Agatha All Along Episode 4 Review

This review contains full spoilers for Agatha All Along Season 1, Episode 4.

In the fourth episode of Marvel’s “Agatha All Along,” Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) and her coven continue down the witch road to face another deadly magical test, but this time there are a few bumps in the road. These imperfections cause the latest enchanted escape room, centered on Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), to be a bit of a disappointment. Luckily, the episode is chock-full of colorful characters who carry the show with their big personalities, magical mysteries and juicy drama, and so Agatha All Along proves that it can still be a devilishly entertaining film even when it’s not firing on all cylinders.

After Mrs. Davis’ poisonous death in the last episode, the first order of business is to fill her vacant seat with a new Green Witch. The group gets more than they bargained for when they inadvertently summon Agatha’s nemesis, Aubrey Plaza’s Rio Vidal, in the gnarliest summoning sequence I’ve ever seen (for free). As if coming up from the earth The certainly cements their title as T̸̛͎̹̀͘H̴̢̧̛͇̘̉͛̉͜É̴̢̩̣ ̵̨̡̭̲̠̑̿̂̀G̷̪̝͌R̵͎̪̻̍̐̕E̷̢̗̖͉̒̅̉E̷̯̍̀ ̕ ̠͇̪N̸͎̲͎̭̾͗͠ͅ ̵̨͇̠͔̒̚W̸͉̓̈̑̏I̷̗̰̞̍T̴̮̼̣̦͕̈C̴̤͛H̵̠̺̃̌̚ͅͅ.

The show was sorely missing Rio’s unique psycho-sexy antagonism, so it feels good to have her back and making everyone uncomfortable. However, Rio behaves surprisingly (and disappointingly) in this episode for a witch, acting so awkwardly and brandishing a knife while talking about how she’s willing to do harm. She even helps the gang by playing the drums, no questions asked. There’s the moment where Agatha tries to turn the group against Rio by broadcasting her conversation, but the clumsy execution has the opposite effect and makes Agatha sound much worse than Rio. Ultimately, Rio is the closest thing to a villain in this series, so it would be more satisfying to see her have some teeth to back up her bark.

For the trial, the coven enters a 1970s recording studio and gets a great makeover. Here they must overcome Alice’s family curse by learning the truth about her mother’s music career and then face head-on a fiery demon with the power of music. I like the ideas explored here, but not the way they are implemented. All the details of the generational curse are overstated, yet the concept is still somewhat confusing. Plus, as I said in my last review, Alice’s character is the least developed character of the group, making it hard to feel invested in her big revelations and personal breakthroughs. It doesn’t help that Agatha takes over lead vocals when it comes to jamming. Alice shouldn’t have taken the microphone with her since it was her Mother’s song and this process was her Attempt?

As for the song itself, the wonderfully campy delivery of the new ’70s version of the ballad is great, with some high stakes and plenty of fire to keep things interesting. Part of me is disappointed that the song is just a reinterpretation of a tune we’ve already heard rather than something entirely new, but this version with new story elements for Alice and her mother makes up for it.

With Mrs. Davis gone, Patti LuPone’s Lilia Calderu has quickly become the new scene-stealer. A typical example: “Well, what do you know? Zils!” Hilarious. Additionally, she has a big heart and a sharp mind, giving the story a welcome emotional power. This episode is about enduring the pain of those who came before you, and we see how much she carries the burden of what happened to all the women executed during the Salem Witch Trials. I hope her trial is next, because I’m dying to find out what’s going on with Lilia when she unknowingly communicates with those from beyond the mortal plane.

Pictures from Agatha All Along episode 4