WandaVision’s catchiest song works because it finally lets us all in on the joke

Every week on WandaVision, we’ve been watching the inhabitants of a small New Jersey town spellbound by the powers of Wanda Maximoff, helplessly re-enacting a constantly changing sitcom reality. In episode 7, that spell extended to me, and probably you, in the form of a tremendously catchy song that I cannot get out of my damn head. You might consider it a spoiler, so here’s your warning about that: turn away now. In fact, don’t even watch WandaVision if you don’t want your mind invaded by kitschy organs, cheery baritones, and a chorus you’ll repeat in your head every day, forever.

WandaVision has always been at its most playful when it comes to its music — which makes sense, since the show features the work of award-winning songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the duo behind Frozen’s “Let It Go.” While it’s been fun to see them come up with WandaVision’s renditions of sitcom theme tropes across decades, the pair’s finest moment thus far came at the end of “Breaking the Fourth Wall,” which reveals a new villain via this unforgettable homage to witchy tunes of yore like The Munsters’ theme song:

“It Was ____________ All Along” (the song’s actual published title) is the first real earworm among the show’s songs: short, sticky, and extremely meme-able. But it’s also fun because of what it does in the context of the series. It’s the moment where WandaVision finally stops holding the audience at arm’s length. It’s a collective invitation into one of its last remaining big reveals, and it throws a minute-long celebration for the occasion. Sure, there are still questions, and plenty of time for another game-changing twist, but at this point, it feels like the cards are on the table, and a show that was built around withholding and secrets has finally allowed us into its secret clubhouse for a pizza party.

Even more important is the way the song works for those who guessed that Agnes was really comics villain Agatha Harkness a long time ago. “Agatha All Along” (the fans’ preferred version of the song’s title) winks directly at viewers through a performer who’s exceptionally good at playing to the camera: Kathryn Hahn. Each vignette that reveals Agatha’s behind-the-scenes manipulations is accompanied by a moment where Hahn cheeses for the camera with devious glee. When Hahn crows “It was Agatha AAAlll a-loooong” (yup, that’s her on the soundtrack!), it doesn’t read like anyone’s pulling one over on you. It just comes across as your most dramatic theater-kid friend amusing themselves with a comically involved bit, like Kristen Wiig’s impression of Liza Minnelli trying to turn off a lamp.

Since there are only two episodes of WandaVision remaining, I’m a little worried that this return to the show’s playful side might also be the last gasp for that humor. There are a lot of things to explain and resolve: who Agatha Harkness is in her MCU incarnation, S.W.O.R.D.’s real motivations, the nature of Monica’s new powers, the fate of Vision and the twins, how Wanda was pulled into Westview and how her tragic arc will resolve — least of all the effect she might have on the world. All of this seems like serious stuff, and hard to wrap up with another bouncy musical number.

But maybe not! Kathryn Hahn, as others have observed, is reason enough to believe that we’re about to watch something hilarious and memorable, regardless of whether she’s singing or not. And even if Agnes’ villainous alter ego isn’t as big a part of the finale as we might like, it doesn’t really matter: she already stole the show, and took us along for the ride.