Wynonna Earp – Afraid

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

A recently kidnapped Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) tries to smooth talk her way out of Black Badge custody and is instead met by some Midwest hospitality in the form of Black Badge Deputy Assistant Director Naomi Hycha (Paula Boudreau), who reveals that Black Badge is no longer defunct. Naomi works to uncuff Wynonna and welcome her back to her position, but Wynonna isn’t too keen on the idea of working for her former employer again. Before she can protest too much Jeremy (Varun Saranga) enters the room looking rather buff and dapper. Jeremy is behaving too cordially for Wynonna’s taste, but she plays along and pretends to have never killed a demon. Elsewhere in the town of Purgatory an unknown and inhuman foe drips blood onto a photograph of Wynonna before breaking free from the chains that held it in place. Surely this is not a sign of good things to come for the Earp heir…

Things back at the Homestead aren’t quite back to normal, but Nicole (Katherine Barrell) and Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) are doing their best to maintain some semblance of normalcy. Waverly, having put a lot of preparation into a scheduled group meeting, is taking inventory of her supplies and lamenting on the lack of attendance while Nicole soothes her. Upon learning that they’re alone, they decide the only meeting they need to have is one involving their privates and do the deed on the table…then the floor…until Rachel (Martina Ortiz-Luis) assumes the role of Wayhaught Interrupter and barges in on them.

Back at Black Badge HQ Naomi and Jeremy fill Wynonna in on their new station. Black Badge was sent in to observe and control the situation that started eighteen months ago. It doesn’t take long for Naomi to reveal that the new Black Badge is in way over their heads and completely unprepared to handle a surge of demonic activity. Jeremy steals Wynonna away under the guise of a private base tour, but not before Wynonna discovers a rock with the letter “C” primitively carved into the center of it. She writes it off as a Black Badge plant and hands it off to a Black Badge guard who, once alone with the rock, is promptly decapitated by the chained creature from before. At the same time Jeremy squirrels Wynonna away into a corner out of Black Badge surveillance and tells Wynonna that the town needs her and Peacemaker.

Doc (Tim Rozon) is at The Glory Hole, flirting and making business deals with Amon (Noam Jenkins). The bar owner questions Doc’s status as Earp protector and restrained vampire before having the bartender provide Doc with a shot of the bar’s “special blend. “Doc is too thirsty to deny the plasmic delight and accepts before Amon warns him to not return empty-handed. If Doc doesn’t deliver the libations that he promised The Glory Hole his own juices will be served in its place. Rachel is also off on her own little mission, one that involves a boy her age. Together they assess mugs in an abandoned diner and talk around their feelings for one another. The boy, Billy (Billy Bryk), gifts Rachel with a coat before leaning in for a kiss that she nervously evades. Billy and Rachel walk to the edge of Billy’s property where he tells her about his mother’s hoarding problem, using it as a reason to keep their relationship private.

Waverly and Nicole fill up with pillow talk with the topic of locating Peacemaker, then the lingering proposal, but Nicole dodges the question with a smooch. Rachel enters and asks her sexy gay aunts if a junkyard would be a good place to find Peacemaker. Intrigued the couple finally put some clothes on and get down to business. Actual business. They make their way onto Magpie Ranch, which seems to make Nicole nervous. Waverly explores the area and comes face-to-face with the creature of the hour…but she can’t seem to see him. Margo (Reagan Pasternak), owner of Magpie Ranch, aggressively approaches them, then offers to show them around properly.

Margo keeps dropping snide remarks about saving princesses and love prevailing, silently pissing Nicole off. After Waverly runs outside to take a call from Wynonna, Nicole and the woman talk privately. It doesn’t sound good. Margo tells Nicole that it’s time for her to deliver now that Waverly has returned from the Garden. After the gang leaves Billy enters and is met by Margo – who chastises him for bringing Earps onto their land and threatens to reap Rachel if she comes back around.

With Wynonna onboard, Jeremy takes the heir to the armory to introduce her to some new weaponry. Wynonna grows a fast fondness for a massive gun that can turn anything into guacamole and prepares to go on her first mission preventing supply trucks (containing booze) from being hijacked. Wynonna agrees to complete the job for Jeremy and finds another “C” rock in her coat pocket. This time she shows it to Jeremy who says that it’s not Black Badge technology. Wynonna assigns Waverly to research on the “C”-scribed rocks, but Waverly misses one key detail – that same “C” is etched on woodwork on Magpie Ranch. The sisters hang up and the Black Badge truck is stopped by flat tires. Wynonna begrudgingly goes to investigate. The carjacker, as it is soon revealed, is Doc.

The two argue which leads to Wynonna handcuffing herself to the alcohol crates to prevent Doc from stealing them. The handcuffs seem to arouse Wynonna, who then tries to seduce Doc, but her efforts are wasted on the vampire – who leaves her there, alone, to retrieve some tools from his car. As night falls Wynonna is still alone and handcuffed in the back of the truck. The company quickly arrives, but it’s not Doc. It’s the same creature we saw at Magpie Ranch. Wynonna can feel the creature’s hatred for her as it enters the bed of the truck. The monster accidentally frees Wynonna and breaks her gun, so she runs off into the night as the Reaper follows. Wynonna runs until she can’t anymore – literally – and becomes trapped on the killing floor.

Billy sneaks off to the Homestead to tell Rachel that they can’t hang out anymore when she pulls a “C” rock from the pocket of Wynonna’s jacket, which she stole. Billy fears that she’s been marked. As the Earp clan faces the looming threat of the Reapers, Waverly’s research yields some information on where the enigmatic “C” comes from. It is the insignia of The Clantons, a family known for their feud with Wyatt Earp. Back in the barn Rachel screams. Waverly and Nicole run to find her with Billy, who warns them about being “marked..” Only those who are marked can see the Reaper. Billy tells them that his family is cursed and poisonous and offers to make a sacrifice – a soul for a soul. He offers himself to protect Rachel. Billy then tells the women that he gets one covenant and his family consists of the Sheriff Holt (Ty Olsson), Cleo (Savannah Basley), his Mam and the creatures.

All hope is lost for an unarmed Wynonna until Doc finds her. He grabs her, though he cannot see the threat, but shoots his guns where she tells him. He hits the Reaper who falls to the ground…but not for long. Doc kicks the stacked rocks maintaining the killing floor barrier and they break free. As they run the Reaper seemingly gets distracted and ceases its pursuit of Wynonna. They return to the Homestead where Waverly debriefs the crew on The Clantons. The poisonous family has infected the town and they vow to devise a plan on how to stop it. Rachel, all emotion and impulse, has no interest in a plan and runs off on her own while the others figure out how to liberate Jeremy and gain the backing of Black Badge.

The Clanton crew has a meeting of their own following the events of the night. Billy is chained up in the junkyard, destined to become a Reaper himself. Mam has other business to attend to, like abusing the rest of her family, particularly Cleo – who is the one who sent the Reaper, Uncle Ike, after Wynonna. Mam asserts her dominance to squash any hopes of her children having agency of their own and they sit down for a prayer to the Clanton legacy before dinner.

Wynonna, now inspired by the presence of her family’s mortal enemy, returns to Black Badge and reclaims her position as a badass demon hunter. Jeremy tries to change her mind, but Wynonna is afraid and determined to get her family back together – all of them. Wynonna gives Naomi her conditions, which include her taking Jeremy home with her and she eventually gives in. Meanwhile, Nicole sneaks off to Magpie Ranch for another run-in with Margo. Nicole argues that Waverly and Doc got themselves out of the Garden on their own, but Margo suggests otherwise and demands that Nicole give what she owes her. Nicole refuses and Margo opens up a jar of murder hornets that swarm Nicole and fly into her mouth.