78: Agatha All Along Preview

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Hmm? Ah!

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Huh...

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Podcastica

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Wanda, Wanda...

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_00]: You didn't think you were the only magical girl in town, did you?

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: The name's Agatha Harkness.

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Lovely to finally meet you, dear.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey everybody, welcome to the Marvel TV Cast from Podcastica. I'm Penny.

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_04]: And I'm Jim, and today we'll be talking about Agatha All Along, the brand new MCU series on Disney Plus.

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_04]: We'll fill you in on what you need to know from WandaVision and talk about some of what we know ahead of the two episode premiere. Super exciting!

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_01]: That's awesome. So, the series follows Agatha Harkness, who we all met in the very fantastic WandaVision series in 2021.

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_01]: She's played by Catherine Hahn. The show was created for television and show run by Jack Shaper, who was also the creator and head writer for WandaVision,

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_01]: and also wrote the Black Widow movie. This is the first live-action treatment of a Marvel Comics character who does not have their own comic book series,

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_01]: and the first series to come out under the newly created Marvel television banner. So, it's a little groundbreaking.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_04]: Early reviews are absolutely raving about the series, and even reviews since as we're recording this it's already out.

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm calling it bewitching, haha. Deliciously devious and bat.

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_04]: I really wanted to say it crazy in all the right kinds of ways. Variety published an article rounding up a lot of the review highlights,

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_04]: and it will all of course be linked in the show notes.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_01]: So, what made you want to podcast about the show, Jim?

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so this is like a two-pronged thing. I mean, I'm a Marvel guy, so I'm watching it anyways.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_04]: In the land of Marvel, I think we're all in kind of this curious, like where is everything going?

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_04]: And this is one of those shows that was earmarked in 2020, 2021, almost right after WandaVision, maybe during WandaVision.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_04]: I can't remember the timing of it now. So, this is one of those that's tied to the then and has connected...

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I think they announced it with the finale of WandaVision.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. So, it's connected to a time when people were still, I think, in love with everything Marvel.

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_04]: And in between then and now, we've hit the rocks a bit.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_04]: And the TV shows have sort of gone by the wayside, and now we've got this show, which even though it's maybe the start of maybe all of these new things,

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_04]: of course with Vision Quest coming out and a couple of other shows announced, we're heading maybe in a new direction,

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_04]: which has got me excited. And then I gotta tell you, like, especially after having watched WandaVision again for the first time

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_04]: and to get ready for this show, Catherine Hahn is electric in everything.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, listen, Penny, look. She reminds me of you a little bit, Penny.

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh no!

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm just saying, you're like, yes, you're like the cat now.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_04]: And everybody who's listening to this right now is saying exactly the same thing.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_01]: You're like the Catherine Hahn of the podcast.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_01]: That's the best compliment ever. I love her so much.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_04]: And she, yeah. So she's, you know, when I think of Catherine Hahn and any of the shows that I've seen her in from way back to 10 things I hate about you,

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_04]: like, way, way back. She's stolen every scene that she's been in it seems like.

[00:04:43] Yeah.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_04]: When you go back and watch.

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, and if you were watching, I think WandaVision was one of those watches when you were watching it the first time.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_04]: There was so much you were trying to figure out that you almost, you almost miss how big her role was prior to spoilers.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_04]: Her coming out as kind of one of the big bads, right?

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_01]: She was sneaky. It was sneaky.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Only because I knew what an immense talent Catherine Hahn was.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, that's got to be something like this role is more than meets the eye.

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to I'm going to pay special attention to her.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, like there's something coming.

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah.

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_04]: And we well, and the big question I think was, you know, how big a role is she going to have in the end of this?

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_04]: Because the Agatha in the comics has prior to a certain point was mostly an ally.

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_04]: So yeah, which which I'm sure we'll talk about.

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_04]: But I just like the idea of Catherine Hahn leading a show that I think has potential to be sort of a Guardians of the Galaxy in the movie verse where you have a character who you don't generally think of as a lead being a lead and perhaps is only a lead

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_04]: because you have this amazing actress who basically stole Wanda vision from Wanda vision.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, seriously. She's amazing.

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And I so for me first off, I love Marvel.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I watch all the Marvel stuff except I still haven't seen Loki season two.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry. I'll get to it.

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_01]: But I also love which stuff.

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I love witches. I love TV witches, book witches, movie witches.

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I love real witch history.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I just spent the day yesterday in Salem, Massachusetts like look at it, which is hats and which is charms and you know, tarot card decks and stuff like that.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And and I have a lot of favorite, you know, fiction, which fictional witches like, I mean, I'm a huge charmed fan.

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Anyone who's been listening to the still slaying podcast knows that.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_01]: But also one of my very first favorite characters was Princess Olaanwe in The Chronicles of Pridane written by Lloyd Alexander.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_01]: She's a sorceress, but I mean, and when I was a kid, I just covered those books in like fourth grade and I was like, she's a redhead.

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_01]: She's a princess. She does magic.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm in like I was in and you know, over the years I've just devoured witch fiction.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And I just the other day watched I was having a bad day and I watched Practical Magic.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, it's the big guns.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I need something to make me feel better at Practical Magic like fills it every time.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_04]: Fantastic. Yes.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I love that movie. Do you have do you have favorite fictional witches?

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, I mean, you know, it's honestly like Wanda was as a comic book kid like Scarlet Witch was always one of the first comics that I ever got, which was super random was Scarlet Witch and Vision comic book.

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_01]: That is a random place to start.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, yeah, I mean, it was just like I feel like my parents would just grab it was on the rack.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_04]: So the colors are just like I've always been fascinated with with her character simply in the Marvel comic universe.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_04]: She's been kind of everything and everything she's been in every group.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_04]: She's been good.

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_04]: She's been bad and has been a kind of an integral character that is always perhaps because she's a female character that was, you know, born out of the 60s.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_04]: Never seemed to play even Steven, even though she really was as strong or stronger than most of the male characters that she shared, you know, comics with.

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_04]: But I mean, you know, if you grew up in the 70s, I mean, you grew up watching BeWitched and Samantha Stevens was absolutely fantastic.

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_04]: And the world how when you stop and you think about many of the shows of the 60s and the 70s and how they curtailed like a lot of the things that normally wouldn't get put on television.

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_04]: And here you've got witches in and on on network TV and kind of a funny jovial way like doing witchcraft, which ironically enough I think there's a lot of people in the world today that probably wouldn't be OK with that, which is funny when you stop and think about it.

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_04]: But but I mean, you know, contemporary for me, I mean, as we podcast about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I mean, Willow is one of my all time favorite characters for a lot of the same reasons that I talked about Wanda.

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_04]: Like you talk about a character who a lot of people overlook it, but who very powerful turns out to have a lot more power than people give her credit for.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. And dark side that also people were not expecting.

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. And Wanda often does in the comics, you're right. She goes back and forth and and.

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_01]: The MCU version of Wanda is so incredibly moving. Like how can you not love this character who has lost so much goes through so much suffering and like keeps finding ways to find love and to try again.

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's so engaging. And Elizabeth Olsen is amazing in that role. She's so good.

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_04]: I think that the one and, you know, as we kind of veer forward a little bit, the one area in Wanda vision that left me wanting a bit more was the fact that we got kind of the con, the conniving in the evil Agatha, which is great.

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_04]: And what excites me the most about this show is all of the good witches that we've talked about just now all have depth.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_04]: And the depth is where I think I'm really looking forward to this journey that we're about to take with Agatha.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_04]: So as we head into the first couple of episodes, curious. I don't know a lot about this character.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_04]: You know, I is a fantastic for fan. You know, I, I know that version of her better than any other version. So this version.

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_04]: Which is so yeah, well and and I mean, look, I mean, this nanny did not look like Catherine Hans.

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_04]: So I think, I think it's in the notes here. We'll talk about it a little bit, but she does take a transfer in the comic book world.

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_04]: And of course they got Catherine Han who just is uniquely beautiful as and they really do a good job.

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_04]: And I think Elizabeth Olsen fits in that they beautiful, of course, but there's you can tell that there's more depth to them, which adds to their beauty and Catherine Han.

[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_04]: There's so many places we can go with this show.

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_01]: She's so funny. She has such great timing and and were you at Parks and Recreation Watcher?

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_04]: I was. Yeah.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_01]: She had a great arc on Parks and Rec. And I sometimes like, I'll be like, oh, I just want to watch like a 20 minute like something.

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_01]: It's Parks and Rec. Like one of those episodes when she was guesting and Paul Rudd was guesting.

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Like those episodes were so funny.

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And I just, I don't even know where I first saw Catherine Han.

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_01]: But when I started like following her from project to project, even bad, I was like, bad moms.

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to watch bad moms. No, it's so funny.

[00:12:33] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, and I think someone was talking to me about Catherine Han.

[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_04]: This is a couple of years ago and they compared her to like her sarcasm to like someone like Ryan Reynolds.

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_04]: And I see that.

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's different though.

[00:12:48] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, because rare do you see a performance that she puts through that's just that.

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_04]: And I do feel like while Ryan Reynolds is perfect for Deadpool, which literally is who Ryan Reynolds is, I think, I think he has the depth.

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_04]: I just think he's not usually what he shows.

[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. No, and I think with her there's always that tinge of I'm this way because of something that you can't quite see.

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, but you can see it in my face and you can hear it in my voice because when she takes that turn in Wanda vision.

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, God.

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_04]: There's a there's a lot there. We get a bit of that backstory to which is something I'm sure we'll see connected in some way into the series.

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_04]: But we when you see that the depth of it goes back to the Salem which trials and then literally we're left with, oh, I'd say about 300 years of well what the hell happened here.

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Which I'm how did she end up in New Jersey?

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Like we don't know that yet.

[00:13:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I hope that they fill that in at least a little bit on this series because yeah, like in between Salem and Westview.

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I have no idea what happened to her.

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think I'm.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I think this this show will tell us some of that history.

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_04]: I really hope I sure hope so.

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_04]: I sure hope so.

[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm pleasantly pleased that the first episode was worried that we were going to get like sitcom.

[00:14:20] [SPEAKER_04]: sitcom times again.

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_04]: I wasn't sure if we were going to get those 30 minute little episodes like we got beginning of Wanda vision.

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_04]: It does seem like they're they're full on 40 plus and they usually as the series progresses, they usually get longer and longer.

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_04]: So let's let's hope that the journey gives us a lot because I eight episodes.

[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_04]: Nine, nine, nine.

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_04]: So I mean there's plenty of ground and I know they're saying it's a mini series so perhaps this is all we get but I don't know.

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_04]: I think that.

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_01]: I think in the MCU, nothing is ever completely just one one season or like never going to come back again.

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Or you just it just it's constantly evolving.

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_01]: You never know when they're going to want a character to be in a movie or be a guest in another series or they'll like pop up with the season two.

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I think I think they make some of those decisions based on how well season one went and you know whether somebody has a really great idea for a way to use a character in another way.

[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, like we all thought that the Netflix Marvel Universe was gone forever and then they're bringing Daredevil and Punisher back already so who knows.

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_04]: Well and she's so intertwined in the comics with the first family.

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_04]: Fantastic Four.

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_04]: And it would be a would be such a shock if she wasn't in some way apart.

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_04]: And as I was sort of gazing forward in the series, I would sort of be shocked if there's not something that happens along the way that starts tilting us a little forward towards the Fantastic Four because all these characters that are have been announced from doom to even vision coming back is

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_04]: is that she's been a part of their lives in the comics.

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it would be a horrible way to have such a talented actress and such a unique character not play apart.

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_04]: Although it would be hard for me to see Catherine Hahn being a nanny although in Wanda vision she had that like four minutes segment where she was super believable before she started to get anything work.

[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm also excited about the prospect of She-Hulk coming back with Fantastic Four because of course in the comics she's often like the fifth Fantastic Four person.

[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm like really looking forward to.

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_04]: Gosh, I forgot about that.

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I think the first Fantastic Four movie, the one that's already coming is set in the 60s or something right?

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_01]: So that's pretty She-Hulk.

[00:16:56] [SPEAKER_01]: She's not around yet.

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_01]: But if it's a success there will certainly be another Fantastic Four movie and it'll probably be set in modern time and I'm like fingers crossed for my girl Tatiana Maslani.

[00:17:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Come on.

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I love her.

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And if you haven't watched She-Hulk go watch She-Hulk and we podcasted about it and it was super fun.

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_04]: I did their toes in a lot with that show that I loved and I absolutely loved.

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Breaking the fourth wall, I could have been happier.

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I was a pig in you know.

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Alright let's start with the IMDb summary.

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_01]: This is what IMDb said about the Agatha show.

[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_01]: When a new series of tragedies strikes the city of Westview, the infamous Agatha Harkness finds herself down and out of power when a suspicious goth teen helps break her free from a distorted spell.

[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Her interest is peaked 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.

[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Together Agatha and this mysterious teen pulled together a desperate coven and set off down, down, down the road.

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_04]: This mysterious teen.

[00:18:12] [SPEAKER_04]: I can't wait to talk about the first episode.

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_04]: That actually for IMDb wasn't too bad.

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_01]: No it really wasn't.

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like maybe Marvel gave them that and not IMDb didn't write it.

[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_04]: So where did we leave Agatha at the end of WandaVision and I just did my rewatch so I might add a little to this.

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_04]: If you haven't seen WandaVision you really should see WandaVision.

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_04]: When I watched it the first time I thought it was my, you know, other than Daredevil.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_04]: Daredevil has a special place in my heart from comic books as a kid but after watching all these series WandaVision really as far as unique creativity,

[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_04]: balancing storylines like they did such a tremendous job getting to the place they got at the end where you literally had three really great storylines playing together at once.

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_04]: Really good balance like, like, Shackman did such a great job.

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_04]: Anyways Wanda Maximoff consumed with grief at losing vision and inadvertently creates a magical bubble over a small town in New Jersey in which she enslaves all the residents to act out sitcom versions of her life with vision.

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_04]: And that is so brilliant.

[00:19:26] [SPEAKER_04]: The first seven episodes of the series are all done in what seems like a random kind of progression of sitcoms but how it ties together in that seventh episode is so spectacular.

[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_01]: It's clever, clever, clever.

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_04]: Yes and it wasn't just a ploy absolutely fit into the story which was really nice poking the thread through the needle.

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_04]: Coincidentally one of the residents of the town is the powerful and ancient witch, Agatha Harkness who has been cast as wacky neighbor Agnes and Wanda's fantasy world.

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_04]: Agatha plays along with Wanda's spell to find out who this magical powerful magic user is and eventually Agatha and Wanda have a showdown and it really is a great showdown which Wanda does win.

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_04]: Although it's kind of interweaved in the final two episodes in a really great way.

[00:20:22] [SPEAKER_04]: She frees the town from her enchanted enslavement, but in prison's Agatha and the persona of Agnes at the tail end of that.

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_04]: That's the last we see of Agnes other than illusions.

[00:20:35] [SPEAKER_04]: Perhaps some purple in the second gosh I'm going blank.

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Dr. Strange.

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_04]: Dr. Strange.

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_04]: But yeah we don't see her since then that was 2021 so it's been three years before we get to see where Agnes has been over the past well three years.

[00:20:58] [SPEAKER_04]: So yeah so and again if you haven't seen Wanda Vision she does play a pretty sizable role in that the gross progressive progressively more as the season continues and it's I mean watching her steel scenes

[00:21:12] [SPEAKER_04]: in the first four or five episodes she's in it best four or five minutes of it but her scenes stand out.

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_04]: That says a lot because the cast of Wanda Vision is just with the leads just fantastic and a lot of that cast is shifting over in some way or another into this series which is pretty amazing.

[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Speaking of the cast so the cast for the Agatha all along show includes Aubrey Plaza who you might know from.

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Parks and Recreation Legion the White Lotus and a very small indie film that I am constantly trying to talk people into seeing called Safety Not Guaranteed.

[00:21:51] [SPEAKER_01]: That is about time travel and it's hilarious and you should see it.

[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_01]: There's also seen that it's so good it's a DuPlas Brothers kind of indie film.

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh no no no I did see it.

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, see it.

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_01]: So it was also in one of the seasons of American Horror Story I think the witch season.

[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_04]: Yes.

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Sasha Zemir from Saturday Night Live and a bunch of other stuff like a huge long list of things that she's done.

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Joe Locke plays the teen he's a relative newcomer in Hollywood but he was one of the stars of Heartstopper.

[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I haven't seen that but people loved it like loved it so I expect good things from him.

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_04]: There was quite a bit of buzz when he got cast just like how excited they were that he was part of this cast so I don't I've not seen him in anything.

[00:22:41] [SPEAKER_04]: So I'm pretty excited.

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_01]: He's pretty much just on Heartstopper.

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_01]: So this is this is it.

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Deborah Jo Ruph who we all loved in that 70s show I mean she was so hilarious in that show and she was in Wanda Vision and Emma Coughfield who near and dear to my heart was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[00:23:01] [SPEAKER_01]: 90210 and she was also in Wanda Vision.

[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And then of course Catherine Hawn in the lead role and her IMDB page is very, very long but some of the big ones are Parks and Recreation because I just thought that role was hilarious.

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Tiny beautiful things she was the lead of brilliant more vulnerable more of a serious role Wanda Vision transparent which is a really funny show.

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_01]: The Bad Moms movies which are kind of campy and Glass Onion, which was the sequel to Knives Out.

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_01]: We covered that on podcast.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I actually didn't like the movie we did.

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_01]: It was a pretty funny podcast to record because I've never up until that point I had never podcasted about something I didn't like.

[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was like, I hated it.

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I hated it because of this and I hated it because of that.

[00:23:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Now I'll say now Catherine Hawn was none of the reasons that I hated it.

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_01]: But it was funny because it was me and Jade and Jason and Jason was like, I liked it.

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, no, stupid.

[00:24:02] [SPEAKER_01]: You shouldn't even like it.

[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_01]: Like it was a it was a very unique podcasting experience for me.

[00:24:07] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, I so I remember this because this is when I believe I first joined the Zed head group because I loved it.

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_04]: And I remember listening to the podcast thinking she's high like what is she missing?

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_04]: Like why is she missing this?

[00:24:28] [SPEAKER_04]: But I'm but in fairness, there were lots of arguments in the Pete family about.

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_04]: My daughter hated it.

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_04]: So yeah, absolutely hated it.

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_01]: And I loved knives out.

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_01]: I thought knives out was brilliant.

[00:24:47] [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, yes onion.

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, well, I bet that the fact you love the first one and hated the second one has you super intrigued about the third one that's about to come out.

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_01]: That's true.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_01]: I am actually I'll definitely watch it.

[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's a foregone conclusion.

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_01]: All right.

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you want to talk about the song?

[00:25:04] [SPEAKER_04]: This song. Yes, and one division, which was absolutely a highly stylized show.

[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_04]: It had so many sitcom references and connections.

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_04]: And the tropes in each were interconnected to the point where it was hard to tell which show of the era went from, you know, the early like the late fifties early sixties TV shows they van dyke being one of Mary Tyler Moore show to the

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_04]: The Bewitched era of those 60 shows that went from black and white to color and then switched into the color of the Brady Bunch.

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_04]: And then of course moved right into the current era of modern family and Malcolm in the middle and family ties. It was just kind of a very, very well done show.

[00:25:55] [SPEAKER_04]: Anyways, Agatha is when she is revealed as the one of the big bats of the series.

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_04]: They almost give her own from that moment on they give her own show where they play her song called Agatha all along and will play the accompanying video.

[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, the company very attached but we'll play a little bit of sound clip of that because I just assumed that it was going to be the theme song of the show but I don't think it is.

[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_03]: And I killed Sparky too.

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I think Catherine Hahn is having the time of her life with us.

[00:27:31] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like high camp, but there's depth to it.

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it's so fantastic.

[00:27:37] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, that in that video and it plays on the show and it kind of the aha moments of her stirring the pot from the beginning one all the way through and again she down plays it so much throughout the series that you don't catch it.

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_04]: I mean there was a lot of speculation, of course, but it was so well done and that video is spectacular.

[00:28:02] [SPEAKER_04]: So fantastic.

[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And everyone reacted to it right it was like a huge hit immediately was like all over the internet everybody's talking about it.

[00:28:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And I love this so they announced that they were going to make a show based on on this character Agatha Harkness and right away they announced it right away at dirt either the at the very end of one division or right after.

[00:28:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And at first they were going to call it House of Harkness, and then they kept releasing and changing the title.

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And, and to the point where people were like this is the show going to suck like they don't seem to know what they're doing like what's going on like why does it keep changing like do they not have a vision for what the show is about and so they announced Agatha Coven of chaos Agatha the dark hold diaries Agatha the lying which with the great wardrobe which

[00:28:51] [SPEAKER_01]: is just obviously a joke. And then they were like no no we're kidding it was Agatha all along all along, like we were always going to call it Agatha all along.

[00:29:01] [SPEAKER_01]: And I just I love how meta that is it just keeps going in a circle of self reference that just makes me so happy.

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_01]: It's it's very 90s but like 90s the next generation or something I don't know it's so clever.

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_04]: And it's certainly it certainly fits in with the style of Wanda vision it certainly seemingly now that the first two episodes have been released fits in with how the show starts, which I think kind of definitely fits within the, which will get into when we do

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER_04]: episode one. But I, yeah, I love the fact that they play on words that Agatha all along literally was what they were drawing everybody through yeah very good.

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_04]: And then the great the great irony of ironies is they're not going to use that song.

[00:29:54] Yeah.

[00:29:55] [SPEAKER_04]: So at least I don't think they are at least it doesn't seem to be that way. Of course, I'm sure we'll come up.

[00:30:00] [SPEAKER_04]: We're early we're really early into a series so yeah, that's absolutely great.

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so in the comics, where I first met Agatha and if you haven't paid attention to the comics.

[00:30:19] [SPEAKER_04]: It's worth just perusing just typing Agatha's name in and just scroll. You really don't even have to read much about it just scroll through the pictures.

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_04]: There's the dramatic difference between Agatha of the 60s and Agatha of the 2020s is pretty dramatic.

[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_04]: In the comics, the character of Agatha Harkness was created by Stanley and Jack Kirby, specifically for the fantastic for making her debut on issue 94 in October of 1969.

[00:30:47] [SPEAKER_04]: She is an ally of Marvel's first family and while she's a witch and while I think if you just see the MCU you look at her as perhaps a villain.

[00:30:55] [SPEAKER_04]: She really was in many, many ways.

[00:31:00] [SPEAKER_04]: Not many ways she was a positive character and was the nanny to read Richards and Sue Stormson Franklin.

[00:31:10] [SPEAKER_04]: Catherine Hans portrayal of Agatha Chris Agatha Hart Agatha Christie Agatha Harkness is loosely inspired by the characters presentation in Marvel's ultimate universe line of comic books which are some of my favorites.

[00:31:24] [SPEAKER_04]: Where she is presented as being younger and dark haired, definitely having a darker side even though she's still more of a hero than anti hero.

[00:31:35] [SPEAKER_04]: Traditionally in the comic books, Harkness is a figure of good and has been helping the forces of justice fight against evil forces in her long lifespan, which I think compared to where the MCU has placed her is this story has the potential to be a lot more

[00:31:53] [SPEAKER_04]: interesting because she is entering her own series as a villain and a villain who has forgotten that she's a villain and her quest I think to a find out who she is and then be wherever the show is going to go, which according to the show

[00:32:13] [SPEAKER_04]: runner, she she her goal with the show was to direct the first episode because she had a vision for that. No pun intended to vision. Yeah, but where the the the thickness of the story and the characters that they've added have certainly I have

[00:32:33] [SPEAKER_04]: not read a whole lot about where the show is going to go but I had such an epiphany as I was watching one of the characters specifically that I can't wait to talk about but I am so interested in seeing where they place her throughout the series

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER_04]: because she does have the potential to be like a really great character moving forward should they decide to keep her intertwined into wherever they're going with I just the thought of her dancing in between who they have cast for the fantastic

[00:33:10] [SPEAKER_04]: for Leibniz Pedro Pascal has me just

[00:33:15] [SPEAKER_01]: super excited that fantastic for casting is unreal I Evan Moss Bach Rock he just won an Emmy for his work on the bear and you know I've had my eye on him for a while because I was I was one of those people that watched girls and he was great

[00:33:35] [SPEAKER_01]: in girl that show was kind of uneven he was great in it and then he was amazing and and or so good so good and and so different so different and then the bear again so good but so different so I'm excited for him I'm excited for Joseph Quinn who just

[00:33:56] [SPEAKER_01]: crushed it in a quiet place day one recently and of course we all loved him in Stranger Things as Eddie Munson so like I'm excited for that I I could talk about how great Pedro Pascal is for like days I don't think I'll go down that rabbit hole right now but like

[00:34:14] [SPEAKER_01]: oh my god do I love Pedro Pedro Pascal and then I don't know the actor playing Sue Storm she has a pretty impressive IMDB page but I was like oh I haven't seen that oh I haven't seen that oh I haven't seen that so I just don't I'm not familiar with her at all but I assume the other three she's also awesome

[00:34:32] [SPEAKER_04]: there's weight to that I mean there's weight to all of the characters that she's played and I like you haven't seen her in many things but I will with the rest of that cast I will trust the judgment of somebody who I haven't seen just based on the roles that she's played it seems like they put her in the middle of a lot of good shows

[00:34:51] [SPEAKER_04]: but the funny thing about it as strong as that cast is Catherine Han strangely enough would fit very well with them. I really want to see her and Pedro Pascal in a scene together I think that is some chemistry that is just going to explode off the screen.

[00:35:08] [SPEAKER_04]: Well and one thing to remember here Penny too we don't know what's happened between 1693 and current day she looks exactly the same so the potential for her to show up in the 60s I think it's true especially when you stop and you think about the kind of how they've been playing with her as a 1960s sitcom character

[00:35:35] [SPEAKER_04]: and I think the one the black and white character they keep going back to as being like her strongest role in Wanda vision I think would be someone entertaining to see a version of that actually in the era as opposed to

[00:35:51] [SPEAKER_04]: the horror movie is going to be in. So I just the more I think about this the more I think I would be like you could place her there as a nanny and you could kind of back draft her story as being an ally of the Fantastic Four which even adds more depth to the Scarlet Witch story when you take into account that yes she was trying to steal her powers but Scarlet Witch in a lot of ways was the big bad in that whole series.

[00:36:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah it's not like Scarlet Witch in that series was like up to all kinds of virtuous justice based activities right she had enslaved an entire town and Agatha trying to steal her powers she was kind of mean about it but I mean I don't know which versus which they get into it that's kind of between witches.

[00:36:41] [SPEAKER_04]: There's just there's so many ways you can well but right there's so many she was getting burned I mean a lot of her story seems evil. But I do think that the more you get to know her journey I think the more interesting that journey can be and it can retell a lot of that story and already great

[00:36:59] [SPEAKER_04]: story can become just that much that much deeper as we go forward which is why I think I'm so glad I'm doing this podcast because as I was texting you earlier like like I've had some feelings about it and I think the more depth that we get and the more watches that we have.

[00:37:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I think the more fun the series is going to get. Yeah I think so too. Well I think we've covered up covered up. I think we've covered as much as we can without giving away anything that happens in the first episode so I'm going to call it that's our show and as you can tell we're both really excited about Agatha and we hope you are too.

[00:37:38] [SPEAKER_04]: If you want to join the conversation of course you can email us or send a voicemail to agatha at podcastica.com and we'll put feedback posts up on the podcast to the Facebook page or you can find us of course at podcastica.com

[00:37:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And while you're over there at podcastica.com check out some of our other shows podcastica is constantly growing and putting out content and there's so much good stuff right now from started this week season three or from I haven't started watching it yet because I had my brain sort of focused on Agatha all along and also cast of the rings but I'm so excited to start from because I've seen just enough chit chat about it to know that the first episode like blew people's minds.

[00:38:24] [SPEAKER_04]: So you haven't seen oh the new season right you've seen season one and season two yeah yeah I have it I can't get my head around it yet so I don't I need a runway before I start watching that but the coverage.

[00:38:38] [SPEAKER_04]: If you haven't listened to the podcast make sure you do because they have interviewed all of the main cast and they are several times yes I mean so this of all of our podcast podcastica podcastica podcast.

[00:38:54] [SPEAKER_04]: Which are all great and one way or another for different reasons if you're looking for one with like authentic in the trenches details this is maybe the one other than you know the cast of us proper that really intertwines you with the show and with the people in the show and those people are so jazzed about that specific podcast that you would be silly the show is great.

[00:39:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah but it's a box show so there's all these mysteries and there's all these questions and the plots keep doubling back and circling around and questions come up and get answered but then know that wasn't the answer.

[00:39:32] [SPEAKER_01]: So having a podcast where they pull all that stuff apart and organize it for you and is really it just adds a dimension to the show it makes it so entertaining if you liked lost and you love like trying to figure out what was really going on in lost you'll love from.

[00:39:48] [SPEAKER_04]: And you'll love the what is from cast I guarantee it lost lost is hallowed ground for me but the one thing that stands out to be about from specifically as it's more compact so they they really do.

[00:40:02] [SPEAKER_04]: Answer and then re answer questions a lot quicker than they did they.

[00:40:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I think there's a lot of lessons learned from lost lost was in a lot of ways the first of its kind.

[00:40:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes then a bunch of shows sort of tried to copy it exactly and failed.

[00:40:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I think from took the best of what lost did and then made it scarier.

[00:40:23] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[00:40:23] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh man.

[00:40:25] [SPEAKER_04]: They're not many many shows that scare me that one that one scares me a bit it's not Salem's lost scary but it's not far behind.

[00:40:35] [SPEAKER_04]: It's some of it.

[00:40:36] [SPEAKER_01]: You want to have a pillow to grab while you're watching it.

[00:40:39] [SPEAKER_01]: I know scary.

[00:40:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:40:42] [SPEAKER_04]: So make sure you listen to that and I got to jump in here and you should listen to cast of the rings I haven't started season two yet.

[00:40:49] [SPEAKER_04]: I started season one late my first favorite books were the Lord of the Rings books and the Hobbit specifically so jumping into the series and having people super smart about the series and about the lore.

[00:41:03] [SPEAKER_04]: Like you guys are you know Penny and Anne when it's.

[00:41:10] [SPEAKER_04]: And when of course is super you know being in New Zealand and being you know having done tours and yeah someone who is Tolkien expert the Lord of the Rings expert.

[00:41:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I like to say I'm her Ed McMahon.

[00:41:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes on when and then what happened like I I I'm all deep in there when it comes to the current Rings of Power show I watch it like three or four times every episode and do outside research but when it comes to the like deep Tolkien lore and knowing all of the history of Middle Earth and

[00:41:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Anne when is amazing at it.

[00:41:46] [SPEAKER_04]: Yes.

[00:41:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's such a fun show to cover and the production values on it are unmatched.

[00:41:53] [SPEAKER_01]: It is so like turn off the sound and just look at it.

[00:41:57] [SPEAKER_01]: It's so beautiful.

[00:41:59] [SPEAKER_04]: It's beautiful.

[00:42:00] [SPEAKER_01]: The settings and make up the special effect everything so beautiful.

[00:42:04] [SPEAKER_04]: So many times when shows have that much money put into them they fail on several levels and this one Justin the beauty just in capturing that magic that Peter Jackson captured all those years ago.

[00:42:20] [SPEAKER_04]: In some ways even more so just because of the depth of it because of the amount of episodes I think is really spectacular but the show the show I mean if you're if you're at all in tune with with Tolkien stories this fits in so very well and there's definitely

[00:42:40] [SPEAKER_04]: some mystery and intrigue as well as especially if you're watching season one.

[00:42:45] [SPEAKER_04]: I cannot wait to see where this goes so I'm behind.

[00:42:48] [SPEAKER_04]: I will not lie but yeah I will catch up as soon as we're done as soon as we're done with that.

[00:42:54] [SPEAKER_01]: It's so hard to keep up with all of the TV that is good right now we are living in the Golden Age of television there's like excellent excellent TV coming out on like all the different streaming services and I can only handle sort of like two

[00:43:10] [SPEAKER_01]: big shows at a time ever.

[00:43:12] [SPEAKER_01]: So right now it's Kath it's it's Rings of Power and Agatha and I finished Snowpiercer so done with Snowpiercer and now it's just Agatha and Kat and and Rings of Power for now and I have to make room in my in my schedule.

[00:43:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I have to because the second season of the Daryl Dixon spin off of Walking Dead is coming at the end of this month and I can't not watch it.

[00:43:38] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean I mean I'm a Walking Dead fan.

[00:43:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah it's I have to watch it so I'll have three shows going on at once and I'll just have to find a way to make that work.

[00:43:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Rings of Power is almost over though we only have two episodes left.

[00:43:53] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah well and and I'll just say a couple of like so first of all if you listen to any show on podcastica you absolutely should listen to the Daryl Dixon feed for that because it is on our main feed.

[00:44:08] [SPEAKER_04]: Jason Gabbasi who runs podcastica is the main host for that show.

[00:44:12] [SPEAKER_04]: And it's just listening to Jason and Lucy who are basically the patriarch and matriarch at this point of our little family of podcastica.

[00:44:23] [SPEAKER_04]: There's such a family element to it.

[00:44:25] [SPEAKER_04]: It's worth it's worth listening to even if you don't watch the show.

[00:44:28] [SPEAKER_04]: Trust me I spent two seasons listening to podcasts about The Walking Dead before I actually started watching The Walking Dead so I highly recommend that.

[00:44:37] [SPEAKER_04]: And I do want a shameless plug especially since Penny and I are podcasting right now about Agatha.

[00:44:43] [SPEAKER_04]: This is more or less taking the place in our hearts for Buffy the Vampire Slayer the Still Slaying podcast which will be coming back as soon as this is over.

[00:44:52] [SPEAKER_04]: And then we're going to be kicking into gear with the sister show or the brother show or the other show or the spinoff angel which I if if you you have time to catch up.

[00:45:06] [SPEAKER_04]: And that's all I'm going to say about that.

[00:45:08] [SPEAKER_04]: It's a show worth watching.

[00:45:10] [SPEAKER_04]: So if you haven't caught up just pick some pick some pick some of the still saying podcasts.

[00:45:15] [SPEAKER_04]: Send us messages and let us know that you did and of course any one of the 8 million other podcasts here podcastica that are going strong.

[00:45:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And thank you all for listening to us and tuning in and we'd love to hear your thoughts and your voice mail and your emails and and comments on Facebook all that stuff and we'll be back next time to talk about Episode 1.

[00:45:38] [SPEAKER_04]: And until then I'm Penny and I'm Jim get witchy with it.