Review by C.J. Bunce
Sometimes entertainment is exactly what it’s supposed to be. Take Wynonna Earp: Vengeance, movie sequel to the four-season Syfy Channel supernatural horror-Western series Wynonna Earp. Now streaming on Tubi–an unusual streamer to launch a film for the first time–this is not a sequel that tries to up its game or change what it is to attract some new audience, like movie sequels we’ve seen for The X-Files, Veronica Mars, Psych, and The Monk Movie. Wynonna Earp fans, known as Earpers, know their heroine. And they know her hero. Melanie Scrofano’s Wynonna Earp, the late-twenties great-great grand-daughter of Wyatt Earp who has a magic pistol to battle the reincarnated victims of her namesake, is a modern woman. She’s also salty, cocky, rude, obnoxious, dangerous, and irreverent–but in a nice way. Partnered with the picture-perfect Tom Rozon as the immortal Doc Holliday, the duo is back for two more hours of supernatural fun, just like they never left.
At its core Wynonna Earp: Vengeance is a new, longer length, monster of the week episode. It’s good to know upfront that it ends in a cliffhanger fans will appreciate, an ending that doesn’t end anything as much as set up a new future for all the characters should some studio decide to return to this material. Melanie Scrofano continues to expand her reach into new acting directions, most visibly as a supporting character on the popular Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (she’s not all that recognizable as the quite serious and never irreverent girlfriend admiral of the Enterprise’s captain), and she’s starring in the new supernatural horror series Revival. And Tom Rozon continues to forge ahead with new roles, most notably starring in the similarly supernatural horror series SurrealEstate. You never know when someone may want to see more Wynonna Earp adventures. Psych has had three sequel movies.
The biggest change may be in the dynamic duo of Dominique Provost-Chalkey’s Waverly Earp and Katherine Barrell’s Nicole Haught. In the series finale Way-Haught got married while Wynonna and Doc went off into the sunset, all of them happily ever after. So fans may be surprised to see that something is off with Waverly and Nicole. More drama ahead!
Paolo Barzman directs the movie–he’s known for some of your favorite TV from The Dead Zone to Haven to Lost Girl to Killjoys and SurrealEstate. Creator Emily Andras wrote the script, which at times feels like a nonstop journey to see how much sexual innuendo you can fit into two hours. And that’s a summary of many episodes of the TV series. So again, that’s what fans want and would expect, right? The year 2021, when we last saw these characters, was not all that long ago. Check out all our prior extensive coverage of the series and its great cast here at borg.
Look forward to a few surprises–a few regulars returning, and a few new characters, including a baddie from Wynonna’s past, just to stir things up. We also get to meet a young Wynonna, played by Rebecca Todd.
Fans can hardly be disappointed. Stream Wynonna Earp: Vengeance, now on the free streaming service Tubi.
