Synopsis of 2×08: In an unexpected but wholly welcome surprise, this episode is largely the origin story of Bobo Del Rey. We also learn more about Juan Carlo, the seals around Purgatory, the origins of the Earp curse, and more. Wynonna goes on a spirit quest into the past. And, no, I’m not kidding. Plus the Dolls/Wynonna shippers are going to love this one.
She explains to Wynonna when she first understood that she was different. Willa threw her stuffed animal out on to thin ice and let her fall in knowing she could die. And it didn’t end there. Their father always treated her differently than the others and after their mother left he never even cared to throw her birthday parties. At the end, though, it’s clear that their relationship is still strong – biologically related or not. After all, Wynonna was the one who saved Waverly when she fell through the ice. No matter how Willa or their father treated her, Wynonna always loved Waverly.
It’s less clear how she feels about the baby. Wynonna was cheated out of a lot of time by the widows and Hypnos. She found out she was pregnant and then was almost immediately to term. By this episode, she’s weeks away from delivery. While she was pretty adamant in the last episode about raising the baby to be an Earp it seems she’s less clear about what she wants to do now. When she talks to her doctor about doing a DNA test for Waverly, since she thinks that she’s adopted, the doctor asks her if she’s thinking about adoption for the baby. And Wynonna doesn’t necessarily deny it.
The doctor reminds her that the baby is coming soon and that, of course, freaks Wynonna out entirely. Seeing the sonogram almost seems to scare her and she rushes out of the doctor’s office without even talking to Dolls. Of all the terrible things that the widows have done so far, I think robbing Wynonna of the time she should have had to consider all these things earlier on in the pregnancy is probably the worst.
Anyway, that all ends up being the least of her worries because she gets kidnapped. At the beginning of the episode, demon Mercedes and Beth set a trap for Juan Carlo in an attempt to get him to reveal the final seal. Presumably, they then use his truck to kidnap Wynonna.
Dolls sees the truck and gets all up in arms against Juan Carlo. He drags in Ewan to interrogate him but it ultimately goes nowhere. The Order, so far, aren’t interested in getting involved. Ewan does, however, help him figure out where Wynonna is being kept.
In a shocking turn of events, it really is Juan Carlo who ‘kidnapped’ Wynonna. Except he didn’t kidnap her, she went with him voluntarily. (She just also punched him first and left a blood trail that freaked the shit out of Dolls.) He tells her he can’t interfere with what happens in Purgatory, but he can give guide her to some degree so she can learn the information she needs to vanquish the widows on her own. He leads her to a church and has her undergo a ritual that ends up not just making her invisible but also takes her back in time to Doc and Wyatt’s heyday.
The ritual called upon Wynonna to claim her heritage and so she gets sent back in time to learn the true history of Purgatory and the Earp curse. A pre-Revenant Bobo shows up in a bar looking for Doc asking him to ride to Purgatory with Wyatt Earp, which he refuses. Shortly thereafter we see an injured Bobo working alongside the witch, Constance Clootie, and priest Juan Carlo to trap the demon Sheriff Clootie’s demonic widow for the first time. Then they rush off to set the seals that would protect Purgatory.
Yeah, so, if you’re keeping score here, Bobo was once a friend of Wyatt Earp.
Not only that but he was wasn’t meant to die. Wyatt didn’t mean to kill him. Clootie used Bobo as a human shield and Bobo sacrificed his own life by telling Wyatt to shoot through him to stop Clootie. Clootie, though, is the one that cursed Wyatt and Peacemaker. And instead of staying with the friend he inadvertently sent to Hell, Wyatt left Bobo in Purgatory.
He abandoned Bobo to bleed to death. And in the end Bobo chooses to go to hell rather than get the final seal for Constance Clootie, who claims she could otherwise save him. All it would have taken is saving Doc from the well because it turns out his ring is actually the third seal. But he left Doc there to ‘protect’ the seal and keep it hidden. Which means he condemned himself voluntarily to Wyatt Earp’s curse.
Damn, Bobo.
As he lies dying in the same chapel where Wynonna is on her spirit quest, Bobo finally sees Wynonna watching him. She tells him a little of what will happen to him once he resurrects and she calls him Bobo. She also tells him to remember how much he loved Wyatt Earp and, thinking she’s an angel come to watch over him, Bobo promises never to hurt Wynonna – no matter what he becomes. But when he asks Wynonna her name, she tells him it’s Waverly which is the obvious reason that he ended up always protecting her as a child.
Anyway, while Wynonna is on this spirit quest, a lot is happening back in the real world.
Dolls arrives at the chapel thanks to Ewan’s information and confronts Juan Carlo. When the widows attacked him, Juan Carlo was gravely injured and, despite being immortal like Doc in most respects, he’s now dying. His curse was that he could not interfere with the events of man but he’s interfering now and he’s apparently paying the price. When the widows arrive, Juan Carlo sends Dolls to deal with them and tells him that no matter what happens Dolls needs to protect Wynonna at all costs.
Juan Carlo ends up dying not of his wound but after being savagely torn apart by the widows. Dolls ends up putting him out of his misery and barricading himself in the chapel. After relying on his secret dragon powers to keep the widows at bay, he collapses inside the chapel alongside Wynonna. The widows are furious because Dolls has ‘claimed sanctuary’ meaning they can’t go inside. So they do the next best thing – they set the chapel on fire.
The fire is affecting Wynonna even in the dream and she begs Bobo to help her wake up. He rings the chapel bell which apparently has real world applications because that bell rings, too, calling the fire brigade to their rescue.
When Wynonna wakes up she’s been dragged out of the chapel by a panicking, hysterical Dolls. If you guys were worried that the Wynonna/Dolls/Doc triangle wasn’t still going you don’t need to be concerned any more. There are tears and kisses and Dolls’s tough guy exterior he’s been hiding behind the last few episodes are completely gone.
By the end of the episode they’re back at the Homestead in Wynonna’s bed talking through what happened. Of course, talking about how Doc’s ring is the seal and his immortality is tied to it and how breaking that seal will bring back the original Sheriff Clootie who set the Earp curse isn’t exactly pillow talk. But we’re getting there.
So, pretty dramatic episode right?
Well, buckle up because it gets even crazier. It turns out that Wynonna actually died in the fire. For about a minute she had no pulse and guess what that means? THE REVENANTS SHE KILLED ARE BACK BECAUSE BOBO IS RESURRECTED IN THE BEST CLIFFHANGER OF THE SEASON. I’m super stoked – even if this does seem a bit too similar to the whole Faith story arc in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Also, if Wynonna died without an heir what does that mean for the curse? Because by the end of the episode we still don’t know if Waverly is an Earp – it’s just heavily implied that she is not.
Also, speaking of Waverly…
She, Haught, and Rosita have their own little subplot going the whole episode. While Wynonna is on her spirit quest and Juan Carlo is dying and all that, the three of them are planning a baby shower for Wynonna and drinking cocktails at Shorty’s.
It’s all part of an effort by Rosita to get a little closer to the group – especially since Wynonna may be having her boyfriend’s kid and all that. It was nice to actually have a little time with Rosita outside of the few scenes we’ve had so far because before this episode I honestly wasn’t sure if she and Doc were really together or just uncomfortably flirty co-workers.
Of course, even this lighthearted subplot turns dramatic when we find out that Haught has been hiding a secret from Waverly. Waverly had sent her DNA out to be tested to see if she really was an Earp. At the time she hadn’t told Wynonna about her suspicions so she sent the paperwork with a return address for the police station. And when Haught got it she hid it from Waverly. Except Waverly finds out and gets understandably pissed. We don’t know the results of the test – but we do find out that it wasn’t Wynonna who saved her that day when she fell through the ice. It was Bobo. Which, honestly, isn’t really a surprise.
Wynonna Earp has been killing it the past few weeks.
The beginning of the second season was interesting but the last three or four episodes have been amazing. It’s not because of the whole pregnancy arc, either. It’s because of how the characters are interacting, the story is progressing, and the writers keep dropping all these major revelations.
The shifting dynamics are keeping the story fresh and having the possessed Mercedes arc tie back to the origins of the Earp curse was some inspired writing. It really makes those slower episodes in the beginning of the season more important and I like when writers manage to do that.
I also want to point out that while Wynonna’s pregnancy is framing some of the story it’s hardly driving it. Damn near everything that’s happened could have happened regardless of whether or not she was pregnant – and that is actually really cool. We’re being shown a realistic pregnancy in a supernatural series. Just because you’re pregnant doesn’t mean you stop living your life… even when your life basically revolves entirely around killing demons.
With only four more episodes left in this season, I can only imagine where things are going to go from here!
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