Ah, it feels good to be home. By home, I mean Westview, New Jersey. It has been three long years since our last visit, and the same amount of time since Agatha Harkness (played by Kathryn Hahn) remembered who she is.
To refresh your memory, WandaVision showed us how Wanda Maximoff (played by Elizabeth Olsen) put a spell on the town, trapping its residents in a sitcom.
Everyone was trapped except for Agatha Harkness. Agatha, who is secretly 350 years old, pretended to be a citizen of Westview under Wanda’s spell. She wanted to learn what Wanda was doing and how.
After revealing her true identity through a catchy song, she tried to take Wanda’s powers but lost. Wanda trapped Agatha in the role of Agnes, the nosy neighbor.
Agatha Is Trapped in a Detective Show in ‘Agatha All Along’ Episode 1
Agatha All Along Episode 1 begins three years later, with Agatha still physically stuck as the sitcom version of Agnes. Mentally, however, she stars in her own show. This time, it is not a comedy but a serious detective series called Agnes of Westview.
The opening credits humorously state that it is “based on the Danish series Wandavisdysen.” This is fitting because, during WandaVision, Agatha tried to figure out who Wanda was. In this first episode, she slowly starts to understand who she truly is. Creator Jac Schaeffer enjoys irony and parody.
The episode plays with many detective genre tropes. While it may not feel as clever and polished as the sitcom parodies of WandaVision, it is still a lot of fun to watch Hahn act as a tough, no-nonsense detective. In the first scene, she hums a familiar tune, “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road,” while heading to a crime scene.
The victim turns out to be a murdered woman, who we will later learn is Wanda Maximoff — sort of. Like many things in Agatha’s life, this is an illusion. The Scarlet Witch is likely still where Multiverse of Madness left her, buried under Mount Wundagore.
This adds to the long list of things Agatha does not know right now. The crime scene is in the woods, the same place where she killed her entire coven.
This setting presents different challenges that Agatha faces at various points in her life. Her time as Detective Agnes is filled with obstacles. We learn that she recently returned from being suspended for punching a suspect, making it clear we are dealing with a typical tough detective.
The cracks in the Agnes facade start to show quickly. Agatha experiences strange moments of recognition and confusion when she sees certain things. For example, the victim’s blackened fingers resemble what happens after using the Darkhold, and a locket she finds has a mother, maiden, and crone image with a lock of brown hair inside.
“Who are you?” Agatha asks the body. “What happened to you?” She asks herself these questions as much as she asks the dead woman. Hahn is an excellent comedic actor, and these subtle moments of vulnerability are equally impressive. In a twisted way, you cannot help but feel sorry for this scheming character and want her to regain her powers.
The citizens of Westview we met in WandaVision return, but they have different roles in Agatha’s story. Herb/John (played by David Payton) is now Agatha’s partner, while Phil/Harold (played by David Lengel) is the police chief.
He is still married to Dottie/Sarah (played by Emma Caulfield Ford), who is now the librarian. Norm/Abilash (played by Asif Ali) works in a pawn shop. Agatha’s investigation leads her to interact with them, slowly uncovering her own history while pretending to solve the murder.
For instance, she finds a library checkout card at the crime scene that leads her to fire-damaged stacks. “Every last copy” of the book she seeks (which has the acronym DARKHOLD) has been destroyed.
The dirt under the victim’s nails is only found in Eastern Europe. And does that flannel shirt she wears look suspiciously like a famous ‘50s dress?
Who Breaks Agatha Out of Her Spell in ‘Agatha All Along’ Episode 1?
In addition to the familiar Westview citizens, we meet two new characters: Rio Vidal (played by Aubrey Plaza) and Teen (played by Joe Locke). Rio enters Agatha’s life pretending to be a federal agent, someone Agatha instantly dislikes but cannot remember why.
Rio plays along with the detective show clichés. She brings pizza to Agatha’s house and lets her talk about a car accident in Eastview that might connect to the murder.
Rio tries to bring out the real Agatha by making suggestive comments. “It’s almost like she magically appeared,” Rio says about the body. “You’ve lived here your whole life — isn’t that true, Agnes?” she questions at another point.
Right before Rio arrives, the show introduces Nicholas Scratch — kind of. In the comics, Nicholas Scratch is Agatha’s son, and it seems the MCU may keep this idea. Agatha briefly looks into a child’s room with a teddy bear and a plaque with a name. There is much to consider here.
However, the focus shifts to a mysterious goth teenager who tries to escape Agatha’s house. Not wanting him to get away, Agatha chases him down. She catches him after Mrs. Hart/Sharon Davis (played by Debra Jo Rupp) hits him with her car.
The teen is very sarcastic in the interrogation room, and Agatha is very aggressive, even after Rio warns her to calm down. Teen claims he broke into her house looking for a road, which Agatha does not understand. He starts chanting in another language, which confuses her further. Instead, she shows him gruesome pictures from the crime scene, demanding to know where he was during the murder.
But it turns out there are no gory pictures at all. Instead, Agatha shows him images of flowers. The one-way mirror she keeps looking through to see Rio? It is just a painting. Frustrated, Agatha locks Teen in a holding cell and heads to the morgue for answers.
She finally gets some when she sees the name W. Maximoff on the library checkout card dated October 13th. Rio appears and informs her that Wanda is gone, along with the Darkhold. “There are two Jane Does in this case,” she says. “You know her name, so what’s yours?”
An A. Harkness appears next to Wanda’s name, and Agatha feels intense emotions, clawing out of her spell. She rips off all the different outfits we saw her wear in WandaVision in an impressive scene.
What Is Agatha and Rio’s Relationship in ‘Agatha All Along’ Episode 1?
Eventually, Agatha wakes up as her true self in her house, completely naked and — as she quickly realizes — completely powerless. This leads to a funny conversation with Herb/John, who covers his eyes while explaining what she has been doing for three years.
For one, she has not been as aware as she seems now — and she has been less aggressive. Agatha is very angry, calling Westview a “cesspool… where hope goes to die.” She storms to her basement, discovering that Wanda has left her with only household items and Señor Scratchy.
She hears a noise in her closet and finds the goth teenager from the night before. Oops, that arrest was more like kidnapping. Agatha realizes that if Teen was not just a figment of her imagination, then neither was Rio. Just then, Rio bursts in, accidentally destroying part of Agatha’s house.
She is furious and tries to stab Agatha, but Agatha fights back even without her powers. We learn many interesting things during this very entertaining fight: Agatha has hidden behind dark magic for many years, Rio cannot kill her for some unknown reason, and Rio has a black heart that beats for Agatha.
These two are going to be fun to watch together. Agatha convinces Rio to let her regain her powers before trying to kill her.
After all, it would be undignified to murder her in this state, and she wants Agatha to be powerful. While this may be true, Rio reminds Agatha that she is not the only one who wants her dead, and she is sending the Salem Seven after her come sundown.
‘Agatha All Along’ Episode 1 Is Fun but Unnecessary
This pilot episode is entertaining. Watching Hahn perform will always be enjoyable, and the writing is clever with many Easter eggs. It will likely be even more fun to watch after the entire show airs, as it seems there are hints in every frame we have not yet noticed.
However, as enjoyable as it is, the episode feels a bit unnecessary right now. The sitcom humor worked well in WandaVision because it had a natural flow, but Agatha All Along may not achieve the same payoff with the detective theme.
Spending ten minutes as a callback might have made sense, but dedicating much of the pilot to this fictional world seems like a pacing misstep. It is like a story that ends with, “And then it was all a dream.”
It may work better for those who are less familiar with Agatha’s character and the events of WandaVision, as there will be a level of mystery that fans may not experience.
As it stands, Episode 1 feels more like a prologue than a pilot. No matter how much fun it is, one cannot help but want the real story to begin.
The story picks up when Agatha discovers who she is in the morgue. While the buildup to this moment has value, we could have arrived there a little sooner without losing anything. However, Agatha was trapped in Westview for 36 months, so 26 minutes does not seem too long in comparison.
New episodes of Agatha All Along release every Wednesday at 9 PM ET on Disney+.
