Ok, that is how you do a finale. I’ve been so impressed with Teen Wolf as a series and a first season, and now with the finale. They did leave us with a cliffhanger or two, but nothing that I can’t wait nine months to resolve. I was even surprised with a few of the twists and turns, which was a treat because I usually see plot turns coming from way off.
First, we did say goodbye to two cast members, and they really did have to go to set up next season. Peter got his vengeance/closure in killing Auntie KillJoy and then he was taken down by an accidentally coordinated attack from Scott, Stiles, and Jackson (with an assist from Allison) and a final blow from Derek. The surprise in all that? Derek is the new Alpha. So did not see that coming. Good on you, show!
The second surprise? Lydia’s alive and not a werewolf (I think). Whee! One thing I didn’t get was the use of the spooky Carrie-esque flutter scene of Lydia in the hospital bed that was all over the promo but in the actual episode was only a hallucination by Allison, and (thankfully) lasted onscreen even less than it did in the promo. If anybody knows what that was all about, please comment me. Was it Allison’s fractured psyche at that moment or did she foresee something?
Kudos all around to the really strong cast. I keep saying this, but I really like the way they gelled as a group. We didn’t get to play six degrees of separation, though, because they kept Sheriff Stilinsky and Lydia’s mom (played by real-life spouses Linden Ashby and Susan Walters) separate. Boo! The geek in me wanted them to have at least one scene together.
I loved that we ended with Scott’s wolfdom out in the open to pretty much everyone (except his mom) and he and Allison reconciled with her true identity also revealed. I also loved that Jackson and Stiles worked together and they ALL took down the Alpha.
What I didn’t dig was that after Peter’s takedown and Kate’s death went down in an extremely frightening manner, Jackson still immediately sought out Derek to turn him. I want to know more about Jackson and why that is his passion. I loved that Stiles turned down the wolf bite, even when Peter called him on it that he could hear his true hunger for it in his heartbeat. I liked, too, that Derek was motivated enough to break out of his shackles when Scott told him his sister had been set up by Peter.
As for the Argents, well Momma Argent may actually be as unhinged as her sister in-law. In the scene where she’s packing up Allison to (supposedly) flee to Washington, she flits between concerned mother and drill sergeant barking at Allison to confirm that she understands her orders. Papa Argent is understandably pissed off that Kate has both read in and endangered his daughter, and when he finds out that she set the Hale fire and betrayed their code, his allegiance moves closer to Scott than he could have imagined.
I especially loved that he didn’t race after a fleeing Scott in the opening scene and instead helped his horrified daughter off the bus as she collapsed in his arms. I was glad Allison got a whole arc of emotion – she went from numb to grieving to livid to forgiving in a single episode, and that we stayed on Scott and saw his grief and despair about Allison finding out, too.
I wasn’t totally clear from the blocking of the final scene whether Papa Argent understood as he spoke to his wife about Scott and Allison that they were at that exact moment together on his roof, but I’ll go with “maybe.” I can see a future alliance between them where Scott is helping them fight the “bad” wolves but keeping the betas safe. SO much promise, and so glad they will be back next summer. I didn’t watch much new TV this summer, but Teen Wolf became appointment viewing for me, and it didn’t disappoint.
P.S. I laughed out loud about the AT&T mi-fi plug (especially after The Vampire Diaries did the same thing), and Stiles giving Peter a hard time about whether all werewolves were Apple folks.
You can catch the whole first season and behind the scenes and bonus clips online at MTV.com and select recent episodes online at MuchMusic.com. The series returns next summer with 12 episodes. Thanks for reading!
Photo Courtesy of MTV