The Chronicles of Agatha Harkness
“Marching ever forward, neath the wooden shrine.
I stray not from the Path, I hold Death’s hand in mine.
Primal night, giveth sight, familiar by thy side.
The sun be gone, we carry on, spirit as our guide.
Down, down, down the road, down the witches road.
Blood and tears, and bone. Maiden, mother, crone.
The road is wild and wicked, winding through the wood.
Where all that’s wrong is right, and all that’s bad is good.
Through many miles of tricks and trials, we’ll wander high and low.
Take your fears, a door appears, the time has come to go.
Down, down, down the road, down the witches road.
Follow me my friend, to Glory at the end.”
— The Ballad of the Witches Road
Do you have a dream? A dream so desperate such that it’s morphed into almost an unreal fantasy? And you can’t help but cling to it for dear life, whilst you drown in the whirlpool called reality. Then, what is the price you’re willing to pay for it? When someone cuts you deeply, taking away what you cherished the most, can leave you in a broken and ruined state that deforms the soul.
Grief and Loss are like forges that will melt away the weak, but mold the resilient into a new form. Through metamorphosis emerges a blade much stronger and sharper than before. To fulfill your heart’s deepest desire, if you must walk a treacherous road, are you willing to risk it all? The road will give you what you want the most if you make it all the way to the end. Would you have the grit to walk down such a perilous path? Come whatever maybe.
Witches, magic, curses, hexes, chaos and power. All ingredients for an epic tale. But will Marvel fare well this time? Will this series help revive the universe? Or end up being just like any other prescriptive multiverse movie? Only time can tell. But what’s so special about this particular show? Why should you, the reader, care to watch? Well for one, this is probably the closest to a musical that we will ever get from Marvel! Hallelujah! 🙏
But if that doesn’t whet your appetite, then how about this? Unlike the franchise’s other movies and TV shows, there are no heroes or anti-heroes at the crux of this narrative. This is the Tale of a Nefarious Witch, a Menacing Villain, or is she? These are the Chronicles of Agatha Harkness; It’s been Agatha All Along.
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Marvel has a history of being haunted by the big “villain problem”. Thus far, there have been only a handful of antagonists that fit the bill of interesting big baddies, like Thanos or Loki. Starting from Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and so on, we’ve seen what you would consider typical superhero stories, many a times with a subpar and forgettable villain, that fails to root in the audience.
Over time, especially after Avengers Endgame, Marvel has stagnated and over-extended itself over the multiverse saga. The Kang story-line failed miserably, causing them to pivot to Doctor Doom in the end. But there is one experiment they conducted that performed stupendously beyond their expectations — “WandaVision”.
This is the first time Marvel has dared to stray into the beyond. In a land, where we explore complex emotions like grief and loss. Melancholy has taken over Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) after Thanos (Josh Brolin) murdered Vision (Paul Bettany) right in front of her eyes. The love of her life was taken from her while she could do nothing but watch helplessly. And that destroyed her. Broke her so bad that sorrow evinced itself as a loud burst of magic, radiating from her while unleashing chaos to prepossess the city of Westview.
This powerful hex consumed the dull, suburban town by transforming it into a faux utopia. It hypnotized everyone who lived there by taking over control of their agencies, to put them in kind of a trance. Puppeteering their every move, to be a part of an ever changing script. WandaVision pays homage to some of the finest comedy TV shows of all time like “I Love Lucy”, “The Brady Bunch”, “Bewitched” and “Modern Family”, while also satirizing some of the comic tropes of their era.
It’s here where we meet Agatha a.k.a Agnes for the very first time. She is played by none other than the brilliant, mesmerizing, witty, gorgeous, wondrous and queen of comic timing, Katheryn Hahn. If you haven’t seen “WandaVision”, I highly recommend you to watch it! Although, it’s not a necessary viewing to enjoy this show.
At the end of “WandaVision”, we see Agatha left trapped inside a spell cast by the Scarlet Witch a.k.a Wanda, being forced to live in a sitcom-like reality as a TV show character. This is where we start our journey in “Agatha All Along”. After being trapped inside for years, she escapes the distorted spell with the help of a curious but suspicious Teen, whose name stayed ever sealed behind his lips.
Perplexed, lost, desolate and powerless, Agatha, is persuaded by the Teen to embark a journey on The Witch’s Road to reclaim her lost magical abilities and power. The treacherous path that rewards its seekers with the what their heart wants for the most. That is, if they can reach the end, by undergoing a myriad of trials and tribulations that walk the path alongside them. This shall be the most trying journey they have ever undertaken. And in order to make it through, they must gather a coven of witches for Agatha, the coven-less witch.
Hahn is united in this series with her Parks & Rec co-star. The enigmatic, incomparable, quirky, deadpan, hilarious, unpredictable, beautiful and supremely talented, Aubrey Plaza, who plays the part of Rio Vidal. Joining them are the Teen (Joe Locke), Lilia (Patty LuPone), Mrs. Hart (Debra Jo Rupp), Jennifer (Sasheer Zamata) and Alice (Ali Ahn). Together they must walk down this perilous path and survive it. But can they trust each other? Does anyone have nefarious intentions here that they are concealing to mislead the group? We shall see.
I am so excited and restless to watch this show!! I think it will be a new chapter in the Marvel Universe to be adorned and glorified by a cast of bad-ass, amazing, colorful and potent witches wreaking havoc around. I hope my words have piqued your interest enough to check out the show. 😉 Catch the first 2 episodes of “Agatha All Along” during series premiere on September 18, only on Disney Plus.
Until next time. See you later, alligator. 😆
