S04.E09: Perishable

[promethean]

An assassin targets Scott and Liam at the lacrosse team's annual bonfire. Lydia discovers a family secret.

Edited August 19, 2014 by promethean

[SnoGirl]

Dang. Meredith? I was secretly hoping for a non-dead Allison to be the Benefactor, but I guess I was pulling for the wrong-past dead Teen Wolf Actress.

I can't believe that Stiles and Lydia didn't take Parrish with them tonight. Even with the whole

Bribe aspect, I'm surprised they didn't take an adult with them.

So...new episode is on Sunday next week? That's an interesting choice....

[calliope1975]

I was so glad when kid whose name I don't know pulled the plug on the DJ because I couldn't figure out why Scott wouldn't send the one unaffected guy to turn off the music. 

 

Glad Parrish is in on Beacon Hills worst kept supernatural secrets now. I'm speccing he's a Phoenix. 

 

Meredith? Hmm...what's her motivation?

[benteen]

I really liked the opening with Parrish.  Rest of the episode wasn't bad.

 

Well, I guess Stiles Dad can get out of paying those Eichen House bills.  I would think having one of their employees try to kill his son, among other crimes, would be enough for them to sue them.

[bettername2come]

They shot the Sheriff! And they burned the deputy!

I giggled when evil deputy found out Parrish made more than him and threw gasoline straight on him. Evil is petty. I loved Parrish going full on Terminator through the police station. Ryan Kelley has been a great addition to the cast.

I really liked this one. Wonder how long Jeff Davis has known it was Meredith.

[HunterHunted]

They shot the Sheriff! And they burned the deputy!

I giggled when evil deputy found out Parrish made more than him and threw gasoline straight on him. Evil is petty. I loved Parrish going full on Terminator through the police station. Ryan Kelley has been a great addition to the cast.

I really liked this one. Wonder how long Jeff Davis has known it was Meredith.

I love that Parrish was so pissed that he didn't stop to wonder how he was alive or bother putting on clothes. The only thing that mattered was kicking the other guy's ass. I was guessing that Parrish is a phoenix until Jeff Davis hinted that Parrish might be immune to more than fire.

Meredith. Um OK. I guess. I was hoping for a little more WTF reveal. Danny perhaps. Unfortunately, this show tends to kill off too many characters to have a deep bench. I also would have loved a cabal of peripheral characters working together to clear the town of its supernatural infestation. I guess my WTF reveals bar has been raised thanks to Witches of East End and their tentacle sex.

Edited August 19, 2014 by HunterHunted

[Yitzhak]

Okay. Meredith as the Benefactor was actually kinda clever. Meredith was the only character who specified the Benefactor was male and we all believed her, perceiving her as the victim. And even when Scott hinted the Benefactor might be a Banshee, I never considered Meredith since she was supposed to be dead. So yes, good twist. And the young actress who plays Meredith is excellent so I'm happy she's getting such a significant role. Hoping she won't be killed off as seems to be the fate of all female TW villains (yet not so many male ones). 

 

The rest of the episode was a bit tiresome. Do the main characters need to be threatened with murder and then saved at the last possible moment every week? A little variation would be nice. And considering their past dealings with Brunski, it felt like Lydia and Stiles were asking for trouble, allowing themselves to be in a dark secluded room alone with the guy far from where anyone could hear them scream. So much for being the smart ones of the pack.

 

Finally a Stilinski family moment though. I'd been missing the father/son scenes... 

Edited August 19, 2014 by Yitzhak

[wayne67]

So Jordan was naked this episode ?

 

So far that sounds like the only interesting part of the episode.

 

I can't seem to get over how annoyed I am that the show/characters seem to have no interest in the whereabouts of Danny/ Isaac.

 

As for Meredith being the Benefactor. meh

[justcris]

I loved it!! Meredith being the benefactor was so so good, no one called it. Or I mean, probably someone did, just not many someones!

The Sheriff scene with Stiles was great. Lydia and Stiles together were great. The Parrish reveal was also good.

Is it next sunday yet?

[wayne67]

If Meredith is the Banshee benefactor why did she put herself on the list? why did she bother rocking up at the police station to help Lydia figure out the coded hit list ? how did she steal 117 million from the Hales ? Did she pay herself for her own "death"??

 

Why does this seem like another villain decision that feels like it's pulled out of nowhere. Like the Darach being the new school teacher last time.

Edited August 19, 2014 by wayne67

[Gwen-Stacys]

I don't think they pulled this one out of nowhere. They brought up Meridith in literally every episode this season, there had to be a reason for that. Especially since this show isn't so big on the whole "mourning" thing. Dylan O'Brien even said he guessed who it was early on. I think their problem with their big reveals is that they don't let the actors in on it until the day they read the script. It isn't fair for them and often makes them look inept and properly portraying a character and their motives (not that Teen Wolf is known for stellar actors. I think the actresses as a whole beat out the actors. YMMV). I just hope there's more to it than what they've shown us so far.

 

I loved the Stilinksi boys scene. I need more of them as a unit (and for them to have a discussion about Stilinski jr's late night visitor.) Same with the McCall family and the Hale family. Less romance and more family scenes, please. Does Derek even know that he has a cousin now? Maybe with the longer season (and so long as Derick doesn't actually die) they'll be able to flesh out the familial relationships more.

 

Please let Danny-lite in on the secret. He blew his entire social status to save his friend and others that he doesn't really know.

 

I literally laughed out loud at Derek winning a fight...now that he's no longer a supe. More of that, please. I always thought it was funny how the humans kicked more ass than the were-creatures. Seriously McCall pack....take a kickboxing class. Or basic self-defense.

[resonance]

The quality of Teen Wolf is up again. In retrospect, Season 4 is another relatively decent season. Malia blends in surprisingly well with the cast. Didn't need either Kate Argent or Peter, though.

 

Despite my earlier praise, I found the Meredith reveal rather anticlimatic. I thought the show should have cut the scene a little earlier. Perhaps at the Scott fight near the end or just the Meredith silhouette before she actually says anything.

 

Hoping she won't be killed off as seems to be the fate of all female TW villains (yet not so many male ones).

Please no more useless, recurring villains. With all this stuff about a dead pool, Meredith makes more sense dead than probably any other Teen Wolf villain ever.

Edited August 19, 2014 by resonance

[blueray]

I liked this episode, especially the scenes with the sheriff and Stiles. All the Lydia/Stiles scenes. And that Derek finally won a fight (and he has no powers).

 

I also loved Jordan going terminator and killing that guy. I'm still not sure what he is, but everyone seems to think Phoenix.

 

And I totally didn't see Meridith coming. I'm confused on what her motives are.

[mac123x]

I literally WTF'd at the Meredith reveal.  That was a good twist.  I hope her motivation is more than "those mean paranormal scienticians hurt me and  it drove me homicidal so I'm lashing out at all supernaturals in revenge!!1!".  That'd basically a rehash of Jennifer's plot, but even sillier because the targets of Meredith's revenge!!1! didn't have anything to do with it. 

 

The music debilitiating the wolves didn't make a lot of sense.  I guessed it was the smoke from the "bonfire".  When the evil security mercenaries dragged the wolves into the school, they were much further from the music and it was dampened by the intervening walls.  That should have weakened its effects on them.

 

Also, Chief Evil Securtiy guard had his open lighter about a foot away from Scott, after dousing him with gasoline:  they should have all exploded in a fireball.  #WiseDerek was smart not to shoot a gun amongst the fumes; the director, not so much.

 

Naked sooty Parrish.... I'll be in my bunk.

 

Other than "because it's creepy" I don't get why Liam's priner kept spitting out the revised deadpool list, nor why his pricetag got revised. 

 

If Meredith is the Banshee benefactor why did she put herself on the list?

 

Presumably as misdirection.  She probably thought she was pretty safe in Eichen House, and planned to fake her death relatively early, so she'd be off the list pretty quickly.  Being a "victim" puts her beyond suspicion.  When Davis borrows plots from other sources, at least he's borrowing from the best.

[Gwen-Stacys]

The music debilitiating the wolves didn't make a lot of sense.  I guessed it was the smoke from the "bonfire".  When the evil security mercenaries dragged the wolves into the school, they were much further from the music and it was dampened by the intervening walls.  That should have weakened its effects on them.

I thought it was supposed to have a Dog whistle like effect on them? Especially since Scott really had to listen to notice it fully, but noticed it enough to give him an inkling. Weird that no one (Argents included) have used them before. If you use them right, you can really hurt your cat/dog.

[Bruinsfan]

I for one liked the Meredith reveal. It was genuinely surprising after her faked death, and for once it's completely believable that the antagonist would have all kinds of information about the condition and whereabouts of various supernatural creatures since she can predict the future. I wonder if Meredith was trying to wipe out all the local supernaturals so the county's death rate would drop back down to normal levels afterwards?

 

And considering their past dealings with Brunski, it felt like Lydia and Stiles were asking for trouble, allowing themselves to be in a dark secluded room alone with the guy far from where anyone could hear them scream.

That was one thing I tilted my head at. Really stupid of them not to take one of the werewolves with them for backup. I would have loved to see Brunski getting slung around by wee little Liam. Also, Stiles could yell his head off all day in the basement of a mental hospital and never attract anyone's attention, but if Lydia let fly one of her eardrum-bursters everything supernatural in Beacon Hills would know exactly where she is.

[ahisma]

I loved everything about this episode except the Meredith reveal. The open with Hague versus Parrish, then Parrish versus Hague? Awesome! And I loved Parrish being brought into the Pack secret. Stilinski pere et fils were marvelous. Lydia and Stiles super sleuths were great. Scott and Derek filling each other in on information—finally! The show touching base on the bag of money still being an issue and on Malia's issues with Stiles were also rare moments of keeping up plot threads. Liam's quite understandable fear about being thrown into this violent world, also a good touch. His friend being able to be the big damn hero, very cute. Derek kicking ass human-style with Braeden was a welcome change. Shallow note: Scott in that black shirt looked gorgeous. And Parrish figuring out Brunski and coming to the rescue was awesome—because he was a super deputy before he was a super supe.

Not having the Benefactor be Brunski was a good twist at the end of a trail that was leading right to him, but Meredith doesn't fit with anything we've seen of her so far. (I was semi-suspicious of Ms. Blake early on, and became more so over the season. Never had a twinge about Meredith.) Also, definitely forget anything Jeff Davis says from now on—he spoilered that the Benefactor was a human, and that the answer stretched back to season 1.

Edited August 20, 2014 by ahisma

[justcris]

I think maybe there is still more to this than what was revealed today.

 

I do think that they have a lot of characters now, maybe too many. 

[BuddhaBelly]

"Of course I go through your stuff. How else am I suppose to know what's going on?" That made me lol. I saw Papa needs to take a page out of Stiles' book to figure out things before they really go belly up.

I missed Kira.

Was anyone else expecting repercussions from Scott's dream this week? When that guy was so close to him and his eyes started to glow, I fully expected to monster to come out of Scott. That would have been a game changer.

Meredith makes no sense to me but what else is new.

Loved, loved, loved the cold open with Parrish. What a great reveal.

[bluebonnet]

What a great episode....ending in the most ridiculous way.  Meredith as the reveal was simply shock value just to shock.  I don't even have anything useful to say about this episode.  Well, at least Parrish looked cool.  

[Gwen-Stacys]

Oh, small problem I had with this episode: If Lydia and her grandmother read The Little Mermaid (HCA version, I'm assuming.), why would she call Lydia Ariel? If they made some mention about her also watching the Disney version all the time, then I appologize. But...Ariel was the Disney mermaid, not the book mermaid.

[bluebonnet]

Oh yeah, Gwen-Stacys, my eyes nearly popped out of my head with that one.  I don't know why they couldn't have picked a book with a named character, especially when they included that excellent line about how The Little Mermaid was a book first and was something Lydia and her grams read together every night.  

 

Ugh, another thing.  Sheriff gets hurt on the job, his medical bills will be paid.  There's only so much suspension of disbelief to be had with this money plot.  

 

I also can't figure out why so many people are jumping on this list thing.  It's moved from high-end assassins to Joe the Plumber.  Can we really believe that the average Joe would see a list with numbers next to names and say, "Sure, I'll kill some kids and a coworker if it gets me some money!"?  

[Gwen-Stacys]

Oh yeah, Gwen-Stacys, my eyes nearly popped out of my head with that one.  I don't know why they couldn't have picked a book with a named character, especially when they included that excellent line about how The Little Mermaid was a book first and was something Lydia and her grams read together every night.  

 

Ugh, another thing.  Sheriff gets hurt on the job, his medical bills will be paid.  There's only so much suspension of disbelief to be had with this money plot.  

 

Okay good, it wasn't just me!

 

I agree about the Sherriff being shot as well. Anytime a cop is injured/killed while on duty, his medical bills are taken care of.

 

His family's bills are a whole 'nother thing, though. They should've kept it at Stile's MRI (if it was voluntary and not recommended/not done by a doctor in his insurance company's umbrella it wouldn't have been covered by most insurance companies in the US. Elected treatment is bodly stated as being not covered, at least in the ones I and everyone I know uses) and his voluntary institution stay at Eichen house. It's not like a night in a hotel, that shit is expensive. And if the Stilinksi's didn't have a savings (not outside the realm of possibilities), the MRI and Hospital stay coupled together could break them.

 

Scott/His mother have been poor since season 1.

 

Lydia obviously isn't poor, walking around with 500 as pocket money (unless she took it out knowing they'd have to give it to Brunski).

[Whimsy]

No, it definitely wasn't just you @Gwen-Stacys, I thought the same exact thing.  I knew the book character wasn't named "Ariel".  I don't know what her name WAS, but I knew it WASN'T Ariel.  If they were going to use the book, why not use that character's name?  That was weird.

[mac123x]

No, it definitely wasn't just you @Gwen-Stacys, I thought the same exact thing.  I knew the book character wasn't named "Ariel".  I don't know what her name WAS, but I knew it WASN'T Ariel.  If they were going to use the book, why not use that character's name?  That was weird.

 

Also, pick a story with a happier ending.  The book is not like the movie.

 

I agree about the Sherriff being shot as well. Anytime a cop is injured/killed while on duty, his medical bills are taken care of.

 

Yeah, I assume that Beacon County sheriff's department has some sort of worker's comp.  Though to be fair, it wasn't stated out-right that there would be treatment he'd be on the hook for; the hospital functionary just said "that's between you and your insurance company."  They left it open enough to resolve with "everything was covered because I was injured while on duty."  I think that scene was there more for the father/son talk about their financial troubles, rather than to actually add to them.

 

Speaking of money, what was that scene with Scott and the gym-bag-o-cash about?  I thought he saw that the zipper was open, and figured that someone had taken the cash.  He counted it, and (I think) it was all still there, so what was the point?  Reminding the audience that Scott is sitting on a pile of cash that could solve his and Stiles' family financial problems, but he's too noble to use it?

[Yitzhak]

Speaking of money, what was that scene with Scott and the gym-bag-o-cash about?  I thought he saw that the zipper was open, and figured that someone had taken the cash.  He counted it, and (I think) it was all still there, so what was the point?  Reminding the audience that Scott is sitting on a pile of cash that could solve his and Stiles' family financial problems, but he's too noble to use it?

 

I thought the scene was meant to suggest that some of the money was missing, most likely taken by Stiles. The earlier scene with Stiles and the Sheriff suggested he was going to use the blood money to pay the bills. 

Edited August 19, 2014 by Yitzhak

[LeisureTime]

Speaking of money, what was that scene with Scott and the gym-bag-o-cash about?  I thought he saw that the zipper was open, and figured that someone had taken the cash.  He counted it, and (I think) it was all still there, so what was the point?

 

My take on it was that it was sowing the seeds of mistrust between Scott and Stiles.

[Bruinsfan]

The money troubles are just all so poorly drawn. Stiles' medical bills would be a few thousand dollars, which could be paid out in installments basically forever even if insurance didn't pick up the tab. And a nurse involved in patient care would most likely not know anything about a former patient's hospital bills for taunting purposes. The damage done to Stiles' jeep in several episodes should be more of a financial concern.

 

Meanwhile, I suppose Melissa could be house poor and barely making ends meet even on a decent nursing salary, but it seems really odd for it to get to the point of the power being shut off without asking Scott to pitch in a bit now that he's allegedly been working a part time job for almost a year. If things were that tight and she had no savings you'd think they would have put the house on the market and tried to downsize their expenses long before now. (Or hell, just rest a room to one of the supernaturals being irresistably drawn to Beacon Hills now that Isaac's left!)

[AudienceofOne]

The money troubles are just all so poorly drawn

 

 

Every single teen character on the show has suddenly developed money troubles at the same time. It's clumsy. Besides, if the McCalls are so bad their power has been cut off, why hasn't Papa McCall intervened? He is still working as an FBI agent, right? The last few episodes have been so poor that I quite enjoyed this one but I'm trying not to think too hard about this dead pool concept. It's... kind of lame. I can handle confusing and possibly even nonsensical but if my printer suddenly started spitting out names with a number after them I would hardly leap to the idea that it related to murdering someone for money.

[ahisma]

I thought it was supposed to have a Dog whistle like effect on them? Especially since Scott really had to listen to notice it fully, but noticed it enough to give him an inkling. Weird that no one (Argents included) have used them before. If you use them right, you can really hurt your cat/dog.

The Argents did have sonic emitters. They're on little stakes they push into the ground and hunters use them to herd werewolves in the direction they want them to go. They used them when feral Boyd and Cora escaped from the Alpha Pack's vault on the full moon, and the BH pack + Argents wanted to make sure they didn't harm any innocents.

Really stupid of them not to take one of the werewolves with them for backup. I would have loved to see Brunski getting slung around by wee little Liam. Also, Stiles could yell his head off all day in the basement of a mental hospital and never attract anyone's attention, but if Lydia let fly one of her eardrum-bursters everything supernatural in Beacon Hills would know exactly where she is.

Heck, Stiles as backup was preferable to the previous several eps where Lydia was wandering around completely on her own. :-(

(Liam versus Brunski would have been awesome! Hell, I'd even have taken another round of Coach versus Brunski. :D)

I know Holland Roden has said that she really injured her throat doing Banshee screams, and she is now taking voice lessons to learn how to use her vocal cords loudly in the proper manner. But I can't even remember the last Banshee scream we've had on the show. When Derek and Cora turned around and came back near the end of 3a? It feels like forever. Couldn't the sound editors use one of her recorded ones while Holland silent screams? At this point it's just not plausible in the story that there's been so much danger and death and the resident Banshee hasn't let loose.

I don't know what her name WAS, but I knew it WASN'T Ariel.

IIRC, the HCA book character was just called "the little mermaid" throughout, no name.

[benteen]

Like I mentioned earlier, Stiles's Dad should be able to make those bills go away by threatening to sue/expose the mental asylum for the actions of their employee, who was an actual serial killer.

[patchwork]

I suppose Li'Lydia could have watched the movie first which is what prompted reading the book. Ariel stuck because The Little Mermaid is a bit cumbersome to use as a name.

 

That Derek is a better fighter without his werewolf powers made me laugh. I'm starting to hope that bounty hunting with Braeden is his endgame and he'll only guest star next season.

 

Meredith being the benefactor is a twist but not as random and nonsensical as some of the things TW has tried to pull off. I'm hoping her motivation is more to do with reducing the number of human deaths caused by supernaturals drawn to the Beacon Hills area rather than her simply lashing out because of what Lydia's grandmother did.

 

IMO the finale will have Lydia emerge as the new Supreme Banshee.   

 

Speaking of nonsensical things TW has tried to pull off the Beacon Hills money shortage continues to be badly done.  I'm not sure if all the money was still in the bag or not but I wouldn't put it past Stiles to bookend blank paper cut to size with a couple of real bank notes and pocket the rest. 

[hertolo]

I had to skip over those money problems. They are just so far removed from making any sense. The show's not supposed to be a documentary, so cut back on that a bit. That doesn't mean you should bring more action scenes. It does get repetitive by now, all those killers and mafiosi groups coming out of nowhere (I suspect a paralell dimension). Not more love stories either, don't get the wrong idea.

 

What was the point of making Scott and the Werewolves immune to alcohol? Does he need to be more saintly? And can someone check if they have been consistent on that point for the last seasons?

 

Also the Arielle mistake is really hilarious especially with the hashtag "readbooks" or something displayed on screen. They want to advertise reading, but don't bother to check their dialogue thus showing that they themselves didn't read the book either and are thus hypocrites. Or well meaning that just hadn't read that specific book. But then it took me like 4 minutes to scan that wikipedia article as I didn't read the original 1836 HCA book myself. But boy, is that depressing. Only a banshee would read that book to a her small granddaughter. ;)

[justcris]

What was the point of making Scott and the Werewolves immune to alcohol? Does he need to be more saintly? And can someone check if they have been consistent on that point for the last seasons?

 

Yes this had been shown before, Scott couldn't get drunk when Stiles took him out to make him forget about Allison when they broke up. That was in season 2 I think.

[blueray]

 

What was the point of making Scott and the Werewolves immune to alcohol? Does he need to be more saintly? And can someone check if they have been consistent on that point for the last seasons?

I liked that, because it tied back to season 1 when Scott was trying to get drunk  to forget Alison and couldn't. It makes sense that their bodies keep healing the liver or whatever that would make them intoxicated. And yes they have never shown a wolf drunk.

 

As for the whole Ariel thing I thought it was cute. While I guess she wasn't in the book (I never read it) it would make sense that Lydia loved the movie too and the fact that she has red hair (didn't Ariel have red hair?).

Edited August 20, 2014 by blueray

[jhlipton]

Glad Parrish is in on Beacon Hills worst kept supernatural secrets now. I'm speccing he's a Phoenix.

I was guessing that Parrish is a phoenix until Jeff Davis hinted that Parrish might be immune to more than fire.

This was a guess on Wolf Watch [“Arooooo”] *

 

I really liked this one. Wonder how long Jeff Davis has known it was Meredith.

Judging from what he’s said in the past, I’d say the day before shooting.

 

I also loved Jordan going terminator and killing that guy.

Didn’t Braedon question Haigh (posing as an FBI agent or some such)? He seemed to be pretty much OK after such a beating. Maybe Parrish hits like Scott! LOL

 

Speaking of money, what was that scene with Scott and the gym-bag-o-cash about? I thought he saw that the zipper was open, and figured that someone had taken the cash. He counted it, and (I think) it was all still there, so what was the point?

I thought some was missing.

* When my wife and I watch WW, we take turns – one will say “Wolf Watch”, and the other “Arooooo”, and then we swap, and then we say both together. We’re knuckleheads! LOL

[ahisma]

I'm seeing a lot of commentary elsewhere (e.g.,http://www.tv.com/shows/teen-wolf-2011/community/post/teen-wolf-season-4-episode-9-perishable-review-photo-recap-140840114856/) that disbelieves that Meredith is The Benefactor. Which I am sympathetic to—motive? Omniscience including the $117 mill in the vault? What do you guys think the chances are that Meredith isn't the top of the chain, here?

[FurryFury]

This was a somewhat better episode than the previous one, but I continue to think this season is really meh. Which is a shame, considering it's the follow-up to a much better 3B. 

 

At least we got more of Lydia and her family history, finally. I have to say, I was surprised with the Meredith reveal, but I'm reserving my judgment until I know more. I'm not sure her motivation and actions will make sense.

 

PS Parrish being a Phoenix is kinda lame. Kitsunes were a much better choice of a mythological species. Phoenix aren't even anthropomorphic and the whole thing feels really random.

Edited August 20, 2014 by FurryFury

[snakenax]

I think the dead pool is Meredith's and the money was probably stolen by Brunski or another minion(i'm going to bet we'll find out Banshee powers are more than just prediction, automatic writing and psychometry through her). But I also think the whole Benefactor thing is a ruse, she isn't trying to wipe out all the supernaturals in Beacon Hills but is trying to cause a chain of events to happen that required her to do that. Afterall, she directly went out of her way to help Lydia unlock the dead pool and the code words were chosen for their resonance to Lydia, which suggests to me that people knowing about it and stopping it was entirely intended from the start. Though if the show follows it's usual trajectory, and it has so far since last episode was the villain reveal and the third episode was the introduction of the mystery villain, next episode will be the big 'explain everything the villain did and why' episode.

Edited August 20, 2014 by snakenax

[bluebonnet]

I'm seeing a lot of commentary elsewhere (e.g.,http://www.tv.com/shows/teen-wolf-2011/community/post/teen-wolf-season-4-episode-9-perishable-review-photo-recap-140840114856/) that disbelieves that Meredith is The Benefactor. Which I am sympathetic to—motive? Omniscience including the $117 mill in the vault? What do you guys think the chances are that Meredith isn't the top of the chain, here?

I can't even give a reasonable guess because Meredith as the reveal makes no sense at all.  Just shock value for shock value's sake.  It's the same problem that came with Jennifer being the Darach.  The characters shouldn't be able to act so well, which is the problem that occurs when Jeff Davis doesn't give any info to the cast about the future of their characters.  

 

A wild guess would be that Meredith is being controlled somehow, something similar to how the kanima was controlled.  I'm sure the writers can make up a shocking and unbelievable spell about banshees being controlled.  I bet it will even be described completely in the beastiary the characters always refer to or perhaps Deaton will suddenly remember he's an advisor and will perform his info dropping plot device duty.  

[snakenax]

I don't really find it to make no sense. It's definitely a shock reveal, but we have limited information about Meredith to begin with and what we do have is what she's deliberately let out, as is clear from the ending Meredith's natural state isn't 'barely functional insanity' which means she's been playing them the whole time. If anything, Meredith playing them makes a lot more sense than her being a random crazy person who routinely escapes confinement to drop a clue for the heroes.

 

But then I didn't find the Jennifer reveal weird or out of nowhere either, since I had her pegged as the secondary villain from the very episode(seriously, when a show has a limited cast it becomes easy to guess who is going to be something based on foreshadowing like the bird attack scene).

Edited August 21, 2014 by snakenax

[justcris]

In this week's afterbuzz podcast with Aaron Hendry (Brunski) they develop a really intriguing theory about banshees (it starts at around min 35 if anyone is interested).

 

Why does Lydia write Stiles' name on the list and doesn't remember? She tends to do a lot of banshee-related stuff and then not remember it. Can the same thing be happening to Meredith, where she doesn't really know what she's done?

[wayne67]

If Meredith is the benefactor and the reason the moron gang has been in peril every other episode why is she outing herself in front of an armed deputy who killed one of her minions? 

 

The more I think about it the less it makes any sense. Not that the deadpool made much sense. The dead pool is now being transmitted to everyone apparently including Liam who was on the list, rendering all that effort to decode the deadpool in the first place relatively meaningless. How did the plumber/deputy decode what the numbers mean? because it didn't seem like all those reams of paper had a contact number. UGH my head

 

In a way it sort of makes sense that if Meredith is an insane person nothing she does will make any sense but it seems hard to reconcile that with the level of effort necessary to avoid detection if she's that crazy. 

Edited August 21, 2014 by wayne67

[FurryFury]

i'm going to bet we'll find out Banshee powers are more than just prediction, automatic writing and psychometry through her).

 

You know, I was thinking of it, too. Banshee powers are pretty strange and undefined so far, but don't seem as useful and versatile as werewolf strength/regeneration or kitsune reflexes/electricity manipulation. However, I remember a manga I've stopped reading ages ago, and there was a female character who was a quintessential "the chick" archetype, having powers connected to healing and buffing. Pretty lame compared to the others who all were fighters. Later, though, it was revealed her powers came from, basically, rewriting reality - she just expressed it through helping her friends. The story didn't do anything interesting with this, but I still think it was a good idea, in a nutshell. So I could see Lydia developing a stronger connection to death (what is banshee but a death's herald) and getting some much darker abilities. At least that's what I'd do with the character.

 

Re: reveals, Jennifer was obvious from her first episode.

[wayne67]

However, I remember a manga I've stopped reading ages ago, and there was a female character who was a quintessential "the chick" archetype, having powers connected to healing and buffing. Pretty lame compared to the others who all were fighters. Later, though, it was revealed her powers came from, basically, rewriting reality - she just expressed it through helping her friends

 

 

That sounds like Orihime from Bleach. 

 

I'm still confused as to how the werewolves form packs as the twins could apparently ditch Deucalion easily and Isaac may or may not have been in Scotts pack. who knows.

 

I remember when Scott and Derek used sonic emitters to corral Boyd and Cora even though it apparently had no negative effect on them.

Edited August 21, 2014 by wayne67

[ahisma]

I think what is so bothersome to me is that I had figured out Jennifer right away, while Meredith never pinged me in the least. I suppose I'll have to wait for explanation, but I fear what we get won't hang together for me since I already see so many holes that need to be filled. Jeff never did explain the Alpha Pack's interest in Scott and Derek, and I'm afraid this will be the same. I've liked this season and I'd hate for it to end on an unsatisfactory note. Fingers crossed he has some fabulous reveal.

ETA: The sonic emitters didn't have an effect on them because they stayed far enough away from them to avoid damage. ("Doc, it hurts when I get close to sonic emitters." "Then don't get close to sonic emitters!" :D) Thus, they were herded to the school.

Edited August 21, 2014 by ahisma

[snakenax]

 

eff never did explain the Alpha Pack's interest in Scott and Derek, and I'm afraid this will be the same.

They did. Duke was going after Scott because he wanted a natural Alpha in his pack because he's basically the Alpha version of a obsessive collector, Kali and the rest were going after Derek because their usual mode of operation is 'make Alpha, or acceptable replacement member of pack, kill their packmates and join the Alpha pack'.

 

What they never explained was why the Alpha Pack was interested in Lydia or Danny.

[Murcielago]

 

What they never explained was why the Alpha Pack was interested in Lydia or Danny.

 

I don't think they were really interested in them, so much as they were using them to get closer to, maybe even get info on, Scott's pack, which is why Aiden got pissed at his brother when Ethan started actually caring about Danny. They were there and they were somewhat close to the group (though not close enough that they'd know about the Alpha Pack right away), so the pack used them. At least that's what I pieced together. 

 

As for this episode, I enjoyed it. I'm reserving judgement on the Meredith reveal until we get the full story. I was a little annoyed that dumbass Scott didn't send Mason to turn off the music as soon as he figured out what was happening, but he probably wasn't able to think clearly at that moment, so I guess he's sorta got a reason for being an idiot. The printer thing was stupid, and I don't see why they needed to increase Liam's price. He's still brand new to the whole werewolf thing, so he's really not worth 18 mill yet. Then again, Lydia sure as hell isn't worth 20, so I guess I just need to stop caring about the numbers on the dead pool. Everything else was pretty good though. I liked seeing Malia on her own at the bonfire, just doing her own thing away from the rest of the group, and I loved her repeatedly trying to shut Scott down because all she wanted to do was dance and get trashed. I feel you, girl. I wanna see more of Liam's friend. And less of the various assassins. They're not even trying to give them characters, so every time one of them shows up on my TV, I kinda just check out. If the writers can't give me any reason to feel anything about a particular character beyond "they're trying to kill the heroes," I can't bring myself to give a damn about anything they do. I'd rather they just focus on Kate and Peter if they need to fill their villain screen time quota.

[FurryFury]

That sounds like Orihime from Bleach.

 

Yep, that's her. Stopped reading during the Arrancar arc, never once regretted ;)

 

I'm still confused as to how the werewolves form packs as the twins could apparently ditch Deucalion easily and Isaac may or may not have been in Scotts pack.

 

The show couldn't give a damn about packs mythology. I never bought Scott's pack as a real one, though - just an artificial construct with a fancy name.

[Bruinsfan]

Scott's probably only had more than one beta that would count as his since Liam was bitten, though I could maybe see a case for Derek if his association with Scott is enough to outweigh any lingering familial connection to Peter and the now-vanished Cora. (And those two definitely never seemed to regard Scott as the boss of them.)