Keeping Up With The Earps: 3×11

Well, those last two episodes were A LOT, because of course they were. This is my attempt to remind you of the highlights, point out interesting stuff you may have missed, and possibly rant, we’ll see how it goes.
As usual this is broken down into two parts, an in-depth look at 3×11 itself followed by The Big Picture where I’ve been keeping track of anything that seemed relevant about our main players. So if you’re new to this blog and don’t see something you think is important in the Part 1, check Part 2.

You may notice that this post doesn’t go very in depth regarding the religious/mythical parallels and symbolism or the history of Bulshar and those fighting him. That’s because I posted a ridiculously in-depth look at all the religious lore that it seemed the show might possibly be pulling from. AND I’m already working on a version 2.0 that takes into account everything we learned in the finale and cuts back on topics that don’t seem to be making it into the Wynonna Earp version.

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  3×11: Daddy Issues.

We start with Nicole and Waverly standing over Charlie’s body as they try to figure out what to tell Wynonna. After Nicole leaves to attend to Sheriff stuff, Waverly puts her ringed hand Charlie’s chest and he’s back, good as new.

A bit later Wynonna is looking for Waverly, who she’s afraid is going to sacrifice herself. She finds her sister at the staircase contemplating her role as the savior of humanity. Wynonna needs to buy some time while she figures out how to keep her little sister from becoming a gargoyle, so she does what any big sister would do, she punches her unconscious and sisternaps her. Wynonna hopes to send Waverly off with the only person she knows will try as hard to keep her safe as she will, but Sheriff Softest Girlfriend Ever has her hands full at the moment and can’t just run off with her honey for taco eating in Texas (I said what I said). Luckily our freshly resurrected pal Chuck shows up and Nicole is like…pretty unsettled because of how dead he was last time she saw him, but she’s not like so unsettled that she can’t give a proper look a disgust at the thought of Charlie de-gunking Wynonna’s lawnmower. Charlie might be a zombie, but he still seems like a nice guy and he’s all about helping out as soon as Waverly’s name is dropped, so he is entrusted with keeping her away from Purgatory .

Something Doc drank caused him to lose his damned mind and he seems to have completely gone over to the dark side. He’s learned how to glamor people and even though he seems to enjoy the debauchery of it all, only one thing can satisfy him now and it’s more of Charlie’s blood. Doc drags Kate along with him on his hunt which leads them to Station No. 5. They threaten the fire chief until he tells them how to find Charlie and Doc thanks him by shooting him. The bullet grazes the chief then hits Kate, which could have been an accident if the bullet were fired by anyone other than Doc Holliday. I guess he doesn’t want to share his new favorite meal and he leaves Kate there.
Kate is rescued by Nicole and taken back to the Gardner house because her presence in the ER might bring up some questions that she doesn’t want to answer.

Bobo was left locked inside his terrarium and when some of his former subordinate revenants come to raid the the Sheriff’s Station he tries to convince them that he’s still on their side by telling them that Wynonna doesn’t have Peacemaker. They don’t let him out, but they do use this intel and go looking for Wynonna. Wynonna kind of has a lot going on, so she’s not entirely prepared when the revenants come for her and she ends up at Bulshar’s slaughterhouse of horrors as fealty. Wynonna unexpectedly runs into Mercedes, who really really wants to keep her newly mended face, even if it means playing the part of Bulshar’s leading lady.
Bulshar accepts fealty from the revs and asks which of them is worthy of being his lieutenant, since his last one killed by our favorite dragon man. Wynonna sees an opportunity and insists that Bulshar choose her in exchange for the only thing she’s ever really wanted, her family’s safety. Wynonna reaches for Bulshar’s hand to shake on an agreement and his reaction is the exact opposite of mine when Melanie offers to shake my hand (seriously, it was the best handshake of my life), it scares the shit out of him. Here’s the thing about curses, they come at a price and Wynonna is his. If she touches him, he’ll become mortal and can be killed. This new information gives Team Good Guys just what they need: hope. Wynonna knows she can’t do it by herself, but she doesn’t have to, the Earps aren’t the only victims of the curse. She convinces the revenants to join her so that they can end the curse for all of them.

Thanks to some random, heavy fog, Charlie and Waverly end up at the Gibson Greenhouse and buckle-up, Buttercup because things are about to get really fucking crazy. Being in the Greenhouse and seeing the angel statue is causing Charlie to have some feelings that he doesn’t seem to understand (been there, dude). Charlie and Waverly try to get to know each other better, Charlie asks Waves about her favorite subject, Nicole Haught. She beams with pride talking about her girl, but when she asks Charlie the most basic questions, he doesn’t know the answer. He doesn’t remember anything until he stumbled into Purgatory a while back (how old is Alice now?). When Waverly offers comfort by touching him with her ringed hand they share a vision of Charlie asking the fire chief for a job, telling him that that all he wants to do is help people. His weird greenhouse/angel feelings, sharing memories with Waverly, and the fact that spring seems to have sprung since they arrived has poor Charlie freaking the fuck out. But before Charlie can get Waves and “nope” out of there, Doc shows up and he’s thirsty af so they hide… under a picnic table…guys? And even though Chuck feels like he can’t really handle much more strolling down memory lane, Waverly wants answers and uses the ring to look further into his past. What they see-what we all-see is Charlie in the greenhouse with Michelle about 23 years ago. There it is, Charlie isn’t Charlie, he’s Julian. He’s the love of Michelle’s life, Waverly’s father, and he *insert gif of drunk Nicole explaining sex* with Wynonna. All of this is a bit much and the poor guy is basically catatonic when Doc storms in looking for angel blood. Waverly doesn’t want Doc to kill her father again, so she leaves their hiding spot to try to talk her friend down. Doc, who’s obviously not in control anymore, smells that she has the same blood that caused his addiction in the first place, angel blood. Doc shoves Waverly to the ground and she lands within reach of Charlian who is easily able to remove the ring, his ring, from Waverly’s finger. He puts the ring on and is completely transformed into his former self, immediately rising to protect his child and effortlessly tossing Doc into the angel statue. Julian explains that he was lost for years outside the GRT “until a light shined in the darkness”. When Waverly crossed the boundary the day Alice was born she showed Julian the way home.

Julian and Waverly still have a garden to protect so they leave Doc there unconscious. Waverly doesn’t know if she’ll ever see him again and cries over him, mourning the man he was. After they leave, Doc comes to in the Greenhouse and finds a sword that was hidden in the statue.

Back in the office formally known as BBD, Jeremy is working on trying to find a way to science their Bulshar problem, while Robin and Bobo work together on a crossword while listening to jazz. Suddenly, Bobin…Robo, whatever, I think they’re my favorite couple. Jeremy and Robin (for some reason) have to go to Jeremy’s to get more beakers, but despite Bobo’s plees, they leave him alone in his terrarium. This immediately backfires when Bulshar shows up and offers Bobo a job. And guys, this is fucking heartbreaking because Bobo has been abandoned by everyone starting with Wyatt choosing Doc over him all those years ago. He wanted to hang on to the last shreds of the man he was and he knew this was going to happen, he knew if he was left alone that he wouldn’t be strong enough to refuse Bulshar.

IMPORTANT reminder about Tarot Cards*:
*I know I’ve had this here for weeks now, but I think it’s still relevant. Spoiler alert: It will also be on my 3×12 post.
They seem to assume that Wynonna and Bulshar are Tarot Twins and that their cards were the exact same. They did have the same three cards, but they aren’t in the same order. It makes perfect sense that the last two cards are 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?”.

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

Wynonna Cards:
– Past : devil
– Present : Tower (Darkness and Destruction)
– Future : Lovers

Gems You May Have Missed:

• When Waverly pops out of the tool-case I thought she said “you’re my sister!”, but according to Closed Captioning she says “What the fuck Wynonna?!”
• Bulshar’s symbol is on the back of his chair.
• Familiar faces. I’m sure I didn’t catch them all, but everyone should have recognized Hui (S1), Rolf aka Demon “blown off balls” aka lost a drinking contest to Nicole, and this fucking guy…remember him? I’ll give you a hint “WHORES!”
  

Answers to questions you may have:

• I can’t believe it took me this long to realize that there’s a simple explanation about the presence of Firefighters/lack of The Order. It was different fire house. The Order were all part of the Volunteer fire house. Charlie worked for the actual town Fire Department (Station No. 5 to be exact).

Questions that I don’t know the answer to:

• Don’t worry, there will be plenty in the 3×12 version.

Favorite Lines:

• No, who’s he?
• We gotta talk about Kevin.
• This is bigger than you. – I’ll tell you what’s bigger than you. Me.
• I am the sheriff in a town under siege! I can’t just road-trip my homey down to Austin for tacos!
• Yeah, if that’s what she really wanted in her beautiful heart.
• Flaming-phoenix butt tattoo.
• What the fuck Wynonna?!
• What makes you think I was a boyscout? – Your face…the whole thing really.
• She’s brave and loyal and really great in…at, uh, being a good person.
  she likes me when I’m none of those things.
• Welcome to the Purgatory yacht club, bitch.
• Your skin is like butter.
• I even kinda love you.
• Does anyone have a phone? We should Periscope this.
• You Happened. You always happen Wynonna.
• They think you basic, but you classic Chanel, doll.
• Bro… – What? The girls wanna watch this go down too.
• Ew. Don’t say “blow” and “Bulshar” in the same sentence

Under-appreciated (according to me) Lines:

• Wynonna calling Mercedes “Bro”

The Big Picture

My attempt at the timeline:

• Genesis 3 – A deceptive serpent in the Garden of Eden leads to The Fall of Man and two angels are placed at the entrance with a flaming sword to guard the Garden. (Biblical canon, not Wynonna Earp canon)
• Bulshar entombed: 1887
• Willa Born: 1987
• Wynonna Born: 1988*
• Waverly Born / Julian is “pushed outside of the GRT: Sept 8 1994*
• Mama left: 1999**
• Attack on the homestead: May 2000
• Wynonna comes of age: 2015*
• Episode 2×12: Waverly steps outside the bounds of the GRT for the first time.
  *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.
• More ugly trees, the biggest one in the forefront has half a face
  – Probably because Bulshar is turning people (and Vampires) into murder trees.
• BIRDS. I have a shit ton to say about the birds. You’ll have to check one of my insane posts on symbolism and religious lore in Wynonna Earp.   
  

  unsettling

  

  Fake (dead?) Bird in cage at Gardner house.

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:

• 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.
• 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
• Refers to herself as “Dubs”.

Waverly:

• Was born in the greenhouse on the Gibson farm.
• Her real father is an angel named Julian, making her half-angel.
• Bobo referred to her as “kin”.
• Promised to Bulshar by Bobo.
• Has been given powers by her father’s angel ring.
• The Arabic words that translate to “Garden of Paradise” appeared on the ring after she put it on.
• Is The Chosen one who is meant to save us all by keeping Bulshar out of the Garden.

Julian:

• One of two angels tasked with protecting the Garden.
• Kevin says that Julian and Bulshar “were the original haters. ”  Who or what did they hate?
• Owner of a badass angel ring that Bulshar somehow stole 130 or more years ago.
• 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.
• Was lost being outside the GRT. When Waverly crossed the boundary in 2×12 it showed him the way back, but he had no memory.

Charlie Fire-services (RIP…sike!):

• Fireman
• Really interested in Team Wynonna.
• Seems to be aware of the whole supernatural deal in Purgatory, including all the stuff about the Earps.
• 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.
• Is Julian with amnesia. 

Ok, so let’s talk about this whole situation. This reveal caused me to go through the five stages of grief, seriously. I don’t even know why I was so upset, it just felt too easy at the time. I had considered that they were the same person, but written it off as “too obvious”, but I’ve had some time to calm down and see other reactions and I’m pretty ok with it. It played in perfectly to everything I noted about Charlie and I really liked the explanation about why he showed up when he did.

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.
• Totes doesn’t deny being Wyatt’s boyfriend.

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.
• Not “purely human”. I don’t really take this to mean anything more than what we already know as stated in the bullets above, but who knows, maybe he’s the werewolf. 

Nicole Haught:

• Only survivor of an attack linked to the Cult of Bulshar. During the attack she “somehow” got down to the river.
• 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.
• Totally human.

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.
• Likes avant–garde.

Kate aka Katalin aka Countessa:

• Nobility from Hungary. Finally the nickname makes sense.
• Became 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.

Peacemaker: This section is going to be really fucking complicated for 3×12

• 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.
• Bulshar needs the tower to get into the Garden of Eden, Peacemaker is the tower, but it has to be given up willingly by the heir, which it was.
• When Wynonna pointed the gun at Bulshar it glowed white, both IRL and in her hallucination.

** 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:

• Was created in the Garden to enjoy the spoils of Paradise. That’s right, Bulshar is the infamous serpent from the story of the fall of man.
• Entombed around 130 years ago (1887) by Robert Svane, Constance Clootie, and Juan Carlo after he was shot by Wyatt Earp.
• Cursed the decedents of Wyatt Earp.
• Really mad at the Original Families of Purgatory for letting him be defeated.
• His ultimate goal is to “enslave humanity”, somehow the Garden seems to be the key to doing so.
• Turns people (and vampires) into creepy trees, which he controls and communicates with, that’s how he found the Garden.
• Kevin says that Julian and Bulshar “were the original haters. ”  Who or what did they hate?

The ring:

• Belonged to Waverly’s father, Julian. Bulshar stole it.
• Kate tells Waverly not to  “underestimate the power of this relic. It’s older than most things on earth.”
• 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.
• So far we’ve seen the ring: give Widow Mercedes a serious Glow-Up and enable Waverly to punch a zombie witch across the barn, melt a demon’s face, be able to control Bulshar’s former arm (now connected to a radioactive revenant), heal her friend’s face, and raise Julian, it’s rightful owner, from the dead.
• Can’t say if this is on purpose or not, but Waverly yelling at the ring to get it to suddenly be useful is too similar to Wynonna yelling at Peacemaker in 2×12.

I think Peacemaker and the ring are siblings and the sword for that matter*. 

The Garden:

• Home to two very important trees, The Tree of Life and The Tree of Knowledge [of Good and Evil].*
• The creepy staircase in the woods is supposedly the entrance to the Garden and possibly can only be seen by the gays. Wynonna didn’t see it and suggests that it can only be seen by the “righteous”, which as of now includes Jeremy, Robin, Waverly, and Nicole (maybe the Garden of Eden is gay and it really was Adam and Steve?)
• From Juan Carlo’s journal “We guarded the entrance to keep him in, to keep everything in, but we failed, Julian and I”.*

I still kind of think there is some connection between “The Garden” and the Gibson Greenhouse.

Black Badge Division: Because might as well leave this in here JUST in case. 

• 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.”
• 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.

*I wrote an insanely in-depth look at the trees and the sword and the guardians of the garden and all things biblical that we’ve been teased with this season.

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.