This review contains full spoilers for Agatha All Along Season 1, Episode 3.
With Agatha All Along’s central premise established and Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) leading her new coven down, down, down the Witches’ Road, now it’s time to have some fun. Episode 3 wastes no time jumping into the first trial of the road and delivers a spooky and revealing chapter to show what Agatha and her witches are made of. It’s a fantastic episode that deftly walks the line between darkness and darkly humorous, giving us everything Agatha All Along promised it would be.
First off, it should be said that the set design for the Witches’ Road is absolutely gorgeous. The winding path of leaves that goes nowhere, the twisted and gnarled trees, and the ever-present fog work together to create an ominous, supernatural vibe. It’s like the Wizard of Oz by way of Tim Burton. That the set was all done practically makes it all the more impressive.
Scene after scene, Debra Jo Rupp’s Mrs. Hart Sharon Davis is a non-stop delight. The other characters are varying degrees of familiar with witchy stuff, but she’s experiencing it all for the first time, and her reactions are relatable and hilarious. Sharon is far and away the most enjoyable character on the show, which makes her apparent demise at the end all the more heartbreaking. Surely, death needn’t be permanent in a place as magical and ever-changing as the Witches’ Road, right? RIGHT?
The show has definitely found its footing now that the entire cast has been assembled. It’s at its best when we get to watch their extremely different personality types play off one another. Knowing how selfish and uncaring Agatha is, it’s great watching her try to be a leader. You can see the physical strain it causes her to be encouraging and helpful. There’s a constant push and pull between Agatha wanting to do what’s best for her versus what’s good for the group, and it’s her unpredictability that makes her so entertaining to watch. She’s so duplicitous, she makes early-MCU Loki look like a saint.
The first trial of the Witches’ Road leads the group to a fancy beachside mansion that suddenly appears on a sunny ocean shore. It’s a welcome surprise to see that Agatha All Along’s horror elements aren’t confined to the usual horror environments (dank cellars, dark and creaky houses, etc.). It’s a completely different kind of creepy to be in a haunted house with white decor, bright lights, and a digital kitchen timer counting down to your doom.
Thanks to Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), we get another piece of the puzzle in regards to the true identity of Teen (Joe Locke). Kale sneakily implies that he may be Agatha’s son who she traded for the Darkhold. That would certainly be a twist, but my money is still on him being Wanda’s son, a now grown-up Billy Kaplan, who in the comics becomes the superhero sorcerer Wiccan. As we see later during Agatha’s hallucination, she is haunted by her choice to trade her child for power. It’s probably a safe bet that the lock of hair in her locket is from her sacrificed baby boy. That would explain why Agatha’s necklace inspired her to accept Teen’s help in the first episode. She has a soft spot for him, perhaps because she believes he’s her son. We also learned that someone put a sigil on Teen to make him unknowable to not just Agatha but all witches, which begs the question, who wanted to hide him from witchkind?
This episode amps up the horror and displays some pretty disturbing imagery. More please.
Another item of import from Kale: She mentions Mephisto! I’m not going to lie, after weeks and weeks of obsessing over misguided Mephisto theories during WandaVision, it felt vindicating to finally hear a character in the MCU mention his name, even if it’s only in passing. Those familiar with Marvel lore know that the Devil-like Mephisto is part of Wanda’s complicated comics history with her children, which is why many fans expected him to be a part of their story in the MCU. Now that he’s been name-dropped, it’s a waiting game to see if he was just mentioned as a tip of the hat to fans, or if he’s being teased for an eventual appearance later in the season. Could Teen really be an agent of Mephisto? Was it Mephisto who placed the sigil on him? We shall see!
The beach house trial is designed to test Kale’s potion-making skills. It starts out on a silly note as the poisoned wine causes everyone’s faces to swell to cartoonish proportions, with puffy noses, cheeks, and lips. Patti LuPone’s delivery of “Honestly, I don’t hate it” is hilarious. Then, things take a turn for the worst, as each witch experiences a fever dream where a figure from their past comes back to haunt them. This excellent sequence is equal parts terrifying and illuminating, offering a hint at the skeletons hiding in each character’s closet. Up until now, the show was lightly spooky, but this episode amps up the horror and displays some pretty disturbing imagery. More please.
With such a big cast, it’s not a surprise that some characters aren’t getting as much screen time as others. Of all the witches, I feel like I know the least about Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), so I hope that’s corrected sooner rather than later. Even though we spend a lot of time with Teen, his character isn’t coming through strong enough. He offers a lot of exposition and enthusiasm, but I’m still waiting to feel invested in his personal story. On the other hand, LuPone’s Lilia Calderu is quickly becoming a favorite with how she offers wisdom to the group while also being a good sport about all the craziness going on. (By the way, who the heck is she talking to?)
Other Thoughts
-The lyrics to “The Ballad Of The Witches’ Road” include the line “Gather sisters fire, water, earth, and air.” The first trial was water, so should we expect the remaining challenges to feature the other listed elements?
-In the first episode during the Agnes of Westview segment, Agatha walked into a bedroom that belonged to her son, Nicholas Scratch. (Funny enough, fans thought the rabbit in WandaVision was her son because “Nicholas Scratch” is the name of her son in the comics and the bunny’s name is Señor Scratchy.) It looked like Agatha kept her son’s things and was living in grief, and now we know why he’s not around anymore. Unless…
-Given that Agatha misses her son and Teen wants a witchy mentor, it wouldn’t surprise me if the road “gives them what they need the most” by bringing them together like mother and son.
-I still can’t believe Mephisto was mentioned! Do you think Marvel did it purely because fans were so hungry to see him in WandaVision? Either way, let’s all take this as a personal victory.
