21 hrs ago·edited 21 hrs agoLiked by LaToya Ferguson
At the 2021 Emmys, WandaVision went head to head against… Mare of Easttown. Neither show won the Limited Series category, but Kate Winslet beat Elizabeth Olsen. And Evan Peters won for Mare. So I enjoyed what I imagined to be Jac Schaeffer making a play for the last laugh.
And speaking of Evan Peters, didn’t Agatha take up residence in poor old Ralph Bohner’s house? I guess he never came back after Monica helped him escape Agatha. I hope the little creep is okay.
I'll be upfront about my motivations, and I would be watching this show anyway because Wandavision was so great, but I'm deep into Heartstopper and so I've been salivating over Joe Locke's performance for, uh... when was his casting announced? Anyway, I'm very excited. He was leaning hard into the cinnamon roll performance in these episodes but there was something about the threatening way he told the other witches to be at Agatha's that hinted at something much more sinister underneath. Also, I too am curious whether he's unaware of the curse (or whatever) on him, or if he's only pretending. Why can't he tell Agatha about his life, but she could see the photo of his protective "boyf" on his phone?
Your theory about Wanda's death triggering the cop procedural is interesting. And it makes sense conceptually given the murder mystery. Do you think that's ultimately what broke the spell? I'm not convinced Teen actually did it.
I'm probably connecting non-dots but was the WandaVisdyen joke a reference to the Dutch show "Van der Hoot: Psychische" from 30 Rock? Starring the Franco-Dutch Sue LaRoche-Van der Hout of course.
Authenticity alert: I was pleasantly surprised when Agatha pronounced "creek" as "crik." Extremely accurate Philly-area/south Jersey pronunciation.
I took it as Wanda's death sent Agatha into the true crime realm and then it was the joint effort of Teen and Rio that snapped her out of *that* realm and back to reality. But, again, that's really just a guess on my part.
And I suspect the WandaVisdyen gag is mostly just an homage to "Nordic noir" remakes like The Killing and The Bridge, but I like the specificity of your 30 Rock pull!
As a witch aesthetic enjoyer (and someone who grew up with Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed) I loved loved loved these two episodes. The camp, the outsized performances, the insane sexual tension between Kathryn Hahn and Aubrey Plaza (is it only me that got the vibe they are exes all the way through?), the all-star cast, the musical number with beautiful harmonies... This is everything I can ask for.
Not just you, they are 100% exes!! I was not expecting this show to give Agatha a vengeful-yet-flirty lesbian ex who is into knife play, but I LOVE it, more please!!
My expectations were very low, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed these two episodes. I’d happily watch a whole season of Agnes of Westview! The rest was fun, too, and I’m excited to see where the Witches’ Road leads. Also, yes, I interpreted the black heart on the list as a reference to Rio as the final witch.
Coming in I wasn't entirely convinced that we needed an Agatha Harkness follow up, but the way to my heart is with a goofy alternate opening credit sequence so I went from "unconvinced" to "100% in on this show's vibe" in record time. Speaking of the pastiche, it's truly staggering how fine the line between "actual prestige true crime procedural" and "blatantly over-the-top parody of a prestige true crime procedural" can be. It wasn't as over the top as, say, the Community Law and Order parody episode, but it was still clearly a lovingly heightened version of the real thing. If Kathryn Hahn had toned down her damaged cop with an attitude mannerisms *just* a single degree it would have been practically indistinguishable from the real thing.
I'm also a bit disappointed that Agatha broke out of pastiche land so quickly, but that would have more or less been a retread of WandaVision's gimmick and a brief revisit to the trapped-in-TV Land conceit makes sense as a bridge between that series and this one. As did the presence of so many of the recurring characters from WandaVision. Having them pop in made the world feel lived in and familiar, and it gave Deborah Jo Rupp an opportunity to straight up steal the show. While sticking with the true crime bit would have made things delightfully weird, the idea of a bunch of witches going on a metaphysical road trip still provides ample opportunity for strangeness and could maybe tilt this into a middle ground between WandaVision/Loki and Hawkeye. But even with that only as a possibility, I’m far more into it far more quickly than I expected.
Cute lil' teen with a cute lil' boyfriend who has a cute lil' thing for witches and a cute lil' bit of coyness around his name? He's totally Billy, right? It's not like this is a super deep reading along the lines of the one that relied on obscure hints which led some folks to think Mephisto was going to be the big bad in WandaVision. This more a surface level bit of wink wink nudge nudge that makes me think we're *supposed* to figure out what his deal is and the anticipation will be the fun as opposed to the puzzling out of his real identity.
At the 2021 Emmys, WandaVision went head to head against… Mare of Easttown. Neither show won the Limited Series category, but Kate Winslet beat Elizabeth Olsen. And Evan Peters won for Mare. So I enjoyed what I imagined to be Jac Schaeffer making a play for the last laugh.
And speaking of Evan Peters, didn’t Agatha take up residence in poor old Ralph Bohner’s house? I guess he never came back after Monica helped him escape Agatha. I hope the little creep is okay.
Heh heh... "boner." /ref
I'll be upfront about my motivations, and I would be watching this show anyway because Wandavision was so great, but I'm deep into Heartstopper and so I've been salivating over Joe Locke's performance for, uh... when was his casting announced? Anyway, I'm very excited. He was leaning hard into the cinnamon roll performance in these episodes but there was something about the threatening way he told the other witches to be at Agatha's that hinted at something much more sinister underneath. Also, I too am curious whether he's unaware of the curse (or whatever) on him, or if he's only pretending. Why can't he tell Agatha about his life, but she could see the photo of his protective "boyf" on his phone?
Your theory about Wanda's death triggering the cop procedural is interesting. And it makes sense conceptually given the murder mystery. Do you think that's ultimately what broke the spell? I'm not convinced Teen actually did it.
I'm probably connecting non-dots but was the WandaVisdyen joke a reference to the Dutch show "Van der Hoot: Psychische" from 30 Rock? Starring the Franco-Dutch Sue LaRoche-Van der Hout of course.
Authenticity alert: I was pleasantly surprised when Agatha pronounced "creek" as "crik." Extremely accurate Philly-area/south Jersey pronunciation.
I took it as Wanda's death sent Agatha into the true crime realm and then it was the joint effort of Teen and Rio that snapped her out of *that* realm and back to reality. But, again, that's really just a guess on my part.
And I suspect the WandaVisdyen gag is mostly just an homage to "Nordic noir" remakes like The Killing and The Bridge, but I like the specificity of your 30 Rock pull!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_noir
“Based on the Sokovian series…” would have been too on the nose and far less funny.
As a witch aesthetic enjoyer (and someone who grew up with Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed) I loved loved loved these two episodes. The camp, the outsized performances, the insane sexual tension between Kathryn Hahn and Aubrey Plaza (is it only me that got the vibe they are exes all the way through?), the all-star cast, the musical number with beautiful harmonies... This is everything I can ask for.
Not just you, they are 100% exes!! I was not expecting this show to give Agatha a vengeful-yet-flirty lesbian ex who is into knife play, but I LOVE it, more please!!
My expectations were very low, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed these two episodes. I’d happily watch a whole season of Agnes of Westview! The rest was fun, too, and I’m excited to see where the Witches’ Road leads. Also, yes, I interpreted the black heart on the list as a reference to Rio as the final witch.
> I found Plaza way more compelling as a wry FBI agent
Finally, Janet Snakehole-Macklin spinoff America has been waiting for!
Coming in I wasn't entirely convinced that we needed an Agatha Harkness follow up, but the way to my heart is with a goofy alternate opening credit sequence so I went from "unconvinced" to "100% in on this show's vibe" in record time. Speaking of the pastiche, it's truly staggering how fine the line between "actual prestige true crime procedural" and "blatantly over-the-top parody of a prestige true crime procedural" can be. It wasn't as over the top as, say, the Community Law and Order parody episode, but it was still clearly a lovingly heightened version of the real thing. If Kathryn Hahn had toned down her damaged cop with an attitude mannerisms *just* a single degree it would have been practically indistinguishable from the real thing.
I'm also a bit disappointed that Agatha broke out of pastiche land so quickly, but that would have more or less been a retread of WandaVision's gimmick and a brief revisit to the trapped-in-TV Land conceit makes sense as a bridge between that series and this one. As did the presence of so many of the recurring characters from WandaVision. Having them pop in made the world feel lived in and familiar, and it gave Deborah Jo Rupp an opportunity to straight up steal the show. While sticking with the true crime bit would have made things delightfully weird, the idea of a bunch of witches going on a metaphysical road trip still provides ample opportunity for strangeness and could maybe tilt this into a middle ground between WandaVision/Loki and Hawkeye. But even with that only as a possibility, I’m far more into it far more quickly than I expected.
Teen identity speculation thread!
Cute lil' teen with a cute lil' boyfriend who has a cute lil' thing for witches and a cute lil' bit of coyness around his name? He's totally Billy, right? It's not like this is a super deep reading along the lines of the one that relied on obscure hints which led some folks to think Mephisto was going to be the big bad in WandaVision. This more a surface level bit of wink wink nudge nudge that makes me think we're *supposed* to figure out what his deal is and the anticipation will be the fun as opposed to the puzzling out of his real identity.