Teen Wolf 4×8 Review: Time of Death
At this point, the most surprising aspect about season four of Teen Wolf is the fact that there have already been eight episodes. Eight episodes and yet it seems that nothing has been resolved; nor does the plot feel like it has been truly furthered. While last night’s “Time of Death” was one of the more interesting and engaging episodes this season, it still ended with only a minor hint at things to come, rather than any real resolution.
On the whole, season four of Teen Wolf appears to be attempting to reflect a poor man’s Twin Peaks, which is fun to watch. From the use of color to the Mute (who reminds me of the Giant) and the creepy dream sequences and visits to a limbo-like afterlife, it’s clear that the supernatural in Teen Wolf is taking on a distinctly eerie rather than action-packed feel. As a horror and Twin Peaks fan, this aspect of season four is one of the few things making the show still bearable. While the atmosphere is fun, the storylines are both too much and not enough.
Like the rest of this season, “Time of Death” suffers from having too much happening in one episode and nothing being resolved at the same time. From the Benefactor to the Mute and to Kate and her Berserkers, there are simply too many villains and not enough time. I truly wish the writers of Teen Wolf focused on simply one or two basic conflicts and really delved into them, making the narrative clean and crisp. Instead, we’ve got a mess of conflicts and storylines, destroying any chance for genuine suspense for the viewers. Instead, I was simply impatient for the episode to get on with it and end.
The high points of the episode include Melissa McCall and Noshiko Yukimura working together in the hospital (Team Moms!), Chris and Kate coming face to face in a tense standoff, and Braeden teaching Derek the ways of being human and also the two of them looking incredibly gorgeous together. Though I want to remain shipping-neutral, I have to admit a weakness for a badass interracial couple on television. Of course, it would be better for Braeden to exist as a character on her own merits rather than as a love interest to the perpetually poor-decision-making Derek but I would not be disappointed if Braeden was finally the woman who didn’t turn evil or died in Derek’s arms. I sincerely hope she survives this season and we get to learn more about her in upcoming episodes.
I also greatly enjoyed Lydia’s scenes at the boathouse as they finally gave us some backstory into her banshee powers. While it’s hinted that her late grandmother was a) a banshee as well and b) not really dead, it seems a little too much out of left field for this unseen and, until now, unmentioned character to be the mysterious Benefactor. While I have no doubt that Lydia’s grandmother and her powers will play a role in upcoming episodes, I would be surprised if she is the Benefactor. Nonetheless, Lydia’s scenes were intriguing and a welcome respite from the storyline in the hospital where, yet again, the power goes out and monsters attack. How that hospital is still open and getting funding, I’ll never know.
Scott’s scenes in the dreamy limbo that is Beacon Hills High School were a bit repetitive but ultimately an interesting look into what Scott could become. As Liam points out in these scenes, Scott is an Alpha and a predator. We’re so used to Scott being like a sweet, loyal, and kind of dumb puppy dog that we forget that he is physically capable of horrific things. The exchange between him and his father hinted at Scott potentially killing someone though perhaps that was simply a foreshadowing of his limbo-self killing limbo-Liam while he was “dead.” Perhaps our puppy dog Scott won’t actually kill anyone.
Once again, I was disturbed and bored by Malia’s storyline. Every scene in this episode featured her in conjunction with a man: Stiles, her not-really boyfriend, and Peter, her creepy, not-really father. I’m repeatedly exhausted by Malia’s existence simply because there are still so many unanswered questions about her life (why isn’t she in therapy and who is paying for her cell phone?) and because she obviously wouldn’t exist as a character if she didn’t have these connections to male characters. At this point, if Malia simply was written off, I’d be pleased if only because I can’t stand to see her in this secondary and one-dimensional role.
So viewers, what were your thoughts on this episode? Do you think the Benefactor is a banshee? Who do you think is in the most danger? Tell us below!
Author: Kerry
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I feel your pain, author. This season a handful of plots have been tossed out there and are being developed in such a haphazard way – not that previous seasons have been stellar on that front, but they haven’t been this bad. I’m actually embarrassed that I recommended the show to friends because the story-telling is really weak this season.
That said, I agree that this was one of the better episodes of the season. I hadn’t picked up on a Twin Peaks vibe but now that you mention it I can see it. And now that you mention it, the Giant is exactly who the tall mouthless guy reminds me of!
Oh, Malia. I really wish they’d give up on that character, at least for a while. She’s been so badly written from the start, and right now there are too many other things going on – we don’t need yet another subplot, in order to delve into the whereabouts of her birth mother, the Desert Wolf. I don’t care about her mother. And I don’t need to wonder about yet another character I hadn’t even heard of until now.
Speaking of characters we hadn’t heard of until now… Lydia’s grandmother is suddenly important to the story? Why? I don’t think she’d be the Benefactor. Not with Lydia herself on the hit list. What kind of dead grandma would that make her? Also, I wouldn’t want the Benefactor to be a supernatural being like a banshee, because I don’t know why a banshee would want other banshees dead. Or why a banshee, who can predict death, would need visual proof of death before paying for the hit. I have a problem with the logic there, so I’m hoping no banshees are connected to the Benefactor. I’m trying to hold out hope that the Benefactor is an Argent but I suspect I’m going to be disappointed there, as I’ve been disappointed in this show in general this season.
Thank you for reading! I’m glad I’m not the only Teen Wolf fan who feels this way.
I also am tired of Malia being shoved down our throats. What could have been an interesting stand-alone character has frankly become an embarrassment and not a little bit offensive. I am also so exhausted by the deus ex machina moments in this show. It’s getting quite clear that the writers are repeatedly painting themselves in corners and pulling rabbits out of their hats in an attempt to distract us. While the writing for Teen Wolf has never been exceptionally strong, it’s just getting embarrassing at this point. The only characters I care about at this point are Lydia, Kira, and Derek. I’ll keep tuning in for them.
Honestly this article pointed out everything that I am feeling for Teen Wolf.
The writers are dumping everything instead of taking their time and explaining things but they are only adding more and more unrelated things to the show.
Lydia’s grandma is one thing. Now while I am curious to know more about her and her family I have to ask why now ??? Why after all this time would you introduce her ???
Instead of slowly building her up they just threw her out of nowhere.
Another thing is Malia to be honest I agree with Kerry.
This character is one dimension and is embarrassing.
Again I ask why are you going to add another character that’s honestly not really that important. I get that we have to learn about her past but really ??? Your going to add more flushed characters when the characters that are in the show haven’t really gotten that much development ???
Why are the writers adding more characters instead of working with the characters they have right now ???
As for the benefactor, honestly I think its Rafael.
Mainly because the dude is taking everything so calmly.
Frist of all how did he knew that Violet and Garrett were orphans ??? Now that I think about it the others didn’t really know they were orphans at all until Raf pointed it out.
Secondly he was able to sneak into the school shot a guy and isn’t asking about his son or if Stiles is okay ???
To me that just screams something’s up.
Derek and Braden are just perfect honestly I love them at first I didn’t but they grew on me.
Even though I’m a Sterek Shipper I hope that Braden breaks the cycle and loves Derek and doesn’t hurt him.
To your thought that Rafael being the Benefactor: http://i.imgur.com/TEGw9vO.gif
I CAN’T.
It was if i was watching 2-3 different shows at the same time…there was Teen Wolf, with Scott and the rest, but there was also ‘Confused Banshee’ and ‘Bang! Derek!’…Lydia is worth $20 million and i have no idea why she’s roaming around on her own…as for Derek, that dude is acting too OOC for me right now, like a kid, and i think he gets off on pain, why else would be have sex while wounded?
S4 has been a pile of Q after Q, including all the Q’s we have unanswered from the previous seasons, it’s getting way too much
Brae and Derek…well i would’ve liked them if Brae wasn’t someone who killed for money, i mean she isn’t even sorry for the killings she has done, and i still can’t understand why she isn’t some sort of a were-creature after being slashed
Teen Wolf episode 4 recap: Derek having sex while the rest are trying to save lives…AGAIN!
The kitsune’s are really disappointing me…they are bringing a bad name to all ‘trickster’ spirits…they can’t seem to do anything (at least Nogi was able to wreck havoc)…i was hoping to know more about Kira this season, with her tails and powers etc..sigh
*Teen Wolf S4 ep 8 recap*…but i guess most of you already got that 😉
Anyway, so is Malia really 13 years old according to her birth certificate and that the show is still supposed to be happening in 2012…i mean come on, i don’t expect the TW team to make sure everything is set right, but at least go something about the dates…so she’s 13 years old, and is attending classes at Stiles etc level and sleeping with him? at this point i can just laugh at everything that’s happening in TW and leave it to the fandom to set some of the things right
LOL. I think within the show’s universe it actually is only January or February of 2012. It’s been less than one year in their time since Scott became a werewolf.
I guess when they mess up things like dates, we’re just supposed to forgive them, just like we’re supposed to forgive the plot holes and inconsistencies in characterization. It’s so frustrating, because if the fans can keep these things straight, why can’t the writers?
It’s really just been one year during this show’s run? In one year all this has happened? Scott fell in love, twice, his first love dies, her mom dies, her aunt dies, Derek falls in love like twice, I think, Stiles grew his hair out, falls in love, Lydia’s boyfriend turns into a werewolf and moves away to London, she becomes a banshee, Boyd, Erica, Aiden die, Gerard is in a home somewhere spitting up mountain ash blood, Kira moves in, Stiles gets possessed, falls in love WITH A 13-YEAR-OLD, and they all are on a dead pool. Great job, Teen Wolf writers. Great job.
Yeah, I think Jeff Davis said something about not knowing what he was going to do with them in college, so he’s stretching things to keep them in high school for as long as possible. That’s why S1 starts at the beginning of lacrosse season of Scott’s sophomore year and S4 starts just before lacrosse season of his junior year.
That timeline plays havoc with things like how many years it’s been since the Hale house fire, how old Derek is, etc. And now it’s apparently resulting in Malia being a 13-year-old and Lydia aging faster than other people because in S2 she turned 17 in late spring and now in S4 she’s turning 18 in early spring. Banshee years must be like dog years or something.
At this rate, Scott won’t graduate until about S8, but by then Lydia will pass Derek in age and most of Beacon Hills will have been killed in a wendigo attack.
Your reviewing game is on point because you actually hit every nail on the head.
I don’t even know where the show is going anymore. I don’t know the character’s ideals, i don’t even know WHO the new ones are supposed to be in terms of people, and i don’t know what the goal of this season is supposed to be.
I feel like Teen Wolf is becoming less and less a show with a concrete plot-line and more a show characterized by all the questions and plot-holes. You can ignore some things, you can forgive some things, but when you’re given a lace doily of a show to work with, it’s kind of hard.
Lydia’s losing so much potential because she is, essentially, alone. This is her season, this is where she comes into power, yet she is so alone on that journey.
Derek’s yet again thrown into an untimely relationship that, as much as i adore Braeden, fails to make sense. He’s been betrayed not once, but twice by female partners but apparently the amoral bounty hunter is the next best choice. When his pack is being killed. When he’s at his most vulnerable.
Braeden, i sincerely wish that you’d remained a sassy amoral bounty hunter who doesn’t give a crap. Because smoking hot relationship or not (lbr Draeden is beautiful) i wanted to see her do for herself and only herself. Like, you do you, girl. She would have made such a dynamic character: not a villain but not a hero, not neutral but very aware of where she stood. Hell, i don’t remember if i’ve seen her in a scene not related to Derek.
I’ve given up on Scott. His character never really grew on me and now that the mandatory dark arc is here, i don’t really like where it’s leading. I need to see him be Alpha of a pack, which, yes he’s showed that with the new characters but not so much with the entire pack.
And Malia. Oh, Malia. Once again the potential to have a great, dynamic female character but once again failed by plot holes, inconsistency, and romantic priorities. I would have hope for your character development if not for the fact that JD has yet to deliver that with characters he’s had for more than half a season.
Aw thank you so much for your kind words! I’m so glad I’m not the only one going WTF is happening!?
Scott was always kind of boring to me but Kira made him more endearing. If Kira was given stronger storylines, I’d probably like him more.
I cannot believe how much Stiles has gone through in this show and yet, he’s become so bland and horrible. His obsession with Malia is creepy and though I doubt JD will let Dylan O’Brien go, I wouldn’t be surprised if he, Holland, and Tyler H left. If anything, they deserve to move on from this trainwreck.
Also, regarding Derek, I have been enjoying his more relaxed, funny moments with Braeden. While I’d be sad for him if he became human, I dig vulnerable Derek. Also, they’re hot together.
But honestly, what angers me is that Derek doesn’t even exist within the pack anymore. I went into this show believing Sterek was canon (lol I know) and I miss the Stiles and Derek working together and annoying each other motiff. I really thought the writers were working us towards them being a couple eventually because it just seemed so obvious but it’s like the writers panicked and threw them together with the first chicks they could think of and it’s so awkward to watch. Ugh.
What’s funny (and sad) is that the season opened with Scott and the pack + Malia going to Mexico to get Derek but after that they have ignored him…why go into so much trouble just to keep him away from the rest of the gang…it just comes across as weird…like nobody thought of checking up on Derek after getting shot, or Stiles even entertaining the idea that he might be losing his powers and why after they couldn’t keep that lacroose kid down at Deaton’s….have a feeling that when the show is finally going to let Derek and Stiles be in the same room and have more than one line to say to each other it will for some ‘dramatic’ reveal
or for some ‘dramatic’ purpose, like they did with the Derek/Stiles dream sequence in 3B finale…like the characters haven’t even talked about it or mentioned it once this season…it’s highly likely anyother Sterek scene might follow such a trend and just like the dream scene, a ‘real’ Stiles or a ‘real’ Derek might not be in it
Can someone please tell me if Holland is leaving the show ???
this is the second time I heard about her leaving
I just want to know what happened to Braeden gunshot wound? From what was shown of it in the clearing and when Derek brought her to the hospital, along with her waking up in bed and wincing and grabbing her abdomen, it would seem that that was where she was shot, and that it was apparently life-saving. So you have a gunshot victim having been shot in the abdomen (given Naloxone to stop the affects of Morphine if it’s used for something other than waking someone up before they leave the surgical table and those that have overdosed on opiates then it’s considered unethical and inhumane to use it), which is always tricky because of all the organs in the abdomen, the risk of obstruction, dead bowel, leakage, etc., yet in the next episode that is more than likely a day later, since we see Derek’s wound, they have sex? She just had surgery, yet she gets up from the bed like there’s no problem, Derek yanks her up onto a table but she’s totally fine? Not sure if you know this but those that have had abdominal surgery of any kind are not only kept in the hospital for at least 4 days, they usually never go home sooner (mostly to make sure there are no complications) after that they say no strenuous activity, including sex for at least 3 weeks to a month, because it can pop and rip stitches, can cause major bleeding and even make the wound worse, did you know that standing, sitting and coughing is agony and that to make sure you don’t hurt yourself you’d hold a pillow against your stomach, after all that she goes to Derek’s loft and they have sex? I find that unbelievable and it’s a show about werewolves! How is she not in pain? Did she just lie there and let him do what he wanted? I could have accepted Draeden, maybe even liked it but the ignoring of actual wounds and care for it makes upset, not sure how it sexy and hot when she could possibly pop her stitches out along with intestines, or leak blood all over the place. As a nurse I’m appalled by the scene, and disgusted that saying a person that is healing from surgery is capable to have sex yet not have any repercussion medically.
I get that the show is about werewolves, but is there a reason the humans characters on the show don’t follow real life humans? Is realism not a thing? I thought Teen Wolf is set in the real world but has supernatural beings as well, so has that changed?