Right off the top, let's be clear about one thing.
Unlike other incidents this season, like the non-penalty against Arsenal or the non-handball against Burnley, Thomas Kirk's decisions yesterday are not the reason Everton dropped points against the bottom team in the Premier League at home.
That job was already done by the backline switching off for a moment and allowing teenager Mateus Mane to streak past them to equalize halfway through the second frame of the match.
So none of this is to say that Everton might have turned the match around had Michael Keane not been unceremoniously sent off in the 83rd minute, only for Jack Grealish to follow him seven minutes later, generally incensed by Kirk's officiating of the match.
Maybe that would have happened, but considering that after Keane scored in the 17th minute, Everton had just one other shot on target (Keane again in the 29th minute) and managed nothing to bother Wolves' goalkeeper Jose Sa, the red cards weren't the issue there.
The draw was decided well before the sendings off because David Moyes didn't respond to Rob Edwards' tactical moves in the second half. The red cards were just further indication of how inconsistent the officiating is in the Premier League.
The rules seem to change week-on-week, sometimes even across matches on the same day. The PGMOL claims "the letter of the law" is the most important, and yet Wolves striker Hee-Chan Hwang went into Harrison Armstrong last night with studs up and was given a yellow with no call to VAR to intervene for what looks pretty clearly like a red card.
There are bigger issues at hand for Everton, that's to be sure. After a good start to life at their new home, Hill Dickinson has been less kind as the club has looked to settle into the ground. They were unbeaten there for the first five matches, but since Tottenham came to visit on October 26, Everton have won twice (Fulham and Forest), drawn twice (Burnley and Wolves), and lost four times (Spurs, Newcastle, Arsenal, and Brentford).
So yes, finding better form at home is necessary, but at least two of those matches were undone by the aforementioned refereeing decisions, which would certainly turn the form around a bit.
The letter of the law is no good if the law is written in such a way that it doesn't allow those implementing the rules to use judgment in doing so. This is especially true when even the letter is used differently from match to match, or even club to club within a match.
