Review of “Agatha All Along” Episode 1, “Seekest Thou The Road” and Episode 2, “Circle Sewn With Fate, Unlock Thy Hidden Gate”

So, I haven’t done very many reviews lately, but I want to start this review off by saying that I did not go back and rewatch “WandaVision”. Have watched that series through from beginning to end about four times. However, that was also a while ago. After watching “Agatha All Along” episode 1 and 2, I really feel like not remembering too much from WandaVision took nothing away from enjoying the show. There are some spoilers ahead.

To start off with, I was actually pleasantly surprised by the way “Agatha All Along” began, incorporating the motif from WandaVision of each episode representing a different genre of television show. This was unexpected, but it also shows the range of what Agatha Harkness is going through internally and subconsciously without realizing it. She wants justice. And so, the show starts off as a gritty cop drama, which in more ways than one, fills in gaps in her personality, particularly in how she talks and always needs to be in charge. And it’s a subtle hint that there is something that’s missing, but she doesn’t really know it, Of course, viewers of “WandaVision” know exactly what is missing and know what was taken away from Agatha or in the case of the pilot, Detective Agnes.

There’s something that I really appreciate about the opening with the gritty cop drama set in this small town. It’s the fact that there were little callbacks to Wanda Maximoff. If you’re like me and you did not rewatch All of WandaVision, or binge watch the Marvel films she appears in. It’s likely that you forgot Wanda’s last name altogether. You probably forgot about the library, where Vision volunteered. It’s likely that you forgot about the neighborhood watch. You probably forgot about the smaller aspects of WandaVision, where the townspeople played different roles in whatever television genre Wanda made them live through.

And you know what? The pilot episode of ‘Agatha All Along’ covers those points. I appreciated that right after the gritty cop drama kicks off, Agatha finds her locket. This serves as a clue for her and really acts as the catalyst for her hero’s journey—or in this case, the witch’s road.

A takeaway, and something that I very much appreciated, is the subtext of the character where It’s implied, that she knows what’s going on. She sees different animals appearing. Her own senses get manipulated so she can’t hear certain things. But when these clues are presented to her and she is not allowed to know what they are, Agatha does not feed into it. From the perspective of the other characters, she appears disinterested. As a skilled manipulator, she’s acutely aware of what’s happening to her (Trying not to spoil everything here.)

Really have to give hats off to Kathryn Hahn. She plays it so cool, even when it’s obvious her strings are being yanked by someone or something else. She stays in that arrogant vibe, yet somehow keeps being herself, all while pulling off the persona she wants everyone to buy into.

It’s very subtle, the transition from when she is being manipulated to believing she’s in a gritty cop show to becoming Agatha Harkness, a powerless witch from Salem, MA, with her origins from the 1600s. Now embodied in modern day Westview New Jersey. My take on her acting is she really pulls it off that she is, in fact, Reverse interrogating characters all throughout episodes 1 and 2.

Each person she meets clearly and obviously knows who she is, what her reputation is, but they don’t know her motivation. However, the reasoning for her motives is skewed and when she gives away what her weaknesses are, is she really?

This is where Kathryn Hahn is absolutely on the mark!

Every move that Agatha Harkness makes, is calculated when she appears to be winging it, She absolutely is not. Keep in mind she’s playing a character who has been around for over 300 years. If there’s anyone who has learned anything from history repeating itself, it would be this woman.

This is something I really appreciated in Katherine Hahn’s acting. When she appears to be letting her guard down and mingling well with other characters, her shields are actually up. I appreciated the flighty cluelessness of certain scenes, only to realize that when she has to admit to something, it appears almost like malice aforethought, methodically planned when there is no time to do so.

A brilliant tactic in the writing because it takes the element of surprise, reminiscent of the old detective show Columbo, where he would act clueless and give other characters the impression that he doesn’t have a clue, lowering their guard. Agatha is—let’s not mince words here—Agatha Harkness is a hunter.

However, a redeeming quality is that she isn’t just a bad person. She’s grown since WandaVision, and this is very clear. I don’t want to give too much of it away, but if you look at the way she develops her speech, in the way how Kathryn Hahn plays this character.

After she realizes, ‘Hey, I’ve been stuck in this loop of living in a TV world,’ she understands on a deep level that her search for truth and facts in her TV fantasy world is really just a precursor to what she has to do once she’s snapped out of it.

Her mission hasn’t changed. She’s still trying to find herself. And this is where I really appreciate episodes one and two of Agatha All Along, Keep in mind the reason the show is called “Agatha All Along” was her catch phrase from the end of WandaVision, “It was “Agatha All Along”.

In WandaVision, Agatha had her powers, she knew what was going on. She identified the Scarlet Witches’ Hex, and continues to play the part of the nosey neighbor, pulling the strings of every episode, and no one was the wiser, not even the all-powerful Scarlet Witch and the all-knowing, all powerful intelligence known as Paul Bettany. Sorry, I mean Vision, who let’s face it, for those of you who follow the Marvel franchise, Vision is Iron Man’s Jarvis.

Not much gets by Vision. And yes, you can argue, was that really Vision? Was it not? That’s neither here nor there, because from my perspective, it was. As far as the story carried through WandaVision, that was Vision, that was the superhero, one of the Avengers.

Where am I going with this?

Was everything Agatha did in WandaVision done entirely with her powers? No, her purple had nothing to do with her way of speaking to people, understanding the situation, breaking everything down, and being an outstanding tactician. Kathryn Hahn, through her witty dialogue and conveying what she’s thinking without actually saying a word, really pulls it off. It’s when she’s in the world of a detective in a gritty cop drama set in a New Jersey town that she’s more about telling than showing, being verbally theatrical. She tells off her boss, the police chief, with lines like, ‘You have to put the lid on the blender before you use it,’ using blatant sarcasm just to see people’s reactions. Yet, when she’s pulled out of the TV world, she’s still doing that, with the same objectives in mind.

She says things, people react, she bases her moves off that, and this is where the writing is superb. This could have been very cornball. And it’s not.

This is the show that came out just in time for Halloween. Again spoilers, I’m thrilled with the fact that it introduced other characters who are fully aware of who Agatha Harkness really is. It gives much more depth to the character which I feel is missing from WandaVision, albeit that was intentional because it was about Wanda.

Agatha Harkness’s reputation precedes her everywhere she goes.

Every new character introduced, in some way, shape, or form, is familiar with witches, (or identifies as being a specific classification of a witch, introduced into the Marvel universe in Episodes 1 and 2). Everyone in the town of Westview was under Wanda’s influence. It’s no secret that the events of WandaVision are well known. From Agatha’s perspective, it’s history repeating itself, like the Salem witch trials. There’s literally graffiti on the foundation of the house that Wanda was envisioning with Vision no pun intended.

I also have to give credit to Debra Jo Rupp, who plays Mrs. Hart, the gardening enthusiast next-door neighbor. She immediately and essentially volunteered information to Agatha and the audience that, yes, the impact from the Scarlet Witch is still there. Debra Jo Rupp’s Mrs. Hart, herself genuinely thinks that Agatha is crazy, but she’s also in the same situation as everyone else, had being previously manipulated by the Scarlet Witch. Hence, the neighbor is still aware of what exists in this universe but not aware that Agatha Harkness was or is also a witch herself. Debra Jo Rupp, I feel, does a great job integrating her character with the other ‘witches.’ She doesn’t judge, she doesn’t question. She’s a good neighbor.

Why this all works?

I appreciate a show that wraps witty humor, sarcasm, and some almost horrifying moments all into one because it shows not only a wide spectrum of writing but also how the actors have their own range of reacting to situations. And I’m not just talking about Kathryn Hahn’s ?ability to portray 1,000 words without speaking a single one, which, as a screenplay writer myself, is a superpower.

But each one of the characters Whether you remember them from WandaVision or If they are brand new to you, as the new introduction of the new witches are, they are all completely mirror opposites of each other.

The chemistry is there, the way how they all work off of each other. Also, I’m not too convinced yet after 2 episodes that Agatha Harkness herself isn’t being manipulated by one of her new friends.

Again, I could be wrong, but knowing how story works, character growth really relies on learning from mistakes and morals from life lessons. With the theme of history repeating itself, Agatha makes no bones about walking the Witches’ Road. Previously in her lifetime, she knew how to assemble a coven awfully quickly, as if she had done it before at some point.

If she was in exile, since the Salem which trials, does this mean that she had to walk the witch’s road before that happened, or when her exile started?

Maybe it’s possible that Agatha knows this all along.

This is my closing thought that’s where I’m going to leave you. I don’t want to spoil everything in the first two episodes. Gave some speculation, gave my insight as being a writer myself and yeah it’s an all-around good show. Do you have to rewatch WandaVision to understand it? No.

Should you rewatch WandaVision? Yes, but not because of Agatha All Along. You should rewatch WandaVision because it’s also a good show, and the themes of WandaVision, are different. The two series in my opinion, work well together.

While watching Agatha All Along, I had to ask myself. Is The Witches Road going to be a modern re-telling of the Wizard of Oz?

- Jeff Sturm 7376 films.

Feige, K. (Executive Producer). (2021).?WandaVision?[TV series]. Disney+.

Schaeffer, J. (Creator). (2024).?Agatha All Along?[TV miniseries]. Disney+.