by Hayley Charlesworth
It’s blood and guts galore in Beacon Hills as our teenage assassins (now known as the Orphans) continue to strike, the third cipher key is revealed, and all of this season’s major villains, with the exception of the mysterious Benefactor, come to the fore. With the subtle, more psychological horror of Nogitsune Stiles from last season, it’s refreshing to see some of Teen Wolf’s hammiest villains ham it up in spectacular fashion, while new double acts begin to form, some realistic, real-life problems come into play, and even the freshmen are starting to become interesting.
It’s blood and guts galore in Beacon Hills as our teenage assassins (now known as the Orphans) continue to strike, the third cipher key is revealed, and all of this season’s major villains, with the exception of the mysterious Benefactor, come to the fore. With the subtle, more psychological horror of Nogitsune Stiles from last season, it’s refreshing to see some of Teen Wolf’s hammiest villains ham it up in spectacular fashion, while new double acts begin to form, some realistic, real-life problems come into play, and even the freshmen are starting to become interesting.
Following on from last week’s climax, Violet, one of the Orphans, is taken into custody for her attempted murder of Scott, while Stiles, Derek and Deaton struggle to save a werewolf, Brett, poisoned by the other Orphan, Garrett. But when Garrett kidnaps Liam, poisoning him and trapping him in a well, Scott has to make an uneasy alliance with Garrett to rescue his Beta, while Derek and Malia (cousins who have had very little screen time together so far) embark on a mission to locate Brett’s Alpha Satomi, the werewolf last seen with Noshiko Yukimura back in the 1940s in The Fox and the Wolf. Meanwhile, Stiles and Lydia, along with Deputy Parrish, negotiate their way into Eichen House, seeking Meredith’s help to crack the third cypher key, but Meredith is too distressed, aware of the Benefactor’s intentions, leading to disastrous consequences. Elsewhere, Scott struggles with the decision to use Peter’s money, which the Benefactor had given to Garrett for his kills, to pay a struggling Melissa’s bills. And we see the return of Kate Argent, along with her Berserker henchmen, as she faces down her brother Chris for the first time, before forming an Unholy Alliance of Hammy Villainy with Peter Hale which cannot end well.
Another strong showing in terms of storyline, Orphaned sticks loyally to the threat of the Benefactor, tying in Kate and Peter as related villains. In terms of their villains, Violet and Garrett are unceremoniously removed in increasingly bloody ways, which is a good choice as they were quite one-note as villains, and the more screen time given to Jill Wagner and Ian Bohen trying to out-camp each other as Kate and Peter, the better. The only non-Benefactor related subplot given any real exploration is Melissa’s money troubles, which along with the Hale vault robbery and the Martins’ own money situation, shows a certain running theme. But it is a refreshing, ordinary problem to counteract all the supernatural silliness. Derek’s power-loss storyline is only given a few subtle hints, such as recruiting Malia to find Satomi because of his weakened sense of smell, but one of these hints is that Peter has noticed his healing ability is slowing. Knowing Peter, it’s only a matter of time before he uses that to his advantage, and his slow-burn return to being the Big Bad finally comes to a head.
Another strong showing in terms of storyline, Orphaned sticks loyally to the threat of the Benefactor, tying in Kate and Peter as related villains. In terms of their villains, Violet and Garrett are unceremoniously removed in increasingly bloody ways, which is a good choice as they were quite one-note as villains, and the more screen time given to Jill Wagner and Ian Bohen trying to out-camp each other as Kate and Peter, the better. The only non-Benefactor related subplot given any real exploration is Melissa’s money troubles, which along with the Hale vault robbery and the Martins’ own money situation, shows a certain running theme. But it is a refreshing, ordinary problem to counteract all the supernatural silliness. Derek’s power-loss storyline is only given a few subtle hints, such as recruiting Malia to find Satomi because of his weakened sense of smell, but one of these hints is that Peter has noticed his healing ability is slowing. Knowing Peter, it’s only a matter of time before he uses that to his advantage, and his slow-burn return to being the Big Bad finally comes to a head.
Another major strength of the episode is Liam. While he has been a one note character so far, with his dialogue easily replaceable by the phrase “I am angry”, Orphaned gives actor Dylan Sprayberry some opportunity to develop, both with Liam’s friendship with Mason (which does feel a little like a rehash of Jackson and Danny at times, but the actors do have chemistry), and in allowing him to show fear and determination to save himself, rather than pure rage. As with any new character, it will take a while for him to fully settle in to the cast, but they are moving along the right lines.
Other elements are less successful. Determining that the third cypher key will be someone who is about to die, Lydia types in the name Derek. It seems each season now has to have a “Derek will die” fake-out, and it’s starting to get old. Revealing Derek as the name so early in the storyline almost guarantees his safety. What will be interesting is seeing the measures they take to keep Derek safe. As for the names on the list, finally Liam and Malia appear, yet Peter still does not, even though he was a target for The Mute. Also on the list is Meredith, and this is one of the big disappointments. Meredith, rather than being killed, takes her own life, but only after Stiles and Lydia cause her to have a nervous breakdown. In a way, it appears like Stiles and Lydia have driven Meredith to suicide, and that is not a quality you want in your heroes. Unless more details are revealed about Meredith’s death in the episodes to come, that seems like a particularly ill-thought event.
Other elements are less successful. Determining that the third cypher key will be someone who is about to die, Lydia types in the name Derek. It seems each season now has to have a “Derek will die” fake-out, and it’s starting to get old. Revealing Derek as the name so early in the storyline almost guarantees his safety. What will be interesting is seeing the measures they take to keep Derek safe. As for the names on the list, finally Liam and Malia appear, yet Peter still does not, even though he was a target for The Mute. Also on the list is Meredith, and this is one of the big disappointments. Meredith, rather than being killed, takes her own life, but only after Stiles and Lydia cause her to have a nervous breakdown. In a way, it appears like Stiles and Lydia have driven Meredith to suicide, and that is not a quality you want in your heroes. Unless more details are revealed about Meredith’s death in the episodes to come, that seems like a particularly ill-thought event.
Regardless of these issues, Teen Wolf season four remains strong. For the first time in a while, the numerous storylines of the season all appear to interweave, where the Benefactor directly ties in with Peter’s return to darkness, the war between the Argent siblings and the threat of the Calaveras linking to Derek’s predicament. And every storyline seems to give Lydia more opportunity to explore her powers. With the freshmen better handled, and the Orphans out of the way for more intriguing villains to take their place, one can only hope the show continues this upward trajectory.
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