"Teen Wolf: The Final Season" Review
Entertainment
Audio By Carbonatix
By John Hanlon, John Hanlon Reviews
In the final ten episodes of the MTV drama Teen Wolf, the main characters face off against their ultimate enemy: fear. It’s fear that the newest monster brings to the community. It’s also fear that longtime hunter Gerard Argent (Michael Hogan) uses in his latest battle against the supernatural beings who populate the small community. “The best way to build an army is through fear,” he says, using that platitude to arouse hatred against the gifted members of the community.
With Stiles (Dylan O’ Brien) off at the FBI — he is surely missed in this final half-season — it’s up to Scott McCall (Tyler Posey) to lead the battle against the rising forces of animosity. The two villains in this final set of episodes (the monster and Gerard’s growing army) work compellingly together to create an atmosphere where no one feels safe.
There’s a lot to like in this final batch of episodes, especially the growing tension that threatens many of the main characters. The threat isn’t static. It’s growing. And with each of these episodes, it seems to be infiltrating the locals more.
Monroe (Sibongile Mlambo), the new guidance counselor, represents this phenomenon. She seems friendly to the students but underneath that façade lies a menacing hunter. Liam (Dylan Sprayberry), Scott’s teenage protégé, watches as his once-safe school becomes a hunting ground. The counselor ,who should be guiding the students into their future, wants some of them dead.
It doesn’t help that Liam’s fellow students also enlist in the army. Nolan (Froy Gutierrez), a fellow lacrosse player, becomes psychotically obsessed with hunting wolves as well. His tactics include stabbing his fellow students to test their healing abilities. Despite this, his character remains enigmatic as he questions some of the army's malicious goals. Gutierrez really showcases this character's conflicting emotions. Nolan can shock the audience with one action and then earn their sympathies in the next. In a noteworthy season, the character stands out as one of the show's greatest assets.
Malia Tate (Shelley Hennig) and Lydia (Holland Roden) are on hand to fight against the growing darkness with the former character standing out as her relationship with Scott develops. Posey and Hennig are great scene partners and it’s nice to see them team up for much of this season, with a particularly strong sequence showing the two of them trapped in a room together.
Since this is the show’s last season (with the series finale doubling as the series’ 100th episode), there are plenty of great nods here to some of show’s most beloved characters. Series fans are rewarded as some of these characters (including Derek Hale and Jackson Whittemore return for the final showdown.
Stiles absence is felt throughout these last episodes though. Coach Bobby Finstock (Orny Adams) has a few funny moments and so does Scott. One of the show's great strengths though was the relationship between Scott and Stiles and there's little time for that in these final episodes.
That being said, fans of this MTV drama are surely rewarded with this second part of season 6. This show will be missed and closes its doors with this strong final chapter.
