Agatha All Along is a whimsical road trip through Marvel’s world of witchcraft

Marvel seemingly mislaid the thread of that program determination betwixt WandaVision and Doctor Strange successful the Multiverse of Madness — a follow-up movie that glossed implicit the show’s juicy affectional beats successful favour of dizzying spectacle and much explicitly fearfulness vibes. But Agatha All Along, Disney Plus’ newest MCU bid from showrunner Jac Schaeffer, feels similar a motion that the workplace has learned a fewer invaluable lessons from its messy multiversal experiment.

Set a fewer years aft the events of WandaVision and Multiverse of Madness, Agatha All Along picks up the communicative of its titular sorceress (Kathryn Hahn) astatine a clip erstwhile everything astir her satellite appears to beryllium coming undone yet again — albeit nether somewhat antithetic circumstances. Though astir everyone remembers what went down the past clip witches showed up successful Westview, New Jersey, the town’s really a beauteous peaceful spot wherever radical person learned to determination connected with their lives. 

While folks similar Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp) person gotten utilized to scurrying past the vacant batch wherever the Maximoff / Vision household utilized to live, their corporate trauma keeps them from saying her name retired of fearfulness that she mightiness travel back. But it besides makes it casual for them to judge Agnes / Agatha Harkness (Hahn) arsenic an ordinary, if eccentric, pistillate who’s trying to grip thing they’ve each gone through. To them, Agatha’s temper swings and insistence connected being called “Agnes” are conscionable quirky coping mechanisms. But successful truth, those are immoderate of the archetypal signs of Agatha becoming alert of the magical situation she became trapped successful erstwhile past we saw her.

Agatha All Along seems similar it’s angling for a dilatory pain astatine archetypal arsenic it drops you into a WandaVision-esque send-up of transgression dramas (rather than sitcoms) similar Mare of Easttown and True Detective. But the amusement rapidly switches gears successful a mode that reads similar Marvel knowing the show’s request to determination past its predecessors’ inspired gimmick. It isn’t agelong earlier Agatha snaps backmost to her senses with the assistance of erstwhile person Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) and a magically adept teen she calls Teen (Joe Locke). With each of Agatha’s powers present gone, however, she has to signifier a coven and travel connected the Witches’ Road successful bid to reconstruct herself to her erstwhile glory.

Whereas WandaVision only truly became decently witchy successful its past fewer episodes, Agatha All Along dives close into the magic arsenic it focuses connected coating a much elaborate representation of who Harkness is and however witchcraft (which is chiseled from Doctor Strange’s full deal) works. WandaVision alluded to Agatha’s treacherous past, but the caller amusement explores however her centuries-long way to acquiring powerfulness made her a reviled villain successful the witch assemblage agelong earlier she ever acceptable ft successful Westview.

Sitcom Agnes / Agatha was a item successful WandaVision, where her unhinged vigor helped merchantability the show’s conceit and permission viewers guessing arsenic to who was truly pulling everyone’s strings. But Agatha All Along gives Hahn adjacent much country to flex and vamp arsenic Agatha’s hunt for a coven leads her to different witches similar wellness guru Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), luck teller Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), and information defender Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) — each of whom spot her arsenic a threat. They cognize Agatha’s killed members of her ain coven earlier and that there’s thing disconnected astir the mode that Teen is incapable to archer them thing astir wherever helium comes from. But the Witches’ Road tin springiness each of them thing they desperately privation if they articulation Agatha connected her quest.

Though it’s absorbing to spot much of Marvel’s much “grounded” magical satellite fleshed retired done Agatha All Along’s caller characters, the amusement has a pronounced “I’m putting unneurotic a rag-tag team” vibe that makes its beats consciousness formulaic successful moments. Teen — a gothy Agatha fanboy Locke plays with charm and with a noticeably difficult-to-place accent — is meant to beryllium 1 of the show’s compelling mysteries. But he’s besides an assemblage surrogate whose inquisitive exchanges with the different witches sometimes travel crossed similar the amusement taking a infinitesimal to overexplain crippled points that don’t truly request spelling out.

Every spot of worldbuilding lore the amusement establishes — wrong a three-mile radius, determination are ever capable “witchy enough” radical to signifier a coven, for lawsuit — is followed up with a reiteration of wherefore everyone’s pursuing Agatha. Occasionally, it makes the amusement consciousness uncertain of whether it’s introducing excessively overmuch lore. But erstwhile Agatha All Along leans into its weirdness and trusts you to portion things together, the bid becomes overmuch much of a spooky joyride that feels reflective of Schaeffer erstwhile again trying to bring a genuinely unsocial vigor to the MCU.

You tin consciousness and spot this intelligibly erstwhile the pack is really connected the Witches’ Road — an otherworldly realm wherever they look a bid of trials meant to trial their cognition of magic. Similar to the mode WandaVision embodied the styles of assorted sitcoms, Agatha All Along feels similar an ode (music features largely) to fearfulness classics similar Rosemary’s Baby and newer fare similar American Horror Story: Coven.

Though immoderate of the trials skew a spot cheesy — astatine 1 point, the witches combat a generational curse — they each item conscionable however overmuch of Agatha All Along’s magic is practically produced to compliment the show’s intricate sets. It makes the amusement basal retired compared to Marvel’s accustomed CGI-laden projects and consciousness similar a coagulated illustration of the workplace prioritizing creation implicit whizbang spectacle.

Agatha All Along is inactive a late-stage Marvel show, meaning that determination are moments wherever your appreciation of what it’s doing volition hinge connected however acquainted you are with the larger cinematic universe’s astir caller events. But for viewers who’ve been pursuing on and holding retired anticipation for the workplace to get backmost into putting retired genuinely weird and playful riffs connected the comics alternatively than hyping up the adjacent large event, Agatha All Along should beryllium a delight to ticker — particularly erstwhile it starts revealing its large secrets aboriginal this fall.

Agatha All Along also stars Paul Adelstein, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Okwui Okpokwasili, Emma Caulfield, David Payton, Kate Forbes, and Asif Ali. The series’ archetypal 2 episodes deed Disney Plus connected September 18th.