Halloween episode of Wynonna Earp season 4, “Hell Raisin’ Good Time,” here we come!
Naturally, Halloween in Purgatory features a serial killer, a demon pumpkinhead named Rotten Jack, while the other demons happily start a betting pool on his next victims. But they’re the only ones having a good time in season 4 episode eight of Wynonna Earp.
If there’s going to be a happy ending for Earpers by the end of the season, it’s not evident in “Hell Raisin’ Good Time.”
1. “Hell Raisin’ Good Time,” is a straightforward song. The episode is not.
It’s clear this episode that our main cast is covering over a ton of self-hate, especially Wynonna. When we open the episode, she’s naked on the stage at the Glory Hole bar, a metaphor that’s a bit on the nose but it’s emblematic of how much Wynonna has lost in her attempt to hide from herself. If Doc’s angry with her about shooting a man in the back, she’s angrier with herself.
Not that she’ll admit it. Wynonna has never been good at excavating her feelings, instead covering them over with drinking and sex. But this episode, she literally loses herself, a memory loss courtesy of the dangerous fog bordering Purgatory. In a pointed bit of dialogue, Wynonna says “Whoever I am, I hate it!”
2. The Earp Curse Remains.
Yes, Wynonna defeated the demon who cursed her family and everyone Wyatt Earp ever killed. But life seems to continue as if cursed. Wynonna, Waverly, and Doc each lost eighteen months due to their time in Eden. Waverly used her angel powers to attack Mam Clanton but still hasn’t sorted how they work. Meanwhile, Wynonna is, well, Wynonna, a ball of trauma disguised as a kick-ass demon hunter.
Meanwhile, Cleo Clanton lurks in the background with her army of invisible revenants, plotting the next step in the ancient Earp/Clanton feud.
3. Beware the Fog.
First, I have to tip my hat to the producers and writers who made the choice of villains for the back-half of this season because it requires so few special effects. First, the revenants are mostly invisible. Second, the terrorizing fog has to be one of the easiest things to create on set.
That doesn’t make them any less effective, however. “Hell Raisin’ Good Time” finally reveals why Purgatory is contained: the Fog at the edges that is oozing into the town. It causes memory loss, eventually permanent, and sheer terror, given its’ effect on poor Robin. Jeremy, in a heartbreaking confession, reveals that Robin was caught in the Fog while attempting to find the Earps. The result: Robin nearly tore his whole face off and suffered permanent memory loss.
Robin’s an entirely different person now. Jeremy is doing his best to cope and quietly slip Robin the cure to his lost memories, but it’s unclear if that will ever work. “I just want him to be happy,” Jeremy confesses, after newRobin talks about spending time with his new lover.
Ouch, Jeremy.
The fog, Jeremy says, seems to be coming from the Garden of Eden. I expect the finale will take place there, where all the characters will have to find themselves again.
4. The Wynonna and Amon fall-out is brutal.
The episode begins with Wynonna naked on Amon’s bar but it ends with Amon having no defense against Doc’s fury. His greatest love, Doc states, is the Earp sisters. That he still loves Waverly platonically is no surprise. But that Doc included Wynonna in that statement is a good indication of how deeply he still loves her.
Not that he’d admit it to Wynonna, however. But Doc backs up his words with his actions, as he hogties Amon and feeds him to the patrons of the Glory Hole. Bye, Amon, we admired your adoration of both Doc and Wynonna but not your homicidal nature.
However, Doc is a bit of a hypocrite. Wynonna murdered Hoyt to protect Waverly. Now Doc has murdered Amon to protect the Earp sisters.
5. Oh, those costumes!
Tim Rozen said it best: Wynonna Earp Wardrobe Department Are the Champions of the World.
Please click on that link for the glorious Freddy Mercury Tribute.
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As for the other costumes, they speak for themselves:
