What They Say:
The Divine Move – Scott and Derek call upon their friends and allies to make a last stand.
The Review:
Teen Wolf certainly put in an interesting game changer in the previous episode by giving us the death of Allison in a well done way, even if it was a little abrupt. We’ve had deaths in the show before and changes in the cast through behind the scenes issues, but there’s that nugget of truth to the show in that it’s willing to eliminate characters at times to progress the story. Not exactly Game of Thrones style elimination or anything, but there was always some uncertainty in some situations, though more in the area of the supporting cast. A twin? Sure. Isaac? Yeah, you could see that. Even Argent himself or even possibly Derek on some level. But the core trio of Allison, Scott and Stiles? You could feel reasonably sure they were safe unless there were some big contract issues coming up. So having Allison taken out and giving her a great death scene itself as she talks with Scott and makes it clear her feelings, something that certainly makes sense for many people when it comes to their first loves, it hit some very good notes and left you feeling empty afterwards
The fallout from that event continues that empty feeling here as everyone is reeling from it, but it’s a kind of quiet moment more than anything else. While Allison died, she changed the flow of what’s been going on as she took down one of the enemy that the Nogitsune had taken over from Noshiko and that gives them a bit of restrained hope in a way. For Stiles, he’s definitely reeling from it all but he’s also feeling pretty down on his own odds at this point since he knows his life is slipping away from him. Things are a bit more on the sleeve when it comes to Argent himself as when he returns home with Isaac in tow, he’s doing his best to keep it all inside. But it’s Isaac’s youth and inability to do so that lets Argent open up a bit and show his own emotion. It’s an interesting bond that the two can now share a bit, a tragic one to be sure, but considering there’s been a light and almost kind of comical tension between the two it’s definitely nice to see this openness.
All of this material works well to give us the kind of epilogue we needed from the events of the previous episode, but it can’t be the entirety of the episode either. With the Nogitsune looking to finishing things off here, especially now that he has two minions still that can execute his plans in a big way, he makes a deadly run at the hospital to find SCott’s mother and it’s just brutal with the way the bodies start falling. And while he’s operating there, a couple of them have been sent off to the sheriff’s office as well, where they’re making a simple push forward to eliminate some problems there as well. The hospital side definitely goes worse since there’s less people with weapons there, but Melissa has a bit of help along the way since her ex is there and he’s able to slow things down a bit, though not without her taking a bit of damage. Introducing a little bit of the darkness of the warriors to her certainly ups the ante a bit and makes for a good moment as we see Scott’s father doing what he can to protect her.
There are a few good fights that go on throughout this, especially as we see how Derek and the twins set things in motion to go up against the Nogitsune himself, which has a cute quirk to it since he gets called out for basically forming a pack of former-Alphas. But we also get a little progress on the way to fight against the Oni as Isaac figures out what it was Allison was trying to say with his dying breath, and that sets both him and Argent on the right path to evening the odds a bit and turning the tide. But it is, of course, a matter of getting there on time. Which will be hard since we have several groups in motion, a lot of Oni out there, and Scott and his group going up against a version of Rhys himself, which has a lot of additional dangers to it. But that version allows Kira to be a bit more in the forefront which is a very good thing since they’ve balanced her role pretty well along the way.
There’s a lot of important pieces at play throughout the action, but the more critical one comes back to Stiles himself since he’s the focal point here with his ties to Rhys and the Nogitsune after all that has gone down. With Rhys putting all the tempting words in his ear and trying to get Scott to kill Stiles in order to finish it all off, it comes back to the thing that really has defined Stiles all along. While he’s been without powers or abilities that compare to the werewolves and others in the series, he’s always had his strength of mind and his wits to see the truth in everything and find the logical way out, even if it doesn’t make sense. And this particular group has to trust him implicitly to survive it and it’s really great to see them do just that and move on to the next level in the fight. It helps to reinforce the way that Stiles has been viewed and the way he deals with what’s going on time after time. And itp provides a nice balance as Argent and Isaac finally make their way over to the school in order to help out.
While the final fight in a way does feel fairly anticlimactic with what’s going on, it does handle it well in dealing with the Nogitsune and the final capture of him since it’s been nudged along in that direction for quite awhile. And it just feels a bit too clean in some ways with those who had been hurt having the poison expelled so easily, or at least that’s what we’re lead to believe. But it’s not without its casualties as well as we see that Aiden had been taken down hard in the fight to protect the box, enough so that it’s a fight that he can’t win in the end. It’s touching with the way there are those that are with him react, from Argent being pained even after spending so many years hunting werewolves to Derek being clear he’ll make sure Lydia understands that he was a good guy. And, of course, his twin being there for every moment. Add in the way that Lydia reacts and it definitely provides the right impact while adding more cost to the fight overall, one that has hit them all in some very difficult ways that alter all their lives in very different ways.
In Summary:
While we get a wonderfully delicious tease at the end as to what the next season will be when it lands this summer, Teen Wolf has a whole lot going on in this episode Thankfully, we get a pretty good bit of closure for this half of the season with all that went on and it works well even if it is a bit neat in some ways. The balance to that is there is enough damage, enough little nods and quirks to it that opens up new paths to deal with, that you can thoroughly see it providing some great new stories ahead. This half of the season worked well with the kitsune and expansion of the world the characters inhabit and it teases it even more at the end here. I really liked the addition of Kira to the show and what she brought to the dynamic, especially with Scott, and I definitely liked Stiles story overall, though it took some time to really find its groove. But Teen Wolf is about the cast as a whole and everyone had great arcs during it, new and old alike, and the various configurations that exist continues to make this one of the best genre shows of the last several years.
Grade: A-
