Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

Jekyll and Hyde shenanigans as Agatha’s short trial ends too soon

Spoiler Warning for Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power

The show continues to swing between Jekyll and Hyde personalities.  When it’s in Jekyll mode suspension of disbelief is difficult, performances verge on pantomime, and everything feels fake.  When it’s in Hyde mode, it delivers on every level from direction to effects, from performances to story.

This episode starts out as Hyde.  There is a glimpse back to Agatha’s first trial as a witch when her mother sought to destroy her and she killed the coven, signposting from the beginning that the Road will be giving us Agatha’s trial.  That segues neatly into the use of the animal imagery again as the Salem Seven come to the Road.  I liked the explanation that they left the door open after the Summoning of Rio.  It was also good to organically get some backstory on the Seven; that they are the children of the witches Agatha killed in Salem.  The effects are great, there is a real sense of otherworldliness and horror in the Seven’s rendition, and I love the appearance of the animals.

The Jekyll flicker starts to happen as Agatha’s coven becomes aware of the danger of the Seven and starts to react.  A couple of the performances are over-dramatic, and once again not helped at all by their dialogue.  But as the witches’ start to build their brooms, Hyde returns.  The sequence of them taking to the skies on the ‘brooms’ is well done enough invoking a sense of excitement, and the performances here convey nothing but a genuine thrill at the exhilaration of flying.  The classic witch’s picture of a silhouette against a full moon is well done (although I wonder how many of us now equate that imagery with E.T. (1982)).

But as the witches enter the house for Agatha’s trial, we’re back to that hint of Jekyll.  It’s not helped by the trial set-up; a girl’s sleepover with most decked out in Eighties’ exercise clothing, presumably doubling as sleepwear.  While Patti LuPone is spared (her costume resembling ‘Mom’), all the other actresses just look like adult women dressed up as teenaged girls.  The trope setting here does nothing but double down on the reality that these are adult women playacting and takes away from the sense that they are acting.  In particular, the early part of the trial with Teen calling out the rules and the Ouija board set-up all feels ‘unreal’ preventing a suspension of disbelief. 

Sasheer Zamata’s dialogue here, just as in the previous episode, feels far too juvenile and the swing of Jen to her very angry ‘let’s just leave Agatha/let’s punish Agatha’ stance feels a little left field.  I’ll concede that the story has dropped hints of Jen’s true feelings towards Agatha, (she was the one who warned Teen about her), but this feels like an overly dramatic swing in the opposite direction from the previous episode which showed the coven coming together.   I might have believed Jen’s behaviour if this was the first trial, but not after the last.

This is where the storytelling falters.  All the reactions to Agatha feel very much like they would be suited to follow on from the episode where Sharon died not from an episode where they’ve clicked together for the most part.  Perhaps the faked return of Sharon by Agatha was supposed to have rejuvenated their feelings of disgust at Agatha’s lack of compassion about the woman’s death, but it doesn’t work if this was meant to be the trigger.

But then the episode shifts back to Hyde again as Agatha’s real trauma is revealed with the hard truth of her mother’s hate for her and the cry of her dead son.  There are good performances here from all the actresses as Agatha’s mother states she should have killed her as a baby because she was born evil.  Kathryn Hahn plays vulnerable well in this moment. 

There is another great moment when Alice jumps into protect a possessed Agatha and blasts her – and then another as Agatha steals Alice’s power, Teen desperately searches for a way to stop Agatha and it’s the cry of her son that does it.  There is another great reaction from Hahn as she hears him – wonderful face and body language acting. 

Unfortunately, the first viewing of Joe Locke’s upset at Alice’s death feels off; it’s a little overplayed and the Eighties’ costuming does not help sell his performance at all.  But as the action shifts back to the Road and he returns to his Teen costume, his deft performance as he berates Agatha and decries his want to be a power-hungry witch feels more in keeping with the overall great performance that he’s delivered in the show to date.    

The ending as Hahn suddenly teases Teen with the truth of his mother, the reveal of his power which he uses to bury the witches in mud, and the closing shot as the camera pulls back to reveal Teen with a simulation of the Scarlet Witch’s crown is very well done.  It leaves a good number of hooks for the next episode – presumably more on Teen’s identity as Wanda’s son Billy and his superhero alterego ‘Wiccan’ for the non-comic book audience; whether Wiccan is the Big Bad the coven will face; how Agatha and the others will get out of the mud (Rio was conspicuously absent); how Agatha suddenly knew enough to needle Teen about his mother.

It’s a great ending except this ending climax comes a good ten minutes short of the other episodes.

Really?!

Those who’ve read my reviews of other Disney Plus shows will know my deep hatred of streaming shows not following a consistent and fulfilling timing with their episode lengths.  I’d been impressed that this show in its first four episodes had maintained around a thirty-five minutes duration for each one.  That came to a screaming halt with this one.

The episode feels too short and, frankly, Agatha’s trial was too rushed.  There was a lot more drama and storytelling that could have been done in that section. Perhaps if they hadn’t used the trope of the Ouija board/teen girls’ sleepover as the setting, but rather Salem itself?  While the ending with Wiccan’s power reveal is very well done, I still left the episode feeling short-changed and disgruntled.

In conclusion

This show’s main flaw is its Jekyll side.  I want to get immersed and fully buy into the show’s fantastical world. It irritates me beyond belief every time Jekyll peeks out and I’m taken out of the story and made all too aware that this is a TV show.  That’s because when the show is fully embodying its Hyde personality, it’s a truly great and enjoyable witchy romp which keeps me hooked and wanting to know more. 

And I am really interested in where the show is going now given this early reveal of Teen as Wiccan and given that there are still two trials still left to do (Rio’s and Lilia’s).  There’s a promise of a lot more to come and I hope that promise is kept by returning to decent timings in the coming episodes.

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