#dh xd

As a major Ghost River Triangle shipper, I obviously didn’t enjoy seeing Doc and Dolls kill each other, but I felt that 2x11 ultimately validated their side of the triangle, and I’m quite pleased. I’m not a fan of the trope where two people are enemies just because they like the same person or the one where two people treat each other with respect only because they like the same person, so I’m always nervous that it will be implied Wynonna’s boys don’t really care about each other except for her sake, but I feel that the show has avoided giving that impression, despite that annoying line they gave Doc in 2x03. My favorite example is in 1x08 when Doc confronts Dolls for trying to turn him over to BBD. When Dolls explains that he was doing it to protect Wynonna, Doc doesn’t get angrier. He lowers his gun and urges Dolls not to let BBD destroy his morality, and Dolls takes his advice. This isn’t the same as two people only getting along for the sake of the person they’re fighting for. After all, Wynonna isn’t there to beg them not to hurt each other. The love they share for Wynonna mitigates Doc’s anger. He goes from hating Dolls to recognizing and encouraging Dolls’ virtues. As for Dolls, he backs down so quickly that I feel justified in assuming that jealousy was not a significant factor in his plan to betray Doc and that he really did not want to hurt him. It’s only when the subject of Wynonna comes into the conversation that they start being nice to each other, and I don’t think it’s only for her sake. She brings out the common ground between them. I’m reminded of this post about how each member of the triangle balances the other two and how the healthiest arrangement would be the three of them all together. PLEASE EMILY.

Anyway, back to 2x11. Yeah, they kill each other, and I think Dolls genuinely thought he hated Doc, but really, Doc “hates it when we argue” and killing Doc feels “empty” to Dolls, who “thinks Doc was his friend.” For one thing, we again get it affirmed that rather than driving them apart, Wynonna’s presence is the basis for their friendship: “Is this what we are without her?” For another thing, Wynonna isn’t present to be upset by their fighting. So it’s possible that they only regret hurting each other because they know Wynonna would be unhappy, but the most obvious explanation is that they actually do straight-up like each other. Enmity between them isn’t the proper order of things. It’s a distortion and it really upsets both of them because even in an alternate reality, they care about each other.

tl;dr Wynonna doesn’t put a wedge between Doc and Dolls, she brings them together and Ghost River Triangle is CANON, FOLKS

Okay it was a great episode as always but I have to complain about one thing: “I ain’t doing it for him.” Why was that necessary? Doc and Dolls have shown genuine liking for each other. Remember how Doc praised Dolls in ep 1 of this season? Am I honestly supposed to believe that he doesn’t care about Dolls’ well-being for Dolls’ sake just because they like the same girl? That if Wynonna somehow got over Dolls, Doc would lose interest in helping him? I’m so tired of the trope where romantic rivals only ever do nice things for each other for the sake of the person they’re in love with. I had actually been thinking of writing a post about how nice it was that Wynonna Earp hadn’t yet fallen into that trap, but so much for that :/