It’s All Hallows’ Eve in Purgatory which means the demons are partying, the Earp sisters are up to shenanigans and there’s a murderous creature on the loose. How is this different from another day in Purgatory? The Earps are in costumes and the murderous creature has a pumpkin head.
You know it’s going be a special treat of a Wynonna Earp episode when it opens with Wynonna naked in the Glory Hole (somehow that statement is less perverse than it sounds, but only marginally) and a double homicide. After her night with Amon, Wynonna wakes up on the Glory Hole’s stage. Amon wastes no time throwing her out. She doesn’t even get the time to grab her clothes, so a vagina curtain will have to do. Meanwhile, two BBD officers brutally murdered by a pumpkin headed scarecrow. Happy Halloween?
Waverly has been busy decking the homestead, making up for her lost childhood with a father who never let her or Wynonna enjoy the holiday. Nicole is off to the city with Rachel for some wedding shopping. Waverly has plans for some sister time with Wynonna which kick off a little unexpectedly when Wynonna texts asking for pants.
At BBD/Sheriff office Wynonna is waiting for said pants delivery when Jeremy joins her. He’s curious as to why she’d dressed in curtains, but not enough to distract him from the task at hand. There’s a monster BBD wants Wynonna to capture. Waverly joins them, dressed as the world’s most adorable ladybug. She wants to postpone the mission until she and Wynonna have some sister time but Jeremy insists. Their target is Rotten Jack, local Purgatory legend who goes on a massacre every Halloween. Jeremy gives them directions to an ‘extractor’ they’ll need to capture Jack and heads off to BBD HQ for a meeting. Waverly being Waverly, she took Wynonna’s request for pants up a notch and brought a whole costume.
At the Glory Hole, like the businessman he is, Amon has found a way to profit off Rotten Jack’s murder spree. He has a betting pool for Jack’s potential targets, all abstractly named like ‘the warrior’, ‘the mother’, and ‘the angel. He also taunts Doc with the knowledge he and Wynonna slept together. If he were hoping this would push a wedge between Doc and the Earps, it has the opposite effect and Doc quits. Meanwhile, Rotten Jack claims another victim, ‘The Mother’, and his hunting shows no sign of slowing down.
Jeremy’s directions take Wynonna and Waverly to the edge of the Ghost River Triangle. Maybe it’s because she regrets sleeping with Amon or maybe because she feels threatened that Waverly’s impending wedding might mean she’s losing her sister, but either way, Wynonna is deflecting Waverly’s attempts to still enjoy their time together with a double dose of her scathing sarcasm. At the place they’re supposed to pick up the exactor, they meet an old friend: Casey, Wynonna’s cellmate from the time she got locked for murder and had to cook chili for her freedom.
At BBD, Jeremy’s boss asks him why he isn’t in the field but Jeremy insists Wynonna has things handled and he refuses to miss his meeting. The meeting seems to be a support group for BBD employees who went through traumatic experiences while on the job. One such employee is Robin (with a new face) who doesn’t seem to know Jeremy outside of a professional basis.
Casey’s out at the edge of the triangle, seemingly hiding from everyone from NCIS to Bigfoot, but he’s especially scared of BBD. He reveals that he is the extractor they came for, but when Wynonna admits they are Black Badge he grabs a gas mask and runs into some fog. Wynonna and Waverly run after him, but once they enter the fog they forget which way they came in, why they came in, and just about everything else about themselves. Casey draws them out of the fog with music and lies, telling them they’re just high and should go home. He points them to the homestead and sends them off with well wishes. Wynonna, not remembering why its important, drops Peacemaker at Casey’s.
At the homestead, they figure out they are indeed sisters but get their names mixed up. Wynonna also tastes whiskey on a shirt and decides she must work at a bar. Waverly finds Nicole’s jacket and, despite it being big, because the buttons are familiar she decides the uniform must be hers.
They head to Shorty’s thinking that’s where Wynonna works and find Doc (dressed as Freddy Mercury for Halloween). He realises they’re acting strange, but they’re interrupted by some of Amon’s lackeys here to take alcohol. At first, they think the horns and tail are costumes but when they realise they’re real demons and that Doc’s a vampire, they run screaming.
Amon’s lackeys return to him without product but the news that Wynonna and Waverly don’t have their memories present an opportunity for Amon. He goes to them, pretending to be Wynonna’s boyfriend. They don’t trust him at first, but then when he shows them underwear with a rhinestone donut on it, she knows that’s exactly the kind of thing she’d wear.
Doc calls Jeremy, filling him in on the Earp sister’s situation. Jeremy realizes they’ve lost their memories and asks Doc to run an emergency errand. Before he can leave BBD’s compound it goes into lock down. His boss refuses to let him leave so Jeremy tricks him into drinking soy and almond milk, which he’s allergic to. Jeremy then withholds his epipen from his boss until he gives Jeremy access to override the lockdown and leave.
Doc’s emergency errand is to pick up Casey. The half demon doesn’t want to leave. He thinks of himself as a screw up, not a hero. Doc says he can be both (knowing Wynonna is all the proof you’ll need for that). The way to overcome fear is with love and Doc’s greatest love is in trouble. He claims his greatest love is both the Earp sisters but it’s clear as day which one is in the lead in his heart. Bolstered by his speech Casey agrees to join him, giving him Peacemaker.
At the Glory Hole, Amon reveals he’s going to auction of the right to kill Wynonna and Waverly. Demons aren’t going to pass up the chance to kill the best demon hunter. One demon bids fifty thousand on the sisters, earning the right to kill them. Even with the memories gone, Wynonna and Waverly still know they love each other more than anything and are ready to face the end if it’s together.
Doc walks in and is about to interrupt when the demon grabs his own crotch, making Doc stop. Amon offers a sword, but the demon brought his own gun. He shoots Wynonna and Waverly, with darts not bullets, and pulls off his mask. It’s Jeremy to the rescue! The sister’s memories come back and those demon-hunting instincts kick in.
But Rotten Jack shows up, hunting an angel. Amon runs, ditching everyone else. Doc returns Wynonna’s gun, but Jeremy still wants to capture him. Waverly distracts Jack and Wynonna smashes the back of his head in. Casey pulls out a candle from his head and Jack falls over, his pumpkinhead smashing everywhere.
At BBD Wynonna delivers the remains of Rotten Jack and asks the boss if the fog is BBD’s doing. He laughs at the idea. Jeremy informs her the fog is likely from the garden and it causes memory loss. It’s temporary with short exposure and the serum he used on them quicks the reversal, but long term exposure is permanent. He introduces her to Robin. After Robin leaves, off to a date with his boyfriend who isn’t Jeremy, Jeremy fills Wynonna in on what happened. When they were captured by the government after Wynonna and Waverly went into the garden, he asked Robin to look for Wynonna. But when Robin jumped to escape their captors, it was right into the fog. He was trapped in it for weeks and by the time they found him, he’d ripped his own face off. Now, the fog is spreading.
After their many costume changes and almost dying, the sisters meet back at the homestead for some of that sister time Waverly wanted it. Now there are no Britneys or Ladybugs, just Wynonna and Waverly reminiscing together. Waverly remembers when Wynonna stole their father’s clothes so she could dress as a scarecrow for Halloween. Ward punished Wynonna with three days in their cellar, but her baby sister got candy and that’s the only thing Wynonna cares about. For so long, the only thing Wynonna cared about was making her sister happy.
Waverly marrying Nicole isn’t going to change that. Nor is it going to change that Wynonna is Waverly’s hero. It just means there’s another person in their lives ready to give Waverly all the happiness in the world.
Speaking of Waverly’s happiness, Nicole joins them just then, in her uniform, hat and all. Waverly is very pleased if her wide-eyed staring is anything to go by. Wynonna does her best not to gag but she knows Nicole will make her sister happy for the rest of their lives.
Later that night, Doc drags Amon, in chains, to a meeting with the demons who work for him. Doc spins the day’s events as Amon trying to rig the game in his favour. He sells the idea that Amon put Waverly in the angel costume and drew Jack to the club, risking all of their lives for the pay-out. Doc hands over the chains, leaving the demons to deal with Amon as they see fit.
Review
Since Wynonna Earp’s return, it’s been just pure fun. Yes, there’s one more Clanton lurking out there and the garden is rearing its head again, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that the show and everyone involved is here to have a good time. How can one not get caught up in Waverly’s bubbly excitement when she and her sister strut down the hall as Britney Spears and a ladybug. Every costume was just a delight: Doc as Freddy Mercury, the sister’s multiple wardrobe changes, each one delightful in its own way. Wynonna as a superhero (knock off Wonder Woman?) and Waverly in Nicole’s uniform were my favourites. Special shout out to Nicole in her season one outfit.
Wynonna is no stranger to the monster of the week formula and usually uses it as a vehicle to explore the characters. Here we got to see Wynonna and Waverly completely uninhibited by anything (and Melanie Scrofano and Dominique Provost-Chalkley having a ball leaning into the silliest elements of the scenario). And even if they couldn’t remember why they loved each other, they knew they did. I will never be able to say enough about the beauty of their relationship.
A lesser show might have paired up the sisters because of the mission and then brought to light Wynonna’s insecurities about the wedding. Not Wynonna Earp. From the outset Waverly wanted to check in with Wynonna, to assure her things won’t change between them. It’s something the show has done time and time again, showing the sisters making the effort to check with one another. They never take it for granted that they know how the other is feeling. They constantly reaffirm their love for each other, with their words and actions.
Best of Earpisms
- Neither Jeremy nor Waverly seemed too surprised to see Wynonna in curtains.
- Casey, the best half-demon, is back and apparently he has magic beans/bean cans? Obviously he was robbed by not winning the Chili Cook-off. I wonder if we’ll see any more of him.
- ‘The mother’ who Jack killed was wearing a Randy Needly Chili Cook-off For Freedom t-shirt and her main concern after getting stabbed was her brownies. That puts her in my good books and she’ll be missed. Who was this treasure of a woman taken from us too soon?
- Again, let me elaborate on how wonderful it was seeing Nicole in that outfit.
Images courtesy of Syfy
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