Quantcast
Agatha All Along review: Fun and mystical spin-off - SciFiNow

Agatha All Along review: Fun and mystical spin-off

We review the first four episodes of Marvel’s latest series and WandaVision spin-off, Agatha All Along.

Marvel’s gone all Cheers, with another spin-off series, Agatha All Along, with the incredible Kathryn Hahn as Agatha given centre stage to tell her own story following the fallout of WandaVision.

Given the runaway success of WandaVision, it’s no surprise that its spin-out character opens her own show with something of a wink and a nod to its lineage. In the first episode we meet Agatha as a grizzled Mare of Eastown-style detective, with Hahn doing a perfect impersonation of the Danish noir stereotypical female detective (c’mon TV gods, do your thing and give us a Hahn-centric True Detective). She inhabits the role so well that you start to question whether you are actually watching the magic-filled MCU show we’ve been promised. However, the showrunners smartly drop breadcrumbs and whacking great Easter Eggs all along, signposting that all is not as it seems as it transpires that Agatha is still living in the aftermath of the events of WandaVision.

Agatha, it turns out, is a powerless witch. One who is deeply unpopular within the witchy community and the people of Westview at large. Sparked by fresh conflict and openings of old wounds, Agatha decides that the only course of action is to try and regain her powers by walking The Witches Road. The only problem is that to access The Road, she must be part of a coven. Which means the sourpuss of a sorceress must go on a recruitment drive.

Agatha All Along is literally a road movie (well, road series), with Agatha and her newly formed coven of misfits travelling The Witches Road to rediscover that which they seek most and along the way they will encounter a challenge designed to test the skills of each particular witch.

As its quite simplistic story hints at, Agatha All Along definitely skews a little younger to its maker series, as it leans into the overly polished, teen-friendly Disney aesthetic. The reality, though, is that this is a vehicle for Hahn to showcase her many many talents. Hahn’s portrayal of Agatha Harkness swings masterfully between pantomime villian to real heavy character work, seamlessly switching between the two, reminding us why she was such a fan favourite in WandaVision.

The series also very much leans into the weird, not too unlike WandaVision, but with a dash of silliness that helps to keep things fun. Aubrey Plaza, too, is a welcome screen presence, relishing exercising her forte as the unhinged antagonist to Agatha’s anti-hero

Agatha All Along is fun and silly, confident in its ability to deliver a good time. The tone of the show likes to dip its toe into odd levels of self-aware goofiness in the way that Buffy and Star Trek: The Next Generation learned to do, but Agatha sets out her stall early on. With musical numbers, sexual tension, and secret pasts, this feels like classic episodic TV (though having only seen the first four episodes, it’s too early to call – after all, it took WandaVision nearly five episodes to flip the script). But there’s no need for Agatha to pull the same trick twice – Agatha All Along is a refreshing palette cleanser after the weighty themes of WandaVision, reuniting audiences with the mystical side of the MCU and adding a healthy dose of irreverent fun too.

Agatha All Along episodes one and two debuts on Disney+ on Thursday 19 September 19.