Was it just magic, or plot holes?
Spoilers ahead!
The finale of Marvel’s hit limited series, ‘Agatha All Along’ released on October 30th, and left viewers with more questions than answers.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, lets start with the best aspects of this new show from Marvel. For starters, the music!
When ‘Wandavision’ released the Agatha song, ‘Agatha All Along’ that was amazing, but this new song, ‘The Ballad of the Witches Road’ surpasses it in superiority. The perfect mix between haunting and beautiful, this song is rewritten into multiple versions across the limited series. From the Cover version to the ‘Sacred Chant’ version, this song will hold you in a trance for weeks. Its no surprise this song has become an earworm for may viewers, given it was written by the same songwriters behind Frozen’s ‘Let It Go’, as well as ‘Agatha All Along’, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.
Moving on to the actual characters, each character had a unique and intriguing backstory and tie to Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) and their different reasons to journey down the Witches Road was quite interesting. This was not just a power trip; one wanted to learn about a past event, another wanted to uncover a secret.
The costumes and the set design of the show was absolutely incredible. A combination of creepy with magical, the vibe of witchy-ness was on point. Further, the costumes were a perfect combination of modern witch and old-era witch. Yet it also reflected their personality. Agatha, for example, wore dark blues and purples, to emphasise the darkness within her, while Alice (Ali Ahn) wore leathers and orange and black to highlight her personality of being isolated and secured away from others.
Story-wise, it was quite interesting to be introduced back into Westview since ‘Wandavision’, and so see what Agatha Harkness, who went by the name of Agnes O’Connor, has been up to.
However, not everything was sunshine and roses when it came to this witchy, magical show. This show had plenty of “what the” moments and plot holes that still needed filling by the time the finale rolled around.
One of the many mysteries were the black-clocked Salem Seven, who had very little explained about them, other than that they were hell-bent on avenging their mothers whom Agatha had murdered through stealing their magic centuries earlier. The Salem Seven could have been very interesting characters had they been explored more. They appeared maximum four times across the nine episodes, and only for a few brief moments each time. They could have been a very interesting threat to Agatha and the witches, had their history with Agatha been explored or highlighted more. Furthermore, their death was so simple. If they are the children of witches, they should not have been so easily killed off through flipping a tarot card upside down.
Another part of Agatha Harkness’ story that could have been explored more was the relationship between Agatha and Death. There are numerous hints that they have a history, until finally they kiss, but even the episode about Death taking Agatha’s son was not enough of a backstory to satisfy. What was their relationship? When did it go wrong? How did Death feel when Agatha became pregnant?
Furthermore, the big reveal at the end of the series was quite a let down. With the whole show centred around the coven traveling down the Witches Road, it was severely unsatisfactory when it was revealed that it was, in fact, not real at all, but a manifestation by one of the characters. Similar to the cheat way in film of ‘it was all just a dream’, turning the intriguing and mysterious Witches Road into a scam was disappointing. All those trials, all that character growth and their awesome chant, for what? A misdirection? To remind us who ‘Teen’ really is? We already knew who ‘Teen’ was. To have him be the mastermind behind it all, without even realising, was okay, but it resulted in a very dissatisfying ending.
There were too many questions and plot holes for this show to end where it did. Too much of Agatha’s history was left uncovered and unexplored. With the road being a fake all along, the ending felt cheap. Furthermore, with Agatha coming back as a ghost, it completely negated the sacrifice she made for Teen. Granted, you can never have enough Agatha Harkness. But regardless, what was the point of her sacrificing herself if she was just going to come back and stir up trouble again?
Despite these questions and frustrations, ‘Agatha All Along’ is definitely worth the watch, especially if you love a witchy, creepy, magical vibe in your tv shows. Just be prepared for the more questions than answers you will be left with.
All episodes of ‘Agatha All Along’ is now playing on Disney Plus.
