A new addition to Disney Plus’ lineup of Marvel Cinematic Universe shows dropped Sept. 18 to the delight of fans who have been anticipating the release since “WandaVision”.
Slight spoilers ahead for the series.
“Agatha All Along” follows the former antagonist and witch Agatha Harkness as the main character as the audience follows her journey after the events of “WandaVision” where Wanda Maximoff stripped Agatha of her magic and left her in Westview.
The first episode plays with the same genre bending we saw in the original series as Agatha believes herself to be a detective straight out of shows like “Law & Order” or “Criminal Minds.”
This doesn’t last the entirety of the episode though as Agatha gets help from two new characters. Cue Rio Vidal, a mysterious character added that plays into Agatha’s role under Wanda’s spell. Rio, played by Aubrey Plaza, eventually helps Agatha realize that all is not what it seems.
To help her finally break the spell is Teen, an unnamed character who breaks into Agatha’s house and is eventually revealed to be a witch in training. Teen remains unnamed throughout the series as every time he tries to reveal any information on himself, a vigil stops any magic users from being able to hear.
Once free from the spell and with Teen on her side, Agatha sets her mind on traveling The Road — a dangerous trail for witches who seek power.
A makeshift coven is formed including Patti LuPone as Lilia Calderu, Sasheer Zamata as Jennifer Kale, Ali Ahn as Alice Wu-Gulliver and reprising her role as Mrs. Hart — Debra Jo Rupp.
With the witches constantly bickering and Mrs. Hart, who repeatedly has to remind Agatha that her name is actually Sharon just wanting to go home — the show sets itself up as a truly entertaining ride.
The characters in the show all have incredibly good chemistry with each other. Each time the witches end up having to work together creates a new level of friendship that feels genuine and fulfilling to be able to see them work things out in real time.
The plot itself is really interesting as we haven’t really seen much of Marvel’s witchy side as projects like “WandaVision” focused more on Wanda’s pre-spellcasting abilities. The timing couldn’t be any more perfect as we are in the spookiest month of the year.
Episodes two and three continue with the coven heading out to the road where each episode focuses on a new trial the witches have to face to get their magic back and while we lose some characters, we gain back Rio from the first episode in the third.
Rio is one of the most interesting characters in the series as her role seems slightly misleading. Of course, any article on the series has to bring up the romantic tension between Rio and Agatha as even Deadline has called Rio a “romantic antagonist.”
Overall, the series is off to a wonderful start and while so many questions arise each episode, the show is doing a great job of answering them episode by episode.
Catch the series on Disney Plus before the series finale on Oct. 30.
