Keeping Up With the Earps: 3×08

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  3×08: The most iconic potato licking of all time

Let’s just get down to what really mattered this episode. Waverly is super ready to get engaged to Nicole.

Ok, the other stuff. I’m only going to really talk about what happened this episode if I expect it to play a big part moving forward in this section. Throughout the episode we learn that the first meeting between Kate and Doc happened when she refused to finish reading Sheriff Clootie’s (Bulshar) Tarot Cards. Bulshar leaves the table not knowing what was on his “future” card, apparently 130ish years later he still REALLY wants to know. Bulshar raises the Stone Witch aka Constance Clootie and sends her to find his cards. After a bit of searching Constance finds the cards that Doc had stolen off the table all those years ago and returns them to Bulshar before Kate and Wynonna can stop her. Wynonna figures that because she is linked to Bulshar through the curse that they are “tarot twins”, so reading her cards will show them the same answers as reading Bulshar’s. (full break-down of the Tarot Cards after the recap).

The ring that I’m not sure can be referred to as Bulshar’s anymore once again magically returns to the Earp Homestead. When the gays are dealing with the Stone Zombie in the barn the ring starts burning Nicole from her pocket. Nicole tosses the ring aside, as she does, and Waverly, who has learned nothing about impulsively sticking her finger in demonic stuff immediately shoves it on. It seems like Waverly is our lucky winner because not only does it not burn her, it gives her superpowers and she punches the Stone Witch across the barn. Of course Waves didn’t read the small print and is unpleasantly surprised when she can’t get the ring off. Later, when a worried Nicole is trying to remove the ring with butter she asks Waverly why she put it on in the first place, Waverly replies that she was “meant to”, which is supported by the fact that an Arabic inscription that wasn’t there before, has now appeared on the ring (see my nit-picking a little further down). Jeremy informs us that the words translate to “Garden of Paradise” and they figure that between the inscription and Wynonna’s tarot reading that that is what Bulshar is looking for. Robin appears out of nowhere to inform us that Bulshar has already found the Garden of Eden. (also elaborated on in the break-down)

Wynonna and Kate have a chat on the porch and after spending a little time together it seems like they kind of really see the other for who they are and not just as competition for a guy who lately doesn’t deserve either of them. Kate seems to accept that she can’t compete with Doc’s feelings for Wynonna and appears to be set to leave Purgatory and I really hope she’s not gone, at least not for good.

IMPORTANT note on the Tarot Cards:
They seem to assume that Wynonna and Bulshar are Tarot Twins and that their cards were the exact same. What you may or may not have caught is that even though they have the same three cards, they aren’t in the same order.

Bulshar’s cards:
– Past : devil
– Present : lovers
– Future : Tower (Darkness and Destruction)

Wynonna Cards:
– Past : devil
– Present : Tower** (Darkness and Destruction)
– Future : Lovers*
*They talk about this card representing the “first lovers”, commonly known as Adam and Eve. They’ve also used the “lover” cards as imagary for Doc and Kate, so this card doesn’t exclusively to refer to biblical lovers.
**ok, this isn’t a theory at all, just a random thought. Between all the references to Genesis and my talking about linguistics lately, I can’t help but think of the Tower of Babel. I can’t imagine anyway that would fit in with the rest, just wanted to share.

It makes perfect sense that the last two cards were different for Wynonna and Bulshar. Bulshar’s reading was done over a hundred years ago, his future is now Wynonna’s present. Kate even mentions this at one point “his future. or is it now his present?”.

Thoughts on how all of this might fit together and maybe little theorizing (which I usually try to avoid):
– There is apparently a/the Garden of Eden in the Ghost River triangle. I brought up recently that we heard the GRT referred to as a Sanctuary, this is even more telling now.
– We have mention of the first lovers, who happened to have lived in the Garden of Eden.
– We’ve got a lot of angel imagery this season and for now are being led to believe that Waverly’s father is an Angel named Julian. Julian was pushed out of the GRT triangle and is now lost.
– Waverly was born, and frankly probably conceived, in the Gibson Greenhouse where Julian and Michelle would meet. Also in the Gibson Greenhouse? An angel statue that matches the one in the credits.
Waverly was promised to Bulshar by Bobo.
Waverly has a magic ring that belonged to Bulshar stuck on her finger.
Waverly wearing the ring prompted the appearance of the Garden of Paradise inscription.

I don’t know guys, I’m having all kinds of thoughts about the “original sin”. Also, like…a Greenhouse and a Garden are pretty similar. Also maybe there was an angel put in the GRT triangle to guard the garden and he hung out there a lot and met a lady with a crappy husband. What if?

Gems You May Have Missed:

• In the first flashback of when Kate and Doc met you see Doc steal the cards off the table.
• Waverly was freaking out about Robin, but was so overwhelmed with excitement at the perceived proposal that she totally forgot that she had just seen a man lick a potato.
• Constance held up her own detached arm that was flipping the bird as she drove off in Doc’s car, which begs the question how the fuck was she steering the car?

A rant on linguistics and forgetting that Waverly knows things too:

To be fair, I’m kind of a nerd about linguistics so I’m probably a lot more bothered by this than I should be, but hear me out. Waverly is multi-lingual and has a degree in ancient languages, so it makes no sense at all that she didn’t quickly ID the language on the ring as Arabic or correct Jeremy when he ridiculously suggests that it might be Hebrew or Aramaic. I understand why the writers chose those languages to throw out there (Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic are the three languages that make up the Semitic language group) but if Jeremy was knowledgeable enough on languages to associate Hebrew and Aramaic with Arabic he would also be able to tell them apart. You don’t need a degree to easily tell the difference between the three, you just need to have ever seen them*, those three languages are related, but they don’t look similar. It would have been much more believable if he had said Pashto or Farsi.  Also, nobody who can’t immediately ID Arabic when they see it certainly cannot come back 30 seconds later having found the words in some magical dictionary. How did he immediately grab the right dictionary if he didn’t know it was Arabic? You have to know a language’s alphabet to be able to look up words in that language, there is 0% chance that Jeremy knows the Arabic alphabet. I know it was just an oversight, but it irks me and it’s the first time I’ve felt like we’ve ignored the fact that Waverly is brilliant in favor of letting Jeremy be the smartest person in the room.

*I’m basing this on the fact that I have no degrees and immediately knew it was Arabic. Full disclosure, even though I’ve never studied any of these languages,  I have been to Iraq so I’ve at least seen Arabic.

Answers to questions you may have:

• Kate holding Peacemaker is addressed in Part 2 under Peacemaker.
• I know some people are going to take issue with this one, but I’m pretty sure the ring has just been chasing Waverly and that Nicole just kind of happened to intercept it. After Nicole threw it into the woods it next appeared in Waverly’s bedroom, then after Jeremy locked it up it next appeared in Waverly’s dining room. I know a lot of people want the fact that Nicole had it to be a sign that they are some sort of mystical soul mates, but I think Nicole was just in the right place at the right time and that the ring has just being trying to get to Waverly since the start. Maybe they’re just non-magical, regular soul-mates?*

*So after I wrote this I read Emily’s post 3×08 interview and I’m even more sure now about the ring having nothing to do with a connection between Wayhaught.

Questions that I don’t know the answer to:

Favorite Lines:

• We all know who wrote history and how they have a habit of leaving people who look like me out of official records. *and that’s the tea*
• He probably just has meet-the-parents jitters. *Jeremy is the gay son of Wayhaught*.
• Potato? – Licked?
• Power recognizes power.
• He’s like a beautiful shirtless Roomba.
• Constance Clootie! Woman, can’t I have one goddamn dinner party without you getting all up in my biscuits?!
• It’s no small thing. To be able to choose your own end.
• Lady, I am made of things I don’t wish to know. *honestly, same*
• Perfect Nose Kate read my cards.
• The first two to grab some birds and rub ’em on their bees.

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.
  – BOOM! It’s finally confirmed (if you consider Bobo trustworthy), Waverly’s father was an angel. The angel in the credits has one wing. Could this be because Waverly is only HALF angel?
  -Also, my theory is that the snake wrapped around the angel signifies “Jolene”, the demon that was born out of a need for balance.
  -Now that we’ve brought the Garden of Eden into the GRT I have to include the possibility that the snake represents the serpent in the garden.
• More ugly trees, the biggest one in the forefront has half a face
  – It’s because Bulshar is turning people (and Vampires) into murder trees.

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:

• Planned to join the rodeo circuit and leave Purgatory behind, but got pregnant with Willa when she was in town and ended up married to Ward.
• Spent nearly 20 years in prison, accused of trying to kill Waverly when she burned down the barn with Waverly in it.
• Was never trying to kill Waverly, she was trying to exorcise a demon that was after Waverly. She ended up binding the demon to herself and lived with it tormenting her the entire time.
• The demon talked to her about Bulshar.
• Used to run to the Gibson’s greenhouse to escape Ward, she was often met there by Julian, who is Waverly’s father.
• Is not happy that Bobo told Waverly about the night she was born. I take this to mean she is keeping some secrets that she doesn’t want her girls to know. I wonder if she let Bobo out so that Waverly wouldn’t know where to find him to get more answers.
• I STILL (yes 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:

• Was born in the greenhouse on the Gibson farm.
• Her father’s name was Julian and per Michelle he was “someone better”.  According to Bobo, Julian was a literal angel, making Waverly half 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.”
• Bobo referred to her as “kin”.
• Promised to Bulshar by Bobo.
• appears to have a connection to the very old, magical ring that was formally owned by Bulshar. Not only can she not get it off, her wearing it made Arabic words that translate to “Garden of Paradise” appear on it.

Julian:

• Alleged Angel. Still only have Bobo’s word to go on regarding WHAT he was/is, as Mama neither confirms nor denies it.
• Bobo refers to him as “missing for some“.
• Per Mama “Ward pushed Julian outside” the GRT the night Waverly was born. And he’s been lost ever since. This raises so many questions. Did Ward physically push Julian? How did Ward make an angel do anything? Why is Julian “lost” being outside the GRT? Remember we’ve heard the GRT triangle referred to as a prison and a sanctuary.

John Henry Doc Holliday:
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.
• Is a vampire now.
• So much man-pain.

Jeremy Chetri:

• Has a sort of empathetic connection to people (“now I can sense when my friends are super scared”) every since he was in a car crash with his mother and stuck with her body for three days. My poor child.
• Black Badge “did stuff” to him as well.

Nicole Haught:

• 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. She did a terrible job.
• Only survivor of an attack linked to the Cult of Bulshar. During the attack she “somehow” got down to the river. 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.
• After getting herself down to the river and in a canoe to get away from the massacre, she was found by Nedley! He “kept an eye” on her after that and offered her the job after finding out she was in the academy.
• Apparently her hippy, negligent parents don’t like that she’s a cop.

Bobo Del Rey aka Robert Svane:

• Was a good guy and close friend to Wyatt before he became a revenant.
• Was part of Black Badge.
• Can telepathically move metal objects, including Peacemaker.
• Was there the night Waverly was born. Took the baby to Ward and threatened his life if he didn’t care for the child, his angel.

Kate aka Katalin aka Countessa:

• Nobility from Hungary. Finally the nickname makes sense.
• Lied about being a  Vampire since the day she and Doc met. She decided to become a vampire after she heard that the Stone Witch gave Doc immortality and hid him so that she could look for Doc no matter how long it took.
• Had her friend Sally pose as the outlaw Big Nose Kate because Vampires can’t be captured on film.

Charlie Fire-services:

• Fireman
• Really interested in Team Wynonna.
• Is aware of the supernatural presence in Purgatory AND knows that Peacemaker can ID demons. As of the most recent episode he seems to know the whole story.
• Seemed like the rescue mission wasn’t his first time killing stuff. He was equally unimpressed with Wynonna ask if they could cut their date short to kill vampires. Also, comfortable enough about vampires that he got Doc some blood. Bonus points for doing a kind thing for “the enemy”. 
• When Wynonna thanks him for the help he says “No problem, it’s what I do”. Wynonna takes this to mean saving people in general, but it seems a little specific to killing demonic things and saving people from becoming trees…ok maybe not that last part, but I don’t think this was his first Demon Rodeo. 
• Not a homophobe. Way to be, Chuck.

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.
  • Kate the Vampire had no problem handling Peacemaker.**
• 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. 
• 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.
• As Wynonna prepared to shoot the Stone Witch, which was presented more as putting her out of her misery, the barrel started to glow orange, but quickly switched to blue.  
• When Wynonna pointed the gun at Bulshar it glowed….inconclusive. Most people say it’s white, and it probably is, but there is just enough of a hint of blue for me to not be willing to say that we 100% have a new color until we get more confirmation. 
  

** There are two probable answers for this. 1) it’s because Vampires aren’t full demons, maybe if she was vamped out it would have burned her. 2) We already know that Peacemaker has sentient qualities and even though it generally follows a set of rules, sometimes it just does whatever it wants. Maybe it had nothing to do with with how much demon Kate is or is not, and everything to do with who she is, Wyatt’s friend.

Bulshar/ Cult of Bulshar:

• Entombed for over 130 years ( I know I should know the exact time, but I can’t find it).
• Turns people (and vampires) into creepy trees, which he controls and communicates with.
• Specifically wants decedents of the Original Families of Purgatory because he’s mad at them for letting him be defeated by Wyatt.
• 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. 
• Wants his ring back. The ring that healed a rotting Widow Mercedes and gave her a fancy make-over.

The ring that I don’t think we can call Bulshar’s anymore:

• Kate tells Waverly not to  “underestimate the power of this relic. It’s older than most things on earth.”
• Seems to have been trying to get to Waverly all season (sorry I don’t believe at this point that Nicole has anything to do with it). 
• When Waverly finally puts it on, not only can she not take it off, Arabic writing appears on the ring. The writing translates to Garden of Paradise. 

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.

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.

If you hated this, keep that to yourself, I’m sensitive. If you enjoyed it and would like me to continue, please let me know by liking, commenting, and sharing it on twitter.