What They Say:
Lunar Ellipse – Scott and his friends use an ancient ritual to save the lives of their loved ones and stop Deucalion.
The Review:
As the three main characters ended up going through their sacrifice ritual, things take a pretty interesting turn as they wake up in a massive white room with a large tree stump within it. It all starts to tie back to the tattoo that Scott has, which has been drawn into the story, and we see a variety of small flashbacks that helps to show different things that have been going on, including back to when he first found the dead body that put him on this path, being attacked by the wolf. It’s amusing to see him watch it from this perspective and to realize the connections that are there that have a larger meaning. It’s not kept to just Scott though as Stiles goes througrh it as well, seeing similar events and also being drawn to the stump. Allison gets a fresh moment here though as we see her first encounter with Scott without realizing who it was, which in turn also brings her back to that time and place as well. The three have been connected for some time and this was a really interesting way of doing it while reinforcing it.
Because of the ritual and the time it took, it’s amusing to see how they wiped away sixteen hours so that they can be just a few hours away from the full moon. That gives them only so long to do what’s needed as they recover. But they’re not the only ones recovering as Derek himself is pretty out of it after all that happened and he’s definitely needing the time to recover. The setup for events works well here as everyone is getting their own particular missions to work on that binds people together, with Lydia drawn in to help the twins as they’ve split in how to deal with Derek. And they want Lydia there because of the slowly growing powers that she has and how she may provide some kind of insight into what can happen. And, of course, there are the trio of sacrifices sitting out there underground with some good gallows humor to cope with it all.
While they do manage to get Derek and his sister to hightail it out of there for a bit, there’s still a good fight to be had at their place as Kali has to get some information out of those that remained, which puts a few loyalties to the test when Lydia gets threatened. But it’s the arrival of Jennifer that changes the game in a big way as she makes it clear she does have a lot of power, first in stopping the twins from forming together and then cutting loose in dealing with Kali. It’s an impressive moment because of the visual display of power and ease, but it’s also the casual ruthlessness of it all. Which she displays even further in a brutal moments as she deals with the newly combined twins and their heightened strength and power.
Events all move well in a good direction towards that final confrontation, with some amusing sidetrackings along the way including Scott’s father, but the closer the eclipse comes, the greater the tension as the sense of power becomes clearer and more obvious. When the challenge finally comes down, and the location of the fight determined, it gives us four of the more powerful members of the area to stand off against each other. Scott and Deucalion are an amusing pair as are Derek and Jennifer, especially since both Scott and Derek think they’re helping each other when it really comes down to the longstanding issue between Jennifer and Deucalion. He’s very, very powerfull, and his transformation just reinforces that with a darkness that we don’t really see from the others most of the time.
The final fight takes some good turns as it goes on, with Deucalion showing his power and attempting to turn Scott even further to his side, but we also get the welcome moment of Scott making it clear that hes’ found his own pack. But as the curse unfolds, we get a really great sequence where Jennifer makes it clear to Deucalion that she has the upper hand, the real power, and shows him the price she paid for what happened all those years ago. It’s not often we saw anything close to fear from Deucalion, but what he gets here is really well done. Similarly, we get to see Jennifer cope with her situation as her revenge is denied and the potential that she had with Derek is shattered before her since he won’t become the killer that she needs.
In Summary:
As a conclusion to the summer part of the third season, Teen Wolf does a whole lot here once again. The show continues to impress in many ways as it’s gone on because it keeps to some of the usual ideas that you get with a show like this, but it doesn’t truly draw it out into a lengthy process. This episode works through a lot of revelations along the way and while some characters get the short end of the stick, particularly Stiles, it really is all about dealing with the growth of the pack and a near-formalization of it in way with Scott becoming what he is. The showdowns are done well here, I really liked the way it went down to the four power players at the end here, and that it covered a lot of other smaller bits along the way. And, of course, it ends with the kind of twist that you knew was going to come at some time and is something that can make for a very engaging winter season when it returns in January 2014.
Grade: A-
