What They Say:
Maid of Gevaudan – The Argents reveal a key clue to the mystery of the Beast of Gevaudan in hopes of aligning with an ally; Scott tries to take on the beast.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Teen Wolf had a pretty fun episode the last time around where it actually managed to feel like some of the earlier Teen Wolf episodes of the first seasons. The show has gotten increasingly complicated in its mythology without making it feel like there’s time to enjoy the world that the characters inhabit, making it even more grim than Grimm. There have been good things going on but it’s had some really rough times this season in actually being an enjoyable show with uninteresting villains and the core cast split apart. So I’m kind of amused that with this episode we get the return of Crystal Reed playing the Maid of Gevaudan in a tale told of the distant past. Reed was one of the reasons I watched the show in the beginning and her leaving certainly diminished it.
The show gives us a good taste of the past right from the start as we go back to the French-controlled areas of North America back in 1760 and see some French soldiers on the run from British soldiers that are chasing them. While they find some mild refuge, it’s a tense situation because the British are right outside ready to get them. But it’s the arrival of the beast that changes things as it eliminates all of them. What helps salvage the situation in a sense is that the French soldier wrote of what happened before he died and that letter eventually made its hands elsewhere, into Marie-Jeanne, who is the hunter of the time that’s after the beast. It’s a solid role for Crystal Reed to take on as it gives her something different to work with while not just repeating who she was before.
While that sets up things in the past, the present gives us some decent time as well as Lydia is told by the Argents that they think she may be the one capable of dealing with the Beast. Though Lydia thinks that Parrish may be the right choice, Parrish himself doesn’t and the others think that he can go the distance but not complete the job, making him unsuitable. This again puts Lydia on a pedestal with her powers and potential in a way that they tend to do with the core players. I certainly don’t mind this with Lydia since she’s been given the short end of the stick for so much of the past season or two and giving her a solid role in bringing things together for the finale will work well. Of course, there has to be a bit of a history lesson given to her about what happened in the past to provide context.
The show handles the storytime from the past well as it’s properly moody and just a little bit scenery chewing with what they do, French accents and all. The hunting aspect certainly works well to change things up from the usual warm Beacon Hills area we get, and putting Marie-Jeanne in a position to deal with something supernatural like this is well handled as well. The surreal nature of what she sees is certainly crazy, especially since she thought originally the real problem was just a wolf. These first exposures to the world of werewolves certainly are interesting and she gets a good guide in Henri, who has ringed his home with Mountain Ash trees. It’s all naturally quite abbreviated with what we get here, but it handles the pace well to tell the tale it wants and give us a look at the beast in a different light.
The discovery of the beast in this period is certainly an interesting one with it being Marie-Jeanne’s brother and the cover-up that was going on. It puts a really good story twist on it that could, given a different time, a chance to be a series all on its own. Marie-Jeanne’s attempts at getting in the right frame of mind to do what’s necessary isn’t deep and there’s a lot at stake, but she’s very much guided by justice and it feels right in how it’s presented, particularly with the mood of it all. I also like that they put it into the context of several years of hunting, not something that happens right away, making it a proper French epic that could be told in greater detail. As we see things in 1767, I really like the visual design of it, especially with the transformation sequence, and just how intense Marie-Jeanne is with it. In the end, the show gives it a proper cinematic approach and it helps to differentiate it while still feeling fully connected.
Amid all the shenanigans elsewhere and in the past, the show also gives us a little time at the school where Scott and the others are dealing with the beast there and all that it entails. Mostly it’s Scott getting tossed around a lot, but at least, Liam gets a little action as Hayden kisses him early on in order to take away his pain from the deep wound that he got from the beast. It works to keep them involved in the storyline while most of the material is focused elsewhere. There are definitely some fun sequences here as the beast causes a lot of chaos and goes after Scott, but there’s that moment of realization that hits well when they discover who the teenager is inside the beast with the scent caught. It still feels a little forced and I’m not expecting a fake out but I wouldn’t be surprised by it, mostly because it’s so circumstantial at the moment.
In Summary:
Teen Wolf has one of its better if not the best episode of the season, which admittedly isn’t saying all that much. But this is a strong episode that fills in some of the blanks, digs into the history of the hunters and all that it entails, and provides for some very fun visuals and action sequences. It’s a delight to have Crystal Reed back and I’d be up for a Marie-Jeanne and Henri series simply to have her on screen more. I get why she left the series but she’s done nothing for the most part acting wise since then so it’s been a loss. The show is running hard and fast with the final two episodes coming up and I’m expecting the usual kind of overstuffed ending as there are a lot of subplots at play. Some will work and some won’t but it’s nice to be reminded why I like the show, which this episode did.
Grade: B+