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.
SAVE THE CHEERLEADER, SAVE THE–wait no, that’s not it.
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.
Making that alternate reality soft-glow blur filter work for HER.
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.
This is the only image I could use because I can’t look at that gaping flesh wound on her forehead.
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.
“Nice being on the other end of this.”
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.
THIS ISN’T HOW I WANTED NICOLE TO BECOME SHERIFF
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.
To be fair, Nicole probably always sees Waverly in this glow filter.
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.
“Do you also happen to know if I’m human? Just wondering.”
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.
Heck, I’M falling in love with Nicole with this speech.
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.
“Yeah sure let’s go to the asylum because someone knew my name, that seems legit.”
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.
When in Radley
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.
This show has the most fun villains.
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.
Are we SURE she’s not related to Troian Bellisario?
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.
Mama liked to show off her cleavage, apparently.
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.
Reality Waverly is so done hiding but Doppelgangland at least looks cute while she does it.
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.
THIS REALITY BITES
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.
Nicole is crushing the crush game.
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.
Just a gal telling her pal she smells like her favorite dessert, nothing to see here.
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.
Still hot, though.
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.
Light dawns on perfect head.
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.
SHE LOVES ME, SHE REALLY LOVES ME
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.
FOR THE LOVE OF BOBO I NEED ANSWERS
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.
That gun in bigger around than her arm but she’s SLAYING anyway.
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.
I know this is so dumb but the fact that these two are casually in frame alone together at random intervals makes me happy.
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.
Sheriff Haught, damn.
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.
Same, girl. Same.
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.
“I just can sense we’re not going to get buried. I know that’s a weird thing to say but I FEEL it, I can’t explain it.”
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.
“When I think about what I want to do most in this world, it’s you.”
And, boom. Again. But this time we see the aftermath.
And the aftermath is kind of hilarious.
Coincidentally, this is also how I look (at least emotionally) after an episode of Wynonna Earp.
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.
I much prefer this crisp lens thank you very much.
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
“Weird, what am I doing at the respawn point?”
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.
“I leave for ONE MINUTE…”
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.
Nice Dr. Who title. *squees in a different tone of fangirl*
If Waverly can become the heir, either Peacemaker (and the curse) doesn’t actually bother about being a descendant, there’s some in-breeding (always possible, Mama Earp might be a descendant too, from a different line) or Ward Earp – who was not a real stand-up guy from what we’ve seen – wasn’t faithful and Bobo was lying (or shading the truth) when he said Waverly wasn’t an Earp. If Ward slept with a revenant and Waverly was the result, Bobo might even think the revenant half of her parentage is more important so not strictly be lying.
I liked this episode. Not only for the AU story which I liked (and liked more than The Wish despite dominatrix Willow) but for the relationship stuff.
We’re never going to get them sit down and talk like a RL couple but we’ve seen both of them realise how important the other one is to them and although they have, to coin a phrase that every English teacher will scream about, a shit-ton of shit to sort out about lying, kissing Rosita, Shae and whatever else, it’s pretty clear now that they will – within what the show has shown us, as well as what they’ve told us.
And seeing them, particularly Waverly as a more mature woman (hardly older in calendar terms, but she’s seen so much more, so more mature) fall in love with Nicole again, fall so hard and fast, was great too.
That’s the one thing that irks me. WayHaught moved so fast, it annoys me when straight couples do this as well. I really want to see them go on a date or something. Please no inbreeding plotlines. This is not Flowers in the Attic.
In five generations since Wyatt, you’re not really talking marrying kissing-cousins in-breeding, just small town levels. Say Wyatt has a son, the original heir, and a daughter. Ward, then Willa and Wynonna are the children of Ward straight down the line from the heir. Ward’s wife is straight down the line from the daughter (no intermarrying in the interim) and Ward’s wife has a fling with Bobo and has Waverly.
Technically that’s an inbreeding storyline (speaking as a biologist), but no one is thinking “eww” I hope. Waverly IS an Earp, on her mother’s side, and we’ve seen Peacemaker can bend the rules about the heir if the rightful heir is unavailable (as Willa was). She’s also the child of a revenant.
I will point out, again, I absolutely suck at predicting what Emily Andras will do with storylines.
When I first saw the promo for the episode where Wynonna goes back in time, I was half convinced that her baby was going to be Waverly. Your theory makes more sense, though, especially considering that I don’t think Wynonna actually WAS back in time, just observing it (and somehow interacting with Bobo).
Sorry for replying in two bits. I would agree with your WayHaught moved too fast comment if this was a regular episode of a show. But this was basically an AU episode within the series and was only every going to be one episode.
Now, I would have accepted WayHaught getting married in the episode but they wanted to show them falling in love again instead, and I enjoyed seeing what we got instead, as a different take on the basis of their romance. We don’t get (8 I think) all the episodes of flirting between meeting and the first kiss we had in season 1, it all had to be fitted into this one episode and was always going to be that way.
In another show, if this was the backdoor pilot for a really grim spin-off say, I wouldn’t have been happy – and like you I wouldn’t have been happy if it was a straight romance story line either. But that’s not what this was.
Plus it was implied that Waverly and Nicole had some sort of friendship in the AU, and then after the Iron witch did her spell, they had “memories of their memories” meaning Waverly and Nicole knew they had a relationship, even if they don’t remember it. I think if they hadn’t gotten that flash of our reality they wouldn’t have kissed until they were back in the real world.
I don’t think they moved to fast. In this alternate timeline, they had obviously known each other for some time and well enough that Waverly brought Nicole lunch everyday.
Also,they had just one episode for this so they had to play hard on their romance. And the only reason Waverly even kissed Nicole was because they were about to explode. So just in case things went wrong, here’s a kiss for you. It was lovely.
I however believe they actually moved fast in season 1. They started dating without knowing each other. But that’s untrue about this alternate timeline.
I love your captions and I love this episode. Emily was right when she summed up this episode as “soul mates.” I just love WayHaught so much. Basically, my feelings about all things “Wynonna Earp” can be summed up by “love.”
– Nicole knows EXACTLY when Waverly comes to deliver her food.
– Waverly and that Sadie Hawkins outfit.
– Waverly and Spencer have the same great-grandmother, Gladys Witham.
– If Bobo really is Waverly’s dad, then there was some real creepy incest vibes going on there.
– I’d really like to have some vanilla dipped doughnuts.
– The Earp sisters and doughnuts.
Dominique Provost-Chalkley delivers her lines perfectly. I loved the way she said “vanilla dipped doughnuts.”
I just started watching this show because of these recaps and I 100% don’t regret it. The first season was on Netflix, the entire second season was on OnDemand. Love this show!
Welcome to the party!
Ahh, so I guess I was wrong! Nicole is really married, but I still think the Shae character seemed a bit off… Hopefully they’ll discuss it a little next episode??
I liked the idea of them falling in love again, wish we could have seen more. It seemed kinda one sided to me, like Nicole was just already infatuated with Waverly, and for Waverly she just seemed affected by remembering Reality.
My favorite line was definitely when Nicole said she’d do a lot of things “to” Waverly. Honestly, the way she said it, it would have sounded dirty even if she had said “for”. Lol
I don’t know how I feel about Waverly’s line about Nicole always smelling like doughnuts. If a girl said that to me I wouldn’t take it as a compliment! hahaha. The only thing I liked about it was that Waverly very subtly started to tear up when she said that :(
Waverly was buried deep in the closet for a long time. So I get how the love seems one sided. Nicole’s love for Waverly was obvious and a little bit weirdly obsessive, but that is just the way the character is written. I don’t love how Nicole idolizes Waverly, but maybe that will be a plot point for later.
In the end I’m kind of obsessed with how two queer women are represented on television. Yay!
Aww, I wouldn’t say Nicole is obsessed… just very very much in love ;) She’s so not pushy about it, it comes across very sweet.
Is it terrible that I kind of like that she idolizes Waverly a bit? lol. Seriously I think I’d melt if a girl looked at me the way she looks at her.
Actually I kinda wish the show devoted more time to showing exactly why she’s so in love with Waverly, but I still think its cute either way. But I’m so terrible at understanding tv timelines, didn’t they meet like 2 weeks ago or something?
They met a few months (maybe 6) at this point. I just think it is weird when someone idolizes someone hey hardly know. But I agree it is sweet and I ship their relationship 1000000000%
I don’t see it as Nicole idolizing Waverly. I see Nicole as someone who deeply cares about Waverly and thinks that Waverly is someone who needs to be protected always just the way Wynonna sees Waverly too. And i’m sure you don’t see it was Wynonna idolizing Waverly.
The only thing is Nicole is also sexually attracted to Waverly and that’s the difference.
She’s crazy in love with Waverly but because its all new for Waverly, she just wants to ensure she’s moving at Waverly’s pace and doing everything Waverly wants without trying to pressure her. Its lovely the way she does everything with care.
So I don’t see it as idolizing at all.
But they’re her FAVORITE
“Where you go, I go” Totally romantic AND confirming my Ruth and Naomi ship? YOU ARE TOO KIND
Yeah, and a throw back to Fried Green Tomatoes, to the right audience.
ahh double lore, very impressive
PLL really should’ve just cast Dominique as Spencer’s British twin. No one would even know.
They just would have had to stick her in some platform shoes and we would have been good. to. go.
Who wore that coat better: Bobo or Carol Aird?
Bobo. Not gonna even lie, Bobo was looking cute
Thanks for another beautiful recap for a great episode. YES X 1000 to this right here: “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.” (Nice burn to POI and T100, btw!)
Giving Waverly and Nicole this kind of narrative treatment makes their relationship epic in a way that only scifi can do, and I can’t really remember the last time I saw it (it reminds me a bit of Xena/Gabrielle, except that was mostly at the level of subtext). But yeah, it was so lovely to see how they were with each other in the alt-reality, to see how they shyly and then not so shyly expressed their feelings, to see Nicole protecting Waverly again and Waverly being soooo into that. Plus when the glamor was lifted, we got finally got an “I love you” line from Waverly, and Nicole’s face – awwwwww.
The Spencer thing made me laugh so hard.
I’m going through some rough crap emotionally lately and this show has helped me hold it together. I look forward to every Friday and can’t wait to rush home from work and watch it. It’s so very special to me and I don’t think I’ll ever forget how much it means to have a show that makes me laugh, have feels, and care so much for this phenomenal cast. I was too late to be a part of the Buffy generation, but I like to imagine this is somewhat similar.
And can we discuss how amazing Jeremy is? ‘I’ve only had sex one and a half times!’ made me crack up. I like to imagine he counted being given Doc’s hat as the half time.
I’m excited but dreading next week because it means there won’t be any more Wynonna Earp after for quite a while and it’s helping me so much right now. Fortunately it’s very rewatchable, but my Fridays won’t be the same.
Jeremy totally stole the show with that “one and a half times” thing ?
It’s funny I can’t look at Mercedes head wound but not because I’m grossed out (which is usually the reason) but because I watch too much Faceoff and that prosthetic looks very fake and badly applied. Absolutely loved this episode anyway!
I really wanted Waverly to be marrying Champ just because I wanted Nicole to beat the crap out of him again. But then I thought did they choose Perry because the trophy was involved in the spell, hmmm?
I’ve read on tumblr that some people are annoyed/offended that their was Bi-erasure with Waverly because she said “I think I’m gay” and not I think I like girls or I think I’m bi. And I just want to give my take on it; So here is Waverly in this dire situation at the moment, in a small town where people might not be so LGBTQ friendly, she’s under this spell that recently got lifted where it she said I love you to Nicole but was probably unsure of why she loved Nicole. It wasn’t even a definitive statement because she even said I “THINK” because in that moment talking with Perry with her mind all clouded, without the proper time to process why she’s having these feelings for Nicole or what it all means, she blurts out the easiest definition she could think of which is “I think I’m gay” because in her small town they probably use “gay” as a blanket term.
Look we have pretty much gotten everything from this show but there are some people who need to find a flaw in everything probably because they have been burned before but sometimes it’s just grasping at straws. As I mentioned, think of the situation Waverly was in, her head space, her environment before “flying off the handle” (that a Wicked reference).
WayHaught was amazing this week, you all saw it, Valerie wrote about it, I don’t have to say anything else. But I will say that I think next week in the finale my prediction is we might get a WayHaught proposal.
“I’ve read on tumblr” of course someone on tumblr would find something insignificant to be mad about… and Waverly might be gay/a lesbian? Having dated Champ doesn’t make her bisexual, and I say this as someone who identifies as bisexual. Or, like you said, blanket term.
I’m not sure about WayHaught proposal, only because I don’t think they’ve been together long enough? TV timelines are very confusing for me, but especially right after we meet Shae, I don’t think WayHaught are thinking about marriage (I mean, there’s everything else going on, but just focusing on their relationship).
I know the proposal prediction is a shot in the dark but my thinking is that they live in this demon run town, they faced death multiple times and now they were shown that no matter what universe or under whatever spell they are always drawn to each other.
Plus I think a proposal/engagement/planning a wedding will be a great possibly comedic side story for season 3. Like picture Nicole walking into the homestead and is like Waves gotta go and Wynonna is all what kind of demon and Nicole is like no demon even worse…the florist.
As for the timeline when Wynonna and Nicole went to Pussy Willows it was pretty much confirmed that Wynonna got pregnant in episode 9 of season 1 and that was also when WayHaught got together so if Wynonna is 9 months pregnant than WayHaught have been together for 9 months.
Ahh but remember that they were asleep for a number of months? I’m thinking about 6 or 7 months? I’m looking forward to this wedding, but I’m thinking season 4. But I trust Emily and the writers, so if they do go this route for season 3, I know it’ll be good. Plus, we’ll actually get to see Jeremy and Waverly planning a wedding!
The Sandman actually said they were asleep for less than a day and he has no idea why Wynonna woke up so preggers.
I thought they said something like they were asleep for 2 weeks either in the episode or one of Emily’s after show interviews.
And everyone else paused in that time but then rewinded so they really wouldn’t lose time but the baby didn’t pause and kept growing naturally.
I’m a lesbian who has genuinely liked men, but in the end realized the sexual attraction would never be the same as with women. And I have a different type of love towards women than with men. So as someone who has been in the same situation as Waverly I shoot down the bierasure theory.
I was happy that it was Perry instead of Champ. Even though Perry is obviously the wrong person for Waverly at least he is a nicer guy than Champ.
Like I mentioned under some other article, people on social media got offended by Hayley Kiyoko being called a lesbian since they were absolutely convinced she’s bisexual based on fact that in one old music video the character she played had a male love interest. Even though Hayley herself recently said she’s a gay woman . And the person who called it bi-erasure knew that, it’s just that she calls herself gay (while being bi) all the time so she assumed Hayley is the same.
I knew this kind of people will scream bi-erasure about Waverly too. Nevermind she was never established as bisexual and many lesbians, even Ellen Page, due to heteronormative culture have history of dating men before they finally figured things out.
Another possible dimension to that specific wording of “I think I’m gay”: Emily Andras has already confirmed that Buffy isn’t just a huge influence on this show in general but on this specific episode. “Doppelgangland” and “The Wish” are the two most obvious points of reference, but really given the Willow & Tara-esque dynamic of having sexual tension in a reality where they don’t remember their relationship, Season 6’s “Tabula Rasa” is influential as well. In “Tabula Rasa,” Willow thinks she must be dating Xander (ugh) because she wakes up wearing his jacket. But later when they’re all hiding in a sewer (as per usual), Dawn asks her how she’s doing, to which she glances at Tara and mutters at the end of her response, “…and I think I might be gay.” So maybe another Buffy callback. Though now that I think of it, I seem to remember that Season 3 Willow described her doppelgänger with those exact words (though didn’t yet think she herself was attracted to girls). Representation-wise, there’s a similar bi-erasure issue (maybe a bit less egregious this time) as with Willow seemingly discounting her whole relationship with Oz, but this is a possible reason.
Btw, is it just me, or is Nicole a slightly more badass fighter in this AU? Maybe she just doesn’t get to do as many cool moves when Wynonna is around. (Small price to pay to have Wynonna back, though.)
I definitely noticed Nicole being a little more badass this go around probably for a few reasons; Wynonna not being around definitely plays a part but also Nicole is in charge as Sheriff, and Waverly (no to discount her) but she wasn’t the same demon researcher/wannabe heir that we met in the 1st season, she wanted to distance herself so far away from the Earp curse and was surprised when Nicole dropped the bomb that Purgatory was Supernatural central. So I think maybe Nicole came off more badass because Waverly by her side was a little more timid and Nicole was protecting her running through the Revs on the homestead.
Heroic Sheriff Haught was so swoon-worthy! I mean, she’s always badass, but particularly so on the homestead in this episode.
The thing is, at the spur of the moment when a girl has her first girl crush, what comes to her mind immediately is gay and not bi. So that Waverly scene when she said she thinks she’s gay was just too quick for anyone to start reading bi-erasure into it.
Also, that scene was done for purely comedic purposes.
People just love being so into every single detail even when it doesn’t matter.
If Waverly had said she was gay in the real timeline to someone on a normal conversation while she was already in a relationship with Nicole, then maybe we can start to talk about bi-erasure. But this wasn’t the case here. So, there’s no problem.
And anyways, this show is already portraying a lesbian relationship and that’s all we can be thankful for. If the writers don’t feel they need to explore or analyze Waverly’s sexuality in detail, then what can we do? Its not a typical drama where they have all the time for that.
Love love loved this episode. Never have I felt so called out by the depiction of a crush. I was dying. I’ve watched the lipstick (chapstick? tinted lip balm?) scene a billion times already, like most everybody here, I bet. I don’t watch/haven’t watched a lot of TV, but can anybody recommend a depiction comparable in cuteness to what we’ve seen here? I can think of couples where I’ve seen cute moments that I appreciate (Callie/Arizona; Jessie/Katie from “Once and Again”), but it never felt so fully fleshed out to me. Or perhaps I’m just hopelessly obsessed with this particular ship.
I thought the cinematography in the episode was gorgeous. Emily said in an interview that the director flew special lenses out from Germany for this ep. It really added something ethereal and beautiful. I kind of want to live under that lighting now.
Unkillable Gay Squad FTW.
We need more Emily Andreas in our lives and in our TVs, she is the living proof that good 3 dimensional queer and female characters are possible to create, they can be funny, smart, intelligent, witty, they can make us laugh and love and cry.
this episode was beautiful, as was this recap!
Looking forward for the finale!
I think it was a smart choice having Waverly marrying Perry and not Champ.
Perry seems a decent guy and the fact that Wav is attracted to Nicole is not because her boyfriend is the worst (like it always happens in lazy written shows), but because she is attracted to Nicole. Similarly was don in Buffy with Willow/Oz/Tara.
i love this show so much