It’s three years later, and the spiritual successor to Wandavision is at our doorstep. Wandavision had big shoes to fill as it was the first Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) show to air on Disney+, and as part of Phase 4, it also experimented with a genre that hadn’t been seen before within the MCU. We got introduced to many characters, some of which we have seen in other projects such as The Marvels and some we have yet to return to. That was until now. Agatha Harkness has returned, and it’s time to finally find out what she has been up to after all these years.
Unlike Wandavision, Agatha All Along isn’t experimenting with a genre for the first time. It’s a touching one that has been used quite a few times recently, and that’s the horror genre. We first got a taste of it in Werewolves by Night and then got another taste in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Both projects gave us very different looks at how horror can be handled within the MCU, and Agatha All Along provides another angle of it while also feeling similar to Werewolves by Night during certain moments of the show.
Agatha All Along follows Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) three years after the events of Wandavision, as she’s freed from the spell that kept her trapped in Westview. She comes across a mysterious teen (Joe Locke) who wants to face the trials of the infamous Witches Road. With Agatha being powerless and the clock ticking against her, she forms a coven consisting of Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp), and Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza).
Now Agatha All Along isn’t only a spiritual successor to Wandavision but also Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and the first episode confirms what we’ve all been speculating for years, and that’s Wanda’s death. The first episode starts with Agatha, who’s now being called Agnes, investigating a nearby death in Westview, a death that has many similarities to how Wanda succumbed—a death that has connections to Agnes and will set her course for the rest of this series.
What’s so great about this first episode is that it feels very in line with what we had with Wandavision; similarly to how that show explored various sitcoms in each episode, Agatha All Along takes that format for this singular episode out of the nine. It’s a mystery thriller; it has its own intro that’s inspired by detective shows and has a different title to the show, Agnes of Westview, which is a clear parody of Mare of Eastown. We get introduced to Agnes, Rio Vidal, and Teen in this episode; it’s mysterious, and it manages to keep that throughout, keeping you hooked.
One of the mysteries introduced in the first episode is the mystery of who this young teen is played by, Joe Locke. It’s a mystery that began before the show started airing, with many fans believing that he’ll be playing Billy Maximoff, the son of Wanda Maximoff, but the show throws around some hints, alluding to a completely different outcome than we all thought. Joe Locke is outstanding in his role as Teen, bursting with so much energy on the screen. It’s a testament to this show that when watching everyone perform together, you can see how much fun they’re having; the chemistry between everyone is unmatchable; some would even say bound by magic.
Kathryn Hahn returns to play the deceitful Agatha and gives a performance of the character that is better than anything we’ve seen before but the shining star is neither Hahn or Locke but instead, Aubrey Plaza. It isn’t Plaza’s first rodeo around a Marvel show and while her performance doesn’t reach those heights here, they still reach very high. Like most of her roles, she’s unpredictable, sexy, devious, wicked and just so much more. She fits perfectly into Agatha All Along’s cast and arguably has the best scenes out of the first four episodes, making me want more of her and I can only hope that my wish comes true.
The second episode moves a little slower as we’re thrown into the deep end of the exposition and follow Agatha and Teen as they must gather four witches to form a coven and take the witch’s road head-on. While I enjoyed meeting these characters and the interactions we get between Agatha and Teen, it made me wonder if it was the right move from Disney to release only two episodes on the same day. Agatha All Along doesn’t truly get started until the end of the second episode; it’s from that point onwards that this show truly starts to feel like a horror, with a few jumpscares that even got the best of me.
The show can be dark when it wants and proves that in the final moments of episode 2 and the future episodes, but the humour can sometimes take away from a moment. An issue that seems to correspond in most Marvel Studios’ projects. That’s not to say the humour is bad, as I found myself laughing numerous times, but the show has yet to find the perfect balance between the dark, twisted horror and the humour.
Wandavision had everyone so obsessed with Agatha’s Agatha All Along song that the show even adopted the name, but the original music in this gives it a run for its money as we now get Down The Witch’s Road, which is sung by our coven and in various music genres. Christopher Beck also returns from Wandavision to showcase a score so chilling that you’ll want to sit down at Halloween to rewatch it. Agatha All Along starting slowly isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the rest of the show pulls you in. It’s up to Agatha’s coven to take on the trials put before them and to make it to the end of the road.
I didn’t know what to expect on this journey, but Jac Schaeffer and the entire team have used more than witchcraft to bring these trials to life. With an aspect ratio change, a change of colours, and a change of setting, we get to see these characters further brought to life in these scenarios, with the beautiful set design and practical effects to match it all. The trials allow for Agatha All Along to experiment with its horrors, providing a different form of horror so far with each one and delivering a camp experience with the production design and the fashion.
This is the first Marvel Studio show under the new Marvel Television banner, with its intro that weirdly gives me Wandavision flashbacks to the hex. As everyone can expect, this show is about witches; it’s the first project to truly delve into witches and magic within the MCU and teach us more about its history. This isn’t the only first for Agatha All Along, as it’s also the first project to feel LGBTQ+ centred; almost if not all of their characters seem to be a part of the community, and we get hints of Teen’s personal life as he receives a call from his boyfriend.
We’re also alluded to a relationship between Agatha and Rio; although it seems like they hate each other, there’s more to their history, and this gets touched on a lot during the fourth episode, something that I’d love to see get explored more with. The connection between witches and the LGBTQ+ community feels uncanny here as they’re both communities that have been treated differently for who they are and to have this in the form of horror, a genre that’s well regarded amongst the community, felt like the perfect project to have an LGBTQ+ focus to it.
Agatha All Along is the perfect fit for this Halloween season, exploring witches and magic and taking a dark turn with its story. The tone of the show might not be totally there, and the pacing may seem off for the first two episodes, but overall it’s still a haunting and enjoyable experience, with a cast that has unmatchable chemistry and a clear love for each other. The production design fits the horror setting and takes some wild, unexpected turns during certain episodes. It’s the perfect successor to Wandavision, and by the end of the nine episodes, I can see this possibly being even better and one of the best MCU shows, as it has already taken the crown for best horror in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Agatha All Along is NOW streaming on Disney+
