Keeping Up With The Earps: 3×04

Yes this is sooooo late. Between EH Con, the Con crud, babysitting duty, a surprise Foster Pup, and my computer shitting itself, I just wasn’t able to get it done sooner.

There is A LOT going on in this show and it’s very easy to miss something that could be important. Since I have little else to do besides rewatch and think about Wynonna Earp, I thought I would offer up this kind of “cheat sheet”. It’s broken down into two main sections, first a look at the specific episode, the second part is kind of a deep dive into mysteries and clues surrounding all the main characters and entities.

Disclaimer: Nothing included in this post should be taken as absolute fact. Even information that I took directly from the show is stated as I see it and is in no way endorsed by anyone officially linked to the show.

Brief recap of 3×04: Evil wears many faces.

Almost everything I wrote about 3×04 is rendered pointless now that 3×05 has aired and plainly laid out everything I was trying to get across about 3×04, but I already typed it so it’s going in anyway.

Mama Earp has been in jail for nearly 20 years for burning down the Homestead Barn WITH WAVERLY IN IT! Was this because she hated the precious little angel baby that was her youngest daughter? No. She was trying to protect Waverly from a demon. The fire was part of some kind of supernatural shenanigans she was performing in the barn, the outcome of which was that the demon was bound to Michelle and imprisoned right along with her. Which, as long as Waverly never went to visit, kept her safe. The price Mama paid for protecting her little one was being labeled criminally insane, leaving her children, and having to hear the demon’s voice inside her own head. The plan relied on Waverly never going to visit her Mama, but after learning the truth of where her mother is, she does just that. Much to Michelle’s horror, Waverly briefly touches her hand which unbinds and releases the demon.
As if Mama Earp hasn’t been dealing with enough shit, she’s still the only one who knows there is an actual demon. Mama Earp heads to the homestead to protect Waverly, but Jolene and her LSD baked goods show up “just in time” and by the time Wynonna (who thinks she needs to protect Waverly from Mama) gets there, Michelle is already tied up in the barn.

Turns out that Peacemaker, despite all it’s supernatural tricks, still needs real bullets, but with their BBD hook-up gone they are all out of ammo and too broke to afford new smartphones.

While visiting the site of the 1996 Cult of Bulshar massacre that Nicole survived, Waverly and Officer Heat run into an old high school friend of Wave’s. Robin got turned around in the woods after running from a Murder Tree. It’s decided that Murder Trees are a job for Jeremy and he and Robin head back into the woods to investigate, while also flirting and assessing their romantic compatibility. Also there’s a staircase to nothing that isn’t actually there and Jeremy “feels”, in a totally normal part of his body, that the stairs are not meant for them. Just when we’re all starting to have hope that Jeremy will have sex for the 2nd full time, Robin gets dragged off by evil vines in front of his house.

While searching for Jeremy and Robin, Doc is confronted by Bulshar who tries to make a deal. Doc keeps the interaction to himself.

Gems You May Have Missed:

Waverly being amused with the fact that the flip-phones “flip” is adorable.
Wynonna managing to flip-off the guard as she falls to the ground after being tased

Answers to questions you may have:

Why did Nicole just throw Bulshar’s ring into the woods? J/k, I have no idea why she would do that.

Favorite Lines:

I only call in sick during shark week.
This is Officer Haught. – Oh, totally. Super.
This just says “woods, help”. – yeah, can you?
Boob smoosh
Like a beautiful fairytale porno.
Taking your belt off at work? #MeToo buddy.
Back the truck up. That is…more, please.

The Big Picture

My attempt at the timeline:

Bulshar entomed: approx 130 years ago
Wyatt died: 1929
Willa Born: 1987
Wynonna Born: 1988*
Waverly “Born”: Sept 8 1994*
Nicole survives Cult of Bulshar Massacre in the GRT: 1996
Mama left: 1999**
Attack on the homestead: May 2000
Wynonna comes of age: 2015*
*What we know for sure is that the attack was in 2000 and that Wynonna was 12 and Waverly was 6 when it happened. Keep in mind when doing the math, that Emily wrote the pilot in 2015. It all falls apart if you try to use the air date for the math. Also, because the month someone is born can mess up the math, this is all kind of give or take a year.
**The original line was that Waverly was 4 when Mama Earp left, making me think it was two-ish years before the attack, but in 3×01 Wynonna says that Mama had only been gone six months when the Homestead was attacked.

Season Three Credits Breakdown:

Angel with one wing in an old cemetery. Surrounded by several dead looking trees. When we zoom in the the angel is wrapped up by a large snake.
– This should be especially interesting to folks who subscribe to the “Waverly is an Angel” theory.
More ugly trees, the biggest one in the forefront has half a face

Main players: What we know about what we don’t know

Most of this will be things that were shown or stated in the show, however I am including theories that I feel strongly about, those theories with be in italics. Anything that was added since the last post will be in bold.

Mama Earp aka Michelle Gibson:

Mother to Wynonna and Waverly.
Rodeo star in 1996
Has been in prison for almost 20 years for burning down the Earp Homestead Barn with Waverly in it. The fire happened as Michelle was attempting to exorcise a demon that was stalking Waverly. The result was that the demon was bound to Michelle.
Presumably was being told about Bulshar by the demon she’s carried around for almost 20 years.
I STILL refuse to believe that it’s a coincidence that Mama Earp and the Widows wore the same perfume (I don’t know how to spell it…Shalotel?).

Wynonna Earp:
– Most of the mystery surrounding Wynonna has to do with the years she was away from Purgatory and doesn’t seem like it’s going to have much of an implication on the show (I’ve heard it’s explored more in the comics).

Earp heir
Great hair
Mama specifically wanted to make sure Wynonna could survive by herself.

Waverly Earp-ish:

We know she’s not an Earp, but it’s still up for debate if Michelle is her mother or not. We know Mama referred to Waves as her “angel” and when Wynonna is leaving the prison Michelle shouts that her “daughters” are off limits. I tend to believe that Michelle is her mother, one of the things I base this on is reading interviews where Emily specifically talks about the mystery of Waverly’s “father”.
I agree with the popular theory that she is not 100% human, even though we know she’s not a revenant. There have been a lot of possible clues that allude to this, most notably possible hints about her being an angel.
I’m going to quote exactly what Kate said about the tarot card she pulled for Waverly: “Temperance. The angel card, balance and moderation, but it’s upside down. Lack of long-term vision.”… “She’s something alright.”
- I also want to include what Emily Andras said in an interview regarding this, “The thing about the Tarot is that everything isn’t quite so literal. It’s all interpretation and a special read, but also you just have to trust me that when going down the Tarot cards route that we’ve researched and nothing has been chosen lightly.”
Bobo referred to her as “kin”.
Promised to Bulshar by Bobo.

Xavier Dolls (Deceased):
Like Wynonna, there are plenty of questions, but I’m not going to dig TOO deep unless I think it’s going to have an impact on the show in the near (this season) future.

taken as a child by BBD (per Ewan in S2)
Is what Black Badge made him (a dragon).
Was part of a BBD squadron being experimented on by mixing their DNA with demon DNA.
Whatever BBD was doing to him, made him “unstable”.
I think he has more of an interest or more knowledge regarding Nicole than he has let on, but I’ll talk more about that in Nicole’s section.

John Henry Doc Holliday:
Like Dolls, there are plenty of questions, but I’m not going to dig TOO deep unless I think it’s going to have an impact on the show in the near (this season) future

Has a wife named Kate dating back to his pre-well days. Regardless he still talks about Wyatt as if they were soulmates
Went to hell when he died in the AU. Is super emo about it.

Jeremy Chetri:

Black Badge “did stuff” to him as well.
has some kind of psychic* abilities, likely stemming from an accident he and his mother were in when he was a kid.
*maybe not the right word, but they shown times where he knew things that it didn’t make sense for him to know, like that “Wayhaught” needed Doc to meet the baby or when his groin told him Doc was alive.

Nicole Haught:

Says the first time she heard the name Bulshar it “twigged” something in her. She also had a panic attack when she saw Bulshar’s mark carved into a body at a crime scene.
Feels like she is “supposed” to be in Purgatory. Feels like she has been in Purgatory before.
Dolls picked her to keep Bulshar’s ring safe.
Has a key to Dolls’ place. (per Yarn text convo)
Only survivor of an attack linked to the Cult of Bulshar, carried out by Beret Demon (killed by Dolls in 3×02). During the attack she “somehow” got down to the river and “someone” saved her. She was in the GRT with her aunt and uncle for a music festival. The incident was covered up by Black Badge and officially ruled a forest fire.
I think there is something to the fact that Dolls was so eager to do whatever it took to save Nicole last season, even going so far as to say he would “order” Waverly to hand over the third seal to save Nicole. I also think his eagerness to have Nicole working on the Bulshar stuff is worth noting.

Kate aka Katalin aka Countessa:

vampire
Doc’s wife dating back to his pre-well days, told about his immortality by Wyatt. Says that when she heard he had “arisen” she knew she had to do “whatever it takes” to find him.
admits to Doc that she did come back “for” him.

Bulshar/ Cult of Bulshar:

Entomed for over 130 years ( I know I should know the exact time, but I can’t find it).
Somehow makes creepy trees, that are probably people, pop up all over the place. I assume that is what he is doing with the Vampire at the end of 3×01 “You will show others the path”.
Specifically wants decedents of the Original Families of Purgatory.
Per texts convos from Yarn: People have going missing in the woods. We don’t know what happens to someone once the trees get them, but based on at least one of the victims the trees could be targeting the Original Families for Bulshar. Claude Simone was one of the people who went missing and according to Waverly the Simones “have been in Purgatory forever”.
The victims at Pussy Willows were killed within seconds of each other, not simultaneously. The killer was something that could move lighting fast, later revealed to be Beret Demon (killed by Dolls).
There have been massacres linked to the Cult of Bulshar every 7 years since at least the 1920s. BBD file started in 1926, but the massacres were likely happening before that. It appears that Beret Demon was carrying out massacres on Bulshar’s behalf, but the possibility exists that he wasn’t the only one.
The massacre at Pussy Willows took place less than 7 years since the last massacre, probably due to the fact that Bulshar has risen.
Per a BBD file shown on Yarn there was a massacre in 1996 at a family campground in the GRT. BBD set a fire at the site to cover up the massacre that was said to have left “no survivors” (hmm interesting). The file also includes pictures of “new” bushes which were burned, as well as Bulshar’s mark in a tree, unburned.

Black Badge Division:

Supposedly a highly classified branch of the U.S. Marshalls, but as we according to Agent Moody BBD “isn’t a government agency, never was.”
They disappeared from the Ghost River Triangle
Early members include Robert Svane aka Bobo Del Rey.
All the main characters except for Nicole have signed a contract in blood.
Inconclusive as to what extent they still exist. Quinn, a friend of Dolls’ and fellow Black Badge agent wanted to take revenge on whatever is left of BBD HQ. Wynonna tells Quinn that if he ever returns to Purgatory that it better be because he recovered the blood contract her team signed. Quinn seems to agree to the mission mentioning paying “Mr. Moody” a visit.

Peacemaker:

Bluntline Special that Wyatt Earp used to put down 77 “outlaws”.
Only weapon that will send the revenants back to hell.
Can only be fired by the current Earp Heir.
Cannot be handled by a demon without burning the shit out of them.
Glows orange when aimed at a demon. My theory about it glowing orange in 2×12 when Wynonna pointed it at Doc is that it knew the bullet was meant for the widows. Another possibility is that Doc’s time spent in hell was enough to make Peacemaker see him as a demon/Rev.
Glowed blue for the first time when Wynonna used it to kill Willa.
Glowed blue for the second time when Waverly pointed it at Rosita and Wynonna ordered it to fire, grazing Rosita.

Ok, friends, that’s all I have for this week. Feel free to discuss theories in the comments. If you think I got something totally wrong from the show that I should correct, please offer proof. The format for this is still a work in progress, if there is something you think should be taken out or something you think should be added, please let me know.

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