Agatha All Along Review: A Quirky Adventure Casts a Spell Worth Getting Caught In

Agatha All Along brings humor, mystery, and real stakes to the magic corner of the MCU.

By Nicole Drum

Back in 2021, Marvel took fans on a strange new journey when it brought the Marvel Cinematic Universe from the big screen to the small with the debut of WandaVision and, in doing so, opened up not only a whole new way of telling its stories of heroes and villains, but went even deeper into the magical, mystical pockets of its universe. In the acclaimed spinoff, Wanda Maximoff, gripped by grief, imprisoned the people of Westview in her spell, transformed fully into the Scarlet Witch, and faced off with a character who has since become a much loved icon to fans: Agatha Harkness. Now, three years later, Marvel is taking fans back to Westview for Agatha's story, this time letting the fan-favorite witch with questionable intentions take center stage as she heads off on the Witches' Road, but while Agatha All Along is a fitting and satisfying spinoff of WandaVision and a follow-up to the story that was born out of one witch's grief, make no mistake: Agatha All Along is a unique, quirky, often funny, and genuinely engaging entity of its own with surprisingly strong comics touches and a cinematic quality that elevates the whole experience to some of the best of what the MCU has to offer.

The series picks up with Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) escaping the spell she was placed under by Wanda Maximoff at the end of WandaVision and, with the help of a goth Teen (Joe Locke), is encouraged to head down the legendary Witches' Road to regain her magic powers. Agatha ends up assembling a new coven of witches — comprised of Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), Mrs. Hart/Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp), and Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) — each of whom have their own reasons for wanting to head down that dangerous road that will test them in every way imaginable. 

While ComicBook was only provided four of the nine total episodes for Agatha All Along to review, what emerges quickly in those four episodes is that the series is taking the best parts of WandaVision — namely the use of genre as a framework for its episodes — and elevating it. Straight out of the gate, Agatha All Along leans into parodying genre television to draw viewers into the story, setting the first episode up as a murder mystery of sorts that, in turn, unlocks the next chapter of Agatha's story. Each subsequent episode then has its own vibe that it taps into as the coven makes its way down the Road, with each change of setting informing a bit more about each character and their motivations.

It's that visual layering that strengthens the actual storytelling being done with the writing, but it also serves to support the outstanding performances as well. Each of the main cast performances in Agatha All Along, even in just the first four episodes, is incredibly strong. Hahn is, unsurprisingly, a standout, but Locke's optimistic and determined Teen makes for an incredible foil of sorts for Agatha and watching the two actors — and their characters — play off of one another is not only a delight, it narratively creates a depth that really cracks open more about who Agatha Harkness really is as opposed to what her legend is. LuPone, already a legend, is delightfully kooky as the flighty Lilia, but her performance can turn on a dime to go dark and even go heartwrenching as the story calls for it. Both Ahn and Zamata bring quite a bit to the table as well, though it's Plaza's Rio that might just steal every scene she's in — particularly in a moment when she lets her guard down just a little.

Aesthetically, Agatha All Along may be one of the best-looking Marvel television projects to date. The sets of the series lean into elements of various pop culture witches and representations of witches — which mirrors some of the in-dialogue references as well — yet it also very much brings the comics Witches' Road to life. The series looks like something on the pages of a comic book somehow appeared in reality, complete with that unsettling sense of real but not. You know while watching it that this is something out of fantasy, but the stakes feel real, so much so that you might start wondering if certain songs will unlock a portal to a secret road in your own home, too. Couple that with some deep-cut references from comics and you have a recipe for something that Marvel fans will eagerly jump into while those perhaps less familiar will want to know more about.

In the first four episodes of Agatha All Along, most everything works together very well, though there are some slight missteps, if you could even call it that. The first episode is a bit slow in terms of pacing and, at times, the obvious parody feels just slightly overdone. The series doesn't fully hit its stride until about halfway through the second episode in terms of balancing its tone and temperature. There is also a turn with a specific character in the third episode that doesn't quite feel like it has the stakes it should have. Outside of that, however, the series is fascinating and makes it clear that this is not just a story about gaining or regaining power. It's also about facing oneself. If WandaVision was about grief, Agatha All Along is also about grief, but more specifically about loss and what the journey back looks like — and in this case, it's full of twists, turns, and a whole lot of magic.

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Rating: 4 out of 5

New episodes of Agatha All Along debut Wednesdays on Disney+.

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