Wolf Pack Season 1 Episode 5 Review: Incendiary

Wolf Pack Season 1 Episode 5, “Incendiary,” keeps friends close and enemies closer when the werewolf’s deadly motives collide with teen angst at a pool party.

The pack’s first attempt to save a life happens so fast that the Paramount+ show must take a beat to build the suspense before revealing the next potential victim.

“Incendiary” finds the perfect backdrop to raise those stakes in a high school party.

Teenagers already grapple with big feelings daily, so it’s a new challenge for the pack to regulate their emotions around those who trigger them the most — crushes, frenemies, and bullies — to save their lives.

This tactic works especially well with the growing rift between Blake and Phoebe since the story follows that thread from Wolf Pack Season 1 Episode 1, “From a Spark to a Flame.” However, the show should add more depth to that fight before it becomes futile.

When it comes to Austin and Luna or Cyrus and Harlan, the elevated drama would benefit from coming even an episode later in the season because Wolf Pack Season 1 Episode 4, “Fear and Pain,” only begins to establish those dynamics — let alone introduce Austin and Cyrus as individuals. 

Still, it’s endearing to see Harlan and Cyrus flirt about a dinner date. Despite Harlan’s suspicions about the caller, their aside in the woods gives their dynamic authenticity, which feels naive and sweet in an increasingly dark and twisted world.

Likewise, Blake and Everett’s first kiss is a little awkward in the best way, but Wolf Pack could have let that dynamic simmer for a bit longer before taking that step.

Their longing glances and charged dreams reveal their feelings, but Blake and Everett haven’t communicated much beyond that. Not every relationship needs to be a slow burn, but the payoff of that kiss would be even better if the characters had more time to get to know each other.

For instance, Luna and Blake’s interaction in the kitchen is a welcome reminder that a friendship is blossoming between them. After all, the only other one-on-one scene the girls share is a brief flashback during Wolf Pack Season 1 Episode 3, “Origin Point.”

Similarly, it’s great that Wolf Pack (finally!) creates space for an engaging conversation between Everett and Harlan before the party. Not only does that dialogue showcase their budding trust, but it also informs the supernatural world-building.

The show introduces theories in Everett and Harlan’s discussion, like a werewolf’s capability of turning back into a wolf or even a human, that become more intriguing by the end of “Incendiary” due to its successful bait-and-switch with Kristin.

The episode starts with a wistful flashback of Garrett and Harlan, where Harlan supposedly meets his biological father in wolf form. From then (and the pilot, really), Wolf Pack never instills doubt that the werewolf could be anyone other than that wolf — until in Act 3 when Kristin reveals her son died in a fire.

With the knowledge that multiple people died in the wildfire nearly 18 years ago, including Cyrus’ father, Kristin’s curiosity about how Garrett found the twins during that environmental disaster calls everything into question.

It reframes every step Kristin makes in this arson investigation as relating to her son, crescendoing in the reveal that not only does Kristin believe in werewolves, but she could be or know one.

That cliffhanger encourages a rewatch of Wolf Pack‘s episodes to catch all the hints leading up to this twist. 

This turning point can also become a launching point for a different dynamic between Kristin and Garrett, assuming her involvement with werewolves eventually comes to light. That move would be ideal in granting Kristin and Garrett more depth outside of their professions and Garrett’s dedication to his family.

If Kristin’s son is a werewolf (who may have the capability of becoming a wolf and then a human again), Garrett and Kristin can learn something from each other about protecting their children’s secret. All the while, Wolf Pack can build out its mythology.

No matter who the werewolf is, that eventual reveal will recontextualize the mysterious caller’s identity and purpose on the show, too.

The plausibility of the werewolf being Kristin’s son also means that Wolf Pack can maintain its mystery about Luna and Harlan’s biological father — a story (and reveal) better served by longevity.

Though its mythology already stands apart in various ways, the show can further distance itself from Teen Wolf by introducing an Alpha who is more the pack’s contemporary than a Peter Hale-like figure.

Introducing this layer to the plot could be pretty clever, depending on how the show follows through after this cliffhanger. Despite its supernatural conditions, this twist could help Wolf Pack spearhead more character-driven stories than plot-driven ones.

If so, the Paramount+ show will be more confident than ever while heading toward its first season finale.

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New episodes of Wolf Pack stream on Thursdays on Paramount+. Try Paramount+ for free, right here

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