Third Season of 'What If...?' Captivates Critics

         On December 22, 2024, Disney+ premiered the third and final season 'What If...?', which has received predominantly positive reviews from critics. In the series, the multiverse comes to life in new and exciting ways. The ensemble cast includes Anthony Mackie, Mark Ruffalo, Teyonah Parris, Simu Liu, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Kathryn Hahn, Seth Green, Samuel L. Jackson, Oscar Isaac, Laurence Fishburne, Tom Hiddleston, Tessa Thompson, Emily VanCamp, Dominique Thorne, Wyatt Russell, Hayley Atwell, and Jeffrey Wright. But what did the critics say?

       Arezou Amin of Collider says, "What If Season 3 caps off the series with a bleaker final outing that ultimately manages to keep hope at the center of it all." Adding, "Without a doubt, Season 3 of What If...? is the show's bleakest yet. While the earlier seasons had riffs on Christmas movies, winks at the heist genre, or cartoonish showdowns with the episode's villains, moments like this are few and far between in Season 3. This isn't exactly a surprise. It feels as though the world around us has been moving in a bleaker direction for quite some time, and all media is a reflection of the time in which it was made, be it intentional or otherwise. The topics that What If...? Season 3 touches on are hardly new to the MCU, or even the wider superhero genre; greed, power, violence, prejudice, and subjugation remain at the heart of what drives the villains. Episode 6, "What If 1872," is particularly unafraid to directly call out the injustices its heroes are fighting, and unsubtly hints at similar issues still occurring today. What is new, however, is how utterly hopeless so many of the episodes feel.Yes, every story needs a low point in which the characters believe they cannot continue the fight; every Marvel movie has that moment. But the sheer, colossal, multiversal scale of the series really amplifies that helplessness, with the scenarios The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) chooses to visit feeling more cataclysmic than they usually do. Absent from this season is the lighthearted air of "What If T'challa Became Star Lord" and "What If Happy Hogan Saved Christmas," or the groundbreaking nature of "What If Kahhori Reshaped the World." Season 3 does have its relatively lighter episodes with fun concepts — those starring Howard the Duck (Seth Green) and Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) come to mind — but even those are tinged with the larger, cosmic scale of everything happening around them."

       Alan French of FandomWire notes, "When you dig into the creativity of What If…, it starts at the animation stage. For all the cool storytelling tricks that the series hopes to pull off, What If… Season 3 has to push the boundaries of what is possible in the medium. Like the two seasons before, a mixing and matching of styles allows the show to soar. In the old West, the vistas and gunslinging shine bright. Beyond the cosmos, the monsters look bigger and badder than ever. Magic duels between movie stars are larger than life, and even adding film grain to the frames feels bold and interesting.What If… Season 3 does not work unless this integral piece of the puzzle works. It’s not only that it looks gorgeous, but it adds dramatic tension to every episode. The fight sequences remind us just how tired the action has become in the live-action movies. With stunning creativity, What If… pushes the physical limits and creative uses of the powersets of its heroes. Even better, the writers never focus only on battle. Their powers are just as integral to their interpersonal relationships and antics as they are in battle."

Image Courtesy of Disney

'Agatha All Along' Reviews: "Kathryn Hahn is magic"

         On September 18, 2024, Disney+ premiered 'Agatha All Along', which has earned predominantly positive reviews from critics, currently holding at 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the limited series, "Set after the events of "WandaVision," Agatha Harkness recruits some unlikely allies on her quest to regain her former powers." The ensemble cast includes Aubrey Plaza, Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, and the legendary Patti LuPone. But what did the critics say?

        Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence says, "Say whatever you want about the Marvel Cinematic Universe shows that have been produced for Disney+ since 2021: The flagship series, WandaVision, proved conclusively that Kathryn Hahn is magic. Sneakily introduced over the course of the season as dastardly witch Agatha Harkness, the beloved character actress got an incredible showcase for her talents — thus making the arrival of spinoff series Agatha All Along most welcome, even during what might charitably be called the MCU’s “rebuilding season.” For those feeling exhausted by keeping up with all the different Marvel plot threads out there, Agatha All Along, based on the first four episodes provided for review, exists very much as a stand-alone adventure. (That is, provided your memory of WandaVision isn’t too fuzzy.) Things begin with Agatha still trapped in the Scarlet Witch’s spell — once she escapes, though, she’s still wildly underpowered, and the only way she knows to reclaim her former abilities is to walk the treacherous Witches’ Road." Adding, "Taking on the Witches’ Road — a treacherous series of magical tests, the completion of which will grant the survivors what they most desire — isn’t the sort of thing you do on your own. So, to help her ease on down the road, Agatha accumulates a new coven of acquaintances with witchy gifts: Patti LuPone plays a fortune teller, Sasheer Zamata is “the potions guy,” Ali Ahn does blood magic, and Debra Jo Rupp reprises her role from WandaVision as a nice neighbor with a bit of a green thumb."

       Tania Lamb of Lola Lambchops was less impressed, stating, "Agatha All Along is a slow burn, much like WandaVision was. However, without Wanda or the stakes that she offers, the show is dull. Agnes was a hoot and a fan favorite in WandaVision. Kathryn Hahn is still fantastic, and can change voices, movements, facial expressions seamlessly, but her character is underwhelming in this series."

       Nick Schager of The Daily Beast notes, Marvel’s CGI-ified gloom remains one of the studio’s least attractive hallmarks, so it’s a relief to find Agatha All Along intermittently entering lighter lit spaces during various stops along the witches’ expedition. The first of those is a luxurious home where they face a trial that involves deciphering a riddle and concocting a potion from random household ingredients. Their subsequent destination is a ’70s-style recording studio where they must sing a Fleetwood Mac-ish version of the aforementioned ballad in order to destroy a curse. In both cases, as soon as the witches pass through the front door, they’re bestowed with location- and era-specific outfits, allowing them to cosplay as, respectively, the 1 percent and as rock stars. Such gimmickry is cute, but it’s barely enough to make up for the general thinness of the show’s characters, most of whom are defined by a single hang-up and a shared distrust of Agatha, who cares more about herself than her cohorts."

Photo by Adrian Swancar on Unsplash

        Jen Lennon of AV Club praises the series, stating, "It’s got the vibe of the early seasons of Netflix’s Daredevil and Jessica Jones, telling a story that recognizably takes place within the MCU but isn’t worried about proving it with constant references and a plot that exists only to be shoved into a larger narrative. Agatha All Along seems content to tell a smaller story, off to the side of the MCU’s usual big super-heroics and overarching narrative, about a woman reclaiming the power that’s been stolen from her. When Marvel first announced the Agatha spinoff three years ago, it felt like a bad idea, reactionary in a way that Marvel had never been before. Sure, Agatha was fun in WandaVision, and she quickly became a fan favorite, but that’s not enough to support an entire show. Did Marvel even have an idea for what the show would be about, or did they just green light “a show about Agatha Harkness” and hope to find a halfway decent story somewhere along the way? It felt like the second one, and the three years between WandaVision’s end and Agatha All Along’s premiere only added to that feeling. Maybe that’s why I didn’t give it much grace at the beginning. But I’m happy to admit that I was wrong and even happier that the message was delivered with all the bluntness of a naked Kathryn Hahn yelling at her very polite neighbor for the unspeakable crime of trying to be nice to her."