‘Wynonna Earp: Leavin’ on Your Mind’ (Review)

“Wynonna Earp: Leavin’ on Your Mind” has shoved the series right into that hallowed spot of favorite by making this reviewer “well up,” aka grab for the tissues and then break out in gooseflesh.  The humor is still there as is the clever writing with so many layers given to each of the characters.  How can one not love a show that has “Sometimes we get donuts” and then makes tears flow later  on only to be followed up by goosebumps at the episode end?

In this weekly installment  there are three revenants who follow a spell left by the “Stone Witch” that will allow them to leave the Ghost River Triangle without suffering “Hell on Earth.”

“Leavin’ on Your Mind” begins with Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) taking US Deputy Marshall Dolls (Shamier Anderson) and Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) through her revenant research.  Dolls proves, yet again, that he is not “Mr. Affable” and the elder Earp talks about  shooting the revenants in the face and making them tremble with fear before her. Wynonna’s boss retorts:

“You have powdered sugar on your nose.”

Haught comes into the black badge office to tell about an incident in the big city and spares a smile at Waverly. The officer clearly still has a crush on the younger Earp. Dolls notes this interesting exchange with his usual lack of emotion.

The revenants are collecting items for their escape spell, all cryptically named.  The voice of a mute, turns out to be collection of poetry written by a deaf-mute author (and local celebrity) and a loveless heart is the necklace of a cheating wife. The third item  in the spell’s recipe a man’s dismembered hand,  is the only one still a mystery.

Doc Holliday proves that sex with a demon is not above him and Waverly now knows who “Henry” really is and attempts to either prove it or make him acknowledge the fact.  Wynonna has a run-in with a speedy revenant and reports the fact to Dolls.

The two work out that the revenants, who killed a city official and cut off a man’s hand in the big city, are headed to the old Purgatory bank which is now a surplus store.  The two law officials show up at the store and the revenants take hostages. Two of the people being held are Shorty and Waverly’s fella Hardy Champ (Dylan Koroll)

Marty (Murray Farnell),  the revenant who moves “like he is krumping” is barely keeping it together and Wynonna goes into the store to replace the hostages.  Dolls takes the Buntline Special and caresses Wynonna behind her ear in an uncharacteristic show of tenderness before she goes in.

Inside the store all the hostages are released except for Shorty,  Champ and Wynonna.  Marty kills revenant Gary, and Wynonna opens the old Purgatory bank safe for the revenants. This results in the final ingredient becoming available for the stone witch’s spell.

The witch’s name is wanted by Holliday and Bobo tells the former friend of Wyatt Earp that he will give him name if he gets close to Wynonna.  Waverly gets too near the two during their negotiations  and after shooting at her, Holliday angrily confronts Waverly  and insults her. Little sister gets angry and Doc may have made a mistake.

After getting all the ingredients Sam (Roger LeBlanc) performs the spell, but only after shooting the increasingly annoying Marty. Wynonna helps Champ to escape and Sam possess the dying Shorty (Peter Skagen).  A weeping Wynonna gets back the Buntline and uses it to send Marty and Sam back to hell. 

Unfortunately she has to shoot Shorty in the head to send back Sam this is an emotional moment. Afterward, Holliday comes to the homestead and introduces himself offering help to the Earp sisters in their quest to send back all the revenants.

Cue goosebumps.

Ruminations:

This episode reveals a bit more about the enigma that is Dolls.  For one thing, it appears that he covets the Buntline Special and even tries to fire it at the revenants. The pistol does not work and he ends up giving it back to Wynonna. One does have to wonder if, the gun had fired, whether the Deputy US Marshall would keep the Earp heir on the team.

Dolls is also “sneaky” that caress behind the ear was him placing a tracker on Wynonna.

Holliday (Tim Rozon) proves he has a temper and when under the influence of his ire, he makes stupid mistakes. Attempting to bully Waverly was clearly something that he should not have done.  The youngest Earp sister does have a steely interior as proved in the pilot when she takes a shotgun to someone she believes to be a woman moving in on Champ. 

Wynonna may not have killed the revenants with her bare hands as promised, but she does not hesitate to get physical when she needs to.  The bit where she has to shoot Shorty is one of those tissue grabbing scenes that burns the eyes and chokes up the viewer.

Comic Moments:

These mostly have to do with eating and drinking or references to food in the scene with Dolls and Waverly:

Donuts; powdered sugar and as a special treat, intermixed with the “Mr. Shut-up and Do as You’re Told.”

Coffee; Wynonna burning her lip after being told to hurry up.

Reference:

Waverly: “You know, sounds a little cuckoo bananas.”

Narc-mobile.

Dolls’ reactions to Officer Haught to Waverly.

Final Thoughts:

By the end of the episode the storyline has reached an impressive depth of themes. The revelation that Willa was not killed instantly and that “she screamed for days” is shocking. The violence, thus far, has been mostly aimed against the fictional revenants. Sam’s  referral to the pilot’s backstory reveal, where young Wynonna kills her father and Willa is murdered,  marks the only “non-revenant” deaths apart from the unfortunate girl on the bus. (Also in the pilot.) Shorty’s death moves the “real” death count forward. .

The death of Shorty, a peripheral character with ties to the Earp family, is upsetting. The revenants killing the city official and cutting off the man’s hand are violent acts against people and not demons.  These and the reference to the  horrid death of Willa shifts things into a darker fantasy world than the previous episodes have suggested.

The final death toll against humans is now four.

“Wynonna Earp” still has humor in spades and the writing suggests that things are now going to pick up in the Doc Holliday/Earp dynamic.  The motives of Wyatt’s old, and apparently back-stabbing, bestie remains to be seen. Revenge is most definitely on Doc’s mind but against who.

The Earp heirs or the Stone Witch?

“Wynonna Earp” airs Fridays on SyFy.