Wynona Earp

When it comes to television, I am a person to who can weigh in. I am a stay-at-home mom who barely sleeps. I go from one show to the next in rapid succession. Many an evening is spent clacking away writing stories, cleaning the kitchen, or being semi comatose on the couch. This brings me to my latest binge. Wynona Earp. I would say if you like the supernatural, a lot of darkness carved out with humor, add Wynona Earp to your list of must watch shows.

Wynona Earp sits exactly right with a long list of monsters of the week, ensemble cast series. Buffy, Angel, Killjoys, just off the top of my head. This show has darkness to it sprinkled with wit, humor and very human moments. The writers of Wynona Earp intentionally leaned into Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The fact that Wynona is of age allows for there to not be any weird chastity story. There isnt an entire storyline structured around her virginity, and the love between Wynona and Doc is more realistically complicated.

A very direct parallel to Wynona Earp is Supernatural. 2 siblings from a dysfunctional family caught in a dynastic mission, both with their own role to play. Both stories tie back to the old west, Wynona has Peacemaker while the Winchesters have their Colt. There are some definite differences, Wynona has much more clear purpose than the Winchesters, and there is less ensemble quality to Supernatural. Essentially Wynona is Dean Winchester as a woman. She drinks, shes dysfunctional, shes cursed, and she always shows up for her little sister. Waverly, Wynona’s younger sister who is studious and good, and Wynona has been tasked with caring for.

Wynona Earp has what I will dub the blurred line trope. I am sure there is some fancy literary term that I could easily google, but I think blurred lines does the trick for my purposes. Similar to Buffy, Angel, Supernatural, Grimm the well established “bad guys” at the beginning of the series turn slowly into allies, and friends. As the story progresses you begin to ask yourself who the bad guy was to begin with. Was Wyatt Earp the legendary good guy in the story or are the Revenants that keep coming back from hell cursed because Wyatt Earp was a killer. Similar again to Supernatural Wynona Earp is not the story of good and evil battling out for power, but the cogs battling to stop the wheel so they can stop being cogs and just be regular people.

A much less obvious show that might indicate you would enjoy Wynona Earp would be Fleabag. There is something about the way that Fleabag broaches female sexuality, as well as the simultaneous fragility and resilience of family structures that feels just as palpable in Wynona Earp. There are jobs at Wynona’s sexual choices but not a direct correlation to her sexual endeavors and her as a person. Waverly and Wynona like the sisters in Fleabag are imperfect they fight and hurt one another but gravitate back to the central truth that they know each other deeply and cannot accept anyone harming the other.

The final set of shows that I would affiliate with Wynona Earp are scenic shows. When watching Wynona travel through her life, there is snow, and forest and hills. The visuals are quite striking. Most similarly I see the resemblance of Anne with an E, and Longmire. The cinematography makes the viewer feel the cold desolation that the characters are feeling.

This is not a show I can stop watching. Some shows I can sleep right through; I even turn on NCIS so I can fall asleep to the lull of repeated storylines. Wynona Earp is funny, sad, captivating and for me personally, relatable. I binged the first 3 seasons in less than a week and have been wishing I had cable to watch season 4. Not something I often want, unless I feel like I am missing some really engaging content. If you enjoy the Scooby gang on Buffy, or the chaotic bond of the Winchesters, I think Wynona Earp might be a great choice for you to watch.