Brain Dump: Wynonna Earp, Burden of Truth, and the Emmys

Time to empty the head of TV trivia with a brain dump. This edition contains gems about Wynonna Earp, Burden of Truth, and the upcoming Emmy awards.

Wynonna Earp

There are many things I love about Wynonna Earp. The biggest is the funny, powerful, original, brilliant, writing from creator Emily Andras and the writing staff, including the creator of the original comic book, Beau Smith. This series remains wildly inventive, always feminist, and truly hilarious while telling stories with depth. I can’t think of another writer for television I love as much as Emily Andras except Sally Wainwright.

The key performances from Melanie Scrofano, Tim Rozon, Dominique Provost-Chalkley, and Katherine Barrell are superb.

If I told you this low-budget Canadian series about the great, great, great granddaughter of Wyatt Earp and her demon killing pistol was the best thing on TV, you’d think I was nuts. You’d be wrong.

Burden of Truth

Another series from Canada, Burden of Truth is now showing on the CW. You can catch up with episodes you’ve missed using the CW app. The series is about big city lawyer Joanna Hanley (Kristin Kreuk). She returns to her hometown because of a case involving a group of girls suffering from a mysterious illness.

The science involved in the series is horrifyingly bad. In the first episode they referred to sodium chloride as a poison. (It does get better.) There are  major holes in character development as Joanna Hanley goes from big city to lawyer to class action crusader for the girls in the hometown she left behind. (It does get better.) Many of the plot twists you can see coming from a mile away. (So far it hasn’t gotten better.)

Overall, however, I’m enjoying the series. I find Kristin Kreuk to be a fine actor. I’d never heard of her before, even though everyone else probably knows her from Smallville. She’s joined by Peter Mooney as the local attorney she went to high school with. Nicola Correia-Damude, another school friend, is now the high school guidance counselor. Star Slade plays Luna. Star Slade is an interesting young indigenous actor. Molly (Sara Thompson), one of the afflicted girls, is Luna’s girlfriend. This is apparently the first romance of this kind with an indigenous actor. Points for that.

Burden of Truth has enough of a David vs. Goliath vibe to keep it interesting, and I’m enjoying getting to know this cast.

The Emmys

The Emmys are coming on September 17. Here’s who I hope will win in the categories I know most about.

It would be exciting if a female led series like The Crown or The Handmaid’s Tale took outstanding drama. Female led GLOW, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt are up for outstanding comedy. I’m rooting for GLOW. I’m hoping Godless takes limited series – again, female led.

Lead actress in a drama: I’ve seen and loved Claire Foy in The Crown, Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black, Sandra Oh in Killing Eve, and Keri Russell in The Americans. My hopes are pinned on Tatiana Maslany.

For supporting actress Yvonne Strahovski from The Handmaid’s Tale is my favorite. From the same series, I hope Samira Wiley wins for outstanding guest actress.

In the other categories I haven’t seen enough of the nominated performances to have an opinion. I hope there will be more women of color winning awards this year.

Here’s a full list of Emmy nominees.

Who are you rooting for in this year’s Emmys?