Wynonna Earp, Season 4, episode 5, “Holy War: Part 1” begins a two-part episode that will take us to the halfway point in this season. Hard to believe something that Earpers have waited for so long is going by so fast.
Obviously, this will end on a cliffhanger. But the fourth episode from last week also ended on one too, which leads me into the Five Things To Know for this week (plus a bonus entry):
1. Title Song: “Holy War” by Chely Wright
This is a melancholy song, perhaps not so much about physical death as the death of relationships. But the song holds out hope for reconciliation:
We move through it unseen/For the darkness between us/ But I mean to leave on the light.
Executive producer Noelle Carbone, credited as the writer on “Holy War, Part 1” tweeted today that she listened to the song quite a bit while working, leading to this awesome exchange:
Ha!
Love this.
I’m so honored that you did. ❤️ https://t.co/BlcZsqhXPL
— Chely Wright (@chelywright) August 23, 2020
2. How in the Name of Beau Smith Do They Get Out of This One?
So many questions but first, major kudos to creating an actual cliffhanger for the end of the episode, with Rosita literally standing on the edge of a cliff. This is the first appearance of a Revenant this season.
To the questions: Is the Clanton curse reversible? Do Billy and Rachel have a chance especially when he’s transformed into a reaper and she can’t see him? Will being dead release Nicole from Ma’am’s control? (One would hope.) What really happened to the Ghost River Triangle? Is Amon maybe our Big Bad?
And, given the time gap, and the leap from Eden, I’m wondering if anything that happens might…be reversed? It’s not quite time-travel but there’s definitely room to write in a reset of Purgatory down the line.
3. The Earp Way
What initially attracted me to Wynonna Earp wasn’t the show. It was the comic, specifically Wynonna Earp: Yeti Wars, written by Earp creator Beau Smith with art by Enrique Villagran. There’s much that has changed for our heroine from the original comic but one thing remains: there is a right way, a wrong way, and a “I’ll do it the way I damn well please” Earp way.
The Earp way often takes the long way around. But, hey, if the Earps followed rules, we would have no show. And now, given what we heard from the original Earp, Wyatt, on “The Holy War, Part 1,” perhaps that trait runs in the family. This is the first we’ve heard directly from Wyatt Earp on the show. Doc doesn’t like what he hears, however. Indeed, older Wyatt seems to be slightly off even from his historical self. (Yes, he did really consult on Hollywood movies late in his life. They even made a movie about it: Sunset starring James Garner as Wyatt Earp, for the second time.
4. WynDoc
There has been intense simmering between Doc and Wynonna since their reunion in the Garden of Eden. It’s all complicated by Doc being a vampire, and Wynonna almost being hanged, not to mention all the distractions of demons and Clantons, but their loyalty to each other has been unshakeable. And there might have been more than simmering had they not been blocked by Nicole’s cleaver.
While Melane Scrofano’s real-life pregnancy was the reason Doc & Wynonna’s daughter Alice was written into season 2, the creators have been all-in on Alice never being forgotten, including Wynonna’s comments in this season’s opening episode that she’s a MILF. Doc, having lost his immortality, became a vampire so he could protect Alice and prevent her from receiving the Earp curse. I’m so impressed with the show for never forgetting these two are parents and that while Alice is being raised elsewhere, her very existence still informs their actions. And season 4 has been heavy on the duo teaming up, especially this episode, where Doc takes Wynonna to the Glory Hole (it’s hard to type that with a straight face, by the way), and they team up to find the woman at Steve’s Gulch. They need to take the women in the Gulch to the warrior nuns so Wynonna can get back Peacemaker. (That I could type with a straight face because that’s per usual with this show;)
Continued belowBut, most of all, Doc and Wynonna seem to be having serious heart-to-heart discussions about their past and present, with Doc even wondering if the way fo the gunslinger is the correct way. It adds another layer to their relationship.
5. Possessed Again? Must be Tuesday
It’s almost a tradition that our heroes have to be possessed by evil each season, from Waverly’s black goo in season 2, the brainwashing in “Jolene” in season 3, and, heck, even Nicole was possessed already (along with Jeremy) by the teenage witch ghost. (Can we call Nedley’s transformation being possessed? Not quite, I think.)
But all this is even worse for Nicole in “Holy War, Part 1” because she’s been hexed and controlled, and it leads to starting fires, attacking Wynonna with a cleaver, and, worst of all, throwing up frogs when she tries to tell the truth. The answer to cancelling out the hex seems to be..dying? Yikes.
6. Bonus Sixth Dirty Thing:
There were a lot of dirty lines this episode (and I mean that in a good way) but the dirtiest might just have been Wynonna pointing out that Peacemaker wouldn’t come, and turning that into a sexual double entendre. As for WayHaught’s sex life, well, it seems to involve ropes, definitely involves furry handcuffs, and adding that to the stairs and the floor, and it’s obvious that for the short time that Waverly’s been back, the ladies have been busy, busy, busy.
