Ryan Shoots First: Agatha All Along (Premiere)

Spooky season is getting started early as we go down down the windy road with everyone’s favorite witchy neighbor Agatha Harkness. It’s been a few years since WandaVision debuted and if you haven’t watched it I highly recommend it but Agatha was the twist villain in the show and as you may imagine it didn’t really end well for her. 

Agatha All Along doesn’t serve as a direct sequel but it does play off much of the style and meta behavior of WandaVision. The overwhelming strength over the first two episodes of the premiere is the lead actress Kathryn Hahn. She is so insanely versatile starting in mainly comedies but with her recent success in dramas like Tiny Beautiful Things. The format of the show allows for her to come at the character from so many angles. A threat, a playful villain but also a beaten woman resigned to the misery of her own making. 

Staring opposite Hahn fresh off her moment is Aubrey Plaza who brings all the sass and attitude you expect from her. She brings a level of new star power we haven’t really seen in the Marvel TV game beyond the stars we know from the movies. We’ll see but I can’t imagine Plaza signed on just to do a Disney+ limited series. Agatha in general gave us a peak into the larger “Magic” lore from the witch’s perspective. Obviously we know Dr Strange flirts in that same territory but Wanda being an outsider means she couldn’t be our guide into the deeper lore around the Salem Witches and just where their power comes from. This show gives us a chance to find out some more and the first episode hints at a much larger world of characters to explore and theorize on. 

I’m reminded of the Hawkeye series and how a so so-so-fun adventure being framed around Christmas and airing during the holidays added so much to the fun short run. I complain a lot about the short-run format but it really worked for that show and I get the feeling this show airing during the Halloween season could be a fun weekly watch as we ramp up the spooky fun. The two episode premiere throws some twists at you and sets the stakes enough to engage you in the story and desire to see where exactly it’s going. I can probably tell this won’t be a show I re-watch but for the next few weeks I look forward to seeing where it goes. Also, the ballad kinda slaps I can see it being a trend for a bit.