Bitten,
“Settling,” was written by Wil Zmak and directed by James Dunnison. Dunnison
directed last week as well, and this is Zmak’s second episode, having last
written “Prisoner.” There are only two more episodes left in the season and
things really heated up in this episode!
The title
is an interesting one and could be interpreted in several ways. It can mean to
establish a permanent basis or establish one’s home. This is what the mutts are
essentially trying to do – at least Santos (Michael Luckett) and Marsten
(Pascal Langdale) want a home with no wandering. Settling can also refer to
putting into order or coming to a decision. Both Logan (Michael Xavier) and
Elena (Laura Vandervoort) try to come to some clarity in their relationships.
Settling can also mean to move downward, to sink or descend – and the mutts are
definitely the bottom of the barrel! Finally settling can also refer to paying
a debt. You can also settle for something that is not what you really want. Is
Elena going to give up her dream life with Philip (Paul Greene) and settle for
life with the pack?
The episode
picks up essentially where the last one ended. Elena is curled on her bed,
crying and worried about Philip. Once again a quick shout out to a nice subtle
canine-behavior – dogs curl up on their master’s bed, waiting for them to come
home. This scene is bookended by the closing scene with them in the bedroom as
Elena defends Philip in her wolf form. It’s been discussed on the site before
that in the books Philip denies having seen Elena change, and I really like how
this was shot. We know what’s going on, but Philip really doesn’t – he can
surmise what’s going on, but if you don’t even know werewolves really exist,
would you honestly go there? Of course, the wolf has disappeared when Elena
reappears – and how did it get up in the building anyway?
I can
understand why Philip would be upset about Elena not telling him about her
relationship with Clay (Greyston Holt), but she’s only kept her family history
back to protect him. This was the first episode in which I felt no sympathy for
Philip at all, until he proposed and when he sees Elena before/after the
change. I really disliked him when he told Elena he needed to think and then
told her “alone.” He tells her that he only knows the little things about her,
not the big things, but he also fundamentally doesn’t trust her because he’s
jealous of Clay. He can’t think much of her if he even has to ask if she was
still seeing Clay when they started going out.
Greene is
terrific in the scene in which Olsen (Patrick Garrow) traps him in the bedroom
and Elena’s wolf saves him. He looks terrified and appalled but on some level
you also see some recognition on his part even though he’s also clearly
confused by what he’s “seeing” in the bathroom when she changes back.
I was also
not happy with Elena coming out of the bedroom and petulantly saying to Clay
that he’d gotten what he wanted. He tells her again that he never wanted her to
be hurt. Clay has warned Elena all along that Santos is trying to isolate her
from the pack. Santos wants her to distrust the pack enough to turn to him, and
they clearly arrive at the apartment to reveal themselves and Elena to Philip
thus signing his death warrant. The fight in the apartment is terrific. As I’m
sure everyone knows by now, I hate when directors speed up the action in a
fight scene – but I loved the use of the slow motion in these shots. The fight
was well choreographed and executed. Philip, of course, was basically useless,
but I loved the look on his face as he watched them toss each other around. I
also loved that Clay not only physically protected Philip but also protected
him from learning the truth.
It was a
nice reminder when Santos arrived that in discussing keeping up appearances, he
taunts Clay with “Professor.” Clay is a professor and as such is very
intelligent – something it’s easy to forget because he’s the enforcer for the
pack. It’s Clay after all who brings Williams (James McGowan) into the equation
and who surmises that the mutts’ plan has been in the works for at least a
year. Of course, we also learn that Santos is answering to Williams. Williams’
end goal is the destruction of the pack – Santos just wants Elena.
By the end
of the episode, Elena tells Philip that she would have married him in a better world.
She tells him she loves him and that that will never change, but it seems
pretty clear that she’s also saying good bye to him. She is committed to
helping her pack and getting Clay back, but primarily, I think she’s finally
realized that there is no way for her to keep her other life away from Philip
and to keep him safe, she has to leave. And also – Clay! OMG! I can only
imagine what Santos will do to him when he has him at his mercy. I loved Clay
choking Olsen and Santos even as whatever they gave him put him under – Luckett’s
face was priceless! Of course, at this point, I want to see them both die for
real.
The mutts
do a really good job of separating the pack. Jeremy (Greg Bryk) and Nick (Steve
Lund) are prevented from leaving Stonehaven to come to help Elena, Clay and
Logan because of the mess left by Braxton’s death. I had to wonder if they left
the search after getting a hit on Leblanc’s (Curtis Caravaggio) fingerprints at
the border, why he’d been allowed to cross the border at all – generally felons
can’t. Plot hole?
I had to
wonder how seriously either the Sheriff (Fiona Highet) or Jeremy were flirting
with each other – are they both just trying to distract the other or is there
an actual attraction there? Given that we know how cautious Jeremy is and that
the Sheriff is suspicious, I’m thinking they are both trying to get the other
to let their guard down.
The scene
between Nick and Jeremy at Stonehaven was some of the best work we’ve seen from
Lund so far in the series. He criticizes Jeremy for having relaxed the rules
too much. He blames Jeremy for allowing Logan and Elena to become attached to
humans – something we know Nick doesn’t do. Jeremy immediately asks if Nick is
challenging him and Nick denies it. Jeremy reveals that he’d relaxed the rules
because Antonio had asked him to. He then asks what Antonio whispered to Nick
just before he died – clearly, Jeremy knew the answer was going to be the name of
Nick’s mother. Which will no doubt lead to Nick becoming attached to a human,
assuming he seeks her out.
It was
interesting to see Nick do what felt like a complete turn around from what he
said to Logan last week, encouraging him to go to Jeremy. Nick is clearly going
to support taking the baby from Rachel (Genelle Williams). Logan tells Elena
that he’s planning to run from the pack because he loves Rachel and she and the
baby are now his family. Logan tells Elena that Jeremy changed when she came along
and that she’s important to him. Elena replies that it’s time to change and to
evolve, to move away from the old rules or they’re going to die off. It remains
to be seen if they can convince Jeremy.
LeBlanc and
Marsten go after Logan and Rachel. Given how freaked out Rachel has been about
everything, I can’t see her ever coping with knowing the truth. Philip might
come to understand and accept, but I don’t see that ever happening with Rachel.
We have another great fight scene, though it would have been nice if Logan
could have finished off at least one of them instead of all of them getting
away! After he’s stabbed, Logan insists she take him to Stonehaven – there’s
another fun border crossing! I suspect that taking her there will eventually
sign her death warrant, but at the present, her pregnancy will probably protect
her.
I was sorry
to see that they had shipped Joey (Elias Toufexis) off to Vancouver as I was
hoping to see more of him – maybe next year or by the finale? For those of you
only watching on SyFy, you may have missed a cameo those of us watching on
Space very much appreciated. When Elena arrives back at the building, the
concierge she speaks to is played by AJ Fry – one of the hosts of the
entertainment show on Space, Inner Space. Who knew he could really act! It was a fun cameo. One
criticism I would have to have of this episode is the quality of the CGI wolf.
It’s good enough to convey emotion as it looks at Philip, but it makes me glad
that we don’t see the wolves all that often. I wonder if using trained wolves
wouldn’t be better.
What did
you think of the episode? Are you as afraid for Clay as I am? Were you sad to
see what may be the end of Philip? What do you think Jeremy will do when Rachel
arrives at Stonehaven? Is Williams actually Malcolm? Let me know your thoughts
in the comments below!
