Circle Sewn with Fate/Unlock Thy Hidden Gate

If "WandaVision" showed us anything, it is that Jac Schaeffer is not someone who likes to give us all the cards up front. For that show, she waited a long time before peeling back the layers for the show and revealing its true identity to the audience. The first episode felt very familiar to that show, but Schaeffer quickly decided to switch that out with a more straightforward narrative, which is probably the right idea. And now we're seeing what that does for the show. This is another quite good installment of the show, although it's still a little unclear where we're actually going here.

This was pretty much this show's take on your big team-up sequence, which filled a lot of the episode as Agatha is trying to collect her coven. It gave room for a lot of fun and lighthearted moments between Agatha and the character aptly named "Teen," and it provided some nice introductions to new characters, including one played by acting royalty Patti LuPone. All of these are very nice additions to this wacky band of characters and they provided some of the episode's most memorable moments in their interactions with each other. They are also all part of a very exciting finale that may not have been all that surprising, but adds a very interesting visual sequence to the episode. They do attempt to set up a lot of mystery, and when it comes to the identity of the "Teen," it's not really as interesting as the show wants it to be. The same with the whole idea of the Witches' Road, which could easily become such a mystery that audiences lose interest rather quickly. There's still a lack of direction and whether the show will actually lead to anything significant, which is starting to become a problem with most of these Disney+ shows. It's why people are losing interest, and this show isn't really giving any good reasons to why people should start caring again. This is only the second episode, so there's plenty of opportunity for that, but it may want to start think about adding some real depth and direction to it soon.

"Circle Sewn with Fate / Unlock Thy Hidden Gate" is another entertaining episode that adds a whole bunch of interesting additions to this wacky group. It has more impressive visual components than the first episode, but there's still a lack of clear direction which could potentially become a huge issue for the show going forward.

First things first, I'm happy to see they're NOT going with a WandaVision-like gimmick of doing each episode like a different genre of TV, but seem to be sticking with the one flavour after last episode's "reveal". That's a great start to fixing things already.

Second things second, I'm also happy to see that, in ditching that gimmick, they've (mostly) ditched the cringe dialogue and are giving the cast some actual decent material to work with.

Third things third, I knew the moment I saw Patti LuPone turn up that we'd be getting some kind of musical twist (like Idina Menzel, you DON'T cast Ms LuPone unless you plan to give her something to sing at some point) but I'm ALSO glad to see it wasn't a cheese-fest of a musical number. It was actually an incredibly well done musical number!

This episode went a LONG way to restoring my faith in what we can expect here.

An improvement on episode 1 for sure.

This episode Agatha has more of her wits about her as she is on a mission, she needs to reclaim power as she no longer has the dark hold. She is joined by a teen that for some reason we don't know who they are, on their way to collect a coven of witches so they can get to the witch's road which gives the person what they need the most.

A better episode due to a very good supporting cast introduced. Agatha is good, my favourite was Mrs Hart and the witch from the fortune tellers shop.

I must say enough goes on in the episodes that it has a fresher feeling than past Disney Plus shows. As of now each episode has progression on the path, besides Loki everything else was so slow and this is picking things up ! Happy with that, 6/10.

Magnificent cast blended with music that makes you believe you are in broadway while sitting in your coach, this episode have a song that it's difficult you'll ever forget. Episode 2 sets up the storyline in a intricate way that makes you want to see more.

The build up of the character of Agatha is just phenomenal because it allows the viewer to feel the emotions of a known villain, not seen in TV shows with short seasons nowadays. The show knows the audience, and a woman lead with LGBT characters makes the statement. If someone is a hater, the door is open to leave, you don't have to announce like this is an airport.

This show although it has its flaws in finding its audience, has had better openings compared to the recent projects. It's clear that it was weird to give a background character from the comics a show but Marvel has always had its way of deviating from the comics. Few scenes were kind of unnecessary with Disney reinstating(again) its support of LGBTQ+, or having some plot conveniences (many witches). However, the show shines at bringing together characters with their funny niches along with jokes that land more often now. We are immediately introduced to a story that is similar to a crime-thriller which is a bit slow in its storytelling. The show gives hints that relate back to Wandavision and Doctor Strang MoM; this method seemed more effective than simply boring the viewer with plot-driving dialogue. The two protagonists have good chemistry together and there seems to be a hinted connection to the two which further adds on to the ambiguity of the show. Overall, I am cautiously optimistic and hope Marvel did not treat this as another show rather than a passion project but this does have more potential for being an unexpected project.