TERRY GROSS, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. In 2021, Disney+ presented a new limited series called "WandaVision," which took two minor characters from the Marvel Comics Universe and gave them their own show - a very inventive one, filtering a story of grief and witchcraft through the echoes of classic TV sitcoms. Three years later, the creator of "WandaVision," Jac Schaeffer, has concocted a spin-off of that series which just launched on Disney+. It's called "Agatha All Along," and our TV critic David Bianculli calls it just as creative and magical as its predecessor. Here's his review.
DAVID BIANCULLI, BYLINE: Just when I feel like I've reached the burnout phase when it comes to comic book dramas, along comes something that pulls me back in. HBO's "The Penguin," the best treatment of a DC comic character in years, just did that. And now along comes "Agatha All Along."
"Agatha All Along" is a spin-off from "WandaVision," centered on the unexpected villain of that earlier series. Most of the characters in "WandaVision" were under a magic spell, trapped in an isolated simulation of perennially happy suburban TV sitcoms of various decades. One of the residents who seemed to be under the spell was Agnes, the nosy neighbor, played by Kathryn Hahn. But in a surprise reveal near the end of the series, it turned out that Agnes was a witch named Agatha Harkness, who actually was the very aware villain hiding in plain sight in the supernaturally altered town of Westview. This plot twist was revealed in the next-to-last episode by temporarily turning "WandaVision" into a different pretend TV show, complete with its own TV theme song. The music and lyrics, which won an Emmy that year, were by Broadway musical veterans Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. And their song not only detailed the plot twist, it provided the inspiration and even the title for the new "Agatha All Along" series.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "WANDAVISION")
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Singing) Who's been messing up everything?
KATHRYN HAHN: (Singing) It's been Agatha all along.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Singing) Who's been pulling every evil string?
HAHN: (Singing) It's been Agatha all along.
BIANCULLI: "WandaVision" ended with Agatha imprisoned by a memory-wiping magic spell, sentenced to living in Westview, thinking she really was a town resident named Agnes. Jac Schaeffer, creator of "WandaVision" and its spinoff, starts "Agatha All Along" with Agatha, now Agnes, stuck in another TV-inspired alternate reality, except this time, instead of family sitcoms, the vibe comes from crime dramas, specifically "Mare Of Easttown." The show within a show we start watching, a gloomy detective series, is called "Agnes Of Westview." And early on, while working on a murder case, Agnes is visited by an FBI agent, played by Aubrey Plaza, who seems to know a lot more than just about the case at hand.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AGATHA ALL ALONG")
AUBREY PLAZA: (As Rio Vidal) Sure. Let's talk about the case. What are your theories? How'd she end up in the ravine?
HAHN: (As Agatha Harkness) No drag marks - thinking the perp carried her.
PLAZA: (As Rio Vidal) Seems logical, but you don't really believe that, because, oops, no tracks for the perp - not a leaf disturbed before forensics showed up. It's almost like she just magically appeared.
HAHN: (As Agatha Harkness) Let's stick to reality here, yeah?
PLAZA: (As Rio Vidal) Sure.
HAHN: (As Agatha Harkness) If there's one thing we can agree on, it's that these cases are always about the place - the specific small town, the history of it, the people in it, the secrets buried beneath it. That's where the answers lie.
PLAZA: (As Rio Vidal) Well, who better to solve the mystery than one of Westview's very own? I mean, you've lived here your whole life. Isn't that true, Agnes?
BIANCULLI: Thanks to a young suspect identified only as the teen, Agnes soon gets her memory back and her identity as Agatha, but not her powers. To regain them, she has to assemble a witch's coven and lead them on a journey down a magical, threatening witch's road. It's very "Wizard Of Oz," intentionally so. And Agatha even meets up with her eventual traveling companions one at a time, like Dorothy did. Agatha and the teen, who sticks along for the ride, visit a psychic played by Patti LuPone, who impresses Agatha with her very accurate reading of her. Afterward, Agatha confronts the psychic and tries to recruit her.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AGATHA ALL ALONG")
HAHN: (As Agatha Harkness) You showed some real skill out there.
PATTI LUPONE: (As Lilia Calderu) I didn't read your fortune. I read your reputation.
HAHN: (As Agatha Harkness) Oh.
LUPONE: (As Lilia Calderu) Witches like you are the reason people think we poison apples and steal children and eat babies.
HAHN: (As Agatha Harkness) Babies are delicious.
LUPONE: (As Lilia Calderu) Oh.
HAHN: (As Agatha Harkness) How old are you - 410, 415?
LUPONE: (As Lilia Calderu) How dare you?
HAHN: (As Agatha Harkness) Oh, I apologize. You don't look a day under 450.
JOE LOCKE: (As Teen) Years old?
HAHN: (As Agatha Harkness) You get - what? - maybe two suckers a day in here, and 20 bucks later, you're sitting on a bed that's also your wall. Don't you miss the glory days?
BIANCULLI: Other recruits include former "Saturday Night Live" player Sasheer Zamata, who's really good here. So is Aubrey Plaza and Patti LuPone and the rest of the cast, especially Kathryn Hahn. Each task the coven must complete on the witches' road presents new dangers and challenges, but also magical new settings and costumes.
That calls back to the audaciously inspired different-eras framework of "WandaVision," and so does the incantation chanted to summon up the entrance to the magical road. Once again, the Lopezes provide the music and lyrics. But this time, with Kathryn Hahn and Patti LuPone leading the chanting, it's indeed spellbinding.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AGATHA ALL ALONG")
KATHRYN HAHN AND PATTI LUPONE: (Singing) Seekest thou the road to all that's fowl and fair. Gather sisters - fire, water, earth and air. Darkest hour, wake thy power, earthly and divine. Burn and brew with coven true and glory shall be thine.
BIANCULLI: Disney+ provided only the first four episodes for preview, so I don't know how "Agatha All Along" ends, but I adore the way it starts.
GROSS: David Bianculli is a professor of television studies at Rowan University. He reviewed "Agatha All Along," which is now streaming on Disney+.
(SOUNDBITE OF ART FARMER AND BENNY GOLSON'S "KILLER JOE")
GROSS: Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, our guest will be actor Uzo Aduba. She's best known for her role as Crazy Eyes on "Orange Is The New Black" and for HBO's "In Treatment." She'll talk about growing up the daughter of Nigerian immigrants in an almost all-white Massachusetts suburb and pay tribute to her mother, who died while Aduba was writing her new memoir. I hope you'll join us.
To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram @nprfreshair.
FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi, Joel Wolfram and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producers are Molly Seavy-Nesper and Sabrina Siewert. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. Our co-host is Tonya Mosley. I'm Terry Gross.
(SOUNDBITE OF ART FARMER AND BENNY GOLSON'S "KILLER JOE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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