“Wynonna Earp” Recap: The Chili Cook-Off! For Freedom!

SYFY’s kickass show Wynonna Earp is back for its third episode of the season, where we meet some new faces and finally get to experience a chili cook-off! We also get some insight into what Purgatory has been like for the last 18 months.’Look At Them Beans’ was written by Shelley Scarrow and directed by Wynonna herself, Melanie Scrofano. Here’s what happened!

Things Have Definitely Changed | Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) and Doc (Tim Rozon) decide to head to Shorty’s to figure out what the hells is going on in Purgatory, and we all know they do their best thinking after some whiskey. But when they get into the bar they realize just how different things are when they see the decor and menu. Chrissy Nedley (Dana Christina) pops up behind the bar and throws an eggplant at Wynonna. She’s clearly not as happy to see her as Wynonna had anticipated, and we soon find out why. Chrissy thinks Wynonna killed Nedley (Greg Lawson), and she’s placing her under citizens arrest for it. Wynonna and Doc are both clearly shocked.

Chrissy and her posse drag Wynonna outside and prepare to hang her while explaining that Nedley was last seen with Wynonna a year and a half ago. This is how Wynonna and Doc find out how long they’ve been gone for. Just before Wynonna’s about to hang, the new Sheriff (Ty Olsson) stops it and takes custody of her. There’s going to be a trial before she hangs.

Back at the Homestead, Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) and Rachel (Martina Ortiz-Luis) meet for the first time. A homemade alarm goes off and alerts Rachel and Nicole to a monster outside, turns out things have gotten even more dangerous in Purgatory. When they get to the trap, which is designed to keep a gross troll out, they see that they caught Doc by the family jewels in it. After he’s free, Doc informs the ladies of what’s happened to Wynonna.

Locked Up | The Sheriff brings Wynonna to the Sheriff’s office and locks her in the clear glass cell with a funny guy named Casey (Andrew Phung), who’s heard of Wyn and is slightly terrified if her. Oh yeah, he’s also a half-demon. He fills Wynonna in on the last 18 months, apparently the woods is now full of monsters.

Elsewhere, on the edge of the woods, a truck driver is attacked in his semi by some sort of monster.

Back at the Homestead, Waves and Doc are trying to come to terms with Nedley’s death while Nicole seems pretty pissy about it. She’s definitely been through some stuff in the last 18 months and is dealing with some pretty heavy PTSD. Doc decides he needs to talk to Mercedes (Dani Kind) about Nedley, and Nicole tells him she’s working at the new demon bar in town. Does this mean no more Pussy Willows?!?!? Doc reunites with his one true love, his car Charlene, then heads off to find her.

Doc arrives at the Glory Hole [yes, that is the bars name] and immediately punches security and pulls out his guns. Then he meets the owner of the bar, Griffin George (Naom Jenkins), and the pair flirt while discussing the bar. Mercedes comes on stage to perform a sultry dance under the alias Portia Control.

Back in the cell, Wynonna is learning more and more about the new Purgatory from Casey. He tells her the town is basically quarantined, only humans can leave through the checkpoint at the border. Wynonna seems relieved by that, but Casey is quick to point out that she’s a “criminal,” there’s no way they’ll let her leave.

Waverly arrives at the Sheriff’s office posing as Wynonna’s lawyer to try to get her out. During this time the new young, hot Magistrate (Savannah Basley) walks in.

Mercedes and Doc get a chance to chat after her performance, and we learn she’s pretending to be a vampire here for the job and tips, but she’s not really been turned. They begin to discuss Nedley and Mercedes tells Doc what happened. She was taking care of the Sheriff but his wound was still oozing and he began to smell like a boys feet covered in bleu cheese. He eventually took off for the monster-infested woods. Doc wants Mercedes to tell the new Sheriff this, but she knows it won’t do any good so she instead tells him where he can find the “People Eater.”

The Magistrate isn’t about to let Wynonna go, but she does come up with an idea. The “Randy Nedley Memorial Chili Cook-off! For Freedom!” Everyone in jail will compete for one get out of jail free card. Wynonna really needs to win this.

Cook For Your Life | Wynonna, Casey, and the other prisoners go to Shorty’s for this ridiculous cook-off where Casey explains how the Magistrate uses stunts like this to get away with other more nefarious things. Waverly and Nicole show up with supplies to help Wynonna, and Wyn and Nicole finally see each other after what happened at the lab 18 months earlier. Once it’s clear Wynonna has no idea how to make chili Nicole and Waves take over, there’s no way they’re going to let anything bad happen to Wynonna.

In the forest, Doc is trying to find Nedley when he comes across the semi truck of the man who got attacked earlier. When he opens the back he’s elated to see that it’s full of alcohol, but before he can do anything about it he sees a giant hairy sasquatch-looking creature coming right towards him. Doc draws his guns and is ready to face it.

At the cook-off, the Magistrate is shooting t-shirts at people with a t-shirt cannon while Nicole and Wynonna catch up while cutting onions. It’s clear Nicole is blaming herself for much of what’s happened in the last 18 months. Waverly tries to add vegan seitan to the chili, but Wynonna knocks it to the ground because she wants to win this thing and though delicious, vegan chili will probably not win a chili cook-off. Nicole speaks with Sheriff Clayborne when he walks in, and after he makes a thinly veiled threat she goes home to check on Rachel. Wynonna uses the distraction to steal bacon from Casey to add to her chili.

Back in the forest, Doc is about to face off with the creature Mercedes called the People Eater. Doc shoots it twice, but this just seems to anger the monster. Doc decides to grab a bottle of whiskey and run!

At the Homestead, Nicole finds Rachel slightly injured but alright. Rachel said she was baiting the traps with kombucha when the People Eater arrived, but Doc was chasing it and convinced it to go after him instead.

Judging | The cook-off is winding down and it’s time for the winner to be announced. The Magistrate decides to let someone else judge and brings in Chrissy Nedley. Great, Wynonna’s totally screwed now.

At the Homestead, Nicole and Rachel are locked inside while the monster tries to get in. Doc is begging Nicole to be let in, but she’s just standing frozen in the middle of the room until Rachel shakes her from it. Rachel lets Doc inside, and he reveals that the monster is some sort of host animal for something much smaller.

Back to Shorty’s, Chrissy is announcing the winner: Wynonna Earp. What a surprise! Waverly is suspicious and tries the chili, it’s awful! What is going on here?

Cleo, the Magistrate, explains to Wynonna that she’s taking her to the border to be free outside Purgatory lines, but we all know Wynonna is not going to leave this town. Instead she starts to question the Magistrate on how she seemed to know who she was without being a revenant or super powerful monster.

Hunting Time | Doc, Nicole, and Rachel are gearing up to go hunt the monster when Rachel suggests bringing her kombucha to use against it. Then she brings up how the monster smelled, like bleu cheese and boy feet. Doc starts connecting dots. Nicole thinks the monster killed Nedley, but Doc thinks the monster could be Nedley.

The Magistrate takes Wynonna to the border of the woods, throws her down a snow covered hillside, and hogties her at the bottom and stabs her in the leg. Wynonna is now monster dinner. As the monster appears Waverly pops out and attacks Cleo, they fight as the monster slowly gets closer and closer to Wynonna.

Doc and Nicole show up just in the knick of time, armed with a lasso and a supersoaker filled with kombucha and ready to save their friends. Waverly retrieves the t-shirt cannon out of Cleo’s car and the team is ready to take on whatever’s coming their way. Cleo seizes this opportunity to escape.

The trio take down the creature as Wynonna watches, proud of her family. After restraining the creature and soaking him in kombucha, they’re left with a very naked, but very alive, Randy Nedley.

They take Nedley to Shorty’s to be reunited with Chrissy, who is so happy to see him. He tries to speak to Nicole, but it doesn’t seem like she’s ready to face him.

Doc heads back to Glory Hole and strikes up a deal with the owner. He’s now going to be the one driving the supply trucks to protect the shipment.

It’s nighttime at the Homestead and things are getting a little steamy with WayHaught, but Nicole is still jumpy with everything that’s happened and after hearing Wynonna make noise in the kitchen decides to check the traps instead of answering Waverly’s question about how her 18 months went.

Chrissy goes to BBD on a mission, let Jeremy (Varun Saranga) know his friends are back.

Before going to bed Wynonna and Rachel have a quick chat where Wynonna asks how Nicole is really doing, and the answer is, not so great. Hopefully now that the gang is all back things will get better for her. After, Wynonna heads to the barn to sleep. But she’s ambushed by a bunch of BBD-looking guys who throw a bag over her head. What a wonderful way to be welcomed back to Purgatory.

What a hilarious episode! Not only did we get Chrissy back, but we also got a Chili Cook-Off! For Freedom! Be sure to catch the next episode of Wynonna Earp next Sunday night on SYFY at 10pm!