Agatha All Along review: Kathryn Hahn's wizardry saves oft-fun Marvel show from becoming a tame Wandavision-Loki echo

Creator: Jac Schaeffer

Cast: Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Debra Jo Rupp, Aubrey Plaza, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Okwui Okpokwasili, Patti LuPone

Where to watch: Disney+ Hotstar

Rating: 3 stars

The jingle is still fresh in my ears even though it has been three years since we discovered in season seven of Wandavision that the bad guy was Agatha all along. Marvel Cinematic Universe’s delicious way of introducing Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) was so loved by the audiences that they gave her a separate show. The aptly-titled Agatha All Along tries to follow  the same fun, irreverent style of Wandavision and also brings in the mystical quest vibe of Loki but does not quite come close to either. It is only the exuberance and screen presence of Hahn (as well as Aubrey Plaza) that the show does not descend into mediocrity.

Agatha All Along follows Agatha’s journey after she is burned and trapped by the Scarlet Witch in the season finale of Wandavision. Agatha has been trapped in Westview living for three years. If Wanda was channelling sitcoms, Agatha is living her true crime dream doing a Mare of Easttown ripoff. But a fellow witch (Plaza) forces her to break from the shackles and Agatha recruits other witches to form her coven again. She must now take the mythical witches’ road to find back her power.

Like Wandavision, Agatha All Along takes a cold open as we see Agatha (calling herself Agnes) solving a murder in a small town. The show is called Agnes of Westview. But thankfully, Schaeffer does not go all out, pulling Agatha out of the pretend world in the first episode itself. It sets the tone nicely, giving the viewers a much-needed Wandavison connect without actually completely copying the show.

Agatha All Along is the most far-removed-from-MCU Marvel show there has been among their live-action titles. There isn’t a single major character in it that has been a part of the films. Agatha herself is the only link, apart from a few stray Easter eggs thrown in here and there. That works for the show because it is able to stand on its own as a story with some identity rather just a piece of a larger jigsaw puzzle.

The witches’ road segment of the show will remind you of Loki and Sylvie in the Void. The colour tone may not be the same but the vibe is. A mystical, mythical place where anything is possible and dangers lurk at every corner while our heroes (or anti-heroes) have to slug it out to find their power (glorious purpose, anyone?). But the similarities end at the surface. Both Wandavision and Loki were intricately designed and well-written shows with proper character arcs. Agatha All Along focuses more on the jazz than on the soul here. The story is wafer thin, the character development is slow if at all, and the plot moves rather shakily.

The saving grace is the performances, led by Kathryn Hahn, who leaves no stone unturned in establishing her authority upon each scene. Aubrey Plaza, clearly playing herself as an unpredictable witch, is her foil. She is just as fun to watch as Hahn is endearing. But the show does deserve some credit for not turning this into an Agatha redemption story. The witch who trapped Wanda remains evil, even though we slightly understand her motivations and journey now. It makes her relatable but not redeemed.

Debra JoRupp brings the heart (hart, sorry for the pun) of the show with her familiarly endearing brand of humour while Joe Locke steals the show as the audience substitute fanboy whose lifelong dream is to join a witches’ coven (no judgements, we have all had our emo phase). But the show does appear less than the sum of its parts. The ingredients are all there but eventually, what the witches brew is less engaging than it should be. If it wasn’t for the quips and the cast, Agatha All Along could well have been the weakest Marvel show (even though She Hulk set the bar real low for that). But thankfully, it ends up being a fun watch, even though it’s one that frustrates slightly because you can see how much better it could easily have been.

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