"Agatha All Along", and the era of products created because of viral moments in social media

There are certain phenomenas that I am not quite able to understand. I am not really sure how does a siphon works, I am very confused on certain social interactions such as the masculine socialization based on hitting each other, and even on my expertise area (or what I believe is my area of expertise) I am not able to make sense of why Marvel Studios will make a series about Agatha Harkness. The Blade movie has been delayed so much it already disappeared of the sacred timeline, Captain America: Brave New World have had too much rewrites and reshoots you could make five different movies without reusing material, and the Midnight Suns picture everyday seems further away from having an actually scary tone and be more a movie of infantiloid characters with a parody tone.

Agatha All Along occurs after WandaVision, where Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) is trapped in an ilusion where she believes is a detective solving a murder case that involves the burning of a book in the library (plot that has absolutely no relevance whatsoever but motivate the first episode). But, she is confronted by this weird, yet known, woman Rio (Aubrey Plaza) and an enigmatic and enchanted teenager with magical powers (Joe Locke), who manages to break Wanda's incantation. Agatha, now powerless and being hunted by the Salem Seven (a group of animal witches that are supposed to be creepy by having no personality nor purpose), with the help of this teenager, mysterious woman from her past and a couple of witches with different psychological issues create a Coven to walk the Witches Road and be able to gain a boon.

Why do we have this show? I mean, Agatha Harkness works as a great secondary character, but because her song was viral for a couple of days on TikTok now has a miniserie of her own? Agatha is this mysterious character, that always have a secret agenda, that is willing to betray everyone she consideres inferior (and treats them as so), which are not really compelling attributes for your protagonist. A character without morals, code and that treats everyone like sh*t is not a character you will root for. To make matters worse, it is never clear her objective nor side. She wants power, yes, but is never explained for what or why. And, because she is betraying everyone constantly, there is no way to understand the reason for anything she does, or at least what is she doing. Also, there is an episode ment to develop her character, but it only explains the past and who she is, not really why she is like that.

Fortunately, the serie has a very good group of supporting characters. Billy, played by Locke, is a very good interpretation of his comic book counterpart, is charismatic and after his flashback episode (which is just ment to explain what we already know and just creates moral interesting questions never to be addressed) he is the real protagonist. Also, the character of Lilia (Patti LuPone) is very intersting, she seems to be just a senile woman that is said to have magical powers, but the truth is that this is precisley her power, and the episode locked in her perspective plays with this in a very attractive and original gimmick. Aubrey Plaza is extremely hypnotic, and even with the Funko spoilers, the character design and part she plays in this story is one of the best things in it. The other secondary characters have some sort of arch, mediocre to be honest, but an arch nonetheless.

The narrative in the beginning is none existent. There is unclear what is the ultimate purpose of the Witches Road and for the characters to go through it. Yet, after the flashback episode (one of the worse if you ask me), it is clear what is Billy's objective for what he and all the Coven is going through, giving direction to the show and something to really invest in.

Sadly, on a cinematographic manner, is a poor product. The direction, from the actors to the way the camara moves, is as you expect from an uninspired TV show film on sets the size of third world social security houses. The writting, even with an argueable good second half season, and interesting gimmicks and twist, not only has a very weak beginning, but some of the best things in the final episodes retroactively made the first half (which unfortunately is the longest half [I know, ironic]) worse than it already was. The production design feels cheap, the clothes and suits looks almost as cosplay, the Witches Road (where most of the season takes place) feels like a small set made of cardboard and glue proposed in Art Attack, and many of the others sets that are not from WandaVision are empty, fake and have a cringe inducing sensation that are taken from a 2000s Disney teenagers sitcom (where the most unsetteling thing is the idea of what the producers of those sitcoms might have done to those teenagers' feet).

This is a very strong dealbreaker for the show. It tries to include horror-like and mystical elements, but does it in a very infantile way, not even for teenagers, but for small kids. The montage in the end credits has this esotericaloid images, pagan and witchcraft concepts are mentioned and used all through the serie and the Salem Seven that turn into animals are, of course, a poor attempt to cause some eerie sensation similar to that in Harry Potter and the Prisioner of Askaban with the dangerous guy who can transform into a wolf. Yet, all these topics are addressed as jokes, the fake and ridicoulus sets prevent any kind of real sense of danger, and the way magic works is so absurd and inconsistent that feels almost like a parody where magic is the power of friendship that can resolve any issue.

At last, when the show decides to throw its mediocre protagonist to the side and put Billy in the center it becomes a really engaging, entertaining and fantastical (I mean from the fantasy genre) experience. To its own detriment, the road to get there, as the Witches Rad, is long and hard to go through. In a cinematic manner there is no much good to say, just the original song of the Witches Road that is an amazing hit. So probably when Marvel Studios is unable to concretize a movie about a good character because it is being rewritten enough to rise the global warming a couple of degrees by cutting down all the trees of a whole National Park, we may get a show about this concept. Just imagine: Marvel Studios presents Down the road, Down the Witches Road, where this mystical road allies with other more interesting roads, like the Fury Road or the Country Roads, to get a macguffin that means absolutely nothing.

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joiless
Tiktok and other short form media's effect on pop culture is honestly devestating. Agatha All Along and other pointless shows aren't the only problem, there's also the fact that media is now being designed just to go viral (because who cares about quality if you can create a 15 second clip that will make people try to slog through your show?). It's a tragedy.
09:05 07 November, 2024
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Alejandro Franco "Arlequin"
I liked your article! If you have a few minutes, I invite you to read my note about how Gru helped me deal with my crisis by adopting my daughter (Thx!): https://www.peliplat.com/en/article/10028928/Everything-Gru-Taught-Me-About-Adoption-(Despicable-Me,-2010)
12:23 06 November, 2024
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