To this day, the strangest thing about WandaVision Marvel never bothered to make anything else like it. Emerging from the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 hit was a surprise even to Marvel skeptics. The superhero factory’s first TV effort delighted from the start with a nostalgia trip through the history of the medium, showing that the studio had more to offer than record-breaking comic book epics. Unfortunately, that joy didn’t last long, as the series eventually became regular Marvel movies, skip a proper ending to reveal more information about the next MCU movie.
This is the first hurdle Disney+’s new series faces Agatha Throughout Timedebuts on Wednesday: The awkward three-year gap between the initially promising series that spawned it. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is also in a very different cultural place than it is in 2021; it’s struggling to recover from multiple creative and commercial failures, as well as the general fatigue that plagues any television business teetering into its second decade. Do audiences love WandaVision a common illusion, a Tiger King-style blip? Or is there actually something there?
Judging by the first four episodes, Agatha Throughout Time point out the following—provided the viewer is patient and not afraid of being fooled again.
It is best to treat Agatha Throughout Time as a sequel to WandaVision. Also created by Jac Schaeffer, the new series feels familiar to the first Disney+ Marvel show, but thankfully doesn’t have much else in the MCU canon. Picking up where things left off for Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), the show picks viewers up exactly where they left her three years ago: trapped in a magically-induced delusion in suburban New Jersey (another pandemic metaphor?) before a jilted ex (Aubrey Plaza) snaps her out of it, eager for revenge. In exchange for a stay of execution, Agatha embarks on a journey down the Witch’s Path—a metaphysical path to regaining her lost powers. But first, she’ll need to form a coven of witches and solve the mystery of a teenage boy (Joe Locke) no one will ever name.
It’s possible to have fun with a premise like this. Unfortunately it takes a while to get there. Agatha Throughout TimeThe first couple of episodes of ‘do not represent the show. In fact, the premiere devotes half of its running time to Mare of Easttown The parody starts out funny but loses its appeal at three times the length. SNL Music Night outline. The team of wizards isn’t assembled until the second episode; their road trip doesn’t begin until the third episode, streaming a week after the premiere. It feels like a creative shortcoming to demand such patience from viewers, who now have to be actively persuaded to watch a Marvel production with nothing but the star’s considerable charisma to keep them going.
Hahn tried his best—but just like WandaVisionAgatha is at her best when she has a cast of characters she can emulate. As is often the case when a scene-stealing supporting actor becomes the main character, Agatha Throughout Time goes to great lengths to bring the beloved witch back to Earth, stripping her of not only her powers but also her chaotic personality. The show immediately improves when the cast is rounded out by the likes of Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, and Patti LuPone (!)—in fact, the show doesn’t feel like it really gets going until the other witches show up.
