Agatha All Along: A Mixed Bag of Mystical Charm

Nov 5, 2024

3 min read

Agatha All Along is, of course, a spin-off from the WandaVision TV series. I was a big fan of WandaVision as well as the Agatha Harkness character. Yet I wasn’t sure if we needed more of her and her story. After watching a season of Agatha All Along, I’m still not sure.

The story picks up after the events of WandaVision and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Agatha is still in Westview, trapped in a curse that has her believing she is the lead character in a detective show. With the help of a local teen, she breaks free of the curse. With teen in tow, she and a new coven of witches set out to walk the witches’ road, a journey promising the thing they want most to those who complete it.

Agatha’s biggest asset is its cast. Everyone in this is quite good. I personally love Kathryn Hahn, and she is a perfect fit for Agatha. She can be both charming and manipulative, even playful as needed. Add in Patti Lupone, Sasheer Zamatta, Ali Ahn and Joe Locke and you have a strong foundation. They’re all great. I’m not sure the show knows quite what to do with the characters though.

Agatha should be evil, but here she flips between villain, anti-hero, sometime even a nurturing hero. The constant change (even if you believe most of what she does is an act) is frustrating. The others start off generic (one sees the future, one does potions, etc.), and while you find out more about them, not much changes. The performances are great, but I felt many of them were just another witch on the journey. Also, Aubrey Plaza was underused, and I wanted more of her. Her character is severely underdeveloped.

I did like the basic story of the show. I was curious where the story was ultimately headed, and the little mysteries revealed along the way. But most episodes failed to engage me. The show mainly settles into a ‘trial of the week’ format, where the coven must pass a test of some kind to continue on their quest (much like if the yellow brick road had a series of escape rooms along the way).

The first couple of episodes were good, and a couple latter episodes are interesting. The final episode, while recontextualizing the show, is rather anti-climactic. But in between, it felt like a lot of filler. The ‘trial of the week’ nature adds little excitement, with the trials themselves being rather boring, and sometimes feeling like just an excuse for a costume change.

To be fair, I did like that the trials at least have stakes. If you fail to complete a trial, there are consequences. And the episodes are well paced. But most episodes fail to find a consistent tone. They want to be dramatic, fun, dark, playful and everything in between, all the time. It seems that episodes want to get dark but are afraid of going too far and undercut most moments with humour. And don’t get me started on the episode where the coven starts a band – yikes! I kept watching to see where the story went, not because I was enjoying each episode.

Visually, the show is a bit of a mixed bag. At times, it looks wonderful, and the mystical nature of the witches’ road really comes to life. At other times, it does look like there were budget constraints. It’s generally pretty good, but there are moments that just pulled me out of the show.

Ultimately, Agatha All Along left me unimpressed. I really loved the cast and that is what kept me mostly positive. There are flashes of creativity, but I rarely found myself engaged in any particular episode. Agatha is a great character, but the show neuters her. If you’re an MCU fanatic or simply love this character, I can see where you would enjoy this show. It failed to cast its spell on me though. It’s fine, but to me, there’s not much reason for it other than to setup some characters for future use.