By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Confession time: I’ve been chasing the dragon for over two decades. No, this isn’t a drug thing; instead, I’ve been on a relentless quest to find another show like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which combined hilarious writing and scary supernatural showdowns into one of the most memorable television series ever made. Now, the search is finally over: Wynonna Earp is a worthy successor to Buffy, and you can stream this cowgirl classic for free on Tubi.
The premise of Wynonna Earp is that the title character is a descendant of the legendary Wyatt Earp, who killed many nasty outlaws in his days as a gunslinger. Unfortunately, a pesky family curse keeps bringing these bad hombres back to life, and they can only be put down by Peacemaker, a magic gun that has been passed down from generation to generation. Now, it belongs to Wynonna Earp, who is the only one who can vanquish these resurrected revenants and bring peace to her hometown of Purgatory.
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer influence should be immediately obvious: both it and Wynonna Earp focus on young women who inherit magical powers and must use them to defeat supernatural foes. And both of them take place in tiny towns whose quaint settings disguise dangers that would absolutely terrify the rest of the world. Finally, both title characters have a great support system in the form of friends and family members who keep the undead forces at bay while spitting out wildly quotable dialogue.
The cast of this cowgirl show is great, starting with Melania Scrofano as the titular gunslinger. Known to comedy fans for her role in Letterkenny and sci-fi fans for her role in Strange New Worlds, Scrofano is able to stretch her acting chops like never before in Wynonna Earp. She gets to be tough, take charge, and sidesplittingly hilarious, and this show is solid proof that she is more than ready to headline her own feature film.
Meanwhile, Dominique Provost-Chalkley (best known outside of this show for her role in Avengers: Age of Ultron) plays Wynonna Earp’s sister, a firecracker who ends up in a relationship with a local law woman played by Katherine Barrell (best known outside of this show for her role in Good Witch). Shamier Anderson (best known for the movie Race) plays a mysterious government agent who knows all about the supernatural shenanigans Wynonna Earp must deal with. Finally, Tim Rodin steals the show as the Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp’s huckleberry who has been kept alive thanks to a curse from a witch.
The show works great in its episodic format, and it’s entirely possible to enjoy Wynonna Earp as nothing more than a series of one-off adventures set in the weirdest small town in the world. But the show does such a great job of world-building that you’ll soon be sucked into various mysteries like the curses that forever changed the lives of Wynonna and Doc Holliday. You’ll also want to learn more about the Black Badge division, which is basically like what the X-Files division of the FBI would be like if it existed in the universe of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Wynonna Earp certainly won over the critics: on Rotten Tomatoes, this gun-slinging, girl-power masterpiece has a 92 percent critical rating. Those critics generally noted that while the show doesn’t have the most original premise in the world (again, it’s basically a Western version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer), this romp of a show offers serious supernatural fun. Critics had particular praise for Melanie Scrofano, who anchors the show with strength, humor, and grace.
Will you agree that Wynonna Earp is a show worth tipping your Stetson to, or is this bit of Western weirdness something you’d rather send riding off into the sunset? You won’t know until you stream it for free on Tubi. I’m confident you’ll quickly fall in love with the show, but don’t blame me when you spend the next few weeks trying out your best Doc Holliday impersonation.
WYNONNA EARP REVIEW SCORE
