REVIEW: Agatha All Along – Season 1, Episode 3, “Through Many Miles/Of Tricks and Trials”

Review: Agatha All Along – Season 1, Episode 3, “Through Many Miles/Of Tricks and Trials”

“Through many miles/Moves and trials,” Agatha All Along It takes the bold step of embracing the people it's for: middle-aged drinking women. Whether or not that's a bad thing depends on your perspective. It's not very interesting unless that's what you want from your television entertainment, but I respect that the show isn't making excuses for itself. It doesn't solve some of the problems Agatha All Alongs It has some problems, like its complicated pacing, forgetting its magic rules in one scene, or characters making stupid decisions, but that keeps it from being unbearable like other Marvel shows.

Now traveling the witches' road, Agatha and her troupe quickly – too quickly – arrive at a luxurious beach house that appears out of nowhere. When they go inside, they are led into a party of women that turns deadly, and the witches have thirty minutes to save themselves from their mysterious imprisonment.

Right away, “Through Many Miles/Of Tricks and Trials” lays out the rules of the witches' path. Essentially, it's a parody of the Yellow Brick Road the Wizard of Oz: Stay on the road, because going into the woods will lead to danger and death. Sharon learns this the hard way when she tries to run away from the coven she never agreed to join and gets stuck in a mud pit that acts like quicksand, prompting Agatha to make up the rule. You'd think she would have done this right away, but I guess they wanted to demonstrate the dangers of not being on the road. At any rate, it's good storytelling, so I can't complain. So, of course, they immediately get off the road and go to a beach house that just popped into existence, which is… let's just say, not good storytelling. Not only did the show immediately violate the rule it established, but all of these women look like idiots. They aren't even led to this house by the road; they just run off to the first oasis they come across. If the writers wanted to do that, they should have left it for next week, whereas this week they should have followed the path and experienced other things. I keep bringing this up, but these Marvel shows are too long and too short, and the pace is too fast.

***SPOILER***

So, now Agatha and the others are in a beautiful house, and upon entering, they're dressed like suburban wives who dabble in realty while their husbands work in an office in the nearest town and the kids are in school or practicing the violin. And it's kind of perfect because that's what everyone is talking about Agatha All Along: This was made for middle-aged drinking moms. It's a good move to lean into, and it instantly gets a laugh. There's also a digital clock in the living room, which is counting down from thirty minutes. The next obvious element is alcohol, which is introduced via a note that gives them a rhyming riddle about what to do next. (Not to pat myself on the back because it's so obvious, but when the riddle was read aloud, I immediately knew the answer was alcohol.) And, like idiots, they all drink alcohol in a magic house off the witches' path, which has a countdown clock. Well, everyone drinks alcohol except for Agatha and Teen, the latter because she's underage and a lunatic. And, as expected, things go wrong; their faces swell up like women getting Botox injections (think Courteney Cox nowadays), and Jennifer deduces that they're all going to die.

The rest of “Through Many Miles/Of Tricks and Trials” is a search of the house for ingredients for a spell that will undo any curses placed upon them by the alcohol. Conveniently, every single rote witch’s brew ingredient can be found in everyday household items, especially things used by women. It’s a little exaggerated – Newt’s eye is in some kind of facial cream if I remember correctly, and a dead body can be duplicated with petroleum jelly – but I get what they’re going for. And again, the focus on the female aspect is sensible, and I prefer it more than turning them into the usual ball-busting macho broads that pervade every piece of entertainment nowadays. I don’t mind women behaving like women, mimicking masculinity and being unabashedly feminine instead of trying to look effeminate. However, I wish it was a little more interesting and a little more creative. For example, Black Widow fits into Marvel's superhero universe as an assassin, but she is also feminine in the sense that she is very sensual, and she desires to be a mother, even if it is more figuratively than literally, which reflects her character. (This is largely established by the fact that age of Ultron (It seems most of the world is hell-bent on misunderstanding this scene.) You can do it subtly and make it more fun than just women running around the house looking for beauty products; even desperate Housewives It had chase scenes with killers and other things.

I'll also give “Through Many Miles/Of Tricks and Trials” another compliment: it doesn't suddenly make Agatha a hero. So far, the show has been maintaining the idea that Agatha Harkness is not a good person, and I'm glad. She's selfish, she's cunning, and she's perfectly willing to sacrifice others for her own gain. There's a running joke that she keeps calling Sharon “Mrs. Hart,” which was her fake name in Wanda's Hex world (and, as a result, others do the same). That's because Sharon is meaningless to her as a person; she's nothing more than a tool for Agatha to get her power back. (Agatha even has a really funny line when Sharon disappears from the witches' path; most of the humor doesn't stick, but sometimes, they do manage to pull off a good one.) When the others drink, Agatha abstains, but instead of warning her companions about the danger she feels, she lets them ruin themselves. When the others realize that Agatha hasn't had any drinks and that Agatha's drinking is the key to their survival, Agatha still doesn't want to do so. And through Jennifer, we learn that there may be even more darkness in Agatha's past, as she tells Teen that Agatha sacrificed her baby for the Darkhold – which is confirmed by Agatha's vision of a crib with the book in it. (The mention of Mephisto seems to me to be a response to Jack Schaeffer's fan theory WandaVision; I guess nothing will come of it.) And when they drive away from the house, Sharon is seen dead, which, if it's true, means Agatha killed an innocent woman because it suited her goals. That's nice, and I hope it stays that way throughout the show; I want evil to be acknowledged rather than dismissed out of hand.

In the end, “Through Many Miles/Of Tricks and Trials” feels like a waste of time. The plot doesn't move forward, and the mini-adventure they're on isn't interesting. We get hints about Agatha's past, but those could have come in better episodes. I don't hate it, though. Agatha All Along; I think there are some good ideas, the actresses are all good, and I appreciate that the writers and producers are adapting the show the way they want it to be. I would like them to make it more interesting, and maybe stop relying on wisecracks to move the plot along. And bring back Aubrey Plaza; this has been the second episode without her, and I'm starting to feel cheated.