Teen Wolf started off its fourth season with two exciting back-to-back episodes, but slowed down the pace substantially in “Muted.” This episode was more or less a building, or re-building episode. Before the point where Scott’s young pack unintentionally takes on a potential new member, all the characters spent their day, well, imitating normal teenage behavior for the most part. What a novel concept.
It’s been a while since our characters actually made it to all their classes, and even though Malia (Shelley Hennig) is still struggling to catch up to her peers (and we can see why if that’s what all of Lydia’s notes look like), it was a nice change of pace to see everyone acting like normal teenagers – to an extent.
Most of “Muted” is consumed by the simple idea of making the high school Lacrosse team. Although it doesn’t end that way, it was great to take a moment to appreciate the basic framework of the show. If you shift back to season one, Scott (Tyler Posey) and his acceptance on the Lacrosse field was a pillar of building his self esteem. Despite his success being attributed in part to his newly acquired lycanthropic charms and talents, it was a place he could go to escape the pressure of being supernatural.
Once again, Scott and Stiles (Dylan O’Brien) gear up for a new season, complete with Coach Finstock and his emphatic personality, and with that comes new competition. A freshman transfer student, Liam (Dylan Sprayberry), is in contention for the coveted Captain spot that Scott previously held, before his grades slipped. There was definitely something extraordinary about this new character off the bat, but it’s nothing compared to what he’ll transition into now that he’s been bitten by an Alpha.
