Films for Breakfast

NOTE: This is a review of episodes 1-4 of the series.

WandaVision is arguably still the most pivotal outing from Marvel Studios on Disney+. Not only did the show hit right at the beginning of 2021 when everyone was still inside their homes, but it was the first Marvel Cinematic Universe project released post-Endgame. Other than maybe Loki, it also feels the most well-regarded of their recent crop of shows, too; so, it should come as no surprise that Disney+ and Marvel would find a way to continue the show without actively having to bring back Wanda Maximoff or Vision. Who is the best candidate for that position? I suppose it would be Agatha Harkness. Remember? The villainous witch played by the always incredible Kathryn Hahn? Who had the popular song, Agatha All Along, chart for a few months in early 2021? That seems like a good enough of reason give a character a spin-off, right?

Agatha All Along picks up sometime after WandaVision (I don’t want to reveal exactly when as the show actually has fun with the timeline mystery) where Agatha (played once again by Kathryn Hahn) finds herself drained of her once unlimited power due to her showdown with the Scarlet Witch in Westview. After a mysterious young teen (Joe Locke) breaks Agatha out of her distorted spell and begs her to lead him down the infamous Witches’ Road, she assembles a group of unlikely witches to form a coven and take the journey to potentially reclaim her power.

Agatha All Along ultimately works best when it feels like a follow-up to WandaVision, as it incorporates a lot of the best elements of that show – between the returning supporting cast of characters in the town of Westview to paying homage/parodying certain popular TV shows and character tropes. The first episode in particular feels largely like a parody of HBO detective dramas, especially Mare of Easttown – which feels like an inspired choice as even the placement of Agatha’s story feels like a timeline mystery within itself. The first episode is genuinely a lot of fun and feels like a return to form of what made the WandaVision so cool, but even as I was enjoying it, I found myself a bit nervous about what the show would become when it inevitably had to go down its own path instead of picking up where we left off.

To Agatha All Along‘s credit, the show does widely make attempts to continue the stylish homages in other ways even outside of the TV-centric lens of Westview. I also appreciate that the show wants to take its own direction with attempting to be more character driven. My problem comes with the show largely comes ahead when we hit the midway point with episode four, and it feels like not a lot has happened to genuinely intrigue me. And I find myself asking the same question I’ve found myself pondering for every MCU-based Disney+ show – Would I be watching this if it wasn’t a show from Marvel Studios? If it didn’t somehow tie into the bigger picture? I want to make it clear – I have no problem with character centric stories that have no bearing on the larger cinematic universe, but you have to make the drama or story compelling/entertaining in its own right.

Unfortunately, it does feel abundantly clear about halfway through Agatha All Along that Agatha, as a character, might not be interesting enough to sustain her own series. This criticism does not spawn from any of the performances, namely Kathryn Hahn, who continues to turn in fantastic work and makes the show not feel like a chore to get through even when it feels like filler. The cast all turn in really solid performances and even share some decent chemistry together from what I’ve seen thus far – Aubrey Plaza as Rio is probably my favorite of the bunch. Despite the good performances and some fun set pieces here and there, it ultimately feels like every episode is a bit of an uphill battle to grab your attention and sustain it. By the time I got to the fourth, I completely called exactly what would happen in the episode and what it would “mean” for a certain character. It feels very “rinse and repeat” of things I’ve seen done so much better.

There is a compelling mystery at the core of Agatha All Along, where we find the mysterious teenage boy played by Joe Locke unable to communicate anything about his past to Agatha and the other witches. My problem with the show doesn’t largely spawn from the fact that it isn’t immediately answering this question, but rather not forming an entertaining or compelling narrative outside of it to warrant me continually watching it. This is a trap that I find a lot of these Marvel/Disney+ shows falling into – they have a central mystery/pivotal piece of the larger lore at play that keeps viewers tuned in, but everything going on around it feels so dull and dry. The best of these shows, namely WandaVision and Loki, all had a single common factor at their core that made them memorable – they were character-driven dramas where the personal stories were actually made compelling and complex. They were worthwhile stories, regardless of whether or not they have any bearing to the next Avengers film.

Agatha All Along isn’t a complete dud. As I previously mentioned, there are some fun set pieces sprinkled throughout, and I appreciate the costume design/use of seemingly practical sets. Kathryn Hahn and the rest of the cast all turn in solid performances, but it ultimately doesn’t feel like it’s quite enough to warrant its own series. The show gets progressively less interesting with the more it explains and the further down its own rabbit hole it goes, which feels unfortunate given the talented cast and crew they have at their disposal. While not quite as big of a misfire as Secret Invasion turned out to be by the end, it feels more aligned with something like Echo – a middle of the road, secondary character spin-off disguised as a genre show. Not terrible, but ultimately feels like a waste of Marvel’s time – and ours.

2.5/5