Wynonna Earp Proves Ambition In A Woman Is a Very Good Thing

Despite her successful relationship with Waverly, Officer Nicole Haught has not been that happy on this season of Wynonna Earp. She’s been struggling with being on the outside of all the fun and action taking place with Black Badge, instead left to deal with the mundane tasks that go along with being one of Purgatory’s finest. Upset is not something we’re used to seeing out of Nicole. During the first season she was always cheerful, always upbeat and always seemed to have a smile on her face — and not just around Waverly! That’s changed in Season 2 as we’re seeing a very upset Officer Haught and one that is very vocal about the fact that she’s not being used to the best of her potential.
All that frustration really came to a head in this week’s episode, “Gonna Getcha Good,” written by Brendon Yorke. Officer Haught and audiences were introduced to Grade A creep Tucker Gardner. Tucker is the exact character — a white privileged male — that too often is let off the hook by society. While demons may be running around, it turns out Purgatory isn’t all too different from the world we know, because even after taking pictures up girls’ skirts, Sheriff Nedley let Tucker off the hook without even a slap on the wrist. It was a decision that set Nicole off even more, as she couldn’t understand why Tucker would not be punished and, even worse, why Nedley was apologizing to him.
Sheriff Nedley: “Tucker’s parents were good people, important people to this town. Boys will be boys.”
Officer Haught: “Whoa, I’m sorry did I hit my head and wake up in patriarchal bullshit land?”
Thankfully, in the end, all of Nicole’s pushing and insistence that there’s more forces at work in Purgatory than just strange coincidences finally paid off. By the end of the episode she confronted her boss about not only the strange supernatural happenings, but how actions such as letting Tucker go should not be tolerated. To everyone’s surprise, Sheriff Nedley admitted that she was right and that there are demons in Purgatory. It was a well written, touching and supremely gratifying scene in which Nedley also fessed up that he specifically recruited Officer Haught to replace him as Purgatory Sheriff one day. Katherine Barrell and Greg Lawson turned in stellar performances and both conveyed so much heart as Nedley conceded to let her work with Black Badge on future cases.
Sheriff Nedley: “You graduated top of your class in the big city and I need someone smart to take over when I retire.”
Officer Haught: “You want me to be Sheriff?”
Sheriff Nedley: “Why do you think I worked so hard to recruit you?”
Nicole has always felt that she could do more, she could be more and that, frankly, Purgatory was below her skill-set. These facts have always been clear to the audience as well and it was satisfying to hear exactly how and why Nicole ended up in Purgatory — because Nedley knew and saw all these things as well. He also knew she was a good, honest and brave cop and that being a good cop is something that truly mattered to Nicole. But she doesn’t want to be just a good cop. She wants to be great and help more, do more. It’s so satisfying and refreshing to see a show like Wynonna Earp allow one of its female characters to not only speak these desires out loud, but to also not punish her for that drive.

There’s been a lot of harsh truths and realities that have come to the forefront thanks to Donald Trump becoming President of the United States, but one glaringly obvious one was that many in America still do not like an ambitious woman. Hillary Clinton lost out to Trump for a wide variety of reasons, but one in particular was painful to confront as a strong willed, aspiring woman myself. There exists a large number of people who would rather have an unqualified man in charge than a woman who is much more experienced and suited for the role.
Despite the fact that we’re now in the era of Peak TV, when there should be plenty of room for all stories to exist, we’re still seeing so many examples of ambitious female characters that are looked down upon or end up punished in some way for wanting to succeed and be good at their jobs. Just look to shows like UnREAL or The Good Wife to see women who have an extreme drive to be the best at their jobs, but who also can come off in an extreme negative light because of that drive. Often female characters that have this want to succeed and who want to do well at their job are shown to suffer in other areas of their lives like failed marriages or drug addiction. Whereas audiences cheered the antiheroes given to us in shows like Breaking Bad and Mad Men, women who are ambitious and want to succeed seem to still be looked at through the same awful lens through which society looks at ambitious women.
Thankfully, Wynonna Earp proved once again that it’s a show that has no interest in tropes, continuing to go against them time and again. Not only does giving Nicole more power and more to do at work, while validating her skill-set, provide a storyline for her that’s completely separate from being Waverly’s girlfriend, but it allows for a positive light to be shone on a woman with ambition. Instead of confirming society’s fears about the ambitious woman, Wynonna Earp let us empathize with her, understand her and what drives her, what upsets her. Exceptional writing and Barrell’s soulful eyes and multi-layered performance also go a long way in driving those points home.
Now more than ever we need stories about female empowerment that tell and show women it’s a good thing to be ambitious, it’s a good thing to be proud of your skills, it’s a good thing to stand up for yourself and it’s a good thing to speak up and ask for what you want. No, doing so won’t make you look evil or suffer an unfortunate fate. In fact, if you’re anything like good old Officer Haught, it might just get you exactly what you wanted and needed most! Thankfully there are shows such as Wynonna Earp not afraid to tell that story, convey that message and prove that we all should go after what it is we want.
What do you think of Nicole’s storyline this season? Add your thoughts below!
Wynonna Earp airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Syfy and Space.
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About The Author
Bridget Liszewski
Editor in Chief Bridget Liszewski comes from a long line of TV Junkies who fostered her love of television from a very young age. She's channeled that passion into covering both US and Canadian television shows, and is thankful everyday for the invention of the DVR. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she loves college football and is a fan of sports in general. Bridget is always up for talking TV and you can follow her on twitter at @BridgetOnTV.
“Officer Haught: “Whoa, I’m sorry did I hit my head and wake up in patriarchal bullshit land?”” – SUCH A GREAT COMEBACK! I definitely loved Nicole saying screw names I’m taking in a guilty party!
Even though it basically killed, there’s always a slim chance she could still be a spy, my “Nicole Is A Black Badge Spy” theory the scene between Nedley and Nicole was great! The part about Black Badge being sexy but not a long term plan for the town was great and it was nice to see him say “we little guys are important too”; I’m with him also – keep Nicole in the khakis because her butt looks great in them! 🙂
“providing a storyline for her that’s completely separate from being Waverly’s girlfriend, but it allows for a positive light to be shone on a woman with ambition.” – I have to say I did like when Nicole told Waverly, or Gooverly in that instance, that she was on the job and her job was serious when she lip locked her hardcore. As was stated at the end of the episode just because it’s not glamourous work doesn’t mean keeping the peace at town events isn’t important.
“Now more than ever we need stories about female empowerment that tell and show women it’s a good thing to be ambitious, it’s a good thing to be proud of your skills, it’s a good thing to stand up for yourself and it’s a good thing to speak up and ask for what you want.” – I am having SUCH Cristina Yang feelings from this article! She’s the first I can think of who really stood up for her career and never apologized for what she wanted – career over kids. Arguably Cristina falls into the category of being punished, depending on how you saw some plot points – punishment or disagreement, for her choice as we saw people giving her a hard time over picking career over kids (Owen was just putting up with a bad relationship for too long as anyone could see they were mismatched because of differing futures) but still to me she is one of the most refreshing characters because she stayed true to her goals. I miss you Cristina!
“What do you think of Nicole’s storyline this season?” – I’m definitely enjoying more Nicole and her dedication to her job while also being with Waverly! I suspect those two will conflict again where Nicole has to choose between siding with Waverly or siding with the police force but I love how Emily is kicking that trope as well on this series by saying just because they fight doesn’t mean they have to break up because of it and we see them working on the issue. “Wynonna Earp” has been a very refreshing series to watch writing wise and I look forward to more of it!
This is such an excellent article Bridget. I really like that you took our present time in history and paralleled it with Nicole’s current journey/esperience in Purgatory. You are so right that there are many people -both men and women- who don’t like a strong, assertive, ambitious woman.
Thanks Patty for reading and sharing your thoughts!
What a great article!
“Now more than ever we need stories about female empowerment that tell and show women it’s a good thing to be ambitious, it’s a good thing to be proud of your skills, it’s a good thing to stand up for yourself and it’s a good thing to speak up and ask for what you want”
THIS! I wish every woman I know would see this. I’m glad a show with such strong female characters like Wynonna Earp exists (as well as Orphan Black), we need it.