Just rewatched 3x02, and I'm mad. I am goddamned mad. I'm mad that I see more love on my timeline for Doc Holliday's mustache than I do for Xavier Dolls. So here's a thread with just SOME of the love that man deserves.

Let's start with what seasons 1 and 2 made abundantly clear: WynDolls was always endgame. Ship whoever you want, but don't pretend Wynonna was supposed to end up with Doc from the beginning.

Dolls loved Wynonna as Doc never did. Who takes Wynonna to her OB appts? Who overcomes a Marzaniok's spell and remembers Wynonna as he AU-dies? Who joins her with an "I'm with you, Earp" as together they blast the revenants who came for Alice into oblivion?

Listen to Dolls' raw, heartrending begging for Wyn to come back to him after the fire. Look at the poetry of Wynonna, demon-killer, choosing to keep a demon by her side forever. Feel the love between them - love based on trust and certainty that the other always has their back.

None of this is true of Doc, whose 2x12 fight with Bobo sums him up. He hits Bobo for Waverly, hits him for Wyatt, and impales Bobo for himself. Those are Doc's priorities, in order: himself, his one true love, and those he feels bound to protect. Wynonna doesn't even register.

Doc tells Wyn in S1 they're the same, which is largely true. But Wynonna doesn’t need another Wynonna. It's also not her job to fix Doc. He may be on a journey to improve himself, but while he says it's for Wynonna, that's just spin. It's always for Alice or himself.

(Emily and the writers clearly knew this - knew that Dolls was right for Wynonna. That's why Doc was used as an obstacle between them - sex in S1, pregnancy in S2. Classic TV storytelling: the wrong choice is an obstacle to the right choice.)

God, even in a thread about Dolls I'm spending entire tweets on Doc. But that's just like the show, isn’t it? Doc gets far more backstory, more character study, more screen time to visibly grow and change than Dolls does.

Shamier said it himself in the TV Guide interview after 3x02: It's disappointing. Disappointing that Dolls isn't given the same respect and opportunity that other characters are.

Maybe they were saving it for future seasons, but that’s not good enough - Shamier was the first name after Melanie in the credits, for crying out loud. He deserved better.

On that note, I'm also so tired of this fandom excusing Dolls' death because "Shamier asked for it." If Kat left the show and asked for Nicole to die, y'all would spend the rest of your lives trying to reconcile your love for Kat and Emily with their decision to bury the gays.

Burying BIPOC is just as much of a trope as burying gays. But we don't talk about it as much because, if you haven't noticed, we live in a white supremacist culture that took way less time to start acknowledging LGBTQ rights than it has to acknowledge that Black lives matter.

I will never stop loving Wynonna Earp, and I will never stop being mad about 3x02. A Black man's life is taken so that white lives can continue. If you believe that Black lives matter, you should be mad about it too.

(And you know, after seeing so many people urge Batwoman to recast Kate Kane, all I can think about is that they could have recast Dolls. Black rep matters just as much as queer rep. It would have been an adjustment in cast chemistry, but so was removing Dolls entirely.)

Xavier Dolls is strong but has moments of weakness, as do we all. He holds his convictions fiercely but is willing and able to change them when the situation calls for it. He doesn't need the threat of damnation to fight for good.

He loves Wynonna with all his heart, and he respects the hell out of her. He's supportive in all the right ways: reliable and consistent, trusting her instincts and following her lead. Her partner in all things.

He also loves Waverly, and Nicole, and Jeremy, and Nedley, and even Doc (as much as Doc lets him). He gives of himself for all of them, time and time again.

Dolls is a consummate survivor. He survived a grueling, abusive upbringing, deathly supernatural encounters, and (until it became convenient to write otherwise) a literal demon fighting him every second for his soul.

Season 1 showed us that even when Dolls appears dead, he is not. And we’re supposed to believe that this survivor, this superhero, simply falls over dead and remains so? No. I choose not to. I choose the Dolls I know over the Dolls they hastily scrubbed.

Maybe we'll get to see him again, in S4 and/or beyond. I hope so. Dolls is a model for how to be a man in this chaotic, unjust, ass-kicking world. As someone who struggles to see the good in being a man even in better times, I could sure use more of that right now.

But no matter what, Dolls will remain alive for me. One day, he'll return from wherever he's been, in control of his inner demon and ready to retake his rightful place at Wynonna's side. They'll pick up Alice and raise her together. He'll be the Earper dad I can only hope to be.