Teen Wolf 5.09: Lies of Omission

As the penultimate episode of the summer half of Teen Wolf’s fifth season, ‘Lies of Omission’ is almost all setup for some supposedly exciting confrontations in next week’s finale. It played with some of the bigger themes of the season thus far, namely the in-fighting between Scott’s friends and allies, which makes sense considering it’s what has been fuelling the majority of the character arcs that have we’ve seen for the past nine weeks. Next week should be when things get really interesting, but this episode just felt like one big tease.

That kind of thing is par for the course when it comes to penultimate episodes, so I was definitely expecting it. I think the main reason I was dissatisfied was because I’m just a bit let down with this season in general. Normally the Teen Wolf writers are able to craft a well written arc that is thought out, exciting, and character driven in all the right ways, but season five has been lagging in almost all of those areas.

One part of the show that’s suffering a lot right now is al of the small character arcs that are being driven into the background to make way for more pack centric drama elsewhere. Malia stands out as one of the bigger casualties here, mostly because it seemed like she was being given a story that was going to be steered by her own unique backstory and traumatic childhood experience. It still seems like that might be the case, but without any of the major male cast members taking part in the Desert Wolf plot she’s being shoved aside. It’s sad to think that Teen Wolf was so generous to its female characters at one point, but now they seem to be an afterthought.

I’m enjoying what this season has done with the pack dynamic in terms of how they have been coping with failure at the hands of some of their biggest foes and what the experience has been doing to their relationships, Scott and Stiles’ friendship in particular. Unfortunately, I’m still too frustrated with all of the silliness that’s come about as a result of new characters and stories that just haven’t gelled to enjoy it.

Plus

I really enjoyed Malia walking out of Ms Martin’s class. You’d think she’d let her out to deal with something supernatural related, even if Malia’s grades are total pants.

Theo is an expert at playing Scott and Stiles against each other. I wonder what other lies he’ll spin to tear them apart even more. I wish Scott had given Stiles more of a chance to explain. It’s like he’s devoid of any of the understanding and compassion he used to have for his friends now that he has a total wolf boner for Theo.

He Said, She Said

Stiles: “You think I had a choice?”
Scott: “There’s always a choice.”

I think we’re past the point where things can improve before we step away from Beacon Hills for four months. There won’t be an opportunity to hit the re-set button either because we’ll be heading straight back into this arc after the hiatus. Unless next week brings about some exciting twist that gets me invested in this arc I kind of worried for Teen Wolf.

5/10

Also posted at Doux Reviews.