Wanda isn’t in control, Agnes is and she has dark motives!

We are 5 episodes into Marvel Studios first exclusive Disney+ exclusive show, WandaVision, and thus far our heads have been scrambled more than any other marvel project in the past. The Westview anomaly is at the centre of many fans confusion and the character Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) is one of the residents that we have questions about. In the latest episode we got a clearer picture of who Agnes is and what influence she has over Westview and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). Most fans know the prevailing theory that Agnes will in fact turn out to be the witch Agatha Harkness from the comics. This theory was definitely strengthened in episode 5 as we got to see more of Agnes and what she may be plotting.

We were introduced to Billy and Tommy in episode 3 when Wanda gave birth in record time. Since then Wanda and Vision have been struggling as new parents and we pick up in episode 5 while they are trying to put the twins to sleep. Wanda even tries to use her powers to put the twins to sleep but this fails. Interestingly this doesn’t work, which suggests Wanda doesn’t have control over the twins like she has over the rest of the town.

With Wanda not being able to put the children to sleep, Agnes arrives at the perfect time and helps Wanda put the children to sleep. In fact she seemingly helps age the twins to 5 years old. Bizarre as the scene is, Agnes had some impact on the twins. The use of lavender and dark liquor are unusual for a babysitter to use, which is why when the twins suddenly age up we want to know what Agnes has done. Possibility the use of lavender and dark liquor was part of a spell she conjured to age the children. The motive behind this is a bit of a blur, but the unusually perfect timing of Agnes’ arrival suggests it could have been Wanda who needed her help.

Wanda’s powers were not enough to put the children to sleep and we could see she was struggling with her new babies. When Agnes arrives, Vision (Paul Bettany) is defensive of the twins, which causes Agnes to ask Wanda if they should “take it from the top”. As puzzling as this was, it highlights for the first time that Agnes has a grasp on the reality as she can recognize she is in a ‘show’. Also, as she asks Wanda the question, it implies that Wanda was the one who wanted her to help. From this scene, we got a much clearer picture of who Agnes is. Agnes has knowledge of what is happening in Westview and her influencing the children ageing suggests she has powers as well, even if they are just basic spells. Most importantly though her spells actually worked on the children, whereas Wanda’s didn’t.

Sparky the dog may have been the cutest animal in the MCU, but despite his cuteness he could also be a major part of WandaVision. Found by Billy and Tommy with no collar, the twins plead with their mother to keep him. Once again, Agnes arrives at perfect time with a dog house. Firstly, how would Agnes know so quickly that the twins found a dog? Secondly how does she have a dog house just lying around? This seems too convenient and makes Agnes seem suspicious, a lot more than just the nosy neighbour.

Moreover what is also interesting is Wanda uses powers in front of Agnes, which again suggests Agnes knows about the couple’s powers. Vision becomes annoyed with Wanda at her actions and the couple agree that they cannot keep the dog until the twins are old enough. This causes the twins to age another 5 years to 10. As we already know Agnes played a role in ageing the children the first time and this is also the case the 2nd time. Agnes definitely had some role to play in Sparky being found and she also influenced the twins by bringing the dog house. Manipulating the twins’ love of a puppy caused the twins the age up by themselves. Once again Agnes has played a role in the rapid growth of the children. With the growth being so fast of the children and Agnes influencing it, there must be a reason why Agnes wants the children to grow up so fast. If we look at the comics Billy and Tommy were fragments of the devil Mephisto’s soul that he eventually claimed back. Assuming that Agnes is the witch Agatha Harkness then an offering of Billy and Tommy to the devil of the MCU would be something that she would want to do.

Moving back to the Sparky, later in the episode he was found dead by the ever suspicious Agnes after he ate some of her leaves from her azalea bushes. A common theme from episode 5 was that Agnes seemingly was in the right place at the right time. We do not know if Agnes was telling the truth about Sparky’s death, in fact as the dog was only around for a day it seems more likely that Agnes was lying about the cause of death. However, what is likely true is the death was caused by Agnes. When the twins discover of the dogs death, understandably they are upset and look set to age themselves again. This is prevented by Wanda who talks to them about grief and how they should deal with it. Now, if we look at Agnes throughout the episode she played big parts in both times the twins aged and once again she would have been the reason why the twins would have aged for the 3rd time if not for Wanda being a ‘good’ mother. The fact Agnes would have been responsible for the ageing of the twins definitely makes her untrustworthy and we can expect her to continue manipulating the twins to make them age.

Everyone is assuming that Wanda is in control of Westview. This is definitely the case to some extent, especially after Wanda confronted S.W.O.R.D. She made it clear that Westview was her home and implied she is behind it all. However, Norm (Asif Ali) suggests it may not be Wanda. When Vision unlocks the true conscious of Norm he says that “she is in my head”. Norm never uses a name and refers to the person as a “her”. This is supposed to make viewers think that it’s Wanda. But, the lack of name doesn’t provide concrete proof and the fact we have suspicions of Agnes already it could in fact be her in the mind of everyone in Westview and not Wanda.

The conclusion of the episode doubles down on this. When Vision confronts Wanda about what he learnt from Norm, Wanda genuinely seems like she doesn’t know what he is talking about. She even says to Vision she doesn’t know how “any of this started”. If Wanda was going to tell the truth to someone it would be Vision, especially in this moment when she wants Vision to calm down. Even though Wanda has been presented as the one in control, this scene suggests it’s not her at all, meaning it has to be someone else, and that someone seems to be the manipulating neighbour Agnes.

Supporting the fact that Wanda isn’t the one in control was the cliffhanging the episode left us with. Pietro Maximoff (Evan Peters), Wanda’s dead brother, was recast and the shock on Wanda’s face further shows that she isn’t the one in control. If she was in control she would have not been shocked to see her brother like she was. The reaction from Wanda proves that she had no idea that it was Pietro and that she was in fact telling the truth to Vision. Furthermore the return of Wanda’s brother from the dead comes at an interesting time. On the same day Billy and Tommy ask Wanda to bring Sparky back from the dead while Agnes was there. Agnes was surprised by this ability but she didn’t freak out, proving she knows about Wanda’s powers. Again, it seems quite convenient that on the same day Agnes learns that Wanda can bring the dead back to life that Wanda’s dead brother appears. Wanda being surprised at the sight of her brother suggests it was Agnes who brought him back as she is the only one that knows of this power of Wanda has, which means Agnes can use the ability while everyone thinks it is Wanda.

Whether Agnes turns out to be Agatha Harkness or not, she definitely is having an impact on Westview. Her motives are still unknown although her intentions do not seem pure of heart. We also cannot hide the fact that she is always appearing at convenient times to influence Wanda and the twins. Agnes will have more involvement with the rest of the series which makes the idea Agnes being the manipulative neighbour controlling everything in Westview more likely.

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