It is hard for me to accept as a fan of Wynonna Earp: Vengeance as a part of the franchise. I have over the years interviewed a number of actors and the showrunner, reviewed the show as well and appreciated the queer representation that I think made me feel represented in a way that I hadn’t before. So this feels a bit strange coming from someone who would have spent 4 seasons with a certain image of these characters and then has to at some point realize that this was not the same in Vengeance.
As much as I feel that way though, I am pleased to be back in that town. I am pleased that we are going back to learning more about the characters we have come to like over the years. Because recovery and repair of our joys is rarely a straight line. Life doesn’t work that way. Life is complex and we sometimes fall back. That is perhaps the most appealing feature of Vengeance but also the most disappointing. I do feel they went a bit overboard with the reestablishing of the series though, to a point where I feel I would rather not sit through the whole show again. That is quite painful.
So, let’s take a look at the highlights and the lowlights of Wynonna Earp: Vengeance.
The Good This time. You really supported yourself. This time Wynonna Earp: Vengeance, in contrast to the previous seasons of the show, was a sight she had never witnessed before. As much as she felt like steady ground for her child, she was not finding happiness. She was happy when it ended like that. It would be nice to go back in and remember those moments when everything felt easier. You had family, you had a purpose that was selfishly yours, and no one could take it away from you. It is astonishing to imagine Wynonna making such a choice and being proud of it. She was fighting for herself and today she is much stronger for it. But the choice itself doesn’t make sense. All her life, the one thing she wanted to be was normal. That goal never got achieved.
Another character from Vengeance that stood out to me was, who else but, Doc Holliday. As far as male characters in this universe go, I was quite fond of Dolls and it would be an understatement to say the same for Doc. Even Jeremy has more charm than Doc in my opinion.
But he was the only character in Vengeance who never ever lost himself. Maybe there is a reason for him being much older than everyone else. But then again he did spend time in a well where he was scheming on revenge so perhaps he is not that much ahead of other people. He simply was Doc Holliday. A partner, a friend, a father, and a hero. Somehow I was even tearing up when the character died even when I already knew that the character was going to die as I had been spoiled with the scene prior. It seemed to me that it was too early for him to die and like people were saying bye bye forever when the show was just on the verge of attracting new fans.
Nicole Haught and Wynonna Earp in Vengeance
It just doesn’t signify that now everything is hopeless as far as romance goes. We still got Waverly and Nicole who is also known as Wayhaught. And as much as I have numerous issues with the way their story played out, I am fond of the fact that Nicole has completely embraced the role of a sheriff. I also like the fact that Waverly is leaving to go see the world in a way which she has never done before.
She’s always been made for the investigative elements of all these happenings. And one of the things about her that stood out was that from the first episode of Wynonna Earp, she had bigger dreams than anyone in this entire town. For this reason, I feel that spreading her wings will not be a challenge for her, because she knows there’s a place she can always return to.
In conclusion on this nice body of work, I feel that I should comment on the final battle in hell. Wynonna was delivering some killer lines and her expression was so serene and self possessed that it reminded me of our heroine from season 4 finale. It was like all of these components just had been taken, and all she had to do now is embrace it and all of her flaws that came with that. Empowering. Sure, she made one huge blunder which resulted in this lady going to hell for two decades. But she accepted the fact, and stood by her errors because she’s an heir. And rest assured there is not one heir that stays down when the going gets tough.
This is where for me, the fun of watching Wynonna Earp: Vengeance comes to an end. Unfortunately, it is.
The Bad
It’s hard to watch the reruns of Wynonna Earp: Vengeance because the show was conceived as a reboot. There is already a significant fan base for this show. They didn’t need to sell it as a reboot to get people to watch. One would have to be daft not to expect some curiosity since it is offered for free on Tubi. And if Tubi is missing out on views, they only need to check out the fandom, got this hollow reaction from many who never bothered watching until season 7, when two men kissed, apparently, despite the show having a queer pair for seasons. The fact is, as long as you have queer things around, don’t you worry. People will come and people will watch. Or maybe I am the jerk because I expected it to be a soft reboot but Vengeance is best described as a fan edition with the original characters set in an alternate universe. Vengeance is entertaining if I consider it to be fanfiction, but that is inappropriate. This is not fanfiction.
Key point, how the town has treated Wynonna and how Wynonna felt they treated her.
I’m sorry, but haven’t I already seen Wynonna repeatedly rescue this little town over four seasons? There is absolutely no chance these people do not realize she is, after all, the main character. She has fought for her position in Purgatory again and again, bled for them, and sacrificed people to save them. And unless I’m misremembering a total memory wipe regarding this town, I expected the populace to be slightly more hospitable. Stupid and ignorant were general people’s defining attributes and I will give Vengeance that. They are also spiteful. That little bit of snippet combined with how much Wynonna welcomed risk after risk, came off as somewhat dissonant with how her journey that we followed over four seasons when the show was still on Syfy looked like.
Then came the nasty comments our beloved characters directed towards each other. Once more, I’m aware healing is not a straight line. But I was particularly disturbed by Wynonna when she claimed Nicole was ‘keeping Waverly on the hook’ as if she was stopping her. Waverly is an adult and can make her decisions. And if there is anything Nicole would not do ever in this world, it will be to hold her wife back.
Perhaps unwittingly and if there was a bit of miscommunication and all of that jazz. But there was this narrative that Nicole was restricting Waverly from reaching her full potential and that Nicole believed Wynonna was a bad sister who only brought lots of risks and chaos where she went. Are we forgetting the years that they fought side by side and the amount of love that they have for each other?
I know they remembered later on in the special how much they loved each other, but some of the things that my favorite characters said to each other I felt like they were completely strangers to one another and to me as a viewer as well.
The Ugly
Doc’s death had no real reason to happen. He was the first character who seemed believable in the plot and appeared to have developed across the four seasons. And it was curious to see how he went about attempting to be the one on the go while creating something for his small family. More importantly, he still had issues without losing his sense of self. As if everyone else was an alternate universe version of themselves with the exception of Mercedes, and felt like a jigsaw puzzle from season 1 with new paint around it set 2 years after the show ended. Even though I was aware that his death was imminent, it was very painful to witness him comforting Wynonna as he was dying and telling her that she has already saved him.
Incredible writing by Emily Andra and Tim Rozon, when he filmed that scene, it was unlike anything I have ever seen on the show before. But I am still furious. I am still let down. This was further aggravating by the fake outs at him on the verge of dying. We had one when he was shot and fell off the train, when he had a shootout on the road, and then when he collapsed just when he and Wynonna were walking towards each other at the end.
Doc and Wynonna both deserved better in this series. I’m simply fed up with one character undergoing intensive growth due to the death of their close family member. It was baffling for me to think that Wynonna and Doc would go together and fight as always around their strong love and their child. He’s able to come back because this show is Wynonna Earp. I still have a right to be so furious about it.
Dom Provost-Chalkley & Kat Barrell in Wynonna Earp: Vengeance Over a Man
I’m allowed to be somewhat angry about the Wayhaught mismanagement as well. After doing the interviews with the rest of the cast, I expected with Vengeance that it was perhaps not all rainbows and unicorns and there are some challenges in every relationship. But I feel like Vengeance regressed these characters or they felt like an AU canon divergence version of themselves with the way Waverly and Nicole treated each other. For instance, with Nicole, it was the way she addressed Wynonna regarding her relationship with Waverly. She was out of line. And with Waverly, “Shelf it haught, I know when I’m being managed.” Pardon? Is this an exclamation? Your wife is supposed to be your wife. She went out of her way to make hot chocolate for you while you are busy with your research. It came off as unappreciative and as though they were not in sync in terms of their relationship. Because it is normal to have opposing views regarding a certain issue. But you do not treat your partner as someone a pain in the neck in the midst of it all.
There is also Waverly who has been one of the most important characters in the series and the last of the characters in Wynonna Earp: Vengeance who left me disappointed. In the other interviews of Waverly Earp that I watched, it was said that the character was going to be a slightly older Waverly.
Where was the more mature person? Because Waves is a strong pillar and this person was out of character.’I get it. It is frustrating in being in a small place that does not feel quite big enough for your dreams. However,you cannot recall the Waverly who partied like that in the first place let alone dressed like Wynonna and brandished a broken bottle while intoxicated and threatening a human. Still, I did see her when she was thrilled to receive calls from Wynonna, when she was in her investigative phase, when she was taking down those hellhounds, or when she was going out with Jeremy(who we didn’t get the chance to see enough, which in itself is a tragedy).And yes, being human is not easy, not easy at all. But still, Waverly has gone through worse things in her life spanning over four seasons of the show where she has been OOC.
Conclusion
Wynonna Earp: Vengeance, both in its upcoming audible original novel and the potential future specials that are to come thereafter, has a lot of potential. One: Yes new viewers are going to come, and I will likely be one of them. Because if I’m honest, the plot supremely disappoints me… but hey, I’m an Earper. This much is obvious. But being, quite literally, an Earper, and feeling so strongly about something like this, I can’t help but be candid. And even though it was excruciating for me to craft this review, I believe I did stick to my word and was honest. Honestly, Wynonna Earp has always been a step ahead of the game in terms of narrative construction. And I truly wish there are more movies, seasons, books etc. to widen our imagination horizons even further.
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