Wolf Pack 1×02 & 1×03 Review: “Two Bitten, Two Born” & “Origin Point”

Wolf Pack season 1 episodes 2 and 3, titled ‘Two Bitten, Two Born’ and ‘Origin Point’, offered a considerable amount of information regarding what’s happening to our leads. However, the narrative continues to be bogged down by an uninteresting mystery.

Where the first season of Teen Wolf also had a mystery element to it, too, there was quite a bit of other stuff happening, including relationship drama and humor. In contrast, Wolf Pack suffers from being primarily a mystery/thriller show that doesn’t have a well-written mystery supporting it. I’m three episodes in and I frankly don’t care about who caused the forest fire. Also, the poorly-animated CG big bad werewolf being part of basically every scene is tiresome. You can clearly tell where the show tries to be “clever” and fail with the camera movements to make up for the low CG budget.

Then there’s the acting. I highly doubt anyone watching Wolf Pack would consider a single actor in the cast to be a breakout star. And that’s unfortunate because electrifying characters can do a lot to keep viewers interested in the most boring of stories. I don’t know about you, but there’s definitely something off about how Chloe Rose Robertson plays Luna Briggs. There’s an actress in there somewhere. If she just tries to focus on showing more emotion on her face and not be concerned about looking pretty all the time on camera.

‘Two Bitten, Two Born’ and ‘Origin Point’ had a bunch of intense scenes. And yet, there’s nothing being served by Luna’s facial expressions except for looking pretty. Her power is enhanced smell. So, I don’t know, maybe move your nostrils and pretend you’re sniffing the air to try and pick up a scent?

And don’t think I’m signaling out Robertson. Tyler Lawrence Gray as Harlan Briggs is basically in the same boat. We get it. You both are good-looking. Now, act! Show me the lines on that face!

Ugh!

Okay. Back to the plot.

‘Two Bitten, Two Born’ had our four co-leads, understandably, not trusting each other. However, their mistrust didn’t last long because of the predicament they were in. Everett and Blake are being hunted by a werewolf and getting mysterious phone calls from a sinister voice. While Luna and Harlan just can’t ignore the connection they feel with the newly bitten teens. So, they all needed to put their differences aside quickly.

I do like the confusion pertaining to Everett and Blake’s situation. Due to being born as werewolves, Luna and Harlan just aren’t sure what experiences Everett and Blake will go through as humans who were recently bitten.

And to make things more complicated, it’s revealed that Everett’s friend Connor was also bitten. He’s also getting similar phone calls about his life being in danger. And as with who started the forest fire, I don’t care about who is making said phone calls. Again, the actual mystery element in a freaking supernatural mystery/thriller show is boring.

And for those of you wondering, I highly doubt Connor is dead. He might end up serving as part of a villainous wolf pack. Come to think of it, I think there are likely two werewolves (Luna and Harlan’s actual parents?) running around and biting humans. Luna, Harlan, Everett, and Blake will be part of the hero wolf pack while Connor and some others, likely Phoebe (who I think got bit during the car scene), will be members of the bad wolf pack.

One of the most interesting things about Wolf Pack continues to be the exploration of each character’s powers. With the premiere episode grabbing my attention, I was looking forward to seeing how the writers would develop each character having a different ability. ‘Origin Point’ showed that, if necessary, their powers could be shared amongst each other. The scene where Harlan’s heightened ability of hearing was used with the characters while Kristin (Sarah Michelle Gellar) interrogated Everett was nicely done. Later on, Luna’s ability to pick up scents was shared, too. Turns out, Luna can smell emotions! I guess we can look forward to seeing Everett’s enhanced strength and Blake’s speed being shared down the line. I still don’t know what Luna’s horse-related visions are about, though.

Now, Wolf Pack bringing in, what looked like, the concept of “being in heat” felt icky to me. Some things work better in the realm of fanfic. Seeing Harlan having visions about getting it on with another dude at the gym and Everett and Blake having visions of making out with each other was just… yeah, no.

The romantic element between Everett and Blake already felt forced in the debut episode. And with both of them now having “visions” of hooking up with each other, the entire thing came across as desperate to me.

Talking about another major development, ‘Origin Point’ put forth the possibility that the big bad CG werewolf might just not kill Everett and Blake because they are part of its pack now. The reveal made me roll my eyes because we spent the majority of the first three episodes building up tension around Everett and Blake’s lives being in danger. And now it doesn’t matter at all? That’s why I think there might be more than one CG wolf involved.

I can’t finish my review without talking about Garrett and his struggles of being a single father to two werewolf twins. I’m instantly more interested in what’s occurring onscreen the moment Garrett appears. He survived the forest fire. And he came through to protect his adoptive kids when they were being mishandled by the police.

The emotion on Garrett’s face when he told the truth to Luna and Harlan about having silver bullets made in case he needed to kill them… my heart!

Garrett did nothing wrong, in my opinion. Yes, he clearly loves Luna and Harlan. But you can’t ignore the fact that the twins were werewolves. Garrett needed a failsafe in case his kids went rogue and decided to murder people. And Garrett did have a point. The twins never had a pack before. Who knows what kind of sensations and animalistic urges they will feel now?

I have my fingers crossed that by the next episode, Luna and Harlan will understand why Garrett was in possession of a bunch of silver bullets. I really don’t want father-child drama to drag this show further.   

Also, marry me, Garrett?

Some other thoughts and questions!

• So, Everett’s mother is just physically and emotionally abusive toward him and his father does nothing about it?
• Yeah. Kristin clearly knows more than she’s letting on. I think she saw something during the same fire that led to Garrett finding Luna and Harlan all those years ago.
• Goodbye, Trent. In a sense, Trent’s character was only written to act in such a despicable manner toward the teens, especially Harlan, because I think the writing team wanted to kill someone off.
• What is it with Jeff Davis and having empty hospitals in the fictional worlds he creates?
• Blake’s little brother is… I don’t know where his arc is going or if he’s even supposed to have some kind of arc.
• I get that not having a phone or email is Blake’s thing. But she really needs to get herself a cellphone considering the circumstances.

What did you think of ‘Two Bitten, Two Born’ and ‘Origin Point’?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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