'Wynonna Earp' Season 4 Episode 6 Review: 'Holy War' presents a chilling end to the rivalry with the Clantons
Spoilers for 'Wynonna Earp' Season 4 Episode 6 'Holy War Part Two'
Demonic nuns calling for deathmatches, ghosts trapped in frogs that fight zombie ex-boyfriends, and Sheriff Randy Nedley (Greg Lawson) talking about his favorite Spice Girls song while wearing a giant wolf head cloak - this episode has everything you'd want from a fun-filled episode of 'Wynonna Earp.' However, Part Two of the 'Holy War' brings the rivalry between the Earps and the Clantons to war, and it leads to some pretty dark territory that is going to be a challenge to walk back from.
In an attempt to lift Nicole Haught's (Katherine Barrell) curse, Jeremy Chetri (Varun Saranga) and Sheriff Nedley attempt to drown her and hold her spirit in a frog. Waverly Earp (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) is not happy about this, especially after Carol Clanton (Paula Boudreau) sents a zombified Billy (Billy Boyk) to kill Waverly. In the meantime, after working through her grudge with Rosita (Tamara Duarte) in the church of Women Scorned, Wynonna Earp (Melanie Scrofano) finds the Peacemaker again - and uses it to end all hopes of a peaceful resolution between the Earps and the Clantons for good.
There's a lot going on in this episode, but most of it is immense fun. Rosita's return ramps up the ratio of dirty jokes to purely ridiculous happenings, but the latter definitely gives the former a run for its money. Frog puns and a frustrated ghostly Nicole are just some of the highlights of the hilariously turbulent road to getting Nicole's curse lifted. Somehow, however, all the silliness doesn't take away from the more serious scenes featured in the show. As a ghost, Nicole is able to talk about her deal more clearly, allowing her to finally talk about the deal she made.
Eagle-eyed fans have already noted how the Clantons helped the Earps out of Eden, but the reveal this episode is that the Clandons' weren't really after Waverly or Wynonna - they had their sights set on Doc Holliday (Tim Rozon). Doc and Sheriff Holt (Ty Olsson) anchor the heart of this episode, as they work to try to find peace between their two warring clans. There's an earnestness shared between the two characters, and weariness for violence and hate, that is sold beautifully, especially in Tim Rozon's performance. Doc Holliday is finally owning up to his sins - and he wants to make amends for them.
Wynonna, for her part, seems less inclined to own up to her sins as she does own up to her darkness. The resolution of this episode - Wynonna shooting Holt in the back after Holliday - is darker than the show usually goes, and is made all the more heartbreaking by Doc's impassioned speech to de-escalate the situation only moments before. Wynonna's embraced a grim path, and this might only be the start. Team Earp seems to have forgotten that there's still one member of the Clantons left alive - and it's only a matter of time before Cleo Clanton (Savannah Basley) comes for her revenge.
However, for the moment, there's happy news for the Earp homestead. With Nicole's curse lifted and her feelings of guilt processed in a ghostly conversation with Waverly, Nicole and Waverly are finally able to move past the nightmare of Eden and their lost 18 months. Their much-delayed engagement is delayed no longer, and there's a WayHaught wedding to Purgatory soon! The proposal is a touching scene, but one that has chilling darkness hanging over it made stark by the visible rift between Doc and Wynonna over the way Wynonna handled things. This is a real turning point for the series, and it's hard to predict what comes next - but the events of the 'Holy War' have major ramifications for Wynonna's future. At the moment, things are looking dark.
'Wynonna Earp' Season 4 will return in 2021.