Teen Wolf: Time of Death Recap

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4vdIQCfKHw]

Teen Wolf: Time of Death (4×08)

by Elise Kulik

Synopsis: Scott fakes his own death in his latest plan to catch The Benefactor, Malia and Peter have some father/daughter bonding time, Braeden and Derek have a Mr. Miyagi moment that ends in them hooking up, and Lydia uncovers a secret about her grandmother.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

I feel like this week’s plot is paper-thin, but there were some interesting developments in the realm of relationships between characters.

Most of the action this week focuses on Scott’s plan to get The Benefactor to reveal him/herself. The gang is playing off of the requirement that the Benefactor needs visual confirmation of each hit on the dead pool- and Scott’s the willing victim.

Before the intro sequence, the gang huddles around their Macbooks, being intentionally obscure for dramatic irony’s sake when referring to their latest plan to catch The Benefactor.

Flash to Liam’s dad attempting to resuscitate someone in the hospital. The patient flatlines, much like my enthusiasm for this episode, and the doctor calls time of death and tells the nurse to notify Melissa McCall.

Flashback to Kira electrocuting Scott to kill him; Melissa’s in on the plan, but she sold grief pretty damn well. We find out there’s a 45 minute clock on Scott’s suspended state. Argent asks the Benefactor for the bounty from Scott’s death. No visual confirmation possible, so The Benefactor has to come in person.

Scott has a series of horrible nightmares where Liam gets killed while he’s in suspended animation. It’s like a weird choose-your-own adventure where you always start out in a high school locker.  Gradually, he goes from a passive role as a bystander to Liam’s death to an active participant in his final dream.

Back at the hospital, I start to question two things: one, if the benefit package is really good enough to keep all the staff members working there when there are weekly axe murderings and Nogitsune running amok, and two, why the hell the hospital hasn’t invested in a goddamn backup generator.

I mention two because Kate shows up with her Berserkers to cut the power lines in a showdown with Liam and Kira. It’s all very anticlimactic because Kate packs up and leaves after Daddy Argent asks her nicely. *Swallows disbelief*

The plan fails, Scott’s back from the dead, and the gang now thinks The Benefactor is a banshee.

Meanwhile, the more interesting plotline this week is Lydia’s heritage. We learn that her grandmother was institutionalized with Meredith in Eichen House before she died for hearing voices. At this point the audience might as well have had a skywriter fly over the cabin to spell out ‘BANSHEE.’

Anyway, we learn that her grandmother’s urn is filled with mountain ash instead of her grandmother’s remains- Lydia isn’t so sure her grandmother is actually dead. It looks like grandma also left behind a page of the dead pool code.

Now onto relationship developments:

I really like the honesty and humor in the opening scene this week. Stiles and Malia in bed together = the most accurate portrayal of sleeping with someone else ever. All the squirminess. Stiles waking up to sleeping alone because of relationship drama = also accurate.

Speaking of Malia, Malia and Peter have a weird, kinda predatory bonding moment where Peter reveals he’s been searching for Malia’s mother: the Desert Wolf.

Onto other father/child relationships, Scott’s father is more perceptive than his dumb facial expression suggests- he thinks that Scott and his friends don’t process these types of dangerous situations in the way that they should: in other words, they seem too used to tragedy.

Finally, I’ve decided that Braeden is my new favorite character because she’s totally checking out Derek’s torso while he’s asleep. Since his wounds haven’t healed from last week, Braeden figures out Derek’s been losing his powers. Things get heated when Braeden shows her guns to Derek (literal guns but also figurative) to teach him how to protect himself without wolf powers.  It’s all very Mr. Miyagi and it’s fantastic.

So much sexual tension. Such a wasted opportunity for the cliché ‘stand behind them and teach them how to shoot’ moment that never happened. But hey. Derek and Braeden FINALLY get together.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHuBwwTI-rQ]