Wynonna Earp – Shed Your Skin

By: Michelle Lopez

As official Black Badge (BB) minions, everyone’s required to take decontamination showers when contact is made with anything supernatural. That’s where we find Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) and Doc (Tim Rozon). They checked out Bobo’s trailer park to find it void of Revenants, but inhabited by a creature that goo-ed them. Lucado (Kate Drummond) is disappointed in Wynonna’s poor paperwork skills, the fact that they left the creature’s body behind and they touched the goo. YOU NEVER TOUCH THE GOO! Lucado accuses Wynonna of helping Willa open the gate to tentacle-goo-land, which is absurd because of the whole “killed my sister to save Purgatory” thing.

On a construction site, Jesus, a guy busy playing Snake on this flip phone in a port-o-potty gets attacked. After seeing the port-o-potty shake and hearing screaming, another worker opens it and finds nothing but webs.

A few days later, that same guy filed a police report which Officer Haught (Katherine Barrell) followed up on. Since there’s no evidence of foul play and Jesus not being at work isn’t unusual, there’s nothing the police can do. As the meeting wraps up, Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) sneaks her way behind the desk to flirt with Nicole, thinking all is forgiven after the blood oath fiasco. Nicole’s still pissed because she’s busy looking for the perv who enjoys flying drones over the girls’ dance studio while Waverly is off fighting demons. Waverly apologizes for excluding Nicole from the blood oath and begs her to not shut her out, but Nicole needs more time to lick her wounds. Nicole hands over the report about the spider web port-o-potty incident and takes off, leaving Waverly alone to steal the desk bell for…reasons?

At the BB office, Lucado’s annoyed by everyone’s utter disregard for BB protocols. She insults injured and hunted Dolls for his poor management, thinking she’ll make some headway with her team but fails. To break the awkwardness, Jeremy (Varun Saranga) presents his latest project—an algorithm to track all the creatures that got through the gate before Wynonna closed it. Amazing in concept but many aren’t corporeal so tracking them is like finding a working pen in a drawer of pens that don’t work. Wynonna doesn’t need fancy BB technology as long as she has her team by her side. Doc’s out for personal reasons, but Waverly’s got black goo powers and a lead from Nicole. Lucado doesn’t like her team’s independence and tries to get them in line with insults, but fails miserably because once you’ve faced off with your bitchy long-lost sister a disgraced BB agent doesn’t faze you. Wynonna’s tired of Lucado so she goes on the offensive, mocking her for her demotion. It’s no secret Lucado’s miserable, but if they don’t kill the creatures haunting the Ghost River Triangle then Moody’s going to do to them as he did to Eliza.

Wynonna follows Nicole’s lead to a construction site where sees a familiar face. Mercedes Gardner (Dani Kind), the second most hated person in Purgatory and Wynonna’s friend, is back in town buying land after market values plummeted post town-wide poisoning. Wynonna brings up the missing people, but Mercedes assumes it’s just folks who got scared by the deserted school (that’s definitely not home to a Hellmouth) she’s turning into condos.

Inside the school, Wynonna runs into Earl (Sam Duke), a Revenant who’s just trying to survive in a Bobo-free world. Wynonna’s Revenant menacing is interrupted by a familiar scent, Shaladelle, reminding her of Willa. Wynonna spins around, aiming Peacemaker at a black-veiled entity, triggering a flashback to killing Willa. When Wynonna snaps back to reality, the figure and Earl are gone. Wynonna races after Earl, but loses him as she finds Jesus cocooned in Spiderweb.

Wynonna managed to transport an egg sac back to HQ and calls up Doc for an assist in dissecting it. He’s either dodging Wynonna or hasn’t quite caught up to the technology of 2017, but either way he’s no help. Wynonna begins the dissection when the room suddenly gets icy and the scent of Shaladelle returns. She feels someone approaching her from behind and stabs at the entity that happens to be Waverly, who doesn’t bat an eye. She joins in on the dissection fun and digs into the sac, wondering why she has the honor instead of Jeremy. Wynonna’s keeping BB out of this operation until she has a body to gift Lucado. Wynonna’s missing Dolls and the way things used to be, but Waverly’s keeping optimistic. Wynonna assumes this is courtesy of “banging a hot redhead,” but things are still icy between “WayHaught.” Waverly pierces through the egg sac and a giant spider flies out and skitters around the room, scaring the crap out the Earps. They manage to trap it under a garbage can and try to get Lucado to come pick up her prize. She’s not around so Wynonna decides to make it dead. Waverly lifts the garbage can off the ground, but the spider’s not there. Foolishly Waverly sticks her face near the can’s opening to get a better look, triggering the spider to attack. Wynonna and Peacemaker handle it, but Wynonna ends up touching spider goo. Wynonna’s done with following BB protocols and is ready to bring the gang back together so she calls an emergency symposium and tells Waverly to leave the spider corpse on Lucado’s desk with a note that conveys Wynonna giving her the finger.

At Shorty’s, Nedley (Greg Lawson) offers Doc the bar if he can afford to keep it running. He’s always used Shorty’s as a way to keep an eye on the shadier folks of Purgatory and Doc is the best candidate for the job. After assuring Nedley he’ll acquire the necessary funds, Doc heads over to a nightclub to speak with a woman named Rosita (Tamara Duarte). He’s offered her some sort of opportunity, but Rosita doesn’t believe Doc has the funds for accomplishing whatever damn near impossible thing he’s proposing. Their meeting ends when Waverly calls up Doc to invite him to the symposium.

At the Homestead, fresh-out-of-the-shower Wynonna is startled to find Jeremy dissecting the spider in her kitchen. Waverly invited him because she’s convinced that he’ll be a good addition to the team without Dolls around. Jeremy’s game for being part of the team since he’s got a massive crush on Doc. When he hears Doc is coming over, he rushes outside to wait for him.

In Waverly’s room, Nicole and Waverly read Willa’s diary entry that says Waverly is not an Earp. Nicole writes it off as childhood jealousy, but Bobo (the gas-lighting sociopath) agreed with Willa. Waverly explains to Nicole the side of Bobo that wouldn’t lie to her, but Waverly’s the Earpiest Earp to ever Earp so Bobo’s claims seem ridiculous. They kiss but break apart when Nicole hears approaching footsteps. Oblivious Wynonna enters without knocking and Nicole takes that as her cue to leave. Waverly asks Wynonna if she’s okay after her Willa stabby moment at BB, which has Wynonna admitting that Willa’s haunting her. Waverly suggests they burn all of Willa’s belongings as a way to exorcise her from their lives, so they run past Doc and Jeremy with armfuls of Willa’s stuff to start a fire in the yard while Jeremy low-key hits on Doc.

A short while later, Wynonna’s a little drunk and decides to talk to Doc. She thought she could be the leader of their motley crew, but she believes she’s not leader material. She wants Dolls back, but Purgatory will be the first place BB looks for him. Wynonna assumes Doc’s recent behavior has to do with her kissing Dolls, but she thought Doc was dead. Doc doesn’t need an explanation because Wynonna can kiss whoever she wants. Wynonna decides she wants to kiss Doc but…he doesn’t want to kiss her. She goes off on him for shutting his feelings off and being MIA, but she hurt him and he needs some distance. Doc accuses Wynonna of becoming soft around Lucado. She’s not Dolls and doesn’t have their best interests in mind. Jeremy interrupts their bickering to let Wynonna know the spider she killed was a baby, meaning there are a lot more eggs where that one came from.

In the school, Mercedes is stalked through the halls by the lady in black. When she senses she’s being followed, the apparition disappears only to be replaced by a squad of spiders. She runs but gets cornered by the spiders, leaving her no choice but to call Wynonna for a quick rescue. The Earp sisters take out the spiders and Waverly takes Mercedes somewhere safe while Wynonna investigates the building. Earl shows Wynonna to an old chapel that’s been calling to him. He decides Wynonna is not worthy of entering so he attacks her, but gets knocked out instead. Waverly shows up because she’s not letting Wynonna go it alone. Inside they find a nest of spider eggs, which they demolish. Cue slow-mo walk down the hall back to Mercedes. They’re covered in goo, head-to-toe, wielding their sledgehammer and tire iron like a couple of badasses.

Lucado stops by Shorty’s to confront Doc about her empty safe. As a means to get the cash he needs, Doc broke in and stole documents proving she hired assassins to kill Dolls. Lucado’s surprised all Doc’s asking for is money instead of anything for the Earp sisters or Dolls. Doc refuses to show any weakness in front of Lucado and tells her helping anyone else never crossed his mind.

At BB Wynonna reports the evisceration of the eggs while Waverly finishes her decontamination shower. Lucado’s too busy on her phone to hear a word Wynonna says. Jeremy jumps in to ask Wynonna if killing the spiders “made her wet.” It takes him a moment to realize his phrasing and clarifies that the spider he’s been dissecting is a water spider, meaning something’s been drawing various baddies to the chapel and they need to find whatever it is.

At the chapel, they find a ceremonial ring along with Earl’s sacrificed body and inside is the opening to a Hellmouth. Wynonna thinks she let Dolls down, but Waverly knows that Dolls was always proud of Wynonna even when he was disappointed in her. Wynonna decides to forget the past, move forward and rewatch Fury Road.

Back at home, Waverly’s decided to claim Willa’s room as her own. Nicole shows up with a peace offering. She’s got a folder of applications to obtain documents that’ll give Waverly the answers she’s been looking for. They both agree fighting’s the worst and kiss. The kiss starts heading for more, but Nicole takes a break to make sure Waverly is sure because consent is sexy. With the okay, they take their relationship to the next level.

At Shorty’s, Rosita’s accepted Doc’s proposal and tells him to buy better booze and asks to check the basement setup. While Rosita’s downstairs, Wynonna stops by for a drink and to let Doc know that Lucado seems to be off their collective asses. Doc sternly tells her that Lucado’s feigning disinterest hoping they’ll let their guard down. Doc kicks her out as she realizes the truth to his statement. With Wynonna gone, he follows-up with Rosita, who has a list of demands for the lab. She’s going to need time and proper equipment if she’s going to make whatever Doc’s requesting. Doc will get her anything she needs — except time.