Hey youtubers it’s Charlie and this is going to be my combined episode 8 and 9 review.
I’ll do a quick run through of my biggest takeaways from episode 8 and just do the normal
top 5 and review for episode 9. I feel like the last couple of weeks have really shown
why MTV chose to not just renew it for a season 5, but for a full 20 episodes. They’re splitting
it up into two parts just like season 3. I’ll explain more about what’s happening at the
end of the video.
So careful for spoilers from the last two episodes if you’re not current. Starting
with Episode 8 commentary.
My oh shit panic moment is Derek losing his powers. We’re a little past halfway in the
season and we still don’t have any new info on what Kate did to him. I totally hate that
it’s destroying the Derek we knew but I love the Derek he’s turning into.
Think back to Season 1 and 2 Derek, he was a total dick. Now he’s like the Obi-Wan
Kenobi big brother to everyone. So much more sympathetic and if Tyler Hoechlin is probably
going to make you cry a lot before the finale.
He is coming back for season 5, so it’s not like he’s dying for good. Despite what
the Banshee Benefactor has predicted. But I feel like he hasn’t hit rock bottom yet,
things are still going to get worse. But if he does have to get his ass handed to him
at least he’s got Braeden.
Great Sex Scene. Not HBO levels of skin, but I was still really happy to see them get together.
I also like the way they paired the sex scene visually with the table full of guns. There’s
all kinds of imagery going on with those two things that I could spend 6 videos talking
about.
Which leads me to the big reveal. The Benefactor is a Banshee, only they can confirm death
without seeing a body. Scott’s death sequence wasn’t quite as trippy as the ones in season
3 but I liked the way they used Liam. I think Scott’s unconscious mind was just processing
his fears.
He has alpha powers, but I don’t think that gives him straight up foresight like Lydia
has. It’s probably just his wolf spidey-sense interacting with all the current worries he
has for Liam and the others.
Lydia’s Grandmother didn’t end up quite the way I expected, but I’ll talk more about
that when I get to episode 9.
Malia is kind of pushed to the side. I think we’re all feeling she’ll eventually come
back to the pack. Not right away, but there’s no way she’s over Stiles. I think he’s
her anchor, so she’ll always come back. Her scene with Peter wasn’t quite as diabolical
as I expected either. I was expecting him to get a little more shakespearean. But I
am really interested in the new mystery of Malia’s mother. I actually thought Peter
had an affair with Henry Tate’s wife, but turns out her biological mother is something
more coyote-like. Which is pretty adorable. Let me know when you think we’ll meet her
mother or if you think they’ll hold off till season 5 to reveal her.
Overall episode 8 was a solid B plus, great character development for Derek, nice seeding
of new plotlines with Malia’s mother and Lydia’s Grandmother. Kira felt like she
got pushed to the side a little for these other stories despite being a pretty critical
part of their plan. I’m waiting for more Lacrosse so she can kick some butt.
Moving on to Episode 9, again, one more time, if you haven’t seen it, careful for spoilers.
I’ll wait just a sec...okay, here we go. Top 5 moments. Starting with Number 5 - Parrish
On Fire
This was probably my favorite moment in general and the perfect opening to an episode. I just
made it my number 5 because I wanted to talk about it first. They don’t even bother to
explain things in great detail. The title of the episode was Perishable. That other
deputy is Lou Ferrigno’s son in real life by the way. The Hulk’s son is a villain.
Totally makes sense.
Dissecting what he might be: I think he’s either a twist on something we’ve seen or
something totally new. But he’s not just exactly like anyone in the pack. Part of this
season has been about the wide variety of supernatural creatures in beacon hills.
We’ve got Werewolves, Lightning Kitsunes, Banshee’s, Wendigos and now whatever he
is. Here’s a quick list of mythological creatures that are resistant to fire:
Fire Kitsunes, Kira is a lightning kitsune, but fire is the other kind. There’s Dragons,
Phoenixes, Jinn, Firebirds, Chimera, Salamanders. Just to explain that one, in Ancient Greek,
the word for Salamander means “being that lives in fire and withstands high temperatures”.
Then there’s Kapre, Fire Giants, Cherufe and Fire Serpents.
Of all those things, I think it’s more likely he’s a fire kitsune or a phoenix. If you
look at the way Kira’s powers work, she absorbs electrical discharge. I don’t know
if she can still be burnt by electricity but I don’t think so. Which makes me think that
Parrish is a phoenix, because he looked like he burnt in the fire, then regenerated himself.
I don’t expect them to reveal what his till the end of the season, but I’m glad he’s
working inside the pack now. I think it just means he’s going to be an official member
of the team in
season 5.
Number 4 - Lydia’s Grandmother Is Explained
I was totally expecting her to end up being the benefactor, her background in tech was
a nice twist and I really appreciate that they took the time to give her a very detailed
backstory.
Visually the way they filmed the flashback with Lydia walking in and out of scenes was
awesome. Usually they post really cool looking scenes like that online at some point just
to show you how they shot them. For anyone that’s interested in filmmaking.
Number 3 - Liam Goes Crazy
He’s having this Jack Nicholson Shining arc where he slowly goes crazier and crazier.
All work and no play make Liam a dull beta. They’ll have to resolve that at some point
because at the party he was trying to drown himself in alcohol. Despite not being able
to get drunk because of their healing factor.
Just to be clear, all the printers were printing the deapool list, to everywhere in beacon
hills.
I wonder what made Liam jump to 18 Million dollars though. It seems like the whole pack
or anyone who’s close to finding out who the benefactor is would jump in value.
I think it just means that Liam is more connected to said Benefactor than we think.
Number 2 - The Bonfire
I loved the way they set this up with Parrish, making us think that a bunch of people were
all going to die at the same time. That was foreshadowing the team going after the pack.
It seems like the music was just playing some weird frequency that stupefied them.
This was like the logical breaking point in the episode, the oh shit moment, even though
it totally got upstaged by the benefactor reveal.
And my number 1 WTF moment of course: Meredith is the Benefactor
There was a whole lot going on during the eichen house portion of the episode the reveal
was just the biggest part. I loved Brunski’s tapes. I bet if you bribed him he’d totally
make you a mixed tape. I can only imagine what he’d put on it.
The twist that he was helping Meredith was great but I am a little worried that the whole
thing is going to be a simple revenge story. Meredith getting revenge on everyone for what
happened to her. That feels like it would be a letdown after all the time they spent
teasing this out.
So many interesting things here though. Brunski seemed like his character exploded with complexity
right before he died. I guess that’s the tradeoff, Teen Wolf kills you off, but they
let you make you really interesting before doing so.
He said he was helping the inmates by killing them, I wonder if this was because of some
creepy religious belief. Like the Faceless Men in a song of ice and fire. They view murder
as a sacrament to their god. He was so great as a creepo though, Peter
is going to have to get extra creepy to fill the void. Wouldn’t that be funny if Peter
became the new caretaker of Eichen House. I’d totally buy that.
The whole Benefactor operation seems like it was localized to Eichen House, as in Meredith
only made people in there help her. Like Lydia’s grandmother and Brunski.
It makes you wonder who else is helping her. Probably not Kate and Peter, they seem like
they have their own agendas.
But let me know why you think Meredith started the Deadpool List, why does she want to kill
all supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills?
Fingers crossed that it goes deeper than simple revenge.
Overall I gave this episode an A minus for making Parrish one of the most interesting
characters on the show right now and for not waiting to pay off the Benefactor Reveal.
There’s always a risk in waiting too long to reveal the big villain. If you wait till
the end of the season and you don’t intend to carry them over to the next season you
lose a lot of time letting them get their Loki swerve on. Meredith being the new Loki
of the series.
Clearly she’s been faking her disability this whole time. And now we get 3 more episodes
with her being this crazy villain on screen.
I wonder if they learned their lesson last season with waiting too long to reveal Jennifer
in 3A and Nugitsune Stiles in 3B. I would have liked to see a lot more of Stiles as
a supervillain going crazy all over everyone.
Let me know what you think. Do you like finding out who the main villain is in the middle
of the season or right before the end?
I think revealing them earlier just lets you have more fun with them but I can understand
not wanting to show them right away.
This season has gotten better and better. All the characters feel more relatable, the
plot isn’t so crazy it’s distracting and the return of Lacrosse has been so much fun.
Especially Kira and Lacrosse.
Right now the wiki is listing the remaining three episodes airing each week with no breaks.
Episode 10 is Monstrous, I’m hoping that means they explain Parrish. Episode 11 is
“A Promise to the Dead”, hopefully that will explain Meredith’s backstory and they
haven’t revealed the title of the finale. Probably because it’s something spoilery.
Important stuff happening this week: Doctor Who is back this saturday, if you’re not
watching it you should start. It is the most fun science fiction you will ever watch. And
I’m doing a ton of videos for it like I did for game of thrones.
I’m moving next week too but my video schedule should be normal. I had my last day at work
friday so I have a little more time to actually make stuff. I will do a room tour video after
I move into my new place.
In the meantime click here to start getting ready for Doctor Who and click here for last
week’s teen wolf.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tonight. High Fives!