He Said/She Said review – Bitten 2×04: ‘Dead Meat’

Bitten explores the mysterious Compound in greater detail as the wolves and the witches kinda / sorta team up.

Let’s bitch it out…Each week cinephilactic (C) and his sister, Stonehaven Groupie (SG) chat via text message about the latest episode of Bitten. Here’s their take on the antics going down at the Compound:

SG: So we meet crazy Dr Sondra Bauer (Carly Street)

C: Crazy indeed! I’ll admit that I thought that she was going to be a sympathetic character – someone that would eventually help Elena (Laura Vandervoort) out. Cut to my slack jaw at the end of the episode

SG: Yeah. Nope. Total nutcase. She’s fun, though, huh? Do you think she’ll survive the change?

C: For narrative’s sake, I hope so. Bitten needs more crazy weirdness like this. Avoiding spoilers, do you think it was always Aleister’s (Sean Rogerson) plan for her to inject herself with Elena’s blood? That’s an awfully elaborate plan, but the culty sex act suggests so…

SG: Aleister isn’t in the books, so his character is a fun mystery. I hadn’t thought about whether Sondra’s actions were part of his plan, but now you’ve suggested it, I can see it.

C: What are your thoughts on the Compound’s defenses? I quite liked that Elena actually got away so quickly (we’re continually reminded how smart / capable / powerful she is and this is a good way to demonstrate that). Plus her re-capture once again proves how powerful Aleister is

SG: I think the brand/ invisible exploding fence is awesome!!!

C: Definitely. It’s a nice payoff from the opening scene this season, too

SG: I liked that they are keeping a bit with Stolen (book 2). The cage fight against another wolf and her escape is similar, but it goes down slightly different in the book. So as a fan of the books, it’s a blast to see the similarities/ differences. As usual I liked Clay’s (Greyston Holt) vulnerability and Jeremy’s (Greg Byrk) reluctant agreement with the witches’ ideas.

C: I was intrigued by the suggestion that the wolves & the witches were finally starting to work together, especially after last week’s efforts. There was more goodwill between Jeremy & Ruth ((Tammy Isbell) and Nick (Steve Lund) & Paige (Tommie-Amber Pirie), so I was dismayed when both groups eventually confess that they can’t trust the another

SG: Well they do, and they don’t. Joining forces would mean accepting the other. Plus, we know Elena is OK, but the Pack doesn’t and that’s their primary concern right now. Side Note: should we mention nobody has notice Logan (Michael Xavier) is gone?

C: Lol. I guess it confirms just how important the Pack (and the show) considers him

SG: I think it’s because of the creepy porn mustache

C: That’ll do it every time. Staying on this track with the witches vs wolves: I do think it’s interesting that at the end of the episode Elena and Savannah (Kiara Glasco) have connected while Aleister and Crazy Red are…connecting, as well.

SG: Lol

C: It suggests two possible werewolf/witch mash-ups moving forward: Elena and Savannah working together represent the best chance of escape (and possible peace treaty between the species). Meanwhile a possible werewolf/witch baby from Aleister and Crazy Red could bring about the Undoing

SG: It’s interesting that Savannah and Elena are all alone, while Aleister and Sondra have a crowd around them

C: It speaks to the show’s interest in exploring private versus public visibility. Secrecy is so important to both supernatural species and here’s Aleister with his accolades, flaunting it in a big sex rite.

SG: I thought it was interesting that Rachel’s (Genelle Williams) baby is really not worth anything to them.

C: Well there was a suggestion at the end of the first episode that they had done tests on it, but I agree that I would have thought a were-baby would be more valuable

SG: Contrast that with how valuable a witch coming into her powers is considered. Overall, though, things are not looking good for our Pack, especially Logan

C: Definitely not. He’s likely going to go the way of Richard – into a jar or boom! What do you make of the ongoing Savannah/Aleister relationship? It’s still checking off all kinds of “Daddy Issues” to me. It’s more pedophilic than ever!

SG: Still pretty icky – agreed. I was taken aback that Ruth would have us believe that he is a witch? I knew he was something more (possibly a warlock?), but he didn’t scream witch to me.

C: I figured he was from the way he dealt with the wolves during the ambush last week

SG: Also, for the fellow book fans, way to stub Eve! Not even name dropping?!? Cold, very cold.

C: Yeah…that’s another one that goes over my head. Lol

SG: Eve is Savannah;s mother. She was a dark witch who broke off from the coven and was raising Savannah alone.

C: Ah. Hmm…that would have made sense given’s Ruth’s brush with dark magic tonight. Speaking of why do we care that there are other covens?

SG: There’s more to Savannah and Eve, but it’s too much and not included in the plot at all on the show

C: Makes sense. At the end of the day Bitten is about the Pack and Elena. So why don’t we end with her? I may have actually liked Elena more in this episode than ever before
I almost wish the writers had of only focused on her and the Compound

SG: I’ve been enjoying learning more about the Compound. I like that we get to see what Elena is up against before she knows. But just focusing on her would have made the ending (with she and Savannah holding hands between the walls) too sappy. So you didn’t want to see anything outside of Elena in prison?

C: I think it would have felt tighter if we only saw the stuff at the prison, yeah. While the stuff with Ruth and the dark magic stuff gave us an idea of how they’ll eventually find Elena, I think that could have been held off for the start of the next episode. Sometimes Bitten feels the need to give screen time to all of its characters and I think in this case it didn’t need to

SG: Meh, I disagree. I liked seeing everyone. The books are laid out this way, as well. They may focus on Elena a bit more than anyone else, but it’s also written in the first person which is a little hard to do on TV.

C: Fair enough. Any other thoughts? I liked that someone got a dart in the eye.

SG: That was great! I’m excited for next week- seeing if Sondra makes it and if Savannah can get whinier 😉

Your turn: did you like Sondra’s entrance? Do you think she’ll survive? Would you have preferred to focus solely on the compound? Book fans: did you feel jilted that Eve wasn’t mentioned? Sound off below!

Bitten airs Saturdays at 9pm EST on SPACE