Teen Wolf Review: “Perishable” (Season 4, Episode 9)

Teen Wolf left off last week with a fairly large ‘what just happened’ moment. Lydia (Holland Roden) discovered that her grandmother was responsible for the code that the benefactor uses to communicate with the assassins, and it put a giant question mark over the entire situation. To make matters even more suspicious, Scott (Tyler Posey) realized that the person responsible for confirming the supernatural deaths in order for a pay out to happen must also be a banshee – thus working remotely. But, Teen Wolf completely blew our minds tonight when they revealed who the benefactor really was, and I have to say it, I didn’t see that one coming.

In “Perishable,” the deadpool situation gets a bit out of hand. Assassins are coming out of the woodwork for a chance at scoring the excessive paydays that come along with killing any one of the show’s main characters. It’s really startling the ease at which potential killers are finding out about the bounty on the supernaturals. The list seems to be trickling down to amateurs at this point. And, even more alarming, is the elaborate means that these people are going about their murder attempts.

The Mute and the orphans may have been more authentic career killers, but these new guys are pulling out all the stops. Burning Parrish (Ryan Kelley) alive in his own squad car? Disabling Scott, Malia (Shelley Hennig), and Liam (Dylan Sprayberry) with trance music? The flair for the dramatic is a nice touch, but it also makes it that much more satisfying to watch when the good guys prevail in the end – which they almost always do.

The single greatest scene in “Perishable,” however, was watching Parrish go after the guy that tried, err, did, burn him alive. Luckily, for Parrish, his unknown supernatural powers protected him from any harm. It was a nice change to see this character portrayed with a little more aggression than we’ve seen in previous episodes. Parrish generally comes across as more docile, which isn’t necessarily a bad trait, but it also doesn’t benefit the storyline quite as much.

Once again, Kira (Arden Cho) was M.I.A. for the whole episode, which leads me to think that the writers are having some trouble pinning down exactly what her role on the show is going to be. She was explicitly brought in as part of the former storyline with Stiles and the Nogitsune, but has stuck around to fill the void in the cast after Allison’s (Crystal Reed) death as both another strong female character and as Scott’s love interest. Yet, she hasn’t really played a very active role in the events of this season and has come off a little as unintentionally neurotic. It would be nice to see her serve a more independent purpose and contribute on a more regular basis.

There’s also a general subplot this season regarding the financial troubles that both Scott and Stiles’ (Dylan O’Brien) families are experiencing. It’s refreshing to see an actual real world connection, since these are struggles that normal people have, but it’s a little too much of a coincidence since there’s so much money involved in the deadpool. One of the big questions at this point is exactly what Scott intends on doing with the money he recovered from the orphans. It seems reasonable that he would use it for something positive, even though returning it to Derek might be more of the “right” thing, but his mother and the sheriff could really benefit from some extra cash at the moment.

Teen Wolf has let the cat out of the bag. Meredith is the mysterious antagonist. But, it looks like Lydia’s grandmother may have played a role in her underlying motivation. How do you think this will play out in the next few episodes of Teen Wolf?

Let us know in the comments section below.