TV nostalgia fans will surely feel some familiarity with the house belonging to Agatha Harkness in new Disney+ series Agatha All Along.
But you’re not having deja vu. The exterior set for her house was the same one used in Bewitched (sadly torn down a year ago).
There are all kinds of Easter eggs, nods and winks in this outlandish, theatrical series by writer / director Jac Schaeffer (WandaVision, Black Widow). It makes the series as much fun for its construct as its content.
Kathryn Hanh zealously reprises her role last seen in WandaVision but this time she begins as Detective Agnes O’Connor in Westview on the case of a Jane Doe body found dead in the woods. Complete with all the coffee-carrying, donut eating hallmarks of TV cops, she is tested by FBI agent (Aubrey Plaza as Rio Vidal). Playing all of the subtext, and little of the crime plot, it’s obvious these two know each other in past lives…
“Do you remember why you hate me?” -Rio Vidal.
Yet Agnes’ world will turn more upside down when she encounters a teen (Joe Locke) breaking into her home, before a full transformation into the witch Agatha Harkness in the local morgue.
It’s clear she has been under a spell for several years. With this, joyously, Hahn shakes off her tough cop facade for the driving force that is Agatha.
Yet she is also without her powers which is hardly a fair fight when Rio Vidal, aka the Green Witch, comes to battle. Agatha must walk the Witches’ Road to regain her powers, taking a coven of witches with her.
“Let me get my purple back” -Agatha.
Now with openly-queer Teen by her side, Agatha sets about recruiting her coven to embark on the Road ahead.
Those encounters, which I won’t spoil, involve legendary Patti Lupone as Lilia Calderu, Sasheer Zamata as Jennifer Kale, Ali Ahn as Alice Wu-Gulliver, and -returning from WandaVision– Debra Jo Rupp as Westview neighbour Sharon Davis (in something of a nod to Bewitched‘s Gladys Kravitz).
By now full-throttle as Agatha, Kathryn Hahn is a force to behold: relentless, outspoken, dry and delicious all at once. She steps into the role with energy and exuberance.
Joe Locke, who shot to fame in Heartstopper, demonstrates he is no one-trick pony, mastering a US accent with ease and shedding the vunerability of Charlie Spring for the streetsmarts of this Teen.
Having Patti LuPone and Debra Jo Rupp are further treats in this promising spin-off from the Marvel Universe.
There are also further pop culture witch references in the closing credits, everything from Snow White to The Simpsons (what no Witchypoo? Boo!).
In all of its spell-binding smoke and mirrors and wink-wink gags will it pause long enough for us to catch breath and care for the flaws of our characters? Or will we get to the end to discover it is but another masquerade?
Who knows? At least we’ll have fun finding out.
Agatha All Along is now screening on Disney+.
links to content on ABC
TV Tonight
