★★★★☆
Agatha All Along puts Marvel’s Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) in the spotlight for the first time as she shifts from the antagonist of WandaVision to the protagonist of her own series. The show gives Agatha a sense of depth, humor, and grit that makes her the perfect witch to root for.
At the beginning of Agatha All Along, we find Agatha still under the spell that Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) cast at the end of WandaVision. While brainwashed, Agatha has taken up the mantle of a problematic detective, working to solve murders in Westview.
When a new body shows up in town, Agatha realizes she’s been under Wanda’s control for years. In typical Agatha fashion, she immediately looks to regain the power she’s lost.
Agatha’s main problem is that Wanda left her completely powerless. Without Wanda’s spell to partially protect her, all of Agatha’s enemies are beginning to trace her down to get their revenge. She has no choice but to go to extreme lengths to get her powers back by walking the witches’ road.
The concept of the witches’ road is a loose and convenient plot device, because whoever can reach the road’s end gets whatever they desire. Agatha can get all of her power back as long as she survives the many trials and tribulations of the road. She’s smart enough to realize that she can’t walk the road alone, which is why she begins to put together a coven.
Agatha’s creation of her coven is where Agatha All Along really starts to prove itself. Agatha’s personality is fleshed out as viewers get a sense of her wit, drive, and motivations for walking the witches’ road. Agatha is still a villain at heart, but viewers still come to support the witch who’s down on her luck.
Hahn does a fantastic job expanding upon Agatha’s sarcasm and sense of humor. In the comics, Agatha is an old woman with centuries of witching experience. In Agatha All Along, Agatha shares the centuries of experience with her comic counterpart, but Hahn is far from an old woman. Her dry jokes and witty remarks reflect the ideas of a cranky old woman with a young spunk.
This is mostly on display when Agatha is interacting with a mysterious teen (Joe Locke) who has joined her coven. The teen, whose name is still a mystery, is new to the witching world and looks up to Agatha. She takes advantage of that in her mentor role and pokes fun at the teen’s naivety and eagerness to learn.
Agatha and the teen visit various witches to form their coven, and at each stop Agatha humorously preys on each witch’s insecurities to pressure them into walking the road with her. It’s a delight for the audience, and also proves that Agatha can also work magic using only her words.
The other elements of Agatha All Along work well to support Hahn’s impressive performance. Each witch in the coven has a unique color and costume scheme which helps to distinguish their powers and personas. Agatha also gets her own upgraded, somewhat comic accurate costume for the witches’ road.
Most of the effects also seem practical, or as practical as they can be, excluding the need for computer-generated images (CGI) to create the effect of “magic.” Explosions, set designs and the hand-to-hand combat fight scenes all appear to be real, at least on the surface. Keeping Agatha All Along mostly free from CGI ensures that the magical series stays grounded and not too unrealistic.
The elements of mystery in Agatha All Along work in the show’s favor, but also work against it at times. It’s annoying for viewers to not be able to give Locke’s character a name, and the fact that the show refuses to reveal whether Wanda Maximoff is dead or not after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness leads to more questions than answers.
Releasing Agatha All Along on a weekly basis with all of these lingering questions brings more annoyance than anticipation.
Still, the anticipation of where Agatha will find herself next on the witches’ road will undoubtedly bring viewers back for more magic. Hahn’s ability to turn Agatha into a likable protagonist, coupled with the show’s support of creative costumes and impressive sets, makes for an intriguing plot that feels fresh in the expanded Marvel Cinematic Universe.
