Previously on Wynonna Earp, WYNONNA EARP DISAPPEARED.
AHHHHHHH
Okay okay sorry. Back up. Before that, Nicole got bit my Widow Mercedes and Waverly got the Iron Witch to help her find a way to save her. Unfortunately, that way involved giving the last seal to Widow Beth so she could resurrect her demon husband. Double unfortunately, the cost of dealing with the Iron Witch was that she got to take the demon trophy and make a wish…and her wish was that Wynonna Earp would disappear.
So it seems everyone forgot that Wynonna Earp existed. Except Doc. But he’s in a well.
We open this week mid-chaos, with Nicole and Waverly running through a gunfight, shooting their way through the hoard, making their way to the barn. Jeremy is inside when they get there, and he’s FREAKING OUT. Waverly sounds desperate but sure: she knows how to get Wynonna back, she just hopes it’s not too late.
And then…BOOM. The barn explodes. With three queer people inside. SEND HELP.
But before we discover their fate, we go back to where we left off at the end of the last episode, with Doc in a well, yelling Wynonna’s name. (Also you can see the hole this time that lead to the tunnels he was in when Wynonna went down the well the first time. But that is neither here nor there.)
Stevie, the Revenant Doc was playing poker with last week, calls him on the phone and peeps down the ladder, and Doc starts yelling to be let out. Confused, Stevie asks why he doesn’t just use the ladder, and while I’m laughing so hard I can barely breathe, Doc is scrambling up the ladder. Stevie keeps calling him “boss” and asking if he found his ring yet and Doc is very confused but figures going to the Earp homestead will fix it…but it’s not the Earp Homestead anymore. In fact, Stevie says they’re not even supposed to SAY “Earp” anymore. Instead it’s the Holliday Haus and I bet you can guess who’s in charge.
Doc hears a racket in the barn and Stevie says something about a stubborn girl so, thinking he’s found Wynonna, he storms in. But it’s not Wynonna inside, it’s Rosita.
And she’s shooting Doc’s Wanted posters because she’s not his science girlfriend in this version of reality. She’s his prisoner. She’s been tied up and forced to make drugs for him for the past six months, and she doesn’t remember Wynonna either.
Doc realizes now, exactly what this reality is. That Wynonna isn’t just missing, that she never existed. That she never met Doc, that she never gave him something worth being better for.
Doc asks Rosita if she remembers Waverly Earp, but she only knows a Waverly Gibson. He asks about Xavier Dolls, and she says she knows a Deputy Marshall Dolls who would shoot Doc on sight, so he decides that’s the most similar to the reality he knows. He lets Rosita go and heads for town.
In town, Widow Mercedes is still deteriorating disgustingly in a holding cell, but now it’s in the middle of the Black Badge office. She remembers the original reality, too, and she’s pretty pumped Wynonna is gone. To make things a little less confusing in my little recapper brain, I’m going to start calling the normal timeline Reality and this altered reality Doppelgangland. Okay? Okay.
In Doppelgangland, according to Jeremy and Dolls, Widow Mercedes got caught because she was reckless in her destruction of consecrated grounds, and Dolls assures her that her sister is not long behind. Widow Mercedes isn’t worried though, and is feeling pretty home free now that Wynonna is gone, and starts singing Christmas songs. It’s terrifying.
Dani Kind does unhinged so well.
Doc comes in then, and Jeremy goes full fanboy. (Some things never change.) Dolls aims his gun but Doc has lined his jacket with dynamite as his own scary version of a bulletproof vest. Dolls laments Doc’s favorite weapon, mentioning he’s already blown up things like the lumber yard and Nedley’s house. Doc hates hearing what he’s done in Doppelgangland. He says, “This is who we are without her.” And I can’t help but hope someone tells Wynonna all about this. She could use the ego boost.
Dolls almost has a flash of remembering, but soon goes back to threatening Doc and mocking his mustache. Things are about to come to a head (much to Widow Mercedes’s delight) but then Nicole knocks Doc clean out.
It’s beautiful.
We go with Nicole back to the bullpen, where she’s trying to get her one officer to do things as simple as paperwork right, but he’s no Officer Haught. And technically she’s not either; she’s the Sheriff. Because Nedley…is…DEAD.
And it took me until my second watch to put this together with the comment that Doc blew up Nedley’s house and gosh Doppelgangland is upsetting.
After she’s done telling Nedley she’s trying her best, Nicole noticed that it’s 11:59 and she quickly throws on a bit of lipstick, adjusts her hair, and sits up. And as soon as the clock strikes 12, the music swells and the light glows and Waverly slow-mo walks in.
Waverly came to bring Nicole lunch, which she apparently does every day, so every day she renders Nicole into full hearteyes mode.
Waverly tells Nicole she threw in pickles today and Nicole says that’s fine and she does that classic Season 1, pre-dating thing where she low-key flirts and it’s so smooth Waverly doesn’t always recognize it as flirting. For example, saying Waverly should put her face on the sign to drum up business. But Waverly’s not too worried about business right now because she’s planning on leaving.
Speaking of which, she needs a name change form, because she’s getting married. Nicole starts filling out the form for her, knowing her birthday is September 8th (making her a Virgo, if that’s a thing that means something to you), which Waverly is very flattered by.
Waverly confesses that her real last name is Earp, says “Earp” like it tastes bad, but she was raised by Gus Gibson.
While Nicole is writing,Waverly notices Nicole’s ring and gently touches Nicole’s hand, saying she likes it, that it’s simple. Nicole says it might be simple but marriage is not, but as Waverly touches her hand, she has a moment of almost-lucidity, where she can’t remember why she’s wearing the ring. But then Waverly pulls back and it’s full Doppelgangland again.
Waverly wants reassurance that she’s doing the right thing, getting married. She says she feels a little like she’s running toward a cliff. Nicole, heart in her hand and outstretched toward the tiny girl in front of her, says that when you’re with the right person, you’re not afraid to fall because you believe, together, you can fly.
The eye contact is intense and the soap opera music is intense, and Wynonna and Rosita aren’t around, but the universe knows what is supposed to happen next, Officer Lonnie takes over Doppelgangland’s Interruptus duties.
After Waverly leaves, Lonnie tries to take Nicole’s sandwich because she doesn’t like pickles but Nicole likes the pickles Waverly gives her and–yeah, no, you’re right, I hear it now, sorry.
Anyway, Waverly goes outside to meet up with her fiance. Her fiance that I was just assuming was Champ! I literally didn’t even consider it could be anyone else. But I guess without Wynonna around to catch his eye, he fell for Waverly instead…it’s PERRY.
The rabbit-skinning, accidental-demon-summoning, sweet as pie cutie patootie, Perry.
Waverly can’t bring herself to kiss him on the mouth so she opts for a cheek kiss and a stroll. Waverly isn’t exactly excited to get married but she IS excited to finish her history degree and start traveling. No dead languages, only one degree at a time…poor thing doesn’t know the half of her full potential. Waverly says she thinks something is missing, and Perry thinks it’s closure. That’s why he hired a PI to find out information about her past, which acts as a hair-trigger that sets Waverly off, though even she acknowledges her outburst was a bit odd.
What Perry found out about Waverly’s dad and sister being murdered is that someone involved has stumbled back into town and is at St. Jude’s.
So Waverly puts on her best Spencer Hastings cosplay and goes to find some Clues about her past from this man, who doesn’t react until she calls herself Waverly Earp.
She’s unsure why he knows her, but we know why: It’s because he’s Bobo, and he’d never forget his angel. So it turns out Bobo is another one who remembers Reality, and is surprised to find that Waverly doesn’t know about Wynonna.
And to why he’s not in hell anymore, to be honest. As Waverly reminds Bobo that he murdered Willa, her only sister, when he murdered her father, he sniffs around and can sense the Doppelgangland spell. He can tell it’s not a very deep spell, which explains why Dolls, Nicole, and Waverly have has moments of the veil being lifted.
Waverly isn’t sure what he’s going on about, but there is something she needs to know: Bobo slaughtered her whole family that night…why not her? Bobo says he has a rule all his minions know: “No one harms the baby.”
He sends his angel off with the task of bringing Wynonna back and she leaves, more confused than when she arrived.
Widow Beth, not unlike her sister, is in the same spot she was before the spell. She is kneeling on the charred remains of the church and trying to summon her husband, but Clootie sends her a sign that she can’t do this spell alone. Much to her chagrin.
Waverly makes her way to the basement of Shorty’s, where she finds old Earp documents, her mother’s old wedding dress and a photo of her and Willa as kids. She brushes her finger over the empty space where back in Reality the young Wynonna would have been, almost as if she can sense something or someone is missing.
Back in the Black Badge office, Beth breaks Mercedes out, thus also freeing Doc, who asks Jeremy to try to think about details of his life like when he came to Purgatory to help him believe they’re in an alternate reality. What does it though is Doc saying very sweet and specific things about Jeremy, putting his hat on Jeremy’s head, and asking Jeremy to join him and be a hero.
Frankly he probably could have just done that last part.
On their way out, Jeremy asks Doc on a date, but then chides himself for his awkward timing. It’s very cute.
Still in Shorty’s, Waverly puts on the dress, talking to her long-gone mama, saying she gets now why she left Purgatory.
She hears a noise and runs upstairs with her flower crown and her shotgun and finds herself face to face with the fearsome Doc Holliday. He tries to convince her that he won’t hurt her but she doesn’t quite trust him, but she doesn’t shoot him, either. Dolls comes in and stands off for Doc, and Doc tries to get Waverly to vouch for him but she wants no part in this.
So Doc has no choice but to use his fastest-draw-in-the-west skills and shoots Dolls in the shoulder. But to his dismay, Doppelgangland Dolls isn’t as smart as Reality Dolls, and he’s not wearing his bulletproof vest. Doc runs to him but as soon as he gets by his side, Dolls shoots him back.
Waverly holds Doc and doesn’t know why, but she cares that he’s dying. He tells her to find the Iron Witch, get the Trophy, save Wynonna. With his last breath he calls her “baby girl” and it lifts the cloud again for Waverly, just for a moment.
Waverly holds Doc’s body and cries, and when she looks back, Dolls is gone. (He doesn’t get very far though, and dies with Wynonna’s name on his lips soon after.)
Nicole picks Waverly up and she’s still crying, even though she still doesn’t understand why. Nicole is there to comfort her, and happy to do it.
Waverly, trying to wrap her head around how she’s feeling, asks Nicole if she’s ever met someone and just instantly known you were connected, that you did or would care about them deeply. Nicole knows exactly what she means, though Waverly somehow misses the loving look in Nicole’s eyes. What I love about Nicole’s approach to her feelings about Waverly – and loved about it back in season one – is that she’s not pushy about it. Like I said earlier, she’s just standing there with her heart in her hand, extended toward Waverly. She’s not begging her to take it, she’s not even pointing it out. She’s just standing there, stalwart, ready to give it if she’s asked.
Waverly says the last thing Doc said to her was that she needed to find an Iron Witch, but he sounded pretty literal. Nicole is like well sure, literal demons run amok here, a witch seems legit. Waverly is shocked; no one has ever said it out loud before. It was the unspoken secret of the town, and Nicole was brave enough to put it out there.
Nicole has heard some beaver buzz about an Iron Witch and may be able to accidentally drop a piece of paper with her address on it for Waverly, because she’d do anything to/for Waverly. (Katherine Barrell’s comedic timing is gold.) And then Waverly says Haught smells like vanilla-dipped donuts because we deserve nice things.
And watching these two fall in love all over again in a totally new and different timeline, like their love wasn’t written in the stars, but on their very hearts, was a thing of beauty. And pretty damn rare. Some shows can’t even bother to give us one queer storyline, let alone two queer women destined to find each other regardless of alternate reality, simulation, or AI cities.
So off these destined lovers go, to see the Iron Witch, who is looking worse for wear. She’s wearing an eye patch, her sister is still dead, and this spell is barely a glamour. Things aren’t going as she planned, and she is less than pleased.
Waverly asks about this Wynonna character everyone’s been on about all day, and Greta realizes that everyone who has been touched by the demon would still remember. Which is interesting, because that doesn’t mean Revenant, since Rosita doesn’t remember; just specifically people who had some connection to the Demon Clootie. And Doc because he touched the trophy.
The witch is getting desperate now, but Nicole doesn’t like how she’s touching her girl, so they’re about to leave, but the Iron Witch convinces them to say by offering to lift the glamour for a few seconds. Spotlights find them and they slowly spin around, and for a few moments they remember. Waverly says this is her fault, remembers going to the witch, the witch remembers tricking Waverly. Waverly remembers Wynonna, warm and funny.
Nicole remembers her too, protective. Then Waverly says the two things most true to Waverly in Reality: “I betrayed her, because I love you.”
Waverly is a little overwhelmed at the duality of those realizations but Nicole feels great about it.
When the glamour sets back in, they remember remembering what they just remembered, but they don’t really remember what they remembered. The Iron Witch tells them that the trophy is at the Earp Homestead, so Waverly goes to Bobo for help.
While asking Bobo to help them get through the Revenants, Bobo says something interesting: Wynonna doesn’t exist, Willa is dead, and Waverly is too young to be the heir. AND her lineage isn’t pure. So does that mean Bobo was lying when he said she wasn’t really an Earp before? Was he just saying no one would think she was the heir yet since she’s not 27? CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHO/WHAT WAVERLY IS?! I mean I know who she is. Waverly is Waverly! But I’m just dying to know more about where she came from and Mama Earp and if she’s even fully human.
So, Waverly breaks Bobo out and in a scene that will keep me up at night maybe forever, he whips the straps of his untied straightjacket around at people and steals some boots and a big fur coat to complete his look. They get outside and Nicole is waiting for them with her squad car and off they go to Holliday Haus.
Across town, Rosita and Jeremy find each other.
Rosie is sort of undercover Black Badge but after Doc helped him realize reality isn’t what he thinks it is, he gets a conspiracy theory about Black Badge poisoning the water supply. Sorry, kid, the only thing this town’s water is doing is attracting more and more queers to it. But Rosita can’t remember specific details like what she ate for breakfast either, so she’s on board to help him figure out what’s going on.
The Widows, by the way, are still playing their weird Yahtzee ring game and realize that their husband’s body isn’t where they thought it was, they instead they ask their Ouija rings to lead them to someone who would know where he is.
Bobo leads the girls to the pet cemetery in the Homestead’s backyard and tell them to dig up the talisman buried near Pikachu the hamster.
Nicole and Waverly start to dig but then Bobo gets spooked by the Widows hissing his name and floating toward him like creepsters, so he takes off. The Revenants realize Bobo’s back and immediately split into Team Doc vs Team Bobo like Twilight fans in a ship war and chaos breaks out. One Revenant sees Nicole and Waverly and starts toward them, and Nicole shoots him but says maybe it’s time to leave.
Waverly agrees that the ground is too frozen to get the talisman out, but she’s not ready to leave; she has to break that trophy.
So then we see the scene from the beginning, but in more detail, the girls fighting their way through, Waverly mostly hiding behind Nicole, both of them running into the barn. Inside, they find Rosita and Jeremy, and also the barn is lined with explosives.
Waverly gets a phone call and typing it out won’t do it justice but she flat-out tells Perry that she’s about to get blown up and also btw she’s gay baiii.
It’s so fucking cute I can’t stand it. (Nicole agrees.)
Okay so we have four queers in a bomb-laden barn, two sects of Revenants going at it outside, and the Widows have shown up for Bobo. Doc and Dolls are dead, heck Nedley is even dead, and Wynonna is still nowhere to be found.
First to take action is Rosie, who decides she’d be more helpful outside, but promptly gets shot. Quite a bit from the looks on Nicole and Jeremy’s faces. But she’s a Revenant so she’s probably fine, right? Right?? She was actually more helpful before she left though because she told Waverly where the Trophy was.
Waverly grabs it and she thinks she knows what they have to do. They have to die. More specifically, they have to destroy the trophy with fire, and the best way to do that before the fight outside comes inside and they end up getting torn to shreds is to blow up the barn, trophy and all.
Jeremy is kind of freaking out about this plan, but Nicole is decidedly not. You jump, I jump, remember? Waverly looks at Nicole and decides that just in case this doesn’t work and she ends up actually blown up, she might as well get the girl first, so she kisses Nicole, suddenly, boldly, not unlike their first kiss in Reality, just without the couch.
And, boom. Again. But this time we see the aftermath.
And the aftermath is kind of hilarious.
BUT it worked, the timeline is restored, Flashpoint can burn in hell, everything is fine. Nicole starts to apologize to Waverly but there are no tiny hats which means it is not time for the Apology Party, so Waverly kisses her instead.
In a subtle moment, Jeremy, despite still freaking out a little, takes off his jacket and hands it to Nicole (who is only in her hospital gown). He doesn’t make a show of it, he doesn’t even mention it, he just does it while he rattles off his worries about what’s going on in this timeline now that they’re back.
But Waverly knows the first thing they have to do to know if they truly fixed things is find Wynonna.
Unaffected by the switch back to Reality, Bobo makes the Widows promise to try to get the Demon Clootie to break his curse, and in exchange, he breaks the seal. Then he leads them to the new location of the body; which I feel like perhaps he should have waited to break the seal until they dug Clootie up, but you know what, who am I to tell a villain how to vill?
GUESS WHO’S BACK, BACK AGAIN
Wynonna’s back! She wakes up in a field, and no time has passed for her. She was still talking about the plate when she realized she was in a field alone. She tries to take in the quiet with her bebe for a second, but then she sees Bobo and the Widows creeping away and knows that surely can’t be good.
She starts to waddle-run after them, but instead finds the ring, broken, and knows the seal is open. She feels something rumble in her belly and she hears something rumble in the distance and she knows none of this can be good.
And as if to prove the point, the last shot is a mummy-demon-creature eyeball opening.
You know what’s wild? Melanie Scrofano was barely in this entire episode. But Wynonna was present the whole time. Sure, she was technically missing. Sure, she was widely forgotten. But her lack of presence was a presence all its own. She was still the thread that pulled the whole episode together. And I think that’s what lead to the episode feeling like a fun adventure instead of feeling like it was lacking something, instead of feeling like “waiting for Wynonna.” (Even though I did miss Melanie, of course.) This episode wouldn’t have worked if Wynonna wasn’t so dynamic, but it also wouldn’t have worked if the people in her immediate circle weren’t dynamic. I also think this episode was a great study on how even the “bad guys” are complex and three dimensional, and that this cast is truly wonderful, in any and all combinations.
And that Waverly and Nicole are in love forever across time and space. Duh.
