Wanda VisionThe creative approach to blending different storytelling styles makes it one of the most compelling pieces of television Marvel has ever produced. The show becomes appointment viewing every week because it fleshes out its core mystery in interesting ways. And for a while, feels like Wanda VisionThe story is part of an ambitious plan to push Marvel’s films in interesting new directions.
Marvel seems to have lost track of the plan between the two Wanda Vision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — and subsequent films glossed over the show’s juicy emotional beats in favor of dizzying spectacle and a more explicit horror vibe. but Agatha has alwaysDisney+’s latest Marvel Universe series from showrunner Jac Schaeffer feels like a sign that the studio has learned some valuable lessons from its messy multiplayer experiment.
Set several years after the events Wanda Vision and multiverse of madness, Agatha has always The show follows the story of a witch (Kathryn Hahn) when everything in her world seems to be falling apart again—albeit under slightly different circumstances. Although almost everyone remembers what happened the last time a witch appeared in Westview, New Jersey, the town is actually a very quiet place where people have learned to get on with their lives.
While people like Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp) are used to hurrying through the vacant lot where the Maximoff/Vishon family once lived, their collective trauma keeps them from speaking out she Named out of fear she might come back. But it also makes it easy for them to accept that Agnes/Agatha Harkness (Hahn) is a regular but eccentric woman who’s trying to process something they’ve both been through. To them, Agatha’s mood swings and insistence on being called “Agnes” were just strange coping mechanisms. But in fact, these are some of the first signs that Agatha realizes she was trapped in a magical prison when we last saw her.
Agatha has always Seems like a slow burn at first as it gets you into trouble Wanda Vision– A satirical drama that resembles a crime drama (rather than a situation comedy) east town mare and true detective. But the show quickly shifted gears, as if Marvel understood it needed to transcend the gimmicks of its predecessors. Soon after, Agatha regains her sanity with the help of her ex-lover Leo Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) and a magical girl she calls Teenager (Jo Rourke). However, with all of Agatha’s powers gone, she must form a coven and embark on a journey of witchcraft to restore her former glory.
However Wanda Vision It wasn’t until the last few episodes that things really got witchy; Agatha has always dives right into the magic, as it focuses on painting a more detailed picture of who Harkness is and how sorcery (unlike Doctor Strange’s whole deal) works. Wanda Vision There are allusions to Agatha’s treacherous past, but the new series explores how her centuries-long path to power made her a reviled villain in the witch community long before she set foot in Westview.
The sitcom “Agnes/Agatha” is one of the highlights Wanda Vision, Her unhinged energy helps sell the show’s conceit and keeps the audience guessing who is really manipulating everyone. but Agatha has always During Agatha’s search for the coven, Hahn meets other witches such as health guru Jennifer Kyle (Sasha Zamata), fortune teller Lilia Calderu (Patty LuPone) ) and security guard Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ari Ahn), which gives Hahn more room to shine. They knew Agatha had killed members of her own pack before, and there was something wrong with the teen’s inability to tell them anything about where he was from. But if they join Agatha on her quest, The Witch’s Path can give each of them what they desperately want.
Despite seeing more of Marvel’s more “grounded” wizarding world through Agatha has alwaysWith its new characters, the show has a distinct “I’m assembling a ragtag” vibe, which makes its pacing feel formulaic at certain moments. The teen – a gothic Agatha fan with Locke’s charisma and a distinctly unrecognizable accent – is destined to be one of the show’s compelling mysteries. But he’s also a surrogate for the audience, and his curious exchanges with other witches can sometimes feel like the show spends its time overexplaining plot points that don’t really need to be spelled out.
Every world-building lore the show establishes—for example, that there are always enough “witchy enough” people to form a coven within a three-mile radius—then reiterates why everyone follows Agatha. At times, this can leave the show feeling unsure of whether it’s introducing too much lore. But when Agatha has always Leaning into its weirdness and trusting you to piece things together, the series becomes more of a weird joyride that feels reflective of Schafer once again trying to bring a truly unique energy to the Marvel Universe.
You can clearly feel and see this once the group actually journeys into the Path of the Witches, an otherworldly realm where they face a series of trials designed to test their magical knowledge. similar way Wanda Vision It embodies various situation comedy styles, Agatha has always Feels like an anthem (Musical Features to a large extent) to horror classics such as rosemary’s baby and newer fares such as American Horror Story: Coven.
While some of the trials are a bit cheesy – at one point, the witches battle a generational curse – they all emphasize just how much Agatha has alwaysThe show’s magic is really meant to complement the show’s intricate sets. This makes the show stand out compared to Marvel’s typically CGI-laden projects, and feels like a solid example of the studio prioritizing art over great spectacle.
Agatha has always It’s still a late-stage Marvel series, which means sometimes your appreciation of what it’s doing will depend on your familiarity with recent events in the larger cinematic universe. But for viewers who have been paying attention and hoping that the studio would bring back the genuinely weird and fun riffs on the comics instead of hyping up the next big thing, Agatha has always It should be a joy to watch — especially when it starts to reveal its big secrets later this fall.
Agatha has always Also starring Paul Adelstein, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Okwui Okpowasili, Emma Caulfield, David Peyton, Kate Forbes and Asif Ali. The first two episodes of the show aired on Disney+ on September 18.
