selenak

In which Patti LuPone rocks, and it is understandable that the cast calls this their favourite episode.

Also I had unfortunately been spoiled for Rio being Death - thanks a lot, YouTube Reviewers! NOT! - which is why I didn't comment on her in the last two episodes. I have to say, though, this probably means the true reason why Agatha was on the Titanic and the Hindenburg (according to Billy's googling last episode) is that they were still dating back then. More seriously, it works with the kind of relationship they've been hinted at having. Agatha both running from and flirting with Death. Rio both declaring her intention to kill her and defending her.

But the episode isn't focused on said reveal; this is Lilia's episode, and Lilia's trial. And with the arguable exception of two scenes, the audience is in her pov as she's hurdling through time in both directions, past and future, and now her cryptic utterings all make sense. The obvious geeky comparison is with The Constant from Lost and Desmond, but I stll want a Penny Dreadful crossover more than I want a Lost one, with Lilia being either another sister or another avatar of Joan. For all the fun and camp elements - i.e. everyone in pop culture witch gear during the trial - the episode makes no bones about what a tragic state and Cassandra like curse it is for Lilia, experiencing time out of order but unable to change anything despite her warnings - she couldn't save her first coven, she can't save Alice despite trying to warn her... but then again, is this always the case? Because her sigil on Teen/Billy did work as intended, and it may be the reason why he got two (or three?) years without any supernatural parties trying to nab him, I think Jen has a shot at survival now, and Lilia was able to kill all seven of the Salem 7.

(I'm less sure about whether what she tells Agatha is intended to save Agatha or someone else - either Jen or Billy - but we'll find out next week.)

Sidenote: I'm not up to date with the entire MCU, but I think the general consensus is that if you alter the past, you create a new timeline, hence the Multiverse. The ÜberStrange from the cartoon "What if?" series trying to get a happy ending for himself and Christine and creating havoc in several universes this way without ever achieving his aim being a case in point. So it's entirely possible that there are timelines where Lilia did manage to save Alice. For example. I'm just saying. But in terms of this particular episode, past and future are treated as relatively solid, i.e. if Lilia has witnessed something she can act on the knowledge of this in the past, and this in turn can contribute in steering events in that direction, or she can help steering others away from it if they weren't already in what she witnessed, but based strictly on this episode she can't make something unhappen if she did witness it. And Patti LuPone is so great, the confusion, the sadness, the annoyance, the irritation, the affection, the amazing courage and grace. Ending the episode with young Lilia getting her very first lesson from her Maestra back in the Renaissance, eager and with all the future still ahead of her, was heartbreakingly perfect. And so was making the vision she feared - herself falling - into a moment of triumph earlier. Lilia was fantastic. And I really hope someone is wriing that crossover.

Other bits and pieces:

- Billy, in a refreshing turn in the MCU, doesn't have Daddy issues, he has Mommy issues. Understandable; these last years, whatever he heard about Wanda can't have been good, living in the town next to Westview. And there's the part where he and Tommy were more literally than your usual babies her creation and she had to (as far as she knew) destroy them in order to free everyone else from her hex.

- Lilia casting Jen (not Agatha) as the High Priestess in her Tarot reading is what makes me optimistic for Jen's survival

- out of curiosity, just when did comics Marvel decide they wanted a female Death, too? Was it the 1980s as well?

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