I missed last week’s episode (it’s DVRd), and I was going to hold off and write a twofer, but I so enjoyed “Magic Bullet” that I bagged that idea. Sorry, kids. Episode four heralds the arrival of Jill Wagner as a new semi regular, Allison’s aunt Kate, who comes in swinging, firing off a unique blue monkshood-loaded shot at Derek that sets the evening’s plot in motion as he essentially hijacks Stiles while directing Scott to gather the bullet that will (potentially) render him dead in 48 hours.
That this sequence of events coincides with a “study date” at Allison’s house means a kind of hilarity ensues, capped off with Kate attempting to interrogate Scott about what he may have fetched from her bags until Allison intervenes and says she was the culprit, wordlessly producing a condom as evidence, a genius move that renders Kate and Allison’s dad silent and made me rewatch the scene several times to see how each of the four actors (Scott/Allison/Dad/Kate) played their reactions. Seriously a good time, people, and so not what I expected, which made it that much better. I totally thought Kate would bust Scott and they’d throw down with Allison walking in on them, but they didn’t. Yay!
Other things I liked in this episode:
- Kate driving alone, listening to the radio and dabbing on lip gloss in a scene that’s set up so you think she’s about to get picked off by a werewolf, except when he pounces on the car, she retrieves a shotgun from behind the passenger seat and blows a hole in her roof.
- Scott waking up from a sound sleep, hearing the shot that hits Derek, and going to look for him even though he keeps insisting he wants no part of it.
- Derek putting the smack down on Jackson to get Scott’s location.
- Scott and Allison actually being innocent enough to think their study date would really about studying before Lydia and Stiles intervened, and still taking things slow.
- Scott discovering the gun collection at the Argents, and getting looped on their cover story that Papa Argent is a weapons dealer and confirming, for now, that Allison isn’t in the family biz, but is frighteningly capable with a crossbow (so she’s being groomed, whether or not she knows it yet).
- Scott taking Allison’s hand under the table to calm her down when her dad’s interrogation of him started to grate on her.
- The goofy look on Scott’s face as he leaves the Argents, giddy about Allison considering sex with him.
- Allison not being a complete dolt and realizing she was told two different versions of how Kate’s car was damaged, and witnessed a third.
I’m curious about whether Kate is supposed to be older or younger than Allison’s dad. Wagner is younger than J.R. Bourne, but she plays the role with a little more swagger, which is either because she’s supposed to be older, or because she sort of lords it over him that she’s more in charge since he’s a family guy and a hunter is all she is. The dynamic at the dinner table was interesting because when Allison’s mom popped up, she was almost docile, so I think there’s more there, too. I’m glad Wagner is back to acting – she’s most recently been hosting reality TV series and was last a regular in genre TV as a new vampire on Spike TV’s one-season take on Blade a few years back. I really liked her here.
Photo Courtesy of MTV