With the slowly introduced mystery creature sticking to the shadows in previous episodes of Teen Wolf, it’s time that we finally get to go face to face with the Abomination following yet another murder. Plenty of details will be filled in about the creature, but don’t expect to actually finish the episode with any more answers to the ever-present questions surrounding it.
Leaving An Impression
Before we get to the meat of this episode, let’s take a brief moment to study Allison’s grandfather, Gerard. We have still only seen the surface of what this man is capable of, but I cannot wait to delve deeper into the history that comes with him. For starters: he and the vet have a past of sorts (did the vet ever work with the hunters?), he loves food if that recipe book holds any truth, he has to take a whole bunch of pills on a regular basis (that at some point better be explained considering we’ve seen them twice now), he has a bestiary (what else is out there!?), he wants everyone to underestimate him, and oh yeah, he loves playing with pointy blades. I know it is always important to leave a strong impression, but stabbing Scott in the abdomen? Not cool grandpa, not cool! That’s definitely one way to threaten someone, that’s for sure, but why pocket a favor from Scott considering he said he was so intent on killing all werewolves in the first episode? No good can come from nefarious planning.
The Abomination
This week’s episode confirms a theory introduced early last week in concern to the creature’s abilities, or more specifically, some sort of poisonous attribute. This is scary enough, but the interesting thing is actually how the vet, Dr. Deaton, interprets the creatures killing tactics. He states that in nature an animal that uses paralysis usually does so to render its prey immobile before dining (an example being spiders, often using venom to immobilize victims trapped in their webs), which is obviously not what the creature did. Not to say that having your ribs sliced through and lungs punctured by the creature’s claws is a more desirable way to go, but it is probably not a natural way to kill, indicating that the creature may not simply be acting on instinct.
With venom and strength at the top of the creature’s skills list, high intelligence can probably go on there as well. In addition to using the environment in such a way to kill the mechanic that no typical animal would think to do, in that first scene alone it either knew how to use a doorknob or thought to put paralytic on it to keep anyone from escaping. However, the biggest indication of knowledge is actually in the dialog when the vet describes the wounds on the back of the neck as “precise, almost surgical.” Many animals have developed an understanding of techniques to take down prey, but “surgical” attacks? I’ve seen enough crime shows to know that “surgical” wounds usually mean someone knew what they were doing.
One last thing: the creature doesn’t know what, or who, it is.
Number One Suspect
Each week Lydia continues to stay high up on the suspect list titled “Possible Abominations” for most viewers (and characters based on the preview for next week), which we now know is actually called a Kanima. Personally the list she was high up on for me was “Red Herrings” (i.e. someone used to throw viewers off the sent of the true guilty party), but even this week’s episode shakes my assuredness. Other than Lydia’s wounds, disappearing/memory loss, and the possibility of the creature recognizing Stiles, the biggest piece of evidence working against her is the broken mirror in her room. During the pool scene the creature is confused by its reflection in the piece of mirror in Scott’s hands, and my amazing connect the dot skills had the wheels spinning, calling back Lydia’s bloody knuckles (though one would think these would heal if she was the creature, assuming this is a skill for it as well).
But before those chasing down Lydia with their pitchforks break down her door, ask this question: what is the motive for killing these people specifically? Maybe the creature is just a killing machine, but there is no way that there isn’t going to be a connection between these victims in the end (especially after the camera remained on the lacrosse photo of the mechanic in uniform when Stiles noticed it), presenting the possibility of motive.
Finger Pointing
Other suspects besides Lydia include Jackson, Matt, Mr. Harris, and Grandpa Argent (side note – thanks to everyone who has been leaving comments!). Ok, the last two are mine because I just don’t trust the teacher and I really want one of the hunters to be a creature/werewolf with issues of self-loathing, but looks like Gerard’s presence at dinner crosses him off the list, which brings us back to the other three. The lack of footage of Jackson turning was all a lie as Matt and Danny discover an indication of editing in the footage, with two hours cut out. If Jackson is the Abomination his lack of knowledge about that night would tie into the Abomination not knowing that it is the creature, but would the creature think to delete footage of itself existing? Something tells me no, so if that is the case then we are looking at a situation that might involve a master controlling the creature. (One last thing to note: the creature doesn’t like water, so if it is Jackson we are getting really mixed signals considering he emerged from water in the first episode with his bite mark. Seems really contradictory to me, granted I tend to read into things)
Now let’s turn to Matt. He is already showing a strong/creepy interest in Allison (furthered by the photo he takes of her at the game. Does he not actually play lacrosse?), which was brought up as a possible motivation for when and where the creature shows up by the commenter Griffin: when it appears in the house it does not attack Allison, and then in the next episode it kills the hunter that had “kidnapped” her. With that said, this doesn’t account for the deaths of Isaac’s father and the mechanic (which again could be answered when the motive is discovered), or the interest in Stiles this episode. It’s hard to say how he fits in yet; all I know is I am going to keep an eye on that camera, because I’m guessing no matter who he is he is going to capture some incriminating evidence on it at some point this season. Cameras have been used before to capture images of werewolves (the alpha leaving the video store last season), so it could happen again.
New Faces
With all of these options, I’m still not willing to stop taking note of new faces, starting with the boy Lydia briefly talks to outside the councilor’s office. New faces are usually cannon fodder, possible werewolf candidates, or red herrings, but if we see him again I am going to go with the first option until proven otherwise. Now onto the councilor: for those not new to the supernatural occurrences that accompany TV high schools, you may have noticed a certain vampire slayer has come to play with the werewolves. For the rest of you, I’m talking about Bianca Lawson (she played a second slayer in season two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Because of this credit in the genre I seriously doubt that one scene is the last time we will see her. More specifically, Lydia will probably be back for more sessions, so it will be important to pay attention to the level of interest she shows in Lydia. She may know more than the rest of us.
Final Thoughts
With each episode of Teen Wolf, the questions continue to pile up about what the future holds for the hunters, werewolves, and Abomination. But before you say at least we got some answers this time, remember that all they really did was lead to more questions.
So what did you think of the episode? Just how many different creatures are in that book (and how many of them do you think we’ll see)? Who does Derek want to pimp Erica out to? Isn’t Allison smart enough to know want bestiality means? Is telling a girl she looks beautiful when she cries really a compliment if in order to see her that way she has to be very upset about something? Is there no shallow end in the school’s pool? Let me know your thoughts!
