"Colder Weather" - Wynonna Earp S03E03 Review

So on Wynonna Earp, Xavier died, and everyone is very sad. The end.

Okay, there's a bit more to it than that. But the episode is dedicated primarily to Xavier/Agent Dolls' death last week. We get a different opening credit sequence, with a lack of the theme, the removal of Shamier Anderson from the credits, and the addition of Katherine Barrell. As to the latter: about time. She appeared in more episodes of season 2 than Mr. Anderson.

There are some subplots going on. Xavier's former squad mate Quinn (Peter Mooney) rolls into Purgatory to attend Xavier's wake. We find out that Kate the vampire (Chantel Riley) is back, not surprisingly. And she's Doc's ex-wife, although she doesn't have a big nose that I can tell. So much for historical accuracy. And she can tell the future using Trot cards and makes noises about how important Waverly is even if she isn't an Earp.

There's also a revenant attack, since the revenants have stolen Xavier's bootleg Black Badge Division (BBD) drugs that he was using to suppress his dragon half. Oh, and Quinn says that he was the only member of their squadron who wasn't experimented on by BBD. But is he telling the truth?

The rest is dealing with the death of a main character. How interested you are in the episode as a whole depends on whether you're of the "Wow, it's pretty unrealistic how they moved on from the death of Main Character X pretty quickly on Show Y" or the "Thank god they moved on from the death of Main Character X pretty quickly on Show Y" variety.

I fall... somewhere in-between. It's nice that they dedicated a whole episode to a character who, quite frankly, got pretty short shrift on the show. Mr. Anderson has always been a team player, but his character was pretty much back-burnered during season 2. Between the Waverly/Nicole romance, and the Wynonna/Doc relationship, Xavier came in a distant third place. The whole BBD thing, and Xavier's connection, was kind of muddled since they more-or-less left Purgatory at the beginning of season 2. It's not like Xavier was ever going to come close to winning in the on-again/off-again romantic triangle of Xavier, Wynonna, and Doc.

So maybe Mr. Anderson decided to move on. Maybe the production crew could only afford four main stories, and wanted to promote Ms. Barrell so someone else had to go and Mr. Anderson was the obvious choice. Regardless, he's apparently gone for good, except for maybe a Special Guest Star appearance down the road. Because it's a supernatural show, so nobody is ever gone for good. Look at Jim Beaver on Supernatural.

One nice thing is that everyone gets equal time to mourn. Yes, Wynonna is the main character that the show is named after. But we gets lots of reaction from Waverly, Doc, and Nicole. And even Nedley and Jeremy. I could have done with less of Quinn, who comes with lots of backstory and exposition. And of course, we've never heard of him before. They left it open enough that he could come back. Joy.

So let's see. Wynonna is out in the forest getting drunk while Waverly and Nicole sit nearby, looking pensive. A dumber-than-usual revenant comes up and admits that he's willing to let Wynonna kill him with Peacemaker as long as he gets to see her mourn. Wynonna is sick of death: Nicole isn't, shoots at him, and he runs off.

Cut to the next day, where Waverly and Nicole are having a rather oblique conversation with a funeral director. Who you'd think would be Trump levels of wealthy given all of the people that die in Purgatory, but doesn't appear to be. The conversation turns to how Nicole wants to be "buried". As Waverly puts it later, it's basically be eaten by vultures and pooped out again.

Wynonna makes several "only the good die young" speeches, and Nicole basically tells her to buck up because she's not the only one mourning. The revenants break into Jeremy's cellar lab and steal the bootleg BBD drug that he was working on. Kate steals an envelope that Xavier left for Wynonna. Wynonna blames Jeremy for Xavier's death and orders him out of Purgatory before she kills him.

Kate steals the aforementioned letter that Waverly has, and runs off with it. She uses it as bait to get Doc to visit her at the Gardner house where she's taken up residence. And after they reveal that they used to be married, she and Doc have sex. So... we get a romantic triangle to replace the Wynonna-Doc-Xavier triangle now that Xavier is dead. One step forward, two steps back.

There is a scene where Wynonna goes to the morgue and finds Nedley guarding Xavier's body. I've always liked Greg Lawson as Nedley. He's not a "big" actor, but he gets some dignity here and it's nice to see his relationship with Wynonna continue developing to the point where they both quietly respect the other.

Quinn shows up and identifies himself. He and Doc bond, and Wynonna eventually comes around to him. In part because the drugged-up revenants stage an attack on Shorty's while the team (plus Quinn) are holding a wake for Xavier. When Jeremy comes through on his way out of town, Quinn recognizes him as a BBD scientist and tortures him. Quinn also blames himself for Xavier's condition, since he kept recapturing Xavier (under orders) whenever Xavier escaped BBD experimentation. Wynonna comes to Jeremy's aid, accepts that he's not responsible for Xavier's death, and convinces Quinn to spare Jeremy's life and leave town or she'll kill him. They don't mention if Jeremy recognizes Quinn or not. Also, the "leave town or die" threat is a little tiresome the second time.

At the end, everyone gathers for the burial of Xavier's ashes. After that, Doc goes off and has sex with Kate. Wynonna and Waverly sit by a fire and banter about how there's only room in the family plot for Michelle and Wynonna. Wynonna threatens to not let Nicole be buried there and then changes her mind. Again with the half-hearted threats that Wynonna backs out of shortly after making them. And that's it. We find out that the envelope has a photo of the team, and a photo of Wynonna.

If someone was a fan of Shamier Anderson, then you got your money's worth. He was buried with honors and he got more after-death time than, say, Tasha Yar on Star Trek The Next Generation. Or Bobby on Supernatural. Or any villain on Arrow (or Captain Lance!) who dies and eventually comes back. Or most dead characters. Hopefully they don't undue it with bringing him back for a very special appearance down the road.

If you weren't a fan of Mr. Anderson, then you were probably bored with the whole thing and wondering what all the uproar was about Xavier.

Me, I thought they did okay by him. They slowly tapered off the character's significance in the story, so I can see why he wanted to leave and why the producers wanted him to leave. Anderson has been cagey in interviews about why he's leaving. He's put a good face on it, sure. But then again, he wants to keep working in the business, too, so he's going to, isn't he?

Overall, I thought "Colder Weather" was a good episode. It was nice to take a break from whatever the subplotting is with Bulshar the bad-ass demon, and the remaining vampire Kate, and the remaining revenants. The latter of which are more of a nuisance than anything. Remember when they used to be a "Big Bad of the Week", and now they're redshirts for Wynonna (and everyone else?) to gun down.

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