Someone needs to burn Eichen House to the ground.
What They Say:
Amplification – Upon learning the Lydia is in danger, Stiles makes a plan to break her out of Eichen House; Theo has his own plans.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Teen Wolf has slowly brought the team back together and begun the hard work of re-bonding these characters after all they’ve been through. I still find the whole story arc in that regard to just be unnecessary as there were plenty of ways to deal with the concept without throwing them to the scattered winds like this. We’ve gotten a bit more background on things recently and some of it is coming together, but I’m just beyond bored with Eichen House and Lydia again sleepwalking through the season having no real role here. Considering how much fun she was in the first season in her interactions with everyone and then the horror of the second season, it’s been a mess ever since for her.
The cold open here shifts everything to the hospital as we knew from the last time around as that’s where the Beast is now headed and it’s pure chaos there as the staff are trying to get everyone out. How this hospital has remained functional the last couple of years based on events is beyond me, but the damage down here certainly takes it up a notch. With Parrish being tossed around inside like a flaming bag of wet cement and a whole lot of damage, it’s pretty grim and well played to set the tone. Particularly as Stiles follows the claw prints that turn into sneaker prints along the way, revealing again that transformation is a big part of what’s going on.
While that shows some of what’s going on in the crazytown that is Beacon Hills, the show also shifts to the next phase of events with the core group coming together to go after Lydia. Since they can’t legally get her out of Eichen House as her mother has no compelling reason to do so, they’re putting together a plan themselves to do it in a less than legal manner. It’s actually fun to see them going through the planning phase of it, light as it is because it’s an echo of what the show used to be like in how the group dynamic works. I still don’t give a damn about Eichen House and the show has even lost me when it comes to Lydia, so the actual end result just doesn’t interest me. But I’m glad to see they haven’t forgotten some of the basics of how to do all of this.
The actual mission is one that has its moments of fun because it does add a good bit of lightness and humor to it where it can. Considering how absolutely grim the show has been lately this is a good thing. Whether it’s Kira attempting to master her powers more to force a brownout Scott and the others riding into Eichen in the back of a morgue truck with Parrish driving and promising that they’ll never go into those bags again, it’s some good gallows humor. Kira and Malia together has a good bit of fun as well, though Malia has lost a lot of her charm this season as well as it feels like the writers have forgotten how to write her. It’s nowhere near enough to save the episode or the story but it at least makes it a bit more enjoyable.
Frankly, the further the episode goes on the more disengaging it becomes. It all just feels so pointless and unfocused.
In Summary:
Even though there are small moments within each episode that I enjoy, Teen Wolf continues to feel more like chore than anything else as it moves through its fifth season. The Eichen House breakout storyline is one that has its moments, but it’s a story piece that just shouldn’t have had to happen in general. With the focus on rescuing Lydia she barely makes an appearance in the episode – most of her time being in the recap at that. And I’m still struggling with the simple fact that they’ve brought back Deucalian for this as it just doesn’t click at all, which is how it’s felt with most returning guest stars this season. With a couple of brief fun bits of action and some humor that works surprisingly well, there’s not much else to this episode as they look to reestablish the bonds that exist between those in Scott’s pack. That’s half the reason for most of this but it just doesn’t connect.
Grade: C
