S05.E20: Apotheosis

[ahisma]

Loyalties are tested and new alliances forged as Scott and his friends work to stop the Beast before Beacon Hills is razed to the ground.

[HunterHunted]

This season was an incomprehensible mess. I can't believe the tortured journey that this show took to get to the place that it did. I liked how it honored the show's early relationships and could show how far the characters have come. However, I don't know that we needed to do it with a plot this confused and opaque.

Other observations:

Kira's a skinwalker now?

Theo is in hell? Or buried somewhere like the nogitsune?

The desert wolf is...decoyoted? Arrested? What happened to her?

The beast is dead?

Now a banshee can summon science supernatural creatures? How was Lydia able to call Mason?

Edited March 9, 2016 by HunterHunted

[Lady Calypso]

Jeez, at least it's the end of a very, very messy season. They had a good idea, but they executed it quite poorly. 

 

So, first thing is first: why would Stiles and Lydia even assume the name Marie-Jeanne is connected to Allison? I'm sorry Lydia, but unless Gerard described Marie-Jeanne as an Allison lookout, the logical conclusion SHOULD NOT BE DRAWN TO ALLISON. I don't think there were any real pictures or photographs of her, and I don't remember Gerard busting out any portraits of Marie-Jeanne in his description. So there's no way both of them jump to 'The Beast mentioned Marie-Jeanne and didn't kill Scott....IT'S BECAUSE OF ALLISON'. You know what would have worked? Anything else. Scott going to the tiny memorial that Scott made for her at the beginning of the season makes more sense because Scott would have seen what the Beast saw, which was Allison. So, unless Scott filled Stiles and Lydia in on why he wasn't killed, it makes no sense. I would double check to see how this scene was presented, but I don't want to go back.

 

Kira came back! For, like a day....and somehow got to control her powers? Did the Skinwalkers help out with that? And now she's gone again, and not in school. But hey, if Malia can be in her senior year despite not having gone to school in years, I guess Kira will be fine. 

 

Next season, they need to get more of a handle of what a True Alpha is. They keep sprinkling little things here and there, but then they don't do anything with it and it renders Scott useless. On the bright side, it's the return of sneaky Scott, at least. He was working with Deucalion to take down Theo, and working with Chris to not trust Gerard. So...that's a plus. Remember the good old days of season 2 when Scott tricked Gerard into taking MOUNTAIN ASSSSSSHHHHH?

 

Lydia...was almost rendered useless with getting her throat slashed, until they actually let her do something useful to the plot! They really don't know what to do with her. Same with Parrish; all he did was slow The Beast down. Like...I thought he was supposed to be his demise. Lame. But hey, Scott actually killed the Beast! Wait, Scott threw the Pike into the Beast and killed him. Wouldn't that mean he's not a True Alpha anymore, or is it because he was a swirling ghost that he's ok?

 

So, Theo's gone! Yay! Except,, according to the showrunners, he's not actually dead because they like the actor. Ok, no. I cheered a couple of times when I thought DEMON WOLF snapped his neck and killed him off. And then I was thrilled when The Ring girl came crawling out of the earth to take her brother down to the depths of hell. But of course, he'll be back because of Jeff Davis. Can we just kill off male villains and have them stay dead, please? Look, you spared Desert Wolf for whatever reasons, even if Marisol Nichols now has her own show. But too many female villains (like...the three that they had? Two? Three?) all die, and 90% of the male villains are still around. Stop, show. Just...stop. 

 

 

Also, I laughed really hard when Mason came tripping out of the Beast and Corey randomly emerged from the wall to grab him. Good job on helping out, Corey. 

[AudienceofOne]

When Corey came out of the wall I also started laughing. Just the idea that Corey was there, following them around completely invisible the whole time but not helping? Hilarious.

This episode was strangely satisfying but not enough after that mess of a season. And what happened to Malia's mother exactly?

[starri]

Well, that was clearly a series finale that had an extra scene tacked onto the end.

[beee]

This could have been a decent episode if the show wouldn’t insist on shoehorning too many storylines together. Oi, Teen Wolf writers! Less is more! It’s not exactly a new concept. As denouements go, the resolution for the main storyline of the beast wasn’t too bad. Scott’s plotting was fun and everybody had things to contribute. Except for Malia. And that really let the episode down. They wasted what felt like half the episode on Malia and her mother traipsing around the place so slowly that it felt like slow motion even when it wasn’t. (I can’t remember: is this Scott’s house? Aren’t he and Melissa really poor? Who’s going to foot the bill for the repairs?) I fail to see what the Desert Wolf storyline brought to not just this episode but the whole season. Was there a point to it? Why can’t the writers ever write decent storylines for the female characters, preferably ones that drive the show and don’t sideline them? But I forgot, Malia isn’t with Stiles anymore, so they have no clue what to do with her.

 

 

I'm glad Theo didn’t get a redemption arc (yet – please don’t!) but he can conceivably turn up again like all the (male) villains on the show. So can the Desert Wolf.  And Gerard. And Deucalion. I think I sense a pattern here and it might be that the writers haven’t had a new idea for at least two seasons. (Wasn’t there a competition where they asked fans to come up with concepts for villains?) Well, at least the steampunk doctors are gone. Easily their worst idea ever in my books.

 

 

I have an (almost literally) endless list of questions but I’ll refrain in view of this being “a show about werewolves, just go with it” and keep on hoping that Dylan O’Brien will not be in S6 so that I won’t have to put myself through that indubitable mess as well. It’s not Teen Wolf’s fault that I don’t like most of their characters. Oh wait, it might have something to do with the way those characters are written and whom they cast as the actors – in the widest possible sense of the word.

 

 

Counting my blessings: Theo not becoming everybody’s best bud in the next season, the Dread Doctors being dead, the beast being gone, no Stydia (really not my thing but let's face it: even Stydia fans can’t seriously wish for that, not with the way romance is written on this show)

 

Actual blessings: Stiles pursuing a career in law enforcement (definitely my head canon) and Corey faithfully following the beast everywhere just so he can catch Mason when he emerges, priceless.

 

 

 

[starri]

And what happened to Malia's mother exactly?

Scott sent the power-stealing claws to Malia through Stiles.  So rather than have Desert Wolf steal Malia's mojo, it went in the other direction.  And presumably killed Desert Wolf in process, but I guess that's allowable because Malia's already killed someone?

 

They really should have shown it more clearly.

[justcris]

I actually liked 5A but I'm so bummed out about 5B! This was their worst half season IMO. I think doing just one arc over the whole season hurt it big time.

I had no reaction to Mason being the Beast, couldn't care less about Marie Jean or whatever her name was, the dread doctors turned out to be pretty irrelevant, and finding out Chris Argent and Deucalion were on Scott's side did nothing for me.

This makes me sad.

[madhacker]

yeah this season was a wash for me as well. Hopefully next season is the last and that will  inspire the writer go all out for a nice wrap up (for starters bring back Danny!!).

 

bee, Dylan has already said he'll be back for the next season.

 

Lets just face it guys the show hit its' creative and acting peak in the last half of the 3rd season when Stiles was possessed. It still gives me shivers the way Dylan played it.

[AudienceofOne]

Scott sent the power-stealing claws to Malia through Stiles.  So rather than have Desert Wolf steal Malia's mojo, it went in the other direction.  And presumably killed Desert Wolf in process, but I guess that's allowable because Malia's already killed someone?

 

Yeah I got that but then what? Did she live? Die? Get arrested? Run out of town? Is she still there unconscious? How does Malia feel about it? Where did Braedon go?

 

They really should have shown it more clearly.

 

 

Or at least spent a second resolving it. This plotline should not have been in this season at all or should have been resolved in 5A. I was watching this with my Dad who has never watched it before and everytime they cut back he'd say, "Is that the Mum and daughter? Are they still just standing there in that house?"

 

Not to mention when the Beast of French Mumble mind-melded Scott and I had to say "when an Alpha puts their claws in someone else's necks they can... wait, he's not an Alpha so... I guess he can do it too anyway? I don't know. Either way, that's what he's doing."

[LeisureTime]

To be fair, Jackson got some Hale memories from Derek, didn't he? Maybe it's that only alphas can steal memories. Still, we shouldn't have to handwave the show's basic mythology.

 

There were definitely too many story lines going on this season. I think they could have excised Kira's almost entirely and rather than having her angst about the fox that wants to take over and kill everybody, she just goes off to learn about her power, because that seems like a prudent thing to do. You know, have her take some interest in her own situation. And that would have freed up more time to expand either on the Malia/Desert Wolf plot or the Dread Doctors, for whom I pretty much spent the whole season going "But WHY? Why do they want to bring back La Bete?!"

 

And what was the deal about the power-stealing claws would kill Theo, but for some reason Malia could use them? This season was so disjointed that I can't remember if there was an actual reason for that or if I'm just supposed to assume it was all just posturing by Deucalion. And how convenient for the Argents to go from "Hmm, I wonder where the spear is..." to "Haha! Must be in this cane I just pulled out of my ass!"

 

I"m just really mad about how much time this season wasted on unnecessary nonsense.

[AudienceofOne]

Another thing - did Scott bite Hayden? Was that what that was? Because, for someone who was so determined not to that seemed a bit of an odd thing to throw in one second from the end.

[starri]

It was coming full-circle, because everything fell apart in 5A because Scott refused to bite her then.

[ahisma]

I ... didn't mind how the finale went down?

DD!Marcel had been working to call Sebastian forward (via violence, not his name), so Lydia calling Mason forward with her ~voice~ worked for me.

Speaking of DD!Marcel, nice twist! Marcel is so morally bankrupt that he can spend centuries doing gruesome human experiments to bring his boyfriend back. Meanwhile, his boyfriend is so completely sociopathic, he just says, "Huh, you look kinda gross. Oh, and now you're dead. Whatever, off to kill some more..."

Theo killing Tracey (girl, you should have run off with the Desert Wolf), then getting double crossed by Deucalion was awesome. I loved the poetic justice of him getting dragged to hell by his sister, though the whole skinwalker plot remains nonsense.

Chris double crossing Gerard was also awesome. "No, dad, we are not killing Deucalion after you blinded him and started this mess 17 years ago. We are also not killing the Beast straight off without trying to get Mason out."

Mason is out! I actually like the fact that Corey is the opposite of aggressive. His superpower doesn't come with claws and a temper, it comes with invisibility and a timidity that will leave him (and his loved ones) alive to see another day. Sometimes flight is a much better decision than fight, and at least one of them has that instinct.

Malia didn't get killed by her mom, yay?

And I did love the library scene, bringing our original friends (plus Allison's memory) back around to the beginning of the season.

Bad writing continued apace, however. Malia, Braeden, and the DW have all been shown to be excellent fighters, so the drawn out misses for drama's sake were annoying. And with three bullets in her and her mother right there, how did Malia get the blue claws off the floor? Whatever. I would have had more fun with this storyline if Peter were in the mix.

Along with fighting ability, healing ability was extremely variable. Malia was still standing after three bullets. Hayden was at death's door (except for being able to get to Deaton's on her own) from one gut stab. (And the chimeras healed plenty of times on their own; this was a contrived excuse for a turning.) The Beast slashed Lydia's throat and did even less damage than Peter/Kate and Deucalion/Braeden. I don't think the Beast hurt Hayden's sister or the Sheriff, much, either, for the world's most heinous killer.

Kira's plot line still sucks. Lydia should actually have been able to free herself with her banshee fu. As far as Kira absorbing Theo's electricity hit, she could have done it with no sword, or the sword in her bedroom that she used for practice. For someone who came in to the show so adorably, and with such a great family, that story went completely off the rails, and now she's gone. (You'd expect for years or decades, but probably until next season mid-season finale.)

And yet, overall, weirdly, I didn't mind this half season as much as the deadpool assassins season. This one seemed overstuffed with storylines and characters, and there were the usual giant gaps in logic. But either the "computer hidden in the wall" ridiculousness was more over the top than this DD/Beast story, or I've just been beaten down by the TW writers to just go with it.

[jhlipton]

Malia was still standing after three bullets. The Beast slashed Lydia's throat and did even less damage than Peter/Kate and Deucalion/Braeden.

Malia was hit by PLOT! bullets (the opposite of hollow points).

As for Lydia, I know they were trying to get it so she couldn't talk, but that was silly. And when Scott got the voice-mail from Kira, he said "That gives me an idea." I thought he was going to have Lydia record Mason's name on his phone, but instead went with a sillier "cortisone will heal a throat slice. SMH.

[ahisma]

Malia was hit by PLOT! bullets (the opposite of hollow points).

PLOT!injuries, PLOT!powers, PLOT!fighting ability—welcome to Teen Wolf! I'm still watching, though, as they've done a good job on creating characters I love. Although that pisses me off all the more that they've made the fantastic Yukimuras so nonsensical. The rest of the Pack, and especially the parents, are good to awesome.

[jhlipton]

The rest of the Pack...

 

Scott still only has one were-wolf (Liam) in his Pack.  He's got a were-coyote (Malia), a were-chimera (Hayden), a Kitsume (Kira), a Banshee (Lydia) and a human (Stiles).  He has a chimera (Corey), a Hellhound (Parrish) and three more humans (Mason, the Sheriff and Mama ,McCall) are on the second team.

[Aeryn13]

What the hell was that? Season 5B definitely had its problems but that is nothing compared to this super-rushed ending. The pacing in this episode was atrocious and things only kept happening because the minutes of the episode kept ticking down. Nothing was allowed to flow organically or given a moment to breathe. They crammed so much random bullshit into the episode and some stuff at the very end was embarassingly cheesy.

 

In the end, taking down the Beast was super-easy, compared to all of the build-up. Parish only ever flamed up and ran around in shorts. Big whoop. The whole Malia-storyline was just random filler that didn`t tie into the main story at all. The Finale of 5.A was all about fretting over giving Hayden the bite. Here, it happens within seconds offscreen and then we have cheesy kisses in a lookout spot. 

 

Easily the worst Season Finale they have done. I haven`t been super-impressed with any of them but each one felt more condensed and epic than this. focusing on one big plot conclusion and giving that its necessary due in the story. Marie-Jeanne "killing" her own brother in the flashback episode felt more epic and meaningful than this. At least that episode had a clear progression through three acts.

 

The only thing I was kinda amused by was the Dread Doctors being apparently founded by the Beast`s/Sebastian`s old war buddy to bring him back or something. Boy, did that guy carry a torch or what?

[mac123x]

And what was the deal about the power-stealing claws would kill Theo, but for some reason Malia could use them? This season was so disjointed that I can't remember if there was an actual reason for that or if I'm just supposed to assume it was all just posturing by Deucalion.

 

Duc lied to Theo about the power stealing talons when he told him that they were deadly.

 

And how convenient for the Argents to go from "Hmm, I wonder where the spear is..." to "Haha! Must be in this cane I just pulled out of my ass!"

 

I think one of the Dread Doctors was carrying it, so the Argents recovered it from the scene of the fight in the previous episode.

[ahisma]

Scott still only has one were-wolf (Liam) in his Pack. He's got a were-coyote (Malia), a were-chimera (Hayden), a Kitsume (Kira), a Banshee (Lydia) and a human (Stiles).

Doesn't seem to matter. The Hales were a family pack, so they were mostly werewolves, but they had humans, too. If Corrine had been sane and not a complete sociopath, Talia probably would have been fine with having a werecoyote sister-in-law and niece in her pack, too. Scott's pack is his pack, no matter what they are—the loss of human Stiles and kitsune Kira, I'd argue, each weakened him just as much as losing Liam.