*** Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on The TV Junkies and has been republished here with the consent of its author and Emily Andras. ***

*** Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the Wynonna Earp Season 2 episode “Shed Your Skin” ***

Hold up! Waverly did not just eat what I think she ate, right? Whatever strange evil entity has taken over part of Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) went next level in this week’s episode of Wynonna Earp as she seemed to devour a large spider right as the screen went to black. “Shed Your Skin,” written by Alexandra Zarowny and directed by Brett Sullivan, also saw Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) struggle with working under Black Badge and Doc (Tim Rozon) making a big step by purchasing Shorty’s.

Prior to her strange snack choice, Waverly and girlfriend Nicole (Katherine Barrell) made up after their first fight and took their relationship to the next level. A few new characters also came to town as we met Mercedes Gardner (played by Workin’ Moms’ Dani Kind) and Rosita (Tamara Duarte), who Doc has employed to cook up something in the basement of Shorty’s. Showrunner Emily Andras once again spoke to The TV Junkies as part of her weekly chat to break down everything that happened in “Shed Your Skin.” As always, we want to hear your theories and thoughts about what happened and what’s to come so be sure to add them in the comments below!

The TV Junkies: First things first, how dare you make our Waverly eat a spider! That was so gross! What the heck is that all about?
Emily Andras: Listen, I don’t judge other people’s culinary tastes or diets and neither should you, Bridget. That was a lot — a lot — and she’s a little thing. I feel like she should’ve divided that spider into several servings, but I’m not sure how much she ate.

I would say that stuff is going on with Waverly and stuff is happening to Waverly. Was that even Waverly in that moment?

TTVJ: It was Gooverly.
EA: It was Gooverly! I laughed so hard at that, but people should know I don’t stalk Tumblr all the time. I was only on there for the premiere and someone tweeted at me, ‘Get off Tumblr we need to go there and be weird about your show!’ So that’s fine, but I will now officially stay away! I don’t know who coined it, but I tip my hat — because I still have mine, unlike Doc — to whoever coined it!

TTVJ: According to her diary, Willa didn’t seem to think Waverly was an Earp either. What is Waverly going to with that diary and why is she keeping this all from Wynonna?
EA: First guess is that she’s going to eat it. She’s on a weird kick of what she’s devouring these days. She’s eating her feelings and there’s a lot of feelings in that diary.

I don’t find it that hard to believe that she’s not telling Wynonna because it’s such a massive thing to even speculate about. Their relationship is so key, it’s finally cooking, and for Waverly to throw a wrench into that without knowing for sure whether she’s Wynonna sister or not is just too stressful and too much to process. Plus, she’s Waverly deep down, spider appetizer or not, and she knows that Wynonna is grieving Dolls, still grieving Willa, and going through a tough time. I would say Waverly doesn’t want to add to that burden until she’s certain, and if there’s one thing we know about Willa, it’s that she’s not always on the up and up.

TTVJ: Wynonna started having hallucinations, which she thinks are of Willa, and we start to see a lot more of the demons around town. Has a hellmouth officially opened up in Purgatory?

EA: We basically have, under a mechanical bull, to no one’s surprise. I would say that it does seem like demons are flooding the Ghost River Triangle and Purgatory and they seem, for example, to be drawn to the chapel in the school and that weird seal we saw. What’ that means? I would say stay tuned.

TTVJ: Wynonna continues to really struggle with being the leader now that Dolls is gone. She said she’s “only good at busting the leader’s balls,” but is now really being challenged to step up. Is this going to be an ongoing battle for her this season to do more and lead the team?

EA: I think so and just make the decisions. She has so much skill, but doesn’t do well with authority and she’s never been in an authority position. It’s funny because in many ways I would say Wynonna is a natural leader but still doubts her own decision making abilities and judgements. It’s definitely going to be a challenge this year just rallying the team. Who ultimately makes the choices and strategizes when they are going into battle? It’s going to be a big push/pull for the team in general and not just Wynonna.

TTVJ: So I don’t know if you heard, but I kind of love Workin’ Moms’ Dani Kind.

EA: I have heard that and it’s well-earned adoration. Dani Kind is a Broad with a capital B. There was a lot of broad talk on set when she, Mel, and I were together and I very much enjoyed it.

TTVJ: Thankfully, it seems that we’ll be seeing more of Mercedes and that she’ll be sticking around Purgatory. What can you tell us about her?

EA: What I really like about Mercedes is the idea of Wynonna getting a friend in Purgatory, maybe having a female friend who is as sassy, sarcastic, powerful, and unapologetic as Wynonna herself is. I like the idea of the two of them understanding each other, like maybe they both had a reputation in high school that they are both fighting against in this small town. The other thing about Mercedes is that she has a very interesting family that we are going to meet called the Gardners. She has a younger sister and younger brother, and I would say the Gardners play a pretty big role this season.

TTVJ: I love the idea of Doc owning Shorty’s, but what’s this business he’s got cooking up in the basement? Are he and Rosita the new Walter and Jesse?

EA: Oh my god it is full Breaking Bad and I wouldn’t say they are up to any good. Doc is always at his most fun though when he’s up to no good. I very much like him owning Shorty’s and that scene with Nedley, which was also the first scene we shot this season. I like Rosita and think she brings a whole new energy to the show. End of answer.

TTVJ: There’s a lot of Doc and Wynonna tension going on and he’s rebuffed her pretty bad on more than one occasion now. What is that about? Is he still hurt from last season?

EA: I know, what is that about? Has he lost his mojo when he lost his hat?

TTVJ: No! He clearly didn’t lose his mojo, as evident in that scene where he tells Lucado, “This is what I bring to the team.” Mojo safely intact.

EA: Oh yea, that was pretty great and I didn’t hate that. But I kind of like their scene in the barn, and it was interesting because if you rewatch that scene, you’ll see when she’s not looking, and he looks at her, there’s definitely still feelings there. I think he doesn’t want to be anyone’s second choice, whether Dolls is in the picture or not. He doesn’t want to compete with a ghost and if he’s going to win Wynonna, he wants to do it fair and square. But I also think it’s good for Doc to not be the one chasing for once. He did a lot of that in Season 1 and Wynonna called the shots, so maybe it’s time for Wynonna to think about what she might be missing.

TTVJ: Moving over to WayHaught, were you trying to put people in a coma with that bedroom scene? I’m pretty sure more than half the audience is probably passed out from excitement. Congratulations.

EA: We are, we are trying to kill off our entire audience and I feel like that’s a great milestone. The network will be thrilled.

We just thought it was time to answer some questions about their relationship and really wanted to do right by it. The truth is those two are still very much at the beginning and figuring things out and those milestones are important. I have always said I wanted it to be a real relationship and them to feel like three-dimensional characters, and I think it’s good to see that people can have a fight and then make up. I like the idea of Nicole waiting until Waverly was ready to consummate the relationship. I don’t know if anyone will notice that scene though. They’ll probably fast forward through it.

TTVJ: I do have to ask why the girls only said “I like you,” because Waverly did say she loved Nicole in the finale.

EA: She did, but they just had a little fight and I thought it was neat that they are still a little bit shy around each other. It’s still early days and I thought it was just funny and cute.

TTVJ: So it’s “I like you and I love you.”

EA: Exactly! It’s just like Ben and Leslie from Parks and Rec.

TTVJ: Pawnee coming to Purgatory. Nedley and Ron Swanson would get along great.

EA: They would get along great! They would really understand each other and do woodworking silently.

TTVJ: Doc could hang out with Lil’ Sebastian.

EA: Lil’ Sebastian, the ultimate revenant! Perfect! He could come back as a ghost horse. That’d be a great spinoff of Doc and Lil’ Sebastian the ghost go and fight crime. Be right back I’m writing that pilot.

TTVJ: Joking aside, and those great WayHaught moments, Nicole really does not seem happy with her job. Should we expect some future angst to come in that area?

EA: We are definitely going to see future angst in that area. I think it’s important that Nicole doesn’t apologize for ambition and wanting to do well in her career. I think she was really pleased with her promotion to Black Badge and is still upset that it’s been denied to her. She really cares about being a good agent and that storyline is definitely not finished.

TTVJ: You guys had some pretty cool props this week, like the body snatchers, spiders and the slime. What was it like shooting that scene with the slime for Melanie and Dominique?

EA: That was amazing and we have some great behind the scenes footage of the “goo-ening” of the girls. That was one of the coldest days we shot in Calgary, and we were supposed to do that scene where they walk in slow motion outside the school, but it was too cold. The goo was going to freeze on them and they would die of hypotherma-goo. So we couldn’t actually do it, and had to do it down the hall, but that worked out so well.

Those girls are such good sports, thought it was so funny, and got it right away. It’s hilarious to watch the makeup people put the goo on them because they took it very seriously and placement was very important, but it’s just them covered in goo. That’s what’s so great about our cast, they just love that stuff, they know the fans are going to love it, and they have so much fun together, especially those two. So they were all in. They did hug me covered in goo so I got some on my jacket that dried and basically stayed on it all year. That’s fine, it was a mark of honor.

TTVJ: Jeremy (Varun Saranga) has been a great addition to the team so far this season and perhaps my favorite thing about him is that he has just as big of a crush on Doc as I do.
EA: Yea, almost as big, maybe even bigger, and that is saying something. That is saying something! He’s just so unabashed about it, but who can blame him? At least he has great taste, that’s my favorite thing about him. Once again, I feel like Doc is playing oblivious, but is not oblivious at all, which I like a lot, too. I don’t think Jeremy is super thrilled to be in Purgatory so I’m happy he has a nice crush to bide his time.

TTVJ: This being an Alex Zarowny episode, there were a ton of great quotable lines, but we got a callback with “Stupid Earl.” Why did you guys want to include that again?

EA: It was just a nod to the fans and, not to be too inside baseball, but there are a lot of jokes that are funny unto themselves, but with an extra wink and nod to hardcore, first generation Earpers. Any time we can do those callbacks is a blast and makes the world feel like we’re all a part of it. Alex is always so funny and makes me laugh. She always delivers such a sparkly script.

TTVJ: What can you tell us about Episode 203?

EA: It will cheer everybody up, I’m hoping. It’s really fun and Episode 203 is a little bit more backstory about the girls in Purgatory and what their lives were like. We meet some new characters who are really important. It’s one of the most fun episodes of the year with a good villain. I really feel like 203 is when the cast is back to full form and everyone really starts cooking with those one-liners. It also has a really good Nicole Haught storyline where we dig deeper into where Nicole is at.

What did you think, Earpers? Share you thoughts and sound off below!

Wynonna Earp airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Syfy and Space Channel.