Agatha All Along

Skippable, and watch WandaVision first: this follows directly from where it left its antagonist, and the first episode is built as a joke that only lands if you know the series it is parodying.

The premise is a road movie with trials. A stripped-down witch assembles a coven of strangers to walk a magical road where each stage tests one of them, which gives the series an episodic structure and a different genre each week, including an excellent sixth episode staged as a 1970s séance.

What it is actually about is more interesting than the structure. Agatha is a liar, a thief and a murderer who has been draining other witches for centuries, and the series is genuinely uninterested in redeeming her. The seventh episode, which stops to tell the story of a child she lost, reframes everything without excusing any of it. Kathryn Hahn is superb throughout.

Joe Locke's character is the hook the whole series turns on and the reveal is well handled. The Ballad is an original song repeated in many arrangements and is unreasonably catchy. It sets up VisionQuest and connects to little else.