man some people just absolutely refus to take the win I mean Deadpool and Wolverine turned out to be the biggest Smash Hit of the summer movie season and while I don't think it's going to be enough to change the trajectory of the MCU it could at least be seen as the first step in the right direction what Marvel really need to do now is follow up with a high-profile crowd-pleasing project something to solidify the success of Deadpool and prove that it was more than just a lucky fluke for a franchise that's sliding slowly into irrelevancy
so naturally they decided to follow up with Agatha all along and if that name is not familiar to you you might remember it more as Agatha House of Harkness or Agatha coven of chaos or Agatha darkhole Diaries I hate so much about the things that you choose to be and yeah the constant name changes were definitely an intentional move as part of a quirky marketing campaign and totally not a pan studio trying different ways to polish a turd it's a show that's been in development for so long that I genuinely started to forget what it
was even based on and I suspect the people behind the trailer realized this too which is why about 50% of it is just a recap of One Division ah remember one division remember the first few episodes that hinted at a bold and inventive new way of Marvel storytelling on Disney plus only to devolve into the same generic CGI slop as everything else they've put out in the past 5 Years anyway believe it or not the show is almost upon us now and having watched the trailer and a couple of the behind the scenes featurettes to
familiarize myself with what it's trying to be the biggest question that comes to my mind is who's the show even made for don't worry though we'll come back to that question in a minutes the general premise as far as I understand it is that Agatha was stripped of her powers and imprisoned by Wanda at the end of Wanda Vision but with Wanda dead for now at least Agatha has been released from her spell the problem is is that she still doesn't have her witch powers back and the only way to retrieve them is to follow
the witches Road where she'll be rewarded by whatever she wants at the end provided she can survive the trials of course so before you can say contrived plot ideas she's assembled a diverse Squad of witches to embark on her journey with her nice to see a token male witch thrown in there too I'm sure he's going to be a real Bastian of masculinity can I interest you in a pre-road appetizer no never Minds while we're on that subject though let's see if we can find any of the other modern MCU trademarks shall we cringeworthy attempts
at humor you're bound and you need a chemical pel check generic tough female character that everyone's supposed to be scared of check implied gay relationship that can be easily edited out for international releases do I hate her or do I want her phone number check this is never going to work never a truer word was spoken L the one thing I can say in the show's favor is that they seem to be prioritizing practical effects over CGI at least according to the behind the scenes featurettes which is something I guess in a franchise where apparently
it's too much effort to even film on a Suburban Street for real it's nice to see production designers working with prosthetics animatronics and actual physical sets for a change I mean I definitely wouldn't expect them to continue this trend but it did make me think that someone in charge of it actually cares about the end products that's nice and all but I suspect all that good work is going to be undone by the writing which if the trailer and the features is anything to go by is going to make Amy Schumer seem like Dave shapel
I mean I know that humor is subjective but Jesus Christ there's only so far you can push that premise before it collapses under the weight of terrible gags awful delivery and a tone so predictable that it feels like it came off an assembly line it's weird because the featurettes keep making such a big deal out of how hilariously funny the lead Act is and how surprising it is that she can also do drama so many people think of Catherine as being a comedic actor but it's her dramatic ability to go all the way there blast
me you witchet uh meanwhile all I could think about was this scene from Planet Terror they all say I'm hysterical but you're not this is what happens when you tell people lies their entire careers lies like you're really really funny or you're a great singer or this show is totally going to be a hit trust me I think the person I feel most sorry for though is Aubrey Plaza one of the only actresses in this show who's actually funny in real life and probably deserves a lot more success than she's gotten in her career if
Jenna Orga is the MCU then Plaza is the fox X-Men movies someone who got there first had their share of wins and losses but never quite reached the same Heights and ultimately blew their best chance of success but I think the biggest problem this show has to overcome is that well nobody really wanted this thing in the first place it was commissioned at a very different time a time when Marvel was still riding high and they probably thought that every new Disney Plus show was going to spawn a whole network of spin-offs that people would
absolutely gobble up and well the reality in 2024 is very different tell me are you excited to watch a show that's basically a spin-off of a spin-off centered around a character that was so completely forgettable that it's almost impossible to even form an opinion about her now I asked at the start of this video who I thought this show was made for and taking into account the aging and mostly female cast the campy tone the song and dance numbers the constant wardrobe changes and the painfully dated attempts at humor it seems to be a show
targeted at middle-aged wine moms who also have a passing interest in superhero movies and I'm not going to lie that is a pretty small demog graphic you're appealing to there I think Marvel themselves suspect that this show is dead in the water and is likely to land with all the impact of a left hook from Steven Hawking which is why there's been almost no advertising push for it by all accounts their senior leadership is very aware of their decline in popularity these days and more importantly the reasons why it's happening and they're working hard to
alter course the problem is that massive franchises like the MCU are about as maneuverable as your average super tanker and there's still a whole lot of in the pipeline that's too far along to salvage for example iron heart's been in the can for years now and they still haven't released it because they know it's going to suck but just like the DCU once James gun took over there's not much Choice except to expel it out into the world get it over with and hopefully move on to something better honestly with Nine episodes to get through
I don't think I'll even bother watching Agatha all along and I suspect a lot of other people out there are going to feel the same way anyway that's all I've got for today go away now
