Teen Wolf: S02E06 - 'Frenemy'.

So after one post was mysteriously eaten by Blogger, my computer was then broken and I went for a mini holiday with friends I ended up two episodes behind on Teen Wolf with another out in a matter of days. What I then decided was that I'd do the two episodes I missed as a bumper review to catch us all back up, but since episode six was lost and it's been like three weeks since I've seen it, I thought I'd rewatch it and review that as well. But then I realised three reviews in one post may be a little too much, so I decided I'd just do all three as separate reviews over the next couple of days. Enjoy!

Frenemy does little to move the story forwards overall and spends much of its time building on what is already there, most of which is aftermath from the last episode. That said the episode does include three new plot points for later episodes, the first being that Scott might be held back a year! Who cares? There are fucking killer lizardmen and werewolves, Jesus. The second is that Scott might cure himself, so he and Allison can be together FOREVERS! AND the fact that they finally realised that they are just a bunch of twenty something's playing sixteen year old's so they can't face this alone!


Derek is hunting Jackson which leads into them finally facing off but...eh, I know the limitations of TV and all that but the fight is over much too quickly and bad CGI is overused and plagues the scene. We do at least learn that the Kanima can walk on walls, has no scent and can apparently survive gunfire and getting his throat slashed by an Alpha and heal up lightning fast - this is one tough sonofabitch. 

It eventually leads into a gay club scene which is really goofy and stupid and includes monsters walking around on the dance floor and Scott and Stiles openly talking about werewolves before anyone notices anything strange but thankfully it gets pretty awesome by the end when the Kanima shows up, stalks stalking the ceiling and taking down everyone in the club. Fuck yeah. And at least Stiles' Dad finally questioned Stiles as to why he is at every crime scene, still he believes Stiles' lie way too easily.

This then leads to Jackson getting locked inside a prison van while Scott tries to work out why the Kanima went after Danny the night before at the club, eventually learning the Kanima was after a tape of Jackson transforming.

This then leads into the main theories in the episode as to how exactly the Kanima works. In Teen Wolf werewolves are one in the same, I mean this isn't one hundred percent clear since you have to learn to control it and all that but as far as I can tell when Scott is still Scott when he shifts, he just has superpowers and a blood lust although even that isn't exactly clear since Scott has been show to still be able to use his powers even when he doesn't shift, so why does he need to shift at all? What can I say the lore in this show is confusing.


Theory One is that the Kanima and Jackson are two separate things, sharing one body, unaware of one another which is a cool idea and theory two contemplates the possibility that the Kanima has found a friend and is being protected by said friend further suggesting the Kanima hasn't killed any of our protagonists yet is that it only goes after murders and so if it hasn't killed them, it was trying to protect them from something - possibly whatever is trying to protect the Kanima.


And Jackson gets plot development too, as Allison, Scott and Stiles contemplate whether to kill him or not (our heroes everybody), Jackson can only listen and realise that his asshole ways have left him completely alone in his hour of need. And you know where all this leads? Nowhere! In the last minute of the episode not only does Jackson go back to being an asshole but we also learn that all along the Kanima was being controlled as it seeks a master, not a friend. 

We get some interesting subtle character development for Lydia this episode too but I can't help but feel these scenes are pretty pointless. She keeps bumping into this guy who I don't even remember where he came from and stuff but eh...there are more important things going on than this. I mean she herself is also pretty useless since she has no real stake in the main plot other than he possibility her blood may have a cure for Shifters and definitely has no stake in this actual episode.

We also get more from the Argent's who are plotting to use Isaac against Derek or something and are taking over the school as their base of operations putting up cameras everywhere and putting Allison's scary psycho bitch Mum as one of the teachers. Now I like Michael Hogan as an actor and Gerard's kind to menacing personality is awesome, but in this episode Hogan is hamming this up to melodramatic levels to the point where I found some of his scenes really difficult to take seriously. What is with the weird Bale Batman like voice he keeps using and odd, pointless overemphasis of random words? Although I guess Allison's Mum was doing this from season one, so whatever.

We also get a nice Scott and Allison scene - these guys have incredible chemistry even if the dialogue isn't that great, but really, more sex? Really? These two are basically in softcore porn scenes whenever they are together. Like real teenagers I guess... And hey, nothing like balancing a badly shot softcore porn scene with a weird and slightly crappy looking transformation sequence.

Overall I found the episode disappointing, if they had given Lydia less screen time, we could have perhaps had a more fulfilling action sequence when the Alpha and the Kanima finally clash. Plus Jackson showed a real sense of character growth in this episode, just for it to be torn away from him right at the end, really making a large chunk of the episode a little pointless.

Pros;

• The Kanima Lore theories, I know by the end of the episode much of this is void, but it still shows that the writers really do have clever imaginations and who knows, after bringing this stuff up some of it might come true and that'd make me a happy boy.
• Even though, if the end of the episode is to believed, it goes nowhere I did like Jackson's development in this episode, the tear was shed with no audience but us the viewers which makes me believe it was genuine regardless, so although it may not change him for the better, we at least know that Jackson knows deep down just how lonely he has made himself.
• Allison and Scott, Reed and Posey's chemistry is just mesmerising.

Cons;

• This episode doesn't really do a whole lot, although new things are added, they are not immediate. Any character development there is is either voided by the end or takes up screen time that could be dedicated to more important things. 
• Disappointing clash between the Alpha and the Kanima after they've been building this up for weeks.
• Bad writing and dialogue.
• All the other Argent's except Allison sure do love to ham it up.

Think About It!

-Locke