Warning: This review contains spoilers for Agatha All Along Season 1.
With the conclusion of Agatha All Along Season 1, the verdict is in and Marvel’s latest series gets two witchy thumbs up.
What could have been a missable story about Kathryn Hahn’s wacky villainous character from WandaVision turned out be must-see TV. Let’s break down what went right.
Jac Schaeffer All Along
If Marvel isn’t already signing up Jac Schaeffer for another project, they are making a mistake. Schaeffer proved her chops once again with Agatha All Along, creating something new while only borrowing from WandaVision where it made sense.
Although fans have been clamoring for Wanda’s return since Multiverse of Madness, Agatha All Along commits to telling Agatha Harkness’ story. It doesn’t tease a Wanda appearance or string fans along to get them to watch.
The Mare of Easttown homage in Episode 1 is a clear nod to WandaVision (as well as Wanda’s “death”) but it doesn’t overplay the gag and quickly allows Kathryn Hahn to get back to her witchy self instead of being trapped in a spell for more than one episode. The introduction of Teen and his desire to walk The Witches’ Road pulls you further into the world of witches and out of the world of superheros.
There are so many mysteries put on the board (Agatha and Rio’s history, what happened to Nicholas Scratch, who is Teen?) that you don’t really have to even be a big Marvel fan to enjoy this witchy tale at the outset.
Even a cameo from Evan Peters as Ralph Bohner during Episode 6 doesn’t drag the show too much into the past and instead just serves as a fun easter egg.
Visually, the practical effects and hand-built sets also give it a special flair that stands out from the typical CGI fest we’re used to seeing on these kinds of shows. You might just want to live in some of these haunted houses they stumble upon on the road.
The Power of a Coven
If you were concerned like I was that Agatha Harkness’ story alone wasn’t enough to support 9 episodes of TV, you don’t have to be.
There’s no doubt Hahn is a star, but her act as Agatha is even more delicious when she has sparring partners. That includes Agatha’s ex lover Rio aka Lady Death (Aubrey Plaza), her familiar Teen aka Billy Maximoff (Joe Locke), and coven members Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp), and Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata).
Agatha draws her power from other witches, and the cast draw their power from having fantastic scene partners. Each woman, and Billy, adds their own flavor into the show coming together to make a story about something bigger than Agatha and bigger than witchcraft. At its heart its a story about identity and getting to defining yourself
While some character’s journeys are shorter than others (RIP Sharon), all of their trials weave together to make a compelling journey on the road and create some emotional moments.
It’s hard to choose just one standout among the talented women, but I’d be remiss to not mention LuPone’s turn as Lilia in the Emmy-worthy episode, “Death’s Hand in Mine,” which plays with traditional story structure. She is a force as Lilia navigates her own broken timeline to accept her past and future and realize life is not controlled by death.
A Look Into the Crystal Ball
As the show reaches the end of its road, it still leaves the door open to another future. You can choose to keep that door closed and Agatha All Along still works as a fun miniseries.
But if you continue to go down the Marvel road there is a lot to potentially look forward to.
Billy and ghost Agatha seem primed to go on their quest to find Tommy which could lead to a number of directions in the MCU, including a reunion with mom Wanda and dad Vision. It could also mean a stint on the Young Avengers for Billy (sorry in advance to Eddie who seems nice but in this house we ship Wiccan and Hulkling).
After making fans slog through some mediocre shows and movies, Agatha All Along is just the antidote the MCU needed to get its magic back.
Agatha All Along Season 1 is streaming now on Disney+.