It’s like they reversed their normal order, it’s usually the penultimate episode is their flashback story then the finale is the action heavy part (WandaVision, Moon Knight & She-Hulk [opening episode was originally the penultimate episode])
You mentioned "Rogue One" but I feel an even better comparison is "Andor" - a Disney Plus show on a side character that no one particularly wanted but delivered some of the best episodes in their genre, helped by a longer episode count that enabled them to stretch their legs.
I think what’s really going on here is that the higher ups have way more say in the bigger budget, “blockbuster” movies and tv shows which play it way too safe and corporate. You can tell that smaller shows like Agatha, andor, penguin and peacemaker give a creative visionary time and control over their product. I think Disney realized this which is why they rewrote, reshot, and canceled a ton of projects.
The revelation of 'The Witches Road' being created by Billy with the combo of the song and legend being created by Agatha and her son really made the show for me.
yeah, and it wasn't even "down" and "witches road" at first but meandering road. do you think Agatha felt somewhat mocked whenever she heard witches talk about it?
the history of the ballad is insane. Agatha and her son, Nicki created it as a sweet little song for eachother then they used it as one of their many scams. It becomes some sort of folk song... which then Agatha, full of grief, uses it to trick witches into getting her powers. Lorna Wu, Alice's mom creates a rock ballad inspired in it that is actually a spell to protect her own child fron a generational curse. Billy hears the song which plants the idea of the Witches Road in his mind and then ACTUALLY creates it.
@@casaopcional3081 hence why it's "covent two" and not ”coven true" which made her pissed off when the song was originally made for the two of them (Agatha and Nicki)
I think it’s the opposite…Marvel was chopping up what shoulda been 2hr Disney+ movies/specials and stretching them over 6hrs with odd cuts that didn’t make sense. Instead of cutting/editing them down to a tight 2hr movie which woulda flowed better. Such as what Hawkeye or like with Star Wars’ Obi-Wan shoulda been🤓
They could both get consideration. Hahn would be leading actress and LuPone would be supporting, but they both killed it. I mean, the whole cast killed it. None of them left anything on the table. Was even cool seeing Joe Locke holding his own amongst all of those much more experienced actors giving it their all.
@@DralenDragonfox I agree, there was not one weak link in the show, it worked so well as a whole because everyone gave if their best. Joe Locke being the youngest also certainly had his work cut out for him, but he rose to the occasion and gave us a multi-faceted character.
That episode was the best in the series, but also it was straight-up "The Constant" from LOST. Which was also the best episode of *that* series. If you steal, steal from the best!
I like the journey this show went on in the public consciousness. It went from "why are they doing this? Why does Agatha need her own show?" to being one of the best shows Marvel has done.
Definitely my process. I'm torn. Episodes 3,4,5 don't have much entertainment value for me. But at the end of the series I do feel they added to the journey.
@@Im_Ishagreed, those episodes weren’t as strong (especially waiting week to week) but I’m glad it continuously got better rather than starting off great and ending poorly. In retrospect, they’re fine - just not highlights individually.
@@Im_Ishwhat the least 3 episodes did was give the show rewatch value. Now go back to the previous episodes and you’ll pick up on the minor details that we’re setting up Agatha and Lillia’s big twist
I heard this recently, and so I agree this gives the MCU some flexibility in Midnight Sons to have a witch, but not necessarily Stephen Strange who is also a member in the comics. The witch played by Saheer is also in the comics. (Also Benedict is quite busy and terribly expensive I would imagine)
@@husker4life109in the comics, she's also associated with Man-Thing or Ted who was featured in Werewolf by Night last year... Or two years ago? I can't recall. The black and white film they eventually released in colour on Disney+. That one.
Jac Schaeffer has proven to be a brilliant showrunner. I think she’s going to have her pick of projects after this. Marvel/Disney would be smart to give her pretty much whatever she asks for. edit: I admit I was half expecting Debra Jo Rupp’s character to turn out to have been Rio in disguise Thank God they didn’t try and give Agatha a full-on redemption arc. We can feel sympathy for her, bet she’s still an unrepentant serial murderer
This show actually felt like a show and not a film segmented into episode. This shit was episodic, where each episode had a beginning a middle and an end, and so did the arc across the entire show. And I like that two of the twists (Who is teen? Who is Rio?) weren’t twists that the entire show hinged on. There was still more to each of them and the relationships between the characters. And in the midst of that they somehow had Lilia come outta nowhere with her own arc and one of the best live-action episodes of anything I think Marvel has done. This is easily one of Marvel’s best live action shows. It was great to see Jac Schaeffer and team not just deliver again, but learn lessons from mistakes they made on WandaVision. It woulda been so easy for this show to end up a mess, between following WandaVision and all of the mess Marvel Studios had created for itself since then, but it turned out to be a real gem of a show. I really hope that Marvel Studios doesn’t make everybody wait 3 years for the story of Billy and Agatha finding Tommy, or that they have both characters move into a film without any involvement from Jac Schaeffer, and completely fuck up their characters as a result - how Wanda got done in Mulitverse of Madness.
This is crazy! This review is EXACTLY identical to my review, that i did to myself, in the shower, because i don’t have a plataform to listen to me, hahahha
After WandaVision, I was extremely excited for an Agatha show. But by the time it came out, the excitement had morphed into almost an ambivalent resentment because it felt like it took too much time to come out. But thankfully I begrudgingly decided to check it out in celebration of the spooky season, and I ended up absolutely loving the series from start to finish.
Agatha All Along is definitely the Andor of the MCU. Expectations were low, even skeptical, but the story, artistry, and acting blew me away. I also think it combats the common "go woke, go broke" claim and hopefully Disney gets the message they probably didn't get from The Acolyte: diversity doesn't matter if the story/delivery is no good.
And just like Andor, the good reception gave it a ratings boost towards the end of the season, and the ratings of the finale were higher than the premiere
Jac Shaeffar should level up to movie level after this. This show had everything against it from the go. The way she and the cast turned it around with their talent alone is impressive.
but wasn't Dan's point that shows and movies are different and that those talents musn't necessarily translate to each other? meaning, she clearly knows how to do shows but might not be so good with the movie format. same as some movie directors don't know how to make shows work. I'd also like to have her involved in more Marvel shows so they turn out well.
@@benzaiten933 and I have to have the same opinion as Dan why exactly? I mean I'd love to see what she could bring in a big budget feature but that's just me. If she remains in Marvel TV I'm okay as well. I just want her to move up in her career.
0:45 Exactly my experience. What I thought was going to be another filler series turned out to be my third fave MCU show. The show structure was so simple (essentially a series of escape room episodes) but the charisma of the cast was top shelf. The twist ending was good, but I feel it could have been edited better. Maybe merging the last 2 eps could have played the reveal more smoothly. This is what Disney+ shows should be 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Only by you mentioning her time on SNL I realized Sasheer Zamata was Keeley on their Black Jeopardy sketches. OMG, I KNEW remembered her voice from somewhere.
I was expecting the show to be fun and campy, and I was surprised that things got more real and introspective in the later episodes. It's a lot like Loki in that way. I like to see more of that in future MCU shows. I'm now very excited about Vision Quest. I'm expecting it to be like a Star Trek show focused on Data learning about humanity. And it's very appropriate that the showrunner worked on Picard season 3.
Good writing was the answer "all along". Not an inflated budget, bad CGI, and embarrassing writing, and cringey agendas. Glad Disney finally are starting to figure it out!
I really liked this show. It had absolutely everything that I wanted from Marvel TV. A meaningful story, a good episodic breakdown, very good acting. Nothing felt padded or necessary or nonsensical. Unlike Secret Invasion where EVERY scene felt like it was padded for runtime and full of nonsense. However I thought the smash cut to "You should see me in a crown" was too on the nose and already done on the show "Locke and Key" like 4 years ago. So I had a very big groan right at the end.
Very much agree with your review. This was a much better show than I expected. Great writing and great performances. Kathryn Hahn nailed her role, she was so good.
It was such a joy from beginning to end. Shows like this and Loki are the standard I want the MCU to be at. What these also showed is how effective these shows and movies can be when they don't just follow the same tired formula each time. I'm really hoping future MCU projects can return to some form of quality, though I am somewhat sceptical of that. I don't want to see the hard work of these good shows be let down by terrible, or even mediocre, movies.
No sky portal! I really liked this series. I've divided all of the MCU Disney + series into three tiers based on quality and this one definitely goes in the top one for me.
Absolutely loved it, kept waiting for the other shoe to drop where we would get one of the typical Marvel trope like you went over, but we didn't and it was amazing. Ready for the second watch
I like this genre in the MCU, this WandaVision / Agatha type of series about people trapped in a make-believe reality. Honestly I hope the next one is something like a Battle Royale type, maybe Murderworld with Arcade, or still something built with magic, it's fun.
One of the surprises of the year. I'm not saying it was the best show of the year or it's the best mcu show, but it was more consistent and enjoyable than i expected, and i say this as a fan who didn't love the trailers and I was only going to give the first episodes a chance. Now, I'm a bit more interested on what they can do with iron heart and wonder man, secondary characters like aghata.
I think this show worked because it was so well crafted. every piece and character fell into place. this show didn't feel like just a cash grab or lame fan service of them giving us more of the Agatha they think fans want, it was it's own story and arc. and there is so much to love! first I like how they didn't suddenly turn Agatha into a good person in the usual 'misunderstood character' way, nope she clearly killed many people and planned to kill the other witches as well. but then she also truly cared about Teen/Billy and not once did she blame him for being Wanda's child or being not 'real', as he was crafted from magic. and like Dan I thought that everyone would survive/be brought back. I assumed that either at some point we've entered Teen/Billy's trial and it was all in his head, thus nobody died for real, or that at the end what Billy wanted was a coven and so everyone would be come back. but nope, dead for real, even Agatha - more or less. then there's Rio and how she isn't even a bad guy. she let Nicholas live a bit longer, even though he was supposed to be stillborn or die almost immediately after birth. and even when she did claim him, it wasn't cruel or painful, she even had him kiss his mother goodbye before leading him gently away. Rio even consoled Alice that her death wasn't meaningless, as she died protecting someone and at the end she didn't claim Billy either. also also, I love how the title was "Agatha all along" which is also really telling in hindsight! instead of "Coven of darkness" or whatever the title was supposed to be. overall, I really had a good time with this show and re-watched the episodes a couple of times, which I seldom do.
I really enjoyed it! I didn't expect the last-minute twist but it really added an extra layer I liked. I'm curious to see what Marvel does next with these characters (who knows at this point), but I'm happy we got this show.
@@TheRockerX According to MANY, especially those of us that work in the industry. The story was alllll over the place, full of plot holes, wasted opportunities and yet another Marvel annoyance of naming something as if it's going to be one thing and making it about something else entirely. This wasn't 'Agatha All Along', this was 'Billy Maximoff All Along' to box tick and please the crowd by throwing them the low hanging fruit - the content of this series could easily have been series 2, there was so much to tell about Agatha and they didn't even bother until the last 30 minutes of the final episode, which was excellently done, just way to little, WAY too late. A heartbreaking waste.
To me this is Marvel's Andor. It shows us that they can ACTUALLY make shows that have structure, are consistent & have good pacing! More of this for both Star Wars & Marvel PLEASE! Also having a showrunner role & not a producer at the helm doesn't hurt either. Baffled it took Marvel this long to figure that out.
Hahn hit me in the feels in the second to last episode where Billy is crying about whether he is responsible for the boy’s death that he is seeing drowning in the vision, and she says something like ‘sometimes little boys die’ with sadness. I felt the decision to end with a flashback episode that recontextualizes the entire season was a master stroke and I loved that you got to sympathize with Agatha about her son without ever losing the fact that she was a villain who murdered innocent witches. Episode 7 was another similar masterstroke. I think the show feeling like a tv show was key and the physical sets added so much to the aura of the show. It’s definitely top tier MCU tv along with WandaVision. Not surprising that these shows have similar creatives. It’s been a treat watching this and The Penguin, two quality comic book tv shows that are so different.
I normally wait for all the episodes to land before watching, but I actually watches every episode as it dropped week by week. I still have that song stuck in my head 😂what a great series
There did seem to have been an agreement between Agatha and Rio, she would kill witches ("provide bodies") and Rio would spare Nicholas. The day that they don't kill witches, she comes and takes Nicholas away.
The thing that I think really gave this show a wonderful freshness, is that much of it felt like a really high production value stage play. Which, in retrospect, makes perfect sense given Billy's construction…
I was so hoping you were going to review this show! I was really impressed by it! I wasn’t feeling it in the beginning, but I certainly didn’t hate it and thought it was better than some of marvels other TV shows lately, but by the end, I just realized how brilliant it was!
especially as thje viewership seems to be low (fell out of the neilson top 10 after 4 episodes). Disney will take less risks - Especially if they see that the only upcoming show people are actually intetested in is Daredevil and not Ironhart or Wonderman
@@mk6rfc1and Andor is by far the most expensive Disney+ show with $275 million, she hulk is technically cheaper than marvel most expensive show, Secret Invasion at around $225 million
Loved Agatha All Along! Of all the Disney+ shows, I think it’s the most rewatchable from start to finish. I also loved Loki and was fully vested in WandaVision, but don’t really see myself going back and rewatching the entirety of either series. But, I could see myself rewatching Agatha All Along every October during the Halloween season. So good!
I was certainly hesitant about this show too, and it took me almost to the 1/2 point before I really liked it, but by the end I came to the same conclusion as you. Great stories make for great TV viewing. Well done Agatha!
I was not going to watch this show but my fiancé put it on and it got me intrigued by the first two episodes and I’m glad I decided to watch it. I echo every Dan mention but I was so happy to see some good queer representation in the MCU
they're fuming with anger rn. the show is mcu's most consistent in terms of viewership numbers 2-4M per ep. they're in denial that a female-led mcu show can be successful 😂
I feel like providing context to the reason why Agatha was stealing all the withes powers in order to be able to defeat Rio/Death when she inevitably comes for Nicky would have taken it over the edge for me. I don't necessarily think that this was what they were going for, but it will become my head canon nevertheless. Otherwise her quest of stealing all those powers kind of feels so random.
This line would have saved the show for me because all I see is a witch serial killer but if there was a purpose to it I could have accepted it better.
I think it's very heavily hinted she was essentially sacrificing witches for more time with her son. The one time she doesn't kill witches, her son up and dies. It's very heavily implied. Afterwards, Agatha being Agatha, she corrupts the ballad for power because at that point, anything to distract her from her loss and a huge middle finger to death like, "Here take these witches, leave me alone. Imma leave forever"
In nearly every matrix, Agatha All Along is the exact opposite of Secret Invasion. Praise God!!! I love this show SO MUCH. I've actually watched the full series twice, along with watching every Wednesday's premier. *My hope is that Marvel understands the reason Agatha All Along is so phenomenal is because there's no "same vs same; sky beam; CGI" in the end. Just Quality writing, acting, directing, **_practical_** set design, costuming, and music.* We weren't complaining about there being too much content as much as we hated having so much CRAPPY content. I'm not sure I'll ever forgive them for Secret Invasion. (Personally, I absolutely loved She-Hulk, but that's because I'm a woman of Color that works in Law, and I love campy humor).
I think this show and Wanda Vision did a great job reacing out to the non-Marvel fans (me). They haven't convinced me to invest in the movies or other series yet, but if they lean into the supernatural/mystery themes again I'll probably tune in. And I MIGHT even check out Vision Quest even if it doesnt, just because I now have seen the first two pieces of this story.
I love hearing your review! You highlighted many points that I also love in the show. And you included that clip of Rio leaving the road by tearing the practical set which I thought was much cooler than most CGI trick. I feel (maybe overly) optimistic about the MCU after watching this. Truly my only fear now is the next time we see Billy and Agatha they’re just quipping in forced narrative to expand the world or tie it in to the bigger story like other MCU characters. And good for disney for not highlighting exclusively gay moments.
If Billy subconsciously created the road then how did he know what trials to construct? He didn’t have any prior knowledge of the other witches. How did he know the protector witch was cursed and the only way to break it was to sing a song?
Awesome review Dan, I totally agree the whole season was one of the most consistent and well thought shows on Disney Plus. I loved Wandavision but I think this may be an even better show overall
Season 7 - 9 were just amazingly written and season 7 is my favourite episode in marvel tv show, yes even beating out loki s2 finale. Smth about the way the way each scene meant something and how well put together the script felt, ending with probably the most satisfying death scene, was just so good.
I think you're right about rewatchability. I could still keep up quite well on the first watch despite not knowing the backgrounds of any of the characters. I think I will have to rewatch Agatha to fully figure out what was going on.
🎉so happy to see you did a review!! Also fun you agree with me and my wife. This show was definitely wheat. A head above the chaff that makes up most of the other Disney plus showa
I put Agatha as my #1 pick for favorite MCU show - it was the most even like Dan points out - not only story wise bur esthetic wise. It perfectly captured the halloween spirit it was also funny and clever Next Id put Loki (insanely creative in production design and score and that ending wow! Talk about stakes), then WandaVision (ive always liked wanda fine but the show had too many red herrings for me), then Falcon and Winter Soldier (im still obsessed with captain america winter soldier so Im always down with the political espionage side of the mcu. Plus bucky and sam are fantastic characters with great personalities) For mid tier Id put Ms Marvel whose strength lied in the like ability of Kamala and her family Moonnight was a flop (that last fight scene was laughable and the show felt inconsequential), Hawkeye had the potential to be a fun christmas treat but it felt too self aware with the elena addition (im not obsessed with elena like many others) and I was offended by their portrayel of fisk after dutifully watching all 3 seasons of daredevil. Where particularly in the last season fisk was one of the best tv villains of all time.)
Agree with Dan that mcu can market unknown characters in the marvel comics. Not all may be the hit but like AAA, it’s definitely a hit and none was expecting it, even with Wanda fans.
Here’s what I didn’t get. Why was she living in a detective show in her head? Because when she asked the neighbor how long has she been there he said something like 3 years but she’s been playing detective the last couple days. Don’t think it was quite explained cuz it doesn’t seem like it was part of Wanda’s spell. Did Death showing up trigger something subconsciously?
I liked that I was able to watch Agatha All Along without having to watch Wandavision. While I know it would have made more sense for me to watch Wandavision but I have seen clips here and there so I got the concept. lol. I really enjoyed this show and how the characters were delivered to us in a short amount of time but not rushed. I agree I have noticed that some TV shows on streaming services want us to care about rushed characters just because they threw money at an A-List actor. I don't mind seeing actors who are up and coming and that practice reminds me of the movie World War Z, that had Brad Pitt as the main character just because it was Brad Pitt. But any actor could have done a great job as the main character of that movie but they used Brad Pitts name to draw in an audience. Which makes sense but after watching the movie I realize that role could have gone to an up and coming actor. Like most of these streaming movies and tv shows. But that's a rant for another day. lol
I don’t think any of the other marvel shows except maybe Loki were able to give me an ending I was really satisfied with that felt like it tied together what it needed. I went from thinking I wouldn’t even binge the show after it was fully released to anticipating every Wednesday to catch the next episode which I haven’t done since the original Wandavision
My problem with the show is simply....when Wic came to be, why didn't WANDA (who was still alive at that point, and leaving Westview) detect her son? If, upon 'gettin down' with the darkhold, she could learn of an outer universe hoping person called America Chavez, and NOT detect her own son in the same 616 WHOM SHE USED THE DARKHOLD to search for?????!!!
@@rayawira To that I say a Sigil from a common witch wouldn't defeat THE SCARLET WITCH! especially if she's under the influence of the dark hold. Nice thought, but Lila wasn't a match for Wanda.
@@davidalsbrooksjr4786 One might argue that the darkhold was the main reason why Wanda couldn't sense Billy. The darkhold wants to corrupt Wanda. Finding her sons in this universe would not corrupt her. She just couldn't handle the darkhold. That's two solid logical explanations why Wanda couldn't find Billy. Your problem with the show is solved.
I’m so happy for Dan to be able to watch a good show as oppose to the huge on slop of crap Disney+ has spun out. Let’s hope for more shows people can enjoy.
You mentioned the worst! 😅 Boba Fett, Willow... (I haven't even seen She-Hulk and Secret Invasion, because the reviews were so bad...) Agatha is a new favourite. 💜 Rewatchability factor is really up there. The only Disney+ content I watched more than once was Andor (4 times) and Star Wars Visions - The Ninth Jedi (many times). Now I'll watch Agatha many times. By Christmas I'll be watching it again, I think. Also amazing that all youtubers are on the same page and find Agatha All Along brilliant. I think it's the first time I see you and Grace Randolph agree on anything! 😄
Just like James Gunn was going to lead the cosmic side of the MCU originally before he got fired, Jac Schaffer should definitely be given the keys to the supernatural side of the MCU
Hey Dan, any thoughts on the MCU putting out 9 Projects in '25 under 3 new 'Banners'; 3 Live-Action Movies (Marvel Studios), 3 Live-Action Shows (Marvel Television) & 3 Animated Shows (Marvel Animation). Just think Fans in general tend to have short memories as it wasn't that long ago when they were all getting very excited at a similar amount of content in '21, '22 & '23 only for it to finally hit home that 'less is more'! Looks like we might be headed there again as the MCU rushes to get this stuff out of the way to try & get to Avengers: Doomsday ('26) & Secret Wars ('27) asap instead of spreading it out a little more & maybe waiting till '28 & '29 for those 2 big movies to come out to coincide with the 10yr Anniversary of Infinity War & Endgame?!
This show was so much better than I expected and I had incredibly low expectations for it. It was pretty nice show and I enjoyed the finale. I feel like it's been very trendy now to hate anything the MCU makes now too so I already expect seeing hate for it just because of that honestly. I'm not saying the hate isn't useful in creating better products though but now I'm feeling it's just slowly getting a bit overblown these days.
A++ casting all around. Wonderful direction. Emotional payoff. I absolutely loved it. Already rewatching with my partner. Kathryn and Aubrey together are just electric.
Having the season finale be the emotional ending instead of the "big battle" is the cherry on top of a good series.
Agreed 👍🏾
It’s like they reversed their normal order, it’s usually the penultimate episode is their flashback story then the finale is the action heavy part (WandaVision, Moon Knight & She-Hulk [opening episode was originally the penultimate episode])
That was the one thing I didn't like about WandaVision and I'm glad it wasn't repeated here.
@@Im_Ish now that you mention it - no sky beam!
@@benzaiten933 I knew something was missing.
You mentioned "Rogue One" but I feel an even better comparison is "Andor" - a Disney Plus show on a side character that no one particularly wanted but delivered some of the best episodes in their genre, helped by a longer episode count that enabled them to stretch their legs.
I think what’s really going on here is that the higher ups have way more say in the bigger budget, “blockbuster” movies and tv shows which play it way too safe and corporate. You can tell that smaller shows like Agatha, andor, penguin and peacemaker give a creative visionary time and control over their product. I think Disney realized this which is why they rewrote, reshot, and canceled a ton of projects.
The revelation of 'The Witches Road' being created by Billy with the combo of the song and legend being created by Agatha and her son really made the show for me.
yeah, and it wasn't even "down" and "witches road" at first but meandering road. do you think Agatha felt somewhat mocked whenever she heard witches talk about it?
Nah, considering Agathas personality probably she liked the fact that her sons song got famous
the history of the ballad is insane.
Agatha and her son, Nicki created it as a sweet little song for eachother then they used it as one of their many scams.
It becomes some sort of folk song... which then Agatha, full of grief, uses it to trick witches into getting her powers.
Lorna Wu, Alice's mom creates a rock ballad inspired in it that is actually a spell to protect her own child fron a generational curse.
Billy hears the song which plants the idea of the Witches Road in his mind and then ACTUALLY creates it.
@@casaopcional3081 hence why it's "covent two" and not ”coven true" which made her pissed off when the song was originally made for the two of them (Agatha and Nicki)
This show is the clear example that you can create something good within budget.
When Marvel actually stops treating their series like 6 hour movies chopped up.
Yeah why treat a tv show like a 6 hour movie? especially when all the episodes aren’t released at the same time
Yes. AAA wasn't perfect, but I appreciate it having individual episodes instead of random cut cliffhangers.
It’s definitely a step in the right direction, and hopefully a sign that Marvel are learning lessons from their past mistakes
Omg right!
I think it’s the opposite…Marvel was chopping up what shoulda been 2hr Disney+ movies/specials and stretching them over 6hrs with odd cuts that didn’t make sense. Instead of cutting/editing them down to a tight 2hr movie which woulda flowed better. Such as what Hawkeye or like with Star Wars’ Obi-Wan shoulda been🤓
I kept thinking it would drop off in quality, but it was great the whole time and stuck the landing. Loved it.
Patti Lupone should be the one getting award notice. Her episode is easily the best episode.
They could both get consideration. Hahn would be leading actress and LuPone would be supporting, but they both killed it. I mean, the whole cast killed it. None of them left anything on the table. Was even cool seeing Joe Locke holding his own amongst all of those much more experienced actors giving it their all.
@@DralenDragonfox I agree, there was not one weak link in the show, it worked so well as a whole because everyone gave if their best. Joe Locke being the youngest also certainly had his work cut out for him, but he rose to the occasion and gave us a multi-faceted character.
❤absolutely, hahn did amazing, but Patty shone like the true star that she is
Agreed that was a great episode to me
Her episode made the show for me. The rest was fun and I enjoyed it, but the writing & editing of that one was out of this world
This show also took me by surprise and by the end I was looking forward to Wednesday each week. What a great series
Episode 7 in particular really made my jaw drop. Some of the best writing I have seen in a show in a long time.
Agree!!
That episode was the best in the series, but also it was straight-up "The Constant" from LOST.
Which was also the best episode of *that* series. If you steal, steal from the best!
I like the journey this show went on in the public consciousness. It went from "why are they doing this? Why does Agatha need her own show?" to being one of the best shows Marvel has done.
as Dan said, "how" you do it is key! in theory you could make a show about any character, if done right it would amount to a compelling story.
Definitely my process. I'm torn. Episodes 3,4,5 don't have much entertainment value for me. But at the end of the series I do feel they added to the journey.
@@Im_Ishagreed, those episodes weren’t as strong (especially waiting week to week) but I’m glad it continuously got better rather than starting off great and ending poorly.
In retrospect, they’re fine - just not highlights individually.
@@Im_Ishwhat the least 3 episodes did was give the show rewatch value. Now go back to the previous episodes and you’ll pick up on the minor details that we’re setting up Agatha and Lillia’s big twist
The exact same thing happened with Peacemaker and Andor. Sometimes we just gotta let creatives cook, man.
Sasheer needs to play Jen again when Marvel finally gives us a Midnight Suns movie or show!
I heard this recently, and so I agree this gives the MCU some flexibility in Midnight Sons to have a witch, but not necessarily Stephen Strange who is also a member in the comics. The witch played by Saheer is also in the comics. (Also Benedict is quite busy and terribly expensive I would imagine)
@@WolfRamAndHart her character in the comics is cousins with ghost rider
@@husker4life109in the comics, she's also associated with Man-Thing or Ted who was featured in Werewolf by Night last year... Or two years ago? I can't recall. The black and white film they eventually released in colour on Disney+. That one.
Yes, agreed
Jac Schaeffer has proven to be a brilliant showrunner. I think she’s going to have her pick of projects after this. Marvel/Disney would be smart to give her pretty much whatever she asks for.
edit: I admit I was half expecting Debra Jo Rupp’s character to turn out to have been Rio in disguise
Thank God they didn’t try and give Agatha a full-on redemption arc. We can feel sympathy for her, bet she’s still an unrepentant serial murderer
Hahn is hands down one of our best living character actors. The "sometimes boys die" moment absolutely wrecked me.
This show actually felt like a show and not a film segmented into episode. This shit was episodic, where each episode had a beginning a middle and an end, and so did the arc across the entire show. And I like that two of the twists (Who is teen? Who is Rio?) weren’t twists that the entire show hinged on. There was still more to each of them and the relationships between the characters. And in the midst of that they somehow had Lilia come outta nowhere with her own arc and one of the best live-action episodes of anything I think Marvel has done.
This is easily one of Marvel’s best live action shows. It was great to see Jac Schaeffer and team not just deliver again, but learn lessons from mistakes they made on WandaVision. It woulda been so easy for this show to end up a mess, between following WandaVision and all of the mess Marvel Studios had created for itself since then, but it turned out to be a real gem of a show. I really hope that Marvel Studios doesn’t make everybody wait 3 years for the story of Billy and Agatha finding Tommy, or that they have both characters move into a film without any involvement from Jac Schaeffer, and completely fuck up their characters as a result - how Wanda got done in Mulitverse of Madness.
I was pleasantly surprised by this show. There is some terrific acting, and you can tell the actors were bought in.
This is crazy! This review is EXACTLY identical to my review, that i did to myself, in the shower, because i don’t have a plataform to listen to me, hahahha
Let's be thankful Dan's review isn't EXACTLY like yours 😅
@ Hey! I bet there’s an audience for that! 😭
@@calvinpanho You're not wrong! That's why God invented OnlyFans 😆
After WandaVision, I was extremely excited for an Agatha show. But by the time it came out, the excitement had morphed into almost an ambivalent resentment because it felt like it took too much time to come out. But thankfully I begrudgingly decided to check it out in celebration of the spooky season, and I ended up absolutely loving the series from start to finish.
Agatha All Along is definitely the Andor of the MCU. Expectations were low, even skeptical, but the story, artistry, and acting blew me away. I also think it combats the common "go woke, go broke" claim and hopefully Disney gets the message they probably didn't get from The Acolyte: diversity doesn't matter if the story/delivery is no good.
And just like Andor, the good reception gave it a ratings boost towards the end of the season, and the ratings of the finale were higher than the premiere
Marvel should give Jac Schaeffer a blank check for whatever project she wants to work on next because this was phenomenal
This show was a real breath of fresh air. Best since WandaVision. Can't wait for the third show.
Jac Shaeffar should level up to movie level after this. This show had everything against it from the go. The way she and the cast turned it around with their talent alone is impressive.
I like Dan's pitch for her to lock-in to the Marvel TV world. She could be the Dave Filoni of the Marvel shows
but wasn't Dan's point that shows and movies are different and that those talents musn't necessarily translate to each other? meaning, she clearly knows how to do shows but might not be so good with the movie format. same as some movie directors don't know how to make shows work. I'd also like to have her involved in more Marvel shows so they turn out well.
@@benzaiten933 and I have to have the same opinion as Dan why exactly? I mean I'd love to see what she could bring in a big budget feature but that's just me. If she remains in Marvel TV I'm okay as well. I just want her to move up in her career.
She already wrote the Black Widow script so she’s had experience with that already
0:45 Exactly my experience. What I thought was going to be another filler series turned out to be my third fave MCU show.
The show structure was so simple (essentially a series of escape room episodes) but the charisma of the cast was top shelf.
The twist ending was good, but I feel it could have been edited better. Maybe merging the last 2 eps could have played the reveal more smoothly.
This is what Disney+ shows should be 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Do we consider x-men 97 in the ranking? If so, Agatha is number 4 for me.
Never ever thought that this show, would be the best show so far from Marvel+ IMHO.
I loved this show. It gripped me immediately. I've seen it twice. And will probably do so again
Only by you mentioning her time on SNL I realized Sasheer Zamata was Keeley on their Black Jeopardy sketches.
OMG, I KNEW remembered her voice from somewhere.
then you haven't seen her as black Bachelorette as well.
@@benzaiten933 No, I haven't. The only SNL I get over here are the videos on their UA-cam channel. I'll check it ou. Thanks!
I was expecting the show to be fun and campy, and I was surprised that things got more real and introspective in the later episodes. It's a lot like Loki in that way. I like to see more of that in future MCU shows.
I'm now very excited about Vision Quest. I'm expecting it to be like a Star Trek show focused on Data learning about humanity. And it's very appropriate that the showrunner worked on Picard season 3.
Sounds incredible tbh Picard S3 is so underrated.
First time i watched it: Wow, good series.
Second time watching it: everything makes MORE sense, BRILLIANT series.
Good writing was the answer "all along". Not an inflated budget, bad CGI, and embarrassing writing, and cringey agendas. Glad Disney finally are starting to figure it out!
I really liked this show. It had absolutely everything that I wanted from Marvel TV. A meaningful story, a good episodic breakdown, very good acting. Nothing felt padded or necessary or nonsensical. Unlike Secret Invasion where EVERY scene felt like it was padded for runtime and full of nonsense.
However I thought the smash cut to "You should see me in a crown" was too on the nose and already done on the show "Locke and Key" like 4 years ago. So I had a very big groan right at the end.
Very much agree with your review. This was a much better show than I expected. Great writing and great performances. Kathryn Hahn nailed her role, she was so good.
It was such a joy from beginning to end. Shows like this and Loki are the standard I want the MCU to be at. What these also showed is how effective these shows and movies can be when they don't just follow the same tired formula each time. I'm really hoping future MCU projects can return to some form of quality, though I am somewhat sceptical of that. I don't want to see the hard work of these good shows be let down by terrible, or even mediocre, movies.
Best analysis I’ve heard so far
This is one of my favorite shows of the year. I loved it!
Who created the Witch's Road? IT WAS AGATHA ALL ALONG!
shuouldnt it be billy all along
@@mk6rfc1 Agatha invented the concept with Nicholas, Billy made it manifest 👍🏼
Great review and analysis, always appreciate Dan's work and effort for his videos
No sky portal! I really liked this series. I've divided all of the MCU Disney + series into three tiers based on quality and this one definitely goes in the top one for me.
I have loved Kathryn Hahn for SO LONG! I am so happy she got her own show to display her acting chops. Drama and comedy she nails it all. ❤
The top 3 you mention are absolutely on point.
Absolutely loved it, kept waiting for the other shoe to drop where we would get one of the typical Marvel trope like you went over, but we didn't and it was amazing. Ready for the second watch
I like this genre in the MCU, this WandaVision / Agatha type of series about people trapped in a make-believe reality.
Honestly I hope the next one is something like a Battle Royale type, maybe Murderworld with Arcade, or still something built with magic, it's fun.
Didn’t expect to like it - loved this show
still digesting the ending but what a fantastic show
One of the surprises of the year. I'm not saying it was the best show of the year or it's the best mcu show, but it was more consistent and enjoyable than i expected, and i say this as a fan who didn't love the trailers and I was only going to give the first episodes a chance. Now, I'm a bit more interested on what they can do with iron heart and wonder man, secondary characters like aghata.
I think this show worked because it was so well crafted. every piece and character fell into place. this show didn't feel like just a cash grab or lame fan service of them giving us more of the Agatha they think fans want, it was it's own story and arc. and there is so much to love! first I like how they didn't suddenly turn Agatha into a good person in the usual 'misunderstood character' way, nope she clearly killed many people and planned to kill the other witches as well. but then she also truly cared about Teen/Billy and not once did she blame him for being Wanda's child or being not 'real', as he was crafted from magic.
and like Dan I thought that everyone would survive/be brought back. I assumed that either at some point we've entered Teen/Billy's trial and it was all in his head, thus nobody died for real, or that at the end what Billy wanted was a coven and so everyone would be come back. but nope, dead for real, even Agatha - more or less.
then there's Rio and how she isn't even a bad guy. she let Nicholas live a bit longer, even though he was supposed to be stillborn or die almost immediately after birth. and even when she did claim him, it wasn't cruel or painful, she even had him kiss his mother goodbye before leading him gently away. Rio even consoled Alice that her death wasn't meaningless, as she died protecting someone and at the end she didn't claim Billy either.
also also, I love how the title was "Agatha all along" which is also really telling in hindsight! instead of "Coven of darkness" or whatever the title was supposed to be. overall, I really had a good time with this show and re-watched the episodes a couple of times, which I seldom do.
I really enjoyed it! I didn't expect the last-minute twist but it really added an extra layer I liked. I'm curious to see what Marvel does next with these characters (who knows at this point), but I'm happy we got this show.
the show nobody asked for yet everyone enjoyed
I asked for it - and thought it was a damn squib. It had so much potential, terribly executed and terribly written. Such a shame.
@@laurenklair why was it so terribly written, according to you?
@@TheRockerX According to MANY, especially those of us that work in the industry. The story was alllll over the place, full of plot holes, wasted opportunities and yet another Marvel annoyance of naming something as if it's going to be one thing and making it about something else entirely. This wasn't 'Agatha All Along', this was 'Billy Maximoff All Along' to box tick and please the crowd by throwing them the low hanging fruit - the content of this series could easily have been series 2, there was so much to tell about Agatha and they didn't even bother until the last 30 minutes of the final episode, which was excellently done, just way to little, WAY too late. A heartbreaking waste.
To me this is Marvel's Andor. It shows us that they can ACTUALLY make shows that have structure, are consistent & have good pacing!
More of this for both Star Wars & Marvel PLEASE!
Also having a showrunner role & not a producer at the helm doesn't hurt either. Baffled it took Marvel this long to figure that out.
Hahn hit me in the feels in the second to last episode where Billy is crying about whether he is responsible for the boy’s death that he is seeing drowning in the vision, and she says something like ‘sometimes little boys die’ with sadness. I felt the decision to end with a flashback episode that recontextualizes the entire season was a master stroke and I loved that you got to sympathize with Agatha about her son without ever losing the fact that she was a villain who murdered innocent witches. Episode 7 was another similar masterstroke. I think the show feeling like a tv show was key and the physical sets added so much to the aura of the show. It’s definitely top tier MCU tv along with WandaVision. Not surprising that these shows have similar creatives. It’s been a treat watching this and The Penguin, two quality comic book tv shows that are so different.
I hope that Disney looks beyond viewership numbers and acknowledges the high viewer satisfaction of this amazing show.
I normally wait for all the episodes to land before watching, but I actually watches every episode as it dropped week by week. I still have that song stuck in my head 😂what a great series
There did seem to have been an agreement between Agatha and Rio, she would kill witches ("provide bodies") and Rio would spare Nicholas. The day that they don't kill witches, she comes and takes Nicholas away.
Oh my god I didn't catch that, that makes it even more heartbreaking 😢
The thing that I think really gave this show a wonderful freshness, is that much of it felt like a really high production value stage play. Which, in retrospect, makes perfect sense given Billy's construction…
I was so hoping you were going to review this show! I was really impressed by it! I wasn’t feeling it in the beginning, but I certainly didn’t hate it and thought it was better than some of marvels other TV shows lately, but by the end, I just realized how brilliant it was!
People who were complaining “Who is this for?” Are missing out.
God I hope Disney/Marvel learns from this. They wont, but I can hope.
Secretary: What do we learn from this?
Disney executive: absolutely nothing
That checks
especially as thje viewership seems to be low (fell out of the neilson top 10 after 4 episodes). Disney will take less risks - Especially if they see that the only upcoming show people are actually intetested in is Daredevil and not Ironhart or Wonderman
Thank YOU for your SANE voice on UA-cam...
So Agatha All Along cost about 40 million and The Acolyte cost over 200 million... MAKE IT MAKE SENSE 😂
I’d say she hulk more than acolyte since the cgi in that was still pretty shoddy with that budget
@@mk6rfc1and Andor is by far the most expensive Disney+ show with $275 million, she hulk is technically cheaper than marvel most expensive show, Secret Invasion at around $225 million
I've been waiting for Dan's thoughts on Agatha All Along! Loved the show and glad Dan enjoyed it too!
Loved Agatha All Along! Of all the Disney+ shows, I think it’s the most rewatchable from start to finish. I also loved Loki and was fully vested in WandaVision, but don’t really see myself going back and rewatching the entirety of either series. But, I could see myself rewatching Agatha All Along every October during the Halloween season. So good!
Don't care about the show. Didn't watch but want you to get your like and watch time.
loved it, start to finish
Love the content Dan, would be awesome to see an MCU TV ranking
I was certainly hesitant about this show too, and it took me almost to the 1/2 point before I really liked it, but by the end I came to the same conclusion as you. Great stories make for great TV viewing. Well done Agatha!
Episode 7 really sealed the deal and made this series so much fun rewatching!
I was not going to watch this show but my fiancé put it on and it got me intrigued by the first two episodes and I’m glad I decided to watch it. I echo every Dan mention but I was so happy to see some good queer representation in the MCU
I loved it. What’s funny is all the dudes on Facebook that are big mad it was a gay show. Makes me enjoy it more.
they're fuming with anger rn. the show is mcu's most consistent in terms of viewership numbers 2-4M per ep. they're in denial that a female-led mcu show can be successful 😂
I feel like providing context to the reason why Agatha was stealing all the withes powers in order to be able to defeat Rio/Death when she inevitably comes for Nicky would have taken it over the edge for me. I don't necessarily think that this was what they were going for, but it will become my head canon nevertheless. Otherwise her quest of stealing all those powers kind of feels so random.
This line would have saved the show for me because all I see is a witch serial killer but if there was a purpose to it I could have accepted it better.
I think it's very heavily hinted she was essentially sacrificing witches for more time with her son. The one time she doesn't kill witches, her son up and dies. It's very heavily implied. Afterwards, Agatha being Agatha, she corrupts the ballad for power because at that point, anything to distract her from her loss and a huge middle finger to death like, "Here take these witches, leave me alone. Imma leave forever"
In nearly every matrix, Agatha All Along is the exact opposite of Secret Invasion. Praise God!!! I love this show SO MUCH. I've actually watched the full series twice, along with watching every Wednesday's premier. *My hope is that Marvel understands the reason Agatha All Along is so phenomenal is because there's no "same vs same; sky beam; CGI" in the end. Just Quality writing, acting, directing, **_practical_** set design, costuming, and music.* We weren't complaining about there being too much content as much as we hated having so much CRAPPY content. I'm not sure I'll ever forgive them for Secret Invasion. (Personally, I absolutely loved She-Hulk, but that's because I'm a woman of Color that works in Law, and I love campy humor).
I REALLY enjoyed this show! Loved how everyone got their time to shine and the way the story was woven, including the twists 🙂
I think this show and Wanda Vision did a great job reacing out to the non-Marvel fans (me). They haven't convinced me to invest in the movies or other series yet, but if they lean into the supernatural/mystery themes again I'll probably tune in. And I MIGHT even check out Vision Quest even if it doesnt, just because I now have seen the first two pieces of this story.
I love hearing your review! You highlighted many points that I also love in the show. And you included that clip of Rio leaving the road by tearing the practical set which I thought was much cooler than most CGI trick. I feel (maybe overly) optimistic about the MCU after watching this. Truly my only fear now is the next time we see Billy and Agatha they’re just quipping in forced narrative to expand the world or tie it in to the bigger story like other MCU characters.
And good for disney for not highlighting exclusively gay moments.
If Billy subconsciously created the road then how did he know what trials to construct? He didn’t have any prior knowledge of the other witches. How did he know the protector witch was cursed and the only way to break it was to sing a song?
Awesome review Dan, I totally agree the whole season was one of the most consistent and well thought shows on Disney Plus. I loved Wandavision but I think this may be an even better show overall
Season 7 - 9 were just amazingly written and season 7 is my favourite episode in marvel tv show, yes even beating out loki s2 finale. Smth about the way the way each scene meant something and how well put together the script felt, ending with probably the most satisfying death scene, was just so good.
I loved last week episode - lilias trial. Overal i liked it
Binged it all on halloween after talking crap lol it was great. my bad
I think you're right about rewatchability. I could still keep up quite well on the first watch despite not knowing the backgrounds of any of the characters. I think I will have to rewatch Agatha to fully figure out what was going on.
Spot on review. My wife and I were very surprised how much we enjoyed the show.
🎉so happy to see you did a review!! Also fun you agree with me and my wife. This show was definitely wheat. A head above the chaff that makes up most of the other Disney plus showa
I absolutely love that Zamata chick.
I put Agatha as my #1 pick for favorite MCU show - it was the most even like Dan points out - not only story wise bur esthetic wise. It perfectly captured the halloween spirit it was also funny and clever
Next Id put Loki (insanely creative in production design and score and that ending wow! Talk about stakes), then WandaVision (ive always liked wanda fine but the show had too many red herrings for me), then Falcon and Winter Soldier (im still obsessed with captain america winter soldier so Im always down with the political espionage side of the mcu. Plus bucky and sam are fantastic characters with great personalities)
For mid tier Id put Ms Marvel whose strength lied in the like ability of Kamala and her family
Moonnight was a flop (that last fight scene was laughable and the show felt inconsequential), Hawkeye had the potential to be a fun christmas treat but it felt too self aware with the elena addition (im not obsessed with elena like many others) and I was offended by their portrayel of fisk after dutifully watching all 3 seasons of daredevil. Where particularly in the last season fisk was one of the best tv villains of all time.)
The twist I expected - that Dottie is Moonglow - never happened.
Maybe next season.
Agree with Dan that mcu can market unknown characters in the marvel comics. Not all may be the hit but like AAA, it’s definitely a hit and none was expecting it, even with Wanda fans.
Here’s what I didn’t get. Why was she living in a detective show in her head? Because when she asked the neighbor how long has she been there he said something like 3 years but she’s been playing detective the last couple days. Don’t think it was quite explained cuz it doesn’t seem like it was part of Wanda’s spell. Did Death showing up trigger something subconsciously?
I liked that I was able to watch Agatha All Along without having to watch Wandavision. While I know it would have made more sense for me to watch Wandavision but I have seen clips here and there so I got the concept. lol.
I really enjoyed this show and how the characters were delivered to us in a short amount of time but not rushed. I agree I have noticed that some TV shows on streaming services want us to care about rushed characters just because they threw money at an A-List actor. I don't mind seeing actors who are up and coming and that practice reminds me of the movie World War Z, that had Brad Pitt as the main character just because it was Brad Pitt. But any actor could have done a great job as the main character of that movie but they used Brad Pitts name to draw in an audience. Which makes sense but after watching the movie I realize that role could have gone to an up and coming actor. Like most of these streaming movies and tv shows.
But that's a rant for another day. lol
I don’t think any of the other marvel shows except maybe Loki were able to give me an ending I was really satisfied with that felt like it tied together what it needed. I went from thinking I wouldn’t even binge the show after it was fully released to anticipating every Wednesday to catch the next episode which I haven’t done since the original Wandavision
My problem with the show is simply....when Wic came to be, why didn't WANDA (who was still alive at that point, and leaving Westview) detect her son? If, upon 'gettin down' with the darkhold, she could learn of an outer universe hoping person called America Chavez, and NOT detect her own son in the same 616 WHOM SHE USED THE DARKHOLD to search for?????!!!
The sigil.
@@rayawira To that I say a Sigil from a common witch wouldn't defeat THE SCARLET WITCH! especially if she's under the influence of the dark hold. Nice thought, but Lila wasn't a match for Wanda.
@@davidalsbrooksjr4786 Dr Strange: "Such a simple spell, but quite unbreakable."
@@davidalsbrooksjr4786 One might argue that the darkhold was the main reason why Wanda couldn't sense Billy. The darkhold wants to corrupt Wanda. Finding her sons in this universe would not corrupt her. She just couldn't handle the darkhold. That's two solid logical explanations why Wanda couldn't find Billy. Your problem with the show is solved.
@@rayawira Hey, that's food for thought! Thanks for that! 🙂
who would of thought that running a tv like a tv instead of a movie cut up into a tv leads to a better tv show?
I’m so happy for Dan to be able to watch a good show as oppose to the huge on slop of crap Disney+ has spun out. Let’s hope for more shows people can enjoy.
Always very objective and proceed review professional . Keep up the great work
Love the subtle purple lighting. 😍
Deadpool would totally stan this show. It's like Golden Girls but with murder.
Public comment was added to the comment section of this video just for the engagement.
Yes I fell in love with this show and I agree it was top tier I will miss this show so much
You mentioned the worst! 😅 Boba Fett, Willow... (I haven't even seen She-Hulk and Secret Invasion, because the reviews were so bad...)
Agatha is a new favourite. 💜 Rewatchability factor is really up there. The only Disney+ content I watched more than once was Andor (4 times) and Star Wars Visions - The Ninth Jedi (many times). Now I'll watch Agatha many times. By Christmas I'll be watching it again, I think.
Also amazing that all youtubers are on the same page and find Agatha All Along brilliant. I think it's the first time I see you and Grace Randolph agree on anything! 😄
Just like James Gunn was going to lead the cosmic side of the MCU originally before he got fired, Jac Schaffer should definitely be given the keys to the supernatural side of the MCU
Hey Dan, any thoughts on the MCU putting out 9 Projects in '25 under 3 new 'Banners'; 3 Live-Action Movies (Marvel Studios), 3 Live-Action Shows (Marvel Television) & 3 Animated Shows (Marvel Animation). Just think Fans in general tend to have short memories as it wasn't that long ago when they were all getting very excited at a similar amount of content in '21, '22 & '23 only for it to finally hit home that 'less is more'! Looks like we might be headed there again as the MCU rushes to get this stuff out of the way to try & get to Avengers: Doomsday ('26) & Secret Wars ('27) asap instead of spreading it out a little more & maybe waiting till '28 & '29 for those 2 big movies to come out to coincide with the 10yr Anniversary of Infinity War & Endgame?!
This show was so much better than I expected and I had incredibly low expectations for it. It was pretty nice show and I enjoyed the finale. I feel like it's been very trendy now to hate anything the MCU makes now too so I already expect seeing hate for it just because of that honestly. I'm not saying the hate isn't useful in creating better products though but now I'm feeling it's just slowly getting a bit overblown these days.
This was such a great show to me
A++ casting all around. Wonderful direction. Emotional payoff. I absolutely loved it. Already rewatching with my partner. Kathryn and Aubrey together are just electric.