Bitten: Hell’s Teeth Review

This Bitten review contains spoilers…

I just want to give you a short recap from last week since there was so much information to absorb.

Here’s some key points to keep in mind when watching this episode:

• Malcolm is Clay’s maker, which goes a little way to explain why he’s so dedicated to Jeremy (besides the whole alpha, subordinate thing.)
• There’s something after everyone, not just Malcolm, and whatever it is scares the ever living fleas out of his mangy behind.
• Yar! Thar be witches this season! We don’t know a whole lot about them yet, other than they are kind of stalker-ish for awhile.
• The international council tried to pull rank on Jeremy. Jeremy, yet again, showed us just how badass he is. Pretty clever guy, too.
• Everyone is scared of the infinite pitchfork symbol, but we still don’t know why.
• Phillip is dead and due to some bad explaining on Elena’s part, his sister thinks that Elena and her family are part of the mafia.

So as I mentioned above, we were introduced to a couple witches last week, but not given much information. This week, much of the episode focuses on our magick mavens and just why they need Pack’s help.

I mentioned a witchling last week, and first thing this episode, we’re introduced to her. She seems like the typical teenager. Hates homework, wants nothing to do with authority. All that fun stuff. The big difference with her, though, is that not only is she hitting puberty, but this is when her powers are supposed to come in. The two women (well, the younger one more than the older) that we met last week seem to be constantly harping on her about whether or not she’s gaining her abilities yet. Cue creepy guy in a polo shirt, telling our little witchling everything a teenage girl would want to hear: “you’re awesome! You’re powerful! They are trying to rule over you!” Apparently this little girl has never heard that you don’t take candy from a stranger, because when Creepy Polo Shirt Man (also known as Aleister) offers her a piece, she takes it and it apparently has some sort of brain bug in it. Get used to hearing “I am the lock” “I am the key.” It’s going to be a common phrase this season.

Checking in with the pack, Malcolm is gone, again. Somehow, all of the doors, drawers and windows of Stonehaven are open, including the cage door. I’ll give you three guesses as to who caused this to happen, and the first two don’t count. I honestly don’t know if these witches are trying to be sneaky and just failing horribly at it, or if they think they need to perform some parlor tricks to open a conversation. Instead of being reasonable, the younger of the two women decides to make Jeremy float a few feet off the ground. Apparently she hasn’t heard much about how ruthless he can be.

Speaking of ruthless, Jeremy killed the Spanish Alpha, Rodrigo, quite… well… ruthlessly, for his attempted betrayal. Only a day later, Rodrigo’s second in command shows up at Stonehaven asking about his Alpha’s whereabouts. With some quick cover-ups and smooth talking, he is headed off and leaves. Well that’s lucky for the Pack!

There’s a lot of jumping back and forth between Malcolm, the Pack, the Witches and Aleister, stealer of witchlings. Oh look, I am the lock, I am the key. This is apparently a trigger that Aleister uses to put the witchling (Savannah) into a trance to make her more cooperative. Savannah tells Aleister that she had a dream/vision of a guy in a barn, turning into a wolf. She’s describing Malcolm, who Aleister wants, just like everyone else in this show! Even though he tries to get more information out of her with his little trance induction phrase, Savannah only says that Malcolm won’t be alone.

Turns out, though, that she didn’t exactly have a dream. She can communicate with her coven using the younger of the two women as a conduit. We see the witches doing just this, with Nick and Logan standing back, watching. And just to show that we are the products of our environment, Nick comments that “it’s like a witchy Skype call. Or witch Facetime.” Oh Nick, ever the one to lighten the mood. Paige (the younger of the two witches), who is acting as the conduit, mentions a pregnant girl who was in pain. In his desperation to find out more about Rachael, Logan tries to get more information out of her. This breaks the connection, causing Paige to convulse. When she comes to, she tells us that being forced out like that is like “having a gin hangover.” Oddly specific.

Cue the arrival of our Aleister bait, Malcolm Danvers. Suddenly, the Coven and the Pack are working fairly well together. I guess it’s true what they say about a common enemy bringing people together. Of course Aleister falls for the trap, but brings a truck load of his tattooed karate zombies to take out anyone who might mean him harm. Hilarity, I mean chaos, yeah chaos. Chaos ensues and while the witches and wolves work together again Aleister, Malcolm manages to escape, yet again. I’m starting to believe that this guy is more cat than wolf: how many lives does he have?!

Anyway, Elena chases after Malcolm and eventually takes the old man down. This is one of the scenes this season where we see just how much Elena has changed since we first met her. She and Malcolm go a couple rounds, and while at first it seems like she’s getting her butt handed to her, Elena has a few tricks up her sleeve. Have I mentioned that the actors do almost all of their own stunts? That’s important to keep in mind when watching this scene. If you’re not impressed, I’m not sure what would impress you. At the same time, the look on Elena’s face after she deals the fatal blow to Malcolm, is kind of scary. That is not a look I’d like to be directed towards me. Too bad she was so caught up in taking Malcolm out, that she let her guard down and Aleister struck, taking her captive.

This pretty much brings us to the end of this episode. There’s a scene back at Stonehaven where Paige is laying to rest one of the casualties of the confrontation. This is the first glimpse we get at any sort of vulnerability in Paige. Ever the good guy, Nick is there to comfort her, and even though she’s reticent to let him in, it’s fairly obvious that his charm and genuine heart are breaking through her facade. There’s so much going on already this season, and there’s much MUCH more to come. I’m sure that no one will mourn the passing of Malcolm, but he is far from the only death this season. After losing almost half of their number last year, will the Pack be feeling even more loss this season? What about Rachael. We didn’t hear all that much about her this episode. And now Elena is in the hands of the ever so creepy Aleister, and guess who’s freaking out. If you guessed Clay, well… duh.

So while we wait another grueling week for our next onslaught of information, I’d like to hear from you guys! Do you like that there’s so much going on so far? Do you think it’s too much? What do you think of the new Witch element that’s being brought in? To anyone that has read the book, are you liking the things they kept as well as the things they are changing? Or do you wish they had stuck closer to the original story? Let me know what you think in the comments below, and until next time! Ta!