Wynonna Earp – No Cure For Crazy

By starrymag | August 17, 2018

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

 

 

Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) and Doc (Tim Rozon) are back in action and hot on the tail of a bearded Revenant. As the demonic outlaw runs just out of their eyeline, a tree materializes in the middle of the road and upends him, allowing Doc and Wynonna to catch up. The tree’s mysterious appearance doesn’t set off any alarms for the oblivious demon-hunters, who instead take advantage of the Revenant’s perceived clumsiness. Wynonna raises the glowing barrel of Peacemaker to his head and pulls the trigger, but no peace is made. Peacemaker is shooting blanks. Doc pistol-whips him instead, just to silence his incessant cackling.

 

The town of Purgatory clearly hasn’t issued any warnings about the strange disappearances in the woods, because yet another young man is weaving in and out of the forest. He stumbles upon a tree with some uncharacteristic caverns in the trunk. The young man dips his fingers into the slimy-cavern and pulls them out; now coated with a thick, red liquid. He brings his fingers to his mouth and licks the fluid from his fingertips. It’s blood. He examines the tree further only to find that the tree has tightened. He deems it a “Murder Tree” and flees, completely unaware of the eyeball peering out from another tree hollow.

 

Nicole (Katherine Barrell) and Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) visit the Shelterlands Musical Festival Fire Memorial and discuss everything from Nicole’s escape from the Cult of Bulshar massacre to Nicole’s progress with finding a hiding spot for Bulshar’s ring. Nicole mentions that she hasn’t found the perfect spot for it yet – and quickly changes the subject to the lush foliage. Trees don’t flourish to this degree after a fire and Nicole recalls hearing something attack the festival by the time she was down by the river. The incongruencies lead her to the conclusion that she was a loose end and the fire was a Black Badge Division cover-up to hide the existence of the cult from the public. Waverly brings up Nicole’s parents – a sore spot – and Nicole quickly bites back about Waverly’s own mother. The couple recovers just in time to save the Blood Licker from the Murder Trees.

 

Waverly recognizes the man as Robin (Justin Kelly), an old school friend, and introduces Nicole as “Officer Haught.” Robin asks to speak with Nedley and they lead him back to the station. But first…unbeknownst to Waverly, Nicole pulls Bulshar’s ring from her pocket and chucks it into the woods. Not her wisest move, but lightning doesn’t strike twice, and Nicole was never supposed to step foot in those woods again. When they arrive back at the Sheriff’s Department, Jeremy (Varun Saranga) is ready to give them an analysis of the trees. The moment he begins explaining the strange pattern, Wynonna and Doc enter with their Revenant hostage. They were unable to kill him on account of…Well, poor accounting. They’re broke.

 

Doc and Wynonna flirt and Jeremy knowingly comments on Doc’s “got-some” glow. Wynonna turns the needle back to Nicole to question her about her past. Wynonna, the pot, interrogates Nicole, the kettle, on her proclivity for keeping secrets. Nicole is speechless and Wynonna realizes that she’s overstepped her bounds by disrespecting childhood trauma. Waverly, guilty of sharing secrets that aren’t her own, forces her sister and her girlfriend into an aggressively charming, boob smashing hug. Their embrace is interrupted by Doc and Jeremy who inform them that they no longer have any budget. They quickly disband in attempt to scavenge for more demon-hunting supplies. Wynonna pulls Waverly aside and tells her that if she’s ready to see their mother, she’ll take her. Waverly isn’t ready yet – but Wynonna knows her sister’s strength. Waverly deserves the whole truth, something that’s been withheld from her entire life.

 

A quick sweep through Shorty’s confirms what they already knew – they’re broke and out of bullets. Wynonna and Doc may be poor in supplies, but they’re rich in chemistry and they sure work hard to get the other to react. Their flirtations have been amplifying in intensity all day until Wynonna gets too close to something Doc wanted to keep hidden. Before he has the chance to stop her from lifting up its cover, Wynonna bears witness to a beautiful wooden crib. The heir deflates. Doc tries to recover by saying he meant to get rid of the crib, which he made before Wynonna made her decision (to “get rid of her”). Doc reminds Wynonna why they send their daughter away, but the damage is done. Wynonna fears that she truly is her mother’s daughter.

 

We are gifted with a flashback from seven years ago. Wynonna and her mother sit inside the prison and discuss the existence and wrath of Bulshar. Michelle (Megan Follows) warns Wynonna of Bulshar’s impending ascension and battles a passenger within her own mind – something we are led to believe is her mental illness. Wynonna disregards her mother’s warnings and tells her that she’s leaving Purgatory for good, without Waverly. Michelle implores Wynonna to bring Waverly along with her and to never tell the youngest Earp where she currently resides. Wynonna makes a promise to keep her mother’s location a secret, but she never does bring Waverly along with her. Michelle dismisses her daughter and tells her to never, ever come back.

 

Doc, having just listened to Wynonna’s testimony of tumultuous mother-daughter relations, leans down to give Wynonna a kiss. As he does so, Nicole skips down the stairs and interrupts to deliver Wynonna a message from Nedley (Greg Lawson). Wynonna is being summoned back to the station. Reluctantly Wynonna obliges. While the gang waits for Wynonna to fulfill her occupational duties, Waverly and Jeremy discuss their love lives back at the station. Waverly insists that Jeremy find a man to talk to and to distract him in the same ways that she has Nicole. Jeremy reminds Waverly that Nicole is a unicorn, a once in a lifetime opportunity…And wouldn’t you know that just a few moments later Robin enters in all of his gay glory. Waverly introduces the two men and they break off into some Murder Tree research and vegan snack eating.

 

Hours beforehand, at the prison, Michelle Gibson paints the padded white walls of her cell scarlet. A bleeding woman on the floor of the cell begs for help that comes too late. On the wall, Michelle inscribed the words “NEVER EVER GET OUT.” The moment Waverly removes herself from the Jeremy-Robin love connection, her phone rings with news of her mother’s extra curriculars. The voice on the other end of the phone tells Waverly that Wynonna is listed as the emergency contact and that the warden needs her signature to sign off on Michelle’s transfer to another facility. Waverly soon finds herself at the Ghost River Institute. A C.O. delivers Michelle to Waverly, but the reunion isn’t quite as heartfelt as you’d think. Michelle’s cold exterior cracks for just a moment when she sees Waverly, but something in the air shifts and Michelle begins to command Waverly to get out, louder and more violently. Waverly steps towards her mother and Michelle utters the words “she’s loose” before the C.O. tasers her into submission. As the officer picks Michelle up, she looks into her youngest daughter’s eyes and says, “Kill the demon.”

 

Jeremy and Robin take a field expedition into the forest in search of the Murder Tree. It is not where he left it. A thick fog begins to roll in and the compass goes on the fritz. They continue to make their way through the trees and stumble upon an old staircase that leads to nowhere. Jeremy snaps a few photos for his records and pulls Robin down from the stairs as he tries to climb. Jeremy’s groin is telling him that those stairs are not for them and without a working compass all they have to rely on is that…feeling. Jeremy tries to call Doc to the scene and reaches him after a few attempts. As Doc makes his way through the woods, Jeremy describes his surroundings. Doc is, after all, a super sexy bloodhound. Before Doc can retrieve the boys, he is halted by the sound of a baby crying. Doc hangs up the phone, haunted by the baby’s cries. Bulshar (Jean Marchand) appears to Doc and offers him reprieve from his pain and suffering – all Doc needs to do is his bidding. Before we get to see Doc’s response time jumps ahead and Jeremy snaps Doc out of the trance he’d been in.

 

When Wynonna finally makes it to the station, Nedley is being questioned by a county office representative. He informs the young man that Wynonna was deputized, but Black Badge has already removed any trace of Wynonna from the records. Wynonna interjects to talk about her time as a US Marshall, but the story doesn’t add up and the man leaves. Wynonna takes his place in a chair within Nedley’s office. The Sheriff is tired. Between the deaths and the budget cuts, he’s got little to work for. Wynonna tells him to either man up or hand the keys to his office over to Nicole, who is young, powerful and still ready to fight the good fight. The conversation is cut short when Wynonna’s Waverly-Whistles start sounding off. Her sister is back at the station after her rough encounter with Michelle. Waverly tells Wynonna that their mother tried to kill her and that’s all Wynonna needs to hear.

 

Wynonna storms the prison just as the warden is escorting her mother out. Wynonna tells her mother that if she ever touches Waverly, there will be hell to pay. Michelle drops to her knees an apologizes, not for Waverly, but for grabbing Peacemaker and orchestrating her escape. Wynonna tries to talk her mother down, but Michelle simply replies with, “She’s not giving me a choice.” Michelle escapes and the warden settles on arresting Wynonna instead. They throw her into Michelle’s cell and inform her that her name was flagged as a fraud within law enforcement agencies. Even so, the warden scrambles for an excuse to keep Wynonna. The very correctional officer that tasered Michelle earlier has one. They’ll kill Wynonna and frame Michelle. The warden doesn’t require too much convincing. He leaves Wynonna with the C.O., who wastes no time in revealing himself as a Revenant.

 

The heir doesn’t need a magical gun to send demons back into hell; she is the only weapon she needs. The C.O. might have his baton, but Wynonna has her wits and willpower and the skills that Dolls helped her develop. The two spar in the center of the prison with Wynonna still shackled (this time to her advantage). Just a few swift moves later, Wynonna charges into the warden’s office, toting the Revenant’s head as a parting gift. The warden releases her, but not without first telling Wynonna all about Michelle’s attempt on Waverly’s life. This shocks Wynonna, but she doesn’t let it stop her.

 

Nicole brings a crying Waverly a tissue and moves closer to her girlfriend. Waverly reveals that her mother called her a demon, but Nicole isn’t convinced that Waverly could ever have something evil inside of her. Nicole’s done research on Michelle’s past and shows Waverly her mother’s criminal records or what’s left of it. Michelle was sentenced to twenty years for arson after attempting to burn down the homestead’s shed. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime and Nedley walks in just in time to explain the inconsistency. He tells her that the twenty years wasn’t for arson. In fact, it was for attempted murder. Waverly was in the shed with her. Nedley explains to Waverly that she had miraculously escaped the shed, unscathed. He also explains to Waverly that Michelle Gibson was not a murderer. Michelle insisted that she was trying to vanquish a demon. Ward Earp, Nedley’s boss at the time, intimidated him into listening only to his account of the story and Nedley had been too afraid to contest him.

 

Robin and Jeremy make it safely back to HQ and are planning their second date. This second date will be a little more conventional than their first and they make plans to eat vegan nachos. Jeremy is a hundred percent on board with this plan and happily watches as Robin goes to tend to his father. As he leaves, he begins coughing. Bloody tar fills his palm with each cough, but he hides it from Jeremy and makes his way home. Robin arrives at his modest home and spots unfamiliar plants in the front yard. He asks his father if he’d been doing some gardening, but plants like that don’t come to life in the Winter. Robin crouches down to take some pictures when a vine snakes around his ankles and pulls him into the unknown depths.

 

Hours later, Nicole and Waverly sit fireside and listen to old tapes of Michelle and her psychologist. Michelle’s attempt on Waverly’s life make less and less sense as the tapes progress. Her insistence on keeping a distance from her daughters sounds more out of desperation than disgust, but it’s clear that there’s another voice talking in her head. Michelle tells it to shut up and then breaks into conversation about birds, robins and sparrows to be specific. Nicole makes a cup of tea for Waverly as the combined ambient sounds of the tea and the tapes drowns out the frantic vibration of Waverly’s phone as Wynonna is trying to warn her of what’s to come. Doc charges in as Nicole sits down, desperately searching for some hooch. There isn’t much, so Waverly offers to grab some for him. He allows it and sits down in her chair. His ears hone in on the tapes and he recognizes the sounds of another voice – one that nobody else (except Michelle) can hear. Is his priviness to supernatural sounds a side-effect of his fate?

 

Nicole shuts the tape off when Doc warns her that they will not be enough to conquer whatever is coming while Waverly rummages through the booze-stash in the shed. Instead, she finds her mother crouched down in the barn, lighting candles above occult symbols. Michelle warns her daughter that she needs to run, but it’s too late. Michelle grabs Peacemaker and points it at Waverly. “The demon’s here,” Michelle mutters. “Is it me?” Waverly asks. “No sweetheart, but she came for you,” Michelle replies. All Waverly can do is scream.

 

An hour later and an act of heroism short, Wynonna arrives back on the homestead. Desperate and frantic, she enters her home. Much to her surprise Doc, Nicole and Waverly are sitting at the table eating cupcakes like some kind of Stepford Bakeoff Castaways. Wynonna is confused by the cheery disposition of her pals and meekly asks where is mother. Before her friends can answer, an unfamiliar woman carrying a plate of brownies steps into the room and tells Wynonna that Michelle is locked away until they can decide what to do with her. Nicole explains that Mama Earp attacked Waverly. Waverly, in turn, commends their new house guest, Jolene (Zoie Palmer), for saving her just in time. Wynonna knows that something is wrong and makes a move to grab Peacemaker, but Jolene shoves a brownie in Wynonna’s mouth – and her resistance melts away. Jolene continues passing her confections around the table, furthering the gang’s descent down the rabbit hole.

 

There’s a demon coming, Jolene warns them, and without her…they’d all just die.