Agatha and the other witches are chased by the Salem Seven in Episode 5, which means this time, Agatha All Along wears the skin of a horror story. This seems appropriate, given the Salem Seven have such scary faces. The coven rips out tree branches, chants a spell, converts branches into brooms, and flies away from the clutches of the Salem Seven. Why didn't they use brooms from the beginning itself? Because the witches hate brooms. Here's Lilia's explanation: "Brooms have been co-opted by the holiday industrial complex as an absurd emblem of our culture. Worse yet, they're an obvious symbol of female domesticity." However, all this criticism disappears as soon as everybody is in the air. The resentment is replaced with happy noises. The Witches' Road soon pulls the coven towards itself, sending them to their next trial, the next cabin. Once inside, the characters realize this will be Agatha's trial because of the blood moon (it appears when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest).
"And who better to commune with the dead than someone who's put so many in the grave?" says Rio Vidal. An Ouija Board suddenly pops up, and Teen reads the rules from the manual:
1) Do not use the Ouija board alone
2) Do not speak over each other
3) Do not taunt the spirits
4) Do not ask about death
5) Always end your session with goodbye
6) Do not, under any circumstances, remove your hand from the planchette ("if you do so, a spirit will be released").
These rules are, of course, broken. Agatha initially deceives the coven into believing they have summoned Mrs. Hart's spirit. She gets the voice and gestures right, displaying talent akin to that of a mimicry artist. It's all fun and games until the real ghost appears. She turns out to be Agatha's mother, Evanora. She possesses her own daughter, prompting an amusing remark from Agatha, "It was nice having you in my body for a second there. I've never felt so close to you before." Evanora sets a simple condition: She will allow other witches to leave the premises, provided they leave Agatha with her. This proposition doesn't sit well with Rio - she rejects the idea.
The horror elements here don't work very well. The spooky white face, the inverted crab walk, and the ghostly smoke slowly taking the form of a figure are all clichés that never truly cause extreme fear. Agatha All Along continues to superficially wear the skin of various genres without evoking their pleasures. The show, like Agatha, works like a mimicry artist - it speaks in the appropriate tone and performs the required gestures, but we are always aware of the fact that we are not watching the real person. Episode 5 has one good emotional moment that deals with the death of a character. It makes Teen's rage almost tangible. Speaking of Teen, his real identity is revealed in this episode. If you, like me, had visited Wikipedia before or even a few hours after the premiere of the first episode, you would have discovered all about Teen's true nature. The real surprise for someone like me was how shabby, and sloppy the episode's rhythms became as it reached the finish line. Perhaps someone might have secretly placed a curse somewhere.
Final Score – [5.5/10]