When it comes to Agatha All Along, a spin-off starring the Villain of the sitcom WandaVision, a lot of people have been saying “Who asked for this?” But by surprise, the show has become a huge hit. The show has blown away even some of the high expectations fans have had. It certainly has been one of the most creative and well-made TV shows brought to the screens this fall. The episodes have had so much thought put into them that they expand the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) in interesting ways. So, it’s safe to say that watching the show and taking a trip down the Witches Road would be highly enjoyable for most viewers.
When the trailer for this spinoff first dropped, there weren’t a lot of fans excited for this. Some even said it was at the bottom of their list for anticipated Marvel projects. There were concerns that it was just capitalizing off of WandaVision’s insane popularity. Even with this, unexpected projects are often great surprises, and it turns out the series was worth making. Sarah Sanford, a junior at Cass High School, says, “I was unsure about watching it at first because I was not expecting it to live up to the more popular shows.” The title for this show certainly went through some troubles as it was previously named Agatha House of Harkness, then Agatha Coven of Chaos, and even furthermore changed to Agatha Darkhold Diaries. But as it turns out it was Agatha All Along, hinting at her famous theme song in WandaVision.
The series follows the notorious Agatha Harkness as she’s freed from a spell after three years by a mysterious teen. It so happens that this teen sought her out to help him travel down the infamous Witches Road. They assemble a coven of other witches to take this journey with them and they travel down down down the road in search of glory at the end. The show was based on no specific comic and the producers were doing something completely original with these characters, causing confusion as to where the show was going. They don’t waste those ideas at all as the plot takes you on a road with more twists and turns than the actual one these witches are traveling. It’s an unpredictable and incredibly entertaining series that keeps viewers glued to the screen.
A large part of why this series is so successful is the serialized nature of it all. Each episode has a clearly defined goal with a beginning and end, unlike some of Marvel’s other projects. They complete one arc before moving on to the next one all while progressing the overarching narrative. Structuring the series around a new trial every episode was a smart way to give these characters an easy goal to achieve that directly pushes them forward on their journey. That way we also get to learn more about each character with every new episode. By the end of the series, they all felt fleshed out and no story thread was left hanging. It’s nothing groundbreaking in the grand scheme of things and something they should have been doing All Along.
It genuinely adds a lot to the overall enjoyment as it feels like each episode progressed the plot forward much more than the original intention, which was only a six-hour show. The nine episodes they had to work with were more than enough to tell the story without having to cut any corners to fit a constrained episode count. These episodes could have been a little bit longer as there were times when it felt like they sped through a trial just so they could get to the big development at the end. Even an extra five minutes here and there could have really helped raise the stakes and make these trials feel much more challenging.
But even with the critics, this show is so intricately written. You can really tell that the creative team put so much thought and care into weaving a satisfying narrative with some fantastic payoffs. Small throwaway lines from earlier episodes are brought back in big ways later on. Little details are foreshadowed for huge twists down the line, and it all culminates in a really rewarding viewing experience. Some clues are more obvious than others, but it just made things more exciting to watch. Furthermore, Sanford says, “[The show] was definitely better than I expected it to be… I really enjoyed that I didn’t know what was going to happen next. ” As the spiritual successor to WandaVision, this show made sure to continue the themes of developing this overarching mystery that kept fans on the edge of their seats every week.
The series was expected to just be a fun ride with these characters, but I transcended that to be something that truly stood on its own and developed this corner of the MCU in a really fascinating way. Agatha All Along is a fantastic series and a great example of why people need to give shows a chance. It’s unusual for sure but looking at the pitch and how the story unfolded they had a very valid reason to make this show. It is by far one of the most creative shows Marvel has ever made with some genuinely fantastic writing and beautiful set design that elevated the whole thing.
