Bitten - Committed - Review: "All In"

    This week’s episode of Bitten, “Committed” was written by Karen Hill and directed by Paul Fox. Hill has written for shows such as LA Complex and Little Mosque on the Prairie. Given her background in more relationship-based comedy and drama, it would appear to make sense to have given her the episode centered on Becky’s wedding, but there is a lot more to the episode than that. This was another terrific episode with some wonderful performances by Bryk, Holt, and Nunes in particular.

    I liked how the title of the episode resonated throughout it. The title refers to Elena’s (Laura Vandervoort) commitment to Philip when she agrees to move in with him. We see that the mutts are committed to challenging the pack and Jeremy (Greg Bryk) in particular. We also see Becky (Ace Hicks) commit to her marriage after a last minute bout of cold feet. Olivia (Sherry Miller) finally even thaws enough to commit to letting Elena into the family. In the end, the mutt’s cruelty and violence has Elena committing to support the pack.

    We learn that if Elena does actually break with the pack and becomes a mutt, she won’t be allowed to settle anywhere, which means she would never be able to have a life with Philip. Elena’s conversation with Becky about love certainly resonates. Becky knows that Colin (Altair Vincent) is the one for her because she can totally be herself with him. Elena tells her that love is bigger than both of them and that you can’t control who you fall in love with. It certainly sounds like Elena is meant to be with Clay (Greyston Holt) who she can be totally herself with and who bit her rather than lose her – rather than Philip (Paul Greene) – the man she wants to be in love with.

    It was interesting that when Philip asks about what Elena saw on the street, rather than tell him about Santos (Michael Luckett), she tells him about Victor Olson (Patrick Garrow). We learn that he lured young girls into his yard with rabbits and then used his coop “for something else.” Whether that something else was locking them up and/or hurting/raping them is made explicitly clear, but I think we can assume the worst. This experience certainly helps us to understand more of Elena’s personality – such as why she would have lost it on Carter after seeing the wolf arm that he had as a trophy or why being locked up in the cage after she turned would have completely freaked her out. Perhaps her gut reaction to any “monster” is to see Victor, so when she tells Philip she saw Victor, maybe to her she did in a sense.

    Logan (Michael Xavier) reassures her that she did a good thing by telling Philip about Victor – because she hasn’t told many people. He even says “you named the beast.” I loved the irony of Elena asking him for relationship advice. He tells her he isn’t managing it any better than she is, and we see that come to fruition when Rachel (Genelle Williams) tells him she’s pregnant. Hard to believe that is going to end well. From the little we’ve learned so far, some wolves are born that way – I’m assuming that Logan’s baby will be a wolf. However, we also know that there are no women in their lives – so what fate awaits Rachel? Will she die in childbirth or will they have to take the baby away from her? Tell her it died? Maybe the baby doesn’t actually change until puberty? I did really like how they handled Logan and Rachel’s confusion over their feelings. I loved when Rachel actually questioned how a “grownup” could have that kind of accident – something I ask myself every time it happens on tv or in a movie! By the end of the episode, it seems Logan and Rachel are on solid ground again, but once Elena skips out on Philip at the wedding, he expresses doubts for the first time about his relationship with Elena to Diane (Natalie Brown).

    We see Jeremy challenged by Boggs (Dan Petronijevic), a mutt, who was told the pack was weak. Clay goes straight into defender mode and beats the mutt until Jeremy pulls him off. Nick (Steve Lund) goes for reinforcements only to find that the senior Stillwell had been murdered and his eyes taken. For those with keen eyes, you may have recognized Joey Stillwell as Elias Toufexis from Alphas and Eureka.

    I loved the scene in which Jeremy reasserts his dominance as alpha. Before Boggs returns, Antony (Paulino Nunes), Clay, and Jeremy are discussing the situation. Clay wants to take a hard line against the mutts and Clay suggest that that will show them that Jeremy can’t be pushed around. There’s a nice closeup of Antony’s face as he cringes, and you can tell he’s thinking Clay shouldn’t have said that. Byrk plays the scene perfectly as he turns to Clay and he curls his lip ever so slightly as he asks Clay quietly if Clay thinks that’s what he’s doing. He gets right up in Clay’s personal space before he is interrupted by the sound of Boggs’ motorcycle. He then once again tells Clay to “stay” while he goes to the door himself. I loved the way Jeremy easily takes Boggs and holds Clay’s eyes as he breaks Boggs’ arm.

    I loved the scene between Elena and Santos at the wedding. When Vandervoort gets up from the table, she drops her eyes and stalks after him, playing Elena at her most feral – I can’t say enough about how well the actors are incorporating their body language into their performance. Cutting back and forth between Santos lying about Clay and the pack and Clay and Jeremy at Stonehaven reinforced Santos’ lies. Like Bryk earlier, as Elena holds Santos against the wall, she pulls her lips back in a snarl. Elena connects Santos to Marsden through his cigar. I had to wonder if Santos had put the entire thing in motion – setting mutts against the pack – just to get Elena for himself. He tells her if she aligns with him the two of them can step outside the entire mess. Santos clearly doesn’t understand Elena at all. Threatening her life in Toronto and the people she loves there was definitely the wrong approach. And as she can best him physically, he’s pretty worthless as protection.

    Contrary to what we’ve heard about Clay being a psychopath and despite his torture of Boggs, it’s clear that he doesn’t relish his role as enforcer and torturer. He uses his reputation as a psychopath to his advantage, but he also uses his intelligence to piece things together as Elena did with Santos’ cigar. It’s clear why they were a good team. Clay does what he has to to protect the alpha and the pack. And he obeys Jeremy, his alpha, when Jeremy commands him to make an example of Boggs by pulling his teeth – yikes and ow! Holt is fantastic in Clay’s call to Elena asking her to come home.

    I also loved the scene between Nick and Antony when he welcomes Nick back after finding Stillwell. I love how they can be so tactile and loving while still maintaining an edge. The parallel between them and the Stillwell’s is too glaring to be ignored, and I have a bad feeling about the next episode...

    I have to admit that I didn’t think that Elena would pick up when Jeremy called, and I was pretty worried when she lied and said everything was alright. I was very relieved when she showed up at Stonehaven and told them everything.Santos has crossed a line as far as Elena's concerned, but I'm pretty sure once she's back with the pack for this hunt, it's going to be that much harder for her to pull away.

    What did you think of the episode? Do you think this is the beginning of the end for Elena and Philip? What do you think Logan and Rachel should do about the baby? Do you think Logan will tell her the last big secret? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!