A lot of the events in this episode felt like they should have happened earlier in the season. Some simply should not have happened at all.
The exposition was very flagrantly delayed by the persistent absence of Deaton and Morrell from several episodes as well as their penchant for withholding information (for dramatic effect obviously). I was also a little annoyed that Melissa apparently had to be tied up in a root cellar by an evil druid before she finally opted to clue Sheriff Stilinski in on things she could have told him way back at the beginning of the season. It always struck me as weird that a seemingly responsible adult would leave the decision to keep such secrets in the hands of kids, especially when people were dying because of those secrets.
The entire storyline with Cora comes across as a hollow plot device to demote Derek from Alpha to Beta. As a character she has exhibited virtually no meaningful distinctive traits, usually acting as female version of Derek when he is in one of his broody moods. Frankly, her entire existence eats up screentime that could be better spent. In particular it draws Derek out of the core events of the season and puts him into a side plot for no reason. Isaac had good reason to yell at him. Peter also raised a good point. Unless the Hale's plan to run and leave town, saving Cora but reducing Derek to a Beta just makes them food for the Alpha pack. Which means he would be simultaneously saving her and virtually guaranteeing her death at the same time. Not very practical.
Meanwhile, we STILL have absolutely no idea as to what makes Deucalion such a supposed Badass. A point made all the more glaring by the fact that he attempting to pass off Morrell's revelation that he killed Ennis as a lie. That implies that he really is not actually powerful enough to impose his will on the other Alphas by force and relies on intimidation and implied power. Otherwise he would have just admitted to it. Which brings us back to the still-unexplained basis of the Alpha Pack's entire structure.
This has left me with an Idiot Plot problem with this season. Forward motion of the action is held back mainly by the fact that everybody keeps secrets from everybody else. It feels like the writers are keeping secrets from the audience, and not because they are building to something. This portion of the season ends next episode and several of the actors will not be involved in the next part of the season, which means that this all seems to be going nowhere. I have this same problem with True Blood, which has a similar habit of introducing an overabundance of plot threads and then leaves most of them dangling, as well as requiring viewers to willfully suspend disbelief and the use of logic to simply accept the plot, no matter how many holes it has.
The next episode had better be really good!
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Pros and Cons of "Alpha Pact"
Pros: A lot of things came full circle, for example: Morrell sent the girl from the beginning (it's a shame we won't be seeing more of her - she was so kickass), we finally got to see the rest of the pack learn that Deucalion killed Ennis, the tree Lydia's been drawing became relevant, the FBI involvement in all this was addressed, the animals going crazy was explained, anyway I almost ship Stydia now, their kiss was genuinely touching, Morrell is a boss and she better not be dead, THE STILINSKI FAMILY FEELS, THEY HAVE KILLED ME I AM DEAD, Stiles's panic attack and his dad's story and Claudia (finally have a name! It's ironic that the first Stilinski first name we learn is from a character who's hever been onscreen), I WAS CRYING PEOPLE, also, I just love Detective Stiles being snarky and the Sheriff being generally unimpressed with Argent, we met Scott's dad! And he hates Stiles so I hate him, can't wait to see more of him with Scott, I got a lot of pleasure out of Isaac's rant at Derek, it wasn't completely fair, but Derek does owe Isaac an apology, I like that everyone's working together, I like that Beacon Hills is about to become a hellmouth, I like that there were humorous moments amidst the angst, great performances from Daniel and Dylan I really adore Heather's best friend (isn't she played by the girl from the fantastic show?)
Cons: Cora is bascially a plot device at this point, and though I will always ship Sterek I would infinitely prefer to see Stiles with Lydia, you know, someone with this thing called A PERSONALITY, was it just me or did Peter seem a tad bit OOC? And the scene with him and Lydia... Very underplayed, she shoulda slapped him, interestingly to me, he seemed ashamed of himself which is telling for where his character is going, this episode made me pretty annoyed with the Hale family, also what was the point in Scott leaving with the alphas? Emotionally, nothing came of that, especially since Scott just rejoined his friends, no consequences, Mr. Argent REALLY dropped the ball this episode, it kinda annoys me that the love triangle of Scott/Allison/Isaac is just Isaac and Allison hooking up, I wanted potential threesome material personally, but that's my opinion
PS: VOTE FOR STEREK: http://www.thebacklot.com/ultimate-slash-madness-championship-round/08/2013/