This is a Christmas
episode
In August.
What nonsense is this?!
Ok, getting past
that, highly reluctantly, we have an episode with lots of cute costumes and
preparing for christmas and Michelle wanting to have a perfect christmas for
her family now she’s out of the mental institution. Which means she wants a
nice perfect angel on the Christmas tree, not the Menstrual angel Waverley made
as a child out of tampons despite it being a family tradition.
She also doesn’t want
Doc’s christmas tree - the house has just been cleansed of demons, she doesn’t
want to add mites. Also Doc’s a little afraid of them. Wynonna and Waverley
still have misgivings about Michelle and want to watch her while still loving
the runion and watching her kill wild turkeys for them. Oh and telling Wynonna
to go get laid because she’s dramatically inappropriate
Wynonna also tells
Waverley about her dad being an angel where she freaks out while Michelle and
Wynonna are gloriously blase about the whole thing. Waverley is big into finding
out about her dad, Michelle focuses on how nice Julian was and how much better
than the cruel and alcoholic Ward Earp - but I do like that Wynonna’s focus is
that Julian actually abandoned Michelle. I like this because it’s probably easy
to just say “Julian good” or even Julian is better than Ward but Wynonna is
there cynically pointing out that no-one is perfect and being better than
someone else doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to be a saint.
There’s also some
complexity around Bobo - who was apparently around when Waverley was born and
even when Michelle insults him and calls him awful she suggests inviting him to
Christmas dinner and it doesn’t feel like a complete joke
Doc’s rather
bedraggled tree is also rejected by Jeremy whose allergies don’t tolerate
nature in his space. We do have a really nice scene with Doc empathising with
and comforting Jeremy after he feels he has been ghosted by Robin which is
really really good. Also he looks good without his moustache.
Time for the monster
of the week - it’s Bulshar and he’s kidnapped a kid during the whole Christmas
moment (Nedry as Santa of course) and it’s time for the gang to get out there
and find him.
Except Nedry. Nicole
goes to him but Nedry is broken. He can’t get over the fact that the child was
taken virtually in front of him and he did nothing. And he doesn’t even know
the point of bringing him back - back to Purgatory where bad things happen.
Nedry is burned out completely
The child has been
taken by Bulshar - because Bulshar is rounding up descendents of all the first
families and Doing stuff to them involving forcing them to drink green goo.
Wynonna and Doc need
to speak to someone who knows Bulshar - that would be Kate. And yes things are
awesome. Kate wants Doc to come back to her. Wynonna is really not happy that
Doc is at least in Kate’s orbit and maybe sorta in a relationship and she’s
clear that she will not be the Other Woman for him. Doc insists he and Kate are
not a thing and what he has with Wynonna is more powerful than that invoking
the fact they even had a child together. It’s Awkward and Complex and Emotional
and I don’t think there are any bad guys in this. But it is a mess. It’s made
messier by the introduction of Charlie, hot fireman who helps with the rescue
this episode, learns about the supernatural but is definitely,
peacemaker-approved human and he and Wynonna flirt. A lot. And he’s there for
the big rescue scene - not Doc.
For more complexity,
Doc does turn to Kate and while Wynonna is all complicated, Kate is very
welcoming and is clear she needs him and wants him… and she wants to turn him
into a vampire (he thought she was victimised and turned after he died -but she
was always a vampire for as long as Doc knew her - hence the using someone else
for her alias for photographs. Yes Doc was rather oblivious). By the end of the
episode, I think Doc just agreed to become a vampire… as a former immortal
facing mortality I can definitely see the pull of that to him
Kate does confirm
that Bulshar told them to leave the first family descendents alone and unharmed
- which means they’re probably still alive. And gives Jeremy hope because maybe
Robin didn’t ghost him and is just being kidnapped by a murdering demon!
Admitted it’s not a
normal kind of hope.
Robin has been
captive and to protect the kid he volunteers to have green goop forced down his
throat rather than have the kid taken. Bulshar seems to be holding massive
grudges against the descendents of the townsfolk who sided with Wyatt against
him. Someone needs to get over themselves
Wynonna and Charlie
do lead the rescue so everyone can go back to being happy and cutsey -
including Nicole and Waverley and Jeremy and Robin (though he has been green
goo’d so I suspect this will mean bad things)
And Wynonna and
Charlie have no strings attached sex which will definitely end badly. While Doc
and Kate have a moment of her biting him… and possibly turning him.
Waverley visits Bobo
to ask about her dad and hears how Bobo basically took her as a baby and forced
Ward Earp to raise her - but he won’t tell her where Julian is unless he is
released
Which Michelle
does...
We also have Nedry
retiring - which is probably for the best given how much he’s hurting. Nicole
led the charge to find the lost child and he accepts he froze and did nothing.
It’s time for him to step down.
I liked Jeremy a lot
this episode - not so much him per se (Jeremy will always be this show’s comic
relief which is a dubious trope) but because he has a romance, he has a
storyline and other characters are focused on this. Doc being invested in
Jeremy, caring about his relationship and his grief is powerful to see. It
makes him far more than the extra round the side of the group to actually have
people care about him and what he does and what he’s feeling
I also like Nedry -
I’ve always liked what they did with this character, making him more than an
obstacle, comicly out of his depth or a minor antagonist. He tires, in
impossible situations he tries… and his break down this episode is so very
powerfully and emotionally done. And I like that no-one shames him for this nor
does anyone downplay this. No-one is there saying “no you shouldn’t retire,
you’ll get over this” and no-one is saying he’s weak or a failure.
