The MCU faithful are officially down the Witches’ Road, with Agatha All Along finally having premiered its first two episodes, both of which packed a whoppingly entertaining punch that has left us with a distinct sense of hope that we haven’t felt much of ever since Phase Five kicked off.
Kathryn Hahn is devouring the lead role, the character dynamics are resoundingly fresh and can only get fresher from here, and there’s an overwhelming impression that this show actually cares about telling a genuinely interesting story rather than just supplementing the creaky, overarching Multiverse Saga narrative.
But, Marvel is still as Marvel does, and so there’s still a bit of BS to be had in the Agatha All Along conversation. For one thing, can we all just admit that the constant bait-and-switching with the show’s title, only for it to end on Agatha All Along (you know, like that catchy WandaVision song that the internet turned into its personality for a week?), was nothing more than groan-worthy cheese from the minds of the marketing department?
And for another, why can’t anyone just admit that Joe Locke‘s character “Teen” is Billy Kaplan (aka Wiccan, a magic-wielding member of the Young Avengers in Marvel Comics)?
Who is Teen in Agatha All Along?
Diegetically speaking, Teen is a mysterious young boy who aligns himself with Agatha Harkness in hopes of reaching the end of the Witches’ Road so as to become a stronger magic user. The fact that he’s the ultimate Agatha Harkness fanboy is just the cherry on top for him.
Because of a hex placed upon him, Teen is unable to say his name or communicate any identifying information about himself. It’s entirely possible that this detail has more significance to the plot and Teen’s character than just keeping his true identity from us viewers, but until that becomes apparent, this reads as a very weird and very ineffective way to keep Billy Kaplan’s official presence in the MCU a secret.
According to the official Agatha All Along production briefing, two actors we’ve yet to be introduced to in the show include Maria Dizzia and Paul Adelstein, who respectively portray characters named Rebecca Kaplan and Jeff Kaplan. Note the surname.
We’ve furthermore known for some time now that actor Miles Gutierrez-Riley was portraying Teen’s boyfriend in the show, but per the production briefing, we now know that the boyfriend’s name is Eddie. In the comics, Wiccan’s boyfriend is Hulkling, whose civilian first name is Teddy; note the phonetic similarity between “Eddie” and “Teddy.”
If Teen somehow isn’t Billy Kaplan, then Marvel is just pulling a “gotcha” moment for the sake of pulling a “gotcha” moment, perhaps to distract from the fact that their recent efforts have been incredibly shoddy from a storytelling perspective, and therefore need to rely on gimmicks like this in order to feign some sense of intelligence and/or competence behind their decision-making.
Luckily, this probably isn’t the case. Beyond the fact that there’s almost no chance that Teen isn’t Wiccan (which is only bolstered by the fact that Marvel is actively building its Young Avengers roster as of The Marvels), Agatha All Along has so far indicated that it doesn’t plan on playing by the fandom-product rules that its recent franchise predecessors have been adhering to, and instead just wants to be a great show. We’ll be holding it to these expectations after that mighty fine start, and we’ll be cheering for it to meet them the whole way through.
Agatha All Along‘s first two episodes are now streaming on Disney Plus, with new episodes releasing every Wednesday until the two-episode season finale on Oct. 30.
Published: Sep 19, 2024 09:39 am