Agatha’s Baby Conceived by Two Women in Agatha All Along

Television

Agatha All Along isn’t done being weird despite finally being over. This year’s PaleyFest, a festival put on by the Paley Center for Media celebrating television, is currently running at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, and for some strange reason, they had a panel on Agatha All Along. Well, it’s not so strange; we know why the media institutions all love this show despite nobody in the real world watching it, and it’s the same reason that Variety weirdo was so excited while interviewing the show’s stars at the premiere: it was, according to him (and Disney, probably) “the gayest show Marvel has ever done.” Case closed; no need for quality writing, appealing characters, or storylines that make any sense. And that narrative is continuing several months after the show’s merciful conclusion. At the PaleyFest panel (via Variety; might as well stick with ‘em), showrunner Jac Schaeffer, when asked about her favorite fan theories (no points for guessing if she says “Mephisto”), confirms that Agatha’s son, Nicholas, was conceived by two women:

“People thought Rio was Nicholas’ mom… When we were developing it, we got a lot of questions. ‘Who’s the dad?’ We were like, ‘Why do you wanna know?’… It was something that was important to the writers, and that was important to me. It was really lovely, that was something the fans said that we could confirm.”

So, there you go: Death, or Rio Vidal, is the co-mother/father/inseminator/girl-power-doner of Agatha Harkness’ son. At first, I assumed this was just one of those stupid things Marvel people do where they validate a fan theory even if it makes no sense and ruins character arcs or continuity (see Loki being hypnotized by the Mind Gem in The Avengers). But I went back and read through my old Agatha All Along reviews (no way am I sitting through the show again), and considering some of the extremely vague plot details, I think this may have been their intention from the beginning. That doesn’t mean it isn’t dumb and annoying, but Death’s parentage of Nicholas could have been what they were hinting at. Agatha does tell some people who ask about Nicholas’ father that he doesn’t have one, which I assumed was suggestive of an immaculate conception, but it could have been about his father being a woman, or however we’re supposed to phrase this nonsense. Then, when Death takes Nicholas away, it becomes one parent taking the child from the other, with Death telling Nicholas to give Agatha a kiss being one parent’s insistence that the child honor the other. It still doesn’t make much sense, and it’s reminiscent of The Acolyte’s lesbian witch parentage only with less of an explanation, but I guess they did have something of a plan – which probably included a second season they’ll never get, which is why nothing was explained.

Ultimately, it’s hard to care about this because Agatha All Along is pretty much a distant memory now (unless that Avengers: Doomsday concept art is on the level, and Billy Maximoff is coming to the big screen). What’s annoying is Jac Schaeffer’s attitude towards fans asking who the baby’s father was. Once again, Marvel is hostile towards their audience, with Schaeffer questioning why anybody cares just before saying the answer was at the forefront of the writers’ minds while crafting the show. As with the sacrifice of artistry, a consequence of hiring activists to make your entertainment is this smug, entitled, dismissive attitude towards the customer. How dare anyone ask a question like that? Despite it not being explained and the writers having an answer, you should accept not knowing and consume what you’re given with nothing but gratitude. You know who doesn’t behave this way? Actual artists; they’re happy to talk about their work and the various backstories they’ve conceived, even the ones that don’t make it to page or screen. (Those are also usually things that don’t need to be explained, unlike the Agatha All Along stuff.) For example, when Joss Whedon created Firefly, he crafted a vast sci-fi world, and in interviews and commentaries on the DVDs and Blu-rays, he would give lots of details that weren’t in the show because they weren’t necessary but helped him understand the universe, how it was formed, why certain people did certain things, etc. I also remember a Wizard interview with Mark Millar when he wrote Old Man Logan, a one-off, out-of-continuity comic story set in a future where most of the Marvel heroes had died. When the interviewer asked him what had happened to some of the heroes whose fates weren’t mentioned, Millar had an answer every single time, and he was happy to give them. But, as many keep saying, activists are not artists, and when you hire them to create art, you get nonsensical, propagandistic garbage like Agatha All Along.

Let us know what you think of Agatha All Along’s lesbian parent revelation in the comments!

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