Wynonna Earp is a SyFy show that premiered in 2016 and has recently been renewed for a third season. The premise of the show is that the titular character is the great-great-granddaughter of Wyatt Earp and the designated “heir.” Heir to what? Funny you ask. You see, she’s the heir to the family curse of having to hunt and kill “revenants”–essentially demon-zombie versions of all the people Wyatt Earp ever killed. (Full disclosure: this show had me at demon-zombie.) The first episode of the series sees Wynonna returning home to the Ghost River Triangle, which is basically a hellmouth attracting all manner of supernatural rabble-rousers. Imagine a hybrid of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, and you’ve got Wynonna Earp.
The show is based on a series of comics of the same name written by Beau Smith, but, apart from the basic premise, the two have little in common. But you can blame the bizarro names (Bobo Del Rey? Xavier Dolls? Constance Clootie?) on the comic. The show owes an immediately clear debt to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s first season in particular bears quite a few similarities to Buffy, from the girl with a gun (or stake) at its heart to her deathless love interest to a first season finale featuring very big snakes. For better or worse depending on where you land, the show lacks in Whedon-isms. It does, however, suffer from its own moments of melodrama and cheesy dialog–which you may love in a popcorn show or merely acquiesce to. It also has its fair share in common with Supernatural, from a demon-fighting sibling duo with a glowing, demon-killing revolver to an uneven narrative that often needs a whole lot of benefit of the doubt.
Okay, so with introductions done, here’s why this show both makes my whole day and breaks my heart. First, the good. The first season is a lot of fun and really enjoyable. When I first heard the show recommended on Pop Culture Happy Hour, it came with the caution that the pilot episode…well, it’s not that great. So if you’re new to Wynonna Earp, watch the first episode, but don’t run away if you don’t like it. You know what, even if you don’t like the second episode, stick with it. The show really gets its legs at around episode three, and if you don’t like it by then, you’re wrong. Listen, this is definitely a good time-y show. It’s full of theatrical swashbuckling and silly special effects, but what initially sets it apart from other popcorn shows are two things, its heart and its perspective. The show’s heart comes from the unshakable love between sisters Wynonna and Waverly, who, from their first moments on screen together, let nothing jeopardize their intense bond. And their bond is given weight by the heartache at its center–what sets the show’s premise in motion is a family tragedy that haunts both of them in tangibly painful ways. The other element setting this show apart is its perspective, which is both woman-driven and woman-centric. Though of course there are men in the show, and lovely men they are. Chamier Anderson, who plays Agent Xavier Dolls, doesn’t get much room to run in the first season, but Tim Rozon’s Doc Holliday gets to strut and swagger all over the place, and it’s a joy to watch.
But come the second season, some of the show’s stronger elements begin to fall apart. The first season is noticeably more cohesive than the second, which suffers from a surplus of unnecessary and one-dimensional ancillary characters as well as narrative sloppiness and indecision. The first season has a clear and specific narrative purpose–the Earp heir comes back home to exact vengeance on the seven revenants responsible for her father’s death. But after that’s been achieved, the show increasingly loses focus (surprise family member! possessed family member! dragon powers!). While still fun to watch, the show in its second season doesn’t seem to have a clear idea of who it wants its characters to be, what it wants to happen to them, or where it wants to go with them. In fact, there are several developments in the second season that I won’t spoil but that legit had me pulling out my hair.
Now, because the show is, as mentioned, driven by a female main character with a strong female relationship at its center, and because it also features a lesbian couple, it has some of the makings of a feminist show. But at best it’s a conflicted feminist show. A feminist* show, if you will. Because it wobbles–at times jarringly–between more feminist, women-centric perspectives and conventional genre tropes of women in lingerie, push-up bras, and tiny, saran-wrapped clothes–tropes that feel distinctly oriented to the male gaze. (Just in case you were worried that a show on SyFy might ever ignore the needs of straight guys.) You can see what looks almost like a push and pull happening between what the creator/showrunner might want and what the network might want (boooooooobs). It’s a tonal conflict that only deepens in the second season.
So here’s what I’m hoping for in the third season. First, better characterization for our main players. No more wibbly-wobbly personality whiplash. Second, strong narrative direction. Please don’t jump any more sharks, I’m begging you. It’s okay to play fast-and-loose with some of the smaller things–it’s a popcorn show, after all–but it helps if the major plot developments have consistent tone and logic, at least most of the time. Fourth, please stop introducing unnecessary secondary characters (Jeremy, my dude, I’m looking at you).
Wynonna Earp is a grin-inducing, compulsively-watchable good time, and I love it. Warts and all, it has great potential, as it’s proven with its first season. And a show can be forgiven for getting a little lost in its second season. Maybe with a little more focus, the third season can really start to capitalize on the show’s potential in fun and impactful ways. In the meantime, I’ll be compulsively re-watching the first two seasons, devil be damned.
