Wandavision was the first Marvel streaming show that was released on Disney +. The exclusively cinematic universe was making the leap to home screens and it could not have come at a better time. During the pandemic when audiences and studios were starved of content and needed some MCU to get through, in came Jac Shaefer’s Wandavision, a nine-episode sitcom style show that launched Kathryn Hahn as the MCU’s Agatha Harkness, an extremely old witch, hell-bent on getting as much power as she can. While the character has a strong fan-base in the comics, Hahn brought the character to life with a ton of humour and a catchy theme song that was enough to greenlight her own spin-off mini-series.
Agatha All Along comes from Jac Schaeffer, seeing Agatha still held under Wanda’s spell, stuck in Westview playing the nosy neighbour, forced to live out television tropes, episode 1 picks up with Agatha being referred to as Agnes, playing out a True Detective style cop show (complete with a hilarious version of the theme song by Matthew Mayfield) As with WandaVision, the walls break down thanks to the help of fellow witch Rio (Aubrey Plaza) and Teen (Joe Locke) who agree to assist Agatha down the witches road to help restore her powers and break the Scarlet Witch’s spell. Rounding out the coven is Jen (Sasheer Zamata) who runs a Goop/Poosh style website, Lilia (Patti Lupone) the tarot reading psychic, ex-cop Alice (Ali Ahn) and Sharon (Debra Jo Rupp) who stumbles into the group by mistake.
Each episode is dedicated to a trial on the road, taking the group on a journey through different witchcraft tropes throughout history. The show has a similar beat to WandaVision, feeling very episodic allowing for each character to explain their individual backstories, while moving the group closer to the end of the road.
The best thing about this show is the unapologetic way it can jump from action, to comedy, to drama, to supernatural thriller without missing a beat. The relationship between Agatha and Teen grounds the show, even when they fight, Agatha’s intense protective nature over Teen is touching to watch. The rest of the coven is important in the story’s cohesion while keeping the narrative moving forward. Lupone in particular gets one of the best episodes that Marvel Television has ever produced.
Another big win for this series is the practical sets and effects used and blended with CGI. It allows the witches road to feel like a living and breathing place. The costumes as they go in and out of each house with different time periods, even one episode with a tribute to different witches in pop culture history look spectacular.
The glue holding all of this together is Hahn. Her god-like comedic timing is befitting of a grand witch, and her journey to get from being a prisoner and regaining her power is a lot of fun to watch. Another large portion of this show is the queer factor. Making Agatha romantically involved with Rio is a great move and their banter and one-liners are extremely well written, one in particular I NEED on a t-shirt is “You want straight answers, ask a straight lady”
Agatha All Along is the perfect show for the Halloween season. It takes the history of witches and the stereotypical domesticity of women and witches in popular culture. The nine-episode season has a lot of twists and turns with career-defining performances from Hahn and Lupone, delivering the best MCU show since WandaVision.
