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TEEN WOLF |
Scott McCall - Tyler Posey Allison Argent - Crystal Reed Stiles - Dylan O'Brien Derek Hale - Tyler Hoechlin Jackson - Colton Haynes Lydia Martin - Holland Roden 
OTHER TEEN WOLF SEASONS Season 1 OTHER WEREWOLF APPEARANCES Buffy The Vampire Slayer Angel True Blood Being Human 
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Wolf MoonThere's a new wolf in town and it's eating dead people for now. Since two of his friends are the most likely candidates, Scott tries to find them before the authorities do, but Allison's father has called in an old-school hunter who is determined to kill all the werewolves; good, bad or just passing through. Trying to ride the wake of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES in terms of small screen TWILIGHT clones, the first season failed to impress either in the realistic CGI werewolf stakes or in the teen angst arena, but it apparenty impressed enough people in its target audience to get a second season. This opening episode is partly a rerun of events in the last season in which a new hunter comes to town with plans to do in the werewolves. The fact that this time they are willing to kill openly and they know who the werewolves are might make things a bit different. The family connections, the family of hunters against the supernatural beings, the girl caught in the middle, the dark but handsome guy on the edge – all of these things are taken from the THE VAMPIRE DIARIES' bag of tricks and used to lesser effect by the less effective cast. The addition of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's Michael Hogam will only improve things if he is going to play his character as less of a one-note zealot psycho than he does here. The werewolf effects continue to underwhelm, especially when showcased in an opening sequence in which the human running like a wolf just looks inordinately silly. Top ShapeshiftedThe first full moon arrives for the newly turned teens and it looks like it's going to be a disaster when one is in prison at the time. The gang have to try and free him before he turns. This episode has one purpose only and that is to introduce a new creature into the TEEN WOLF mythology. It's a were-lizard. Yes, that's what it is. Someone is turning into a lizardy killing thing and it might be Jackson and it might be Lydia. There, job done. Before the new monster reveal there's a lot of running around, some bleeding from the ears and stuff and nothing that adds up to very much at all. Top Ice PickDerek is starting to build his pack from the misfits around the school and Scott is keen to stop him. Lydia is seeing stuff and Jackson might not be as immune to shapeshifting as he thought. Scott going up against Derek and his new posse is a nice highlight to this episode, but there is so much dull stuff to get through first that it's hardly worth it. The new pack that Derek's picking get half the episode to their origin story and everything else is put on the backburner whilst this all happens. Stiles running back and forth is meant to be funny (we guess), but it's all a bit lame until finally Scott and team Derek face off. Top AbominationAfter Stiles suffers a close call, the gang decide that they need to get Allison's grandfather's bestiary to find out what they are up against. This leaves Stiles and a paralysed Derek fighting to stay alive in the pool whilst the creature roams around. Empty swimming pools are inherently creepy and so this nod to the brilliant scene from CAT PEOPLE has a lot going for it, but what it has the most is a very poor man in suit monster that is augmented with some dodgy CGI to rob it of any real threat value, which is a shame as the scene had a lot of potential. The opening sequence and the final sequence also show the sharper and nastier edge that has been introduced into this season and make up for the rest of the nonsense going on around the lacrosse game and the hunt for the bestiary. Jackson and Lydia are both still in the frame for bad CGI lizard monster, but it's mostly action and that keeps the weaker elements at bay. Top VenomousLydia fails a test with the venom of the new creature, making her Derek's prime suspect and next target. Her friends rally round to save her, but are they right to? This episode jettisons most of the teen angst and family drama and concentrates on a single focused storyline, making it the best of the season so far. There are some nice twists, though there are no prizes for guessing who the unconvincing lizard creature turns out to be. A new shadowy figure is introduced to widen out the mythology a little and to give the show a little more scope and that can't be too bad a thing either. Top FrenemyNow that the new shapeshifter has been identified as Jackson, the gang set out to capture him and help him deal with his situation. Derek, on the other hand, is out to kill him, plain and simple. The highlight of this episode is Scott and Stiles finding themselves in a gay bar whilst tracking Jackson. They are spectacularly incapable of dealing with the situation, which is quite fun. Unfortunately, the rest of the episode is utter tosh that has Stiles stealing a police van and Jackson being able to escape from his steel restraints. Top RestraintNow that Jackson has restraining orders on Stiles and Scott, they can't deal with him openly. Allison steps up, but that leads to a battle between Jackson and Scott. Two teen-monsters go head to head in the boys' locker room and it's one of the best action sequences that the show has come up with to date. There's also some disturbing moments as Jackson rather confusingly eats and then vomits up a live snake. The highlight, though, is Allison's mother challenging Scott as to whether he's having sex with her daughter. Top RavingJackson's latest target appears to be someone at a rave. Scott gets in, not knowing that Allison is also there. Derek shows up with his crew and the hunters are not far behind. Everyone comes together for one action-focused episode that rattles along at a good pace and has some very nice moments including Allison's protective mother going all protective on Scott's ass, but also contains the most ridiculous moment in the show's history when a scaly man-monster wanders through the dancing crowd with nobody even noticing. There is also a nice twist involving Allison's family. Top Party GuessedLydia's birthday party falls on the full moon and the creature giving her visions now controls her into making a special punch that does the same to everyone else. Introducing the new, vampire-like creature into the mix is one thing, but the rest of this plotline seems a bit redundant. Why does it need everyone to have visions? Why does it need her friends to suffer in this way? What is the point? Ultimately, that may become clear, but until it does, this feels like filler. As does Derek's travails with his new pack on their full moon. That might be interesting background to a main character, but here it seems like it is just filling up some space. And then there's Allison's mother. Bitten by a wolf, she has to die, and it's actually more moving a subplot than the main plot. Again, it serves as filler here, but it will become significant later on for sure. The scene in which Allison finds out is a great piece of acting from Crystal Reed. Top FuryHaving figured out who is controlling Jackson, Stiles takes Scott and his father to the police station to build their case. Unfortunately, the killer isn't going to allow that to happen and takes them all hostage. A siege situation always has a built-in tension that you have to work hard to mess up. TEEN WOLF doesn't mess up and this is one of the best episodes yet, bringing everything together in a confined space and tightly controlled storyline. Stakes are raised throughout and there's never any way to tell which direction it's going to take. Add to that the personal repercussions for Scott, Allison's conversion to badass hunter, the killer's motive revelation which makes what happens to him all the more chilling and this clearly is the way that the show needs to go. It's really well shot with shadowy interiors, smoke-filled halls and dark garages. Everything you need, in fact, for a tense thriller. For once, TEEN WOLF delivers. Top BattlefieldIt's the night of the big lacrosse game and Allison's grandfather plans to use Jackson's reptilian alter-ego to force Scott to betray Derek or see his friends ripped apart. There's an interesting battle of wills at the heart of this episode as Gerard tries to manipulate Scott and Scott tries to save the day without giving in to demands. Before that, though, it is also nice to see the fallout from the events of the last episode with Scott and his mother still not dealing with things, Allison turning badass and Stiles talking to his guidance counsellor in veiled terms about the emotional stress. The it's down to action and events move quickly and satisfyingly with a nice build up of tension to the big final moment and the set up for the season finale. Top |
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