Previously on Wynonna Earp:
-Ginny the Genie (who doesn’t live in a lamp) killed people for Kuru to eat their brains
-Trivia Night!
-Chicken Kicker
-Sheriff Haught is Sheriff once more!
Let’s jump right into this one because wow it was a LOT!
It’s time for ‘Eat, Sleep, Earp, Repeat’ with Wynonna waking top each morning, reloading peacemaker and going out into the woods before stumbling back into bed to do the exact same again the next time getting drunker and drunker each time. That is until one morning she wakes up, holster in hand with no Peacemaker. With no coffee and no doughnuts, Wynonna heads to the kitchen to find no coffee or doughnuts there either. All she finds is the stern faces from Waverly and Nicole with a healthy morning breakfast in the form of an intervention. Nicole is merging her Sheriff look with her season one look (the braid and the stetson which was always an amazing look) but even that isn’t enough to take away the sting Wynonna is feeling. Are we sure it wasn’t the banana liquor she is drinking?
The intervention goes down about as well as I imagine that banana liquor did with Wynonna lashing out, even at Rachel who has decided to drop some eaves from the staircase. Waverly calling Wynonna sad and lonely is such a call out. I wonder why she is sad and lonely? Well she lost her baby daddy that she loves, she had to give away her child, she had to murder her sister, the list goes on and on. The only constant through it all has been the demon-hunting, Peacemaker and Waverly, but now it seems like she may even be losing her. Storming out followed by Waverly doesn’t help matters at all with a huge Earp sister fight. After all the good Earp sister feels in the past few episodes, this stings. Nicole is there for Waverly through it all but even she has to go off and fight her battles to keep the regular non-demon townsfolk safe.
Waverly and Doc have a place. A secret place. To discuss secret things. Like the book that Waverly took from the garden with her name on it because as we all know, ‘I’m the only one who can write my story’. But the book is blank. Doc can’t really help in matters of the garden though, but even though it was hell for Doc, it was heaven for Waverly. The throne took away all her worries and concerns. Their musings over the garden are cut short though with the arrival of Doc’s minions that he inherited from Amon. Their food supply has been cut as well with Black Badge cutting the trucks coming into town, and they mean to eat Waverly, but she still has Peacemaker. But does Peacemaker have her?
Survey says no. She pulls it out but for some reason, the gun won’t shoot. With Remy and Dallas looking for a buffet meal, she runs straight into the fog followed by Remy, leaving Doc to face off against Dallas. With no face mask, Waverly is left to hold her breath, but luckily she manages to find a cabin in the woods after following a voice calling out to her in the haze. With no fog inside, Waverly can finally breathe, but not for long. Out of the darkness comes Waverly’s worst nightmare made flesh. The one, the only, Jolene!
Back from the dead and with no baked goods in sight, Jolene has been camping out in the cabin with the worlds greatest selection of flannel shirts to keep her company while she’s been trapped in the fog. Trying to flee is out of the question, but Waverly tries it anyway and eats a face full of post.
Doc and his minions are busy fighting. Turns out BBD raided the Glory Hole that morning taking away another bar from Doc. Will he ever be able to make an honest living selling alcohol to the people of Purgatory? Well, we will have to wait and see because before they can do anything to get Waverly back, BBD rolls in and tranq the three of them.
Wynonna is sweating off the alcohol by training with a punching bag in the barn when she is interrupted by Rachel appearing asking Wynonna to be her Yoda. Well her Obi-Wan anyway. The young Padawan won’t let it go. She is constantly being left out of things and left in the dark because she is a teenager. I feel that. I’d do the same. But Rachel wants to be like Wynonna, which must feel both horrifying and great to her.
Cleo is making a run for it in trying to leave the triangle. Billy is following her everywhere like a little lost puppy, even after getting a happy meal he doesn’t want to play with his toy. Either way, she gets to leave with little puppy Billy in tow.
Training in the woods is not Wynonna’s idea of a fun afternoon. Spice Girl references in tow, she tries to put Rachel off from trying to be like her, but who hasn’t come up against or even been a strong-willed teenager who knows exactly what it is that they want and will do anything to make it so? I hope it’s not just me. Rachel sees right through Wynonna’s bravado though and calls her family. Time for some real hands-on experience though for Rachel as Wynonna puts her tracking skills to good use after finding a bloodied branch in the woods that leads straight to Remy bleeding out against the tree with some revelations for her.
I like Remy. He was always so sweet. Even better is that he plays in a Halsey Tribute Band. Rachel knowing this about him humanises him and it stops Wynonna in her tracks just long enough to find out BBD took Doc and the fog took Waverly.
Normally when I see a moustache on a man in a TV show I know it’s bad news. When it’s a man in a grey and black uniform with a beardy moustache it is even worse! Captured by BBD and put behind bars, Doc and Dallas are definitely not in Kansas anymore. After ID’ing the type of demon Dallas is and that they already have one, Dallas is killed by a flamethrower while Moustache looks on while Doc all but screams ‘I WOULD LIKE TO RAGE’ and vamps the fuck out.
Jolene now has Waverly tied up against the post she smashed her face in to and a quick slap to the face wakes her up. Jolene is just as wicked and twisted as she always was playing mind games and trying to make Waverly feel like nothing. Sure she may say she is happy for Waverly getting her ‘happy ever after’, but she always has an ulterior motive. This time, instead of trying to kill Waverly she is trying to twist her into something else by saying Demons are just fallen angels (which very very true) but then calling them the same and then kin? That is the tipping point for Waverly.
At the edge of the fog Wynonna, Rachel and Nicole are planning a rescue, but with no word from Jeremy they are blind on the BBD front and are blind on the rescue front without anyone to navigate them through the fog. Cue Casey with his amazing juxtaposition of patterns that just somehow work amazingly well and Nicole with her climbing gear to the rescue! Only one slight problem. Casey can’t take both Wynonna and Nicole into the fog to get Waverly back. This ride only has two seats and one is already taken. Wynonna wants to be the one to go. Nicole wants to be the one to go. Rachel knows it’s a bad idea to get in the middle of the two, and even though he hasn’t been around them as much, Casey knows it too and they nope it the fuck back. Before it can escalate into boots up asses, Nicole calls dibs. Wynonna is always the one to go save Waverly, but this time it is Nicole’s turn to go save her. She calls the ’18 months’ card, the best card she has, which backs down Wynonna.
Jolene has all of a sudden realised that Waverly’s bag is there in the cabin, and with it, Peacemaker. Demons can’t hold Peacemaker, but Jolene somehow manages to hold on to it for a respectable length of time before Peacemaker smoulders and burns Jolene. It’s knives out from there, but Jolene doesn’t use it. She instead asks Waverly if she doesn’t want the burden of being Wynonna. Of being the hero. Of doing what is necessary to protect the ones she loves. Of paying the price of those decisions.
See, this here is why Jolene is probably the best and worst villain in the whole show. She isn’t your typical ‘fire and brimstone’ baddy like Bulshar. She gets into your mind and she twists every single way that she can. She warps every thought you have. Makes you see what is really inside of you and brings out the worst parts. She makes Waverly believe that Wynonna’s drinking is her fault. That Waverly not being the hero, not being the heir, is what forces Wynonna to do the things she does. That Wynonna not getting her happy ending with Alice and Doc is Waverly’s fault as she isn’t stepping up and is instead getting her fairytale ending. Jolene does what Jolene does best. She knows Waverly inside and out. She knows EXACTLY what to say to get what she wants. And this time it is showing Waverly that she has all this power that she can use, but her refusal to use it has caused Wynonna to become unhinged. Has caused Wynonna to drink. Has caused Wynonna to kill demons and humans alike just to keep her alive. The Waverly that we see today is not the same Waverly that Jolene faced last time. This Waverly is more hardened and can more easily fight back. But Jolene is gonna Jolene.
Plan all ready to go, Nicole masks up with Wynonna’s help and they head into the fog. Constant radio contact is Wynonna and Rachels only link to what is going on. Hearing what they are seeing and not being able to see it sucks as much for me as it does for Wynonna and Rachel. She is still tied up but it is a trap. An attack with a dead line ups the anxiety before the all-important reveal comes that it is Jolene. Wynonna knows that Waverly shouldn’t be alone in there, but the three tugs mean they need out. But only Casey comes back out, his mask off, the line to Nicole cut and down and out. Nicole managed to come out the other side of the fog, but with no idea where she is, which means Waverly is alone in the fog with Jolene.
Closing the door to keep the draft out, Jolene sets her sights again on Waverly who manages to break the ropes and get free to grab Peacemaker, but Peacemaker can’t be held by her anymore. Jolene has done too much damage already. Waverly rushes her into a hook in the wall, but Jolene can’t be held by it. Knife still in hand she slams it down into Waverly’s shoulder blade and digs around looking for something before pulling out a bloodied black feather.
Wynonna is the only one left to go in and get Waverly, even if she has to leave Rachel outside with Casey’s body. Not being able to bear the last thing she said to Waverly being in their fight, Wynonna breaks, but thankfully she still had her finger on the button on the radio so everything transmitted to Nicole. Best friends are back with Nicole giving Wynonna the pep talk she needs before her radio dies.
BBD is transporting demons and others out and while moving Doc to the transport holding area, we find out the real reason that Jeremy can’t help the team. He is stuck in the holding area to be transported as well! Jeremy can talk the guard into running to get his family to safety, but Doc accidentally sets off an alarm while trying to spring a prison break by shooting the electronic lock.
BBD is in full lockdown, but Wynonna needs Jeremy. Moustache (aka General Graham) though stands in her way. He wants to leave Purgatory to the fog and get his people out of there. Refusing to listen to reason about fighting for it, he agrees to give Wynonna Jeremy. But Jeremy is not alone in the cells. He has Doc there too. Her pay only allows for one ‘Get out of Jail Free’ card, but she doesn’t use it against either of them. Instead, she calls it against Cleo who is sitting in the next cell.
Bleeding and held in Jolene’s arms, Waverly is left in pain, both physical and emotional. She doesn’t want to be the person Jolene wants her to be, and she just wants to leave and go back to her family. Jolene wants her to let it out, whatever it is.
With nothing to do, Rachel has moved Casey’s body and created a shelter over it and is pulling a Katniss with a bunch of flowers. Realising that it is always like this for Wynonna, losing the people she cares about, Rachel now knows the true cost of being a hero in Purgatory. A tough lesson to learn for a kid. But Wynonna has moved onto plan C. With some hair that Casey pulled from Jolene’s head, Cleo can send Billy into the fog with Jolene as his mark, meaning that he can now navigate the fog. Leaving Rachel in charge of keeping an eye on Cleo, it is Wynonna’s turn to go into the fog now to find Waverly. With a little of Wynonna’s hair in the spell to tether her to Billy, the two head in.
Boot first, Wynonna and Billy find the cabin with Waverly bleeding onto the floor, a wound on each shoulder. Unable to get up, Waverly tells Wynonna to find Peacemaker to stop Jolene, and even her but Jolene is too strong for Billy. Pushing Wynonna out into the fog, Waverly is left to scream out her name to the soundtrack of Jolene’s twisted words. Waverly’s screams turn into so much more with her eyes turning white and the skin around turning black. Now in control of all her powers, Waverly forces Jolene to the ground and screams out an unholy shriek. Being crushed, Jolene sets Waverly on a task to go and destroy the world before she is killed once more.
Doc and Jeremy are still stuck behind bars trying to figure out how to get out of this when the one, the only, Mercedes Gardner shows up looking like Effie Trinket with her huge shoulder pads. Mirror in tow, Jeremy manages to short out the electrics holding the cell door and they are all free to go! Except that Moustache makes an entrance to give a soliloquy of what his plans are. Save the demons, kill the humans, and use the demons to kill the threats that they face. Mercedes, not one for all the talk, tries to threaten Moustache, but all it does is get her shot in the gut.
Lost in the fog with no mask, Wynonna is left to writhe, but then the fog clears. Right into Waverly who appears in an entirely new dress, hair slicked back, skin ashen, and a deeper voice to reveal huge black wings in a Black Swan reveal.
Ok. I have many, many thoughts about this episode. I must get them all out because they have been in my brain ever since the episode aired and it is almost all I can think about. Thought one was WHY NOELLE CARBONE? But I mean, let’s face it, this episode is everything I ever want from an episode of Wynonna Earp. It has Earp sister time (even if it was fighting we still got it). It has Wayhaught. It has the BFF Squad. It has Mercedes. It has every single crazy thing that we could ever have imagined thrown into the one episode. And I love it. Sure it is great and all getting the fun Halloween episode and the Trivia Night episode, but we all knew stakes were going to get high in the last few episodes, and high did they get! Did anyone have Jolene on their bingo card? I didn’t. I know there were theories of the dark-haired figure from the trailer being Waverly, but I didn’t think they were right. I didn’t think BBD would go so far as they didn’t. And do you know what, I loved every single second of this episode, even if I didn’t breathe during it. Even if I hate the cliffhanger and need it to be Friday now so that I can find out what happens next. Even if I know that we are now on what hopefully isn’t our penultimate episode (seriously I hope it’s just the penultimate episode of this season. Someone please give us more of this show!) This is the high stakes Earp that we all know and love, and even though things look really bad for Waverly right now, I trust Emily and the writers to make this all right in the end and to give us the closure we all need.
-Written by Christine
fangirlden.com 