‘Agatha All Along’ Wasn’t Perfect. But it Proved that Disney and Marvel Can Still Make Magic
“Agatha All Along” wasn’t perfect.
In his review of the series, IndieWire’s Ben Travers pointed out that the the first four episodes stretched the welcome of a slow burn, that the stakes weren’t high enough and the energy lacking in what should have been a full-bodied villain adventure.
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But unlike so many franchise series on Disney+ and from Marvel in particular, things got better in this second series from Jac Schaeffer. Things got good. By midseason — just a few weeks in, thanks to a two-episode premiere — viewers learned the identity of the mysterious Teen (Joe Locke), which wasn’t terribly shocking but also ostensibly wasn’t meant to be. For a show that began by focusing largely on a literal road, the journey is a critical piece of “Agatha All Along.” Yeah, that kid is probably who you think — but how did he come to be who he is and among Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) and her fellow witches? You can probably surmise what happened to Agatha’s absent son, but where and when does it fit into her story, to the wider story, and won’t it be satisfying to watch Hahn play that out?
The back hours of this series manage to do what the early ones didn’t, creating a fairly propulsive sci-fi/fantasy series mostly unencumbered by its tentpole roots. Instead of existing solely to move the MCU forward, “Agatha” zeroes in on its own cast of characters and bringing them to a logical emotional evolution. It got weird, and it got sad, and it got fun.
With that, here’s everything “Agatha All Along” did right, and how Marvel TV (and films) can learn from it.
1. Queer Representation (finally)
Disney has been lauding its own paltry queer representation ever since the live-action “Beauty and the Beast” and its notorious “exclusively gay moment” (two men dancing together for approximately 1.5 seconds) in 2017. In Marvel, the representation went as far as to have a male character (played by Joe Russo) talk about his husband in “Avengers: Endgame,” and two members of the Dora Milaje in “Wakanda Forever.” A quick glance at the list of queer characters on Earth-199999, where the MCU originated, will reveal that most of them are from TV shows that haven’t been integrated into the main franchise, like “The Punisher” and “Runaways” and “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
So it was a low bar for “Agatha All Along” to become “a gay explosion” (per star Aubrey Plaza) — but the show cleared it, and then some. Early episodes hinted at a romantic history between Agatha and Plaza’s Rio, which was all but confirmed by midseason and explicitly stated by the end, even before the characters share a final, passionate kiss. Locke got his breakout role playing a queer teen in Netflix’s “Heartstopper” and gives Marvel a much needed dose of representation with another sweet teen romance in “Agatha” Episode 6.
And I have pat Disney on the back for not patting itself on the back. Queer witches and body swapping teens are a big deal for the franchise that wouldn’t let the Winter Soldier be bisexual (though there’s still time!). Locke’s character has a Trans Lives Matter flag up in his bedroom, one of many details that are integrated but don’t need to be pointed out or justified within the show’s narrative. It’s a good sign for that representation to move into the main Avengers and their stories in future films and shows.
2. A Purposeful Cameo (Reprised)
I’ll never forget the moment that Evan Peters — who played Quicksilver in “X-Men: Days of Future Past” — showed up in “WandaVision” — as Pietro Maximoff, the MCU’s Quicksilver. Part of why I remember it is that it was the last time anything in the MCU elicited such a strong reaction from me, both shocked and excited. There have been shadows of that feeling in the years that followed, but they weaken with each new project as I wait for a distant payoff. And by the way — Peters’ “WandaVision” appearance was not what most would deem a payoff. The actor turned out to be playing a man named Ralph Bohner in what was ultimately a cheeky casting decision. “WandaVision” earned the gimmick because it was so strong overall, unlike much of what followed.
Peters returns in “Agatha” Episode 6, the flashback in which Locke’s Teen makes contact with a Reddit user called “Bohnerrific69” to learn more about Westview. Peters has only a few minutes of screen time but once again has a blast, revisiting Ralph with calcified trauma encasing his previous silliness. The show starts off by showing most of its casting hand, from series regulars Sasheer Zamata and Patti Lupone to guest actors from the “WandaVision” ensemble. Fans wondered if Elisabeth Olsen would make an appearance as Wanda Maximoff, but the show was strong enough without her to not need it by the end.
3. Experimenting with Rules
At the end of the day, “Agatha All Along” is about a witch who teams up with the spiritual reincarnation of a child whose parents were a mutant and a robot, and their journey through a non-physical space while accompanied by the literal specter of Death. And that shit whips! There’s just the right amount of explanation and corresponding lackthereof to keep the story moving between episodes (and between trials along the Witches Road). Not knowing the full extent of Agatha’s power or how witchcraft works in the MCU frees both writers and viewers from having to meticulously track what works when and how (and frees Agatha from the kind of persnickety “fans” that ran “The Acolyte” into the ground).
“Agatha All Along” was more willing to play with time and space than a lot of Marvel projects in the Multiverse phase (“Quantumania” comes to mind, a film set almost entirely in a realm where time and space do not exist but were unimaginatively forced to), with the untethered world of the road and eventually with the character of Lilia (LuPone). The entire thing ends up taking place in 24 hours, in a bubble (not unlike the literal bubble of “WandaVision”) where rules can be bent at will — until the spell is broken and we return to your regularly scheduled programming.
“Agatha All Along” is now streaming on Disney+.
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