The end is near now. As Wynonna Earp rounds into its final episodes its sets up some terrifically, painfully, emotional stakes. Old faces, friend and foe return, and Purgatory is caught in the middle of all of it.
We open on a montage of Wynonna’s daily grind. Wake up, grab Peacemaker, shoot some demons, go home and pass out in bed, all interspersed with some heavy doses of alcohol. Until she wakes up and Peacemaker is missing. She goes to Waverly and Nicole to report the missing gun. She’s too hungover to read their looks of concern have nothing to with a buntline. With sad, guilty eyes Waverly reveals she has Peacemaker. Wynonna realizes this is an intervention.
They can see the path of self-destruction she’s on and they’re worried for her if she keeps following it. Wynonna’s walls go all the way up, claiming that she’s doing everything she does to protect the people she loves. She does it alone so they don’t have to. She does it with alcohol because she doesn’t know how else to deal with it.
Wynonna does what she always does when emotional cornered, she lashes out. She deflects from all the painful truths Waverly is saying by using Waverly’s happiness as a weapon. ‘We don’t all have the luxury of happily ever after’. But nothing she says can hurt her sister more than she’s already hurting. Wynonna decides she needs Peacemaker less than wants to hear any of this.
Waverly runs out after her. Wynonna doesn’t want to be judged for killing demons to protect everyone, but Waverly isn’t convinced she does it just to keep them safe from demons. She brings up Holt but Wynonna throws the fact that Waverly killed Margo in Waverly’s face. That was one too many low blows for Waverly and she hurts back; Wynonna’s drinking has changed her into a mean alcoholic. Like Ward.
Wynonna walks away and there are tears in both Earp sisters’ eyes. Nicole is waiting for Waverly inside. Seeing how much the conversation hurt Waverly and offers to stay, but Waverly tells her to go. She’s the sheriff again. After she’s left, Waverly calls Doc and asks him to meet up and to bring the ‘thing’.
The thing turns out to be the book from the garden (remember that plot point). We learn the book Waverly choose was her own. A book that remains blank. She picked her own hoping that everyone else would be included in the story but now she’s worried the vanity of taking her book has left it blank. Doc and Waverly think back on their time in the garden. Waverly recalls sitting on the throne as a moment that took away all her cares. Doc thinks of it as hell, but Waverly thinks the opposite.
Before they can think more on it, they’re interrupted by two of Amon’s former lackeys, Dallas and Remy. They’re hungry and Waverly is the best meal they’ve found. Doc can’t call them off. Waverly pulls Peacemaker but the gun won’t shoot for her. Doc tells her to run and she does, running right into the fog even though they’re not near the border.
Holding her breath she runs to a cabin in the fog, hearing a voice calling to her. There’s no fog inside but what is there is much, much, worse than a memory stealing fog. Jolene is back. She survived somehow. After Bulshar died, the tree trapping her was gone, but then the fog rolled in, trapping her in the cabin. Jolene knocks Waverly out, tying her up.
Doc wants to know why the demons are going after people now when they have the stocks in the Glory Hole. Answer? There isn’t any more. BBD raided the bar and took everything. Speaking of the men in black, they show up just then, tranquillizing all three. They grab Doc and Dallas, leaving Remy because he’s ‘not on the list.’
Back at the homestead, Rachel wants to train with Wynonna. She likes that Wynonna doesn’t talk to her like a kid. She wants to learn how to defend herself.
At BBD, Cleo is trying to leave the Ghost River Triangle. Lately, no one has been allowed to leave. Revenant Billy creeps into the room, Cleo upset he’s not with the others who she left with a bus full of seniors to eat. Her leave is approved before her undead brother can kill the office worker.
Out in the woods, Wynonna is giving Rachel those lessons, or at least trying to. She doesn’t really know what she’s doing. Wynonna thinks Rachel’s time would be better spent anywhere else with anyone else. When Rachel calls her family Wynonna shuts down that notion quickly. She’s hurt enough family for the day and is not ready to do it again. It’s heartbreaking when she says no one wants to be an Earp.
Their tracking lesson becomes more real when they find blood leading them to Remy. Rachel rushes to help him. He tells them Waverly ran into the fog and Doc and other demons were taken by BBD. At Black Badge, Doc tries to get a hold of Jeremy but there’s someone new in charge. When BBD realize that Dallas is a type of demon they already have, they kill him with a flamethrower.
Meanwhile, Jolene and Waverly are catching up. She’s not trying to break Waverly this time by cutting her ties to all the people she loves. That failed last time. Now she wants Waverly to embrace her darkness. Demons are just fallen angels.
Nicole’s met up with Wynonna and Rachel, having learned that Cleo is the Clanton heir. Jeremy is unreachable and has been for days. There’s a lot happening but Waverly is priority one. She called Casey for help since he has experience in the fog. She and Nicole start gearing up but Casey can’t keep track of two people in there. They go back and fight about who’s going in until Nicole drops the bomb. It’s her turn. When she couldn’t go into the garden last time, she had to stay behind and wait. She’s not waiting this time.
Jolene finds Peacemaker in Waverly’s bag but it burns her when she holds it. Waverly sees scores of tally marks on a wall and asks if they’re counting the days Jolene’s been trapped. Jolene ignores the questions and digs at Waverly’s insecurities. She’s the damsel that needs to be saved, never the hero. She’s left it all for Wynonna and now, while her sister is drinking herself into a blackout every day, she’s planning a wedding. When Waverly’s resolve beings to crack Jolene drives in another nail. The tally marks Waverly asked about, each one is for someone Wynonna killed to keep Waverly safe.
Tethered, Casey and Nicole head into the fog while Wynonna and Rachel monitor via the radio. Nicole and Casey find the cabin and Waverly inside. Over the radio, Wynonna hears the sound of a fight and Casey screams. Nicole shares the awful truth: Jolene has Waverly.
Rachel wants to pull them back but Wynonna doesn’t want to leave Waverly with Jolene alone. Wynonna can’t believe Jolene survived, but at the same time knows Waverly is in terrible danger. Rachel pulls on the line away when they get the emergency signal. Only Casey’s body comes back, his neck snapped. Nicole isn’t with him. She does radio them to say she’s okay, but the fog spat her out somewhere random.
The burst of adrenaline from Nicole and Casey’s rescue attempt lets Waverly escape her binds. She picks up Peacemaker, but the gun burns her. Jolene taunts her with the fact that demons can’t hold the gun. Enraged, Waverly charges Jolene, impaling her on a rack but a wound appears on Waverly’s back in the same spot. Jolene cuts into it, pulling out a dark feather.
Without Casey, Wynonna and Nicole know they need Jeremy. Seeing Casey dead has Rachel realizing just how much this all is. Wynonna promises they’ll give him the burial he deserves but they need to save Waverly first.
At Black Badge, Doc has been shortlisted for ‘the Arc’. As he’s being transferred, he sees Jeremy in a cell with other humans. The BBD agent calls them ‘feed’. Doc tries to break Jeremy out but they’re swarmed by armed agents. Somewhere else in the building, Wynonna is calling in all the good faith she’s earned working for BBD. The new guy in charge offers her the chance to leave with them, but she’s not going anywhere. He does allow her to choose one person to take with her in exchange for the demons she killed for them. Reuniting with Doc and Jeremy, at first she chooses Jeremy for his knowledge of the fog. But then she sees Cleo and takes her instead, promising to return for the guys.
Returning to Rachel, she’s surprised to see who Wynonna chose, but Wynonna had a method to her seemingly random choice: she took Cleo because the reapers can track. With some hair Casey pulled from Jolene, Cleo marks her, sending reaper Billy after her. She also wove Wynonna into the bind so she could see Billy. Wynonna lies about which reaper it is to Rachel, knowing she’s already been through enough for one day.
With Billy, Wynonna finds the cabin. The reaper attacks Jolene, letting Wynonna get to Waverly. Waverly begs Wynonna to find Peacemaker and kill Jolene and to kill her too if it comes to it. Wynonna’s first concern is always her sister, trying to put the gas mask on her. But Jolene’s killed Reaper Billy and tosses Wynonna from the cabin.
Something in Waverly finally snaps and she finally gives in to the darkness. Using her demon/angel powers, she kills Jolene.
Meanwhile at BBD, Jeremy and Doc have an unlikely hero: Mercedes. She was taken by BBD when they raided the Glory Hole. Once again, Mercedes comes in clutch, appearing with an access card. The panel for this cell was damaged by Doc so she uses a mirror to let Jeremy see so he can hotwire it.
Unfortunately, the new general shows up just then. Jeremy tries to reason with him but the general has already given up on Purgatory. He’s pulling out with as many unique demon assets as he can. Mercedes threatens him with some of her political contacts and he shoots her in the gut. Yeah, if you didn’t know this guy was evil before, you do now.
Wynonna’s crawling in the fog, struggling to hold her breath when it suddenly vanishes. She sees her sister, only it’s not her sweet Waverly anymore if the grey skin and dark wings are anything to go by. Waverly says Wynonna’s journey is over, but hers is just beginning.
Review
This episode had everything. Jolene. Mercedes. An Impactful death. Development for Rachel. Earp sisters’ heartache. Nicole being the dutiful princess to Wynonna’s glorious dumbass.
Jolene’s return is one of the best surprises in Wynonna’s run. Her first appearance was a tour de force of an episode, putting a spotlight on Waverly, highlighting the strength of her connections with the people around her. This episode flipped that idea on its head. Jolene, instead of trying to sever Waverly’s relationships by making her think they no longer cared for her, used the strength of her relationship with Wynonna and chipped away at the jagged edges already there.
Wynonna loves her baby sister more than anything else in the world and would do anything for Waverly. It’s hard to say for certain if Wynonna’s actually killed someone for each of those tallies, but she does have a lot of blood on her hands. With their fight so fresh in her mind it makes sense that’s how Waverly breaks and gives into her darkness. With only a couple of episodes left, it looks like the final fight is going to be one for Waverly’s soul.
This was a narratively dense episode. Wynonna’s alcoholic spiral was only touched on at the beginning. It’s good to see that Wynonna Earp is addressing Wynonna’s relationship with alcohol, highlighting the negatives it has on her life and those close to her. There is a tendency in media to glorify alcoholism, especially in conjunction with the stoic lone hero. Wynonna Earp has always cleverly used those tropes while being critical of their negative implication. Although there could have been more time spent on the issue, as once Jolene enters the episode that initial aspect is dropped to focus on Waverly’s dark angel. Hopefully they’ll come back around to dealing with that in the upcoming episodes.
Best of Earpisms
- Poor Rachel is having a rough day.
- RIP Casey, the best half-demon who could make chili
- At least he and Rachel had a moment to reminisce on the Randy Nedley Memorial Chili Cook-Off For Freedom.
- Mercedes better be okay. She survived having her skin ripped off. What’s a little gunshot wound compared to that?
Images courtesy of Syfy
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