Teen Wolf Review: Required Reading (Season 5 Ep. 6)
They really should not have read that book!
This week’s episode of Teen Wolf, entitled “Required Reading”is all over the place. There are some plot holes, like why is Scott’s asthma back? And why isn’t he stronger, since he’s a “true alpha”? The whole hour just seems overly dramatic, and might I even say, cheesy. All the shirtless/minimum clothing scenes of the gang working out just appear to be a cry for attention. A lot of them are useless, so I’m not sure why they are necessary.
To be honest, I’m not sure how I’m feeling about this whole season. Yes, I’m confident that in the end, everything will tie together and I’ll end up gasping multiple times, and all will be right with the world. But as of this moment, I’m just confused. What’s even more frustrating is that my confusion isn’t going away.
Some episodes are full flash back episodes, but we know that the whole season is a flash forward. We have little bits and pieces of knowledge that the gang doesn’t have, like Parrish taking the dead bodies, but it’s not brought up consistently enough for us to feel like it’s important… yet.
This episode seems to almost be a filler. No, it’s not boring, but I did have a hard time keeping track of what’s going on. There are random scenes that don’t add to the plotline, and we get to see the same exact scene – twice!
Is it really necessary to show Liam and Hayden being competitive on the lacrosse field? Weren’t there eight holes dug into it earlier? Or does that take place after? And, truthfully, the scene between Malia and Theo does not make any sense to me. I’m honestly not even sure what the conversation is about, and what she’s upset/mad about. My theory is that it’s a mixture of Malia being suspicious of Theo, but also having an underlying sexual tension with him? I don’t know.
Don’t get me wrong, tonight’s episode doesn’t disappoint one-hundred percent, and mostly, it’s because Dylan O’Brien is on the cast. The scene of Stiles seeing a memory of his mom saying really mean things about him, breaks my heart. Yes, we know she had dementia, but seeing Stiles have to watch it again is tragic. What is up with that, by the way? How come after the kids read the book, they don’t see suppressed memories of interactions they had with the Doctors, but rather experience out-of-body childhood traumatic memories instead?
The second scene that makes up for the rest of the episode is the beginning scene, where Stiles feels guilty about killing Donovan. I like that Stiles can’t get over this. I adore that he has a conscience, and I absolutely love that Theo knows! I don’t trust Theo, but I really need to get some answers about him.
Like, is he really evil? Why is being nice all of a sudden then? Why doesn’t Scott question him more about spying on Kira while she was sleeping? And how long is going to blackmail Stiles?
See! Still so many questions!
What did you think of “Required Reading”? Were you able to follow the time jumps? Tell us in the comments below!
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Teen Wolf airs Mondays at 10/9c on MTV.
Smriti Jasra
Smriti (a.k.a Sim) is a TV and comic book enthusiast, and has been since the days of Angel and Alias. She watches over 20 shows a week, and her perfect idea of a date is sitting on a couch with some pizza, while having the ultimate debate of Marvel vs. DC. When she’s not live-tweeting her favorite shows or working at her day job, she’s usually writing fan-fiction. Her favorite shows include: Arrow, The 100, Suits, The Flash and Kingdom. Follow her on Twitter: @simjasra