Agatha All Along shows lots of potential to expand on the magical side of the MCU by bringing in new types of magic, a new magical dimension, and great chemistry from the main cast. Read our Agatha All Along review below.
To get my negatives out of the way, I was a bit disappointed with the lack of a recap, sure Agatha’s (Kathryn Hahn) introduction is contained to the series’ predecessor, WandaVision, however It’s been 3, almost 4 years since that series aired on Disney+. I was fortunate to rewatch the series in its entirety before the premiere of Agatha All Along but I acknowledge that not everyone has the ability to do so.
Starting with Episode 1, it may be cliche but for the first half of the episode it genuinely didn’t feel like the MCU, the show took inspiration from Crime Dramas and it worked well to give the impression that I was watching something like FBI, the score only helped to enhance that feeling. Having the idea of WandaVision’s Agnes fresh in my mind I was a bit thrown off by this version of Agnes who while retaining the mean elements of Agatha just didn’t feel right, she felt over the top at times.
The lack of MCU feeling does eventually go away as Agatha is broken out of Wanda’s spell, the sequence in doing that reminded me a lot of WandaVision’s mysterious elements with everything not being exactly what it seems. The last moments before the spell was broken saw Agnes change out of her various WandaVision outfits which made me sort of nostalgic and then Agatha was back to her old self, the one I adore.
Episode 1 was also the introduction for Teen (Joe Locke) and Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) the episode focused more on building the relationship between Agatha and Rio by teasing a rough history between the two which was especially highlighted near the end of the episode when the spell is broken as the true Rio is shown. Teen, however was given only a few lines so there wasn’t much to learn about him.
Episode 2 is where we can learn a lot more about Teen, as he and Agatha work together to form a coven to venture down the witches road. This episode really helped me to enjoy Teen as we see how fanboy-ish and devious he can be when paired with Agatha making for some really good interactions between the two. We were also introduced to the other Coven members this episode Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), Alice Wu (Ali Ahn) and returning from WandaVision, Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp) who Agatha reluctantly recruits.
There were also teases to the series’ other antagonist, the Salem Seven, who were seen through the form of animals as indicated by Agatha’s fear before sundown. When the Salem Seven finally arrive the tone of the episode really changes as the series dives into its horror elements. The Salem Seven’s arrival is contrasted with Agatha and her coven as they perform The Ballad of The Witches Road which may act as a form of theme song for the show as indicated by the episode 1 intro where we heard a true crime-styled version of the song.
The Ballad was an amazing experience with it not only being an intoxicating melody but also showing the fun that the characters have with each other. The episode closes with the introduction to the witches road, a spooky forest which seems to go on forever. We’ll likely learn more of this location in the next episode.
Agatha All Along stars Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness, Joe Locke as “Teen”, Aubrey Plaza as Rio Vidal, Patti LuPone as Lilia Calderu, and more. The first two episodes are now available on Disney+ with episode three arriving on September 25th at 6PM PT / 9PM ET. Find out when all episodes for Agatha All Along release and episode lengths for future episodes.
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