REVIEW: ‘Agatha All Along’ Episode 3 — “Through Many Miles Of Tricks & Trials”

In the fun, if trite, Agatha All Along Episode 3, we learn more about our newly formed coven. Similarly to the premiere, Episode 3 works best when allowing its cast to shine while presenting increasingly absurd scenarios. However, it’s considerably more engaging when it allows itself to luxuriate in the winsome witchy vibes as Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) leads the rest along the Witches Road. they all begin to learn that the journey they’ve set out on has more hurdles than they might’ve realized.

Agatha, Jennifer (Sasheer Zamata), Alice (Ali Ahn), Lilia (Patti Lupone), Teen (Joe Locke), and a confused, non-witch Sharon (Debra Jo Rupp) traverse the road after being chased away by the Salem Seven in Episode 2. The road is where the show comes alive visually. It helps anchor the series in terms of place and tone, especially when contrasted against the back half of the episode, which takes place in something akin to a Pottery Barn catalog.

They must face their worst nightmares through individual trials to make it to the end of the road. This, too, allows Agatha All Along to shine. Part of WandaVisions’s immense charm was its playful approach to decades and genres as it played with form through different types of television series and eras. Agatha All Along maintains that playfulness through the trials as the first location instantly adopts a new style for the characters. Gone are the draped robes and Teen’s Hot Topic getup. Instead, they’re dressed in their yacht chic best as the first trial begins.

This is a fun way to break up the story and allow each character room to shine. Each character has a specific dynamic with the others, and it’s interesting to see how their personalities shine through because of it. In the case of this house, we watch as the witches play along with the imposed rules, drinking the offered wine and suffering allergic reactions from it. The way to pass, it seems, comes down to Jennifer’s potions abilities. To stave off their untimely deaths, she must concoct an antidote to the poison she and the other women drank (Teen is barred from drinking).

Once the swelling goes down, the poison causes other side effects, from loss of body autonomy to fierce hallucinations. Those, in particular, are where we learn the most about the coven. All of them have things from their past that haunt them, traumatized by loss or deceit. We never fear for their lives, and not all of their sequences work. For instance, Jennifer’s flashback/hallucination is much more hokey and less impactful than Alice’s, and it all comes down to staging and lighting.

But some of the best character work comes through smaller beats. Alice and Teen share a tender moment talking about mothers, while all the witches are intrigued when they realize Teen has a sigil placed on him. Everything Rupp does as Sharon is hilarious, perfectly capturing how an average person would react to this madness. Her chugging her considerable glass of wine is perfectly timed, as is her glee at seeing the house decor. No one quite captures the same manic comedy as Rupp does in the cast.

Despite the inherent hilarity of the home they’ve been forced into, its beige everything hinders the effect. Director Rachel Goldberg does her best to imbue the hallucinogenic moments with palpable unease, but only so much can be done with this sort of beach house setting. It’s the most Marvel thing about it — spectacularly uncinematic despite the budget thrown at them. It all looks good enough but lacks the necessary energy that instead flattens the whole production.

But again, there are plenty of fun ideas through Agatha All Along Episode 3, and Hahn, in particular, continues to have a blast with the role. Learning more about Agatha is where the show reaches emotional peaks. Jennifer tells Teen that it’s rumored that Agatha traded her son for the Book of the Damned. However, based on her hallucination, it’s evident that there’s more to that story than the tale that’s been spun. And it’s that which informs her relationship with Teen. While she plays it off, there’s some care there, especially when she immediately shuts down the idea of him drinking the poison.

Again, the fun is in the details. The Witches Road remains a highlight, and the gag of them escaping through the oven is excellent. The series is at its best when it leans into playful energy, even as the characters face down imposing threats. Ending on a major and shocking cliffhanger, the series will be best if it lets the mystery unravel without becoming too self-serious.

Agatha All Along Episode 3 continues to prove the series’ might, with a formidable cast having fun with solid chemistry. It lacks visual vigor, and the scenery quickly becomes stagnant, but there’s unmistakable charm.That is enough to bolster the lesser moments of tedium—for now, at least.

Agatha All Along Episode 3 is out now on Disney+.