Teen Wolf 5×15 Review: Amplification

It’s a heist episode! One that proves to be a lot more successful than Teen Wolf‘s first attempt with “Echo House” in season three when the gang steals the scroll to try to save Stiles.

In this week’s episode of Teen Wolf, “Amplification,” the group sets out to break into Eichen House to free Lydia before Dr. Valack can perform trepanation in order to enhance her powers, a move that Deaton believes will ultimately kill Lydia.

For me, this is the strongest episode of the second half of season five so far. The muddy timeline started to come into focus and all of the characters had a very clear motivation and goal in place. This is what I’ve been wanting for 5b. The plotlines have become so unnecessarily convoluted; the show needs to see a return to the simplicity of season one, when the characters were relatable and the story made sense.

Teen Wolf is always better when the characters actually communicate and work together against a common enemy. Save for Lydia, the pack is back together, but it feels like all of the important conversations that the characters needed to have happened off-screen. What is happening with Stiles and Malia? Did Malia tell the others about Theo shooting her and getting the claws? Also, did Braeden just leave town after that? And has anyone asked her about Derek?

Dylan O’Brien shines this episode as Stiles is back to his flailing, sarcastic self. Malia’s blunt nature provides some great humor once again as Kira practices controlling her powers. Shelley Hennig has excellent comedic timing so it was wonderful to see this put to use as it has been missing so far this second half of the season.

Lydia’s mother, Natalie Martin, seems to be suffering from the same delusional stubbornness that plagued the Sherriff in the first half of the season. After everything that’s happened, why is she so insistent on leaving Lydia in Eichen House? Why is Eichen House even still open? Who exactly owns Eichen House? With it playing such a significant role this season, I hope to learn more about the establishment because there definitely has to be a big bad behind that place.

After facing a series of obstacles, the group finally makes it through Eichen, only for Stiles to find that they are too late: Valack has already performed the procedure. Lydia warns Stiles that if he doesn’t go, he’ll die there. Can I just say how much I have loved Stiles’s scenes with Lydia in the last two episodes? I’m glad to see after all she’s been through that the pack is finally concerned with rescuing her. The new characters like Liam and Hayden are fine, but I miss the core pack and the relationships they’ve built with one another.

The episode concludes on a thrilling cliffhanger as Eichen House goes into lockdown, trapping the pack inside. I can’t wait to see their grand escape and what the trepanning does to Lydia.

What did everyone think of the episode? What theories do you have about what will happen with Lydia?

Author: Kalissa

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