Main cast: Kathryn Hahn (Agatha Harkness), Joe Locke (William Kaplan), Sasheer Zamata (Jennifer Kale), Ali Ahn (Alice Wu-Gulliver), Debra Jo Rupp (Mrs Hart), Patti LuPone (Lilia Calderu), and Aubrey Plaza (Rio Vidal)
Director: Gandja Monteiro
Finales are often the Achilles’ heel of MCU shows on Disney+, and sadly, Maiden Mother Crone does little to change that trend. Clocking in at just under 40 minutes, it feels more like an exposition dump to resolve lingering plot threads than a climactic send-off.
We get a flashback to Agatha Harkness’s mysterious past, connecting her to the Road and her revelations as to Joe Locke’s character’s true identity. Still, is the final episode really the time to flesh out Agatha as a character? Perhaps the creators envisioned a second season to fully explore her arc, though that seems ambitious given that the show appears to have a fanbase of roughly eight dedicated followers.
Despite its loose threads, however, Maiden Mother Crone wraps up the story well enough that if this is the end, we can all walk away with some closure.
As for the season as a whole, let’s start with the positives. First up: Patti LuPone. She could save a sinking ship, and while this show is far from doomed, her performance elevates it to greatness. Joe Locke, likely originally cast for his social media-friendly, twink-ish charm, surprises us with depth, balancing poignancy, practicality, and vulnerability in equal measure. Aubrey Plaza is a delight, diving into her character with gusto; unfortunately, she only hits her stride in the final episodes, leaving us wishing she had more screen time.
The show itself bends the MCU formula and tips its hat to witchy classics like The Wizard of Oz and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Best of all, it has the guts to let morally ambiguous characters be, well, morally ambiguous—a rarity in a genre that loves redemption arcs.
Also, let’s not forget the show’s approach to queerness: Agatha All Along may be one of the few examples of modern Hollywood doing inclusion right. The characters’ queerness feels natural, unforced, and refreshingly free from corporate pandering. They simply are who they are—no applause-seeking here.
Yet, there are minuses. The pacing stumbles, with a few filler-heavy episodes that barely move the needle. Most of the secondary cast (aside from Ms LuPone, Ms Plaza, and Debra Jo Rupp) make zero impact, and believe it or not, even Agatha herself feels flat. She finally gains some dimension in the finale, but for most of the season, she’s more of a parody of a Kathryn Hahn character than a fleshed-out antihero.
And yes, the finale itself meanders a little too much to leave a satisfying impression.
In the end, Agatha All Along still stands as one of the stronger MCU shows on Disney+—though, let’s be honest, that’s a low bar at this point. It’s worth watching, especially for fans of magic, witches, and the powerhouse that is Patti LuPone.
