What the success of ‘Agatha All Along’ means for the future of Marvel Television
Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who wouldn’t mind “Agatha All Along” becoming a spooky season tradition.
As staff writer Tracy Brown and Screen Gab editor Matt Brennan discuss in this week’s Break Down, Marvel’s “WandaVision” spinoff perfectly set up a Season 2 — and points the way forward for the franchise’s struggling TV division.
Also in Screen Gab no. 156, “Outer Banks” star Carlacia Grant stops by to discuss the Netflix series’ ardent fans, plus viewing recommendations for your weekend.
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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
“Invincible Fight Girl” (Adult Swim)
This feels a little weird to admit about a visually vibrant show, but what first grabbed my attention in “Invincible Fight Girl” are the sound effects. As someone who grew up on a steady diet of shonen action anime, the specific combat sounds in the opening wrestling match told me more about the show than any logline ever could. Set in a world where wrestling controls the social order, the animated series follows Andy, a young accounting student living on an island of accountants who secretly dreams of becoming a wrestler. After stepping into the ring to stand up against a bully, Andy begins training to be the best wrestler she can be. With plenty of action and comedy and a dash of introspection, the show is a fun, fresh homage to anime in the vein of “Dragon Ball Z” and “One Piece” as well as ’90s pro wrestling and its big personalities. —Tracy Brown
“Miss Merkel” (MHz Choice)
Based on a series of novels by David Safier, this comic, cozy mystery dances on the head of a pun, casting former Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel (Katharina Thalbach) in a Teutonic twist on Agatha Christie’s Jane Marple. Two feature-length TV movies — “Murder in the Castle” and “Murder in the Cemetery” — find her in a small town, retired from politics, kept company by husband Joachim (Thorsten Merten), pug Helmut and bodyguard Mike (Tim Kalkhof), whose fitness regime is constantly undermined by Merkel’s forcing homemade food on him with grandmotherly insistence. Too naturally restless and curious to sit quietly, Merkel — whose local presence leads to posing for selfies and wiping rude graffiti from her front door — is naturally drawn to detective work, to the consternation of Mike and the displeasure of Sascha Nathan’s local police commissioner. (“Arrogant, presumptuous and rude,” she says. “I know men like that from politics all too well.” Hmmm.) The humor ranges from low to medium-high, with pee jokes and topical references. Naturally, a river of feminism runs through it: “East German women like to take the wheel,” says Miss Merkel. —Robert Lloyd
READ MORE: Our TV critic picks 42 cozy mysteries to curl up with right now
Guest spot
A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Even though “Outer Banks” is officially coming to a close — Netflix announced this week that it has renewed the series for a fifth and final season — Carlacia Grant’s head is still spinning over being cast in the first place. As the actor told Screen Gab in the lead-up to Season 4, Part II, which premiered Thursday, the mere announcement of her addition was a signal of fan interest in the tale of treasure-hunting Pogues from North Carolina’s barrier islands: “I went from 3,000 to 30,000 followers overnight.” The actor also talked about bringing “humanity” to the onscreen depiction of Caribbean characters, what she’s watching and more. —Matt Brennan
What have you watched recently that you’re recommending to everyone you know?
Well, besides “Outer Banks” Season 4 [Laughs], “Barbecue Showdown” and all of the “Street Food” series on Netflix have been my guilty pleasures as of late. Oh, and “Abbott Elementary” [ABC, Hulu].
2. What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the film or TV show you return to again and again?
My favorite show of all time, “Golden Girls” [Hulu], “Rugrats in Paris” [Paramount+] and “The Family That Preys” [Max].
Whether with press or with fans, online or in person, what was the moment since you signed on to play Cleo that made you realize, “OK, this show is huge”?
The day my casting announcement dropped I went from 3,000 to 30,000 followers overnight. I was like, “This is wild” because this is before anyone had even seen my work on the show. This was simply off anticipation.
You are of Haitian-Jamaican heritage playing a Bahamian character, at the moment when Haitian migrants have been subject to false racist attacks from the Republican presidential ticket. What is a positive message about Afro-Caribbean peoples you hope viewers draw from characters like Cleo?
Our humanity. The aim of racist stereotypes and rhetoric is to dehumanize. I hope when people see Cleo, they see a well-rounded human being who is loving, strong, cultured and resilient.
That said, the onus cannot be on one person or character to represent such a diverse community. Caribbean people are not a monolith and have a vast array of beautiful history. I encourage viewers to do their own research on the culture and various islands as well as visit and talk to people outside of your usual circles.
Break down
Times staffers chew on the pop culture of the moment — love it, hate it or somewhere in between
With the conclusion last week of “Agatha All Along” (Disney+), the television wing of the Marvel Cinematic Universe marked the end of its first major watercooler moment in some time: Think catchy tunes, warring divas and a social media presence that set LGBTQ+ tongues online wagging. Resident Marvel expert Tracy Brown watched the series from the start, while Screen Gab editor Matt Brennan happily binged the full season in time for the finale.
Matt Brennan: Tracy, I have a confession to make: “Agatha All Along” is the first Marvel TV series I have watched to completion since “WandaVision” nearly four years ago. I checked out a few pilots along the way, and finished the first season of “Loki,” but nothing has cast a spell on my attention quite like Jac Schaeffer’s pair of witchy action-comedies — and, given the troubles the franchise has faced recently, I suspect I’m not alone. “Agatha All Along,” like its predecessor, hits the sweet spot that has always elevated the very best Marvel properties into bona fide cultural phenomena (see also: “Black Panther”), appealing to loyalists with carefully placed references to familiar comics characters while working as a self-contained, self-sustaining narrative for those of us who don’t know their Wiccans from their Wandas. In other words, it’s not by magic that “Agatha All Along” became the first TV series in the franchise to generate sustained conversation in some time. But I only represent the casual-fan side of the equation, Tracy. As someone invested in the deep lore, what did you think?
Tracy Brown: Honestly, I have been obsessed with “Agatha All Along” ever since I saw Kathryn Hahn and her co-stars perform “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road” onstage at D23 over the summer. But why the show worked for me probably isn’t too different from why it appealed to you. Searching for Marvel Easter eggs to suss out where the story is going and coming up with theories is fun, but that only adds to the expectations for the show — the show still has to deliver. Take Joe Locke’s character, for instance. I think one of the main puzzles teased going into “Agatha” was the identity of “Teen,” but most Marvel fans probably had a very strong suspicion about who he would be revealed to be. I still wanted to see how everything would unfold, especially because the original comics storyline is kind of bonkers and the MCU had already strayed from it a bit. Now, I get to be excited that we’re one step closer to one of my favorite comic book superhero teams possibly getting assembled for the MCU. But even without the Marvel trappings, a queer show about damaged witches — including a couple with a tumultuous romantic past — being forced to team up on an adventure was always going to speak to me. How about you? What made this show must-see TV?
Brennan: It’s funny that you bring up “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road,” because I have had that little ditty stuck in my head since the roundelay/montage that reveals how Agatha usurped other witches’ powers over the centuries. In a sense, the song, which recurs in different forms over the course of the series, is the perfect emblem of what made “Agatha All Along” so compelling: invention within convention. The witch-trial-of-the-week structure, revealing character through suspenseful, escape room-esque challenges rather than heavy-handed plot detours, kept me from getting bogged down in the MCU of it all — and had the added benefit of allowing each member of Agatha’s ragtag team of rivals his or her moment to shine. By the time Patti Lupone‘s clairvoyant Lilia seized her power and saved their skin in the fractured, brilliant “Death’s Hand in Mine,” I realized that I wasn’t ready for the season to end.
In fact, along with HBO’s “The Penguin” — a hard-boiled underworld saga that just happens to be set in DC Comics’ Gotham City — “Agatha All Along” suggests a new model for comic-book TV: Forget about connecting to the broader Universe and focus on building one of your own. Look into your crystal ball, Tracy. What do you think the future holds for “Agatha All Along” and Marvel TV in general?
Brown: Well, what I’m hoping for is a future with more adventures of Agatha and her “coven two” since the series left that door open. Nothing official has been announced, but I have seen fodder for speculation that a Season 2 could happen. What’s to come in the bigger Marvel picture, though, I think, was signaled with the revival of the Marvel Television banner that flashed across the screen at the top of every episode. That’s hopefully a recognition that TV shows can’t be treated like one super-long film broken into pieces — they’re a proper art form and need to be developed as such. And rather than feeling like homework for the next big event movie, hopefully TV can be where Marvel gives different creative sensibilities more room to breathe even if they are a part of a broader connected universe. Kind of like comic books. As for what’s actually next, “Daredevil: Born Again,” “Ironheart” and “Wonder Man” are the live-action shows on deck so it looks like Marvel will be leaning into its past successes before introducing anything completely new.
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