Photo Credit: Syfy
As I had said in my Advance Preview of the season 3 premiere, we literally hit the ground running in the opening scenes of tonight’s season 3 premiere. It really doesn’t let up either with non-stop action the entire episode and with multiple arcs touched on, thus making for a pretty dense hour of television. It all begins with Elena (Laura Vandervoort) talking about the bloody premonition that we all saw at the end of season 2. Elena continues to have visions of a fiery Stonehaven and her being covered in blood and asks the person she’s confiding in whether they’ll ever stop. We finally learn that Elena is actually talking to our good witch friend, Paige, but the answer she gets isn’t what she wanted to hear — that the visions will only stop when they finally come true. Uh oh. This is the only time the premonition is mentioned (and also the only time we see Paige) in the entire episode, but I have no doubt it will play a major role later in the season.
Now, rewind 7 months. In these flashbacks, we are back at Stonehaven where Jeremy (Greg Bryk) is reflecting back on all of their recent losses. Pete. Antonio. And most recently, Logan. He says this must stop, and his solution is to obtain complete control over all of the mutts in North America. And, how does he propose to do this? Round up all the mutts, invite them into the Pack, and if they refuse, well, just kill them. Pretty extreme, don’t you think? We see a great deal of changes in our Alpha Wolf in tonight’s premiere, and this is just the first one.
We later see Jeremy’s plan in action as he exerts his will on a trio of counterfeit mutt brothers. The group’s leader, Freddie, refuses to join the Pack, and so Jeremy keeps his word and kills him. Just like that. The remaining brothers, including one named Bucky, obviously are shaken and agree to join and do whatever Jeremy wants. Jeremy then hands Bucky a burner phone and says he will contact him if he requires his help. Say “Hello” to Jeremy Danvers the Dictator. Damn. The question, however, is will Bucky remain loyal to his new ‘family’? I have a gut feeling the answer may be “no.”
Photo Credit: Syfy
Now, things are about to get hairy, and it’s these scenes that, I swear, made me want to throw everything at the TV. Everyone in the fandom probably remembers Joey Stillwell from seasons 1 and 2 and who is played by the immensely-talented Elias Toufexis. Well, Joey pays a visit to Jeremy and Nick (Steve Lund) to give an update on what’s happening in Alberta. Jeremy wants to venture into the Yukon and Northwest territories, and once that is done, he tells Joey that the Alberta territory is his. Joey has always been one of my favorite characters on the show (and Elias one of my favorite actors), and for a brief moment, it looked as if things were about to go really well for him. Well, that’s until Joey notices a green laser aimed at Jeremy, and being the loyal wolf that he is, he lunges forward and ends up taking a bullet that was meant for Jeremy. Of course, this entire scene lasts for only a couple of minutes, and so what started out as excitement on seeing Joey in the season 3 premiere quickly turned into despair. What a total buzzkill. On a positive note, I was fortunate enough to get a brief Q & A with Elias last week on his character’s abrupt departure from the show. “I found out Joey was going to die right away. They told me I’d be back and that I’d go out like a hero. The actors weren’t happy because they like having me around. Who doesn’t?” he said. At the same time, while Joey may be dead and of course, that really sucks for the fans, Elias is happy with his character’s send-off. “I’m glad he goes out like a champ. I honestly thought he wouldn’t be back at all, so I’m glad I got to do something in Season 3,” he explained. He also said that he loved being on the show and “best thing was the cast. I worked mostly with Greg, who I’ve known for a while and is a great guy, and Steve who’s a big jerk.” Yes, I know, really funny guy <head slap to you, Elias>.
Elias Toufexis as Joey Stillwell
The good news is Joey’s death puts Jeremy in a complete tail-spin, and he’s hell bent on finding who is responsible. Elena and Clay (Greyston Holt) ultimately track the shooter to a storage container place, and he’s eventually caught and brought back to Stonehaven. As a sidenote, we can see someone watching at a distance, who then places a call and tells the person at the other end that they have his brother.
As I had said earlier, we see Jeremy continue to change throughout the episode, and with each change, he seems to kick up “crazy Alpha wolf” to a whole new level. And, the scenes that follow where Jeremy attempts to torture information out of the shooter are just horrific and brutal and demonstrates to everyone just how off the rails the pack leader has gone. I mean, cutting off the guy’s fingertips and then, pouring alcohol on his wounds? And judging from the look on his face, even Clay starts to get uncomfortable with Jeremy’s actions. I know I sure as hell did and ended up having to look away for most of the torture scene. They finally learn that the shooter is tied to Eduardo, the Spanish pack leader, who caused Jeremy all kinds of grief last season. And, with the threat of getting his eyes gouged out, the guy finally gives up Eduardo’s location.
Photo Credit: Syfy
According to the shooter, Pablo, Eduardo is holed up in a tannery, and immediately, a plan of attack is formed. Before Jeremy, Clay and Nick arrive, we do get confirmation that Eduardo is there, but there’s also someone else — Bucky. I knew that SOB couldn’t be trusted! Plus, Jeremy had killed Bucky’s brother, and so, it makes sense that Bucky would betray the Alpha Wolf out of revenge. Well, by the time Jeremy and Co. arrives, Eduardo has already taken off, and so, Jeremy decides to call for reinforcements — and one of them is Bucky. Uh oh. I have a feeling things are going to get very ugly, very fast in next week’s episode.
The premiere ends with Elena encountering a family of wolves that we had seen briefly earlier on. As it turns out, these wolves are from the Yukon and keep a low profile by design. The leader’s name is Sasha Antonov, and he’s very interested in talking to Elena. Elena? Not so much. Elena is ready to call her family for help, but Sasha interrupts and says that **he** is her family because he’s her father.
I absolutely can’t wait to find out what happens next because Elena getting this news couldn’t have happened at a worse possible time. As we know, Elena sees Jeremy as a father-figure, and she respects him. However, with the recent changes in Jeremy and his extreme actions, she has actually started to back away from him — and, so much so, that she asks Clay if he had ever considered leaving Stonehaven to be with just her. Now, Elena’s real father shows up. All I can say, Jeremy, is you’ve got some big problems coming your way.
Bitten airs on Mondays at 11/10c on Syfy.
Critic Grade — A
