Marvel Finally Made a Streaming Series Worth Watching, Here’s Why It Works

By Chris Snellgrove | Published 1 hour ago

For a long time, most of the Marvel content on Disney+ has been a disappointment, vacillating between fun but over-the-top (like Werewolf By Night) and failed attempts to recreate the MCU film formula (like Secret Invasion). However, recently Agatha Everything Goes has changed this trend by growing its audience as it progresses. Although the show’s 4.6 million viewers will end up not doing broadcast violence, the fact that its premiere had only 3.1 million viewers says a lot about how people enjoyed the show.

Viewers, critics and fans alike, loved it. Results like these have left us debating what makes this show work when other recent Marvel fare has crashed and burned. However, the answer to that is simple: Marvel aired the first original episode since then WandaVision (on our list of the best superhero shows in one season) to create something fun and accessible for newcomers.

Why Marvel’s Broadcast Plans Failed: Mixed Purposes

For better understanding Agatha Everything Goessuccess, it is important to understand why other shows failed or did not work well. In many cases, the problem (shared by most of the Star Wars content on Disney+) is that management has authorized turning what could have been a solid two-hour movie into a bloated and lame TV show. For example, it’s hard for even the biggest fans of the shows to argue against that Secret Invasion again The Falcon and the Winter Soldier would have been better as big-budget films rather than six-episode, mid-budget blockbusters.

Even the shows won’t get better as the movies waste a lot of their potential by setting up future films. Loki it would have been even better if he didn’t spend the whole show trying to make Kang happen again Ms. Marvel it would have been improved by not making the ending a big setup Miraclesa historic box office failure for Disney.

When I went into its premiere, I was worried about that Agatha Everything Goes He can repeat these mistakes by trading on them WandaVision connection to set up the inevitable Scarlet Witch solo movie. This time, I have never been so happy to be so wrong.

Why Agatha Always Works: Rowing When Others Are Giggled

Agatha Everything Goes succeeded in large part by zigging where other Disney+ MCU shows have zagged. For example, despite this specific program WandaVision consequently, it was very easy to watch and enjoy even for those who hadn’t tuned in to the last round of Scarlet Witch’s anti-TV journey. That accessibility ensured an influx of mainstream viewers, and the show’s unabashed focus on multiple female characters likely helped attract more women, a stronger TV audience than most of Marvel’s previous shows (at least those without Elizabeth Olsen or Tom Hiddleston as the lead actor). they failed to attract.

Part of that accessibility comes from the fact that Agatha Everything Goes it doesn’t clearly set up a future Marvel project, and that allows it to succeed in its own right. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier it was setting Captain America 4, Ms. Marvel it was setting MiraclesLoki was setting up nothing more Avengers: Age of Ultronand so on. These endless setups rob these shows of their greatest potential while making the act of watching them feel like a chore; on the contrary, AgathaThe commitment to focus on its narrative helped us enjoy the show itself (a lot, a lot).

In addition, Agatha Everything Goes It’s arguably the first Disney+ MCU show since then WandaVision adopting an episodic format. Too many other shows felt like planned movies forced into a television format, leading to serious pacing problems. Agatha it took time to turn each episode into a mini adventure, and that made it fun to tune in each week.

There’s a lot more to that Agatha Everything Goes i’m fine, from the killer music (“Ballad of the Witch’s Road” is a real bop) to the excellent acting (Aubrey Plaza’s truly magical ability to chew each scene in the most delightful way). However, the real strength of the show’s success is that it ditched an old, failed formula in favor of something new, and audiences rewarded Disney for that.