Back Under Marvel's Spell: Agatha All Along Review
Has the magic returned to the MCU? Follow me my friend...
This review will contain spoilers
Welcome back to Long Story Short! During my last post, I discussed my favorite movies and TV shows that I watched in October, but there was one spooky series I refrained from including on my list: Marvel’s latest Agatha All Along. I didn’t think its quality stacked up to the others on the list, but I can’t deny that it’s been ever-present in my mind for quite some time now. Since it’s had such a chokehold on my psyche (and social media timeline), I thought it’d be fun to give it a separate review.
Even as a long-time Marvel skeptic, I went through a bit of a Marvel craze during the run of their first Disney+ series WandaVision created by the brilliant Jac Schaeffer. With its phenomenal performances, riveting mystery, and creative pastiches of various sitcoms, the show worked as both an entertaining action-adventure series and a devastating depiction of grief. When the finale dropped, I stayed up til midnight with my heart pounding in anticipation. Very few shows ever earn that level of devotion from me. The show did become less compelling when it transitioned into a more standard superhero product, but even still, it’s easily my favorite thing Marvel has ever created. I was so hooked that I started researching characters from the comics and became incredibly excited about the future of the MCU. This Marvel craze did not last as the next Marvel show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was a complete bore, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Raimi, 2023) (the direct follow-up to WandaVision) ended up being fairly disappointing as well despite another stirring performance from Elizabeth Olsen. Since then, I’ve just about given up on the MCU, skipping most of the shows and theatrical releases. However, even though I’m behind, I knew I couldn’t miss Jac Schaeffer’s latest edition to the Witch Side of the MCU focusing on the deliciously evil Agatha Harkness played by the incomparable Kathryn Hahn. Though I was only passively invested for the first few episodes, I became more and more engrossed week by week, and now…well…insert the Godfather: Part III quote here. Marvel’s got me back under its spell. Let’s see how long this lasts!
Agatha All Along focuses on the villainous Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), who stirred up all sorts of trouble in WandaVision and has now been freed from her curse following the death (?) of the Scarlet Witch. She is greeted by a mysterious teen (Joe Locke), who after lifting the curse, demands to be taken down the Witches’ Road, a place of legends where Agatha is the only known survivor. The pair recruit a coven of colorful characters (Patti LuPone, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Debra Jo Rupp, and Aubrey Plaza) and set forth on their journey full of twists, turns, and a whole lot of fun (at least, for the viewers). I should say up front that Wanda never appears in the show, but her ghost is ever-present, and eventually, it is revealed that the mysterious teen is Billy Maximoff. After the events of WandaVision, Billy’s soul leaped into the body of the recently deceased William Kaplan. Stripped of all his memories, Billy is determined to finish the road and find my twin brother, Tommy. There are, of course, more wrinkles to the plan, but I won’t spoil all the mysteries here.
Much of this show’s success lies squarely on the cast, and it’s a huge factor as to why I became interested in the series in the first place. Top billing belongs to Kathryn Hahn, whose performance as Agnes/Agatha stole the show in WandaVision. No one deserves the spotlight more than Hahn as she delights in eating up the role with impeccable comedic timing. However, Hahn also showcases a more vulnerable and dramatic side to her persona, as Agatha turns out to be a more complex character than it may have appeared at first glance. The show explores her grief as a mother who lost a son and exposes how she plays into the lies people say about her to obfuscate the devastating weight of the truth. Hahn perfectly displays these nuances, and I’m so glad she’s been given such a meaty role in an MCU project. Most people may only be familiar with her strictly goofy role in films like Stepbrothers (McKay, 2008) and We’re the Millers (Thurber, 2013), but her roles in smaller films like Private Life (Jenkins, 2018) prove that she has stunning range, and I’m thrilled that mainstream audiences get to see that now. Her performance in the last episode, in particular, is simply exquisite.
Though the show is called Agatha All Along, its focus is almost equally centralized on Joe Locke’s Billy. This split has caused some controversy amongst the fandom, and to an extent, I think it makes the show a bit unfocused. However, I largely found this critique a moot point because I was so taken with Locke’s performance, and I’m so excited to see him become a major part of the MCU. I’ve been a huge fan of his since Heartstopper, and the announcement of his casting is why I KNEW I couldn’t miss this show. His role as Billy Maximoff (also known as Wiccan) is everything I could have wanted. He bursts into the show with great personality and charisma, but once more information is revealed, he brings real gravitas to the role. Episode 6, which fully delves into Billy/William's backstory, allows Locke to shine, and he imbues his character with such pathos. The moment when William’s life transforms into Billy’s consciousness is extremely powerful, and a lesser actor would surely not be up for the challenge. It’s crazy to think this is only his second on-screen acting job, and he’s already proven himself as one of the best up-and-coming talents. I hope his career skyrockets because he’s a gem!
Apart from the two central leads, the rest of the cast is also terrific. The legendary Patti LuPone has a particularly poignant role as Lilia the Divination Witch. Episode 7, which focuses on her trial, is the best in the series and allows LuPone to demonstrate why she’s earned such a high stature. It’s tragic yet beautiful in its depiction of life’s fragility. It was also wonderful to see Sasheer Zamata in such a big role since I always enjoyed her bits on Saturday Night Live years ago. As Jennifer Kale the Potions Witch, Zamata does get a fair share of hokey bits, but since she’s an experienced comedienne, they come off better from her mouth than they might have otherwise. Her story of reclaiming power after it was unfairly stripped away, is also quite moving and allows Zamata to show great range as an actress. The real standout among the supporting cast is Aubrey Plaza as the enticing yet dangerous Rio Vidal, eventually revealed to be Lady Death. Plaza devours this role, and though her screen time is limited, she deservedly became a fan-favorite character on social media. She cackles and mugs for the camera, but she also brings subtlety to the role when the script requires it. Not to mention, the incredible make-up and costume design! If these are the main players of the MCU in the future, I’ll never give up on it again.
My main focus so far has been on the cast because they got me hooked, but I should also give Jac Schaeffer her flowers as she’s once again served up a Marvel product that I couldn't resist. Sure, Agatha All Along still has many of the same pitfalls that most Marvel products do. While the performances add nuances and layers, the script has hardly an ounce of subtlety and by the end, it handholds the audience through each reveal. These reveal montages are done well, but this spoon-feeding storytelling does come off as a bit juvenile. A lot of the humor is annoyingly cheeky in a way that was charming in the early days of the MCU but has now gotten extremely tired. This series also has a smaller budget than other Marvel shows. Hence, the visual effects are somewhat cheesy, and the cinematography and editing are not particularly inspired (though Episode 7 is a notable exception). I expect this from Marvel films and shows at this stage, but I’m certainly unwilling to call it a masterpiece of filmmaking like the stans on Twitter. However, when I watch the show, it is incredibly clear that Schaeffer made this with real love and passion, so it feels less like a Marvel product and more like a realized vision that happens to take place in the MCU. There’s great attention to detail with the production design and the story beats, as she makes interesting creative choices with each witch’s trial. Also, the themes are well-explored as they were in WandaVision and while much of that credit belongs to the cast, it would be unfair to ignore Schaeffer’s work as the showrunner. Unlike the creative team on Multiverse of Madness, who reportedly didn’t even watch WandaVision, Schaeffer did her homework and put her all into this show, and the effort shows.
Lastly, I want to acknowledge this show’s positive representation. Agatha All Along is easily the MCU’s best LGBT representation, and it makes me hopeful for this new stage of Marvel. From the very first episode, Agatha and Rio’s long-term romantic relationship is very evident, and Rio has cleverly been described as the “romantic antagonist.” Since Rio is literally “death,” their story does not have a happy ending, but their infatuation for one another is palpable during every interaction. Additionally, Billy’s sexuality is never hidden, and his relationship with Eddie (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) as shown in Episode 6 is extremely touching and sweet. Both couples even get to kiss in the show, a major sticking point for Disney in the past. These characters are never defined by their sexuality, but it is still an important part of their characterization, which is exactly what we’ve been looking for all along (pun intended). The show has all sorts of queer jokes (lines like “I do not wanna go back in the closet” and “If you want a straight answer, ask a straight lady”) that are certainly cheesy, but also very amusing and sets this show apart from the standard Disney tokenism that I’ve come to expect.
Further, the show is a wonderful depiction of complex women, who reject the boundaries of patriarchy and find community with one another. The witch archetype is commonly used to disparage women, especially those who don’t conform to societal expectations. I love how Agatha All Along celebrates being a witch, while simultaneously taking the reality of such powers seriously. I understand that it's a mainstream Marvel show, so I’m not claiming that this is some brilliant feminist manifesto or a masterpiece of queer cinema. You could (and should!) find better independent films about these topics. However, as someone who believes in the power of mainstream representation and has yearned for it in this particular franchise, I applaud Schaefer and company for doing it so unabashedly.
I pretend not to care about Marvel movies and superheroes, but in the second to last episode, I was fully giddy when Joe Locke appeared in his full Wiccan costume. It was truly inspiring to see such a powerful, openly gay character in the most popular franchise in the world come to life, and for that reason alone, my time with Marvel won’t soon come to an end (although we’ll see where they go from here). I’ve never read the comics, but this show made me want to. That’s extremely powerful. Agatha All Along has reminded me why the MCU became so popular in the first place. Marvel’s products aren’t the highest quality, but they have a special place in my heart. Whether or not that place is just for Joe Locke, Jac Schaeffer, and Kathryn Hahn remains to be seen.
