Wynonna Earp season 4 premiere review: On the road again

After a two-year absence, our Ghost River Triangle team returns with Doc and Waverly searching for a way home, and Wynonna searching for…everyone.

Welcome back, Earpers! The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here! The season four premiere of Wynonna Earp aired Sunday evening, answering some questions leftover from last season, while also posing new ones. The whole gang is back including Wynonna, Nicole, Waverley, Doc, Kate, Mercedes, and Nedley (though they’re not all back together).

We open the season with a quick recap of season three and pick up right where we left off, with Wynonna and Nedley gearing up to go save their friends and family. As Wynonna puts the finishing touches on her kick-ass ensemble, including Doc’s twin pistols, Nedley offers a little wink to the huge time gap that has taken place out in the real world as he’s waiting for her. “You almost done? I feel like I’ve been standing here for two years,” he says without missing a beat.

The two return to the woods, desperate to retrace Waverly’s last steps in an effort to find the gateway to the mysterious “garden.” While at first, the staircase is visible and solid enough for Wynonna to climb, she eventually ends up falling on her face in the snow as it vanishes from sight. Little demonic crabs come out from under the ground and attack them, injuring Nedley in the process.

Back at the homestead, Wynonna attempts to tend to Nedley’s wounds but has to settle for maxi-pads to patch him up. The two then encounter Mercedes in the kitchen, who had somehow become separated from Kate and knew enough to seek out Wynonna during an apocalypse. The motley crew of characters makes their way to the sheriff’s station where Nedley keeps all of Dolls’ old Black Badge files, hoping to find a lead on the person named “Valdez.” In a flashback, we see that Jeremy was the one who carved the name into the wall at the homestead, just before being captured, along with Robin and Nicole, by some Black Badge-looking operatives.

Elsewhere, Nicole wakes up in the back of a train car, having no recollection of how she got there. She makes a play to try and jump from the train, but it stopped by Kate, who informs her that the door is rigged with electricity. After a quick tarot reading to help Nicole figure out where Waverly is, Kate takes one for the team by opening the door long enough for Nicole to jump.

In the garden, Doc happens upon a chained-up Waverly who is slowly being killed by chains choking and crushing her. Doc is able to save Waverly and they come in contact with a winged throne in their search for shelter. Doc advises her not to sit down, despite the fact that Waverly states it’s her “birthright.” They make their way into an underground facility where a slightly deranged man with a lot of cuts on his body tries to explain that there’s a well that needs human blood to stabilize everything. This part of the episode kind of reminded me of The Cabin in the Woods, with the gods needing sacrifices in order to save humanity.

Mercedes volunteers to tend to Nedley as Wynonna sets off in search of Valdez, who may have been Gloria Valdez, a Black Badge scientist who works in a nearby town. On the way, Wynonna gets a flat, but gets some assistance from Nicole (after Nicole punches Wynonna in the face for drugging her). The two end up at the military installation where Valdez worked and run into Rachel Valdez, the daughter of Gloria Valdez. Rachel and her mom also knew Dolls, and she’s been living in the facility ever since a government organization shut it down.

The three women are attacked by some radiated zombies and lose track of each other in the facility. Wynonna finds herself on top of a grate, which Rachel had worn them to stay away from. In an effort to pave the way for Wynonna to save Waverly, Nicole knocks Wynonna off the grate and quickly falls down a very dark black hole.

Mr. Crazy cuts off his head and Doc and Waverly use his blood to assuage the well long enough for them to set up camp just outside the facility. It’s here that Doc and Waverly seem to be trying to remind themselves of how Nicole and Wynonna look, so the garden is obviously affecting their memory somehow. While Doc is napping, Waverly goes back into the facility and cuts herself, sharing her blood with the well and causing beautiful flowers and trees to blossom. We also see Waverly presented with four large books, each with the name of Waverly, Wynonna, Doc, and Nicole on the cover. It’s interesting to note that Waverly says “Waverly Gibson,” though the camera doesn’t show which book she actually selects to read (?).

In the final scene, Doc storms into the facility yet again looking for Waverly, who seems to have disappeared. Again. Instead, he is greeted by a newly arrived, and completely naked, Nicole Haught.

What did you think of the Wynonna Earp season four premiere? Let us know in the comments section below.