TV Review: Teen Wolf (4×08) “Time of Death”

This week on Teen Wolf we heard and saw a lot about the romance. It’s all fun and flirtatious until we focus on the other side of the episode where Scott is playing dead to try and lure the Benefactor out of hiding.

So begins yet another episode of Teen Wolf.

I don’t know about you, but something feels off about this season. It’s likely due to Allison being out of the picture, considering how well she pulled her group together and how obvious of a presence Crystal Reed was, but it also isn’t helped by a number of things. The old characters reappearing – Kate, for instance – mixed with the new baby-faces such as Liam; the odd structure of how they’re going about telling the season’s story; the fact that we’re nearing the end of the season and we still haven’t learned much but rather have been thrown more questions. There’s also the fact that a few episodes ago the tone was largely lighthearted and fun, and now with last week’s epidemic and this week’s fever dream escapades where Scott learns what it means to be a monster,  the tone has shifted quite jarringly to dramatic.

Luckily, there are moments with the relationships that help bring a sense of levity to the tense episodic nature.

Stiles and Malia are at odds due to Malia learning that Stiles kept the knowledge of her true parentage hidden from her. We see a cute little opening scene of Stiles reminiscing about the two of them at night, learning how to be the most comfortable sharing a bed only for him to awake on the empty side of the bed where she’d usually lay. I enjoy this relationship immensely due to the chemistry the actors share, but it would benefit from showing the audience more of what was going on with them in the moment rather than in retrospect.

Scott and Kira lament how little time they’ve had to actually be a couple – they still have never been on a real date. It’s a sweet scene that shows two characters who have grown up faster than they deserved.

And then, in the biggest turn of events, Derek maybe has the most relaxed scenes of the episode as he and Braeden grow close. She realizes that he’s losing his powers much to his chagrin, and tells him she’ll teach him how to defend himself without fangs or claws. The small training session we get is nice, and Tyler Hoechlin and Megan Tandry share an interesting rapport that makes me excited for their future shared scenes. I like this couple and they make sense – both are always on the defense and together they can relax a little.

The rest of the episode, however, is dedicated to Scott and the pack’s plan, which doesn’t really work out, except somehow it does? Scott plays dead and everyone plays along, including his mom, and even though she knows it’s fake, Melissa Ponzio sells the hell out of it: her distressed cries are convincing, and it made me realize that Ponzio deserves some stronger material to work with immediately.

The Benefactor never shows to check and make sure that Scott is dead, however Scott must endure nightmare after nightmare about how he’s becoming more monster than predator. In his dreams he watches as he kills Liam – betraying the person he’s supposed to protect. It’s a decently powerful image and while a little heavy-handed gets the message across. These are the demons that Scott’s facing this season and we’ll have to watch to see how he conquers them.

He tells Kira at the end that he believes now they know more about the Benefactor, because if they didn’t come to check, it must mean that they knew Scott wouldn’t be dead. So who could it be exactly? I have my own guesses as I’m sure everyone else does. Make sure to comment with your predictions!

Malia and Lydia each had sepearte storylines as well that I wish gelled better with the episode as a whole. Malia confronts scene-chewing Peter and he tells her he can help her find her mother. Lydia learns that her lake house is engulfed in mountain ash, and that her grandmother may have been a banshee and may still be alive… so what does this all mean?

I have no clue, but hopefully next week will enlighten us a bit.

What did you think of the episode? Good? Bad? Filler? Let me know!

(Side note: apologies for inconsistent coverage this season – I’ll be back on track after this episode)

7/10