Bitten: Dark Arts review

Well guys, we’re coming to the last stretch here! After tonight, we have a double episode next week, and then this season is over! Seems like it just started!

To be completely honest, I’m hoping that next week is REALLY good because thus far, the season has seemed fairly weak. There’s been a lot going on, but for some reason the story just seems to be lacking in some way. What that way is, I can’t yet tell you. Perhaps I’ll recognize it after next week. This week they used a lot of fancy filters to create different environments and convey different emotions.  I understand the necessity of this, considering some of the goings on, but it feels a bit Instagram-y.

Criticism aside, there are a myriad of emotions being expressed in this episode. They’ve all been pretty emotionally charged, but this week seems like it challenged the actors in ways they haven’t previously been challenged. Since the beginning of the series, Clay has pretty much been the meat-head with an obsessive love for Elena. In this episode, Greyston Holt is put in a lot of new situations. Situations where he has to act in a very different manor. Without giving too much away, Clay is acting very NOT Clay-like. There are many times when he seems almost puppet-like, which I guess is appropriate. Other times he’s calculating and you can see something boiling right under the surface. More than once, that something boils over. I gotta give credit where credit is due; Greyston does a great job with all that was thrown at him with this episode.

Two weeks ago, we saw a flash of Paige’s maternal side when she flung herself between Aleister and Savannah. For the most part, all we’ve seen of Paige is that of a follower/daughter of Ruth. She’s been commanding in the face of danger and when confronting the werewolves, but always with an undercurrent of submissiveness to Ruth. This time, we see another glimpse of Paige’s mothering nature when she joins Ruth in guiding Savannah through her initiation. Savannah isn’t genetically Paige’s sister, but it feels like Paige really steps into the Big Sister role this week. The big sister that lets Nick’s continuing advances distract her for a bit, but a big sister none the less.

This is one of the first times we really get to much of post-compound Elena, and she’s continuing to take to being a good mentor to Savannah. Between last week’s nightmares and this week’s rituals, Elena’s presence is a very important thing for Savannah. We see the process of Savannah turning from a child into a young woman, but when she’s with Elena, she seems different. She’s strong and mature, but she allows herself to be vulnerable in Elena’s presence. This appears to be a balancing force for Elena. A situation for her to delve into so she doesn’t have to think of what she just survived through. Unfortunately, lovely Aleister can’t let well enough alone.

I mentioned last week that we haven’t really seen much of Jeremy since the first few episodes of the season. Small glimpses here and there, but that was it. That was changed when he was forced to think like a father again, instead of just a pack alpha. Clay is in danger and Jeremy can’t approach it with fierceness and leadership this time. This time, his true heart shows. Having had the time I had to talk with Greg [Bryk] and Laura [Vandervoort], I think that this emotion is closer to his own. Laura could only speak to how important Greg’s direction was, not only on set, but in their non-professional lives as well, and from talking with Greg himself, I could sense his level of love for each and every one of his cast mates. I think that THIS is what shows through in this episode. That protective, loving nature that seems to be Greg’s personality. That little growl towards the end of the episode though, that was just cute.

Sticking with the emotions theme, I love the array of emotions that we see on Clay’s wolf face. That just harkens back to one of the first things that I really liked about this series in the first place: they focus a lot more on the wolf form than most other werewolf movies/shows. We’ve seen them change, from start to finish. We’ve seen from their eyes. Now we’ve seen their range of emotions. I like this extra detail that others have neglected. If there’s anything that I want them to keep and continue to expand on in the next season, it’s the werewolves. Not the characters, but the wolves themselves.

So, this brings us to the end of the second to last week of this season of Bitten. I have mixed feelings about this season in general, but tonight’s episode was a really good one. We were shown things that haven’t been given to us before. The actors were forced to expand on their characters, most of them for the first time since their characters were initially established. And that nice little twist at the end… well, to be honest…. I’m not happy about that. But we’ll see where it takes us next week.

Fellow fans! I want to hear from you! What do you think about this week’s happenings? I know there are a lot of people out there that haven’t been feeling Savannah’s character. If you were one of them, has this week changed your perception at all? What about everything they made Clay go through? Sound off in the comment below! And until next week!