5.8 Ouroboros The titular teen wolves are pulled in all sorts of different directions this week, and the disagreements about what to do about the missing Liam and Hayden surface differences that expose the deeper rifts in the group. Scott, ever the man of action, and Malia want to rush off and go searching, along with the eager Stiles-lite Mason. Lydia and Stiles, being the least powerful and most victimized, want to stay behind and render aid to Corey, recovering from his sting and possibly the next victim of the Dread Doctors. Theo, being the agent of the Doctors, agrees to stay behind with Lydia while Stiles goes to stop his father from doing something dumb trying to keep law and order in a town full of supernatural murder machines. The pressure in the group is building with every passing week. Scott is straining under the burden of leadership and returning physical frailty. Stiles is keeping secrets from his best friend and panicking that his girlfriend is going to go for the hot new hunk. Kira’s unable to keep her powers under control to the detriment of the group. That straining in the group is causing them to crack, to separate, to break up the gang that pulled together so well in previous years. The breaking up a close group of friends is something that’s inevitable; the only difference is most high school friends don’t have to routinely hide murders and fight super villains. Will Wallace enforces the growing distance between the core group of kids with his script, both in words and in general plot. The philosophical differences are there, and aren’t lingered on, but then the group fractures in setting. Scott and Malia go one way, Lydia and Theo go another, and Stiles goes a third while Liam and Hayden are caged and waiting for the Dread Doctors to do something terrible to them. There’s a lot of great body horror in the Liam and Hayden scene, and Stiles and Stilinski’s fight in the hospital is also really fun, with great use of steam to hide Parrish’s theft of the latest body (as well as a great scene where Parrish creepily tells Sheriff Stilinski to back off in not so many words). The separate groups work very well, and you get just enough with every group so that no one feels shorted—there’s even an appearance by Deaton and the infamous Desert Wolf (Marisol Nichols, AKA Audrey from Vegas Vacation) to open and close the episode. The thought of spreading the group out is appealing, considering the emergence of Khylin Rhambo’s Mason as a valuable part of the ensemble and the further development of Dylan Sprayberry’s Liam. I don’t like the breaking up of the group on sheer stubborn fandomness, but from a dramatic standpoint and an emotional angle, it really works well. You feel for Scott and Stiles, particularly as Stiles flounders between his worlds and Scott has trouble keeping to his principles and being a real leader. I mean, they had Mama McCall and Papa Stilinski fight; if that doesn’t make Tumblr freak out, nothing will anymore. Read Ron’s review of the previous episode, Strange Frequencies, here. US Correspondent Ron Hogan has been very impressed by the way Teen Wolf has backed up emotional trauma with lots of physical trauma. Teary eyes and a churning stomach is a great thing for a supernatural drama to provoke. Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
