If you’re anything like me, then you spent the majority of your weekend entranced by the concept that peanut butter whiskey is oddly delicious while the “It Was Agatha All Along” theme from WandaVision embedded itself in your brain like the proper earworm it is. The song is basically the theme from The Munsters but that doesn’t take away any of its charm, especially when you learn that Kathryn Hahn contributed vocals, nor did it stop me from singing/humming it all weekend. And right when I thought I got it out of my head… I watched the episode again. I’m not complaining, I find the theme to be delightful, and an incredible way to introduce the fact that Agnes isn’t Agnes at all. Who knew?!

[Author’s Note- I Am Geek knew #notsohumblebrag]

This latest episode of WandaVision, one that paid homage beautifully to shows like Modern Family and The Office (that theme felt very Scranton-like, no?), packed a mighty punch outside that ending and mid-credit scene. For starters, we learned that the aerospace engineer that Monica has been talking to was… (insert drum roll here)… just an old friend of her mother’s. No Reed Richards. No War Machine. No Brasher. Just a soldier helping out a friend because their boss is a dick. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed in this particular reveal, not to the point where I was angry with the episode, but as my wife said, it certainly felt like a red herring. A way for Marvel to distract us from some of the bigger reveals, and possible character arrivals (?!), to come with these last two episodes. Which would make sense because this feels like the moment in Infinity War right before Thanos shows up in Wakanda.

Plus, there really wasn’t much time to harp on the aerospace engineer reveal because this episode’s other big reveal, that Monica now has powers. It would appear that those cell changes from going through the Hex twice, manifested themselves into some kick-ass powers for Monica. Granted, we have not seen the extent of these new abilities outside of turning her eyes a crazy electric blue that might allow her to see the color blurple and some type of energy that allowed her to make the classic superhero landing after being tossed by Wanda, but you better believe that these new abilities are going to come in handy now that we’re in the endgame of the series. This is a show about grief and how we process those emotions, and it would make sense that Wanda and Monica, the two characters who have lost the most this series, are now on a course for a team-up. But who will they be teaming up against?

As the song says, it looks like that everything that’s been spinning out of control in Westview has been caused by Agatha Harkness (a.k.a. Agnes). While I expect episode eight to reveal motives for Agatha preying on Wanda’s grief, Wanda isn’t fully off the hook here either. She went to Westview after she stole Vision’s body, maybe to prevent him from becoming a weapon (??), and started grieving. Wanda’s grief looks to have manifested on its own creating something within Westview that Agatha then exploited. Thus creating the Hex and the sitcom Darcy so fondly told Vision she’s been watching.

Then at every opportunity, Agnes/Agatha was there to assist Wanda’s powers in getting out of control. Loose bunny at the magic show? It was Agatha. Neighbor trying to cut through your brick fence? It was Agatha. Pretending to be trapped in the Hex so Vision would try and leave? It was Agatha. The return of Pietro… Agatha and this is where things get a little interesting.

Knowing what we do about Phase Four and the potential of the multiverse, the title of the next Doctor Strange says it all, it is easy to believe that Pietro is the Pietro from the X-Men movies. I mean, Disney owns Fox now and he’s playing the same character, it’s not that much of a stretch, and after this week’s Nexus commercial it seems that maaaaybe Agatha’s plan is to crack open the multiverse. For those of you who don’t know, Nexus is a cross-dimensional door that allows people to access all different types of realities or a multiverse if you will. Why does Agatha want this access? We don’t know that yet but I’m just trying to piece the clues together. Be my own Sherlock if you will. Here’s the thing though, what if this Pietro isn’t actually Pietro at all but Agnes’s husband Ralph.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, what now?! All series long Agnes has alluded to her husband Ralph but we the audience have yet to see him. Much like the aerospace engineer, it appeared that WandaVision was setting us up for some mind-melting reveal for ole Ralphie boy. Many of us on the internet believed that this reveal would be Mephisto, including yours truly. And while I think there’s still a chance that we see Mephisto in some capacity, there was a lot of red in Agatha’s underground magic dungeon, I’m no longer one hundred percent convinced. Chances are Agatha is the villain but she’s not working alone. I can see a world where Pietro is actually Nightmare, a Doctor Strange villain who rules the evil Dreamscape. This would mean Nightmare is actually Ralph and Ralph is currently pretending to be Pietro. It’s sort of confusing but follow me on this. 

When we see all the stuff that Agatha has been responsible for, we see her on the lawn working her magic as Pietro and Wanda are reunited at the door. This Pietro is clearly not our Pietro, but we knew that already. His memories don’t fully match up with Wanda and he believes that he died for nothing which isn’t the case at all. He saved a child and Hawkeye in his most selfless act within Age of Ultron. Him saying he died for nothing is a comment that instantly flags him as not our Pietro but more of a Pietro who has just enough memories stuffed inside him that would make him passable to a grieving sister. Memories from events are pretty common knowledge at this point. Monica, Jimmy, and Darcy have all proven that people in the world know what’s happening with their heroes. Darcy tells Vision about the last twenty minutes of Infinity War without missing a beat. Is it out of the realm of possibility to think that Agnes didn’t have access to these stories as well and then stuffed “Pietro” full of these memories? And if Pietro is actually Ralph, her husband, that’s an easy sell. “Hey babe, I’ve got an evil plan but I need to work magic on you so you can pretend to be someone else. Cool?”

But why does he look like the Pietro from the Fox movies? The answer of this could go two ways. One, Marvel is trolling us. I wouldn’t put it past them after the whole aero-space engineer payoff and tapping into the abundance of sitcom troupes throughout the series, recasting major characters happened all the time (*cough* Fresh Prince *cough*), would allow for them to have a little fun at the audience’s expense. We all know the multiverse is coming. Marvel knows we know that the multiverse is coming. This could be a way for them to divert expectations. Kevin Feige on his throne saying, “Oh, you think you know everything. You don’t know anything and I’m going to prove it.” And I believe this is totally possible and I wouldn’t be mad about it either. Marvel doing a little trolling is kind of a fun interaction and keeps fans on their toes to expect the unexpected.

Yet, what if it’s something else. My wife turned to me yesterday during our re-watch and said, “what if he looks that way because Agnes stole his likeness from the multiverse”, and it’s now my favorite working theory. This would mean that Pietro is Ralph but Agnes tapped into the multiverse saw another Pietro and superimposed his likeness on to Ralph to create her imposter, Pietro. Most of the memories would match up except for the look. This would feed into the Nexus theory that Agnes’s ultimate plan is to tap into the multiverse. Maybe there’s something there she’s looking for, magic relics or a new magic book, and she’s not strong enough to open these doorways on her own. What better way to kick in some doors than manipulating an Avenger who still doesn’t understand the strength of her power by exploiting her grief over her dead boyfriend and brother? Of course, this could backfire and lead to… a multiverse of madness. Something we know for sure is coming down the line.

While I don’t think Pietro is from the Fox X-Men franchise, I do think that he still could have some multiverse ties. Maybe Wanda’s learning of a multiverse is what causes problems for the Doctor Strange sequel. Knowing that there are other versions of people out there, maybe Wanda goes searching for those she lost. And I don’t want to get into it just yet, but I don’t think Wanda’s done losing things you guys. This is not a “losing her mind” joke either. Agnes has been one step ahead of Wanda this whole time. Whether it’s bringing over food for the big dinner with the boss, a dog house for the dog she would eventually kill, or any other convenient arrivals, Agnes has a plan. If she’s looking to access the multiverse (#workingtheory) then what better way to introduce a multiverse to someone than by using their dead brother? Pietro might actually be Ralph in disguise but he’s there to spark hope in Wanda. Yes, this isn’t your brother but if we search the multiverse maybe we can find one that’s just like him. This is the type of hope that Agnes/Agatha can further exploit for her diabolical plan. Because at the end of the day… it was Agatha all along.