“All We Really Are Is Just Blood Bags In The End” — Let’s Talk About ‘Wynonna Earp’ Season 4, Episode 11

Well, that was a journey.

Wynonna Earp‘s penultimate episode (for now) had a lot of features one might expect from a season finale or, indeed, a series finale. Plots wrapped up, reunions occurred, and the concept set up at the end of Season 3 finally paid off. Or, it sure seems like it. But we’ll be honest, the thing promised at the end of this episode is the only thing we want from the finale.

(Spoilers for the episode follow)

In the meantime, let’s take a look at what we saw conclude this week as Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) faced down the Dark Angel Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) and the Clanton Curse. In fact, let’s start with the Dark Angel. One of the great aspects of fantasy fiction is the way it can acknowledge that angels, as depicted in texts like the Book of Ezekiel, are terrifying and inhuman. Dark Waves exemplifies this perfectly in her responses to Wynonna’s humanity and, subsequently, in her conversation with Doc (Tim Rozon) at the Black Badge facility. Sure, she may not look like the angel Ezekiel saw — a cherub with two pairs of wings and four faces — but her disconnect from human concerns definitely reflects a being on a different wavelength. Also, that expressed contempt for humanity speaks to the Garden being a place unlike anything discussed in conventional human myths.

Hopefully, we’ll learn someday what’s really going on in the Garden and why the Ghost River Triangle is its epicenter. But, for now, all we need do is note how much the angel wanted the Waverly Gibson book and how the Garden gate closed once human Waverly threw it past the threshold. If we were expecting a fifth season in the short term, this would feel like a story hook. For the moment, we’ll accept it as closure.

Although, it is pretty rad that Nicole (Katherine Barrell)would swear to do all that to get Waverly back. Also, committing herself to the Triangle feels like the completion of her arc, especially when you consider how disconnected she felt from the town over the last eighteen months.

And speaking of completing arcs, how did Mercedes (Dani Kind) make it all this way without becoming a vampire? And why did it take Doc and Jeremy (Vaurn Saranga) so long to cotton to the notion that turning her would save her life? No matter than answers to those questions, vampire does, indeed, look good on her.

Oh, but because there must be balance, Doc is human again. Honestly, we always knew it would happen eventually. It was just a matter of the cost. Oddly, the price seems to be a net positive in the end as it wore down Dark Waves defense against emotions. Granted, we’re talking about cost in a normal (for a supernatural show) way — a debt to be paid off later. There was definitely an emotional cost as both Doc and Wynonna had to face the possibility of losing each other once Cleo (Savannah Basley) transferred the Clanton Curse to him. And, as a viewer, those scenes were emotionally grueling as it is still possible for anything to happen on Wynonna Earp, so the loss of Doc sure felt in play. Also, once you get both Scrofano and Rozon into a scene where they have to cry, things get palpable and heavy. So, we hope the waterworks is the full price the characters must pay for their fresh start, because, honestly, it seem so right to see them being casually intimate again.

We’re going to assume this episode brings the Clanton Curse to an end. Sure, Billy (Billy Bryk) may still be the heir, but Dark Waves’s magic trick with Holt (Ty Olsson) and the other Reapers suggests they are all free. The fact Nedley (Greg Lawson) took Rachel (Martina Ortiz-Luis) and Billy to the big city also supports the notion that he will no longer need to plot the ruin of Wynonna and her family. Although, it is easy to see the ambiguity of Billy’s situation, Cleo’s escape, and the Reapers becoming birds as potential hooks for Season 5 some day. That said, we’re perfectly happy to see the baggage of the O.K. Corral dispelled right here and now.

Besides, Eve is still in the cosmic wind and though BBD has decamped from the Ghost River Triangle, they may prove to be a problem for Nicole, Wynonna, and all the beastly denizens of town again someday. For right now, though, we like the notion that Purgatory will become so inclusive and welcoming that it has a place for vampires, werewolves, assorted demons, and humans of every creed, gender identity, sexuality, and ethnic background.

Eve, of course, can just stay in the wind until we get Season 5.

Now, with nearly all the plots squared away — although, we still have to ask what became of Kate (Chantal Riley) — the only thing left to do is see Waverly and Nicole get married. In fact, we hope the whole episode is just a celebration of the event without any notion of threat or conflict. It might be unusual for television, but the uncomplicated wedding of Waverly Earp and Nicole Haught is the reward Earpers deserve.

As it is, there will be plenty of tears next week without some demon trying to crash the party. Although, for Jeremy’s sake, there is one unexpected guest we’d be happy to see …

Wynonna Earp airs one last time on Friday.