Wynonna Earp Season 2, Episode 6, “Whiskey Lullaby”
After last week’s twists and turns, you’d think that there was no way to top it. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from Wynonna Earp this season, it’s that it can always top itself. And what better than to have a supernatural sleep manifest in Purgatory during Wynonna’s first week as a mother-to-be? Whiskey Lullaby, indeed. At least no one touched the goo!
OMG, what?
Doc and Dolls meet with Moody, who tells them that BBD has cut them and all of the Ghost River Triangle loose. Moody gives them an incomplete file on the Women in Black (hereafter, the “Black Widows”, because it’s awesome), and tells them BBD was never a government agency. Meanwhile, one of the Black Widows kills a priest while on the hunt for another seal. On the homestead, Waverly wants to help Wynonna with a plan for the Earp baby. Wynonna is avoiding thinking about being pregnant because there’s too much else to deal with. She begs Nicole for a case, but there’s none to be had. They’re interrupted by a bloody-handed nun saying someone killed her boss.
“If it sounds like a hippy hemorrhoid treatment, I don’t want it in my cup.”—Wynonna
The Black Widows discuss finding the second seal. They need more time, and not!Mercedes comes up with a plan involving Hypnos. They send Tucker to threaten the demon of sleep into complying. At the police station, Wynonna, Waverly, and Jeremy figure out there are more seals. Dolls informs them they’re free agents now that BBD is gone. Dolls asks Wynonna to ‘get coffee’ (Luke Cage has ruined this phrase for me), and she agrees. Waverly informs Wynonna that ‘coffee’ probably means ‘ask her out’ and urges her to tell Doc about the baby. Wynonna asserts that she can decide how to handle this herself. She goes for coffee with Dolls, and Waves goes to have a heart to heart with Nicole. Jeremy finds the second seal, but everyone has gone.
“Does anyone want a snack? Doc, you want a snack? I’m gonna get you a snack.”—Jeremy
In the middle of their makeout time, Nicole stops Waverly and asks if there were any moments they were together that Waverly wasn’t herself. Waverly tells her it was all her. She doesn’t remember what happened when Mictian was in charge, but she remembers everything that happened with Nicole. Wynonna meets Dolls for coffee, and is super awkward. Before he has a chance to confess his feelings, she heads to the bathroom. On the way, she and everyone else in the diner fall asleep. Peacemaker jolts her awake, whereupon she discovers she’s weeks further along than when she fell asleep.
“I’m gonna need a bigger coat.”—Wynonna
Wynonna wakes Dolls. They discover everyone else in town is asleep. Wynonna wakes Waverly (mostly naked in bed), and Dolls wakes Nicole (oops, she’s all naked). They chug energy drinks and head off to find the source of the spell and some drugs to keep them awake, courtesy of Nicole and the evidence locker. Nicole walks in on Wynonna having a moment looking at her belly, but promises not to tell anyone. At Hypnos’s house, he’s having trouble holding the spell. Not!Mercedes threatens his daughter Poppy to keep him working so that they have more time to find the second seal. Not!Beth and Hypnos tell them the Earp Heir is awake, but he’s not strong enough to hold her.
“Heaven help that gynecologist.”—Nicole
Wynonna, Dolls, and Waverly load up on uppers, guns, and walkie talkies. Waverly starts to apologize for trying to control her choices, but Dolls interrupts. The Black Widows find Wynonna at the station, knock her out, and steal Jeremy’s research. Waverly goes to wake Doc, and finds him with Rosita. He and Waverly go to the basement for energy drinks and find a sleeping Jeremy. Upon waking him, he explains Shorty’s was built on the site of the former Masonic temple, and is thus sacred ground. They open a safe and find the second seal. Dolls finds Wynonna unhurt, and realizes she’s pregnant.
“I’m older than the state of Colorado, everyone’s too young for me.”—Doc
Nicole sees one of the Black Widows going into the Clock Maker’s Mansion and radios Wynonna. Dolls wants Wynonna to take it easy, but she’s having none of it. Tracking down and killing demons is her job, and she sure as heck is going to do it. She kicks down the door, and she, Nicole, and Dolls find Hypnos. Nicole falls asleep. Waverly wants to shoot him, but can’t because if she did, no one would wake up. He promises to cooperate if they bring back Poppy, who Tucker kidnapped. Dolls interrupts to tell Wynonna they’ve found the second seal at Shorty’s.
“Why don’t any of the creepy bad guys just wear jeans?”—Nicole
Speaking of Shorty’s, Waverly, Jeremy, and Doc are pretty buzzed when Wynonna radios to tell them the Widows are coming. They arrive and knock out all three. Wynonna wakes Nicole and sends her to find Tucker. Good thing she’s been (illegally) tracking his phone. Wynonna sends Dolls with Nicole. Before he leaves, Dolls kisses Wynonna and tells her she’s amazing. At the Homestead, Tucker wants Poppy to role play as Waverly because he’s creepy af. Nicole busts in; Tucker takes Poppy at knifepoint. Nicole tries to talk him down, but when he refuses to give in, Poppy hits him to break free, and Nicole shoots him in the shoulder. He jumps out the window claiming he has something the Widows want.
“I will judge you; I will judge you unexpectedly awesome.”—Wynonna, to Nicole
Wynonna arrives at Shorty’s just as the Widows break the seal. She tells Doc she’s pregnant. He’s in shock and leaves; Wynonna looks devastated. She goes to see Hypnos, who tells her that no time has actually passed for anyone in Purgatory and that the baby shouldn’t have aged. Dolls interrupts by shooting Hypnos. Wynonna puts Hypnos down for good, but lets Poppy go. Doc and Dolls try to confront Wynonna, but Waverly steps in, warning them that Wynonna will get as much time and space as she needs to process. Doc passes her a note to give to Wynonna.
Wynonna: So what you’re saying is, I got screwed.
Hypnos: That much is obvious.
Tucker ding-dong ditches the Black Widows, leaving them the head of the Stone Witch as a gruesome present. At the homestead, Wynonna’s have trouble processing. She’s furious, disbelieving, and frustrated all at once, overwhelmed by life and tired of being an Earp. She doesn’t believe she can do it. Waverly tells her that she’ll be with her no matter what. She gives Wynonna Doc’s note, which causes Wynonna to burst into tears. It reads: “I am all in.”
Favorite One Liner: “Believe it or not, being pregnant doesn’t affect my ability to send evil sh*t-tickets screaming back to hell. Nothing’s changed.”—Wynonna
I Gotta Say…
Once again, April Mullen shone as director. The camera effects for the Black Widows were stunning, and that shot near the end where Waverly’s boot stopped the bottle was spectacular. Great homage to classic Western filmmaking. Caitlin Fryers shone equally bright as writer. For a new, young writer, she truly captured the essence of what’s made Wynonna Earp so good this season. The fast pace, the rapid-fire, witty dialogue, the breaks in momentum to give us a chance to breathe and feel, the perfectly timed emotional beats. I don’t know how Emily Andras did it, but she’s assembled a crack team of writers and directors.
I appreciated the small touches to the sleep spell: the layers of dust, rotten food, dead phones that need charging—those little details really sell the story. The sound effects are on point, too, like Hypnos’ delayed speech and the Black Widows’ layerd, sing-song voices. The switch from baggy to form fitting clothes to highlight the ‘sped up’ pregnancy was a neat visual trick, as well. The time skip overall worked well to explain Wynonna’s advanced pregnancy in a way that fit with the worldbuilding both in general (a sleep inducing demon) and specifically in this plot line (the need for time to find the seal). All around, I’m super impressed with how they’ve worked to integrate Melanie Scrofano’s pregnancy into the story. Good work Wynonna Earp crew!
The narrative shift from Goo to Black Widows worked seamlessly. The little nuggets dropped about that storyline every week built it up enough that going into a new arc after the defeat of Mictian last week didn’t feel anticlimactic or jarring. The Black Widows are sufficiently sinister but without minimizing Tucker as the ‘true to life’ villain.
Yet as much as I love the plot—and I do, don’t get me wrong, it’s seriously gripping—I really want to talk about the relationship moments this episode. That’s where the actors and characters really shone.
First off, praise Andras for giving us an honest WayHaught conversation. Many fans were worried that Waverly’s possession undermined the intimate moments with Nicole. While I wasn’t one of them (it seemed obvious to me when Goo was around and when he wasn’t), I understood the concern and hoped the narrative would make space to address it. And it did, perfectly. Nicole confessed her fears, Waverly honestly listened and reassured her. There was no unnecessary jealousy, distrust, or fear. They talked it out like adults and got on with their relationship. And boy if that wasn’t a super steamy scene. Dominique Provost-Chalkley (Wavelry) and Katherine Barrell (Nicole) sell this sexy romance so very, very well.
Fryers gave us some awesome Wynonna and Nicole interactions this week, too. I’m glad they’ve come to accept each of their places in Waverly’s life without it being a Thing™. I really hate sibling-love interest bickering. Besides, Nicole x Wynonna is my Brotp.
On the other end of the shipping spectrum are Wynonna and Dolls. No longer having a boss has brought all of Dolls’s feelings to the surface. He’s unapologetically wearing his heart on his sleeve now, and I love this side of him. The hearteyes he gives her whenever she talks rivals WayHaught. The way he brushes her hair back and smiles at her while asking her how she’s doing. The protectiveness he feels when he sees she’s pregnant instead of jealousy or distance. Yet he respects her decision to keep working and trusts her to do her job.
That being said, Dolls shooting Hypnos felt abrupt on the first watch. Upon rewatch it stood out to me that he’s doing his best to support her in her decision to keep doing her job. She put her foot down about kicking demon ass, and he was holding her to that. The whole “being your boss” thing is still a bit jarring, especially given that the last time they interacted he kissed her and called her awesome. But I’m willing to blame that on the sleep spell, too many energy drinks, and a delayed reaction to the whole ‘Doc is Wynonna’s baby daddy’ thing.
I appreciate that Wynonna has real internal conflict about Dolls. She’s justifiably nervous around him. She worries that he might reject her if he knew she was pregnant. And she challenges him and tells him off when she’s unwilling to be infantilized. She appreciates his concern, but doesn’t let it dictate her behavior. It’s like she told Waverly, the only decision that matters is her own. And he respects that. *happy sigh* They’re good for each other.
Which isn’t to say Wynonna and Doc aren’t good for each other either. I typically hate love triangles, yet I’m riveted by this one. I don’t even have the words to describe the wrenching in my gut when Wynonna told Doc she was pregnant and he had nothing to say but, “the people upstairs are thirsty.” The still melting water on his face looked like tears and Wynonna for sure was fighting tears of her own. And then Doc, the Doc who isn’t the kind of man to be tied down, tells Wynonna he’s all in. God. Just…punch me in the kidney.
Honestly, why can’t Wynonna have two boyfriends? Wyndolliday would be amazing. Her baby would have an ass-kicking mom, two daddies, and the bestest queer aunts in the world. Just saying.
As far as the story surrounding the pregnancy goes, the show has changed my mind. I was reticent last week, and there still may be scenes that are too raw for me (grief works that way). But, I am 100% won over by every single thing about Wynonna’s pregnancy.
What’s selling it for me is that Wynonna hasn’t been incapacitated or domesticated in any way. The people around her respect her desire to keep things as usual. No one infantilizes her or overrides her with paternalizing caretaking. More than anything, she’s still Wynonna. She snarks, she drinks (tea now, not coffee or booze), she feels the weight of the world, and she kicks demon ass and sends them back to hell. She just does it pregnant. And it’s flipping awesome.
Melanie communicates the full range of emotion that a woman in this position would have. Her fury and shock and, yes, even grief because her life is changing and spinning out of her control. The way it opens up the old wounds about Willa and being the heir fits perfectly. She’s overwhelmed and sick of how her name/family/heritage messes with her life in every conceivable way. This is a story that deserves to be told for all the women who feel this way.
Before I end I have to give a huge thanks to Caitlin Fryers for giving Waverly the line, “I’m not saying it’s gonna be okay, I’m just saying, I’m here.” When I was struggling to process my miscarriages and the realization that I’d never be able to have children, I would have given anything to hear someone say this to me. This is exactly what a hurting person needs to hear. No hollow platitudes, just the presence of their loved ones. I really have no words for how beautiful this was. Thank you, Wynonna Earp, just…thank you.
I see you, Andras Fryers
- Nice jaws reference.
- How fitting that a demon who casts sleep spells has a daughter named Poppy.
- That ‘god really is line’? Hilarious.
- “Angel pants” and “bacon donut” are the perfect call signs for the Earp sisters.
- Possible continuity error: Jeremy circles a location several times in black ink when he says he found the second seal, but the map the Black Widows steal has a location circled once in red marker.
- Wynonna’s a bit big for where she likely is in her pregnancy (no more than 4 months otherwise she would have noticed showing before Waverly brought her a pregnancy test), but it doesn’t ruin the story for me. Just something I noticed.
- I so appreciate that Poppy wasn’t completely damseled and got to participate in her own rescue.
- Lingering questions: Who is the Black Widows’ husband? According to the Black Widows, Bobo moved the second seal, so did Bobo move the seal to Shorty’s? If so, how did Jeremy find it since it wasn’t in its original location? If Bobo didn’t move that one, did he move the third seal? What’s up with the baby who resists the spell? Is it because Doc is immortal?
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See you back next week, for drunk!Nicole, Doc being an amazing baby daddy, and Peacemaker burning Doc like he’s a demon?!