The Ending Of Wynonna Earp Season 4, Episode 11 Explained

Last Friday brought the penultimate episode of the fourth — and, sadly, as of now, final — season of SyFy's cult hit Wynonna Earp. Fans went into the episode with trepidation based on the episode title alone, "Better Dig Two."

The suggestion of potential death fits with where things left off in episode 10 of the fourth season. New members of BBD showed up to initiate a ruthless protocol that involves rounding up demons for experimentation and some humans to serve as demon food, leaving the rest of Purgatory's humans to be swallowed up by a mind-melting fog. Jeremy (Varun Saranga) and Doc (Tim Rozon) were in BBD's clutches as their prisoners, and Mercedes (Dani Kind) was shot point-blank by the lead BBD agent, Graham. The fog is from the garden, and it is indeed spreading. It played a role in Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) going through an ordeal with the evil Jolene (Zoie Palmer) that ended with her embracing her dark angel identity and sprouting blackened wings before an incredulous Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano). How will everything come to a head?

Well, we got one step closer to the end in episode 11. These last few episodes have been jam-packed with action as we reach the conclusion of the season — and show. With multiple villains and zig-zagging plots, it's been a doozy. However, things really came together in this episode. We got major story progress in just one hour, so to help you appreciate and understand everything that happened, here's the ending of Wynonna Earp season 4, episode 11 explained.

In the BBD cell, Doc turns Mercedes into a vampire at her suggestion, in order to save her from her gunshot wound and get the superhuman assistance he needs to free everyone. What does it mean for Mercedes in the long term? Will she be forever bound to Doc, even given what later happens to him? One good bet: she's probably going to become an epic vampire Casanova. Spin-off, anyone?  

Graham (Stafford Perry) tries to gas the prisoners but Nicole (Katherine Barrell) arrives, and, in a fantastic return to the swag-tastic cop she was in season 1, she declares she's the sheriff of Purgatory and BBD messed with the wrong town. She then knocks out Graham and proceeds to lead the escape. Before they leave with the escapees, Jeremy gets a pain in his groin and tells Nicole to go to the garden stairs because she's the "only one she won't hurt." At work here are Jeremy's as-yet unexplained powers to detect his friends are in trouble via groin pain. In this case, he's referencing Waverly — he thinks Nicole can stop her from going into the garden. 

Later, Jeremy tells BBD everything's under control but Graham didn't survive — at which point, he instructs a werewolf to attack Graham. It's a new, ruthless side of Jeremy, but he's had enough of BBD. Will Jeremy go dark like Wynonna? Will he take over BBD and use it for good? Or, is BBD like a hydra, bound to have a new head emerge in Graham's place as it continues harassing the Ghost River Triangle? It's unclear, though Jeremy's call proves Graham wasn't the head, so cruel BBD lives. Still, with Jeremy's actions and Graham and the facility destroyed, they'll at least be in retreat for a while.

As Rachel (Martina Ortiz-Luis) watches Cleo (Savannah Basley) while Wynonna pursues Waverly in the fog with Reaper Billy (Billy Bryk), Cleo seems to try to turn Rachel against Wynonna, including by suggesting Wynonna doesn't consider Rachel family. Whether this is out of spite or other reasons, Cleo clearly gets to Rachel. This could spell trouble ahead regarding Rachel feeling at home with the Earps.

Then, Cleo says Jolene is dead and the reaper has turned his sights on Wynonna, but they can stop him by turning Billy back into a human — Rachel just has to give some blood in a ritual. Given her sarcastic tone and how she goes for the gun while Rachel's distracted, Cleo seems like she's tricking Rachel. However, the ritual proves real. Reaper Billy turns back into a human and instead of chasing Wynonna, he helps her up after she trips and he hands her back her gun. 

When they then discover Cleo has taken Rachel hostage, Wynonna wants to stay focused on saving Waverly but Billy insists she first saves Rachel. Wynonna agrees, despite trepidation about returning to Clanton property after killing Holt (Ty Olsson) there before. (We've been using the name Hoyt as per IMDb but this episode confirmed in writing it's Holt. Apologies for any prior confusion!) Wynonna temporarily choosing Rachel over Waverly at that moment is a sign that she understands her family isn't just Waverly anymore, and that sometimes doing right by her sister doesn't mean putting her first. It's a growth of which Waverly would be proud. 

When Wynonna gets to the ranch, she finally learns Cleo's plan: to make Wynonna the Clanton heir, free herself from the reaper curse, and force her to kill everyone she loves, since the reapers are committed to killing the Earps and Doc. While the now-Reaper Holt distracts Wynonna, Cleo performs the ritual.

Cleo's ritual involves turning the Clantons' greatest enemy into the Clanton heir. She thinks that the enemy is Wynonna, as an Earp, but it's actually Doc. That's because even if Wyatt Earp shot first at the O.K. Corral, it was Doc who put down the rest of the Clantons. So, Cleo's ritual makes Doc the new heir, and he's compelled to kill Wynonna.

When Doc ultimately shoots at Wynonna, though, his gun jams, kicking it into his face and badly wounding him. Doc had sensed something was coming and he heard the voices of Clanton ancestors saying "avenge us" before the ritual pulled him to the ranch — so he had purposely loaded his gun with the wrong bullets. Enter the "Better Dig Two" episode title. Doc ensured that if he tried to take revenge, he'd go down, too — as the saying goes, revenge always requires two graves.

Meanwhile, Billy recruits Nedley (Greg Lawson) to help make him the heir and orders his ancestors to leave Wynonna alone. Doc, who's dying, senses the reaper threat fading but wants Wynonna to kill him to end the Clanton curse forever. It would seem Doc thinks he's still the Clanton heir and if he dies, the curse dies, too. Wynonna refuses, though, and Dark Angel Waverly arrives and agrees to save Doc in exchange for her book from the garden.

Later, Doc realizes that when she saved him, Waverly removed his vampirism, but she thinks that's because he wanted it. Gazing at Wynonna, Doc says he does want a fresh start. The two wayward lovers are finally on the same page again (or perhaps, for the first time ever). With Doc as human as Wynonna and the Earp curse gone — and potentially the Clanton curse gone as well — little to nothing stands in their way of happiness. Perhaps they'll even reunite with their daughter... but how will domestication go for two outlaws/heroes? We probably won't see that play out in the finale, but maybe if there's ever a fifth season or movie...

Dark Angel Waverly, who's replaced the fog as the final failsafe, has several goals: to get her book, return to the garden, close the gate between the human and supernatural worlds, and serve forever as the guardian of the other realm.

However, she's clearly experiencing an identity battle between the real Waverly and the guardian — or as she calls herself, the "scion of the great guardian Julian, protector of the fifth realm." Sometimes she speaks as Waverly, sometimes she implies Waverly is gone and the guardian has taken over, and sometimes she speaks as if they're two co-existing entities. Amid this complexity, her actions vacillate between cold and sympathetic.

When Wynonna says she won't watch her sister become this "thing," Waverly temporarily blinds her, saying it's "her" turn to sacrifice while speaking in the third person. However, that disassociation doesn't stick. When she confronts Doc at BBD about the book, before he's whisked away by Clanton magic, she first says that she's the scion and not Waverly anymore, but then immediately after, she says she is Waverly.

The inconsistency continues when she finds Doc and Wynonna at the Clanton ranch after their duel. In response to something Wynonna notes about the angel leaving the garden throne, the Dark Angel says "you convinced her — me — to do so." This pronoun flip-flop proves the angel's conflicting identities.

Next, the Angel softens upon realizing Wynonna is the "champion." Further revealing softness, she revives Doc — albeit in exchange for her book — then tenderly tells Wynonna that Waverly became the angel for her sake and loved her very much. She also releases Holt from his suffering by turning him — and, it seems, the other Clanton reapers — into birds. It's another sign Dark Angel Waverly isn't really a villain.

Nicole reaches the garden stairs just as Waverly is climbing them, book in hand. Waverly says the gate must be closed and she must be the one to do it. Nicole tearfully says she refuses to be left behind again — in a more loving take on "Better Dig Two," where Waverly goes, she goes. But Waverly says the garden is not for humans.

Nicole then mentions Wynonna, and Waverly's face softens. It seems whenever Waverly thinks about Wynonna, particularly as the "the champion," she wavers. Perhaps she realizes she doesn't need to shoulder the burden of protecting the realm herself because Wynonna can help. But then, Waverly says Wynonna has served enough.

Desperate, Nicole makes one more plea that Dark Angel Waverly finally agrees to. As Purgatory's sheriff, Nicole vows to be the guardian of both humans and supernatural creatures throughout the Ghost River Triangle. The catch is that Nicole will never be able to leave the Triangle, but she is willing to pay that price to keep Waverly safe. In a mystical sort of ritual, Nicole formally vows to give her life to protecting the Triangle as the "Angel's Shield." Nicole is thrown back and Waverly becomes herself again. She throws the book into the garden just before the door and stairs disappear, then runs to an unconscious Nicole. She kisses her and Nicole awakens with her neck branded with the symbol of the Angel's Shield. This means Waverly is free of the garden, but Nicole now bears the mighty task of keeping order. It will be interesting to see if Waverly suffers from guilt over this or if the two deal with it together.

While celebrating at Shorty's with everyone, Nicole asks Waverly if she'll finally marry her. Waverly says "yes please." This sets up the final episode's focus: the long-awaited WayHaught wedding. But it would be too easy for things to go smoothly, so what might interfere? Could BBD storm the scene for another showdown? And what's up with the Clantons? Is Billy the Clanton heir, and if so, will he become a threat or could Team Earp free him and end the curse completely?

And, as likely as the wedding is to attract mayhem — though it's uncertain what form — it's also likely to mean reunions. We could see the return of Gus with baby Alice. Maybe frenemies Kate and Rosita? It would be nice to see what happened to Kate since she helped Nicole off the train — and she could be one half of a fun wedding hook-up with Mercedes. Maybe Mama (Michelle) Earp? What better time for her and Wynonna to have the "we slept with the same angel" conversation than at their daughter/sister's wedding? Smart money is on at least a Michelle return since Waverly explicitly mentioned Julian in one of her speeches in the episode, and he hasn't been mentioned much since his death/Michelle's departure. 

The most important question is, again, how will Nicole's vow impact WayHaught? We don't expect to see much strain in the finale, as the couple will be consumed by wedding bliss. We can save that drama for a future season/movie event.

In any case, as we reach the likely Wynonna Earp series finale, some mysteries have been explained and some have not. Tune in next week to see what other answers come, or what new questions may arise.