Cube Critics discuss ‘Agatha All Along’ and ‘The Penguin’

Cube Critics Jacob Aloi and Aron Woldeslassie watch a spin-off from a Marvel television series and a spin-off of a DC film.

‘Agatha All Along’

“Agatha All Along” is a spin-off from the Marvel Cinematic Universe's TV series “WandaVision.” It follows Kathryn Hahn playing Agatha Harkness, a witch who has had her power stolen and is now on a quest to reclaim that power by going down the Witches Road.

This is not a superhero series at all; it’s a witch coven — perfect for a Halloween fall series. It’s about a coven of witches who come together by happenstance to face trials to reclaim something they’ve lost in the past.

It has brilliant performances, of course, by the lead, Kathryn Hahn, but you also have people like Patti LuPone, who plays this hilarious, very kooky Italian witch.

In “WandaVision” every episode was based on a different era of television. With this, there seems to be a little bit of that as well. So far, each episode has had a bit of a different feel to it and a bit of a different style, all kind of based around the individual witches.

I’m really hoping that we’ll get to see what each individual episode will look like for the witches on their trials. You can check out “Agatha All Along” on Disney+, with new episodes every Wednesday.

— Jacob Aloi

‘The Penguin’

I watched “The Penguin” on Max. The series follows the story of the 2022 film “The Batman” by Matt Reeves. At the end of the movie, mob boss Carmine Falcone dies, leaving a power vacuum in Gotham City, and looking to step up is Oz Cobb, aka Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin.

Yes, if you didn’t already know, this is a Batman story, but what’s great about this series is that it doesn’t feature the Caped Crusader or any other superheroes. What this really is is a modified mob story — imagine “The Sopranos,” but watered down a little bit.

Don’t take that the wrong way; this series still has incredible storytelling and a fantastic design. The story is striking, evolving and very neat, particularly because Colin Farrell as The Penguin does a great job of giving emotional bandwidth to what is essentially a very silly comic book character.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I’ve seen The Penguin in any media, he is a silly, squawking tiny man, but in this series, he is emotional, angry and attempting to better himself by being the worst version of himself. I’m going to tell you to check out The Penguin on Max — new episodes every Saturday.

— Aron Woldeslassie