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The last episode of Wynonna earp was a long time coming. The back half of the cult drama’s fourth (and possibly final) season followed the downward spiral of Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) following her less than honorable execution of Hoyt Clayborn (Ty Olsson) – an event that alienated her love Doc (Tim Rozon) and has since led Wynonna to alienate herself from everyone.
(Spoilers ahead for Wynonna earp Season 4, Episode 10, “Life Turned Her That Way.”)
As Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) and Nicole (Katherine Barrell) get married, Doc prepares to become a better man and Jeremy (Varun Saranga) focuses on Black Badge, Wynonna has remained firmly in place, with Peacemaker and a bottle of whiskey as his closest company. Wynonna’s growing isolation and alcohol dependence comes to a head in a poorly received intervention, in which the new cracks in Wynonna and Waverly’s seemingly infallible relationship widen. And when Waverly’s other demonic half, Jolene (Zoie Palmer), returns, she successfully transforms the painful burden Wynonna has borne as the hero of Purgatory into a way to force Waverly to finally claim her own power and right. of birth.
Scrofano jumped on the phone with Vulture to talk about Wynonna’s journey of sanity and destructive coping mechanisms, the heavy toll of being a hero, and how it feels to have to say goodbye to Wynonna after four seasons.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
After Wynonna killed Hoyt, her continued struggles with alcohol use and her sanity magnified dramatically. And was this event such a trigger for Wynonna?
It wasn’t so much what she did to Hoyt. I think what really brought him home was Doc’s reaction and the way someone he cares so much about saw her, and [it] got her to think about her own actions and see it a little differently. I think she felt a kind of hate for who she became and what she leaned into, but also [she saw] no other way out. It was as if she felt trapped by the circumstances and by who she was. She simply saw no other way out than self-sabotage.
Waverly and Nicole stage an intervention for Wynonna at the start of this episode. Can you talk about Wynonna’s relationship with alcohol and how it has changed this season?
I think it was always a crutch for her. But I think it really hit a tipping point, again, with Doc’s confrontation and her seeing no way out. I think she drank alcohol to stop thinking and just to say, “Well, I have to do this. I don’t know if I should do it more, but I don’t see any other way. I think alcohol has become a way to ease the shock of not knowing how to move forward, but of knowing that she still has to. So it has become a way of not having to think about it and act.
The intervention gets really intense, especially when Waverly accuses Wynonna of becoming their father. Can you talk a bit about the filming of this scene and all the pain that is exchanged between the sisters?
In this scene, it’s another person who makes her feel like she’s flawed – and not just flawed, but deeply dysfunctional. I think anyone can understand being compared to someone you have no respect for or who you know has done horrible things. It really disrupts your identity, the way you see yourself. I think for Wynonna it must have been so, so painful. But also for Waverly, it must have been really hard to see someone she loves evolving that way. And I think it was really brave of him to face it instead of acting like it didn’t happen.
Everyone in Wynonna’s life is moving forward, and you said Wynonna can’t see a way out of her current predicament. What do you think makes her feel so trapped?
It’s like she’s damned if she does and she’s damned if she doesn’t. If she does what she has to do, people will judge her and get mad at her. And if she doesn’t, then either they’ll die or they won’t be safe. She says it at the end of [“Hell Raisin’ Good Time”], she says, “I’m sick of feeling guilty about who I am when what I am is needed.” And I think that his necessity is also what makes him very sad.
Why do you think it was so important for the show to directly explore the burden that being a hero took on Wynonna and her sanity?
I would like to know what [creator] Emilie [Andras] thought. For me, it was something interesting that Wynonna always drank. And I’ve always been interested that… she always avoids the pain or tries to ease the pain with her words, by drinking or by killing… I love the idea that sometimes we have to do things in life that we consider important, but we did not ask to carry this burden. And so, what does it look like for people who have to carry a burden in their life that they haven’t asked for, that they have no way out? What does it do to them? And I think there are a lot of concrete examples of that.
While the beginning of the episode directly explores alcohol use and Wynonna’s destructive addiction to demon killing, the focus then shifts to rescuing Waverly. Will we have a better resolution to these issues that Wynonna is facing?
I think we’ll get to the bottom. Oh, you know, I just realized another thing that’s going on with Wynonna is that even though she has to do everything, Waverly is getting married… She’s engaged with someone other than Wynonna. And I think that isolation, with Doc choosing a different path in life, left Wynonna feeling really isolated. I think his isolation has always been at the heart of his problems. I think moving forward, Wynonna will definitely have a chance to take a closer look at this isolation with Waverly and really face those feelings with her at some point.
After Waverly gets caught by Jolene, Wynonna is ready to rush through the fog to save her, but Nicole insists it’s her turn. It was a little while, but really powerful. What was it like for Wynonna to be the one left for once?
Guess it’s a little while, but in my mind, it was always a huge moment too, because it’s like Wynonna has been replaced in Waverly’s life. This is something that she has to decide on her end to allow, as she cannot always be her sister’s hero… And so it was a great moment for Wynonna, for many reasons, to give the green light. to Nicole and be the one to take a step back. I think it would have been, in so many ways, really, really hard for her. Not that I think she dealt with it at the time. But I certainly think her reflex of being the one to go and then the difficulty of saying, “Okay, go ahead”, would be really symbolic and really difficult for her.
When Waverly first met Jolene, it was the love between the Earp sisters that helped Waverly find the strength to fight her. But this time, Jolene arms that relationship. Does the fact that Jolene is able to manipulate and injure Waverly so successfully using Wynonna mean there is some truth to what she is saying?
I think part of the reason Jolene’s words were so powerful was because there was truth in them… She points to Wynonna’s isolation, essentially. And I think she really reveals to Waverly the depth of Wynonna’s isolation, and I think that would be a really painful thing for Waverly because I don’t think she ever looked at Wynonna in such a harsh way. and truthful before. So that’s kind of the genius behind how the Jolene part was written, it’s just that it’s not that far. Waverly becomes the right guy all the time and Wynonna has to carry that burden and look bad doing it, and that has to be a really lonely thing.
The episode ends with this huge twist of Waverly becoming a Dark Angel. Such a big theme of this episode was the dynamics of the sisters and who makes the sacrifices and has to be the hero. So how will Waverly’s transformation change the dynamic between the sisters and play out in the future?
For better or for worse, Waverly takes full ownership of her place in life. And that kind of makes her independent from Wynonna, really, in a way that she’s never been before. I think that would show Wynonna that she is no longer her little girl and that she is her own entity, whatever that entity is, and that she has to kind of let go.
I know Emily Andras is always trying to find a new home for Wynonna earp. But if this season really is the end, what do you think about the end of the series and Wynonna?
I’m really happy with it. I think the way it ends would be a great ending. I think if we were to come back, there would be a really interesting way to come back, because it seems to tie in well but in my mind there’s always a way to screw it up, you know? And so I think it’s a brilliant ending. I’m really happy about it, but I also think Emily put so much heart into it. It was as if she had opened her heart and let everything spill over into this script.
What was your greatest pride or joy in playing Wynonna during these four seasons?
Oh my God. I never liked a character like I liked Wynonna. And I think it’s not only because of who she is and what she represents in terms of likeness, a perfectly imperfect person, but because of the relationships she has had and the relationships that we have developed in. the rest of the series. I think I learned so much about myself and what it means to be part of a family… My love for Wynonna is like, she is the most important woman in my life. And I’m so grateful to have met her, to have loved her and to be her.
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