Wynonna Earp Review [1×10]: “She Wouldn’t Be Gone”

Wynonna Earp boldly shimmers on with another supernova of comedy, suspense and a wham of emotion.

After last week’s cliff-hanger, Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) and Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) immediately stormed into Shorty’s in order to exact some real vengeance—and intel, via a bug planted heroically in the bar by Waverly. With Dolls (Shamier Anderson) back in full action, he helped Wynonna and Waverly learn of Lou, an old villain Bobo del Rey (Michael Eklund) seemed all too agitated about.

Wynonna finally started to seek answers with Dolls, unabashedly tracking Dolls to Whiskey Jim’s location—which Bobo had visited earlier (coincidentally, or not?). After juggling some awkward talk about her sex life regarding Doc (Tim Rozon) with her very head-over-heels sister Waverly, who’d been on the edge of a quick, grinning make-out session with Officer Haught (Katherine Barrell), Dolls and Wynonna got down to serious business. Ultimately, in a creepy forest segment in search for Lou, both of them stumbled across quite the cult—and Wynonna, after truly walloping Eve’s (Natalie Krill) head with a chamber pot (empty, thankfully) winces:

Sorry! I hope that was clean. – Wynonna

After quickly getting caught in their escape attempt, Lou marked both Wynonna and Dolls as per the opener—already, we knew, a bad omen—and dropped Wynonna in the middle of town. Dolls, dropped far away from them—massively frantic as before, brought up the long-awaited lizard storyline (still: what is Dolls?) as both of them plunged back into danger again to rid of Lou—who marked every single girl to an inevitable death-by-wolf. In the scramble, Eve, the girl who had immediately bonded with Wynonna, wielded the stray Peacemaker to send Lou back to hell. And there was only ever one answer for that. Wynonna knew it. Gus knew it. Willa was alive.

Truths are rapidly leaking, and in Wynonna’s rampage towards them—she finds the big one.

It was difficult to uncover buried truths when in Purgatory, lies are littered everywhere. Wynonna was convinced this time it had something to do with a newly returned Dolls (and there’s still something there to be uncovered…but not what Waverly heard on the bug, I’d assume). In a sneaky chase to track Dolls’ mysterious comings-and-goings, Dolls and Wynonna were led to Lou’s quite frankly insane cult of girls.

The discovery of Willa was a long-time coming, and well built-up in this episode—though there perhaps could’ve been more build-up throughout the season. There was a connection between Wynonna and ‘Eve’ from the first moment, and in their conversation, when Eve asked how Wynonna could tell the good from bad:

Well, the good ones are usually scared…but they push past the fear, even when it hurts. Even when every instinct is telling them to do nothing. To survive. And the good ones are harder. – Wynonna

Perhaps there was an element of manipulation there from Wynonna to ‘Eve’, but didn’t that monologue sound like a very apt description of our eponymous heroine? In finding truths, Wynonna stumbled across a whole stockpile of unsought ones—and Melanie Scrofano knocked us for six in the climax of the episode as she witnessed ‘Eve’ wield Peacemaker—successfully. In the build-up to this, through the entire season, we’ve always known only the heir could. It was beautiful acting from Scrofano as she realised, slowly, disbelievingly, that her beloved Willa, the sister she believed dead for so long—wasn’t.

What does it mean for the future? Can both Willa and Wynonna wield Peacemaker now—or exclusively Willa, who has no idea who she truly is? How will it impact on the close sibling relationship between Waverly and Wynonna? What does this mean for the Earp curse, and how on earth are they going to explain all of this to a clueless, amnesiac Earp sister? It’s a tough mind-bender to solve, but this wasn’t just ‘Revenant of the week’ anymore; this just opened up a series of doors and questions, and as realisation dawned on Wynonna—the heartbreak and emotion overwhelming Melanie Scrofano’s insatiably talented face was everything.

Bobo del Rey isn’t moving—and solidified his position of safety by taking Shorty’s

Michael Eklund must be applauded for two things: his terrifying portrayal of Bobo del Rey, and the fact that he can even walk five steps with all that fur on. Having bought Shorty’s as a safe-place (to some doubts of his followers), Dolls and Wynonna had deduced why: it was a public establishment, and it wouldn’t exactly be subtle if Wynonna shot up a Revenant-storm in a bar. They were hiding in plain sight…not just hiding. It was a clever move and a heavy throw of the gauntlet, for Bobo chose the exact spot he knew would touch on Wynonna’s nerves.

The bug was found within moments, after some key discoveries:

Hey, literally all they’re talking about is how many pints they can chug. Ugh. Men are all the same. Even the demonic ones. – Waverly

And another…

[Gleefully] They’re talking about Dolls, guys! They’re speculating your penis is small! – Waverly

Now in a position of guaranteed public safety, and holding quite the telekinetic prowess, Bobo del Rey seemed to have it all—until Lou, our psycho cult-leader, was mentioned. Eklund’s Bobo sky-rocketed into psychosis at the very sound of the name—and Bobo del Rey is such a mystery that it’s impossible not to be magnetised by Eklund’s performance. Why hasn’t he killed both Earp sisters if he’s telekinetic? Why has this fight between the Earps and Bobo been drawn on for so long? Well, after this episode and Bobo’s rather underhand use of the Earps in finding Lou and killing him-rather than getting his own hands dirty-this is a mystery we’ll have to bear. What is about Bobo and the Earps? Is it really true, what the Jack of Knives mentioned: that Wyatt and Bobo were good friends? As for Bobo taking Willa’s necklace at the beginning and her subsequent return this episode…well, that is something to sink our teeth into…

Relationships are a fragile thing in the Wynonna Earp world…and it’s what drives it, too.

Though messy and tangled, every relationship (crafted wonderfully) was tested to some point—except the still loved-up #WayHaught—this episode. Wynonna couldn’t trust Dolls and planted a tracker in his phone in order to find out what he was doing—because Dolls had been hiding as much as Wynonna had.

You think there’s a mole? You think it’s me? – Wynonna

Wouldn’t I have just told you if I did? – Dolls

God, this whole time you were disappearing, I thought—I thought you were sick. I thought you were bad sick, like ‘don’t tell your friends ’cause it’ll scare them’ kinda sick. I thought you were sick. Because sometimes you get sick! – Wynonna

Meanwhile, Waverly—clearly experiencing the Nicole Haught Romance Whirlwind Treatment at the moment—remained convinced that Wynonna did love Doc, though both insisted it was purely physical. Tim Rozon’s presence as Doc was missed, though it gave for some fun as he tried to learn how to drive (with Constance’s pink car no less) and found himself with a speeding ticket from the ever-so-prim Officer Haught.

Look, we need you, okay? …She needs you. – Waverly

Well, she has Dolls. – Doc

Can’t you at least try? You know—I’m trying with Nicole. – Waverly

The difference is: she adores you back. – Doc

With that, Doc drove off—to goodness’ knows where, but we doubt it’d be the last we’d see of him. On an additional note, it was nice to see that the only functional, if slightly high-school ‘let’s make-out under the bleachers’ relationship was between Officer Haught and Waverly. Interrupted in their impromptu ‘I haven’t had enough of kissing you yet’ moment by Wynonna, their response was a super-conspicuous, hilariously disastrous ‘lean against the doorframe and act normal‘:

Why are you guys in Neadley’s office? – Wynonna

I—I—’cause—when—we— — Officer Haught

Y-Yes. – Waverly

Final Verdict: Thoroughly entertaining, utterly shocking and laugh-out-loud funny as ever, Wynonna Earp deflated a little after a run of some intense episodes—but has set itself up for a sprint to an epic mic-drop.

‘She Wouldn’t Be Gone’ was an episode that felt different. Usually, Wynonna Earp revs up right from the start, but this one was a welcome change—a slow build-up to a jaw-dropping conclusion, whilst still keeping up with the action and pace. Written by Brendan Yorke, the dialogue was sharp and snappy as ever, the twists and turns of the episodes—and the big reveal—nicely clue-dropped along every single step of the way. With characterisation so steadily built from the very first episode, when everything culminated to the Willa reveal—it was impossible not to be as overwhelmed and emotive as Wynonna was. The direction—especially the sequence in the snowy woods with Dolls and Wynonna—was masterfully done by Peter Stebbings, and episode ten marked another solid, strong episode for Wynonna Earp. It wasn’t quite the episode to top the previous three—but importantly, it was a necessary episode to provide some real set-up for this next Willa arc, and all the mysteries that will bring.

Ultimately, though Wynonna Earp inevitably hit a slight snag in the weekly heightening of every episode—this one, considering the season as a whole, didn’t live up to episodes seven to nine for me. However, it laid down some very obvious foundations as to where the next episodes would be spiralling down to—and quite frankly, if the Internet doesn’t go berserk at the pace show-runner Emily Andras is setting this at, prepare yourselves!

Questions and comments:

• Calling the mole as Sheriff Neadley! Calling it! (Full permission to laugh at me when I get this 100% wrong).
• I would’ve really, really, really liked to have seen the “candles, you trying to get me into a sexy black dress…” so, no pressure, Earp sisters & affiliated—Waverly needs that black dress (I think we all do).
• Bobo taking Willa’s necklace right at the beginning should be a warning sign for whatever’s to come—and with Willa having no idea who she is, how on earth will the Earps wriggle out of this one?
• Another glimpse of Lizard Dolls—but still no answers. Now did Bobo del Rey know where Whiskey Jim was being held because of Dolls, or did he just…know?
• Whatever Dolls is experiencing—his symptoms seem to be extreme agitation and edginess—so is it some kind of sedative he’s injecting himself with to suppress the—er—supernatural?
• Two words: Melanie. Scrofano. Ms. Scrofano showed tonight, and in ‘Two-Faced Jack’ just how to carry a show, and the show showed us how important it was for the heroine to be flawed, imperfect, emotional, reckless…human.
• “Those Earp girls may be bangin’ but they’re a boil in my scrotum…” Oh. My. God.
• Doc and Wynonna are not half as obvious as Officer Haught and Waverly are—I’m wondering if Wynonna just doesn’t care or if there’s some horrifically comedic revelation awaiting them. What would even happen if Wynonna gave her the talk?! Barrell’s expressions are too good. (In the few scenes she got this episode, she was absolute comedy gold).
• I hope you enjoyed that sandwich, Officer Haught-did Waverly make you a packed lunch?
• Wynonna, you have yet to apologise for whomping your sister’s head with a chamber pot…
• If anyone doesn’t follow the lovely cast on Twitter, I’d highly recommend it-especially when they livetweet episodes!

WYNONNA EARP airs Fridays 10l9c on Syfy