This assessment incorporates full spoilers for Agatha All Alongside Season 1, Episode 3.
With Agatha All Alongside’s central premise established and Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) main her new coven down, down, down the Witches’ Highway, now it’s time to have some enjoyable. Episode 3 wastes no time leaping into the primary trial of the highway and delivers a spooky and revealing chapter to indicate what Agatha and her witches are made from. It’s a improbable episode that deftly walks the road between darkness and darkly humorous, giving us all the pieces Agatha All Alongside promised it might be.
First off, it must be mentioned that the set design for the Witches’ Highway is totally beautiful. The winding path of leaves that goes nowhere, the twisted and gnarled timber, and the ever-present fog work collectively to create an ominous, supernatural vibe. It’s just like the Wizard of Oz by means of Tim Burton. That the set was all accomplished virtually makes it all of the extra spectacular.
Scene after scene, Debra Jo Rupp’s Mrs. Hart Sharon Davis is a continuous delight. The opposite characters are various levels of acquainted with witchy stuff, however she’s experiencing all of it for the primary time, and her reactions are relatable and hilarious. Sharon is much and away essentially the most satisfying character on the present, which makes her obvious demise on the finish all of the extra heartbreaking. Absolutely, dying needn’t be everlasting in a spot as magical and ever-changing because the Witches’ Highway, proper? RIGHT?
The present has undoubtedly discovered its footing now that the complete solid has been assembled. It’s at its finest after we get to look at their extraordinarily completely different persona sorts play off each other. Figuring out how egocentric and uncaring Agatha is, it’s nice watching her attempt to be a frontrunner. You’ll be able to see the bodily pressure it causes her to be encouraging and useful. There’s a continuing push and pull between Agatha desirous to do what’s finest for her versus what’s good for the group, and it’s her unpredictability that makes her so entertaining to look at. She’s so duplicitous, she makes early-MCU Loki appear like a saint.
The primary trial of the Witches’ Highway leads the group to a flowery beachside mansion that all of the sudden seems on a sunny ocean shore. It’s a welcome shock to see that Agatha All Alongside’s horror components aren’t confined to the standard horror environments (dank cellars, darkish and creaky homes, and so on.). It’s a totally completely different sort of creepy to be in a haunted home with white decor, brilliant lights, and a digital kitchen timer counting all the way down to your doom.
Because of Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), we get one other piece of the puzzle regarding the true identification of Teen (Joe Locke). Kale sneakily implies that he could also be Agatha’s son who she traded for the Darkhold. That would definitely be a twist, however my cash remains to be on him being Wanda’s son, a now grown-up Billy Kaplan, who within the comics turns into the superhero sorcerer Wiccan. As we see later throughout Agatha’s hallucination, she is haunted by her option to commerce her baby for energy. It’s most likely a protected guess that the lock of hair in her locket is from her sacrificed child boy. That might clarify why Agatha’s necklace impressed her to simply accept Teen’s assist in the primary episode. She has a smooth spot for him, maybe as a result of she believes he’s her son. We additionally discovered that somebody put a sigil on Teen to make him unknowable to not simply Agatha however all witches, which begs the query, who wished to cover him from witchkind?
One other merchandise of import from Kale: She mentions Mephisto! I’m not going to lie, after weeks and weeks of obsessing over misguided Mephisto theories throughout WandaVision, it felt vindicating to lastly hear a personality within the MCU point out his identify, even when it’s solely in passing. These acquainted with Marvel lore know that the Satan-like Mephisto is a part of Wanda’s difficult comics historical past along with her kids, which is why many followers anticipated him to be part of their story within the MCU. Now that he’s been name-dropped, it’s a ready sport to see if he was simply talked about as a tip of the hat to followers, or if he’s being teased for an eventual look later within the season. Might Teen actually be an agent of Mephisto? Was it Mephisto who positioned the sigil on him? We will see!
The seaside home trial is designed to check Kale’s potion-making abilities. It begins out on a foolish observe because the poisoned wine causes everybody’s faces to swell to cartoonish proportions, with puffy noses, cheeks, and lips. Patti LuPone’s supply of “Actually, I don’t hate it” is hilarious. Then, issues take a flip for the worst, as every witch experiences a fever dream the place a determine from their previous comes again to hang-out them. This wonderful sequence is equal elements terrifying and illuminating, providing a touch on the skeletons hiding in every character’s closet. Up till now, the present was evenly spooky, however this episode amps up the horror and shows some fairly disturbing imagery. Extra please.
With such a giant solid, it’s not a shock that some characters aren’t getting as a lot display screen time as others. Of all of the witches, I really feel like I do know the least about Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), so I hope that’s corrected sooner somewhat than later. Regardless that we spend quite a lot of time with Teen, his character isn’t coming via robust sufficient. He affords quite a lot of exposition and enthusiasm, however I’m nonetheless ready to really feel invested in his private story. Alternatively, LuPone’s Lilia Calderu is rapidly turning into a favourite with how she affords knowledge to the group whereas additionally being a superb sport about all of the craziness occurring. (By the best way, who the heck is she speaking to?)
Different Ideas
-The lyrics to “The Ballad Of The Witches’ Highway” embrace the road “Collect sisters hearth, water, earth, and air.” The primary trial was water, so ought to we anticipate the remaining challenges to function the opposite listed components?
-Within the first episode in the course of the Agnes of Westview section, Agatha walked right into a bed room that belonged to her son, Nicholas Scratch. (Humorous sufficient, followers thought the rabbit in WandaVision was her son as a result of “Nicholas Scratch” is the identify of her son within the comics and the bunny’s identify is Señor Scratchy.) It appeared like Agatha saved her son’s issues and was residing in grief, and now we all know why he’s not round anymore. Until…
-Provided that Agatha misses her son and Teen desires a witchy mentor, it wouldn’t shock me if the highway “offers them what they want essentially the most” by bringing them collectively like mom and son.
-I nonetheless can’t consider Mephisto was talked about! Do you assume Marvel did it purely as a result of followers have been so hungry to see him in WandaVision? Both approach, let’s all take this as a private victory.