Monday, February 16, 2015

Bitten, Season 2, Episode 2: Scare Tactics



Opening flashback – Clay as a child and the story of how he was bitten; running into a hungry werewolf – Malcolm - that decided to hunt him. The Malcolm hunts him and bites him but Clay was able to hide while a hunter drove the wolf off

In the present, Logan is trying to question Malcolm while Elena is all edgy because Malcolm isn’t dead yet – and Phillip’s sister keeps ringing her. For the sake of Rachel, they have to keep Malcolm alive. She’s all for torture and maiming.

Malcolm insists that something is coming for them while, at the same time, trying to negotiate using Rachel and her child. Instead Jeremy calls in Rodrigo (who is very very crawly and apologetic). Malcolm makes another appeal to speak to the Alpha Council because something is coming (y’know vague warnings without context or explanation aren’t convincing). And Jeremy kills Rodrigo who didn’t see that coming (despite it being really obvious for a long time) to prove to Malcolm he has no support.

Intimidating Malcolm is interrupted by ominous chanting. As the lights go out, Logan demands Malcolm tell him where Rachel is and realises Malcolm doesn’t have her and doesn’t know where she’s been taken.

Ominous fog rolls in and Elena, Jeremy and Nick go outside and split up to stalk it (this may seem foolish until we remember they ARE the monsters you’re supposed to be afraid of)

Nick walks through the woods and finds a squirming hessian sack and a suddenly appearing woman with solid, white eyes – she touches Nick’s eye, saying a spell and disappears. He starts bleeding from his eyes, screaming. When Elena and Jeremy reach him the blood is gone though he still can’t see. They try to calm him down

Another woman enters the house and drops a sphere on the floor that leads her to Malcolm. But when she opens the door she sees Logan, in wolf form. She quickly closes it again and leaves the house

Elena gets Nick sat down and calmed down and the illusion breaks just as the lights come back on.

Meanwhile Clay – who is a doctor in anthropology- is researching the symbol that kept appearing last episode and takes it to an expert. The expert duly freaks out and then, unconvincingly, claims ignorance. When Clay insists he calls it black witchcraft – and points him towards a Ms Yoruba in Louisiana.  But when Clay gets there, Ms Yoruba (with a lot of stereotypical voodoo trappings) has been murdered. He searches her house and finds a book in a hidden drawer. In the book he finds the symbol with the ominous note “the destroyer comes” which is probably a bad thing.

This doesn’t strike Clay as urgent – or at least not nearly as important as angst – and he decides to visit his mother’s old trailer. He finds it derelict and covered in graffiti and an old man there tells him his family is dead. His mother was killed by a wolf and his father committed suicide.


Back at Stonehaven, everyone is very tense – but Elena has to go out. Phillip’s sister is tired of Elena not answering her calls and has decided to come visit. Jeremy decides to question Malcolm some more (why is he even still alive?) and gets ominous statements about dark forces (and confirmation that he doesn’t know where Rachel is). Clay returns to confirm the culprit is witchcraft. Malcolm wants the book, telling them that Ms. Yoruba died defending it, but Jeremy sticks to the script – where’s Rachel (hey, wait, didn’t we just confirm he didn’t know?)

It’s time for Elena and Phillip’s sister to have Very Awkward Coffee. She remembers her brother thinking Elena was involved in some kind of crime family and asks Elena is Clay was the one who stabbed Phillip. Elena says Clay was protecting Phillip – but does say there were some terrible people after her because of her family; and Elena blames herself for not leaving Phillip and sparing him. Diana leaves in angry tears and asks what Elena’s people even fight for – and Elena says “revenge.” Diana leaves, willing to leave Elena alone if Elena never contacts them again

At Stonehaven, Jeremy, Clay, Nick and Logan follow the instructions in the spell book to summon the scary magical people. There’s ominous whispering – and two women appear. The witches are very cocky and arrogant but decide it’s time to talk. The younger witch, Paige, is definitely prone to showing off. The older witch is Ruth Winterbourne and she’s more polite. She tries to establish common cause since they’re both beings of the “Otherworld” and keeping their existence secret. She adds that their power is hereditary and they only have female children. The witches generally like to not interfere with other supernatural beings – and claim they weren’t responsible for the slaughters though the man who did knows they exist and is hunting them. Both the witches and this man want Malcolm. The witches want to trade him in exchange for a witch who is being held captive. She wants them to co-operate – but Jeremy can’t give up Malcolm because of the Alpha Pack.

While they’re discussing politics, Elena rages her way to Malcolm to rant at him about Phillip while he explains why he killed the man – to remind Elena she’s a werewolf and she can’t deny that. She decides to let him out to fight him but thankfully Clay and Logan intervene before she achieves Peak Spunkiness. Now Malcolm taunts Clay about killing his mother.

Elena and Clay have an angst moment which leads to sex. They leave Jeremy to talk to Malcolm and, for the third time, we confirm that Malcolm doesn’t actually have Rachel. So Malcolm dies. Tomorrow.

He then goes to Logan to explain that Malcolm doesn’t know where she is. He adds that Logan has to prepare for the worst – but they are his family and will help him.

But Ruth has left a spell behind – one that allows her to open all doors. Malcolm is taken –or escapes.




I really liked Elena in the last episode. This one? Not even close. While the rest of the pack is involved in important plot elements, in politics and exposition we have Elena running around being out of control, emotional, incapable of thinking and generally raging and grieving. Yes she has good reason to be raging and grieving, but so does everyone else; and she’s deeply ineffective and outright ludicrous in her grief. She needs saving from herself, her own fool decisions, which is the very essence of spunkiness.

I’m curious as to where this story is going now because it contains strong elements of Stolen while still deviating considerably from the book. Paige and Ruth are intriguing opponents and the episode did spend a lot of time establishing some decent theme and atmosphere that really worked well

I’m curious and intrigued –keep it up Bitten.