Agatha All Along reviews: 'knowing and exceptionally well-executed'

Kathryn Hahn's turn in Marvel's "WandaVision" as Agnes/Agatha, a dark witch masquerading as a nosy sitcom neighbour, was "too deliciously devious and charismatic" to "not be unleashed on a bigger scale", said Empire's Sophie Butcher. And in this nine-part Disney+ spin-off from Jac Schaeffer, the creator of "WandaVision", Agatha is back, having lost her powers after her climactic stand-off with Wanda.

Not only that, she is trapped in an alternate reality, where she believes herself to be a "'Mare of Easttown'-esque detective in a Scandi-inspired crime drama". It is only when "mysterious foe" Rio (Aubrey Plaza) and a young burglar known as Teen ("Heartstopper"'s Joe Locke) arrive that Agatha wakes up to reality and claws herself back to the real world. This "show-within-a-show" is both "knowing and exceptionally well-executed", said BBC Culture's Rachael Sigee.

To regain her powers and save herself from the Salem Seven, a band of irate fellow witches hell-bent on seeking retribution after Agatha destroyed their coven, she must "walk a gauntlet of trials" known as the Witches' Road. But to open the portal to reach the road, Agatha needs her own coven, leading her to "embark on a recruitment drive straight out of a heist movie" for a new gang of sorcerers.

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The coven and surrounding characters "don't have a weak link," said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. Indeed Hahn, is "surrounded by excellence." The new gang of witches is "pleasingly rag-tag", said Sigee. They include Patti LuPone as Lilia, a financially challenged fortune teller, and Sasheer Zamata as Jen, a witch-turned-Goop-style wellness expert, who is facing lawsuits after selling dodgy products. "Historically, our kind don't do well in courtrooms," she muses.

It is Agatha's relationship with Plaza's green witch Rio Vidal that is the "most attention-grabbing", though, said Sigee. They share both a "spiky history and frankly outrageous sexual tension". Plaza could "not be more in her element." The cast and creators have proudly declared "Agatha All Along" as Marvel's "gayest" offering yet, and its queerness certainly "resonates more deeply than the surface-level gayness of a scene where LuPone flamboyantly performs as a one-woman percussion section".

The script is "burnished to a high shine and slips seamlessly from comedy to tragedy and back again", said Mangan. And although there is the expected amount of action from a Marvel property, it has "plenty of depth, too". The series also leaves Marvel fans guessing as to the greater significance of the narrative within the Multiverse. For example, what is the true identity of Locke's character, known only as "Teen". And is Wanda still alive?

The magic in this production is in the dynamic between the cast and the "frankly fabulous aesthetic, with costumes to die for", said Butcher. Alongside the "silly, spooky, wonderfully camp vibe", there are "flashes of true horror and darkness". It is, said Mangan, the "perfect show for Halloween season", but an "absolute treat any time at all."