Agatha All Along Season 1 Review

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duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films and debate the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat-based battle simulations. I'm Johnny DC. And I'm his twin brother, Marvelous Joe. And in this episode, we are reviewing season one of Agatha, All Along. It's Marvel Television's latest Disney Plus exclusive series that I did not think I was going to enjoy, but damn did I. Yet.

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It was really good, I can't wait to talk about it later on this episode. Before that, we're gonna break down the latest comic book movie news to come out this past week, of which we have two new trailers coming out of Brazil's D23, and that was the Captain America Brave New World official trailer and the Thunderbolts D23 special look. So basically, this is an all Marvel episode, this is in fact the third week in which there is no DC news. So Jonathan, tell me, why are you still a DC fan? Not gonna lie, it's pretty hard right now.

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Um, after the Joker just being so disappointed by that and not really having too much to get excited for besides Superman legacy. I need something. I need something. Well, we are going to be reviewing the Penguin next week. That's fair. People have said that's really good. I haven't even watched a single episode of it, but I can't wait to. Now that I finished Agatha all along, I could do that.

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As always guys, we list our segment times in the episode description, so feel free to check out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to a particular topic. Our artificially intelligent duel simulator AJ9K has a quick message for our listeners, so listen up.

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Johnny and Joe will help you develop your show, provide graphic support and consultation, and get you simulation results. Pitch the twins your ideas via email at dynamicduelpodcast at gmail.com. Check it out at patreon.com slash dynamicduel. Pip pip cheerio. Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports the podcast. Be sure to tune into the other shows on the Dino Mic Podcast Network this week, including Max Destruction, which pits your favorite action heroes from film and television against each other.

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This week, hosts Scotty and Gilly are reviewing Who Framed Roger Rabbit. On the Senjo World podcast, host Zachary Hepburn speculates on fights between fan favorite anime and manga characters. Zach is currently abroad right now, so the show is momentarily on hiatus. On the Console Combat podcast, hosts John and Dean simulate battles between popular video game characters. In yesterday's episode, they find out who would win between Duke Nukem and Sirius Sam.

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Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click on the link in our show notes to listen to all the shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network. But with that out of the way, quick to the No Prize! The No Prize is an award Marvel used to give out to fans. Our version, the Dynamic Duel No Prize, is a digital award we post on Instagram for the person that we feel gave the best answer to our question of the week. Last week we asked you guys, out of Marvel Television's upcoming projects revealed in the sizzle reel that was released a couple weeks ago,

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Which one gets you the most excited and why? And this is coming off of the video that Marvel put out that showed their 2025 Marvel television and Marvel animation projects. We got a total of two answers for this. It looks like you guys are not very excited about what Marvel television has to offer. I don't think that's the case. I think maybe it was just a boring question because people will be like, I'm obviously excited for Daredevil. Like, obviously, like next question. So that's probably our bad, but.

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We do have a no prize winner to announce. We did get an answer from Mason Thompson, but it was not understandable due to the whispering, bro. So if you call us, make sure that we can understand you if the whole thing's gonna be whispering. You don't have to keep us a secret, it's fine, we're cool. Like people like us. The winner of this week's no prize goes to CJ Craft, who said? Hey guys, CJ Craft here. Out of all the shit Marvel listed, I think my favorite piece of shit has to be-

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Yeah, damn, see?

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a chance to introduce even new characters that aren't in the comics that could become big figures later.

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Sorry about the shit jokes. I left out loud when I first listened to this message because I had forgotten that I was like, out of all the shit that Marvel's putting out and you're like, you're right, it is shit. But no, Eyes of Wakanda is something that we didn't really get a good look at until the sizzle reel came out a couple of weeks ago that Marvel released. And we had commented that it looks very unlike anything else that Marvel Studios has produced. It doesn't look like, you know, the What If series or X-Men 97.

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It almost looks like a Clone Wars style cartoon with that type of 3D character animation. It looks really fascinating, especially the content of the show, which is going to give us a look at Black Panthers from the past. Basically exploring Wakanda's rich history and mythology. Yeah, honestly, the MCU I feel like has created a version of Wakanda that is cooler than anything I've ever personally read in the comics. I'm not sure if you feel the same way.

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But it'll be cool to see how that culture has evolved into what it is in the movies today. Yeah, Ryan Coogler and Marvel Studios did such fantastic world building, both in the original Black Panther film and its sequel, Wakanda Forever. So it's nice to be able to consistently revisit it, you know, every few years. I think it's necessary just as this piece of modern pop culture mythology. It's unfortunate that the show is only going to be four episodes, because I feel like we could get a...

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a whole 10 episode series out of that, but it's only going to be four episodes and I'm sure they're going to be fantastic. Do you think we'll get a chance to see more of Namor? Ooh, that's a great question. I don't know. I know that we're going to see Iron Fist. Not the Danny Rand version, but like a historical version of the Kun Lun warrior. Oh man, please tie that into Shang-Chi. In fact, if they want to include the Mandarin in there somewhere, that'd be cool too. I'm totally fine with that. That would be totally awesome.

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The show comes out on August 6th, so we have a ways to wait before we see it, but yeah, totally excited for Eyes of Wakanda. So thanks CJ for calling in with that answer, and congrats on winning this week's No Prize. If you the listener want a shot at winning your own No Prize, stay tuned to later on this episode when we'll be asking another Question of the Week. And now that that's done, on to the news!

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Alright, last week was the big D23 Brazil event, which is a fan event held for fans down in South America, and we got not only the official trailer for Captain America Brave New World, but we also got like an extended scene and new trailer for the Thunderbolts film which was called a D23 Brazil special look. They're both on YouTube if you want to go check them out because I'm excited to talk about them. First off, the Captain America Brave New World trailer was really cool, not for necessarily what it showed because I don't know if it showed it.

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too many new surprises compared to what the teaser showed us. But I think stylistically, this is one of the most interesting trailers that Marvel has ever put out. It is very different from any other trailer that Marvel has ever done. You're right. It took itself very, very seriously. Like there were no wisecracking jokes here. There is barely even any music. And I actually really liked that about this trailer. Yeah, there were like a lot of ticking clocks and stuff like that. Just really ratcheting up the tension. It is a tense trailer.

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I wonder if the movie is actually going to be as tense as this preview is portraying it, but like we didn't get like the standard Marvel Studios branding or anything. It was just white on black titles, which I thought was an interesting departure for any Marvel Studios film. They're really trying to make it look like something unique here, something more akin to, you know, the previous Captain America movies like Winter Soldier and Civil War, but like ratcheted up to 11. Like, I feel like they're selling this as the end-all-be-all political action thriller.

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Yeah, I noticed that about the branding as well. It actually caught me off guard as I was watching the trailer. I was like, wait, that's that's not the Marvel font. What's going on here? They did this, like interesting split screen effect for most of the trailer. We were getting two simultaneous shots on the left hand side of the screen and the right hand side, which was an interesting way to kind of keep diverting your attention. But it kind of gave me Hulk 2003 film vibes for the split screen effect. But at least it made sense here.

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the way they did it. It wasn't quite as clumsy as how that film did it back in the day. Well, I love that movie, so I'm not complaining. I don't think that'll be in this movie. I think that's way too far of a departure for Marvel's standard way of filming things. But I think as far as a trailer goes, it's pretty innovative. There were quite a few major action shots that were shown here that we haven't seen elsewhere. One of them was a little bit weird because it was Sam Wilson's Captain America.

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landing among a group of enemy soldiers, like really, really fast, like fast enough to break his legs. And then all of a sudden, you know, the sonic boom from his landing knocks them all back. Now, I can understand Sam flying fast enough to breach the sound barrier. But what I can't understand is him basically crashing into the ground at that speed and just being fine with it in the same way that Iron Man would. Iron Man, at least you can rationalize that his armor has some kind of like inertial dampener to protect him. But it's hard to make that same rationalization for

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Captain America who's not wearing the same armor. Right, yeah, he'd have to be wearing like Vibranium boots or something like that, which isn't outside the realm of possibility. I guess not, I mean, he does have Vibranium wings that were gifted to him by Wakanda, which we saw in the Falcon and the Winter Soldier television series. So you're right, it might not be out of the realm of possibility, it was kind of a badass line where he lands and he looks at all the soldiers and he's like, wait for it, and then the Sonic Boom comes. That was pretty cool. Sam does have some pretty fantastic moments here.

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Especially when we see him in an aerial dogfight with a bunch of other airplanes who fire missiles at him And he takes all the missiles out with his shield that was really badass and of course at the end of the trailer we see him go up against Red Hulk and Red Hulk freaking throws a flaming car at the guy and Sam does a flip over it and slices the car in half with his wings. I got chills. That was awesome Yeah, I didn't realize his wings were that sharp, but sure

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Sam's so cool with the wings, I think that's the main appeal that I get from watching these trailers. I hope that the story is as compelling as they're portraying it to be, but even if it doesn't quite live up to my high expectations already, I know at least we're gonna get some really badass, quintessential, iconic Sam Wilson Captain America action beats. The Captain America movies have always been pretty good, so I'm not worried at all. I think this is gonna be really good. Well, we'll find out in just a few months. The movie comes out on February 14th, Valentine's Day.

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So, yeah, take take your significant other to go see Captain America and have a good time. Yeah, no one's going to do that. It's not a date movie. It's totally a date movie. Is it, though? Every girl wants their guy to take them to a Marvel Studios film. Trust me, bro. It's a sure thing if you do. No, it's the farthest thing from that, actually. Like who's Sam's love interest in this? At least I know, man. At least even Steve Rogers had a love interest.

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Maybe it's the Sabra chick, the Israeli fighter that they kind of retconned into being a member of the Red Room program in the film. Maybe, I don't know. Those two probably hook up in the film, I bet you. Anyway, with that said, that brings us to our question of the week.

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What would you say is the best Marvel or DC film to watch on Valentine's Day with your significant other and why? And I'm not talking about like new releases that come out in the theaters. I'm talking about like you and your SO are like sitting on the couch. You pop in a Marvel or DC movie on Valentine's Day. What is it and why? Record your answer at dynamicduel.com by clicking on the red microphone button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a voicemail.

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Your message could be up to 30 seconds long and don't forget to leave your name in case we include you on the podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer and award that person a dynamic duel no prize that we'll post to Instagram. Be sure to answer before November 16th. Moving on to the Thunderbolts D23 Brazil special look. This was such a badass preview for the Thunderbolts movie. Just what I thought I couldn't be more excited for the movie. We get this extended look at an action scene where

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The Thunderbolts are riding in Red Guardian's limo, escaping from an armored convoy, and the Winter Soldier shows up and basically just fucking annihilates the entire convoy in spectacular style, straight out of like a Terminator movie. It is so damn cool. Even Red Guardian himself is like, oh, it's the Winter Soldier. He's so cool. It looks hilarious. It looks action packed. I loved everything about that scene. Yeah, I love how the Red limo they were driving was like Red Guardian's own personal, like Red Guardian mobile. Yeah.

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I like how one of the defensive maneuver switches he clicked on was basically just like mood lighting in the backseat with Genuine's My Pony playing. That was actually a pretty good comedic beat. But there was some other great music in this trailer. We got Possum Kingdom by the Toadies and that's following the previous trailers whereas My Mind by the Pixies. So like Thunderbolts is just firing on all cylinders when it comes to the music in these previews. I mean, are you surprised? Because like the Suicide Squad films had amazing soundtracks.

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What does the Suicide Squad have shit to do with shit? Again, this is basically Marvel's Suicide Squad, so I'm saying they're, you know, trying to really live up to that. I think you're just way off base here, and I think you need to shut your mouth about the Suicide Squad as it pertains to the Thunderbolts. Okay? Oh, that's cute. You think you could tell me what to do. As Possum Kingdom is playing, we get some cool beats, just basically showing the...

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quirky attitude of the Thunderbolts cast of characters. I really like Yelena Belova. Like Florence Pugh has really stood out as this truly hilarious deadpan character out of the Black Widow film. Her Yelena is awesome. I just like how she could tell a character like the Contessa to eat shit, you know? Just that delivery alone was perfection. Yeah, her deliveries and David Harbour's line deliveries as the Red Guardian, also like perfect comedic timing. Actually, a lot of the cast was pretty comedic, even John Walker.

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Which was surprising. Yeah. I really love when Red Guardian asks Bucky, like, what kind of super soldier serum he got. He was like, I don't know, the regular kind, the Hydra kind. And he's like, ooh, Hydra. So fancy. So good. Another great gag from the trailers is how they're underselling the sentry by just calling him Bob and just making him look like this regular guy who shows up wearing scrubs. You know, it's just so unassuming.

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And I hope it's a surprise for a lot of audiences just how powerful he ends up being as the Sentry. I don't know why, but for the first time in this trailer, I finally understood why people are saying that this is actually going to be like the Avengers and that's the whole reason for the asterisk. Because Yelena bought Avengers Tower, so she's probably making her own Avengers team. So while she dubs them the Avengers, you know, Alexi is calling them something different. Yeah, Red Guardian is calling them the Thunderbolts and he thinks it's a really cool name.

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No one else thinks that though, which is also pretty damn funny. Really can't wait for this movie. It comes out May 2nd, just a few months after Captain America Brave New World.

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That does it for all the Marvel shit from this episode. Now let's go ahead and move on to the main event, I guess, which is more Marvel shit. Our review of Marvel Television's Disney Plus exclusive series, Agatha, all along.

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Alright, Agatha All Along was created by Jack Schafer, the same creator behind WandaVision. The show serves as a direct sequel to that 2021 series and it stars Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, and Aubrey Plaza. It was released around the Halloween season this year and I thought it did a fantastic job continuing the spooky vibes established in Marvel's other Halloween projects.

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like the Halloween episode of Wandavision, the Werewolf by Night special presentation, and the upcoming Marvel Zombie show set to release around Halloween of 2025. Agatha all along serves as a strong backstory for Agatha Harkness, as well as a strong introduction for Wiccan, aka Billy Maximoff, an original member of the Young Avengers team. If you want to learn more about either Agatha or Wiccan, feel free to listen to our duel episodes that feature those characters.

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It's not necessary to know the comics backstories, but I do feel that you get more out of these shows and films when you see how they compare to the source material. I will say that Agatha all along has made the character Agatha more prominent and interesting character than she ever was in the comics. And I really had a lot of fun with this series. I think it was an even better show than it needed to be considering Agatha is a lesser character from the books. And there are some like truly pause worthy twists in the show.

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in that the twist happens and you pause it and you're like, what? And for those who haven't watched the series, I got to say, don't spoil anything for yourself by continuing to listen to the spoiler review. I recommend the show. Trust me, it's worth watching if you're even the slightest bit interested in the MCU. So there's your spoiler warning. Yeah, the thing I like most about this series actually is how unpredictable it was like.

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The show just gets better and better as each episode progresses. And with all the twists and turns that end up being revealed toward the end, it actually gives a pretty solid rewatchability factor. Yeah, yeah, the twists, man. I mean, like WandaVision had some great twists, you know, like with the revelations of what was happening to Westview, who Agnes was, things like that here. You know, there were great twists involving Billy and who he was and what he could do with chaos magic, apparently. But.

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I think the best twist that made my mouth hang open for a solid hour was the revelation of what the Witch's Road actually was. We spent this entire show thinking it was one thing, only to realize that it was just a song. Like a little children's song that Agatha's son would sing to pass the time as they spent their lives as wanderers. It was like the most innocent, pure, simple thing that in time became a legend.

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which in turn was used for something so sinister, which in turn manifested into something so fantastic and magical. I think the show's concept of the Witch's Road is cool, you know, like manifesting the hero's journey as a sort of Wizard of Oz meets Cabin in the Woods type setting, but the show's origin and evolution of the Witch's Road, I think-

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It was pure brilliance. Oh, that was amazing. It was a fantastic reveal and it really really endeared me to the character of Agatha Harkness. Oh for sure, yeah. The twists though, they also come with some caveats. I think some of this cleverness is also where the show stumbles. Like the idea of the road complete with its lethal trials requiring complex potion making, spell casting, spiritual warfare, tarot reading, and botanomancy?

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You know, that's a solid concept, right? They're all great challenges that require skill and they have fatal consequences. So the stakes are there. But the road reconceived as an accidental manifestation of chaos magic from a kid who's, you know, like a relative newcomer to the world of witchcraft. That's a little bit harder to swallow. Like at one point, Jennifer Kale, the witch played by Sashir Zamata, hallucinates that she's being drowned by a doctor she used to work with. And when you look back on it, you're like, but.

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The road isn't real, it's just Billy's manifestation. So that's kind of weird what's going on there. Same thing goes for Alice seeing her mother kill herself. And I don't think the drama surrounding the road would hold up to much scrutiny. Like don't think about it too hard, otherwise you'll be like, wait. And I'm pretty sure any question regarding the road can be answered with, because it's magic, stupid. But I'm not positive the show would do as well on a rewatch because of that.

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There's bound to be, I think, some plot holes or more general weirdness derived from some of these twists. I disagree. Because of the revelation that the whole thing was created by Wiccan, because he's psychic. He could read people's minds. So it made sense to me that the road was able to tap into that to learn people's greatest fears. So you think that somehow Billy's subconscious was able to divine the correct manner of laying out a tarot deck?

22:45
Well, I think his subconscious created the entire thing. So absolutely. Sure. I mean, yeah, again, I think that answer is in line with because it's magic. Stupid. I think it's slightly better than that. Well, I'll have you rewatch the show then and then see if there's any strangeness that comes out of the whole concept there. You don't know my life. Maybe I will. Maybe I will rewatch it. Actually, I'm going to watch the penguins. I'm not. I do plan on rewatching Agatha all along, probably next Halloween season, because my wife really enjoyed it, too.

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I think one of the biggest appeals for me was the impression that I got while watching it that everyone involved, from the cast, to the writers, to the set designers, the wardrobe team, the musical team, they all just had a blast making it. The project really seems like a director's dream, juggling these multifaceted characters, putting them on a roller coaster journey, transforming the look of each trial with beautifully designed practical sets and costumes and watching it all unfold. The show is varied.

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in a way that few other Marvel projects can be. And I found myself transported in a way that can only really be described as movie magic. Like forget that the show actually dealt with fantasy magic. I'm talking about the transport of nature of well-made fun cinema. Oh, this thing was unbelievably well-made. The cinematography, fantastic. Like it was movie quality. Yeah, especially when you're going from settings like the opening scene.

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that's based off a crime drama. It felt like you were watching an episode of The Killing as they stumble upon the body. And then, you know, you go to like the little big lies type setting of the coastal home to the Friday the 13th style of the cabin. I thought it was all fantastic. It does feel like a dream project. Yeah, absolutely. There were more amazing shots in this series than there are in most Marvel movies, I would say. I agree with you, but also try to be respectful. No, no, it will not be, I refuse.

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I have to imagine that the show creator Jack Schaeffer was pleased with the end result of her vision, which I think was more successfully executed here than in Wandavision, which I had some frustrations with if you remember from that review. But Jack Schaeffer truly has a knack, I'll say, for writing series that aren't bound to one style or genre. Like we saw in Wandavision, where many of those episodes recreated classic sitcoms across the decades.

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And we saw it here with Agatha all along with things like the opening scene, like I mentioned, or how the road would manifest each trial as a new setting. In another comparison to WandaVision, Agatha all along, I think, also did a great job of balancing these wide emotional turns, going from depressingly sad scenes of loss and grief to horrific and unsettling moments to laugh out loud comedy. It was just well balanced all around. Oh, 100%. Yeah, the story was just incredible.

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for this series. I really, really enjoyed the story. I found it entertaining all the way through, particularly with the escape room type challenges for each episode. That was so brilliant. Yeah, it was fun to try to figure out what clues there were in the room and then seeing them solve it and what they got to do. They felt just right in terms of difficulty level and the skill that it would take to actually pass the trial.

25:59
Yeah, and in regards to that, I also really liked the lore that they developed for witches in this show. Like for there to be a protection witch that, you know, is symbolized by fire and a potion witch that symbolized by water, a divination witch that's symbolized by air and a green witch that's symbolized by, you know, plants and stuff like that. Freaking is this like Avatar? This is cool. What did you think of the actual song, The Ballad of the Witch's Road?

26:25
It was cool. I liked the different versions of it. It's catchy, as was Agatha Lalong in WandaVision. Yeah, I got to say, even now, during this review in the back of my head, I'm thinking down, down, down the road, down the way. It's just on repeat in my head. It's an earworm. I especially like the chant version, but, you know, the rocking out protection spell version was also pretty good. That was pretty fucking cheesy. Not going to lie. But I don't like it. It's fine. I liked it.

26:54
I liked it because it was a spell that they were casting. It was a song that served as a means of protection for her daughter. I liked that other things were going on as they were just really cheesing it up. You know, like that demon monster curse thing that was terrifying. Yeah, that was pretty scary. And again, the lore behind that song and how that developed, like who did you say wrote this? Jack Schaeffer. This Jack Schaeffer guy, he needs to do more Marvel stuff. Jack Schaeffer is a chick, bro. Jacqueline. Oh, shit.

27:24
But let's go ahead and talk about the characters that she developed for the show in our character breakdown. Starting with Agatha Harkness, played by Catherine Han. On the very first episode, I wasn't quite sure if Catherine Han was phoning in a weak performance, or if she was a good enough actress to act like she was phoning in a weak performance. And luckily, right when she broke out of her spell by the end of the episode, I realized it was the latter.

27:49
She was fantastic in the show and as Agatha, I think she's been able to really showcase the full range of her acting prowess in tackling drama, comedy, horror, action, like in her opening fight against Rio. And she can go from scenery chewing rage to the subtleness, sadness in her eyes, to hysterical laughter. It's really a beast of a role that I think any actress would cherish and I think Han nailed it in a way that few other actors could.

28:16
I will admit I did not actually care for her performance for a majority of the series. I thought she was like hamming it up way more than any of the other actors were. But in hindsight, that may just be because she was aware of more of what was going on than other actors were. So she was trying to play along with them as it were. Yeah, totally. From the get-go, she realized that this was a sham manifestation basically. So I think all of the information definitely informed her performance.

28:46
I am convinced that she's going to get Emmy nominated again for this role just like she did in Wandavision. I would not be surprised if that happened. Agatha's journey in this show was mostly about her acquisition of power as it has been for centuries. You know, she started out in the 17th century as a young witch studying black magic for which her mom's coven tried to kill her. And she went down this really dark path, even apparently communing with the entity of death, which seems pretty damn dark.

29:15
But her emotional arc really began with the birth and death of her son Nicholas, who awakened this caring side of Agatha that she had never really experienced before, a side that was just utterly decimated when her son passed away tragically by her side. From there, we saw her choose to live only for herself, reverting to her main aim of amassing power and studying dark magic. She even acquired the Darkhold we know at some point, and she was a good villain in WandaVision,

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interesting protagonist here in that once again we get to see her open up a bit again when she encounters Billy Maximoff who reminds her of and she perhaps initially believes to be her son Nicholas. You know, it's a very vulnerable time for her not just emotionally but also physically because she's powerless and she has enemies that are coming for her. So the audience connects with her in that regard but she also shatters that connection with her callous disregard for the

30:14
Whereas the viewer you're equal parts interested and repulsed and amused by and feel sorry for her throughout the course of the show. But in the very end, she finally settles into the mentor role that she's always served in the comics. And I think it was such a fun and fascinating journey to see her get to that point, being the mentor. Absolutely. Like I said earlier, I didn't really care for the character of Agatha until the final episode.

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when we learned about her past and saw what she has become. It was a fantastic character arc. I actually really, really like her arc. But I also think that because of the nature of her character throughout the series, Catherine Hunn was really fortunate to have a strong supporting cast to really pick up the slack where the story didn't need the character. Yeah, it was a great ensemble cast, fantastic. One of the best ensemble casts I think you can get for a series about a coven of witches, honestly.

31:10
But also great in the cast was Wiccan, aka Billy Maximoff played by Joe Locke. I knew nothing of Joe Locke before the show. I had heard good things about him from the Netflix show Heartstopper, and I got the impression a lot of people were happy with his casting as Billy Maximoff. But I remember not being that happy. Like in a very shallow manner, I'm ashamed to admit. I thought he didn't look anything like the child actor who played him in WandaVision and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

31:38
I feel like such a fucking asshole now, not only because Joe Locke is a wonderfully charismatic actor who I thought did an exceptional job in the role, but also because the show itself did such an incredible job in rationalizing how Billy came back and why he looks different now. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I love the way they rationalized how Billy came to be this William guy, because it's really confusing in the comics, I feel like. And it's still a little complex here, but I think a little bit less confusing. Yeah, in the comics, basically.

32:07
Billy and Tommy were manifestations of magic that ended up being shards of Mephisto, the devil's soul. And when he pulled them back into himself, you know, they ended up dying, but they got reincarnated, you know, years later and raised by different families. Here is a little bit more interesting in that the reincarnation happens to William Kaplan the moment he dies. Stan And he dies the same moment that Billy essentially dies. Ben Right, exactly. Really well done. I think a lot of fans of the Wiccan character will be pleased with how this all panned out.

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I'll say in regards to my initial reactions to his casting, I don't think that the marketing of Agatha all along did Joe Locke any favors, but I am happy to say that I would be thrilled to see more Wiccan in the MCU, hopefully in an upcoming Young Avengers film or series. Oh yeah, I would agree with the marketing for the show. I definitely felt like it was outside my demographic. I was not looking forward to watching or reviewing the show, I would say, but I'm really glad I did. Because honestly...

33:05
I liked it more than WandaVision. I liked it more than a lot of other MCU shows. Yeah, I think I liked it about as much as Loki season two. I think I liked it more than that. Really? Oh, that's surprising actually. Yeah. Back to Wiccan, his arc here had almost as many twists and turns as Agatha's did. First he's William Kaplan celebrating his Bar Mitzvah, then he dies, coming back as Billy, but he's amnesiac. We see his journey to Agatha, his unconscious use of chaos magic to create the Witch's Road.

33:35
all to reach out and find his twin brother Tommy, which I thought was a really touching journey for him. And I'd like to think, Jonathan, that if we both died and you reincarnated that you'd risk your life to find and reincarnate my soul too, right? Right? I mean, I think I would move on eventually. You piece of shit. Consider your ass haunted. Nah, okay, fine with that actually. We'll be like brother voodoo.

34:04
Yeah, that'd be cool actually. That'd be cool. But thematically, yeah, Billy's arc was about self-discovery and reunion. I think the story hit those themes spot on. I thought he showed true marks at the end of being a hero in his bravery, in the face of adversity, his willingness to sacrifice, his remorse over his perceived moral failures, his loyalty to his companions. He's a fantastic new addition to the MCU. And maybe him and his brother Speed will show up in Vision Quest. Who knows?

34:32
I'm really hoping they do Tommy as much justice as they did Billy for this series. Let's talk about death, aka Rio played by Aubrey Plaza. Now, Aubrey Plaza is a captivating and really talented actress. But I'm not entirely sure she even did any acting here. I think legitimately she just stumbled on the set a few times, interacted with the other performers, just being her normal, regular self, shepherding the dead into the afterlife like she do, you know?

35:00
That is Aubrey Plaza, right? That's her in a nutshell. Like how can you get better casting for the character of death than Aubrey Plaza? She's so deadpan, so mysterious, and yeah, she's kind of been typecast as the sarcastic dry persona, but I think it really works well here. Like if you've ever seen her chameleon-esque portrayal as Lenny Busker in Legion, or her heavily dramatic side in Emily the Criminal, or her nuanced role in Ingrid Goes West, you know the girl can act. She has range.

35:29
But with Death, it seems more like she was having fun here, you know, getting to try some action heavy stuff in the first episode, and, you know, getting to play a witch and the character of Death. Yeah, I didn't know what was going on with her character, but when the reveal came that she was Marvel's Death, that was one of those moments where I had to pause it and just be like, holy shit! My wife was like, what? What's the big deal? I was like, this is Death. Like, this is the Death that Thanos loved.

35:57
in Marvel Comics and he worshipped. The fact that they changed it so that it was a relationship with Agatha kind of levels up Agatha in my book. That's true. Yeah, they took the death persona, who historically has been romantically linked to Thanos in the comics. Although, you know, that romance is unrequited and they shifted it to Agatha, who is a dark magic witch. And conceptually, I actually kind of like that more.

36:21
Like death as a personification seems more at home in the realm of fantasy magic more than, you know, the sci-fi bent of Thanos's cosmic stories. Yeah, 100% I agree. How weird though would it be if Aubrey Plaza's death character fell in love with Deadpool? Because that happened in the comics. That was kind of like a gag in the Deadpool books where death fell in love with Deadpool because he's like this unattainable figure for her because he can't die, right?

36:49
And so like Thanos beats the shit out of Deadpool and they kind of like compete for her love. Could you see Aubrey Plaza vying for Ryan Reynolds Deadpool in a future Marvel project? 100 percent. I don't even know how that's a question. Absolutely. They should put out like a Valentine's Day special with those characters. That'd be hilarious. I also got to say, I love how they leaned into Aubrey Plaza's Hispanic heritage by portraying.

37:14
Death's true form with this Dia de los Muertos style design, those elements I think really brought an interesting take to the more basic skeleton in a robe look that Death has in the comics. Yeah, it's like La Catrina without the giant hat. Yeah, exactly. So cool. The whole show is pretty diverse, right? I actually like that about it. Yeah, including Jennifer Cale played by Sashir Zamata. I've been a fan of Sashir's from her days at Saturday Night Live. She's a stand-up comedian.

37:42
So I initially thought that Jennifer Cale was gonna be like hilarious in this show. She wasn't, but I'll say that I was impressed with Sashir's capacity for dramatic acting, like able to convey horror, anger, sadness, all with authenticity. Jennifer Cale in the comics is a sorceress who is part of the Cale family whose line was cursed with harboring the spirit of vengeance. So Jennifer's aunt is Naomi Cale, who married Barton Blaze and had Johnny Blaze.

38:12
who would later become Ghost Rider. So Jennifer Kale is Ghost Rider's first cousin and in the books is a powerful witch in her own right, primarily known for her adventures with Man-Thing and Jennifer Kale has actually even been a member of the Midnight Suns. That's really cool to hear. I was wondering how many of these characters were actually from the comics. And I'm glad it wasn't just- All of them. Oh, all of them? All of them. Bad ass. Including the Wu.

38:39
aka Alice Wu Gulliver played by Ali An. Now, I've never seen Ali perform before, but I liked her in the show. Like Jennifer Kail, her character is a hero in the comics called The Wu, who is a supernatural police detective in China. She's the daughter of the former supernatural hero called August Wu of the Coral Shore. And I thought it was pretty interesting here how they turned the mom's superhero name into the name of her band. The band was called Coral Shore.

39:08
I thought that was a neat Easter egg. But I am really bummed that they killed Alice off so quickly because she is a neat character. In the books, she inherited some of her mom's magic which gave her this red streak in her hair. But she uses her magic more indirectly. She imbued her regular police gun with supernatural abilities. And I think there was a lot of potential there for the character to maybe not headline her own show, but maybe show up in future Marvel projects as a police officer.

39:38
We never know. Maybe she could come back as a ghost or something like that. I do have to say I love the fact that they're bringing in these obscure characters because they didn't need to. But it just shows that the showrunners are fans of the source material. Well, I mean, there's certainly interpretations of the characters from the comics, right? But yeah, at least they're pulling inspirations from the books. You love to see it. Yeah. Including Lillia Calderu, who's played by Patty fucking Lepone. How the hell did the casting director land Patty Lepone for this show?

40:08
No idea who she is. She is a massively renowned Broadway star. Fantine in Les Mis. She was the Evita. She was Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Norma DeMond in Sunset Boulevard, Joanne in Company. She's probably one of the most celebrated theater actresses of all time. And the fact that she was cast in this was actually a big deal in those theater circles. Like my wife lost her shit when she realized it was her.

40:32
And I imagine it's kind of the equivalent of like when Marlon Brando joined Superman or when Ian McKellen became Magneto. It was just kind of surprising and cool that these renowned actors are not like slumming it in the genre, but like they're down to do this more fantasy adventure geek level stuff. I think it adds legitimacy to superhero projects. She was probably one of my favorite characters. So I'm glad to hear that she has like a fan base behind her. That's incredible. Yeah, she portrayed the character magnificently in the comics.

41:01
Lilia Calderou is related to Baron Mordo, the Doctor Strange villain. She's actually his niece, and they're both descendants of Cogliostro. Lilia is the witch queen of the gypsies. She's a very minor character, I'll say, probably the most minor out of all these comic book characters. I think that they probably should have gone with a more prominent witch from the comics, like Topaz or something like that. I think Patti LuPone could have done well as that character as well. I'm not complaining. I thought she did a fantastic job. Are you jealous that-

41:31
Marvel was able to land such awesome casting for their projects, whereas like DC scrapes the bottom of the barrel most times. The fuck are you talking about? You just mentioned Marlon Brando. How many Marvel projects has Marlon Brando worked on? That was in the 1970s, man. Oh, I'm sorry. And? It was a long time ago. And? I'm talking about now. Who cares?

42:00
Where fantasies collide and heroes clash, one podcast network rises above the rest. Prepare yourself for the ultimate showdowns in comic books, video games, movies, and anime. The DynaMic Podcast Network presents Console Combat, where video game legends brawl every Monday.

42:19
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42:45
Let's go ahead and move into our episode highlights. Episode 1 was called Seekest Thou the Road. Still stuck in the spell that the Scarlet Witch cast on her at the end of WandaVision, Agatha Harkness sees herself as a police detective in a television crime drama called Agnes of Westview where she investigates the murder of a Jane Doe. She's visited by Rio Vidal, whom Agatha sees as an FBI agent inquiring about the case and her true identity.

43:12
After chasing and apprehending a teenage thief who broke into her home, Agatha's false reality falls apart. The spell breaks as Agatha realizes that Jane Doe is the deceased body of the Scarlet Witch. Coming to in her home, Agatha finds herself powerless. Formerly protected from her enemies through her possession of the Darkhold, Agatha is attacked by Rio. She successfully bargains to halt the conflict until she gets her powers back and discovers the bound and gagged teen thief in her closet.

43:42
the crime drama on, I think it was AMC that was inspired by a Danish television crime drama. I saw like the final episode of it. Oh, why would you do that? I don't know. It was on. I was waiting for The Walking Dead. Oh man, it was such a good show. And there was such a great twist at the end of that episode where the mystery is finally solved. Fantastic show. If you haven't seen it, you got to watch it. It's one of television's best crime dramas ever. And I loved how they really weren't subtle about their homage to that show in particular.

44:11
with the opening scene of episode one here. Yeah, it was all right. I have to imagine that upon rewatching it, the whole thing becomes a lot more humorous because you just have to imagine what was really going on outside of Agatha's head as she was talking with everyone. I love that twist that they did later on when they showed how Billy was actually interacting with her during the whole interrogation room scene and stuff like that. That was great. Yeah, I like the moment in the second episode where she was like, let's get in the car.

44:39
and her car turns out to be like this makeshift thing in her living room. Just imagining her walking around all day doing that kind of stuff is just hilarious. Yeah, yeah. Episode 2 is called Circle Sown with Fate, Unlock Thy Hidden Gate. The teenager reveals he freed Agatha from the Scarlet Witch's spell and begs her to take him to the Witch's Road, a legend that allegedly grants its travelers what they desire most. Agatha agrees to the idea in order to get her powers back,

45:07
and learns that the teen's identity is hidden from witches through a sigil. Needing a coven for the journey, she and teen recruit Lillia Calderou, a divination witch representing the air element, Jennifer Kael, a potions witch representing the water element, Alice Wu Gulliver, a protection witch representing the fire element, and her neighbor, Sharon Davis to stand in for a green witch to represent the earth element. While singing the ballad of the witches' road to open the portal to their journey, the Salem Seven come after Agatha.

45:37
Though the door to the road doesn't initially open, prompting Agatha to antagonize the coven into attacking her, a doorway finally appears and the coven, along with Teen, flee into it to escape the approaching Salem 7. One thing I didn't understand in the show is why Billy was deceptive about his true intentions. Like, why would he say that he needed power if what he was really looking for was his brother?

46:01
That's a great question. I think maybe he didn't want to clue her into the idea that he was the Scarlet Witch's son, because in doing research on Agatha Harkness, he probably would have known that they fought against each other, and maybe he thought he might put himself in danger by revealing his true identity. But then again, he did reveal his identity. It was just hidden by the sigil. So, great question. And I think that's probably one of those things that doesn't hold up on the rewatch, because...

46:29
The real reason why he didn't do it is because the writers didn't want to clue the audience into the idea that this was Billy. Even though everyone knew even before the show aired? Right, exactly. But that's the only rationalization you could give to your question. The Ballad of the Witches Road song here was superbly done. Like, when they started going in round with the song, I was getting fucking chills, man. That chant was awesome. What did you think of the Salem 7? Terrifying?

46:55
Absolutely terrifying. They're like ringwraiths. Yeah, I really like that because they're not like that in the comics at all. They're more like a ragtag group of sorcerers that happen to be the children of Nicholas Scratch. But here, yeah, they were like ringwraiths and they were like represented by various woodland animals like a fox, a crow, snake, owl, rat. The one downside, I think, is that they were more of an abstract threat than a tangible one because they never caught up to the group. You know, they never actually got to fight the Salem Seven, which is kind of disappointing.

47:24
I mean, I will say that Lillia Caldru took them out in the most badass way possible. Oh, yeah. But you were kind of expecting this climactic showdown that never really happened. Well, by the time we got the reveal that she was death, I was kind of like, OK, she's the big bad. I understand now. I didn't really mind the way they were taken out because, like you mentioned, I thought that was really cool. So I was fine with it. They served their purpose in being spooky. They didn't appear too many times in the show itself. So yeah. Yeah.

47:53
Episode 3 was called The Many Miles of Tricks and Trials. The coven enter the first trial on the Witch's Road, a coastal home with a bottle of wine that poisons the group. The coven race to find ingredients for a cure to be brewed by Jennifer Kael, but face hallucinations from their past that hinder their efforts. Teen learns the rumor that Agatha traded her son Nicholas Scratch for the Darkhold, and Agatha sees a vision of her former child's bassinet. The house floods as the final ingredients are put together.

48:22
but the coven is unable to deliver the potion in time to Mrs. Davis and she dies. The group escapes the coastal home back onto the Witch's Road. Talk about setting the stakes. I was actually shocked when Sharon Davis died. Oh yeah, absolutely. The show did a fantastic job setting the stakes, so much so that I didn't even believe she was dead initially. Because I was like, there's no way they're going to be killing off characters in the show, but sure enough, they did it. Yeah, and I thought Agatha's callousness was played to great comedic effect when she was like, who's Sharon?

48:52
I was like, jeez. And then the episode ended. They kept that up all the way to the very last episode, too. That was great. Yeah. She was like, who? One thing I do think is interesting just in hindsight is that when Agatha pulled back the bassinet cover, there was the dark hold, but that's not really what happened. So that was a manifestation of what Billy thought happened. Right. As opposed to.

49:16
You know, his powers reading Agatha's mind and then manifesting something that was more in line with what she would actually fear. I wonder why he never read her mind. I don't think he had good control over his ability. But apparently his subconscious did, right? Again, just all the weirdness. I'm telling you, the revelation of the road being a manifestation of Billy's unconscious is a bigger issue than you think it is. Hmm. Okay. Episode 4 is called, If I Can't Reach You, Let My Song Teach You.

49:42
In it, Agatha and the Coven decide to summon a new Green Witch to take Mrs. Davis' place, and they end up bringing Rio onto the road. The next trial manifests as a 1970s recording studio where the Wu family curse manifests as a demon that attacks and nearly kills Tein. In order to defeat the demon, the Coven is forced to play Alice's mother's rendition of the ballad, which is revealed to be a protection spell. With the demon and the curse vanquished, the group go back to the road and heal Tein.

50:10
Rio reveals that she used to love Agatha, but hurt her deeply when doing her job. Privately, she also reveals to Agatha that Teen is not her son. It was at this point where, I know you liked the Ballad of the Witches Road song, but where it kind of grew old for me. I was like, oh, okay, we get it. Are you gonna sing it like every episode or what? They only sing it twice. This was the second time. Well, I guess they sing it again in the final episode as we see it evolve through time. Although by that point,

50:38
I was just so caught up in how the song even developed and why it became so important to the series as a whole that I was much more forgiving of it. Yeah. I think the weirdness regarding Billy's manifestation here manifested in that Billy almost died. You know, he created something that nearly killed him by knocking him through the window. Oh, that's true. Yeah. If he was like unconscious or dying, why was the road even still there maybe?

51:06
That's a good question. I'm trying to think if there were any instances where the Scarlet Witch was unconscious during the events of Westview, but you have to imagine that she slept at some point. So I think the Chaos Magic reality still operates when the Spellcaster is not conscious. That's fair. Episode five was called Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power. The Coven flee the Salem Seven by enchanting broomsticks for themselves. Though they managed to escape, the road's magic forces them down to the next trial, a cabin in the woods.

51:35
They're forced to use a Ouija board to summon the ghost of Agatha's mother, whom she killed back in 1693 when her magic absorption power first manifested. The ghost possesses Agatha, who attacks the group and claims the way to pass the trial is to continue on the road without her daughter, claiming she was born evil. The ghost possesses Agatha again, prompting Alice to blast her with fire magic, dispelling the ghost but activating Agatha's absorption power which drains Alice of her magic and kills her.

52:03
Back on the road, Teen gets upset with Agatha and claims Witchcraft should not be about killing. Agatha cryptically remarks that he is so much like his mother, prompting his magic abilities to manifest as he forces Agatha and the rest of the coven to sink into the mud. I think the weirdness here with the Chaos Magic reality manifestation was, first of all, you know, the killing of Alice, which I think played into the end scene pretty well because Billy's over here telling Agatha that Witchcraft is not about killing, and she looks at him and she's like, are you sure?

52:32
he was the cause of Alice's death in that moment. Well, he wasn't though, because Agatha was responsible for that. Yeah, but Billy was the reason that her mother's ghost was there and took over her body, which led to Alice protecting Agatha. So, he was indirectly the cause of it. That's true. Same thing with Mrs. Davis's death. So, Billy manifested Agatha's mom's ghost, which possessed her. Yes. Okay, interesting. Well, then was the Ouija board real? None of it was real, man.

53:02
Yeah, okay. I'm kind of confused now because like the Ouija board was saying like death was among them and death was among them But he didn't know that at the time. It's wild. I think the initial Ouija boards Message was actually fake. It was Agatha Harkness fucking around. She said death was among them I think is kind of like a jest which Rio laughed at but then you know She pretended to be mrs. Davis come back from the dead. That was weird. That was stupid

53:29
It was unnecessary, it kind of felt like a moment of filler, I think. I will admit, when the Ouija board spelled Mrs. Hart, I could have sworn it spelled Mr. Shart.

53:43
I thought the same thing because you know, the subtitles were reciting the letters as they were naming them and written out, it looked like Mr. Chart. So, I was like, what the hell is that? That was hilarious. Episode 6 was called Familiar by Thy Side. In a flashback, William Kaplan from Eastview celebrates his bar mitzvah where he encounters Lillia the fortune teller. She has a premonition of his future casting a sigil on him to protect him from other witches.

54:11
During the ride home, William and his family get into a car accident at the same time the Scarlet Witch removes her hex over Westview, erasing her twin boys Billy and Tommy from existence. As William dies from the accident, Billy's soul survives by reincarnating into his body, and he wakes up in the hospital with no recollection of either of his previous lives, but retaining the ability to read minds. Three years later, Billy confesses to his boyfriend that he believes he died that day and that his reincarnation is tied into the Westview event.

54:41
He contacts Ralf Boner, whom Agatha previously used as a puppet to investigate the Scarlet Witch. Ralf reveals to Billy Agatha's existence and status under Wanda's spell, and also tells him about Wanda's son, making Billy realize who he is. Looking into Agatha Harkness, he learns of the witch's road and breaks into her home to steal a personal artifact to break her of the spell. Back in the present, Agatha claws her way out of the mud as Billy destroys the sigil hiding his identity.

55:09
She deduces that he's seeking his brother Tommy at the end of the road, and the two continue on together. Now, I think you and I both mentioned that one of the biggest mistakes Marvel has done was the whole misdirection with Evan Peters as Pietro Maximoff in WandaVision. Correct, yeah. The fact that they were able to play up on that with Bonerific69, AKA Ralph Boner, was, I thought, a stroke of genius.

55:36
Yeah, I mean, that didn't really have anything to do with the previous misdirection. There are massive issues, and I think it's one of Marvel's biggest missteps in that subversion of casting the guy from Days of Future Past in the same time that they're introducing the multiverse concept. But I talk all about that in our WandaVision review. Here, Evan Peters continues playing Ralph Boner for laughs, which I think are very well earned. The character is just hilarious. And I don't know if they've made Ralph Boner yet a character in the comics, but if they haven't, they need to.

56:05
because he's just too good to not be a regular fixture within Marvel. No, I'm not going to lie. For a second I was really hoping that he was actually Nicholas Scratch and that was going to be like a big reveal at the very end. That ended up not being the case. But yeah, that's what I thought for a while. Well, I thought Nicholas Scratch was going to be the main bad guy considering that he is Agatha Harkness's biggest antagonist in the comic books. Her and her son do not get along.

56:34
But I like even more what they did here, where he was just this sweet innocent kid. Yeah, no, that was expertly done for sure. Episode 7 was called Death's Hand in Mine. Agatha and Billy find the next trial, a castle tower where they're made to read tarot cards in the proper sequence or face impalement from swords falling from the ceiling. They're discovered by Lillia and Jennifer who find their way from under the mud into the castle.

56:59
with help from Lillia's precognition which told her to find the secret bookshelf into the room. Using her skills of divination, Lillia uses the tarot deck to read her own fortune. In her last card, she learns that Rio is actually the personification of death, and that she is the end of her road. Lillia saves the rest of the coven who escape the room just as the Salem 7 catch up to them. She stays behind, using the tarot deck to invert the castle tower and destroy the seven and herself.

57:28
This episode reminded me of Crisis on Infinite Earths part one with the nonlinear narrative. When you have a nonlinear narrative like this episode, like the movie Memento, everything is a twist, right? And I really like the way that it played out here. I think this episode is gonna get nominated for an Emmy. It would be a shame if it doesn't. I'd be truly shocked if it didn't win. This episode and the last episode.

57:57
were my two favorite episodes, but I think this one edges out the last one just barely. I really, really liked it. Yeah, Patti LuPone gave a great performance. I really like how the episode ended with her first divination spell with her maestra. It was just poetry. It was poetry. Really well written and beautifully executed from everything to the castle tower with the falling swords. That was so cool. Like the costumes. There was a little bit of brand synergy going there with like the Disney outfits and whatnot, but I didn't mind it so much just because it really fit the theme.

58:26
and the room itself was pretty dangerous and cool. Episode 8 was called, Follow Me My Friend to Glory at the End. Alice follows Rio as Death into the afterlife, after which Death reveals to Agatha that she's there to take Billy, who broke the rules of Death by reincarnating. Agatha wagers with Death to get Billy to give himself up in exchange for leaving her alone. Agatha, Billy, and Jennifer continue along the road until they come to their shoes left at the beginning, realizing that the road is a loop.

58:56
Confused and enraged, the group argues until Billy puts his shoes back on, transporting Kim into an empty room for the final trial. He's joined by the others, who have no clue how to proceed, when it's revealed that Jennifer's powers were bound a century ago by Agatha Harkness herself, who was using witchcraft to make money at the time. Jennifer performs an unbinding ritual, regaining her magic and freeing herself from the road. Agatha and Billy perform a spell to locate Tommy's soul.

59:23
and Billy places it in the body of a boy who just drowned, also freeing himself from the road. Agatha completes the Earth Trial by growing a dandelion from a seed, freeing herself from the road as well but with no prize at the end. Death attacks Agatha, but she is rescued by Billy, who is now Wiccan, who gives her some of his power. Together they fight Death, but realize they can't win, and Death demands one of them to return to the afterlife with her. Billy offers to sacrifice himself, fulfilling Agatha's wager.

59:53
However, Agatha reneges on her plan, kissing death and choosing to sacrifice herself instead. Shocked, Billy goes home and comes to the realization that the road was just a manifestation of his own chaos magic. Great episode. I was really confused as to how Jennifer realized that Agatha was the one who put the Binding spell on her. Uh, Agatha basically admitted it, putting it out there herself. You think she would have done that earlier when their lives were in danger? That's...

01:00:22
Actually, another great question, and I think again, just part of the weirdness of the whole twist that the road wasn't real. Even if the road was real, Agatha could have given her powers earlier. Yeah, that's true. That's true. I think maybe it was more of a, I don't want to get in trouble type thing, maybe. I did think that the slow reveal in Billy's room that he created the road was kind of cheap considering we didn't really get good looks at those things earlier in the show.

01:00:50
I kind of wish there was a scene that kind of explored a little bit more earlier in the series. Well, it was straight out of usual suspects, right? It was the usual suspects moment. For sure. Yeah. I don't know if that was a direct homage or just a ripoff, but I kind of liked it. I mean, I think it's an interesting reveal. I just thought it was cheap. Yeah, I don't disagree. The whole spell where Billy used his psychic ability to find Tommy's soul and put it into the body of a dying boy, that was fascinating. I think the line that happened at the end there was one of the best of the entire series

01:01:20
He asks Agatha if he's killing this boy just to bring back his brother. And she says, no, sometimes little boys just die. And that was really touching as we learned in the next episode, which was called Maiden Mother Crone. In a flashback to 1750, Agatha is giving birth to her son as her lover, Death, comes to claim him. Begging for mercy, Death grants her special treatment, giving the child more time, but refusing to say how much.

01:01:48
Agatha raises the young boy Nicholas, traveling the country and killing witches to increase her own magical power as a means to protect her son. In their travels, Nicholas invents a song about their journey down the road, a tune which catches on among the witch community. Though Nicholas questions his mother's actions, they have a close loving relationship which leaves Agatha devastated when the boy grows ill and dies one night. She then uses the ballad as a means to prey on the power of unsuspecting witches looking to find the road.

01:02:17
growing her magic over the centuries. When the doorway to the road actually manifests in her latest attempt with Lily, Jennifer, Alice, and Billy, she realizes who Billy is and recognizes the road as a manifestation of his chaos magic. Back in the present, Agatha comes back as a ghost to guide Billy in his powers and help him find his brother Tommy. Now there's a line here right after Agatha gives birth where she says that she made her son Nicholas from scratch and that's why he gets his name.

01:02:45
Is that implied that he's a virgin birth or is that implied that, you know, she made him the old-fashioned way? Not with any magic, but you know knocking boots. I think it's the latter. Yeah She brought life into being without using magic But you know using the good old basic ingredients basically birds in the bees exactly It was such a tragic scene, especially as a dad now just seeing agatha's reaction to no longer having her child Just broke my heart like oh, yeah

01:03:15
Just even when the kid was getting sick, I was like, please don't let this happen. You just really felt for her in the same way that you felt for Wanda in WandaVision. I felt for him. The whole time I was kind of like, beat him. Don't let him sleep outside. What are you doing? Yeah, give him a nice home. Don't wander around, you know, traveling the countryside, gaining power to defend him. Your time might be better spent just, you know, taking care of the kid, you know? Right. Giving him stability.

01:03:44
That's kind of the whole tragedy of it all, you know? Yeah, she loved him. She just didn't know how to care for him. Yeah. I think it's really awesome that she's a ghost now because Agatha Harkness has been a ghost in the comics, you know, advising people even from the afterlife. And you know, she's not only been a mentor to Franklin Richards, she's also helped out, you know, the Scarlet Witch. She was a professor at Strange Academy helping people like Nico Minoru. She's cared for even Billy and Tommy.

01:04:11
So basically the story puts these characters to the point where they are in the comics. I thought it was really well done. Not only that, but her reasoning for staying behind as a ghost in that she couldn't face her son in the afterlife was very profound. Yeah, I think she doesn't want him to really see the person that she became after his death. Like even worse than she already was? Yeah, exactly. That's crazy. I was also excited to see her white hair. That was awesome. Yeah.

01:04:39
more in keeping with her look in the books. I can't wait to see her show up again because these characters are just too good to stop here. No, I agree. Yeah. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing both Wiccan and Agatha Harkness in future Marvel projects. There are certain storylines that Marvel has done post-Endgame that I think have resonated more than others. With this show, I think one of the strongest threads they have still going is WandaVision by far.

01:05:09
Yeah, WandaVision, Agatha all along, and the upcoming Vision Quest are all part of like a trilogy of shows, according to the showrunner. I think we're really getting a lot more of what we love about the Marvel Cinematic Universe with these television series. Marvel sucks. Really? You're talking about how great the show is and then you're following it up with Marvel sucks? I think you might be a little bit confused there. I have to circle back somehow, you know? That's the whole review. In summary, you know, the show's blend of shifting settings.

01:05:38
eclectic characters and jaw-dropping twists come together to conjure a delightfully unpredictable journey. I am rating the show 4.5 stars out of 5, one of Marvel's best television series ever, and I'm giving it a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah, 4.5 is a really high score. If you had told me before I had seen it that you wanted to rate it that high, I would have not believed you. But having seen it with my own eyes, it's hard to

01:06:07
fantastic. I agree with you. One of Marvel's best shows. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. So yeah, 4.5. Really, it's about as good of a Agatha Harkness show as you can get. Even better than that, actually. So like it did not even need to be this good. It's fucking... They did not need to go this hard. Right. But yeah, that does it for this review. AJ9K helped close this out.

01:06:32
Thanks for listening to Dynamic duel. Visit the show's website at dynamicduel.com and follow us on Instagram at dynamicduelpodcast. You can support the show on Patreon at patreon.com slash dynamicduel and joining a tier that works for you, or by rating and reviewing Dynamic duel on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser or on our website. Don't forget to listen to the other shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network, including Max Destruction, Senjow World and Console Combat.

01:07:01
In our next episode, we will be doing another television review, this time on the DC end, with HBO's The Penguin series, which takes place in Matt Reeves' The Batman Universe. I haven't started watching it yet, but I'm just going to binge the whole thing, and from what I've heard it's really good, so I can't wait.

01:07:23
Well, let's see if it's as good as Agatha all along. Obviously, they're going to be very different shows. You know, Agatha is very fantasy magic. The Penguin is very gritty, realistic, grounded crime drama. I'm expecting good things from it. Yeah, I think both of these shows has the potential to showcase the best of both worlds. The best of what each studio has to offer. Exactly. But that does it for this episode. We want to give a big thanks to our executive producers, Ken Johnson, John Strosky, Zachary Hepburn.

01:07:48
Dustin Balcom, Miggy Mathen-Geehan, Brandon Essergard, Nathaniel Wagoner, Levi Yeaton, Austin Wazilovski, AJ Dunkerley, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Spies, Andrew Schunk, Dean Maleski, Devin Davis, Joseph Kirsting, and Josh Schleiner for helping make this podcast possible. And we'll talk to you guys next week. Up, up and away, true believers.