Agatha All Along: Ease on Down, Ease on Down the Road

Three years after being imprisoned by the Scarlett Witch a.k.a. Wanda Maximoff in a fictional version of Westview, New Jersey, Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) believes herself to be Agnes, a homicide detective investigating the murder of a young woman.  When FBI Agent Rio (Aubrey Plaza) shows up, Agnes begins to crack a little and when a young teen (Joe Locke) enters the story, things really fall apart for Agnes, and she finally awakens from the spell and realizes who she really is.  Unfortunately, Wanda has taken all her magical powers and Rio isn’t a friend, but an enemy known as Blackheart the two battle with Blackheart warning that the “Salem Seven” are after Agatha as well and would arrive later that night.  The teen boy who cannot utter his name so they just call him “Teen”, is a big fan of Agatha’s and more than anything wants to face the trials and walk the “Witches Road” with her so he can obtain power as well.  He convinces Agatha, that the only way for her to regain her glory is to take that journey and so the two set out to form a new coven, since only an actual witch’s coven can open the door to the “Road”.  Joining them on their journey is Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), a 450-year-old divination witch; Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Samata) a potions expert who has been bound and lost her powers; Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) a protector witch; Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp) a resident of Westview and not a witch at all.  It is alluded to, that Blackheart will also be joining the coven, but by the end of episode two, that had not happened yet.

Agatha All Along is an American television miniseries which continues the story of Agatha Harkness spinning off the popular character from WandaVision and takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Created by Jac Schaeffer who also acts as showrunner for the series with many cast and crew members of WandaVision returning including the musical team, Christophe Beck and Michael Paraskevas.  The show went through several different names including Agatha: House of Harkness and Agatha: Coven of Chaos but settled on Agatha All Along after the very popular song that appeared in WandaVision. The first two episodes of the series premiered on Disney+ on September 18, 2024 with a new episode being released every Wednesday.  It has garnered generally favorable reviews.

I loved WandaVision and thought it to be one of the best MCU television shows, it was funny, dramatic, and original.  It featured two of my favorite Marvel characters, the Scarlett Witch and Vision and it had one of the best “villains” with Agatha Harkness and Kathryn Hahn creating a likeable yet despicable character, which isn’t always easy to do.  So, my anticipation for this series was palpable, and now it is here!  It does not disappoint. I loved the start, giving us a glimpse of Agatha / Agnes trapped inside the fictional Westview, but only in her own mind, the rest of the residents are free of Wanda’s influence.  Her portrayal as the over-the-top rough female homicide detective is spot on, purposefully playing the cliché which added a slight bit of levity while still being entertaining.  Once freed of her mental prison, she remains the sharp tongue witch with a fast wit.  Joe Locke as the gay teen fanboy who frees Agatha and convinces her to walk the witch’s road again, is exuberant and brings levity and optimism which is missing in Agatha. It is speculated that his character is actually the Scarlet Witch’s son, Billy aka Wiccan from the comics.  The small amount we get of Aubry Plaza as Blackheart shows she will be a formidable ally and enemy.  I am a huge fan of Patti LuPone and seeing her in anything makes me happy.  Every actor is well chosen, and the story so far is interesting with a couple good mysteries that still need to be solved.  The writing has given us enough information to know who the characters are and what is currently happening, but where the show is headed is still unknown, which sometimes can be seen as a negative, but in this case has me wanting more and anxiously anticipating the next episode.  The release timing of the show is also well chosen, with the 9 episodes spanning mid-September to the end of October, with the final two episodes streaming on October 30^th, just in time for Halloween. Overall, I enjoyed the first two episodes and can’t wait to see the rest of the series.