All images via SyFy
Before I get into the nitty-gritty of the Wynonna Earp finale, I wanted to say what an absolute pleasure it has been to write these recaps and be a part of Team Earper. After just a deluge of heartache, Wynonna Earp and its fans have really been the beacon on the horizon of what queer-inclusive and female-fronted shows and fandom can be. I know fans are nervous about its chances for renewal; the show’s ratings have been less than what we would have hoped for, but a passionate and dedicated fanbase sure has made this little Canadian show hard to ignore. The fact that it was given the Friday 10pm “death slot” from the get-go, yet still managed to trend nearly every week is a testament to the show’s appeal and a thoughtful and powerful fandom. Let’s all cross our fingers and make a death with the Stone Witch that Wynonna lives to see another season.
Okay, now on to the show. 99% of Purgatory are literally frothing at the mouth over Wynonna—even more so than usual. Everyone is slowly dying from the poison that BoBo slipped them as a ruse to slip out of town with Willa Earp, his love and ticket out of the Ghost River Triangle. Back inside, in order to get Wynonna to safety, Doc and Dolls toss her out of a window, and set to fighting off an angry mob.
Meanwhile, in Scumbag OTP-land, Willa and BoBo are sucking face and I feel the need to remind you that BoBo has been Willa’s guardian (I repeat, guardian) since she was 13. If that doesn’t start a dumpster fire in your brain parts, I’m not sure what will. The duo walk to the boundary of the Triangle and proceed through it together. It works for about 5 seconds until BoBo starts sizzling like a piece of Canadian bacon, and they are forced back over the line. Willa might be willing, but she’s without Peacemaker, which is the missing piece of the puzzle. After some panicking, Willa tells BoBo to hide in their treehouse and wait until she returns with Peacemaker. Solid plan, creeps.
So where is Peacemaker? With the other Earp, of course. No, not Wynonna, the other other Earp. Waverly has the gun in her hands and all is good until she gets a face full of chloroform.
Dolls and Doc head back to the station where they talk about guns, antidotes and how the Revenants are all laying low. Doc whips out two vials of medicine that he found on Dolls’ person, and Dolls explains that it’s medicine that he’s been taking since he was a child. (A lizard child.) They are interrupted by Nicole, still wearing her gown and wanting some answers and action. Doc supplies her with all she needs to prove to herself that she wasn’t going crazy after all. Dolls then deputizes her, and we have a new member of Team Black Badge.
At the homestead, Wynonna finds zero sisters and one ex-boyfriend who wants to kill her. She’s rescued by Willa who hits him over the head with a frying pan. Willa tells Wynonna she and Waverly got separated in the chaos. Lies, Willa. LIES. Willa isn’t too pleased with Wynonna’s calm demeanor and is like, “Waverly who?” when Wynonna mentions their missing baby sister’s name. In Willa’s defense, she does call the townspeople “meatsticks” and that’s pretty great. While the sisters debate about the value of human life and good and evil, Wynonna’s landline rings. It’s Chrissy Nedley, and she’s got Waverly!
As BoBo, or should I say BooBoo, stumbles through the marsh, he runs into Juan Carlo. He tries to convince BoBo not to go through with his plan, but BoBo’s not budging. Juan Carlo warns BoBo that if his bae crosses the line in the state she’s in, it’s going to be bad news for everyone. BoBo thinks he can save them both from whatever is lurking outside of the Triangle.
Chrissy proves little match for Willa and Wynonna when she passes out almost immediately when they arrive at the station. Willa starts un-taping Waverly, but things get extra sticky when Waverly realizes Willa is only out for Peacemaker. Willa tries to act as if Waverly is poisoned, but Wynonna sees through her BS pretty quick and it’s Earp vs Earps. Things get a lot more complicated when Nicole walks in, and is greeted by a gun aimed at her chest. Willa calls her a “ginger butch cop” which, rude, but also amazing. Willa outs Waverly and Nicole’s relationship, but it does little to phase Wynonna. She probably already mailed in her PFLAG membership forms last week. When Willa threatens to shoot Nicole if Wynonna doesn’t hand over Peacemaker, Waverly confesses to being in love with Nicole, and Wynonna makes the trade. Willa doesn’t play fair though, and in order to stop her sisters from following her, she shoots Nicole right in the chest with enough force to toss Officer Cinnamon Dimples into the wall.
What happens next had Twitter cheering. Willa makes her escape but when Waverly and Wynonna rush to Nicole’s side, they find that she’s been saved by a magical bulletproof jacket, made of unicorn hair and lesbian tears.
Gif via Tumblr
For the love of Lexa, she’s alive! Of course Nicole was wearing a bulletproof vest, because she’s a smart lady and a good cop. She’s bruised but tells Waverly and Wynonna that she’ll be fine, and to go find that evil Earp! Waverly kisses her hero girlfriend and Wynonna can’t help but smile at their happiness. Okay, cut it out you two, we’ve got a battle to win. Nicole tells them Doc and Dolls can be found at Shorty’s and the sisters are off. Wynonna blames BoBo but hopes they can get their sister back the way she was, although that’s not an option if you ask the angry mob waiting for them. Thankfully, Sheriff Nedley is there to help keep the peace and even as the poison works its way through his system, he convinces the townsfolk that Wynonna is their only shot.
It’s raining bullets at Shorty’s/BoBo’s, and Dolls is injured in the battle. Not knowing that Dolls takes the blue medicine, not the purple one, Doc makes a bad decision and injects Dolls with the wrong serum. Not only does Dolls miraculously heal from his injuries, he hulks the hell out with his lizard eyes, and takes on the rest of the Revenants single-handedly. Damn Dolls, back at it again with the Lizard Eyes. Doc can’t resist a good fight, so he rushes back in to help his buddy.
Waverly and Wynonna separate to take care of business, and Wynonna stumbles onto quite a scene at the bar. All the Revs are pretty much laid out, and Dolls has the tools to create the much-needed antidote. Wynonna spills the Willa beans, and while Dolls is tight-lipped, she knows something is up with him. Dolls sends Wynonna and Doc off to deal with BoBo and Willa….WillBo?…while he faces the music with Black Badge.
When BoBo finally makes it to the treehouse, he’s greeted by Waverly, who wants some damn answers. She straight up asks if he groomed Willa, an accusation BoBo vehemently denies. What BoBo sees as love, though, is nothing more than Stockholm syndrome from a girl who had no choice in any of this. Some part of BoBo must know this, because he does open up about how Willa came under his watch. He explains the deal he made with Constance: to trade her sons for Willa’s safe return. He used to watch Waverly and her sisters when they were children, and considered saving Waverly too. Then he drops a major bomb on the youngest Earp: she’s not actually an Earp. When Willa does arrive, he tells Waverly to hide to protect her from Willa’s wrath.
Wynonna is having some major doubts about her ability to take down Willa and asks Doc for a pep talk. PSA: Doc is terrible at pep talks. He offers to run away with her, but they both know that’s impossible. Doc reminds her that she’s a damn hero, even if she’s a reluctant one.
Dolls is up to his handsome head in Black Badge bullshit, and Lucado is furious with the fact that he’s hidden important intel. Now Black Badge is playing a wait and see game with BoBo, and blocking Dolls from helping Wynonna with threats of treason. Lucado calls him a monster for what happened in Kandahar, and I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN KANDAHAR! SyFy, we need a second season. (Preferably on a Tuesday night.)
Wynonna is hot on Willa and BoBo’s trail, and BoBo works his magic to disarm the two. However, a grenade is hard to come back from. It knocks out Doc and BoBo, leaving Wynonna and Willa to face each other. Willa marches straight through the Triangle and all hell breaks loose. The sky turns dark, and something massive and angry begins to tear up the earth beneath Willa’s feet. Willa seems awful proud of herself, and any stitch of family connecting her and Wynonna starts to fray. Even Willa’s connection to BoBo fades as her revenge fantasies come to life. Turns out, they’re standing in the place their mother took them to seek refuge from her abusive husband. (Ward was a real SOB.) Wynonna offers to start things over with Willa, but big sis is too far gone. There was another who promised Willa big and terrible things, not just BoBo. Someone BoBo calls “The Dark One.” Willa wants to save Wynonna by killing her, but that’s not going to fly, so the sisters draw their guns on each other.
Willa fires Peacemaker, but it does nothing but sputter and click. Willa’s heart is full of hate, and Peacemaker rejects her. Just then, Dolls shows up and wounds Willa with a shot. The evil lurking beneath the ground reveals itself to be a monstrous snake, which wraps itself around Willa and drags her away. In an act of mercy, Wynonna uses Peacemaker to put her sister out of her misery. It’s the hardest thing she has ever had to do. There’s not much of a chance to grieve as the snake comes after Wynonna, who has to do some super-sliding to escape its reach and close the Triangle once again.
Wynonna finds an injured BoBo and raises Peacemaker, but is stopped by Lucado, who plans to take BoBo away and try Dolls for treason. BoBo begs for death since he knows he will be in nothing but agony as he’s driven out of the Triangle. Lucado seems pretty blasé about the whole thing and Wynonna feels duped. She steps up to Lucado, but gets shot right back down when Lucado reveals she knows something very deep and dark about Wynonna’s past. As Lucado walks away, she gives the order to have Purgatory destroyed, which means everything Wynonna and Dolls have done is for naught. Wynonna takes a moment to absorb all of this, and is visited by Juan Carlo, who tells her that not only do the baddies want to get out of Purgatory, other bad stuff wants in. Can’t a girl catch a break?
With nothing left to lose, Wynonna finds the Black Badge truck and sends BoBo back to hell, a smile on his face.
Wynonna heads back to where she faced Willa and the snake, and Waverly (very unwisely) touches some of the black goo the monster left behind. It absorbs into her skin, and this is not good y’all. Doc and Wynonna discuss what to do next, which would be rescuing Dolls. First though, they are going to have to deal with a very possessed Waverly. Now that’s a cliffhanger!
Please tell me your thoughts about this first season of Wynonna Earp in the comments! And if you are like me, and want and need another season, tweet your asses off. Until then, I raise a glass of whiskey and my finest powdered donut to you.
Dana Piccoli is a pop culture critic and entertainment writer who recently relocated from New York to Greenville, SC. She’s a current writer for AfterEllen and Alloy Entertainment. She’s also written for Curve Magazine, Go Magazine, and PrettyLittleLiars.com. She’s currently writing a lesbian romance novel she’s hoping you will read one day soon. You can follow her on Twitter and Tumblr.
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