In this week’s episode of Teen Wolf Scott must deal with even more of Derek’s choices as he adds new members to his pack. Granted, the new wolves are far from the only ones going through some serious changes as Lydia and Jackson continue to react rather poorly to their own werewolf encounters, and Allison starts down her journey as a hunter. Plus the Abomination kills again as it continues to stick to the shadows, which it will hopefully be forced out of soon enough.
Family Bonding
After seeing the shot of Allison having a black sack tossed over her head over and over again on repeat viewings of the trailer for the season it’s pretty disappointing that it was actually just a way to start her training. I don’t know about you, but my dad and I watch Cardinal games or action movies to spend time together (sorry Stiles/Dylan, no fans of the Mets here), and I am happy to say that kidnapping has probably never crossed his mind. With that said, it is nice that the arrow to the leg last week put the fire under Argent to start training her instead of treating her like a child.
Side Question – Maybe it is just because of the gas prices these days, but I can’t be the only one who wondered: if the power goes out at the station and then you are kidnapped, you get your gas for free, right?
Detective Argent
I am going to reiterate what I said previously about crazy running in the family with Kate and Mrs. Argent, especially now that her husband said that the women of the family become leaders who must answer the tough questions. Why would you want this woman making decisions for you!? She is crazy, all for self-mutilation if it serves a purpose, and prefers to go without anesthetic. Bet she had a natural birth with Allison too. Crazy… Maybe next time she wants to run into Scott’s mom she can take an easier route, like the supermarket, or pretending to have a friend/coworker/family member in the hospital she’s visiting before striking up a conversation.
Now that Allison has started her training to become “a leader” it will be interesting to see if she stands up to her mother down the road, but chances are she will still have to just act out on her own to do what she thinks is right instead of being able to change the hunters. But first she will have to deal with a confrontation now that her mom is putting the pieces together that she hasn’t stopped seeing Scott.
The Sixth Sense
While Jackson continues his reign in the town of douchebaggery, at least Lydia is still making strides to becoming a far more interesting and sympathetic character. First Jackson yells at her to the extent that she winds up crying in a bathroom stall, only to be rudely interrupted by a barefoot man (didn't he learn from Britney’s mistake that you are supposed to wear shoes in public bathrooms?). To make it worse, this bathroom creeper is all just a figment of her imagination, and figment Peter Hale seems to have a message for her. I’m not sure what he wanted to tell her by leading her to his trophy that was either for “Clapula,” whatever that is, or more likely for being a “champion” (the image wasn’t sharp enough for me to make it out), but I am sure his second appearance under the ice is more meaningful in some way.
Stiles was making some real progress with Lydia with the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and hand holding, but then he had to leave her side on the rink to do who knows what, giving her enough time to hallucinate a trail of petals leading up to Peter’s grave marked with wolfsbane. This is the second time we have seen wolfsbane over a grave, but I always assumed the first time was just to keep Derek’s sister’s body in wolf form somehow since it changed back to human when they removed it. Plus the spiral of rope was the more important thing at that time, but could there be more to this flower than what we know currently? Could burned alive Peter be a zombie lizard!? Sorry, I let my imagination get away from me there…
This could all mean nothing other than Lydia is reacting poorly mentally to what she went through, but usually things like this don’t just happen for no reason when specific details come into play. Later on in the episode Scott’s boss says that Alpha wounds don’t heal (other than the bite, which obviously does), but I am assuming that he just means they heal slower or scar because I seriously doubt that Scott is walking around with open wounds on the back of his neck from when Peter stabbed him with his claws. With that said, it does connect Lydia’s scars to the hallucinations (if Alpha wounds affect werewolves and humans the same way) because when Scott was stabbed he was flooded with memories of Peter’s. Could these hallucinations somehow be connected to Peter’s memories? It’s probably a long shot, but it’s definitely something to consider.
A Full Set
Last week we met the first new wolf of Derek’s pack, and today he picked out two new members from the collection of downtrodden at the high school. I don’t know how Derek is finding these kids other than just to give up and say he is omnipotent (though maybe it has something to do with another wolf sense and emotion since Scott had a connection to Erica as well), but I am not sure how I feel about his taste right now. With that said, I do see some potential with Boyd to not be just another “guard dog” as Scott calls them, especially when he says that he wants to be like Scott after he reveals his bite on the rink. Whether or not he wants to be more powerful than the other two like Scott or willing to fight for what he believes in on his own will only be revealed with time, but fingers crossed for the latter.
Now onto the classic movie high school makeover: Erica. She had my sympathy when we first met her because of the whole outcast girl with epileptic seizures angle, especially after her talk with Derek (she said she has a warning as to when she is going to have a seizure, so did she climb that wall fully knowing that she was going to be forced off it at some point?), but by episodes end she is already on the short list of really aggravating characters (here’s looking at you, Jackson). Not only that, but she goes from donning the feral child look to “look at me! I have a wolf pack membership leather jacket, hairbrush, make-up, and enough confidence to be a slut! Look at my boobs! Yay!” Remember the good old days when I hoped Lydia would become a werewolf because it had the potential to be humorous and overshadow her shallow act? Let’s go back to that.
The Fake Out
Between the recent turn of events for Tara in True Blood, and now Jackson here, I don’t know how much more I can take of TV shows giving me what I want only to scream “psych!” in my face an episode later. I really thought we were off the hook when he didn’t turn during the full moon, and then again when they were watching a film about vaccinations and immunity during class, but somehow through all of that he still has ended up with super strength when he managed to lift the truck stuck in the mud (where’s his off-roading Porsche when you need it?).
Personally I’d still prefer Jackson sans the powers he so desperately wants unless it goes badly for him somehow. More so, it would be nice if some of the characters in this place weren’t supernatural or connected to the supernatural elements somehow. But if that is too much to ask for, at least leave Stiles and Allison human instead of going the route of The Vampire Diaries, in which everyone has joined the party in some way, shape, or form by now. Then again, it would be cool to see a hunter turn to a wolf considering the “recording” during Allison’s kidnapping, but let’s make it the dad.
Final Thoughts
Now that Derek has his team built up, it will be interesting to see where the two sides go from here, and when they eventually cross paths. But for now there will probably be a lot of training on both ends, including newbie wolves and Allison on the hunter side. Better yet, when the war starts the sides may not be formed by who is on them now.
So what did you guys think of tonight’s episode? Any new ideas about the lizard man with drippy, slightly opaque claws? How much longer until Stiles changes clothes without being strategically placed behind a locker door? Is Derek ever going to go full-blown wolf like Peter did instead of just sharper nails and a furrier face? Will Jackson ever stop angrily pleading to forests and doors for answers? Let me know your thoughts!
