This post contains spoilers for “Agatha All Along” episode 3.
Three episodes in, and it’s clear that “Agatha All Along” won’t be keeping with its predecessor’s TV show satirizing format … for the most part. After a series premiere that kicked off with a prestige crime drama parody (Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha went full “Mare of Easttown” with a dash of “True Detective: Night Country”), the show’s second episode mostly played its plot straight, with nary a runtime-spanning pop culture homage in sight. The third episode continues this trend at first, with Agatha’s coven setting off on the Witches’ Road. But the show’s TV-loving writers clearly can’t help but throw in a nod to a show or two, as they do when the gang finds a sleek, bougie house in the middle of the road.
When the witches step into the house, they’re suddenly dressed head to toe in luxury loungewear — the kind of off-white rich people clothing that looks like it’s just waiting to get pasta stains all over it. The costume change, snazzy home setup, and kitchen porn make the witches look like they’re in the middle of a Nancy Meyers movie, or perhaps an episode of “Martha Stewart.” But a quick throwaway line confirms that the house is also meant to be reminiscent of the set of a second award-winning HBO show: “Big Little Lies.”
In a quick, half-whispered aside, Debra Jo Rupp’s doomed not-witch Sharon asks the coven, “Have you seen ‘Huge Tiny Lies’?” It’s not entirely clear whether Sharon just got the name of “Big Little Lies” totally wrong (this feels like something she would do) or if the show actually has a different name on Earth-616, but either way, it was another great joke from a show that’s been a lot more funny than I expected so far. It also recontextualizes the schmancy house, letting us know even before the coven finds a mysterious riddle that this place is no good.
The Monterey Five would probably get along with Agatha’s coven
That’s because “Big Little Lies,” the show from David E. Kelley based on Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name, is all about the violent rot that underpins the domestic space, even in the most upscale of its fictional homes. Set in wealthy Monterey, California, the series kicks off with the promise of a murder at a school fundraiser, then introduces a number of potential suspects and victims. Many of them are elite, gossipy, and upper-class to the point of seeming almost unreal to the average viewer, while one — Shailene Woodley’s Jane — is a relatable middle-class woman. Jane is also a rape survivor, a fact that culminates in an incredible endgame related to female solidarity in the face of abuse. Andrea Arnold and Jean-Marc Vallée directed the show’s first two seasons, which was one of Vallée’s final projects before his death in 2021.
Like “Mare of Easttown,” “Big Little Lies” is a sort of “new classic,” a thoroughly modern, acclaimed series that features incredible, complex female characters. Both shows have made such a deep, instant imprint on pop culture that their protagonists may already seem like “types,” but both were original and resonant at the time of their release just a few years ago. It’s also easy to see why this show would mention “Big Little Lies,” even if writers didn’t make this episode an overt parody. As with some of the stories referenced in the “Agatha All Along” end credits, the series is about women who face oppression on their own terms. That’s just what the coven seems poised to do on the Witches’ Road, forging their own transgressive, rule-breaking path just like the Monterey Five — albeit with (hopefully) less murder and more camp.
If you haven’t seen “Big Little Lies,” consider watching an episode this week in honor of poor, dead Mrs. Hart … er, Sharon. It’s a (mostly) great show that you can view in its entirety on Max. Meanwhile, new episodes of “Agatha All Along” drop each Wednesday on Disney+.