Wynonna Earp – On the Road Again

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

The long-awaited season four premiere of Wynonna Earp picks up almost exactly where it left off. Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano), now without her trusty Peacemaker, is arming herself with ordinary weapons and copious amounts of whiskey while Nedley (Greg Lawson) looks on, eager to save their family so he can get back to enjoying retirement. “Are you almost done,” he asks, quickly becoming the mouthpiece of the Earper fandom. “I feel like I’ve been standing here for two years.” This is the first of many snarky, meta comments sewn into the fabric of the episode to honor its audience and reintroduce them to the characters they haven’t seen in far too long.

After loading up, Wynonna and Nedley return the scene of Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) and Doc’s (Tim Rozon) disappearance: the staircase leading into the Garden. The Earp heir uses what vigor she has left to ascend the staircase in hopes of passing through its celestial threshold, but she quickly falls through and back into the snow below. Then, Nedley defies the odds of being among the few survivors of Purgatory’s rapture and manages to get crabs. The crustacean kind. They emerge from the snow and attack him, causing the pair of unlikely heroes to flee to the Homestead for first aid supplies and a strategy session.

Upon their return they discover Waverly’s ring has been left behind and that Mercedes (Dani Kind), who may or may not have had an entanglement with the vampire Kate (Chantel Riley), managed to evade the militia that invaded and abducted the town. While Wynonna, Nedley and Mercedes catchup and banter we’re transported less than 24-hours back in time. Jeremy (Varun Saranga), Robin (Justin Kelly), and Nicole (Katherine Barrell) are waking up after Wynonna knocks them out. Jeremy scrambles to carve the name “Valdez” into the walls of the Homestead. He manages to leave Wynonna this confounding clue before the government agents invade the home and grab our band of groggy misfits.

Somewhere in between then and now Nicole wakes up in a boxcar with none other than vampire Kate, who gallantly risks her life to save Nicole’s in the midst of chaos. Kate reads tarot to help them determine their next move and they reveal that two strong women will go to death’s doors on a journey. Nicole is not thrilled at seeing the death card, but the women know what they have to do next. Kate assumes the position of badass when she helps Nicole escape the train by opening the electrified doors and taking on the brunt of the shock. Nicole escapes and begins to travel on foot.

Back at the Homestead Wynonna wrestles with the importance of Valdez. Nedley tells her that he kept Dolls’ Black Badge documentation at the police stations. They make their way to the stations to grab the documents and find that Dolls had information one a Dr. Gloria Valdez who worked at the Monument Black Badge outpost. In the file the word “garden” is haphazardly scribbled. Wynonna resolves to go alone, leaving an injured Nedley in Purgatory with Mercedes, who is still as fabulous as ever. Wynonna hops into her trusty truck, which pops a flat where Nicole jumped the train. Wynonna is thrilled with their reunion until Nicole hits her with a solid – and justified – sucker punch. Now on even ground, the women agree to keep no more secrets.

It doesn’t take long for Nicole to realize that Wynonna really struggles with the concept of radical honesty. When they arrive at the Monument Black Badge base Nicole realizes that Wynonna is no longer in possession of the magic gun Peacemaker. They quickly come under fire, but manage to evade the assailant until they meet her – a young woman named Rachel (Martina Ortiz-Luis) who knew Dolls and claims to be the daughter of the mysterious Dr. Valdez. Rachel had been living in the facility since the town was invaded and sought refuge in the building. She reluctantly and snarkily tells the women that she knows where her mom’s lab is, but that they’ll have to be quiet and mindful of the floor grates on the way there.

The lab itself is full of dead – or dormant – bodies of Black Badge Division scientists. Before Nicole can state her observations on their questionable state, Wynonna throws an explosive. A loud one. The bodies awaken and swarm the group of women. Rachel, obviously not in on the honesty pact either, neglected to tell the others about the zombie infestation because she worried that they would run away without helping her find her mom. Nicole, Wynonna and Rachel fight their way through the herd of undead scientists. Wynonna is throwing dynamite every which way, Nicole is showing off her shooting skills and Rachel is swinging her bat like a zombie-killing Dottie Hinson.

In the middle of their melee Nicole refers to Wynonna as her best friend. Wynonna, incapable of expressing healthy emotion, takes this news well and she’ll need to carry it with her for what’s about to happen next. Wynonna failed to pay attention to the floor grates. As it begins to rumble with threatening sounds Nicole pushes Wynonna out of the way. It was her turn to risk her life to save them (as if she hadn’t already been doing that for three years). Nicole falls through the grate and into a black hole.

While this is all happening back on the earthly plane, Doc finds Waverly chained to a monolith in the desolate Garden. He pulls a massive ball of…flesh, bones and blood up from a well to loosen her shackles and set her free. Poor Doc can’t escape the depths of a well for long. It’s up to them to figure out what the hell is going on and why the Garden looks more like a tundra than a celestial garden. Together they find the door leading back into Purgatory, but are unsuccessful in getting it open. They walk around the barren landscape and find an underground bunker. They decide to explore it and find a Black Badge agent in rough shape. He tells them that there is only one way out and proceeds to decapitate himself in front of them. His blood will undoubtedly unlock some kind of terror.

The blood sparks hunger pangs in Doc who needs a moment to compose himself – but there’s no time. The lights flicker, sounds echo through the chamber and Waverly realizes that the urn they found is hungry for human blood. So, they do what anyone would do. They turn the headless man upside down and drain his blood into the urn. Doc’s hunger, now worse than before, causes them to leave the bunker and sit fireside. As they talk we discover that they are losing memories. Waverly reminds herself of Nicole while Doc drifts off to sleep. Alone, Waverly hears voices calling to her from the bunker. She follows them, cuts her hand and drips her half-angel blood into that blood-lusting urn. Flowers that look like lotus quickly bloom. She hears her time. Things begin to appear to her, like a podium with books.

Four books appear to Waverly, each with a name on it. One for Waverly Gibson, one for Nicole Haught, Doc and Wynonna. The instructions tell her to choose one wisely, and she grabs one – but we can’t see who. Topside Doc wakes up alone and sees a tree in full bloom. Confused by the sudden botanical liveliness of the Garden, Doc curses Waverly’s name. It’s just like an Earp woman to meddle where she shouldn’t. He rises from his nap in search of Waverly and stumbled upon a very naked, but smiling Nicole Haught. Is this the real Nicole? Something about her glassy eyes and pure smile feels out of place, disconnected with the reality of their situation.

Nicole’s presence in the Garden seems to suggest that those grates in the Monument lab may have been doorways to the Garden…but something feels wrong.