The coven overcome demons from their pasts and also literal demons
Agatha All Along has been pretty good so far. It suffers a little from too many supporting characters with tenuous connections (at best) to Agatha, but Agatha herself is a compelling driving force, the trials along The Witches Road have been fun, the set design is charming and colourful, and there have been a few dangling mysteries to tickle the brain.
I’ll admit that I’m struggling to find much to discuss about the individual episodes, though. Yesterday’s episode was only 24 minutes long. It’s really not enough to sink my teeth into. I like what I’m seeing of the show, but it’s hard to get excited about it week-to-week when an episode just gives you a fraction of a fraction of story arc.
It’s also way too hard to avoid spoilers given how little there is to actually analyse each week, so these Agatha posts will be full, spoiler-filled discussions from now on, as opposed to reviews, which I like to keep spoiler-free. I’ll a do a full review of the show after all nine episodes are out, but for now, let’s dive deep into episodes four and five.
Episode 4 - "If I Can't Reach You / Let My Song Teach You"
So, Sharon is dead.
I feel bad because she was a sweet lady, but I do like the fact that Agatha All Along isn’t afraid to kill off its characters. The coven botching the first trial by forgetting that Sharon took two glasses of poison and not feeding her enough antidote feels human. It’s fun to watch them struggle the fact that these people can actually die adds to the stakes!
I loved the horror of the corpse clawing up from the dirt after they summoned another green witch, but the reveal that it was actually Rio disappointed me a little. I like Aubrey Plaza’s presence in the show a lot, but for a second there, I thought Sharon Davis was rejoining the adventure as a zombie, which would’ve ruled. Ah well.
This episode’s focus is on Alice, the protector witch, played by Ali Ahn. The house the trial takes place in (I guess they’ll all take place in houses in the forest—a nod to Hansel and Gretel) is modelled after a recording studio. The backstory is a little muddy, but we gather that Alice’s family is cursed and that her mother, who was a singer able to access The Witches Road with her music, died by suicide because said curse.
Alice is a character with layers—I just wish we got more of her. I liked the whole ‘we have to play her mother’s song’ to fight the demon/curse that’s been tormenting Alice’s family, but the arc just felt a little rushed. I wanted more specifics about the curse and Alice’s relationship with her mother. I feel like the writers were onto something really touching with all of this, but it just wasn’t given enough room to breathe.
Aubrey Plaza as Rio is a fun addition to the cast, though. She’s the only one of them who feels classically ‘witchy’, and she has a mysterious and romantic past with Agatha. I mentioned earlier how many of the supporting characters don’t have a strong relationship with Agatha, but Rio is the exception.
There’s real chemistry between them, and even though we don’t know the specifics of their history, the way they bounce off each other is always fun, unlike Agatha’s somewhat stilted and dismissive interactions with the other witches.
I loved the design and feel of the demon/curse and Agatha’s genuine concern for ‘Teen’ before he asks about Agatha’s son and ruins the moment. Overall, a fun episode.
Episode 5 - "Darkest Hour / Wake Thy Power"
In the comics, the Salem Seven are an outlandish mix of humanoid beasts with weird outfits, and although a part of me is disappointed that they look totally different here in Agatha All Along, I like their new design, too. Having them transform into animals and crawl around weirdly is just kinda fun and creepy. I’m very okay with it.
I also liked the idea of the coven using broomsticks to escape from the Salem Seven, and the touch that broomsticks only fly if you make them for another witch is nice. Not sure if I’m a huge fan of witches hating broomsticks because of stereotyping and associations with female domesticity—I kinda just want them to go all in on being witches, y’know?—but I liked Patti LuPone’s little speech about it.
Anyways, this episode features the ‘Agatha’ trial, surprisingly. I’m not quite sure where they’re getting the 80’s aesthetic for the episode, though. Were Ouija boards big in the 80’s? The visual styles of the previous houses matched the witch whose trial it was, but I’m not seeing the connection to Agatha with this one. Maybe it’s yet to be revealed—there’s still a lot we don’t know about Agatha’s past.
The idea of Agatha having to face the ghost of her mother (whom she killed after her mother tried to kill her) is a nice idea, but never really felt like something Agatha was troubled by—even under the surface—up until this episode. Still, the possession was fun and 10/10 for Kathryn Hahn’s impression of Sharon (R.I.P. babe)
Much like previous trials though, the rules and goals of it were a bit lost on me. I understand that Agatha’s Mom’s Ghost wanted the rest of the coven to leave Agatha behind as punishment, but the haunting being resolved by Alice blasting the ghost with a beam of energy didn’t really feel like a satisfying way to solve the problem. The underlying issue that Agatha is a Bad Witch who maybe shouldn’t have any powers is an interesting one, but not one that was explored as thoroughly as I would’ve wanted… until the moment when Agatha starts absorbing Alice’s energy.
It’s been easy to forget that Agatha is a power-hungry villain, but now that she’s killed Alice—whether by accident or not—it feels like the show is finally gearing up to delve into the politics of witchy power that’s been simmering under the surface thus far.
I’m not sure I fully bought ‘Teen’ being as upset over Alice’s death as he was, but I suppose they did have a few friendly conversations, and she was the one to give ‘Teen’ him broomstick earlier in the episode. As I mentioned earlier, Alice is an interesting character that I wished had been given more screen time, so it’s a shame that she’s dead. I can’t say it was an emotional loss, but again, I like that the stakes of the show keep on escalating.
Also, yeah, ‘Teen’ is Wanda’s son… I mean presumably. It’s not confirmed yet—and I’m guessing we’ll get some multiverse shenanigans to explain it, but between that little coronet and those Wanda-like powers… yeah, that’s Wiccan. I mean, I called it, but so did everybody else. I’m looking forward to seeing how things develop now that the secret’s out, and the cut to Billie Eilish was great.
To conclude, I’m enjoying the show! It’s good-to-great! I’ll watch the next episode when it comes around, but I can’t say that the wait is killing me. Hopefully now that Wiccan’s been let loose, the story can really start popping off.
Until next time!
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