Agatha All Along Episodes 1 and 2: Aubrey Plaza and Mrs Hart Steal a Slow Start That Gets Witchy Fast

Our verdict on the two episode premiere of Agatha All Along, which we covered when it debuted in September 2024: the first episode tested our patience, but the second pulled us in once the witchiness took over. Across both, the standouts for us were Aubrey Plaza and the gardening neighbour Mrs Hart, whose real name turns out to be Sharon Davis.

Episode 1 struggled to settle on a tone

The Westview crime drama setup felt deliberate, because it had to show where Agatha had been for the last three years, but the execution missed. The verdict: "it wasn't quite funny and it wasn't quite serious." Aubrey Plaza's mysterious agent felt genuine and committed, while Kathryn Hahn's performance felt played up, almost winking at the audience. The foot chase also lacked momentum, and the fall from the gutter raised the question of whether it was meant to be comedy, while the other reaction was that it looked painful and only mildly amusing.

There was some impatience early on too, then interest once Plaza's character revealed herself. The incantation scene with the room changing, and Agatha seeing her different Scarlet Witch era outfits, both landed as neat moments. The complaint came down to the leadup: "let's get into the Aubrey Plaza stuff faster."

Episode 2 delivered the witchiness we wanted

The witch fan among us is really looking forward to seeing "how witchy can we make it." The rules of the road, needing a coven with each type of magic represented, felt like the kind of genre rules that make vampire and werewolf stories fun. The witches who arrived at the end were scary in a fun way, not nightmare material.

We wondered whether Agatha telling Lilia she cannot steal magic unless someone blasts her was a small tidbit to gain trust, with something else held back. Baiting the coven into attacking her looked like a plan B. Perhaps Mrs Hart has a small spark of earth magic, given her gardening skills.

A plot hole, and a question of quality

One thing bothered us: nobody questioned Mrs Hart, even though she did not sing and the other witches immediately recognised each other. That made the other characters seem less smart, unless that is the intended tone.

On production, the show looked better than Echo, which felt low budget in comparison, and it did not feel like cliff notes, a frequent complaint about Disney Plus shows. Still, there was a wish that the first two episodes had simply been a single episode.

Where does Agatha go from here?

Agatha was the villain of WandaVision, so what are we hoping for? She could regain her powers and become a formidable enemy again, maybe she will realise on the road that she needs the power of a coven and redeem herself at the end of it, or the show could do something we have not predicted.

Do you want Agatha redeemed by her coven, or restored as a full villain?