New Episodes of Marvel’s What If…? stream daily on Disney+ through December 29, 2024.
Synopsis
Hollywood film star Agatha Harkness has a new co-star in Howard Stark’s first production.
Review
Part of the success of Marvels What If…? is down to the series’ ability to be able to mix together characters – and therefore actors – from across various Marvel Studios properties. Yes it’s a high concept series and that alone is enough to catch our attention. But every now and then an episode like What If… Agatha Went to Hollywood? comes along and captivates thanks to an incredible voice cast.
The premise is simple. In this reality, Agatha Harkness (the returning Kathryn Hahn) has gone to Hollywood where she has landed herself a part in Howard Stark’s (Dominic Cooper) first big production. But her harbours a secret. Agatha is secretly after the power of Tiamut, the Celestial body which lurks at the centre of the Earth. To get to it she has stolen the power of each of The Eternals bar one, Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani). Agatha needs to lure Kingo in to steal his power but her actions catch the attention of Arishem (David Kaye) which might just help Stark create the biggest film Hollywood Land has ever seen!
The concept brilliantly mixes the mythology of The Eternals with the chaos of a character like Agatha. Even in voice over Kathryn Hahn has incredible presence on screen which demands audience attention. The entire episode is big, loud and extremely camp as Hahn and Nanjiani escalate their performance through to its big crescendo. The two actors play off each other very well on screen, aided by the scale of the production around them. There’s something very meta about the episode, framing a sci-fi story as the set of a Hollywood movie with a story that plays out in the style of the film it’s presenting.
The Hollywood soundstage setting offers up a lot of opportunity for fun storytelling. This is the second episode in a row to open as if it were a classic cartoon from a bygone era. Grabbing at the audience from the first frame. By the time the film’s huge musical number begins What If…? has grabbed us by the shoulders and is refusing to let go. Composers Laura Karpman and Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum excel this week with a Sunset Boulevard-esque score that feels as Old Hollywood as the episode’s setting.
Of course, whilst all of the Hollywood shenanigans are high-camp fun, there’s a still a Marvel Studios story to be told. Running at a lofty 30 minutes, the episode wastes absolutely none of that runtime on needless subplots or storytelling. Agatha and Kingo’s literal and metaphorical dance leads her to stealing his powers and accessing the body of Tiamut. With Arishem headed to Earth the scale of What If… Agatha Went to Hollywood? rapidly rises to reach the scale of a Marvel Studios blockbuster. Ironic given several of the in-jokes peppered throughout Bryan Andrews, Matthew Chauncey and Ryan Little’s story. Agatha fans will be overjoyed, Kingo fans will revel in more of his trademark comedy and Eternals fans will rejoice in seeing elements of that film’s plot return to the screen.
Verdict
Easily one of the best episodes of Marvel’s What If…? to-date. Thanks to its charismatic cast and huge Hollywood score What If… Agatha Went to Hollywood? feels like romantic comedy for the ages.
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