Wynonna Earp - S1E7 - Walking After Midnight

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Previously on Wynonna Earp, “Constant Cravings”

Wynonna Earp s1e7 - Walking After Midnight | Melanie Scrofano, Tim Rozon, Shamier Anderson, Dominique Provost Chalkley, Katherine Barrell, Rayisa Kondracki, Rachael Ancheril | Writers: Emily Andras & Caitlin D. Fryers | Director: Brett Sullivan

Wynonna Earp has been on a tear lately, shaping its mythology and fine tuning its leads with dynamic characterization. Between the various curses, brands, gunplay and occasional moments of gore, the second act of Earp’s first season has been must-watch programming. The streak continued with last Friday’s episode “Walking After Midnight”; Wynonna is learning the last person in her vendetta isn’t so easy to kill. Concurrently, Doc is far too willing to abandon what’s left of his humanity to seek revenge. In the meantime Waverly shines on and kicks ass in her proud weirdo way. Plus a fan favorite finally returns to shake things up.

“It’s gonna be a long night. We should make it…  fun.”

Due to an impromptu appraisal by the Black Badge, Dolls is MIA for all of “Midnight”. Fortunately for Wynonna, her back-up comes in the form of Officer Nicole Haught (Katherine Barrell), she of the doe-eyed glances and cheeky smiles towards Waverly’s direction. The pair develop an immediate kinship (brought to you by Varmint whiskey), sharing their worries and mutual affection for Waverly. Eventually they begin investigate the murder of Joyce Arbour, the latest victim of a serial killer creeping around town. Wait… this unsub has been active since episode one? Wynonna feels compelled to see the body and it doesn’t take long for Haught to recognize the aura of weirdness that surrounds Earp. Unlike anyone else in all of Purgatory, Nicole wants to help and is quite capable of handling herself. The first case she takes on with her new partner, however, may be too much for either one to handle on their own.

Nicole and Wynonna learn poor Ms. Arbour died from having her organs removed while still alive. Curiously, they were put back in her body and the incisions made on her person were instantly cauterized during her killer’s sadistic game of Operation. As if things weren’t weird enough, Earp, Haught and the medical examiner hear a strange noise and race after it, only to return to Joyce’s body and find a playing card stuffed in her mouth. So yeah. Quite an eventful Saturday in Purgatory.

“Don’t be cross. I got wood.”
“…i bet you do…”

Before anything else is written about Waverly’s bachelorette party for her friend… what in the blue hell did she see in Stephanie (Siobhan Williams)?! Good grief, the shade she was throwing at poor Wav was so strong it could’ve been mistaken for a solar eclipse. “Oh hiiiiii, thanks for inviting me to your murder house to a party I don’t care about. We already did all the fun stuff without you. By the way, you’re stupid for dumping Champ and no one really likes you.” With friends like these, who needs revenants? While Steph and pal Chrissy (Dana Hollenbach) bask in their basic-ness, Waverly saw the writing on the wall with a suspicious looking “delivery man.” Once the witching hour strikes, this hunky underling of the Stone Witch makes his move. Yet he never expected Waverly to take matters into her own hands.

Dizzam. Keeper of the Bones, 1. Magic Mike, 0.

 

“If you can’t take the carrot, you get the stick!”

In spite of her condescending attitude, snide comments and general sense of not being entirely there in the head, Constance Clootie (Rayisa Kondracki) can definitely walk the walk. As soon as the Blacksmith bound the skull to Waverly, she knew trouble was around the corner and boy, was it dressed to the nines. Now that Clootie could sense her son’s presence, no one was safe from her vile incantations. Unfortunately our resident white witch was the first victim, easily succumbing to her spells.

Once Constance got a bead on the location of her son’s skull, she whipped up a nice necromantic cocktail that gave the gang more trouble than they’ve dealt with so far. In her confrontation with Waverly, Clootie dropped a few clues that may lead to the future of Wynonna Earp. The first being the existence of innumerable otherworldly phenomena aside from revenants. From the way Clootie was alluding - and evidenced by the unique morphology of her baby boy’s noggin - those hellspawn are the smallest potatoes compared to what’s out there. Secondly, thanks to Doc’s impulsiveness and hair trigger, viewers learned that Holliday’s life is deeply bound to the Stone Witch’s well-being. Well that’s quite the development! It’ll be interesting to see whether Doc can curb his need for blood and find a way to break to their unholy union. All signs currently point to his hubris being the potential death of him.  

“Ain’t nuthin’ but a north wind…”

Speaking of the rustic gentleman, after a few charming appearances and one lascivious experience in the woods, viewers were quickly reminded that Doc Holliday is no daisy… no daisy at all. Looking out for numero uno has placed him in a precarious position: Bobo and his faction of revenants are gunning for him, his recently secured partnership with Dolls hasn’t been beneficial at all, and there’s his association with the Earps. It’s one thing to have demons after your ass, but hanging out with Wynonna and Waverly apparently clears out one’s social calendar indefinitely in Purgatory.

Sadly for him, the one person who could give Doc all answers he seeks wouldn’t make it through the night. The Blacksmith (Rachael Ancheril) somehow found the strength to reach the Homestead, though she succumbed to her wounds before meeting Waverly. Holliday comforted the Blacksmith in her final moments and gained a means to combat Clootie, and immediately dismissed the promise he just made with the white witch to protect Waverly. Damn John Henry… go back and drink your immortal life away in the woods!

As for Dolls, his supervisor Agent Lucado (Kate Drummond) is unimpressed with the lack of evidence collected in Purgatory. Remember, there’s not much to bag and tag once a revenant is sent back to Hell. Apparently Xavier has an ace up his sleeve to appease the higher ups who are more than willing to eliminate all of Dolls’ associates and raze the town for good measure.

Practically everyone is on a quest to right the pile of wrongs within the Ghost Triangle. While Doc searches for Earp and Haught, Waverly continues digging up intel on the Stone Witch. Plus the identity of the last of The Seven may finally be revealed in “Two-Faced Jack”, Friday at 10/9c on Syfy!