TL;DR – This was a fascinatingly weird start to the series that hit the end of the episode with the gusto it needed to move forward.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this film.

Agatha All Along Review –

I’ll be honest: I didn’t think we would ever come back to Westview with all the changes and realignments of the MCU in recent years. I loved the promise that WandaVision presented, even if I don’t think it stuck the ending. But in this world, it was clear that Kathryn Hahn was a real presence as Agatha, and when it was announced we were going back, I hoped we would get something as boisterous as it could be, and I think we might just get that.

So, to set the scene, Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) is a local detective in Westview and is arriving at a peculiar murder scene because a young lady from Eastern Europe has seemingly landed in a riverbed without disturbing a single leaf. This frustrates Agnes because there is something there, something she can’t quite put her finger on. But her life takes a turn when the Feds (Aubrey Plaza) arrive. Because no one wants the Feds snooping around your case because things tend to go wrong. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

In the modern MCU landscape, there is always this feeling that you might have to do homework before watching something new. Still, thankfully, this first episode is all about catching people up to where we are at without just doing a big exposition dump. I liked that it honoured WandaVision’s premise of being a TV show each week via presenting this as a Scandi Police Procedural, though through the lens of maybe a Deadloch interpretation. But in the end, all you need to know from the MCU is that at the end of WandaVision, Agatha was trapped in Westview, stripped of her memories and power, but now that the Witch that did that died at the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness potentially releasing the magic hold over Agatha’s life.

Reducing the issues down to those two points gives the episode a chance to play around in the space while also hinting to the audience. Rio Vidal’s (Aubrey Plaza) first appearance as a Fed is striking in that she becomes an instant presence just in the way she is sitting, bringing you into the oddness of what is going on, even if they do not immediately reveal their hand. The whole episode is about slowly chipping away at the façade that had been put up around Agatha’s life until she could break free. Indeed, the entire sequence of her remembering who she was by reliving all the different versions of herself that we got to see in WandaVision was a fun touch.

I am glad that this was a one-and-done episode in that we did not have to wait for Agatha to remember who she was. I think that would have started to grate quite quickly. However, they also did not completely overload you with lore. There are clues all around if you want to look. I think most people with a vague understanding of the comic will know who the ‘teen’ (Joe Locke) is, and that is fine. It was also great that we got to spend a bit more time with all the supporting cast from WandaVision, who ended up being a bit underused, though filming during COVID probably impacted that there. I also liked that the tonal shift between the two halves of the episode was so profoundly wild that it was a perfect shift for where we were going.

In the end, do we recommend Agatha All Along: Seekest Thou the Road? Well, to be fair, this episode did have to do a lot of heavy lifting transitioning out from WandaVision to Agatha. However, I think they did it in an exciting way that respected what came before while also propelling us forward.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Agatha All Along yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Agatha All Along
Directed by – Jac Schaeffer
Written by – Jac Schaeffer
Created by – Jac Schaeffer
Based On – Agatha Harkness created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Production/Distribution Companies – Marvel Telivision & Disney+
Starring – Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Debra Jo Rupp & Aubrey Plaza with Emma Caulfield Ford, David Payton, David Lengel & Asif Ali and Amos Glick