The witching hour is upon us as MCU’s latest supernatural mystery series, Agatha All Along, premiered in Disney+ with its first two episodes, exploring the metaphysical side of MCU’s affairs through a celebration of the heritage of witchcraft—both fictional and real. Agatha Harkness, one of the original Salem witches in the Marvel universe, received newfound popularity since the characters’ first live-action appearance in WandaVision, which became a solid enough reason for the execs to greenlight a series based on the relatively lesser-known character. Katherine Hahn reprises her role as the titular occult practitioner, and the major highlight of the first two episodes is her camaraderie with Aubrey Plaza’s witch character, Rio Vidal. Blending a constrained horror vibe with Disney-fied witch story aesthetics, the series provides an interesting, fresh look at MCU’s extended world-building. The deliberate choice of over-the-top acting is also in sync with the metanarrative undertone of the series. However, there isn’t much intrigue in the first two episodes of Agatha All Along to keep viewers hooked; for ardent MCU fanboys, that’s understandably not an issue, but we are hoping that upcoming episodes get around to justifying the existence of the series by moving beyond its restrictions.
Spoilers Ahead
How Did Agatha Break Free From Wanda’s Hex?
Viewers who have binged through WandaVision will surely remember Agatha Harkness as one of the original Salem witches, who was excommunicated during the infamous Salem Witch trials by her coven after her secret of being a dark magic practitioner was exposed by her mother, Evanora Harkness. Afterwards, Agatha killed her coven along with her mother, getting a hold of the occult grimoire, the Darkhold, to enhance her powers and steal magic from other witches by killing them. Much later, during the events of WandaVision, she came across the Scarlet Witch, aka Wanda Maximoff, and learned how, as a means of coping with the loss of her family, Wanda was able to put the entire town of Westview under her powerful hex as a way to keep herself happy in a false reality. As Agatha tried to take her powers for herself, she was beaten by Scarlet Witch, who took away her powers instead and, taking the Darkhold from her, put her into a hex—which not only wiped Agatha’s memories but lulled her into living with the false identity she had come up with, as Agnes O’Conner.
Wanda’s comfort-warped reality was inspired by 50s sitcoms, and as Agatha All Along begins, it turns out Agatha has been living in the true crime series “Agnes of Westview” as Detective Agnes of the Westview police department for the last three years. The first episode shows Agnes investigating a case of a grisly murder of a woman, with all the town’s familiar faces playing a role in her elaborate false reality in various capacities. Apparently, thr memory of her lost son, Nicholas Scratch, has been somehow implanted in Agatha’s memory as well, and seeing a fluffy rabbit in her room, we cannot help but wonder if any transformation magic/mind wipe effect is involved with it, due to the ‘scratch’ pun being too on the nose. Agatha is seen capturing an unnamed teenage intruder who was trying to find a ‘road’ inside her house, and under the suspicion of the being the murder, Agatha holds him captive. However, as Rio Vidal, a powerful witch and former rival of Agatha, sneaks into the false reality, Agatha begins to remember bits and pieces about her past life. The murdered girl is likened to Wanda Maximoff, who seemingly met her end during the events of Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness at Wundagore Mountain. Despite her demise, Wanda’s hex is strong enough to keep Agatha trapped within the false reality, and Rio helps her to get in touch with her past.
However, Rio is no benefactor, as she straight up attacks a now powerless Agatha, as she reveals that she had been tormenting her for a long time. There is some history between these two witches, as Rio supposedly cannot kill Agatha even if she wants to, and Agatha manages to convince her to let her go by mentioning that it will be gratifying for Rio to take on her when she regains her powers. Rio warns that Agatha’s past transgressions have already put a terrible cult of witches, Salem Seven, on her trail, so she might not have to wait that long to see Agatha’s end.
Were Agatha and Her Coven Able to Conjure Witches’ Road?
As Rio leaves, Agatha learns from the captive teenager that he sneaked into Agatha’s home to break her free from Wanda’s hex, as this young witch wannabe was searching for Witches’ Road, a fantastical gateway accessible only by witches that can grant them anything they desire, in his case, powers. Agatha is unwilling to comply with his request, despite knowing that she herself needs to undergo a journey through the Witches’ Road to obtain her powers before the Salem Seven pays her a visit. Agatha gets intrigued by the teenager after realizing that any attempt he makes to share any information about himself goes in vain, as a curse of some sort has been put on him. Begrudgingly agreeing to let the teenager accompany her, Agatha begins her mission to recruit witch sisters for her coven. Without protection, a potion, divination, and a green witch, her coven will remain incomplete, and it is absolutely necessary to have one to venture through the Witches’ Road.
One by one, Agatha visits three witches, Lilia Calderu, Jennifer Kale, and Alice Wu-Gulliver, offering them the chance to form a coven and take the journey through Witches’ Road. However, given Agatha’s reputation, none of them are willing to assist her, in fear of getting their powers taken by the malevolent witch and also because they have settled into their tedious lives. However, all of them have their personal burdens to carry. Lilia, the bipolar divination witch who runs a small-time occult store, is going through a financial crisis and has been handed an eviction notice. Agatha’s proposal of joining her coven has perks for Lilia as she can pull herself out of her present miserable state, and she begrudgingly directs her to the other three witches. Jennifer, the potion expert witch, who has lost her powers over the last century, has been making a career selling herbalist products, and is now facing legal issues, so with help from the teenager, Agatha manages to manipulate her into joining her coven with the promise to reinstating her to her former glory. Lastly, Alice, the protection witch, whose mother, Lorna Wu, lost her life on the Witches’ Road, has a vested interest in the mystical gateway as well, even though she denies it in front of Agatha. Eventually all of them meet Agatha at her home, willing to undertake the journey, only to realize the final member, a green witch, is missing from their ranks. The green witch recommended by Lilia was none other than Rio Vidal, whom Agatha is desperately trying to avoid at this point, and she decides to just randomly bring in her elderly neighbor, Sharon, to fill in the position of the green witch.
Four witches and a human begin the ritual to conjure the Witches’ Road by singing “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road” in unison, and the Salem Seven take their sweet time to creep into the house, scaring the teenager out of his wits rather than doing something meaningful. Just before the cult of vicious witches catches up to them, Agatha and co. manage to slip away through a mystical gateway created by the ritual and begin their journey through a mysterious, phantasmagoric landscape. As the episode comes to an end, it becomes pretty apparent that the premiere at least wasn’t able to cast any bewitching spell; aside from one or two witty moments—but hopefully, like standalone projects like Moon Knight and Werewolf by Night, the series will be able to carve its own separate niche in the broader MCU lore. Who knows, the series might bring Scarlet Witch back to MCU with the redemption arc the character deserved, or might explore the much intriguing eldritch and Lovecraftian horrors of MCU’s metaphysical realms.
