Agatha All Along feels perfectly timed for spooky season. The latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe looks to deliver a weekly dose of Halloween vibes that will delight fans while also being accessible to newcomers who might not be interested in the larger machinations of the Marvel Universe. A stellar cast and a strong sense of style help Agatha All Along overcome a slow start and set up a fun adventure series that is a trip down memory lane of popular stories centered on witches.
Agatha All Along picks up three years after the events of WandaVision, which, according to the official MCU timeline, would set this series in the year 2026. Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hann) has finally broken free of the Agnes persona the Scarlet Witch trapped her in, thanks to a mysterious young boy only named “Teen” (Joe Locke). His identity is one of the many mysteries of the series, as he has a seal cast on him that prevents any personal knowledge, including his name, from being discovered. Agnes is without her powers, so she and the teen decide to embark on a trip down the Witches Road, an otherworldly supernatural dimension that, in the end, will grant them power.
They assemble a coven of witches who have been cast out, which includes fortune-teller Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), potion master Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), an unsuspecting Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp reprising her role from WandaVision), and protector witch Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), daughter of a legendary rock star. To find what they seek, this coven of witches will need to go down the Witches Road and face their biggest fears while facing off against a variety of demons, magical threats, and ghosts from their past.
Agatha All Along Starts Slow but Becomes Good TV
Agatha All Along begins as a homage to true crime television series like Mare of Easttown or Fargo, making the viewer feel that the series will be a trip down television history like WandaVision but with prestige dramas in the place of sitcoms. Yet, towards the end of the first episode, the television facade fades away, transitioning Agatha All Along from the aesthetic of WandaVision. In doing so, the show sometimes feels like it is taking a bit longer to get to the setup, as the series’ first two episodes essentially act like a two-hour television movie premiere rather than standalone episodes.
It becomes more fun once Agatha All Along gets past its two-episode setup and begins going with its own flow. While Marvel still seems to be struggling with structuring a television series, Agatha All Along certainly plays to the advantages of television. This isn’t entirely surprising as the series’ creator, Jac Schaeffer, previously did WandaVision, which was designed the most like a traditional television show.
Thankfully, episodes three and four settle into a groove and lay out a fun format for the following middle chapter episodes. Each of those focuses on a specific character’s backstory/abilities coming into play in visually distinctive environments that will help the episodes stand apart instead of blurring together. Each episode also gives time away from the A-plot to allow character dynamics to develop in the background, making Agatha All Along inch closer to proper telly.
Style & Song
What immediately stands out about Agatha All Along is its sense of style, and that isn’t just because each new task the witches face comes with fabulous new costume changes. There is a daring sense of fun to this series that often gets ignored by comic book adaptations that want to be seen as realistic or gritty. This is not a series concerned with realism; instead, it embraces the more whimsical flights of fancy that sometimes get lost when these characters make the leap from the printed page to the screen. Agatha All Along knows it can play around, and it truly is at its best when the creators can have fun by changing the format and cutting loose.
This is a series where music plays a significant role, and songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, who penned the song “Agatha All Along” for WandaVision, return here and explore the link between musical lyrics and spells. Their new song “Witches Road” gets played in a variety of different ways, from a chanted epic to a Stevie Nicks-inspired rock ballad, allowing each version to match the style of each episode. At the same time, the different styles give the same lyrics (or spell) new meaning, similar to what the duo was able to accomplish with “Remember Me” from Coco.
The Supernatural Side of Marvel & Where Gothic Camp Fits In
Speaking of spells, Agatha All Along is interested in expanding the supernatural side of the MCU, distinguishing itself from Doctor Strange while explaining what exactly separates witchcraft from sorcery in the MCU. This is a world of spells, potions, and curses. Whereas Doctor Strange’s visual vocabulary for magic was psychedelia, Agatha All Along opts for a gothic, camp aesthetic. The Witches’ Road itself is a fun piece of production design, and the fact that it looks like a set makes it feel otherworldly. The series’ style is a witches’ brew of Hocus Pocus and Into the Woods with a pinch of Beetlejuice.
If WandaVision was an homage to sitcom history, Agatha All Along looks to explore the witch archetype in the media. The series is filled with references, callbacks, and reworkings of classic witch tropes found in Macbeth and Hansel and Gretel. As such, it’s yet another in a long line of MCU Multiverse Saga stories to pay direct homage to The Wizard of Oz, with their own reimagined yellow brick road as the Witches’ Road and each of the coven members seeking something they are missing, similar to Dorthy’s companions.
Plus, Marvel gets to cash in on the larger Disney corporate synergy with the Witch from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Lisa Simpson in a witch costume in the series end-credits.
Mystery Box Storytelling Comes at the Expense of Characters
Agatha All Along still shows some struggles with Marvel’s approach to television. The weakest part is its attempt to generate a season-long mystery. WandaVision gained somewhat of a reputation for generating speculation and fan theories week after week, where many found themselves disappointed not because of the series itself but that fan theories about Mephisto or an aerospace engineer being Mister Fantastic didn’t pay off. WandaVision worked not because of the mystery but because of its central character relationship and the decision to explore Wanda Maximoff and Vision’s relationship.
Agatha All Along seemingly tries to generate its mystery, specifically around the identity of “Teen,” which anyone who has any familiarity with Marvel Comics will see coming a mile away, which makes the series’ decision to put so much emphasis on concealing the mystery frustrating. It feels like emphasis is put on having a big reveal instead of starting the show with the reveal in the first two episodes and following how that impacts Agatha. Like the Kingpin reveal at the end of Hawkeye‘s penultimate episode, Marvel is prioritizing generating massive social media discussion for character reveals at the expense of the narrative.
“The Gayest” Marvel Series? Disney’s Preventing That From Happening
The other frustrating secret revolves around Rio Vidal, played by Aubrey Plaza. Plaza is an exceptional presence, and she lights up every scene she’s in, but the series’ attempts to play coy about her relationship and past with Agatha become tiresome. Rio feels wronged by Agatha and is an untrustworthy ally, seemingly wanting to help and kill Agatha simultaneously. The series frames these two as close, with a romantic relationship essentially underlined without being outright stated. It’s not hard to tell that Agatha and Rio are former lovers, but the series won’t commit. This is particularly frustrating in light of the news that Disney had Inside Out 2 edited down to remove even the tiniest hint of romantic chemistry because they think Lightyear bombed because of a same-sex kiss.
Much of the press for Agatha All Along has been about it being “the gayest” Marvel series.” While that will send some fans into a tirade about it being “woke,” Agatha and Rio being exes is not a problem. It would be an interesting dynamic to explore in the series, yet it is nothing other than annoying double entendres and teases. Unless future episodes have some kind of payoff, Disney is in for another round of queer-baiting accusations, of trying to have its cake and eat it, too. Despite these flaws, Agatha All Along is a joy to watch, mostly thanks to its incredible cast of characters, its greatest strength.
Agatha’s Cast of Characters Are Fun to Follow
While some fans might have been dismissive of an Agatha Harkness series when it was first announced, given the character has never held a comic of her own until now, Marvel Studios recognized they had a winning character with Hahn’s Harkness and have even modeled the character in the comics after Hahn’s depiction. Hahn is always a delight to watch, and she does a great job maintaining the character’s sinister nature while also hinting at someone who feels more than she lets on. Agatha Harkness is allowed to be more of a “villain” than Loki did in the first few episodes of his series, which means there is some suspense hanging on whether she can be better than her reputation or if she will give into her darker impulses.
Even though the series sometimes treats him more as a walking mystery than a character, Joe Locke’s The Teen is a wonderful new addition to the franchise, and his youthful optimism really makes for great comedic contrast to many of the more cynical characters’ attitudes to everything. He and Hahn have excellent chemistry, and the series does throw a new thread in the “young future hero meets their mentor” that Hawkeye and The Marvels did by having The Teen’s heroism and optimism contrasted with Agatha’s sinister nature, which raises the tension on if she will or even can betray him, or if his kindness will rub off on her.
Agatha’s Coven, which makes Agatha All Alongside feel like a loose adaptation of Marvel’s four-issue limited series Witches from 2004, are all standout characters and the series’ secret weapon. Patti LuPone is having a lot of fun as Lilia, and it still feels surreal that the three-time Tony Award winner and two-time Grammy winner is in the MCU, but a flex Marvel should never let anyone forget. Ali Ahn’s Alice is a fascinating contradiction: a woman who appears to be the most stoic of the group and wants to be a lone wolf, but also one who leaps at every chance to help others.
Shasheer Zamata’s first scene as Jennifer Kale projects a star presence and as the series goes on, fans will hope that the MCU brings her into whatever supernatural team-up they have planned. The standout is Debra Jo Rupp, whose Sharon Davis provides some of the funniest moments in the series. The biggest shame is that the production needed to balance her busy schedule filming That ’90s Show, as it feels like they found a way to write around her when the show could use more of her.
A No-Fuss Halloween Treat for Families and Fans
Agatha All Along might not be the most groundbreaking Marvel series, but it isn’t trying to be. Like how Hawkeye set out to make a special Christmas broadcast that could be enjoyed over the holiday season and revisited every year, Agatha All Along looks to do the same for Halloween, and likely, many families will be watching it together, decorating the house over the Halloween season.
The series feels like “Spirit Halloween: The Series” in the best way possible. It’s spooky but inviting and filled with imaginative visuals that will make the show a fun rewatch. Instead of looking to expand the MCU’s larger narrative, it plays like a good comic miniseries that expands its fan-favorite characters while filling out a unique corner of the universe. It also does what a good television series should do: leave you wanting to watch what new, exciting adventures the characters you care about find themselves in. That is undoubtedly more than Secret Invasion ever could.
Agatha All Along debuts two episodes on September 18, followed by new episodes each week until the two-episode season finale on October 30, 2024, on Disney+. Watch it through the link below:
Watch on Disney+
