I will say this about last night’s fourth episode of Agatha All Along on Disney Plus: The new “rock and roll” version of the song ‘The Witch’s Road’ was a lot better than the original chant version. It was fun to see Kathryn Hahn belt it out while Aubrey Plaza’s Rio banged around on the drums.
Other than that, I’m a little less enthusiastic than I’ve been about this show so far, which started off super strong and then sort of settled into a decently entertaining rhythm for the next two episodes. I felt like this episode was a bit of a mess, though not necessarily bad.
First off, we get a second house for the second challenge on the Witch’s Road. Will every challenge just be a new house? Unlike last week’s, which was basically Mrs. Hart’s dream house, this one is tied to Alice. Also unlike last week, nobody dies, though Teen is wounded. There’s another curse, but this time around the curse is more specifically a family curse that has been haunting Alice’s family for generations, and that feels a little odd to me. Why is this curse of her family’s suddenly an obstacle on the Witch’s Road?
They beat it by playing the song, which is a pretty easy fix, but also impressive because it’s not easy at all to sit down and bang out a song on the first try when you’ve never played together.
What mostly felt off to me about this episode was some of the dialogue and pacing. I got a bit of a community theater vibe, if that makes any sense. Maybe the editing was just off, but at times it felt like people were standing around on stage and popping off lines just a smidgeon too late. It felt a little cheap, a little sloppy, a little rough around the edges.
I am glad Plaza is back, though it feels kind of too easy to just summon her with a spell. They had to do this whole chant to get down here and now Rio—the green witch—can just claw her way out of the dirt? Why not just skip the Mrs. Hart stuff and have her here from the beginning?
I am curious about her backstory. She spilled some beans, but they were vague beans. I’m also curious about Agatha’s kid, and who Teen is, and so I certainly have a reason to stick around for the season, but I’m starting to worry that what we’re getting is not at all the full potential of what we could have gotten. There is potential here, but something is off. Again, it’s not bad it’s just not as good or as slick or as clever as WandaVision. Reviews from critics and audiences seem to reflect a similar feeling is common. What do you think?
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