TV Review: Teen Wolf (5×03) “Dreamcatchers”

Welcome back to my weekly review and recap of Teen Wolf. To catch up on previous coverage,click here.

Despite being only three episodes in, it’s easy to feel a small nugget of relief over how much better season five has been in direct comparison to season four. While episodes like this weeks “Dreamcatchers” have their faults–and I’ll be pointing them out–it at least features a storyline that the previous two episodes were building up to, features ample time with our leading ladies, and allows the Dread Doctors to be suitably creepy. It wasn’t a home run episode, and the plot began to tether from being spread a tad too thin by the end, but it was solid, and provided some very strong moments.

The episode would have benefited from focusing primarily on Lydia, Kira, and especially Malia, all of whom have often been sidelined in order to fit in more storylines for Scott, Stiles, and now even Liam. The last twenty minutes show how much this show isn’t utilizing when it allows Kira to be more than acrobatic with a sword, when Malia is allowed to show the constant struggle she faces due to her animalistic tendencies, and when Lydia….okay, I’ll admit, the Lydia portion fell short with her ONCE AGAIN being injured, but hey, at least this time it’s only due to a Kanima scratch.

Small victories.

The episode shows the pack being split apart as they all try to find out what is going on with new girl Tracy and the wear and tear of trying to keep things in order. Time is of the essence, considering Tracy has now killed her own father while succumbed to night terrors. The pack finally finds her as she’s snarling and threatening new characters–they knock her out and take her to Deaton.

It’s there where things begin to unravel, as the group begins to realize what exactly has happened to Tracy, just before she attacks. We’re taken back to season two in a hurry, because Tracy is a Kanima–and a powerful one, who manages to paralyze Scott, Deaton, Stiles, and Malia before running away. The four must concentrate on regaining movement, and it ends up being Malia who is able to do this first, who is then told by Scott to save Tracy rather than kill her.

Meanwhile Kira and Lydia have their hands full, and Kira finally gets a cool fighting moment when she transforms into her Kitsune shape and cuts off Tracy’s tail.

The big moment, however, happens at the end when Malia tries her best to save Tracy from herself, even as she almost goes too far in trying to subdue her. It’s a sad scene to watch as Malia talks Tracy out of her night terror, convinces her it’s all real, before the Dread Doctors show up to kill her. Malia is able to do nothing but watch as the girl she just nearly saved is needlessly killed. It’s a grim storyline and it ends on a bleaker note, and Shelly Hennig does a great job at conveying Malia’s frustration, guilt, and sadness over what’s just transpired.

Tracy wasn’t the only victim the Dread Doctors have in the arsenal, however, with Donovan, a kid who has it in for Stiles’s dad, also on the list. We’ll see how that storyline wraps up, but I will never, ever, ever be okay with the Sheriff being killed, so let’s hope that’s not the route the show is taking us.

Some Remaining Thoughts:

The entire Liam subplot seemed unnecessary to me, which is a shame after last week’s episode managed to integrate him into the group much better than it ever did last year. Also, I like Mason, but we don’t need to go overboard with him yet. Ease him into the group.

Stiles’ dad and Lydia’s mom are going on a date? Not Melissa and Stilinski? I don’t know how I feel about the show ruining the one relationship I was actually rooting for.

Credit where credit is due–the show really is committed to body horror. There hasn’t been a season yet where something grotesque hasn’t happened, whether it be Jackson and a snake coming out of his eye, Stiles vomiting up himself, or Tracy frothing at the mouth with a grayish substance–the show certainly isn’t shy about being gross.

What is up with Stiles and his anger issues so far this season? Am I looking too far into it? It definitely seems like he’s been on the easily-aggravated side so far this year, and if it is purposeful, I hope we get to look further into it rather than it just becoming a new personality trait.

SONG OF THE WEEK: I didn’t mention this last week, but the use of the song “Wild Ones” by artist Bahari during that Stiles and Scott scene was a perfect fit.

7/10