The history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is full of surprising twists and turns, unexpected deaths and unpredictable resurrections. But few have produced the shock of the moment in the Disney+ series Agatha all the time when Broadway legend Patti LuPone is accused of singing out of tune.

A WandaVision Spin-off that follows the attempts of the evil witch Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) to regain her powers and escape the false reality in which she was imprisoned by the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Agatha is not exactly a musical—Frozen Songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez are credited as the “original song” (singular), but this song reappears in nearly every episode, or at least in the four (of nine) that were previewed to critics ahead of their premiere Wednesday night. Whether absentmindedly hummed by the show’s protagonist on her way to work or belted out as a ’70s-style rock anthem, “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road” sets the show’s witchy heroines on a figurative and literal course to face their deepest fears, including the fear of drifting a semitone too far.

Created by WandaVisionby Jac Schaeffer, Agatha all the time begins with a rerun of that series, Marvel’s first and still best foray into episodic television. Instead of a 1950s sitcom, Agatha – or Agnes, as she is known for short – is trapped in a prestige TV drama in which she is an unpredictable, greasy-haired detective who finds the body of a dead woman face down in the woods. The Mare by Easttown Unlike the others, the copy is fine (and I admit that I was surprised by “Based on the Danish series Wandavis dysen” in its fake opening credits), but it lasts long enough to make you wonder if it took three and a half years for the idea to replicate to come about WandaVision‘s series pastiches in a different genre. But the cosplay fizzles out after Agatha goes to the morgue and discovers the identity of her mysterious corpse – according to the label on the sole of her foot, it is a certain “W. Maximoff”, aka Scarlet Witch.

Wanda’s death is not enough to break her spell, but it weakens it enough for Agatha to realize how she is being held captive and remember the only way out: to form a coven and follow the Way of the Witches, a mystical path that leads each of its five members to a personal confrontation. Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata) must come to terms with the fact that she has used her talent for brewing magic potions to sell fake cures, while Alice Wu-Gulliver (The Diplomat‘S Ali Ahn) confronts the generational curse that took her rock star mother in a recording studio scene straight out of Stereophonic. There is also a septet of spooky, incantation-style witches are pursuing them, and there’s also an angry ex-lover named Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) who can’t decide whether to kill Agatha or win her back – a matrix of emotions that Plaza is now an old hand at portraying.

And then there is the matter of the teenager, played by Heart Stopper‘S Joe Locke, who shows up at Agatha’s door begging to be taught the magical arts and ends up accompanying the witches on their quest, although no one offers an explanation as to why he is there. He tries to tell them his name, but every time he does, a spell seals his mouth, so Agatha decides to just call him Teen. As the identity of WandaVision‘s antagonist or The Acolyte‘s secret Sith, the secret of who the teen really is, often comes in Agatha all the timemainly to remind us that we should care. There are also moments where the other members of Agatha’s coven briefly take on personalities that aren’t their own, and references to an unidentified “he” responsible for stripping the witches of their powers. (Comic readers or anyone with a smartphone and curious fingers will notice the presence of an empty nursery in Agatha’s house, as well as the name “Nicholas Scratch.”)

These scattered nuggets of information are designed to entice us to keep going, to tune in each week, or log in to take another step toward the big reveal. But when it comes to witches, following the breadcrumbs doesn’t always work as planned, and the history of mystery box shows is one of almost inevitable disappointment. Anticipation is wonderfully elastic, and can stretch for weeks or months without losing its appeal. But satisfaction is much less forgiving, and a smarter show, or even just one more concerned about not setting its audience up for a trap, wouldn’t let so much depend on filling in a few gaps. Even WandaVision lost its magic after it was revealed who was behind the curtain, although the new show owes its existence, or at least its title, to the musical nature of that revelation.

This does not mean Agatha all the time is not entertaining, although most of the joy is found around the edges. Hahn plays her centuries-old sorceress with a caustic eccentricity, as if she were somewhere in the 17th century.^th Century, and the actors make the most of every gag, like when LuPone’s witch refuses to leave a magical room through a door in the back of a furnace, arguing that things didn’t work out so well with an old friend. But I could feel myself bracing myself for the part where it gets less fun, when the self-contained storytelling gives way to larger imperatives and the fun becomes homework. Like the images of fictional witches scattered throughout AgathaEnd credits of The Wizard of Oz but The craftthe many rearrangements of “The Ballad” suggest that we’re watching the latest take on an age-old tale of powerful women pitted against each other to distract them from the common enemy. But if the distractions are so compelling, the real enemy is what draws them to the end of their journey, forcing them toward a goal when we’d rather just be there Drive.