Marvel’s most recent series, “Agatha All Along” — a spinoff of one of their most successful shows “WandaVision” — premiered Sep. 18, with its finale airing Oct. 30. The series has been receiving a surprising number of positive reviews despite its initial view by fans as an unnecessary installment in the Marvel universe.
Within its first seven days of release, the show managed to gain 9.3 million views globally. Compared to one of Marvel’s recent shows “Secret Invasion,” which was highly anticipated, but only received 994,000 views within its first five days of release, this is a surprisingly high number.
While I went into “Agatha All Along” with low expectations due to the lackluster state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as a whole, I was pleasantly surprised with the direction taken with this show.
“Agatha All Along” follows the witch Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), first introduced in “WandaVision,” following the events of the 2022 film “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” Agatha manages to break out of the spell Wanda Maximoff cast on her at the end of “WandaVision,” but finds that her powers have not returned. So, she embarks on a journey down the “Witches Road” alongside her newly formed coven, with the hopes of getting her powers back.
The first two episodes of the show are a bit slow as they set up the rest of the season and introduce new characters. However, after having rewatched these episodes several times, I think they are a fun introduction to the show. They also allow for a play on “WandaVision,” where each episode was based on a different sitcom, as the first episode of “Agatha All Along” is written, shot and acted in the style of the show “Mare of Easttown.” However, episode three is when the plot really picks up as Agatha and her coven actually enter the Witches Road. Episodes three through five are gripping, fun and distinctive, as each one takes on a different trial on the Witches Road.
Episode six got me worried about where the show would go as it provides the backstory for one of the major characters, introduced at the beginning of the show as “Teen” (before his true identity is revealed later in the show). While this backstory was interesting and necessary for the plot to continue, it felt a bit slow, especially since it came after one of the best episodes in the series. Additionally, I felt that some of the choices the writers made with this character’s backstory somewhat undermined how his character had been portrayed in the show. A frequent criticism of Disney+ shows is that they tend to reach a peak about midway through a season and then slump off and have a weak ending. With this in mind, I was worried “Agatha All Along” would suffer this same fate.
However, episode seven came in strong and is, in my opinion, the best episode of the series. Patti LuPone, who plays Lilia, one of the witches in Agatha’s coven, did an outstanding job and the editing throughout the episode really displayed to the audience what Lilia’s life has been like. It is heartbreaking but also stunning, and I truly think it was a very cinematic experience watching it.
The eighth episode was also very strong; however, the finale was, unfortunately, a bit underwhelming. The writers decided to place Agatha’s backstory in the final episode, after the entire conflict of the show had been wrapped up. While this backstory did add quite a bit to Agatha’s character and the audience’s understanding of the show, I think they spent too long on only one small part of her backstory, related to her son, when it would have been much more interesting if they had touched on a larger part of her history.
Overall, the ending just felt a bit inconclusive as they spent the whole finale simply setting up the future of one of the characters within the show. While I would love to see this character’s story and new adventure play out in either another show or movie, it felt strange to have that set-up in the finale of this great show that was supposed to be about Agatha, rather than spend that time concluding the story they had been telling throughout the show.
As a whole, I think this show was amazing. I haven’t been this invested in a show for a while, and it was really exciting to wait for a new episode each week. I especially think a strength of the show was its plot twists. Each one felt very shocking, even the one that most audiences had guessed before the episode aired. I found my jaw constantly on the floor with the different directions they would take things, something that is difficult to do today with so many people theorizing on the internet.
The show also featured the first sapphic couple in the MCU, along with Marvel’s first canonically gay character. I really enjoyed finally getting to see this representation in a film universe that started out being thought of, at least to me, as something only for straight, cisgender men. The chemistry between Kathryn Hahn and Aubrey Plaza was palpable and I loved watching their characters’ love story unfold. While some are upset over how their story ended, which I understand, I am still happy we got to witness their romance on screen within this show.
So, if you’re looking for a fun show, even if you’re not the biggest Marvel fan, I would highly recommend “Agatha All Along.” It’s amusing, gets you in the spooky spirit, has a great song that will forever be stuck in your head and, at its core, is a very heartwarming story about found family.
