It was Agatha all along! So went the easy explanation for whatever was going on in 2021’s WandaVision – the reveal that loveable neighbour Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) was, in fact, an evil witch who had trapped Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) inside a weird fantasy nightmare that also sort of looked like an entire history of American TV sitcoms. Being WandaVision, the twist was delivered as a song. And being Marvel, the song went viral, won an Emmy and got a trap remix.
A lot has happened since 2021. Two and half phases of the MCU later, WandaVision still stands as arguably the best and boldest chapter in Marvel’s recent history – a bizarre and beautiful experiment that felt like the last time someone was allowed to do whatever the hell they wanted with a Disney budget. Whether or not Marvel will have another heyday or not, the answer to getting back on top has to be trying something just as original again: and it’s hard to find anything else like Agatha All Along anywhere else on TV.
With Wanda’s fate detailed in Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness, all eyes turn back to Agatha – a comedy background character turned supervillain turned unlikely star of her own spin-off sequel series. When we find her again, she’s… a detective in a gritty North-west crime drama. Half of episode one has Hahn channelling Kate Winslet in Mare Of Easttown, slipping more into parody as the cop cliches stack up. While Agatha All Along would probably work brilliantly as a rehash of WandaVision, picking a different TV trope every week, that’s not where showrunner Jac Schaeffer wants to take us.
The true crime fantasy is another spell, of course, and Agatha realises it before the episode ends. Facing off with evil Green Witch Rio Vidal (Aubry Plaza) in what’s left of the real Westview, Agatha finds a new path: recruit a coven, get her powers back and defend herself (“She took every little bit of power I had and left me with household appliances” she spits, the only nod to her old feud with Wanda).
Step one involves gathering a team that really doesn’t want to be gathered: SNL’s Sasheer Zamata, Broadway legend Patti LuPone, Orange Is The New Black and The Diplomat star Ali Ahn and WandaVision’s own Debra Jo Rupp – alongside Joe Locke’s (Heartstopper) wannabe teen sidekick (or “pet” as Agatha puts it).
Step two means heading deeper into fantasy to travel “the witches road”, completing a set of magic trials that are buried in the lyrics to another soon-to-be viral song, and that all involve another pick ‘n’ mix of styles, costumes and odd ideas that seem a wonderfully long way from everything else in the MCU. Practical Magic, The Wizard Of Oz and obscure ’70s zombie films all get their own nods, winks and entire episodes, as do others that we won’t spoil.
Lacking the depth and sadness of WandaVision, the tone stays glossy, even as it veers as far from the mainstream as possible. One minute Agatha is joking about sharing a jade egg, the next she’s dressed as Stevie Nicks, fighting a demon. Less flashy and crash-y than most Marvel shows, Agatha All Along feels mature even when it’s at its silliest. Mostly that’s down to Hahn (never funnier, never better, in a role she plays like a shot in the arm for Disney), but it helps to have a whole cast of real actors and comedians who don’t all look like they’re just trying to get into the next Avengers movie.
A female-led Halloween horror, a camp musical comedy and a superhero ride through every weird witch trope in pop-culture, Agatha All Along is even more left-field than WandaVision dared to be, though it lacks some of its heft. Forget Phase Six, Marvel needs to do more of this.
‘Agatha All Along’ streams on Disney+ from 19 September