**This review contains spoilers**

I am kind of blown away by how much I loved this show. With the rocky state of Marvel these days, I had high hopes but not high expectations. Agatha All Along is the long-awaited follow-up to 2021’s WandaVision, my personal favorite of the MCU’s ventures into television so far. The MCU has basically built its brand on highlighting minor comic book characters that only superfans were aware of. Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Widow, even Iron Man started out as more niche. But Agatha Harkness is as fringe as it gets. The character doesn’t even have her own comic. This show exists solely because of the popularity of Kathryn Hahn’s performance in WandaVision. While not a season 2 of WandaVision, Agatha All Along is a spiritual successor. It picks up after the events of WandaVision, but instead of following Wanda, we follow Agatha. But one of the best parts of Agatha All Along is its wide entry point. You don’t have to be all the way in on all of the Marvel lore to watch and enjoy this show. All you really need to know is that the events of WandaVision have left Agatha powerless, with  no memory in the idyllic suburb of Westview, New Jersey. For three years, she’s been trapped inside the spell cast by Wanda. A boy, played by Joe Locke, appears and breaks her out. A curse conceals his true identity, so everyone just calls him “Teen”. Teen convinces Agatha they need to walk The Witches’ Road, an alternate dimension that promises to give a person the thing they desire most… if they survive. For both Teen and Agatha, that desire is power – he doesn’t have any to start with and she lost all of hers to Wanda. To get to the road, Teen and Agatha must assemble a coven to help them endure the series of life-or-death trials designed to test their witchcraft. Filling out the group are Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), a divination witch, Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), a potions witch, Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), a protections witch, and Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp), a Westview resident known from WandaVision as Mrs. Hart. The different trials lend to a fun premise for episodic television… until the plot reaches a certain tipping point. (I realize that all seems like a lot of setup but I promise it plays out much more seamlessly in the show.)

While a history with WandaVision isn’t required for watching Agatha All Along, like all things Marvel, it does enhance the viewing experience. Agatha is a spiritual successor in more ways than just the plot of the show. The conceit of WandaVision was that each episode mimicked different decades of sitcoms and television tropes. While Agatha All Along isn’t exactly the same, each of the trials throws the characters into a stylized world based on different decades of entertainment, like 70s rockers, 80s horror movies, and a 2020s Big Little Lies-style space. The premiere episode, which finds Agatha still stuck in Wanda’s spell, is a hilarious, full-blown Mare of Easttown parody. Agatha All Along also includes a few nods to its predecessor, like name-checking Mephisto, the long-rumored big bad of WandaVision who never appeared, and an unpredictable cameo from a controversial WandaVision character. It shouldn’t really surprise me that I enjoyed Agatha All Along so much because it really is cut from the same cloth as WandaVision. Not the same story, but the same vibes.

The character of Agatha would be nothing without Kathryn Hahn’s incredible performance. She’s funny, snarky, cunning, and cold. She’s the “wicked witch” of this world. But she’s the kind of villain that lights up your screen. Agatha is evil in a way that I love vs. evil in a way that I hate. You know she’s bad and shouldn’t win, but you can’t help but root for her a little bit. Just to see what would happen. Similar to my love for Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter. She has no redeeming qualities other than being a shot of adrenaline on screen and a delight to watch her be so devilish. But unlike Bellatrix who is actually deranged, Agatha puts on this persona of evil. Not to say she’s really a saint underneath, but she does have a heart. Many of these villain-centric films and shows that have become so popular in the comic book canon (Joker, Venom, Morbius, The Penguin, Loki) or even anti-heroes (Suicide Squad, Deadpool) serve as redemption arcs for these characters. Once you dive deeper into the characters and make them fully-formed people instead of just an opposition to your hero, it’s hard not to see them through a more sympathetic lens. We don’t just see the evil, we see the trauma that created the evil. And understanding why someone is the way they are always makes them a little less intimidating. There’s definitely a little of this in Agatha All Along (like I said, it’s hard to avoid sympathy when learning more about a person’s background), but the show doesn’t try to be a redemption arc. It doesn’t try to make her a hero or justify her actions. She has undoubtedly done horrible things (like murdered probably a couple hundred witches). But the show tries to highlight the grey area between nice and good. Agatha is not nice. That’s very clear. But is she good? Deep, deep down… maybe? Maybe she wants to be or at the very least she has the capacity to be. She just doesn’t let that show. But what her character’s motivations will look like moving forward (should we see her in future MCU properties) remains a mystery.

Agatha’s sidekick on the show is Teen, who is later revealed to be (major spoiler alert!!!!) William Kaplan, aka Billy Maximoff, aka Wiccan, aka one of the sons of the Scarlet Witch (Wanda). This was probably the worst kept secret of the show. It seemed like everyone already knew Teen’s real identity from the start. But somehow they still managed to make the reveal surprising. Or maybe not surprising but at least exciting. The Billie Eilish “you should see me in a crown” needle drop when Billy steps out in his full Wiccan costume (complete with a headpiece mirroring the one worn by Scarlet Witch) is an epic moment. I think Joe Locke really held his own as Teen in this show, surrounded by so many powerhouse talents. He was funny and fierce when he needed to be while also bringing real emotion. Also, because of him, we got to see a main character, a superhero, have a bar mitzvah on a Marvel show? We love to see representation (he’s also gay and has a boyfriend so we’re covering a lot of bases here). But I do still have some lingering questions about the exact mechanics of William Kaplan becoming Billy Maximoff. I try not to get too in the weeds with this stuff because, with any fantasy story, there needs to be some suspension of disbelief. But for some reason I’ve had a hard time wrapping my mind around this one. William Kaplan dies in a car accident and Billy’s soul takes over his body. When he awakens, Billy cannot remember anything before the accident other than his twin Tommy’s name. He knows only that he’s different, magical, able to hear other people’s thoughts. He just doesn’t know why or how. But I think most of the not knowing and not understanding is because of the sigil that was placed on him to conceal his identity. So after the sigil is broken, does he remember anything? He knows about Tommy but does he remember any part of life with his parents, Wanda and Vision, from before? Is any of William Kaplan still in there? None of those questions are completely pertinent to the arc of the show, but I was still left wondering about them. 

Another Agatha sidekick in the series, or really more of a partner in crime or frenemy or more, is Rio Vidal played by the one and only Aubrey Plaza. I don’t think I’ve ever not liked an Aubrey Plaza performance but she is particularly fun when she gets to play crazy. This role feels like it was made for her. Her witch cackle? Incredible. But besides Rio being so fun on her own, what really makes the character interesting is her relationship to Agatha. Their chemistry as the episodes progress goes from slightly homoerotic to full blown lovers. Or ex-lovers, I guess. There’s a moment a few episodes into the season where they almost kiss and then don’t and I actually could not believe my eyes. Were we really getting a romantic and sexy lesbian love story on a Marvel television show? It feels like thus far Marvel has only dipped their toes in the water of portraying anything “scandalous”, but with Agatha they jumped right in and I loved it. My biggest complaint about their relationship (and with the show as a whole) is that we didn’t get to see more of it. I wanted the backstory of how they met and fell in love and broke up. It’s clear that all these centuries later they both still have feelings for each other. Rio saying, “she is my scar” about Agatha, meaning that she is permanently wounded by the fallout of their relationship, was such a heartbreaking line that communicates the impact. And on top of all of that, Rio is Lady Death. Death personified. I found this to be a really cool concept and character. The show creators said, “I don’t remember when we pivoted to death, but it was just so sexy. We were just like, who is the perfect ex-lover of Agatha Harkness? It was just so obviously Lady Death. It felt so right.” But dating Death does have its complications. All season we hear rumors about what happened to Agatha’s son, Nicky. Did she kill him? Did she trade him to the Devil for dark power? Eventually it is revealed that nothing happened. It was just his time and he was taken by Death. In a show filled with witches and magic, this truth is so grounded and human. Death does come for us all. It’s awful but it’s universal. Agatha can’t save Nicky from Death, but in giving her life for Billy’s at the end of the series she gets the chance to save him. Even her “end” in that way, with a “kiss of death” from Rio, is beautifully tragic, showcasing the love between them, the pain that they could never really be together, and the inevitability of death.

The trials on the road are specifically designed to test each one of the witches and their unique skill sets. Patti LuPone’s Lilia gets her trial in episode 7, titled “Death’s Hand In Mine”. This was really a standout episode of the show. Everything about it was so well done. Throughout the season, Lilia seems flighty and eccentric, randomly saying words and phrases that don’t fit into the current conversation. Episode 7 strings together all of those lines from throughout the season in a way that makes sense to show us how Lilia is constantly slipping through time. The editing is also so meticulous to keep all the timelines straight and the effect of flipping the camera when Lilia shifts to a different moment was really cool and effective. But mostly I think this episode resonated with audiences because of the emotional impact. Like most of us, Lilia spends much of her time running from death, trying to beat it. But the message here is that “winning” isn’t surviving because, ultimately, no one does. Merely living does not equal success. The only way to win is not to run and to achieve your goals without hiding in fear. Like “The Tale of the Three Brothers” from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows says, “he greeted Death as an old friend, went with him gladly, and, as equals, they departed this life.” Lilia meets the same fate, accepting death and boldly and bravely giving her life when she knows it’s her time. It’s a powerful and moving end to a chaotic, frenetic, fun episode.

The conceit the show is built on, The Witches’ Road, was a huge source of mystery and theory throughout the season. Some people, including some of my favorite nerd culture podcasters, believed that Billy created the world of the road the same way his mother, Wanda, created the hex around Westview in Wandavision. I don’t know why, but I never believed that theory. Until it was proven true. I was shocked so many people were able to correctly predict that. While I wasn’t totally sold on the idea from a plot perspective, seeing all the pieces revealed in a full Keyser Söze montage moment was really cool. Additionally, while there were many references to The Wizard of Oz throughout the show, the entire concept of walking this road with companions, completing tasks, in search of your “heart’s desire”, and having it all turn out to be somewhat of a dream is literally just the story of The Wizard of Oz. A movie that is always relevant but feels especially timely paired with the release of Wicked: Part 1. I still have mixed feelings on the “none of this was real” reveal, even though in this universe it came with real life-or-death stakes, but it was all very smartly done and tied the two shows (Wandavision and Agatha All Along) and Billy and his mom together in a powerful way.

From the reactions I have seen, this is definitely one of the most celebrated and praised Marvel shows in a while. That being said, I think the most prevailing criticism is that, while the show is called “Agatha All Along” and is ostensibly about Agatha Harkness, it does really center Billy Maximoff. Some had issues with Agatha’s show just being used as a vehicle for Billy’s story. While I understand where these criticisms are coming from, I didn’t read it that way. Agatha is a fully fleshed out character who goes on a complete emotional arc throughout the show. Maybe it’s not 100% her story, but she still gets to be a major part of it. I loved so much of the show and felt like it kept getting better and better, but the ending was a slight disappointment. I wanted more Agatha and Rio backstory, I wanted more concrete resolution on their relationship, and I was not a fan of Ghost Agatha coming back. I have since learned it is comics-accurate, but it still felt a little hokey to me. And, like any death that is “undone”, makes her sacrifice feel less impactful. However, I do like the idea of Ghost Agatha being a mentor, or literally a spirit guide, to Billy moving forward. I enjoy their strange, antagonistic but fond relationship. They sometimes hate each other but they work well together.

I had such a great time watching this show. It was the perfect spooky season watch for me, aka involved witches and magic but wasn’t really scary. There was a hint of horror mixed in with the mystery and comedy (genuinely funny comedy). The tone of the whole show was very campy and fun in a way I loved. I initially thought the pacing of some of the episodes and the show as a whole was a little off but then I realized, intentionally or not, the show was keeping you on your toes. I never knew where it was going and I liked that. I feel like I’ve watched so much television that formulaic shows get predictable, so it was cool and a little unnerving to be totally in the dark. I loved the show, I loved Aubrey Plaza and all of the characters and performances, and I really hope we will get more of Agatha, Billy, and Lady Death in the future because I need to spend more time with them. If you’re not an MCU fanatic, you probably won’t watch this show, but if you’re even considering it, I would highly recommend!

2024 Count: 29 seasons/specials, 55 movies