Review: Agatha All Along, “If I Can’t Reach You Let My Song Teach You” | Season 1, Episodes 4
A 1970s homage struggles to hit the right notes
When it comes to genre storytelling, there’s a fine line between enjoyably playful and frustratingly random. And this episode really pushes that line as much as it can. One of the main characters is dead? Sure! The coven can randomly beam down Aubrey Plaza? Sure! They’ve got to sing a 1970s rock ballad to defeat an evil flying-monkey-demon-curse that’s been haunting Alice’s family for generations? Sure!
I read an interview with showrunner Jac Schaeffer in which she said that each of the trials/houses the Coven of Misfits encounters is supposed to represent a different era of witch pop culture—with last week embodying “ladies in their coastal grandma chic that are backstabbing and duplicitous and fighting for spots at the private school” and this week standing in for Stevie Nicks’ “white witch” era. Unfortunately, I can’t say I got any of that from the show itself. Last week felt like a Nancy Meyers pastiche, not a commentary on a Big Little Lies-es…