Warning: This review contains spoilers.
On Sept. 18, Marvel Studios’ “Agatha All Along” premiered on Disney+ as a half sequel to “Wandavision” (2021) and a half stand-alone project. “Agatha All Along” tells the story of Agatha Harkness, the witch antagonist in “Wandavision,” as she breaks free from Wanda’s spell posthumously and enlists a coven of witches to walk the Witches’ Road to reclaim her powers. Kathryn Hahn returns as Agatha, Aubrey Plaza plays Rio/Death and Joe Locke is “Teen”/William Kaplan/Billy Maximoff. Evan Peters also returns for a Ralph Boner cameo that goes nowhere.
The announcement of this show seemingly came out of nowhere. In “Wandavision,” Agatha is introduced as an antagonist who loses her magic and the Darkhold — the all-powerful witch book — to Wanda, and is put under a spell that renders her stuck in “Wanda’s Westview” where she relives the sitcom-esque episodes with her memory erased. She didn’t seem to have a return set, since Wanda is presumed to be dead following the events of “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness” (2022).
But, this is the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and no storyline exists without the possibility of further exploration, for better or worse.
As a “Wandavision” lover and “Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness” hater, I only watched this show hoping to see Wanda/the Scarlet Witch come back. Unfortunately for me, her fate is still uncertain, and I suppose I will have to wait for the next Marvel projects to find out.
With all that being said, I give this show five out of 10 stars. The show is enjoyable with its witchy vibes but it has no plot. While the show’s narration is interesting, I feel that Marvel could’ve done a much better job weaving the magic side of the MCU together that directly ties Agatha, Wanda and her children together, which would’ve been much more interesting and contributed to the grander scheme of the MCU.
Even now, I’m not exactly sure what the goal of the show is: to introduce Agatha formally in the MCU or to kickstart the Mutants/Young Avengers saga. There’s a lot of ground to cover in the ever-growing universe, and while I can understand why the show may have been pitched, most of the show’s contents are expository and don’t advance the MCU in any way, shape or form.
This isn’t a bad thing — content can purely be entertaining. But for a story linked to the Scarlet Witch, fans at least deserve clarification around the inconsistencies of her character in her last appearance for the MCU.
The show revolves around Agatha and “Teen” getting what they want from the Witches’ Road. Agatha wants her powers back and “Teen” wants to figure out if he’s William or Billy and find Billy’s twin, Tommy.
The show utilizes a lot of clichés associated with witches, which is quite enjoyable. Agatha and the coven brew potions, ride broomsticks, face rituals, get possessed and communicate with the dead via an Ouija board. These scenes came naturally, and I appreciated the conversations the witches had about witch clichés.
The storytelling is messy and dense. The first three episodes, the middle four and the final two feel like three projects in one.
Episodes one and two are centered around Agatha breaking free of Wanda’s spell. Episode three is about her recruiting a coven of witches alongside “Teen” to walk the Witches’ Road and get what they want. Throughout the show, they face trials and tribulations from the Road in order to acquire what they want, all while dealing with the Salem Seven and their inability to trust each other.
The show’s strength lies in its characterization.
The first two episodes were released together and dive quickly into the plot: Agatha stumbles upon the “dead body of Wanda Maximoff” (never confirmed or denied as a body is found that appears like her, but the face of the woman is never shown, and characters repeatedly state that they do not know if she is alive or not) which allows the spell cast on her to break. With the help of Rio, Agatha’s ex-lover who is also the witch responsible for Death in the MCU, a now-free Agatha decides to enlist “Teen” and recruit a coven of witches to cross the harrowing Witches’ Road to get her powers as, for reasons undisclosed, a coven of witches called the Salem Seven are after her.
From “Wandavision,” it’s pretty apparent that Agatha is a brutal character. Even as a “regular person” under Wanda’s spell, she is established as a violent person who doesn’t hesitate to exhibit brutality. This made her fight and magic scenes all the more compelling because the onscreen action was a blend of physicality, powers and mind games — all fitting for a witch. I appreciated her character’s lack of care for anyone and anything besides herself. She’s just a bad gal. It is refreshing to see an antagonist do things simply because they want to.
She never wastes a moment to consider betraying the coven and doesn’t hide under pretenses. She seldom exhibits humanity and compassion for Rio and “Teen”/William/Billy; these moments are a sharp contrast from the vicious witch that Agatha Harkness is otherwise known as. I appreciated this range in character because it gave Agatha an authentic weakness without coming across as a character being too soft.
Hahn captures the emotional range of Agatha and dominates the screen. For a character who cannot be trusted, she never fails to convince me of her character’s feelings.
Hahn maneuvers a smooth transition for Agatha to break out of Wanda’s spell with Rio’s help. She slowly realizes that everything around her is nothing more than a fallacy. The scene in episode two was chaotic and messy with the setting seamlessly transitioning from the interrogation room with “Teen” to the morgue where “Wanda’s corpse” lay. Agatha’s stumbling, falling, mental panicking and things being broken and ripped apart as she tore through different outfits from the decades she lived through in “Wandavision” reinforced the character’s wild nature.
And yet, when facing Agatha’s mother in episode five, Hahn manages to convince me that Agatha is truly afraid of her mother and would rather face death. Agatha’s pleas and begging were harrowing, and Hahn played the shift of Agatha taking Alice’s power and killing her.
When “Teen”/Billy/William is attacked out of nowhere in episode four, she is afraid and practically bleeds humanity.
Episode five is my favorite episode, as it finally begins answering questions I had about “Teen.” Fans and I have suspected him to be Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch’s child from the comics, Billy Kaplan, who also has ties to Mephisto (finally mentioned in the MCU, although this went nowhere). He somehow knew so much about Agatha and witchcraft and despite his youth, knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it. He has no problem threatening the other witches to get them to join Agatha’s coven — this strong early-on cementation of characterization defines his relationship with Agatha and leaves a lot of room for a messy character arc, which comes to fruition at the end of episode five.
In episode five, Agatha kills Alice. While the coven mourns her, “Teen” calls her out and she is no longer nice to him. She struts up to him, mocks him for being like his mother (the Scarlet Witch) and calls him her pet, ordering him to follow her down the rest of the road.
“Teen’s” eyes glow blue, confirming Locke’s role in the MCU as William Kaplan/Billy Maxiomoff. He mimics Wanda’s powers and fight sequences, takes control of Agatha and the other witches and drowns them in the Witches’ Road. The camera pans from the witches in confusion struggling to not drown to “Teen” donning a blue version of the Scarlet Witch’s crown as “you should see me in a crown” by Billie Eilish plays, paralleling Wanda getting her Scarlet Witch crown in “Wandavision.”
Now, that’s how you introduce a character.
I was very satisfied with what Marvel did with this character. I appreciated that his reveal wasn’t revealed until the very end, that he got his comic-accurate suit in his first live-action appearance and that they showed the extent of his capabilities with him being the creator of the Witches’ Road, being able to find Tommy and referencing signature “Young Avengers” comic panels.
I appreciated the dynamics between Billy and Agatha, and I still have hope that Wanda might come back after all.
Come episodes eight and nine (the finale), Hahn does an excellent job capturing the range of the complicated Agatha Harkness. Long gone is the ferocious witch, but a person who bargained with Death so her son could live, comforted Billy when it is revealed that his Wiccan abilities caused the Witches’ Road to be created (Agatha had created it as a ruse to steal witches powers) and got near sappy in the finale when she and Billy form a coven to seek Tommy now that Billy “located him.”
The finale keeps the viewer on their toes.
Agatha bargains with Death/Rio that she’ll let her kill Billy in exchange for her power back and more time to live, and is shown seemingly leading him up to “death.” In episode eight, the final trial happens, though it is unclear if it is for Agatha or Billy. She coaches him through using his powers to find Tommy and then just as he finds Tommy, he disappears, insinuating his death. When Agatha emerges, seemingly victorious, she finds Death waiting to kill her since Billy had disappeared off the Road. Agatha fights to protect herself and then sacrifices herself to save Billy by letting Death take her with its kiss — literally.
Marvel did an excellent job of creating interesting characters, but I am still left with several questions about these characters and the plot. The show implies that Agatha had been orchestrating everything all along, yet the opposite is true.
Billy is the one who unintentionally creates the Road, yet throughout the show she seems to be in control of it despite it never being real. She realizes this in episode one, yet takes the witches on it – why? How could she have expected anything to happen if it was never real until Billy’s Wiccan abilities interrupted the incantation? On top of that, Agatha made up the road to lure witches into giving her their power, yet the coven used in the show had no powers. They acquire them on the Road.
And, if that’s the case, how were Rio/Death and the Salem Seven able to get on the Road? Speaking of, the Salem Seven come off as a waste of time.
In episode one, Rio helps Agatha break free of Wanda’s spell because the Salem Seven are coming. The first thing Rio does once Agatha is free is try to kill her. I find it hard to believe that Rio would do all of this to kill Agatha when she could’ve easily done it when she was under Wanda’s spell. She then tells Agatha that even if she doesn’t kill her, the Salem Seven will. Rio and Agatha never interact with them, Lilia, one of the witches in Agatha’s makeshift coven, kills them offscreen — so what was the point of that subplot?
Another major plot hole is Locke’s character. He’s addressed as “Teen” in the first half of the show because someone placed him under a sigil that renders everyone, including himself, about who he really is. In an act of emotion, he harnesses Billy’s comic powers, revealing himself. A large component of the show is why he was under a sigil and who placed it on him — and it turns out that Agatha knew it all along, despite insisting that she had no idea about the sigil or who “Teen” actually was, yet proceeded to go along with it. Why the secrecy?
At the same time, had Lilia not put “Teen” under a sigil, the events of “Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness” wouldn’t have happened and just leaves me confused about the story Marvel is trying to build.
Despite this, the show was an enjoyable one with quality acting, cinematography and a breath of fresh air, thus my rating of five out of 10 stars.
