Teen Wolf started off its final season at an incredibly leisurely pace. The threat of the hunters (urged on by some supernatural force) was a fitting one for Scott’s final adventure. It just took a long time to get anywhere, but the season is finally moving ahead.
This episode, titled “Triggers,” continues Teen Wolf‘s momentum. The previous episode had Scott and the gang go into hiding, but they don’t stay that way for long. “Triggers” sees the pack infiltrate Gerard and Monroe’s hidden base. It’s a stupid plan, but it’s at least a plan.
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A Trap Inside a Trap
Things are getting more intense at school. Monroe has wiped away all semblance of being a human being. She’s now just a prejudiced murder machine who is using her own students as lil’ gestapo. The creepy corpse kid, who is presumably one half of the Anuk-ite, is also in the murderous process of looking for its other half. This mounting death toll convinces Scott that it’s time to make a big move.
Capitalizing on the fact that Nolan is a big idiot, Mason lures the hunters to a decoy hideout of the pack. Theo and Liam stick behind at this hideout to be bait, while the rest of the pack (plus Argent) decide to infiltrate Gerard’s own bunker. The plan is to grab all the guns and severely cripple the hunters’ side of the war. In typical Teen Wolf fashion, this plan goes completely awry.
Scott’s plan is based almost entirely on hubris and luck. Thankfully, though, Teen Wolf exposes it for the foolishness it is as things go wrong immediately. Gerard expected them to show up, so Scott and Malia find themselves in a deadly trap right away. On top of it all, there’s not even any guns to steal.
Speaking of Gerard, “Triggers” does away with the notion that Monroe was the real leader of the hunters and Gerard was just an “adviser.” Gerard is several steps ahead of Scott the entire time, and it just feels right. While Monroe and Nolan showed some early potential as villains — well, at least Monroe did — they’ve been rather disappointing. Gerard might be an evil caricature at times, but the man can deliver the melodramatic menace like no one’s business.
More Than a Feeling
While Malia and Scott are being drawn into Gerard’s trap, Gerard is trying to do the same to Liam and Theo at the decoy hideout. Gerard’s new plan is to murder Liam because that will cause Scott to crumble. And once Scott is down, everyone will follow. Gerard never bothers to explain why he didn’t kill Liam on the multiple occasions he had in the past, though.
Regardless of the usual Teen Wolf faulty logic being at work, Gerard (and his hunters) playing a cat and mouse game with Liam and Theo works very well — if for no other reason than it brings Theo and Liam back together. Neither character has been magnificent on their own, but Cody Christian and Dylan Sprayberry have some wonderful antagonistic chemistry. It’s never clear if Liam and Theo are going to make out or kill each other, but it’s always fun to watch them.
The two manage to barely escape the clutches of the hunters, specifically Nolan. This is because Theo discovers that Anuk-ite is impacting Liam just as much as everyone else is. Liam’s anger comes from a place of fear, and that’s why he’s been acting out of control. Liam’s just as much a victim of the Anuk-ite as the hunters are. This is not only a nice moment of growth for Theo — he can do more than snarl sarcastically — but it introduces the idea that Anuk-ite might be doing more than causing paranoia.
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Love and Death … Maybe
As Liam and Theo are doing their bickering odd couple routine in life-and-death circumstances, Scott and Malia are doing the same across town. Though the two don’t find any guns at the hideout, they do discover a hilariously large map that just so happens to expose the hunters’ entire evil plan. Gerard is plotting to go after every nemeton on Earth. He won’t stop at Beacon Hills; he plans to kill every supernatural creature in existence.
Scott and Malia can only act on this knowledge if they escape Gerard’s hideout. The place is obviously booby trapped to prevent that from happening. Once again, Teen Wolf teases Scott and/or Malia dying, and it doesn’t really feel tense or dramatic. Neither character is really going to die, even if they do almost choke on a wolfsbane grenade.
While these moments aren’t tense, they are a nice way to explore the two’s growing sexual tension. There’s a particularly cute moment where Malia is forced to lie on top of Scott while the two have a whispered conversation of how to escape. Tyler Posey and Shelley Henning are excellent together. It’s a wonderful moment of catharsis that when they do escape, the pair share, their first (very intense) kiss.
Scalia’s happiness is short-lived. Everyone but Theo and Liam regroups at Scott’s house. While they are there, Papa McCall (who is desperately trying to remain relevant) bursts onto the scene. Papa McCall explains that Gerard has armed the entire town. The army is coming and, right on cue, gunfire erupts with a militia shooting into Scott’s home. Everyone dives for cover, but someone — not Scott or Malia but probably Melissa — is shot. Now that’s a way to end an episode.
What did you think of the episode? Who do you think was shot? Will they die or will it just be a serious injury? What do you think of Liam and Theo together? Are you happy that Gerard is back to being the main villain? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Teen Wolf season 6B airs Sundays at 8/7c on MTV. Want more news? Like our Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of MTV)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
