It’s been a long, strange road for the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the emotional, distracted end of WandaVision some 42 months ago; back in my review of the “The Series Finale” in 2021, I paraphrased a Vision quote to describe the current state of the MCU: “What is Phase 4, if not Marvel persevering?” And persevere it did, from a glutton of disappointing, quickly forgotten miniseries, a handful of equally forgettable, if occasionally entertaining films – and of course, the scandal resetting the plot arc of Phase 5; needless to say, WandaVision’s spinoff Agatha All Along arrives at a much different point of the MCU, and streaming television landscape, than where it was when the now-deceased Wanda left Agatha trapped in a spell in Westview.
The three-plus years since have brought tons of speculation as to what the point of Agatha All Along was; at its best, WandaVision was both a reflection on American network television in the 20th century, and an unexpectedly poignant, sad story about loss… but outside of “bringing back Kathryn Hahn because she’s awesome”, there hasn’t been a lot revealed about the series, which begs the question – what is the point of Agatha All Along?
“Seekest Thou the Road”, Agatha All Along‘s curious first episode, spends most of its forty minute running time dancing around this question; like the first episodes of WandaVision, “Seekest Thou the Road” enters its narrative through an extended pop culture reference (this time to Mare of Easttown and Forbrydelsen, aka the Woman Sweater Detective genre), and relies much heavier on alluding to story and character than engaging with it. Centered on Agatha’s slow realization of being trapped in Wanda’s now-distorted spell (thanks to the events of Dr. Strange’ in the Multiverse of Madness), this first episode mostly exists for story teases and MCU easter eggs, most of which may be lost on audiences tuning back in for the first time since WandaVision‘s ending.
By relying so heavily on allusion, “Seekest Thou the Road” has to lean heavily on Hahn’s performance translating into a coherent tone for the series… which is mostly does, letting Hahn exercise some of her detective dialogue skills from back in her Crossing Jordan days. As “Agnes” begins to look into the local murder of a young woman, Hahn gets to parody the well-worn tropes seen in shows from Bosch to Law & Order: SVU, telling her police chief to “eat her ass” and frequently discussing her recent suspension from the police force (for punching a suspect who was later found guilty… “You can’t be right and wrong at the same time?”, she asks someone at the initial crime scene) – and it’s fun for awhile, until Aubrey Plaza’s character arrives, almost immediately pulling at the threads of its barely-established world.
Once Plaza’s character “arrives” in the spell Agatha’s trapped in, Agatha All Along begins leaning much harder on old habits, highlighting some of the more prominent issues that have consistently popped up in the post-Endgame MCU, where everything devolves into eye winking vagaries, such that it betrays both character and narrative by shrouding both in needless mystery, refusing to ever really exist in the actual moment. Plaza as warrior witch Rio Vidal is a performance from the eyes up in this first episode – and while it is a great marriage of performance and character, it tells us nothing about Vidal (except that maybe her and Agatha had a thing once? Maybe?) and only seems to delay the inevitable for Agatha, which is waking up from Wanda’s semi-broken spell and escaping it.
Unfortunately, “Seekest Thou the Road” is too caught up in existing only as a prologue, teasing the appearances of a few familiar WandaVision faces (like Debra Jo Rupp’s Mrs. Hart, who runs over a teenager Wanda accidentally kidnaps in her delusion) as Agatha catches up to her place at the end of WandaVision. Slowly, as it abandons the prestige crime drama sheath and its references, Agatha’s mind begins to return to her, with her eventually running outside of her house naked to see the suburban “cesspool” she’s been trapped in for three years (where the still-traumatized residents of Westview hilariously have been playing along with Agatha’s delusions since Wanda left, since she was such a good neighbor for the past three years).
From there, “Seekest” devolves into disappointing witchcraft, as Vidal reappears and she blows a lot of wind around Agatha’s house, threatening to kill her for… reasons that are only half-alluded to, after Agatha remembers her witching powers have been taken from her. The climactic sequence, which ends with Agatha making a deal for Vidal to not kill her (though she notes that the “Salem’s Seven” will hunt her down when they find out she’s alive), is easily the weakest of the pilot, awkwardly staged and relying on Plaza reciting a lot of exposition as she holds a knife to Agatha’s throat, a scene that strays far from the strengths of either performer and leaves them both looking a bit uncomfortable with the scene’s occasionally silly dialogue (“I can’t kill you, but I can make you wish you were dead” Vidal snarls unconvincingly at one point).
In the moments “Seekest Thou the Road” allows itself to indulge in a bit of personality, leaning into snarky asides from its various characters, there are hints of a fun, self-contained adventure ready to embrace a weirder, slightly hornier side of the MCU. However, Agatha All Along‘s first episode doesn’t ever present an answer to the existential questions asked way back when the miniseries was first announced – what is at the heart of this story, and why does it matter?
Is this a redemption journey for a character? A story about power’s corruption, and Agatha’s relentless pursuit of reclaiming it? At times, “Seekest Thou the Road” just seems to kind of exist, flailing in the nothingness much like its titular character’s mind was left doing at the end of the series it sprung from. Though obviously an introduction to its world and characters, a hint of something grounded in human emotion (something beyond confusion) would’ve served Agatha All Along‘s first episode well, in helping resolve one of the most fundamental unanswered questions about the premise of the series.
“Seekest Thou the Road” ends with Agatha turning towards the teenage vandal tied up in her closet, cutting to credits in a way that feels incredibly self-congratulatory, even though the hour doesn’t accomplish much but allow Hahn and Plaza to chew a bunch of scenery. Given it was a two-episode premiere, on some level, the narrative facetiousness is acceptable – but considering Agatha All Along arrives at such a strange time for Marvel’s cinematic machine, one would hope its first episode would have a little more pathos and/or purpose to offer. Instead, it’s first episode is a curiosity of intriguing and disappointingly familiar elements in equal order, a premiere that does nothing to justify its own presence, but certainly has some fun with the act of just existing. For one episode, that is enough – however, the clock is already running for Disney+’s long-awaited miniseries to find its voice.
Grade: C
Other thoughts/observations:
- I’m not going into all of the Easter eggs in this episode, but the one that stuck out to me is seeing the name “Nicholas Scratch”, who, canonically, is Agatha’s son.
- The teen Agatha finds mentions looking for “The Road”, which we’ll certainly find out more about when the tape over his mouth is removed in episode two.
- “She took every little bit of power I had, and left me with household appliances!”
- Agatha “shedding” her various identities of late leads to a great visual effect of her dressed as she was in the first episode of WandaVision. Still a great look!
- “You prefer me -” “Horizontal, in a grave!”
- John Collins makes his return from WandaVision, giving voice to the damaged, confused residents of Westview trying to make sense of their post-spell lives. Also, love him as the detective “Agnes” arrives at the crime scene of.
- Kathryn Hahn showing ass on a Marvel series was not in my 2024 bingo card.
- Agatha mentions a bunch of rules, like how her and Vidal can’t kill each other, or if she tried to take Vidal’s powers, she would die. I guess this matters?