Teen Wolf Review: 5×12 - “Damnatio Memoriae”

Beasts, Hybrids, and Skinwalkers. Oh my!

This week on Teen Wolf, Argent (JR Bourne) reunites with a dangerous nemesis, some old faces resurface, and Scott (Tyler Posey) and his pack face their biggest threat yet. Was Scott’s pack able to defeat the threat? Did everyone make it out unscathed? Let’s find out!

A Deal with the Devil

It really must be desperate times when Chris Argent turns to his father (Michael Hogan) for help. Last we saw Gerard, he was rotting away in a wheelchair due to his cancer and spewing black ooze because his body rejected Derek’s bite. He doesn’t seem fazed to see his son, saying he’s heard the gossip about what’s happening in Beacon Hills. Argent then threw Gerard a white flower, which he scarfed down greedily. He then began to bleed red, a sign that he was cured. Argent didn’t cure his pop out of the kindness of his heart though. He did it only because Gerard knows what the Dread Doctors brought to life. In fact, the monster has a personal connection to the Argent family. It’s real name:

“La Bete.” - Argent

That sounds familiar, you say? You’re absolutely correct! La Bete was first introduced to us back in season one, through the Beastiary, an encyclopedia of supernatural creatures, which the Argents currently possess. Ah, good old season one.

Guess Who’s Back? Back Again.

Those old faces I mentioned belonged to none other than Brayden (Meagan Tandy) and Kira (Arden Cho). Last we saw these two ladies, Brayden rode off into the sunset with Derek and Kira took a road trip with her mom so she could learn to control her inner kitsune. We first see Brayden at Malia’s house, where she’s helping her get information from some random dude about Malia’s mom aka the Desert Wolf. At the end, we find Kira and her mom in the middle of the desert, surrounded by Skinwalkers. Kira then draws her sword and prepares to do battle, at her mother’s request.

“Skinwalkers are powerful shapeshifters and not particularly welcoming to strangers on their land.” - Noshiko

It’s Alive!

In order to better keep an eye on Hayden (Victoria Moroles), who had disappeared for three days, her sister, Deputy Clarke (Benita Robledo) takes her on a ride along while on patrol. Clarke then receives a call on the scanner reporting a disturbance at cypress towers and responds. While Clarke investigates, Liam (Dylan Sprayberry) appears, worried for Hayden’s safety, but Hayden warns him to go after sensing danger. Soon after, they hear gunshots and see a huge monster heading straight towards them. They are barely able to escape, leaving Liam no choice but to pull Hayden off of the cliff they jumped onto. They survive, as did Deputy Clarke. The maintenance guy, not so much.

Elsewhere, Scott and Stiles’ (Dylan O’Brien) research of the creature leads them to a confrontation with Theo and his pack of hybrids. It turns out the reason Theo resurrected them is because he needs a pack of his own and tries to convince Scott that both of their packs should stick together in order to survive. After Theo leaves, Stiles realizes that the words which he destroyed, “Damnatio Memoriae,” meant that the Dread Doctors’ creation wasn’t new, it was something old. Really old.

“They didn’t create a new creature.” - Scott
“They resurrected one.” - Stiles

Final Verdict:

We were very happy that Crystal Reed’s return was referenced in this episode! When she was killed off, it was too much to handle and almost made us stop watching Teen Wolf altogether, am I right? Speaking of returns, it was disappointing that Tyler Hoechlin didn’t make his this week alongside Meagan Tandy. It was a bummer to read that he was no longer a series regular but now it seems as though he will not be returning in any capacity. Like Crystal, his departure leaves a huge void in the cast and in Scott’s pack. It also makes the show feel incomplete.

Wasn’t La Bete’s first appearance a bit anticlimactic? We know it will probably deliver some major carnage but it should have come sooner rather than later. Our spidey senses are tingling with excitement trying to guess who The Beast of Gevaudan is. A member of the Argent family, perhaps? Now THAT would be a twist! How funny was it when Liam pulled Hayden off the cliff to save them both? They’re a really cute couple.

Love him or hate him, Cody Christian’s acting in this episode was fantastic! With one look, he is able to go from the charming boy next door to a seriously sinister villain. While it’s hard to hate Theo, we certainly don’t trust him. Yes, Scott needs all the help he can get but given Theo’s history, it would be foolish to believe anything he says, let alone team up with him again. Obviously, Theo knows way more than he says so our gut tells us he’s working some kind of angle.

While this episode delivered a few buzzworthy moments, overall, Jeff Davis could have done a better job writing it. He could have toned down the teen angst and focused instead on more exciting and relevant issues, such as the ending of last week’s episode. We need to know what the heck happened after Parrish broke into Eichen House to rescue Lydia! Hopefully, this is just a temporary slump, and things will pick up again next week.