"No Cure for Crazy" - Wynonna Earp S03E04 Review

And so we have another episode where the effects--such as they are--of Xavier's death are felt. While the plot marches on.

First we get an in media res of Wynonna and Doc chasing one of the revenants from last week who stole Xavier's dragon drug. For some reason a tree jumps in front of him in a really bad CGI shot. Why are trees randomly jumping in front of revenants and knocking them down? Who knows?

Anyhoo, Wynonna tries to shoot the revenant with Peacemaker and discovers that she's out of bullets. I have no idea what this signifies, other than that Xavier was apparently providing her with bullets via BBD, and with him gone there are no bullets. Why BBD had bullets (what did the Earps do for bullets before BBD came along), and why Peacemaker requires special bullets, I don't know. And didn't BBD leave Purgatory last season? So how could Xavier get bullets from them? And figuring that he could, why would they?

Yes, there are probably answers to be imagined here. But shouldn't the creative team be telling us this stuff? And who cares? Apparently anyone can kill revenants, although only Peacemaker sends them to Hell semi-"permanently", at least until the next Heir shows up. So do we care now if they go to Hell?

We also get a bit with park ranger Robin (Justin Kelly, from Between among other shows) wandering around the woods and finding a poplar tree dripping blood. Which makes it a "murder tree", I guess. How Robin, who we later find out is mostly a jazz historian, knows this is again anyone's guess.

And Waverly and Nicole go to the site of the supposed fire which was a BBD cover for a Cult of Bulshar slaughter that killed off Nicole's parents back in 1996. We also see Nicole tossing away Xavier's ring.

Everyone ends up back at the station. Waverly finds out about Wynonna having kept the secret of Michelle's existence in the Ghost River Institute a secret. She goes to visit Michelle, and it doesn't go well because Michelle apparently thinks Waverly is a demon.

Wynonna and Doc have a search-cute as they go to Shorty's basement to look for a basement. We get a mention of their daughter Alice and how Doc made a crib for her. They flirt and the show gets a lot of mileage out of the chemistry between Melanie Scrofano and Tim Rozon. If getting rid of Shamier Anderson lets them expand their relationship more, great.

Although wasn't Doc having sex with his ex-wife Kate last week? The characters even comment Doc is cheerier without saying or knowing why. So the fact he's two-timing Wynonna doesn't make him that sympathetic. And it kind of casts a shadow over their relationship. Yeah, it's been four months and a pregnancy since then, but it still comes across as kind of odd.

Robin ends up asking Jeremy for help. And they end up flirting with each other. Because they're gay, don't you know? Jeremy ends up going into the woods with Robin to check out the murder tree and they come across an ancient flight of stairs leading nowhere. Shades of Channel Zero. The tree has disappeared, and the staircase doesn't show up on the photos they take of it later.

Doc comes after them, and hears a child crying. He follows the sound and stumbles into Bulshar. Who I guess is who Jean Marchand plays, while the bald scar-faced military guy played by Kevin Davey is "Lord Bodinus", who died two episodes ago fighting Xavier. What he's a lord of, I have no idea. I'm just going by the end credits, what the actor looks like compared to what the character looked like, and process of elimination.

Bulshar offers a chance not to go to Hell in return for his help. And it turns out Doc hallucinated the whole thing--or did he?--and Jeremy and Robin get out of the forest just fine

The new city manager, Claude, is having issues with where all the money is going to the sheriff's department. Nedley (Greg Lawson) tries to explain it, calls in Wynonna, and Wynonna claims she's a Federal agent. Claude says that it's okay and he'll call the Feds to have them pick up the tab.

Wynonna goes to see Michelle at the Ghost River Institute, which I'm not sure if it's a prison, or an insane asylum, or a prison for the criminally insane, or what. Michelle takes Peacemaker from her and escapes, and the warden locks up Wynonna just because he's a dick and because Claude found out she's not a Federal agent. One of the guards is a revenant and tries to kill Wynonna, but she breaks free, has the warden free her from her manacles, and she goes after Michelle. The warden is pretty calm about the whole thing.

When Waverly comes back complaining about Michelle trying to kill her, Nedley hears and explains Michelle went to prison because she tried to burn down her own barn... with Waverly inside of it. Her husband Ward told Nedley to have her put away, and so Michelle has been at the Institute for the last 20 years. But Michelle was apparently loved by everyone and Nedley doesn't think she got a fair shake. But he did what Ward told him to.

Robin goes home to where his father is staying and has Alzheimer's. There are some weird plants growing outside, and when Robin takes some pictures, a big vine grabs him and drags him away. All-righty.

In the end, Waverly goes out to the barn and finds Michelle there performing some kind of ritual. Michelle tells her that a demon is coming for Waverly and she's already there. Waverly turns and screams as she sees the demon there.

When Wynonna arrives later, she finds Waverly, Doc, and Nicole all seated at the dinner table in front of a big pile of sweets. They all praise Jolene (Zoie Palmer), who is the woman serving them sweets. When Wynonna objects, Jolene stuffs some brownies in Wynonna's mouth and Wynonna is under the same goofy-smiling, praise-singing spell as the others.

So between people lost in the forest, and a wicked witch/demon, and mystic sweets, I guess they're going for a whole fairy-tale vibe now that Once Upon a Time has ended. What it has to do with the overall plot of Bulshar, I don't know. There's an overall storyline with Bulshar, and then there's whatever else they decide to throw at the wall and see what sticks. This week we've got a murder tree, and a staircase going nowhere, and a wicked witch with enchanted treats. Not to mention Peacemaker running out of bullets, and the Doc/Wynonna relationship, and the Doc Goes to Hell thing, and Jeremy's romantic issues, and Waverly and Nicole together. Because they're gay, don't you know?

But that's part of the charm of Wynonna Earp, isn't it? It's got an underlying mythology, but even with three seasons it's not as binding as, say, Supernatural after three seasons. And it's not the first time they've gone the fairy-tale route: remember last year and the demon that provided wishes?

So overall, "No Cure For Crazy" was okay. Pretty much a set-up episode, both for the ongoing Bulshar conflict, and for the immediate Jolene/Wicked Witch/Robin/murder tree storyline (and the revenant-jumping tree?), which will presumably wrap up next week. It's got decent performances, as always, and strong ones from Tim Rozon and Greg Lawson. There's nothing bad about it, other than the fact that it's a bit of a muddle. And these days that's more of a feature than a bug.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?