Time moves differently in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. That tends to happen when your franchise releases roughly seven projects in a year — and though Marvel is working hard to make its release slate slightly more manageable, it’s still getting harder to account for everything that’s happened within the MCU lately. Even relatively great stories like WandaVision — which is only three years old somehow — feel like they took place ages ago, such is our capacity for retention. And that leaves spinoffs, like the newly released Agatha All Along, with something of an uphill battle.
How do you bring audiences up to speed without assigning any “Marvel homework”? Can a spinoff continue its story when it’s seemingly so removed from the thing that started it all? Agatha endeavors to answer all this and more in its two-episode premiere — and though it takes a second to ease back into this world, the series does manage to summarize years of MCU history without too much effort.
Spoilers for Agatha All Along ahead!
What Happened to Agatha at the End of WandaVision?
Agatha is a direct follow-up to WandaVision, but it does still take place after a three-year time jump. In the time since Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) stole the Darkhold and used its dark knowledge to wreak havoc in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) has been up to... not much at all, actually. For the past three years she’s been stuck in Westview, the idyllic town that Wanda hijacked to live out sitcom-inspired bliss with a resurrected version of Vision (Paul Bettany). Wanda did disable her spell, allowing the residents of Westview to reclaim their normal lives. Agatha, however, never got the memo; she’s spent the past three years seemingly trapped in a Mare of Easttown rip-off.
Agatha is able to break free with a little help from “Agent” Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), a blast from her past who’s also a powerful witch in her own right. Unfortunately, Rio’s intentions are not all good: she only wants to break Wanda’s spell so that Agatha is nice and lucid when she gets her revenge. Why she and Agatha are at odds is a story for another day, but Rio does seem to know exactly how Agatha got stuck in a one-woman show, for anyone in need of a reminder.
In the WandaVision finale, Agatha made a valiant attempt to steal the Scarlet Witch’s reality warping powers. But Wanda fought back and absorbed Agatha’s powers instead, creating a new spell that trapped Agatha in the “role” of the nosy, harmless neighbor. Now, Rio explains, Wanda is long gone, “and all the copies of the Darkhold with her, leaving [Agatha] trapped in her distorted spell.” No one need remember the specifics of her battle with Agatha, or even the events of Multiverse of Madness. All that matters is that Agatha’s been in limbo ever since WandaVision came to an end.
Where That Leaves Agatha Now
Though she no longer has any powers to speak of, Agatha does manage to claw her way out of mental imprisonment. When she finds herself back in reality, her conflict with Wanda is the furthest thing from her mind. That allows the series to set up more relevant conflicts in no time at all.
With one brief scene, Agatha manages to remind us all of the events of WandaVision while keeping things focused on Agatha herself. Wanda’s shadow does loom large over the Agatha pilot, but the series does well to move on from the character as quickly as possible. Episode 2 is all about Agatha’s relationship with other figures from her past, setting the stage for a twisty adventure on the witch’s road. Unlike so many spin-offs and sequels within the MCU, Agatha is working hard to be self-contained, and that should be a relief for anyone hoping to jump into the series without any homework.
