Teen Wolf - Genotype & Broken Glass - Double Review: "Because We Don't Run" + POLL

With only one episode left, our series is about to come to an end. While it will be sad to no longer see new episodes of Teen Wolf or our favorite characters, it was time for this series to take its final bow. It’s better to go out on top than to limp across the finish line. Granted “Broken Glass” was not exactly the penultimate episode I had in mind, but it did get us to a place for the final battle. On the upside, “Genotype” was significantly better, so we might as well start the review with the good before moving onto the bad.

So Scott, Liam, Mason and Theo decide to pair off to try to find both halves of the Anuk-ite and prevent them from meeting. Scott and Liam try to locate the person from the voicemail who may or may not be the other half of the Anuk-ite. Scott and Liam don’t have a lot to go on until Liam realizes that the person on the voicemail is actually his biology teach Mrs. Finch, also known as the teacher who stood by and watched her students beat the crap out of Liam. So Scott and Liam come up with a plan to try to get Mrs. Finch to out herself as a werewolf, which in turn involves Liam going back to school. Despite their failed attempts, Scott and Liam’s plan reminded me of some of the shenanigans Scott and Stiles used to get into in the earlier seasons. As funny as Scott and Liam’s failure was, it couldn’t hold a candle to the hilarity that Stiles added to every scene he was in, but more on that later. In the end, Mrs. Finch only outed herself as a werewolf after hearing the voicemail and learning the rest of her pack was dead, including her daughter Quinn, which she initially refused to believe. If Quinn being the other half of the Anuk-ite was supposed to be a surprise, then the powers that be shouldn’t have ruined it with including her in the “previously on Teen Wolf” segment. As soon as Quinn was shown, it basically gave away any chance of shocking the audience.

Meanwhile, Mason and Theo get tasked with trying to find Aaron, who hasn’t been showing up for class in days. So apparently the logical answer is to search the tunnels because that’s where every supernatural monster goes to hide. While we do get some funny moments between Mason and Theo, I liked the burgeoning bromance between Liam and Theo better. However, I am so glad someone finally brought up Theo’s past transgressions. I get that our heroes are fighting a war on multiple fronts, but it felt like everything Theo did was sort of swept under the rug. Yes, Theo may have had a change of heart and wants to be part of Scott’s pack, but people really need to remember what this guy is capable of. Kudos to Mason for bringing that up along with schooling Theo that you actually need to care to be able to take pain away. Mason was pretty much on fire tonight, including him realizing that Theo shouldn’t go after Aaron as there was something bigger at play there. What Theo failed to grasp was Aaron was only interested in getting hurt so the Anuk-ite could locate its other half, but I’m pretty sure Liam would have made the same mistake in this predicament, so it’s not entirely Theo’s fault.

And then we had some good old-fashioned female bonding. It’s been a very long time since just Lydia and Malia have had any scenes together, and it was about time Lydia got something to do other than be the resident Banshee. Granted, most of Lydia and Malia’s time was spent trying to find a way to revive Halwyn, but we at least got to see Lydia use her brain as well as her Banshee powers. Another highlight were the interactions between Lydia and Malia, especially when they were trying to figure out how to knock Lydia out. I really wish we could have seen more of these scenes during the final episodes, but everything has been very Scalia-centric when we’re not knee deep in the mythology of the Anuk-ite or trying to deal with the Hunters. So we eventually learn what most of us have suspected that Halwyn is not, and the girls can revive him by removing the bullet. So how to do two high school graduates plan to remove a metal bullet from a Hellhound? Well they decide to put on hospital scrubs and use the MRI machine, which they apparently know how to operate thanks to Lydia reading the manual on her phone. If we suspend our disbelief, it’s a pretty good plan, except removing the bullet will actually cause Halwyn to die from silver poisoning. This new piece of information throws a slight wrinkle in their plan, but Malia makes the argument that Halwyn built Eichen House for the very purpose of being able to stop the Anuk-ite if the time came. I have to agree with Malia that this was the right call. She and Lydia didn’t really have time to find another solution, and Halwyn was the only one who might know how to stop the Anukite. So after reviving Halwyn, the girls learn that it would be disastrous if the two halves become whole, which everyone kind of already figured out, as well as you can’t look the monster in the eyes. Why? Well, because then you’ll be turned into stone. Dun dun dun.

Despite our heroes’ best efforts to keep the Anuk-ite’s two halves separate, Aaron and Quinn came together in an extremely disturbing way. First we had that weird kiss, which wouldn’t have been so bad if not for the creepy crawlies underneath their skin, and then we had the fight sequence where each half tried to kill the other. While it looked like Quinn would win at first, Aaron ended up snapping her neck. Of course, in the end it didn’t matter as Aaron then changed into the Anuk-ite’s true form, which looked a lot like a fleshless Lord Voldemort. In fact, the Anuk-ite is something of a cross between Lord Voldemort and the Basilisk from Harry Potter, as it wastes no time in petrifying the residents of Beacon Hills. If there was ever a time for the residents to leave town, now would be as good of a time as any. At the very least, they should invest in some blindfolds. However, the one person who isn’t running is Gerard, who has the bright idea to make a deal with the Anuk-ite, a supernatural creature who can literally turn him to stone. So while the Anuk-ite can turn its enemies to stone, it would apparently be overpowered by Scott in a fight. That’s where Gerard’s plan comes in: he’ll weaken Scott so the Anuk-ite can kill our heroes and never be captured again with Gerard eventually being able to rid Beacon Hills of every supernatural creature.

So where is Scott while our two Big Bads are plotting the end of Beacon Hills? Well, he was spending some quality time with Malia, naked in the shower. Yes, the sexy shower scene between Scott and Malia that was featured in the season 6B promo has come to pass. While I had a problem with the writers trying to convince us Scalia was falling in love last episode, I was actually perfectly fine with their sex scene. My problem was that it felt way too fast for Scalia to be professing feelings of love after only being romantically paired up for a few episodes. Unlike Stydia, which has been a slow burn for over five seasons and endgame since day one, Scalia is a relatively new ship and any declaration of love would have felt forced. However, I have no trouble believing Scott and Malia would give into their growing feelings for each other, and it was actually sort of cute how Malia said she deserved to see Scott naked since he had already seen her without clothes. What I do like about their romance is that time isn’t wasted dancing around their feelings, but rather they just go for it. It’s like there’s no guarantee for tomorrow, so we might as well enjoy today.

However, once sexy shower time is over, it’s then time to learn how to fight blindly with the newly Zen Deucalion. While I found the scenes with Deucalion trying to teach Scott and Malia how to fight blindly hilarious, I had a problem with the placement of this arc. I just felt like these scenes were a waste of screen time this episode and would have been better served in “Werewolves of London” when Scott and Malia initially asked for Deucalion’s help. Granted, our heroes didn’t know the Anuk-ite would petrify them if they looked into its eyes but still. I would have preferred scenes with our heroes coming together, getting ready to fight, instead of keeping them mostly separated. It just feels like our heroes have spent most of season 6B separated. Yes, they have been working together to try to solve the problems at hand, but they’ve been mostly working in pairs instead of all together. Would it really be so hard for our heroes to have a team huddle every once in a while? You know what else wouldn’t have been hard: for Scott and Malia to tell Lydia where they were going. I get that cellphone towers were down, but they couldn’t have even left a note before heading off to their training with Deucalion. That just seems like lazy writing and a reason for Lydia and Peter to be forced to team up together. So after getting some slightly better material last episode, Lydia was once again sidelined. Yes, she did have some funny scenes with Peter, but her main purpose this episode was to let everyone know about her premonition of our heroes being turned into stone. However, it may not matter if everyone dies from the Hunters’ assault at the shipping containers.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The Hunters continue to annoy me to no end. I really could have done without seeing them at all. That’s actually one of the reasons “Genotype” was such a great episode because there were barely any Hunters. Like I get that the Anuk-ite is heightening their fear and anger, but I’m just sick of them at this point. Deucalion did make an interesting point though about how maybe humans really are like this, and the Anuk-ite just gives them a reason to act on our baser desires. The only Hunter who I have come to even remotely tolerate taking up screen time is Nolan. “Broken Glass” saw Nolan trying to do the right thing; he really did intend to show Liam the werewolves being kept in the hospital and was even willing to get beat up, if needed, to sell the story. What he didn’t know was that he was playing right into the Hunters’ hand. Granted, he didn’t know it would be a trap, but now Liam, Mason, and Cory are now stuck in the hospital with gun-toting Hunters who are being instructed to shoot first and ask questions later. However, Nolan may not be in a much better position as last we saw Gabe was beating the crap out of him. There’s a very good chance not everyone will make it out alive, and I really hope Gabe does get a slow and painful death over our heroes.

The one saving grace of this episode was the return of Derek. While we knew he didn’t murder those twelve people werewolves, it turns out he was looking into their murders which is how he got onto Interpol’s radar. So who was responsible for the senseless murder of more werewolves: Gerard. However, this time it wasn’t just killing them for sport; Gerard was looking for a poison to be used to kill Scott. By the time Argent had tracked down Derek, he had this poison, or antidote as Argent hypothesized, in his possession. Of course, it doesn’t stay with good guys for long as Kate, posing as an FBI agent, manages to grab the poison/antidote with plans of taking it to Gerard. I really loved the banter between Derek, Argent, and Kate. It was a great reminder of just how far Argent has come and how Kate, even as a supernatural creature, hates her kind. Kate may have claimed her motives were purely revenge, but her words to Argent rang true about her just wanting Gerard’s love. However, Derek was right when he said Gerard was incapable as Kate is what he hunts. So while Derek may have initially been reluctant to return to Beacon Hills, this little exchange looks like it will send him back to his hometown. He may be chasing after Kate now, but I have no doubt we’ll see him reunite with the rest of the gang before the series end.

So with only one episode left of the series, I’m really disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of Stiles this half season. I know a lot of that had to do with Dylan O’Brien’s filming schedule, but I’m still pretty unhappy about it. Also, a lot of the other characters’ returns were hyped, but we’ve barely seen them at all. Jackson had about maybe five minutes of screen time in “Werewolves of London,” but he basically disappeared these past two episodes. We were reminded that he is still being held hostage by the Hunters, in case we forgot, thanks to Ethan being tortured and asking where his boyfriend is. And then we have Derek, who even though got a significant amount of screen time in “Broken Glass,” his whereabouts for the past two seasons, except for him being on the run for mass murder, were essentially glossed over. I realize this has more to do with juggling various actors’ filming availability, but I feel like the returns have been overhyped by the powers that be. I was expecting Stiles to make an appearance before the finale and for Jackson and Derek to be more heavily featured. So while I’m glad these actors were able to reprise their roles before the series wrapped, I just wish we would have been able to spend more time with their characters before we say good-bye.

So hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts. What did you think about the two halves of the Anuk-ite becoming whole? What were your feelings on the Scalia sex scene? Why are our heroes constantly kept separated this episode? Do you think some of the characters’ returns were overhyped?