By Hayley Charlesworth
While weaker overall than last week's season return, More Bad Than Good continues to play to the show's strengths, with the mystery of the week involving something rarely seen in Teen Wolf of late, teamwork.
While weaker overall than last week's season return, More Bad Than Good continues to play to the show's strengths, with the mystery of the week involving something rarely seen in Teen Wolf of late, teamwork.
While Scott, Allison and Stiles continue to be haunted by their awakening of the Nemeton, there are two major plot threads this episode: the mystery of Malia, the were-coyote introduced last week, and Derek and Peter's shirtless torture. It's the Hales who open the episode, and whose story has the least answers. Their captors appear to be a Spanish hunter family, quizzing them about the existence of a she-wolf. One can only assume at this point that they mean the missing Cora, but Derek is keeping schtum. Peter gets his finger chopped off for the trouble, and that's not even the grossest moment of the episode. Luckily, the Hale boys are rescued by Braeden, the miraculously not dead badass lady who once saved Isaac from Deucalion, and has now, bafflingly, been hired by Deucalion to save them. She and Derek have tension, which in Derek Hale's romantic life, means she's probably evil. The problem with this storyline, while perfectly serviceable (and Ian Bohen is clearly having a blast playing Peter) is that it continues to distance the Hales from the other characters. At this point, it's almost like they're in a different show. Hopefully now they're free, Derek and Peter will return to the main action.
Over in Beacon Hills, Kira's dad continues to be the most hilariously embarrassing person in the world, telling Scott to his face that Kira likes him. They have a cute moment, soon interrupted by Stiles having a major panic attack when he's trapped in another waking dream. Stiles' trauma continues to be one of the strongest aspects of the whole show, with a perfectly pitched performance from Dylan O'Brien that is effective without being flashy. This particular scene has Scott bringing Stiles back to earth, again learning from the previous season's mistakes in ignoring their friendship. On that note, a rivalry seems to be forming between Stiles and Isaac for the role of Scott's best friend, and Stiles finally points out every fan's issue with Isaac by asking what the point of him is, except to be sarcastic and wear a scarf.
The point of Isaac, apparently, is to be Allison's new anchor. When Malia the were-coyote attacks Kira at the school, her grieving father swears to kill the creature that he believes ate his daughter and killed his family. When the gang vow to help Malia return to human form, part of the plan involves Allison shooting Malia with a tranquilizer, but her aim is still off. Cue the grossest scene in the show's history, as Allison hallucinates her own autopsy, and Kate and a bunch of werewolves devour her insides. It's freaky, and more than a little over the top. Teen Wolf has never skimped on the gore, but it's never been as graphic as it is here. It's almost as if the intention of the entire series is to terrify us, though sometimes it's at the expense of the humour that this show usually excels in. Still, like Ian Bohen, Jill Wagner is relishing her villainous role as Kate Argent, just the right mix of intimidating and camp.
Over in Beacon Hills, Kira's dad continues to be the most hilariously embarrassing person in the world, telling Scott to his face that Kira likes him. They have a cute moment, soon interrupted by Stiles having a major panic attack when he's trapped in another waking dream. Stiles' trauma continues to be one of the strongest aspects of the whole show, with a perfectly pitched performance from Dylan O'Brien that is effective without being flashy. This particular scene has Scott bringing Stiles back to earth, again learning from the previous season's mistakes in ignoring their friendship. On that note, a rivalry seems to be forming between Stiles and Isaac for the role of Scott's best friend, and Stiles finally points out every fan's issue with Isaac by asking what the point of him is, except to be sarcastic and wear a scarf.
The point of Isaac, apparently, is to be Allison's new anchor. When Malia the were-coyote attacks Kira at the school, her grieving father swears to kill the creature that he believes ate his daughter and killed his family. When the gang vow to help Malia return to human form, part of the plan involves Allison shooting Malia with a tranquilizer, but her aim is still off. Cue the grossest scene in the show's history, as Allison hallucinates her own autopsy, and Kate and a bunch of werewolves devour her insides. It's freaky, and more than a little over the top. Teen Wolf has never skimped on the gore, but it's never been as graphic as it is here. It's almost as if the intention of the entire series is to terrify us, though sometimes it's at the expense of the humour that this show usually excels in. Still, like Ian Bohen, Jill Wagner is relishing her villainous role as Kate Argent, just the right mix of intimidating and camp.
When Allison comes to, she's pointing the gun at Isaac. He calms her down with the power of sexual tension. Scott's part in this plan is also a struggle. An Alpha's howl can turn a wolf back to human form, but Scott still can't control his transformations, so Stiles and Lydia take Scott to Derek's place, where the Twinsformers are waiting to beat him up to teach him control. The episode's major weakness is here. Without the Alpha pack, Ethan and Aidan are fairly superfluous, and the writers have their work cut out for them if the Twins are to remain a major part of the cast. The scene goes through the motions, with the Twins taking what should be Derek's place in Alpha Advice, and a vague reminder that Ethan's the nicer one. It unfortunately feels like filler, with the most interesting point being the minor fact that Stiles has a key to Derek's loft.
Over at the woods, the gang are waiting to save the day, but Sheriff discovers that Malia's dad has filled the woods with traps. Cue Isaac's leg being caught in a trap, and Lydia stepping on one. Stiles has to find a way to release Lydia's trap without being able to read the instructions, despite having his phone right there (why didn't he just take a photo and get Lydia to read the sign?) Allison has to shoot Malia's dad with the dart, leaving Scott free to roar like Katy Perry and save Malia. The whole scene seems to imply a romantic future for Stiles and Lydia, and while Dylan O'Brien and Holland Roden have great chemistry, putting them together would deny a rare opportunity to build a strong, meaningful friendship between characters of the opposite sex without resorting to romance.
By the end of the episode, all seems to be well. Malia returns home, Allison's aim is back, and Stiles can read a sign on the car window. That was...resolved quickly. Honestly, there's a happy little montage, and it's only episode two. Malia's story is too interesting to be squeezed into such a short time, and ideally this isn't the last we've seen of her.
There's still trouble on the horizon. The episode ends with the Hales and Braeden finding a carving of Derek's tattoo in a box of mountain ash, and fireflies emerging from the Nemeton to form three shadowy figures. Could these be the demons mentioned in the trailer? And could the three figures each relate to Scott, Allison and Stiles?
While on the whole not as balanced as the previous episode, there were a lot of positive elements to this episode. It didn't as flawlessly pass the Bechdel test as last week, with limited Allison/Lydia interaction, and the whole Malia story seemed rushed, but Teen Wolf is definitely sewing the seeds for an interesting story progression, and once again seems to have an idea of what it's about. If anything, it just needs to unite the two plot threads in some way to make each episode less disjointed.
Over at the woods, the gang are waiting to save the day, but Sheriff discovers that Malia's dad has filled the woods with traps. Cue Isaac's leg being caught in a trap, and Lydia stepping on one. Stiles has to find a way to release Lydia's trap without being able to read the instructions, despite having his phone right there (why didn't he just take a photo and get Lydia to read the sign?) Allison has to shoot Malia's dad with the dart, leaving Scott free to roar like Katy Perry and save Malia. The whole scene seems to imply a romantic future for Stiles and Lydia, and while Dylan O'Brien and Holland Roden have great chemistry, putting them together would deny a rare opportunity to build a strong, meaningful friendship between characters of the opposite sex without resorting to romance.
By the end of the episode, all seems to be well. Malia returns home, Allison's aim is back, and Stiles can read a sign on the car window. That was...resolved quickly. Honestly, there's a happy little montage, and it's only episode two. Malia's story is too interesting to be squeezed into such a short time, and ideally this isn't the last we've seen of her.
There's still trouble on the horizon. The episode ends with the Hales and Braeden finding a carving of Derek's tattoo in a box of mountain ash, and fireflies emerging from the Nemeton to form three shadowy figures. Could these be the demons mentioned in the trailer? And could the three figures each relate to Scott, Allison and Stiles?
While on the whole not as balanced as the previous episode, there were a lot of positive elements to this episode. It didn't as flawlessly pass the Bechdel test as last week, with limited Allison/Lydia interaction, and the whole Malia story seemed rushed, but Teen Wolf is definitely sewing the seeds for an interesting story progression, and once again seems to have an idea of what it's about. If anything, it just needs to unite the two plot threads in some way to make each episode less disjointed.
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