Agatha All Along Episodes 1-4 Review – A Wicked Walk Down the Witch’s Road

Agatha All Along expands the engaging magical side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Compared to the more grounded or science-fictional aspects, this area rarely receives the attention it deserves. The first Marvel Disney+ series, WandaVision, remains one of the franchise’s high points. Agatha isn’t quite as sharp, at least not yet, but it does maintain much of the same energy and variety.

Showrunner Jac Schaeffer has a lot of experience with Disney. She created and wrote WandaVision, introducing the MCU’s iteration of Agatha Harkness to the world. She also contributed to the scripts of Captain Marvel and Black Widow. Schaeffer doesn’t direct often, but her name is on three of the eight episodes of this series. Her work stands out, but the lines between this show and her previous one are clear.

A Very Special Episode

The first episode of Agatha All Along reawakens WandaVision‘s original gimmick. As the trailers revealed, Agatha still lives as Agnes in a fictional TV reality. This time, she’s a hard-nosed detective in a grim true crime series. Like the sitcom parodies in WandaVision, it’s an impressively detailed recreation. Things quickly stop making sense, elements of the world fall apart, and Agnes slowly escapes the nightmarish prison Wanda trapped her in. With that, Wanda can start regaining all the power she lost. Her constant companion, Joe Locke’s anonymous “Teen,” gives her the direction she needs to evade age-old enemies. The kid is an amateur magic user and a massive fan of Agatha’s. Together, they must assemble an off-kilter coven and walk the Witch’s Road. Thus begins a messy but eclectic jaunt through various disparate tones, genres, and levels of quality.

Agatha’s coven represents a fun exploration of “witchcraft” in a modern sense. Kathryn Hahn maintains Agatha’s untouchable, snarky goddess persona with aplomb. Most of the show’s positive qualities erupt from her irreverent mind. She has two foils of very different kinds. Joe Locke’s character carries enough joy and sincerity for both of them. Aubrey Plaza’s Rio feels like she’s there to make Agatha look decent by comparison. Patti LuPone joins the cast as an aging fortune teller. Sasheer Zamata is a delight as a former potions expert rebranded as a trendy health guru. Ali Ahn rounds out the group as a gruff ex-cop with a very famous late mother. Just for fun, Agatha All Along brings returning WandaVision player Debra Jo Rupp along as a charming suburban mom. The characters feel fun and fresh, especially for a Marvel project.

On the Road Again

Agatha All Along feels more committed to its bizarre mix of tones than most Marvel projects. I’ve only seen the first half of the eight-episode series, but it’s felt notably different from its franchise stablemates. There’s still a chance for everything to devolve into CGI battles between floating particle-effect monsters, but it remains engaging for now. Most of the show’s visual splendor comes in the costume and set design departments. Daniel Selon, the costume designer for this and WandaVision, works real magic from a fashion perspective. There are more outfit changes here than in the traditional superhero feature, and each one remains immediately striking. Ditto the production design, courtesy of another returning WandaVision talent, John Collins. This work goes ignored far too often, but it makes the first few episodes of Agatha All Along pop as characters wander from one aesthetic world to the next.

Marvel has a mixed history with horror media. The studio let Sam Raimi try a few horror elements in his Doctor Strange sequel, but it’s otherwise mostly free of spooky stories. Agatha All Along tries its hand at a few jump scares and some shifting perspectives. Despite its cinematography, the show remains tonally somewhere between Hocus Pocus and the original Beetlejuice. Those horror elements play alongside some of the strangest gags in the MCU so far. It’s all very charming. It feels more like a Halloween special than Werewolf By Night ever did. That’s not to say that every joke lands, but the tone strikes a solid balance between sincere explorations of its tropes and irreverent humor. Hahn is still carrying most of the show on her back, but she seems more than capable. There are also way more musical numbers than usual, which is neither here nor there.

Agatha All Along still has half a season to get through, but its current rollout is promising. It’s far from perfect, with many strange choices and dodgy moments. Ultimately, it isn’t as smart or moving as WandaVision. I was awed when that bizarre, epic exploration of paranoia, addiction, and self-delusion dropped into the MCU. I sincerely hope that Agatha finds more to say before it wraps. It’s a fun walk down the Witch’s Road, but I’d love a more compelling destination.