close
close

Ourladyoftheassumptionparish

Part – Newstatenabenn

‘Agatha All Along’: Death alias Rio Vidal, explained
patheur

‘Agatha All Along’: Death alias Rio Vidal, explained

This story contains spoilers for episode 7 of “Agatha All Along.”

One thing”Agatha all the time” has made clear throughout the series is that death comes to us all. And it turns out that in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Death comes in the form of Aubrey Plaza.

In the seventh episode of the Disney+ series, aptly titled “Death’s Hand in Mine,” the rest of Agatha’s (Kathryn Hahn) makeshift coven finally discovers that the mysteriously dangerous but charismatic Rio (Plaza) has been Death all the time. As fortune-telling witch Lilia (Patti LuPone) does one last tarot reading to complete her quest, the clairvoyant sees the true identity of her wayward traveling companion.

“River. She is Death,” Lilia says after saving her coven from imminent impalement.

When asked for confirmation, Agatha admits, “I like bad boys.”

As seen in Lilia’s visions, Rio’s identity has been teased throughout the previous episodes. The most obvious of these clues is the Ouija board that details the presence of DEATH in Episode 5.

In the final moments of episode 7, Lilia pushes Agatha, Billy (Joe Locke) and Jen (Sasheer Zamata) to continue along the witches path and any other tests that await you.

Now that we know all roads lead to her, here’s everything you need to know about Death and her backstory.

Who is death?

a woman holding the hand of another

Things tend to get intense between Rio (Aubrey Plaza), left, and Agatha (Kathryn Hahn).

(Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel)

In the Marvel comics, Death (with a capital D) is a cosmic entity that is the embodiment of death and mortality. The character first appeared in “Captain Marvel” No. 26 by Jim Starlin and Mike Friedrich as a covert cohort of Thanos. Yeah, that thanos.

While other interpretations of Death had previously appeared in Marvel stories, this cosmic iteration of the character dates back to the 1973 comic. Sometimes called Lady Death or Lady Death, the hooded entity tends to be involved in stories set in space. Essentially immortal, Death possesses immense power, including the ability to manipulate time and matter.

Death has crossed paths with people like Mar-Vellmembers of the The fantastic fourhe great teacher and more. But she is best known for being the object of Thanos’ unrequited affection. In the comics, the whole ordeal with the Infinity Stones was Thanos’ attempt to woo her.

For now, it seems extremely unlikely that the MCU incarnation of Death has any ties to Thanos, considering his saga has already come and gone. Plus, there are still plenty of witch mysteries to solve in “Agatha All Along,” like Rio’s whereabouts during the final trial.

What do we know about Río Vidal?

two women, one facing the other, in a forest

Agatha (Kathryn Hahn), left, and Death (Aubrey Plaza) have some unresolved issues.

(Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel)

Since he burst into hallucination of Agatha’s murder mystery, he has teased that there was more to Rio than meets the eye.

Agatha and Rio have history. The implication from the beginning was that Rio and Agatha were involved in the past. And although the relationship may have ended centuries ago, it is evident that they are still attracted to each other.

Rio can’t kill Agatha (even if he wanted to). If his comments made in the heat of battle are to be believed, Rio is “not allowed” to kill Agatha, while Agatha cannot kill Rio or absorb his powers.

Rio speaks Spanish. The first times Rio said goodbye to Agatha, his parting words were “I see you.” It could be a nod to Plaza’s heritage, or it could be something that comes into play in the remaining episodes of the show. We’ll see.

Rio hates ghosts. When Agatha’s mother appears in episode 5, Rio declares that she hates ghosts. But maybe he just doesn’t like his ex’s mother.

Rio is the Green Witch. Rio declares that it is “less to green witch, more he Green Witch” when she first meets Agatha’s coven on the Witches’ Road. This suggests that Death in the MCU could have jurisdiction over the cycle of life rather than simply reigning over death. Could it be regeneration, renewal and/or rebirth that awaits us at the end of the Witch’s Path after all the deaths along the way? Audiences will just have to wait for Wednesday’s “Agatha All Along” finale to find out.