What They Say:
The Benefactor – On the night of the full moon, uninvited guests turn up at Lydia’s lake house; Derek pursues a killer.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
It’s been an interesting season so far for Teen Wolf as it feels like the cast has been pared down a lot compared to the third season, which gives it a kind of rougher and more personal feeling that lets it feel kind of fresh. Rather than trying to give everyone time, it’s refocusing on the new core group and moving forward there. While introducing wendigos, were jaguars and more. We also started to get a bit more on Derek’s past and I have to admit that I’m enjoying the whole Malia and Stiles relationship. Add in the nice bit of progress that we got last episode with Scott and Kira and it definitely works well. The twist that we get this time around is that the guy we thought was bad, the mouthless man, may be helping in his own way and that adds a new mystery to things.
And we also got the bit where Scott has bit Liam and all that entails. Which is difficult enough as it is, but having Scott essentially squirrel him away to his own house, duct tape him up and hiding him in his bathroom reinforces that Scott generally has bad plans. While Stiles plans do work better, the two are an amusing comedy team of sorts as they try to explain to Liam that he’s in for some changes but Stiles is kind of pessimistic and realistic that some of what might happen as he changes is that he might end up dying. Scott’s had the turning experience himself, but that’s different when you know nothing. Watching it from the other side, and being responsible, well, suffice to say that once again Scott does not do well as they try to subdue Liam but end up basically losing him to the night. And not on a good night.
With a full moon on the way in the next couple of days, having Liam out there makes things pretty difficult. We get some general fun stuff with this, particularly the scene that has Stiles helping Malia with her collar and chain material since she’s not able to handle it at this point only to have his father walk in and just stare at it all, but also the fun of Scott still trying to explain stuff to Liam without actually saying it while at school. There is a goofy aspect to this in that they really just needed to pull him to the side and simply say it out loud and plain to him, but that doesn’t make for fun TV for some viewers – and some writers. Still, it’s an expected kind of hedge and story idea to work with since you know there’s something different about Liam that could likely complicate things even more.
So the plan, beautifully and hilarious executed by Kira, is to have her bring him out to Lydia’s lake house where they can get him alone and make sure that he doesn’t cause any serious problems. The problem is worse in a way because as Stiles does some research on Liam, they learn he has some really serious anger issues that caused big problems at his last school. While he can’t believe what they’re saying, even as Malia shows him a trick, the full moon is making his own situation worse and you can see the transformation beginning, which unlike Scott’s transformation is riddled with the rage that he’s been dealing with. And that gets even more complicated since even though Kira told him everyone would be there, he ended up telling his friend Mason the same thing, which means that a slew of kids are suddenly showing up there for an actual party. Ah, poor Lydia…
While we get some interesting things going on as we see Liam struggle with his transformation and we see Malia doing her best to deal with her nature while Stiles stands with her and tries to be a calming presence for her, we get some curious material with Lydia who, while cleaning a mess that was made in the house that the family has to sell due to some money issues they’re having ends up engaging with Mason a bit and the room goes strangely quiet, though only for her. It’s executed in an interesting way since she can understand him but not hear him as it’s a kind of super soundproofing in a way. Naturally, her experiences have to a go a whole lot creepier in the room and you find yourself wishing that she had someone that could help her really understand her abilities and give her a way to cope with it better so that she’d be more.. well, not capable. Because she is entirely capable. But just better able to handle it all and master it.
The second half of the episode works a few odd pieces to it, especially as we see Scott and Kira dancing part of the night away after knocking Liam out, but also some good stuff. Stiles has a way of getting through to Malia to help her deal with her control issues and it brings them closer together in a way that again is fast but feels right. We get the progress going on with Derek and Stilinsky’s search about the mouthless man and what all that means, which naturally takes them back to the school as bad things are going on there. But also a good subplot dealing with what Scott has to do to try and help Liam as the change really does take hold and we see how strong he is. The best twist though is who ends up stepping in to help out in a way that really does work out beautifully because I’m just a huge fan of the overall character path that Argent has taken since the start of the series.
As expected, some of the big moments come in the final minutes, though I liked that Parrish got a good moment early on as he tries to understand how police procedures work in Beacon Hills. The mouthless man comes into play pretty well here at the end, though Peter is the one that just goes nuts, which is understandable since he had a tomahawk thrown into his chest by the guy earlier, but even that doesn’t go quite as well as one might hope. Peter and Derek definitely have different value sets when it comes to dealing with things like this that’s laid out very clearly as Derek says plainly that he’s found a better way of dealing with things than how Peter has all these years. But Peter also makes it clear that he’s a creature of habit and he’s not going to change. Something that will cause them to go against each other again to be sure.
In Summary:
Teen Wolf continues to have a lot going on and the final minute brings some of it into clarity, though it will be the next episode that will actually explore some of it. Lydia’s place is one in the series that always leaves me a little confounded since it’s not about her being in control but rather being controlled by her abilities. The flip side to that is we see Scott finally starting to take full ownership of what he is and taking some serious pride in it as well. He’s been on this arc for awhile and each season pushes him further, but this is the one where it feels like he’s really growing up and into it. The same can be said of Stiles in a way with his relationship with Malia as the two feel really right for each other with the way they connect, something I wanted to see explored with Lydia but was denied on. Add in a little Kira and Scott time and it’s all good.
Now, where’s my Derek and the Sheriff spinoff series already?
Grade: B+
