who are members of her coven. She then jumps across multiple episodes as it is revealed that her non-sequitur lines from previous scenes have been as result of her displaced consciousness, and then she is back with her Maestra kicking off another act. 

Each part of the story presents Lilia with new information that she needs to complete the trials her coven is facing on The Witches’ Road. 

The visual language plays a big part in communicating the story to the audience as each time-slip is done with a lateral camera pan as though a page is turning and tight frames and dolly zooms on characters as they realise what is happening around them.  

The objective chronology of the episode is reordered so the character reacts to her mind slipping in real time according to her point of view which forms her character arc and brings her to the realisation that she is about to die and that might not necessarily be a bad thing. 

Faramade Olaitan.