Tag: Shamier Anderson

Wynonna Earp: House of Memories – Origami Promises (Review)

Wynonna Earp - Season 1

This penultimate episode of “Wynonna Earp” continues revealing more about Willa and in the tree house of memories the eldest Earp heir has visions of origami promises.  Dolls regresses Willa who has memories of the house and of the night she was taken.

At the start of the episode Wynonna and Willa are questioning Whiskey Jim (who Willa calls Bourbon Bob) and the eldest heir shoots the revenant when he is too slow to answer.  Wynonna is not pleased as “he was not ours to kill.”

The eldest Earp is rather nasty to Nicole Haught and Waverly still does not trust the newly returned Willa.  Bobo’s poison maker, Bubba, was the revenant who kidnapped Doc and he  holds the gunman prisoner while he perfects the formula. He also gets Holliday to give him knife throwing lessons.

Dolls and Wynonna do some investigation and Willa walks in on Nicole and Waverly’s make-out session in the barn.  Back at the revenant questioning Wynonna tries to shoot a biker demon and Peacemaker fizzles out.

One of the bikers, who made up the wet team meant to kill Dolls, reveals that Judge Cryderman (David LeReaney) ordered the hit.  Doc’s burnt out Caddy is found with no sign of the gunman anywhere.  Bobo approaches Willa with the lure of a blue swan origami figure. Waverly shoots the demon and sends him away. 

Doc learns from Bubba who he is working for and what the demon is making. He also learns that the whole town is meant to die.

Wynonna and Dolls find Cryderman who is trying to hang himself.  He tells the U.S. Marshal that Bobo forced his hand and this was why he attempted to kill Dolls.  He tells them about he party that Del Rey invited the entire town to at the Wainwright Hotel.

As the two black badge agents go to leave Cryderman blows his brains out. Doc witness the effect of the poison and is horrified.

Willa and Waverly find the treehouse where the young Willa was held captive. There are blue origami figures everywhere and Willa remembers Constance Clootie erasing her memory and freeing her.  She also has flashbacks of Bobo Del Rey being in the house with her.

Another memory is that Willa witnessed her father make a deal with Bobo about the lead and leaving the Ghost River Triangle. Ward Earp was meant to walk Bobo out of the Triangle and Wynonna finds the letter outlining what was the lead is.

Doc gets loose and kills Bubba.

Waverly and Nicole meet up at the party and a drunken Champ become belligerent. Willa urges Waverly to celebrate and drink the champagne.  She also works hard at being nice to the youngest Earp.  Wynonna sneaks in with Peacemaker.

She hands the gun over to Willa and Waverly is clearly uncomfortable with this decision.   Later, Wynonna  meets with Dolls who is impressed with her outfit. She shows him the letter to Robert Svane from Wyatt and the document explains everything.

For the revenants to leave, the Earp heir has to willing escort the demons across the line. Ward Earp made the deal  to do that and Bobo took Willa as insurance causing everything fell apart. After learning about the letter, Willa once again urges the group to drink the champagne.

Champ verbally accosts Haught and the sheriff tells him off. He reacts badly, breaking his champagne flute and foaming at the mouth.  Haught clotheslines the young man and handcuffs him. Wynonna tells Dolls about Peacemaker failing and her disappointment at Willa obviously being the heir.

Dolls and Wynonna kiss just as Doc arrives. Holliday smells the champagne and realizes that Bobo has poisoned it. The revenant arrives, wearing latex arm length  gloves, and informs the townspeople that they will go crazy and die. He does tell the group that they will get the antidote if they bring Wynonna to him dead or alive.

Waverly and Willa go to leave and they get separated when they bump into Nicole. Willa meets Bobo, aka Robert Svane, and she hands him a blue swan origami figure. They hold hands and start walking down the road.

“Wynonna Earp” this week sets a lot of things in motion and reveals a few more interesting things about the verse. For example, there appears to be a bit of a bromance going on between Doc and Dolls. Another reveal is that Waverly clearly does not trust Willa.

(We do not trust the eldest Earp girl either and that was before she walked off hand-in-hand with Robert “Bobo Del Rey” Svane at the end.)

Ward Earp sold out his family name to keep his kids safe and then lost Willa anyway and then was shot by his middle daughter Wynonna.  This lead to a break in the curse until Wynonna came back to Purgatory.

In terms of performances, Tim Rozon is still brilliant at playing Holliday and Shamier Anderson was great at making Dolls more “human” for a change. Dominique Provost-Chalkley and Katherine Barrell could get the award for best couple in a television series.Melanie Scrofano was touching in the scene where she believes that not being the heir means becoming “normal” again. 

Kudos to Natalie Krill who is killing it as the Earp heir we love to hate and Michael Eklund was superb as always.  (Question: What was the deal with those elbow length “gimp gloves?” Bobo wears them at the party and then moments later when he meets Willa, they are gone. Come on Michael, or anyone else, spill.)

Next week is the finale and judging from what we have seen thus far, fans better watch this season’s last episode sitting down. “Wynonna Earp” finishes next Friday on SyFy, get ready to hold onto your hats.

Wynonna Earp: She Wouldn’t be Gone – Willa? (Review)

Wynonna Earp - Season 1

“She Wouldn’t be Gone” is a pretty busy episode. Wynonna Earp and Doc’s secret sex tryst is out and Bobo now has Shorty’s (Gus’ bar) saloon. The Earp girls go down to “confront” Bobo and his gang of revenants and plant a microphone on the golden boot stationed at the bar. For a brief time they learn a few things of importance, one piece of information is that Bobo has an enemy; Lou.

Bobo finds the mic and relays the news that Doc Holliday has been stabling his “130 year old mustang” in Wynonna’s “ample paddock.” Dolls is not amused. Earp babbles and skirts the issue of having sex with Doc. Whiskey Jim is approached by Bobo and told that he needs to start giving Dolls information.

After confessing to Waverly that she and Doc have been having sex, Wynonna gives Holliday  the Stone Witch’s pink car.  She reveals that everyone knows they have been having sex and Earp reminds Doc that it is just sex and not a relationship.

Wynonna discovers the existence of Whiskey Jim and she helps Dolls question the revenant.  They learn more about Lou and that he hangs out in  the haunted Pine Barrens. The two go to the woods and get separated. Wynonna meets Lou and a group of his acolytes.  Earp is indoctrinated into his order.

Wynonna makes a connection with one girl in particular who is called Eve (Natalie Krill). Dolls is brought in and held captive. Wynonna escapes and releases her boss. They are caught by Lou and the young women who follow him. Lou marks their faces, like the young lady who is killed by a wolf at the start of the episode, and releases them  separately.

Wynonna goes back to look for Dolls who has rushed to his SUV for another injection. (Something is clearly wrong with the  US Marshall as he desperately injects himself and his eyes change again.)  Doc gets a ticket from Haught for driving without a license and Waverly wants to know why he is leaving.  Doc hints that it is because he believes that  Wynonna has no feelings for him. Now that Clootie has been vanquished, Holliday believes his usefulness is over.

Dolls and Wynonna meet up, he has rescued the Peacemaker and they head back to release the women and kill Lou.  Back at the house in woods, Lou has marked all his followers for death and gets ready to leave. Only Eve realizes that he has been lying to them and means to kill them all.

Earp and Dolls arrive and while he hides the girls from Lou’s skin-walker, Wynonna and Eve go to stop Lou (Gord Rand) from escaping on the snowmobile.  As the two confront Lou, who is also called Yiska, a huge bear comes up from behind and knocks the buntline special from Wynona’s hand. 

She shouts for Eve to grab the gun and stop Lou.  Eve finds Peacemaker in the snow, picks it up and points it at the fleeing revenant. The barrell begins to glow and she pulls the trigger sending Lou back to hell. The giant bear turns into a Navajo woman who thanks Wynonna before running away and Earp is stunned that Eve could use her weapon.

Back at the station, Dolls gives Wynonna some backstory on Lou and his first wife, a Navajo horse whisperer who was a skin-waker.  The young women all have someone to collect them, except for Eve. Earp invites the woman to stay with her at the homestead. The two arrive and Waverly attempts to explain about Doc leaving. Wynonna tells Waverly to wait and introduces Eve.

Gus comes out with a bottle of beer in her hand to tell the Earp girls to come in. Dropping the bottle when she spots Eve, Gus says, “Willa.”

“Wynonna Earp”  and “She Wouldn’t be Gone ” took a magical mystery tour approach to the revenant problems this week.  The skin-walker was a nice twist and Dolls apparently still has his problem.

Wynonna Earp - Season 1
Dolls meets the wolf.

(It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Is Dolls a demon-ish thing fighting evil, or are the injections a means of giving him demon strength that is addictive, hence the sweating and withdrawal symptoms when he gets low. It could well be like the potion in “Twins Effect” – aka “The Vampire Effect” –  or some sort of addictive aid, like the doomed FBI agent had to take  in the video game Heavy Rain. Only time, and more episodes, will clear this one up.)

Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) and Officer Haught (Katherine Barrell) are now an item but Doc (Tim Rozon) has departed  in the pick Cadillac.   Bobo (Michael Eklund) continues to play his revenge game with Wynonna.

Of course the big shocker of the episode was the Eve/Willa reveal. Is this woman found in the Pine Barren really Willa? It would explain why the Peacemaker worked but it does not explain how the oldest Earp sister could be alive.

Moreover, if Willa has been alive all these years, how is Wynonna the heir? Is it not the eldest who wields Peacemaker to send the revenants back to hell?  The revenants, the original seven, all taunted Wynonna about the death of Willa and how she took days to die. Was this a lie and if so, how could Earp use Peacemaker to kill revenants at all. If Eve is Willa then she should be the heir and only she should be able to dispatch the demons.

“Wynonna Earp” airs Fridays on SyFy.  This variation on a theme (in many ways this does feel a little like a Buffy redux) is pretty interesting stuff. It may be a bit  low budget but the actors all bring much to the table and the scripts, which do occasionally misfire ever so slightly (See what we did there?) are interesting enough to keep tuning back in for.

If you want to know whether Eve is Willa or not you will have to tune in next Friday.  Enjoy.

Wynonna Earp: Season 1 Episode 1 – Purgatory (Review)

What is worse than having spent a good portion of your teen years on Juvenile Corrections and a mental hospital? Being the heir apparent to the Earp legacy where demons all attempt to retrieve a Buntline peacemaker and kill off the bloodline. Wynonna Earp returns home to Purgatory for a family funeral and discovers that the Wyatt Earp curse is alive and well.

Wynonna Earp - Season 1

What is worse than having spent a good portion of your teen years in Juvenile Corrections and a mental hospital? Being the heir apparent to the Earp legacy where demons all attempt to retrieve a Buntline peacemaker and kill off the bloodline. Wynonna Earp returns home to Purgatory for a family funeral and discovers that the Wyatt Earp curse is alive and well.

And waiting for her.

Wynonna  learns that things are still bad in Purgatory and that demons are aggressively looking for the “magic” gun.  She reunites with her sister Waverly (played with enormous pluck and energy by Brit actress Dominique Provost-Chalkley) and meets up with a new “badge” in town, Deputy Marshall  Dolls (Shamier Anderson).

Earp (Melanie Scrofano) has flashbacks to the family homestead where revenants attacked and were responsible for  her father’s death  and murdered her older sister Willa.  She also learns that things are bad before entering the town when she gets off the bus. 

Dolls questions Wynonna who really does not want to play and leaves things open. Earp goes to the homestead and realizes she needs the gun. As the oldest she will inherit her great-great grandfather’s ability and will need it to kill the 77 revenants out for revenge.

She gets the Buntline special from an old well and she is met by Deputy  Dolls who tries to recruit her to his team.  After the two leave someone comes climbing out of the dry well; Doc Holiday (Tim Rozon).

Wynonna is part smart-arse and part angry anti-hero.  She is also a lousy shot, at least the first time she tries the gun, and must learn to get better. Earp learns that her little sister has been keeping track of the legend and wants to help.

A lot of Wynonna’s anger comes from the homestead attack and the Buntline special.  She meets Doc in Shorty’s Bar and the two talk philosophy and about Wyatt. Wynonna bitterly tells Holiday:

“He was good at killing, so they called him a hero.”

Waverly is taken by demons and Dolls reveals that he knows about the revenants.  Wynonna goes to rescue her sister. Once she arrives, the demons reveal that they know about the Earp legacy;  when the eldest reaches 27 all the previously killed revenants arise to kill out the family.

This is a modern western where horses have been replaced by motorcycles and country music mixes easily with hard rock.  High flying martial arts is combined with gunplay and the mystery of just why  Doc Holiday has returned. He is not on the Earp’s side nor is he a revenant.

Scrofano is believable as the reluctant hero and she pulls off the mixed feelings and attitude  effortlessly .  Rozon also makes Holiday his own and kudos to Provost-Chalkley for her impeccable “country” American accent.  The English performer has what can best be describe as a boarding school accent  and there is no sign of it in her portrayal of Waverly.

The series is shot in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (where The Revenant was also filmed as well as Interstellar) and it works well as a stand-in for the western US.

Thus far, Wynonna Earp is good entertainment. It has interesting dialogue and a excellent premise.  It could be called Supernatural meets Tombstone  but with an earthy and strong female heroine with an equally strong female sidekick.

Wynonna Earp airs Fridays on SyFy.