Wynonna Earp Is the Heroine We Need (and Deserve), Especially Right Now
It’s been a hell of a couple of months for women on TV. Queer female characters have been getting killed off at an alarming rate, which spawned a fandom revolution and raised a lot of money for a great cause. Wonderful, rich characters like Abbie on Sleepy Hollow have been fridged to further the stories of their male counterparts. Frankly, it’s been really depressing to be a TV fan as of late.
However, there is a beacon of hope, my dear friends, and she’s got a chip on her shoulder and a big ol’ gun to match it. If there was ever a time we needed Wynonna Earp to strut into town—in her self-titled TV show—it’s now.
Show ’em how it’s done, Wynonna.
Based on a comic book by Beau Smith, this television adaptation is helmed by producer/showrunner Emily Andras (Lost Girl, Killjoys) and kicked off this month on Syfy.
Melanie Scrofano stars as the title character, who happens to be a descendent of Wyatt Earp, one of the most well-known figures of the American Wild West. Wynonna is a hard-drinking, law-breaking badass who finds herself inheriting some special powers on her 27th birthday. When she returns to her hometown of Purgatory to attend her uncle’s funeral, she becomes embroiled in a supernatural and familial fight to the death. With Wyatt’s trusty gun, she must eliminate 77 undead baddies with a taste for human flesh, whose main goal is to destroy the Earp family and escape Purgatory once and for all. Good thing Wynonna isn’t alone in her fight. Her sister, Waverly (the perfectly cast Dominique Provost-Chalkley), is the pluckiest pluck to ever pluck and pretty good with a rifle herself.
Sisters are doing it for themselves.
So is Agent Xavier Dolls (Shamier Anderson), who is part of a cross-border supernatural task force (say that 3 times fast) trying to stop the Revenants (the baddies) from escaping Purgatory and unleashing hell on Earth. No big.
Dolls: Adorable last name, serious as hell.
There is another major player who will try to derail the Earps and their mission, and that’s Doc Holliday (Tim Rozon). He also happens to be Wyatt Earp’s one-time best friend. He’s not a Revenant, so we aren’t quite sure why Doc has showed up 100 years after his own death, but you can bet your bottom dollar it’s going to be good.
The Doc is in … but why?
Wynonna Earp is still getting its footing, but at only two episodes in, it’s showing great promise. Having two compelling leading ladies sure doesn’t hurt. It’s also super queer. In last week’s episode, Waverly met cute with Officer Nicole Haught (Katherine Barrell) and sparks flew like crazy.
(#WayHot, now that’s a ship we can get behind. via)
The writing on Wynonna Earp is quick and witty, and with such a dismal 2016 so far for female characters, the show is a breath of fresh air right when we needed it most. We will continue our Wynonna Earp coverage with weekly recaps of the upcoming episodes plus interviews and other goodies. So, here’s to Canadian cowgirls in leather jackets, battling the undead. You got here just in time, Wynonna.
(images via Syfy)
Dana Piccoli is a pop culture critic and entertainment writer who lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. She’s a current writer and former Staff Editor of AfterEllen, and covers The 100 for Alloy Entertainment. She’s also written for Curve Magazine, Go Magazine, PopWrapped, and Gaygamer.net. She’s currently writing a lesbian romance novel she’s hoping you will read one day soon. You can follow her on Twitter and Tumblr.
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