TL;DR –  The season finale trades in the bombast for the emotions as it resonates with its story and pushes forward for the future.

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

Agatha All Along Review –

Well, Death makes it clear that all good things must come to an end, so it is time for us to dive into the final episode of the season for Agatha All Along. After that, we will take some time to explore how the season went as a whole and some of the wild choices that they made that I am still thinking about now.

So, to set the scene, at the end of Follow Me My Freind / To Glory at the End, we were left reeling when Billy (Joe Locke) escaped the clutches of Death (Aubrey Plaza) because Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) gave herself up in his place. It is a perfectly selfless act that is also profoundly unlike the witch. However, as Billy arrives home, he starts thinking about things and realises he is the one who made the Road come to life, which is when he hears a cackle in the distance. We then jump back in time to 1750 with a heavily pregnant Agatha in the woods about to give birth, when in the distance, a certain green witch arrives. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

Deciding to devote a large portion of your final episode to a flashback after already doing a big flashback episode, Familiar by Thy Side, earlier in the season was a wild choice, and I am still not sure how I feel about it. Indeed, The Acolyte did something similar, but in hindsight, I am not sure it worked. This section established some major story beats, such as the reason why Agatha and Death fell out. It also showed that we can have Agatha murdering dozens of women and still make her an almost compassionate character acting out her trauma. Indeed, the biggest reveal is that the entire Road was just a con that Agatha came up with after the song caught on, which has massive repercussions for the rest of the series. I think what cuts through for me is the emotion. You felt that ‘I want more time’ in your soul, and that is all Kathryn Hahn.

This flashback episode also allows the costume department to flex even more of their muscles as if they had not been doing that already. As we jump forward in time via murders, which might be the oddest montage sequence I have seen in a while, we see Agatha work through the Witch themes of history. It is here at the end we find a still alive, but not quite, no ghost Agatha. For a show that has been pretty serious about the death of its characters, I think this one subversion of it was a good way to go. I don’t think it hurts that Death is on record saying that she hates ghosts. The rest of the episode is all about bringing us to that moment of a coven of two, before they chase down Tommy. Once again, it is the emotion that cuts through because I did very much believe that Billy was going to banish Agatha and that it was Billy’s kindness that spoke through to her.

A lot of this season has been able finding your purpose, Alice (Ali Ahn) finally got rid of her curse only to die straight away, but as a protection witch, protecting someone. She found her purpose. Lillia (Patti LuPone) was someone who spent time living out of time and place found her purpose in the moment. Death has but one purpose that is not cruel or monstrous, it is just life in a slightly more extravagant showing than what we got in The Sandman. For Nicholas Scratch (Abel Lysenko) his purpose was to bring joy in the small time he was here and move his mother away from some of her darker tendencies, which would only come to fruition through Billy. Agatha was ready and willing to kill all those witches right there in the basement, but a new purpose was found.

By the end of the season, you felt that characters had found their focus, the purpose, Agatha is a guide, Billy is a seeker, Jen is all powerful, Billy’s parents just seem to be super supporting of his life choices, and even Death is focused on death. But it is the small touches that nail it. That the Door to the Road was closed and the names of those who feel were forever inscribed on it. Agatha is never redeemed in the show, indeed the final episode goes out of the way to list all her crimes. But she has taken a step towards less worse position.

When we look back at the season as a whole, I think this might be the most consistent series that the MCU has produced. For me WandaVisionstarted stronger and Loki ended on a higher note, and I think Ms. Marvel might still be the best thing they have made. However, I don’t think that Agatha had a major misstep during its entire run. That is so rare in today’s medium to have something so consistent, especially a show that had a significant time links and flashbacks. Rewatching, it was fantastic seeing all the dots line up, but that being said, my first watch through was not spoiled by Funko, so that might be different for you.

There can be a lot of silliness in series like this, and the MCU in general, but what I think elevates this series is how the cast fully embraced their characters. Watching the series back, it is a blast seeing how much Aubrey Plaza embraces the role of Death from the moment she appears on screen. There is this moment when they all are falling down on their brooms and she is cackly at full volume and it was perfect. Kathryn Hahn is fantastic as Agatha, because we never know truly what side she is on, but she is always compelling. Joe Locke is a grounding element for the show, which is wild, considering that he might actually be the main protagonist all along. Debra Jo Rupp is barely in the show, yet her presence is felt throughout the series. It is that impact that makes the show work.

We also can’t talk about the show without talking about the production. Every week, the production and wardrobe departments hit it out of the park. They perfectly nailed every era that the show landed in each week. You felt this not just in the overall style but in all the small details, the hair, the makeup, and even the most minor details in the houses. Even outside of the Road, in both the cursed world that Agatha was seeing and the real one we get from Billy’s perspective, each is filled in a way that makes them feel like they were lived in. It also helps that all of those small touches come back to the fray when they are given meaning in the finale episode.

However, we can’t talk about the show without mentioning The Ballad of the Witches’ Road. Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez had already nailed the brief in WandaVision with Agatha All Along. I mean, it is so iconic that this series takes its name from it. However, they somehow outdid themselves here, and I don’t just say that because it has been sitting in my head on repeat for weeks now, thankfully drowning out Like a Prayer. I think it works better here because it is not just a gasp moment [though it has one]. Instead, it is baked into every fabric of the show. Every character is affected by it in some way, even if that is using it as a con to lure people to their doom. We get multiple different versions of the song throughout the runtime, from the quiet hums of a small child to full orchestral ballads and everything in between. I mean, the titles of the episode are taken from the song and directly relate to what is happening in the episode that week. When that full chorus sounds, you can’t help but get transported away.

Now, does that say that everything worked this season? No, no, it does not. Some elements of the show did feel underbaked, and unlike WandaVision, you can’t explain that away from a disrupted COVID production. The Salem Seven had no impact on the series other than looking a bit freaky in the first episode. They were a good idea that was never realised. Given that Okwui Okpokwasili is listed with the main cast, I assume that they were meant to have a more prominent role, but they didn’t survive the editing process. There was also a lot of dialogue that felt flat in places when you really needed that banter to hit hard. Finally, look, I think the series does an okay job of handwaving away some awkward age implications. I would also feel remiss not to mention it here that they do exist and completely support you if you didn’t think they nailed that.           

In the end, do we recommend Agatha All Along: Maiden Mother Crone? While I have heard it called one big post-credit scene, I can’t entirely disagree with that viewpoint. I did think it nailed that final moment that a show should. It might have meandered a bit to get there, but I was fine with that, especially as it casts a whole new look at the show when you watch it for a second time. Now, when it comes to the season, I would say that this is one of the best MCU’s, which is saying something because I did not have high hopes for this series at all. If they can take this sort of energy into their future productions, then I think there may be hope for this genre.  

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 – Gandja Monteiro, Rachel Goldberg & Jac Schaeffer
Written by – Jac Schaeffer, Laura Donney, Giovanna Sarquis, Laura Monti, Jason Rostovsky, Gia King, Peter Cameron & Cameron Squires
Created by – Jac Schaeffer
Based On – Agatha Harkness created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby & Wiccan created by Allan Heinberg & Jim Cheung
Production/Distribution Companies – Marvel Television & Disney+
Starring – Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Debra Jo Rupp, Patti LuPone, Aubrey Plaza, Maria Dizzia, Paul Adelstein, Evan Peters, Miles Gutierrez-Riley & Okwui Okpokwasili with Abel Lysenko, Laura Boccaletti, Kate Forbes, Emma Caulfield Ford, David Payton, David Lengel & Asif Ali and Hannah Lowther, Tertra Lloyd White, Henriett Zoutomou, Holly Bonney, Kim Bass,  Amos Glick, Scott Butler, Jade Quon, Chole Camp, Chau Naumova, Bethany Curry, Athena Perample, Alicia Vela-Bailey, Britta Grant & Marina Mazepa
Episodes Covered – Seekest Thou the Road, Circle Sewn With Fate / Unlock Thy Hidden Gate, Through Many Miles / Of Tricks and Trials, If I Can’t Reach You / Let My Song Teach You, Darkest Hour / Wake Thy Power, Familiar by Thy Side, Death’s Hand in Mine, Follow Me My Freind / To Glory at the End & Maiden Mother Crone