TV Review: Teen Wolf (5×12) “Damnatio Memoriae”

Welcome back to my weekly review and recap of Teen Wolf. Catch up on previous coverage here.

I really can’t wrap my head around why Jeff Davis and co. think it’s a smart idea to prioritize the newbies storylines over the fan favorites. It was recently announced that Crystal Reed would be returning to the show (not as Allison) and it seems that it’s a way for the show to boost their ratings. This more than anything should prove that the original crew should be the focus of the show.

So why on earth isn’t this the case?

Once again, the show did well by Scott and Stiles during the episode and their relationship, along with the latter’s and his dads. If you need a reliable source of emotional connection, that’s where you get the shows fix. After last weeks episode it’s nice to see that it’s still a bit of a crawl to get Scott and Stiles back on the same page and it starts with Stiles forgiving him. Theirs is a relationship that’s always its strongest when they’re working as a team, as showcased here wonderfully towards the end as an unspoken wound is mended and they begin to once again have each others back. It starts with Stiles reaching out to Scott to help find the beast that terrorized an abandoned plant the night before, to their search through the buildings underbelly where Stiles begins to realize his friend isn’t as healed as he’d believed him to be. It’s a quiet understanding that’s conveyed with nuance by Tyler Posey and Dylan O’Brien.

It gets even better when they’re allowed to mix that drama with their natural playful humor. After being paralyzed by kanima venom by one of Theo’s chimera’s, Stiles is out for the count while Scott defends them to Theo’s pack. Theo comes and whisks the chimera’s away while Scott sits with his friend and tries to figure out their next step.

They need to rebuild their pack, one by one, and it all starts with symbol crudely drawn in the sand.

It’s a start for the two. And Scott’s earnest want for Stiles to draw the outer circle accompanied by Stiles giving a defeated “okay” and going along with it is a perfect picture of these two friends and their stability at one another’s side.

It’s a week of mending on all sides as Stiles is finally honest with the Sheriff who doesn’t react negatively at all and rather gives Stiles the support and love you’d expect from the character. In one moment he’s vowing that he would burn the station down before allowing them to wrongly convict his son, and on the other, he’s telling his son that thing he’s lost — his sense of innocence — is gone for good and he’s probably never going to be able to truly get it back.

It’s a well played scene and one that admirably went on longer than most scenes on the show would permit, allowing the actors to play on their strengths and the bond that’s been built between their characters.

Even the bits with Malia were nice if brief, ditto Kira although it seems like just another extra subplot that the show doesn’t have time for

Then there was everything else. Oh boy.

I mean, I’m sure people are fans of Theo and Liam and definitely Mason, but their scenes meander. I’m never engaged with them, I never feel like I understand their motivations or why we’re supposed to care. Theo could be a cool villain by strictly being the antithesis of Scott, but there’s no way I’ll believe that after all of the horrible things that Theo has done that Scott will team up with him again, even if it is to defeat a common enemy.

The show really does love its convoluted villains though, don’t they. This week they bring on a new baddie, supposedly the first chimera who is now strictly all beast and then, an oldie, in the form of scene chewing Grandpa Argent who is now cured of his mountain ash poisoning so that he can help Scott with the Dread Doctors. Who are still a thing, too.

Lydia is still being psychologically tortured and I’m so confused about the timing of her narrative.

I don’t know. It wasn’t as bad as last week and it wasn’t as dull as anything in season four, but it seems like they keep repeating the same problems over and over again without even learning them. That, coupled with CGI that seems to have gotten rougher (and if you don’t believe me, watch the scene where the beast tears down a chain door), makes the episode feel sloppy.

I’ve seen worse episodes of the show, but five seasons in and I need the series to at least show me something different.

7/10