“Illuminated” was undoubtedly the best episode the show has had since the series high of season two. And for so many reasons!
The Character Moments:
There were so many moments in this episode that helped define the characters we’ve grown attached to, whether they be in sync with what we know of said character or allowing for some newer elements to climb on board.
We had Lydia telling the grumpy twin that she saved a life the other day and it felt good because she’s a badass and she doesn’t want to associate herself with people who have actively taken part in murder.
That means him.
And she keeps turning him down throughout the night, even as he tries to convince her that the murder was just a one-time thing and she can totally trust him.
Derek’s moment is brief but enough to make me think he isn’t a complete and total lost cause. Some kids are out for Halloween and ask him for candy, despite the fact that he’s a stranger just standing at his car. For a moment it seems like he’s complied, takes a bag of candy out of his car and distributes pieces, before he decides to scare them instead, letting out the fangs on a night where it isn’t a big deal to look like a wolf.
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And Stiles (who we’ll talk more about later…) at the Police Station, as he tells Kira and Scott that he’s driving off if they get caught, instead does the exact opposite when Agent McCall turns up, running inside to not only distract him but to then threaten him away from antagonizing his dad. He tells him that his dad knows something that McCall doesn’t want him to, and so does Stiles.
It’s a small moment but shows comedic Stiles, on top of friend Stiles on top of protective Stiles-a small scene that establishes a character and his motives.
Relationships:
Kira and Scott continue to be adorable as they ease their way into a relationship. They erase evidence together, go to a black light party together and have cutesy moments on the rooftop. Arden Cho and Tyler Posey continue to have palpable chemistry and watching them together is easy-you want them to like each other, get together and be cute together. And at the end she knows that he’s a werewolf and doesn’t seem all too bothered by it.
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Allison and Isaac didn’t aggravate me for the first time ever due to the fact that they pretty much chalked up all of their feelings towards each other as purely sexual. They’re both attractive, both single and they have a tendency to end up in close proximity: math. I still don’t like that Allison isn’t interacting with the rest of the cast as much but hopefully that will change in the upcoming episodes as the action begins to heat up.
The Rave:
It was fun, colorful and naked! How much more can you really ask for?
It was the show taking a risk with how they shot the episode, using a party as the setting for the episode allowed for the darker, grittier moments to have more impact as you realized the confusion that could come from such a hectic scene. The black light aspect just gave it a new feel, a new atmosphere for our characters, allowing them to literally pop off the screen.
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And the way the demons could float in and out and be kept well hidden gave it an extra scare factor.
Speaking of…
The Demons:
It’s nice to have a faceless threat to the group. Sure, there are still guesses and theories that could be made about where they came from, who they’re looking for and who’s controlling them but for the most part their entire being is a mystery and that works for the show-allowing time for secrets to be unveiled.
Also they’re just creepy. Leaving ominous number fives behind Aidan, Ethan, Isaac, Derek and Lydia’s ears for reasons we don’t know about, making them all super chilly, disappearing into dust when the sun hits them? On top of that there’s the wonderful bit where they’re climbing through the floor and materializing in front of Lydia to leave the mark on her-it’s haunting and seems like a legitimate threat for the gang. By the end of the episode they’re more lost in their little world of the mythical than ever.
Dark Stiles:
Aw man here we go. It seems that poor Stiles may have been possessed by some unknown evil source that used him to control the baddie last week.
He’s left a key, strike one, the girl he makes-out with at the party notes that there is a chemical substance on the key, strike two, he goes to the school and can unlock the door to the science closest with all of the chemicals and then goes to the chalkboard where the encrypted code for Kira had been left, and matches his handwriting to it.
Strike three.
It means he helped the baddie kidnap Kira and almost kill her.
It means that the door is still open in Stiles’s mind.
It means that more incidents like this may transpire; leaving him the most vulnerable we’ve ever seen him.
And I’m so excited for it. Anyone else a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan? Anyone else remember the dark Willow in season six? That’s what I want.
Because we thought we knew the Stiles character inside and out, we thought we knew what Dylan O’Brien was capable of handling so to throw a wrench into the audience’s expectations is fantastic for a show on the latter half of its third season.
It means that can still manage to surprise us.
This was a fantastic episode. Everything worked, all of the characters got their moments to shine, all of them were allowed moments of comedy and drama. The action was thrilling, the suspense exciting and the ending shocked.
This is working out to be a great season for the show, who else is dying for next Monday to roll around quick?
9/10
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