We’re officially halfway through Disney+’s Agatha All Along, and viewers are discovering new truths about Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) and her coven of Marvel witches along the way. Each of the Marvel Studios series’ episodes has been structured around a different facet of popular culture, with the recent fifth episode sending viewers back into the 1980s. In a lot of unique ways, Episode 5 of Agatha All Along was reminiscent of the era’s horror tropes — and here were some of the biggest connections.
The episode sees the coven approach the latest house (and trial) on the Witches’ Road — an ’80s-themed bungalow designed specifically for Agatha herself. As the coven suddenly dons ’80s-themed sweats and pajamas, they are presented with an Ouija board that seems to present them with the answers that they seek. They use the Ouija board to converse with the seemingly-dead Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp), and then later activate the ghost of Agatha’s mom, Evanora Harkness (Kate Forbes). This alone pays tribute to 1980s pop culture, during which Ouija boards rose in popularity, even inspiring movies of the decade such as Witchboard.
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Agatha’s estranged relationship with Evanora, who is disappointed in her daughter for her overall reputation as a witch, can be seen as a take on the snarky parent-child relationships that were a hallmark of multiple genres of ’80s movies. Agatha getting possessed by her mother, which ultimately leads to her killing Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), is also a hallmark of ’80s horror, ranging from the Evil Dead franchise to the aptly-named Possession.
Even the final moments of the episode — when Teen (Joe Locke) activates his powers and appears to drown the remaining members of the coven, revealing himself to really be Billy Maximoff / Wiccan — can be tied to the countless twist endings of ’80s horror. From Friday the 13th to Sleepaway Camp and beyond, plenty of memorable horror movies of the decade ended with characters who were hiding in plain sight suddenly making villainous moves.
What Is Agatha All Along About?
In Agatha All Along, the infamous Agatha Harkness finds herself down and out of power after a suspicious goth Teen helps break her free from a distorted spell. Her interest is piqued when he begs her to take him on the legendary Witches’ Road, a magical gauntlet of trials that, if survived, rewards a witch with what they’re missing. Together, Agatha and this mysterious Teen pull together a desperate coven, and set off down, down, down The Road…
In addition to Kathryn Hahn, Agatha All Along stars Joe Locke, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Maria Dizzia, Paul Adelstein, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Okwui Okpokwasili, with Debra Jo Rupp, with Patti LuPone, and Aubrey Plaza. The executive producers are Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Mary Livanos and Jac Schaeffer. The directors for the series include Jac Schaeffer, Rachel Goldberg and Gandja Montiero.
“One of the biggest was that it was Jac Schaeffer, because she created all of that,” Hahn explained to ComicBook earlier this year. “She kind of created this iteration of Agatha, because she’s all over the place comics-wise, and touches on so many worlds. And so, that creation of this Agatha was so beautifully crafted by her. But it was very important, to both of us, that it honored Westview and the world of Westview, and also started in reality of what would happen next. And so, it’s really about her gaining, not even her powers back, but them changing. She shifts.”
New episodes of Agatha All Along debut Wednesdays at 9/8c on Disney+. If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.
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