‘Wolf Pack’ 1×08 Review: “Trophic Cascade”

Wolf Pack 1×08 “Trophic Cascade” is everything a season finale is supposed to be. The episode is an entertaining series of logical conclusions mixed in with a few surprises, and it manages to close a lot of doors while keeping plenty more open for a second season and beyond. Unfortunately, though, we live in a time when most shows are anything but safe — even popular ones, which this series is. So, even though there’s nothing inherently wrong with where this first season ends as of now, some of those open endings are going to be unnecessarily painful if this finale winds up being the conclusion of the whole series.

With that little caveat out of the way, we can actually enjoy the hour for what it is — and get irritated with it, where appropriate, too.

Lose one, lose all

One of the things Wolf Pack 1×08 does incredibly well is remind viewers just how important the pack bond is. The episode begins with a series of flashbacks, but instead of each individual pack member appearing in their own past, it’s Baron. He’s the one stuck in Everett’s traumatic healthcare experience, in the end of Blake’s parents’ marriage, and even in the aftermath of a young Luna’s attack on her own horse. Cycling through all of those memories with new eyes, while simultaneously learning more about them than what we’ve already been told, would be fascinating enough. But then, history gets yet one more stunning rewrite — Kristin and Garrett are always Mom and Dad.

From a plot standpoint, putting those characters in the roles of both Everett’s parents and Blake’s (not to mention Garrett still being, well, Garrett in Harlan’s memory) is a giant “hey, we’re doing this” bit of foreshadowing for how the episode ends. But from a critical standpoint, the really impressive part of that choice is how much it gives the cast a chance to not just act — but play.

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Rodrigo Santoro are utterly fantastic in their usual roles, and getting to see them be, essentially, entirely new people is a real treat. Especially when, in the exact same scenes where they’re playing the Langs or the Navarros, they also have to jump back into Kristin and Garrett with exactly zero transition time. At the same time, Chase Liefeld has to react with all of Baron’s…every emotion imaginable, really. And that’s all while maintaining at least some part of every other pack member whose past he’s visiting. Somehow, it all just works.

Going back to the storytelling aspect, though, all of these early scenes create one giant contradiction. We’re getting reminder after reminder of how tangled together all these characters now are, how each person’s most personal memories now belong to all the others. And yet, the closer Baron gets to death, the more those ties that bind begin to fray. It’s subtle at first, but then all the jagged edges start to show. Like how, when everyone else rushes off with Garrett to try and save Baron, Blake stays behind. Then, in the car, Harlan is the one who insists they’re all part of a pack. But, in a major role reversal, Luna now says there never was one.

Then, all hell breaks loose. Everett starts to show serious signs of anxiety again, and his dad shows up just in time to force a 72-hour psych hold on him. It almost makes you wonder if that’s just the anxiety talking and we’ll find out later that that particular moment didn’t happen in “reality.” But either way, it’s a pretty huge change from the anxiety being “cured.” Not to mention, it happens just as Baron’s being kidnapped by Malcolm, words about his mom being the one to start the fire just to find him being whispered in his ear. Blake and Danny get split up. Oh, and Harlan gets arrested for Miller’s death.

So, uh. Yeah. Just that one potential loss….could mean losing everything. And that’s where we leave these four by the end of this finale. It’s all pretty bleak. Which is great if the series comes back, as it means we’ll have plenty of story to tell…but not so much if it’s not.

Two bitten

With a chance of losing the pack dynamic, it’s important to look at where the two different pairings wind up by the end of Wolf Pack‘s first season. For Everett and Blake, “Trophic Cascade” definitely leaves us with a sense of trouble in paradise. While they do have their nap together in Everett’s room and the great moment where they finally — finally! — listen to Danny, they also have their very angsty “I don’t want you to go” moment. They’re also just very much at odds about the whole Baron situation.

With respect to at least all the supernatural stuff, Blake just wants to be normal. (Whatever that even means.) If we look back over the course of the season, she’s been pretty clear on that all along. After all, it took her forever to even accept all these changes enough to use the word “werewolf.” Or, eh. “Forever” in a comparative sense, at least.

Blake even actively separates herself and Everett from Baron, who she thinks is “basically a mass murderer.” As far as she’s concerned, that very close call with nearly killing Garrett wasn’t her and Everett. That was the outside influence of the pack, and they could be free of it…unlike Baron or even the Briggs siblings. Everett, obviously, sees things differently.

Disagreeing on some of these complicated topics is fine. But Blake goes wrong by being so worried about her own wants and needs that she brushes off Everett’s wish to keep the pack together so he’s free of his anxiety forever. Which, of course, is another chance for the series to give us a great discussion about anxiety, as well as for Armani Jackson to really do a great job of expressing Everett’s point of view here.

“Everyone always says that to me. Use your anxiety. It motivates you. Make your anxiety work for you. You know what anxiety does for me? It—it makes me want to fucking die. That doesn’t feel like a survival tool to me.”

Everett’s frustration is palpable and completely relatable. Not just for any viewer who’s tired of having to have this exact conversation about anxiety over and over — but for anyone who’s ever had to repeatedly explain any very personal and painful aspect of their health to people who just don’t get it and/or just keep dismissing it.

To her credit, Blake at least internalizes everything Everett says and gives him what feels like a genuine apology. It might not change her feelings on what she thinks is best for herself, but at least she understands Everett a little better.

Now, what she wants for Danny is quite a bit more complicated. And to be clear, the way Kristin dangled the opportunity to “fix” him in front of her is just…not ok. We don’t do that. Autism isn’t something that needs a cure. If you think it is, please get your information somewhere other than Autism Speaks.

Is there probably a very delicate and nuanced conversation to have around Blake being, essentially, Danny’s sole caregiver? Of having to raise him, even though she’s also just a kid? Probably. And would it still be difficult enough taking care of Danny, even without having to help him navigate a world that doesn’t want him to have any rights or dignity? Yes. So, it’s natural for Blake to wish things were easier. And maybe that’s what Kristin calling Blake out is all about. Or maybe she’s just trying to play on Blake’s insecurities to make her crack since she seems to be rejecting the pack.

But I’m not sure, with the words what they are and Blake’s reaction what it is, that this part is handled with the care it deserves. Perhaps a second season could do better.

Two born

While Blake and Everett are butting heads over normalcy and whether or not it’s even a goal they should have (it is not), Wolf Pack 1×08 sees Harlan and Luna facing a different kind of struggle. Harlan finally tells Luna he’s known about her horse, and known about Garrett’s reaction, all these years. Understandably, his motivations, which we see through Baron, have always been to protect his sister. Harlan even asks Luna, in a moment that’s somehow both extremely serious and really hilarious, “you really wanted me to tell you that you killed your own horse?!” Because he clearly can’t believe she would have wanted to live with that pain, and guilt and regret. And maybe it all might’ve led to some self-loathing.

But Luna’s answer is pretty simple: “I’d want you to tell me the truth.” And we have to ask ourselves, is that what we’d want? And is Luna just saying this now because she feels betrayed, or would she have really wanted to know? Is it possible finding this out now actually hurts more than if he’d just told the truth when they were little? We’ll probably all have different answers to that one, both for the character and for ourselves. But that’s just what makes this series and some of these little moments so interesting, even as it may sometimes stumble.

The Briggs kids have a pretty huge moment in this episode, too. They hear what we did all the way back in the series premiere: Garrett’s message to them, about loving them, about understanding that Harlan maybe doesn’t see him as his real dad — the words he thought would be his last. Tyler Lawrence Gray and Chloe Rose Robertson have this shared moment here that, for lack of a better way of putting it is just a beautifully quiet breakdown. It’s not loud sobbing, or some huge outpouring. Rather, it’s another kind of powerful portrayal of pain entirely. It’s how the angst and the hurt sneak up on you, how the tears slip out without a thought. Robertson and Gray’s characters are mourning a loss here, all while being grateful they’re not mourning a much greater one.

And it’s just really, really excellent work.

“I’ll take care of it.”

Lest we forget: It’s Sarah Michelle Gellar’s world, and we’re all just living in it. Anyone who grew up with genre TV in the late 90s and early 2000s should have already known this. But after just these eight episodes of Wolf Pack, more people should know than ever before. “Trophic Cascade” gives Gellar so much material to work with, even outside of the opening memory sequences. Kristin Ramsey really is a compelling character — if a flawed one — with so many different layers that have been peeled back throughout this series. So, it’s perfectly fitting that some of her best material comes in this finale.

For starters, there’s the ongoing dance with Garrett, this time with the characters each getting a chance to ask each other about trust. And that trust is hard to come by, especially for two people who have such huge secrets. So, every time one character or the other has to stop to consider how to answer, it just fits the moment. Given Kristin’s plans for rebuilding her family, I’m guessing it was intentional all along, but Gellar and Santoro really do have these frequent moments of tension that make you wonder if there’s something more there…or if some actors just have chemistry on top of chemistry that can’t be shut down.

Of course, the huge final scene with Malcolm takes all that cautiously-built, fragile trust and puts at risk of being instantly shattered. All this time, even after Kristin’s pressed Garrett to drop his “vague allusions,” she still doesn’t quite give him her full story. Yeah, she references seeing him as a parent with Harlan and Luna, but it takes the fight with the Big Bad for her to finally admit she’s the mother wolf.

(And, uh, Mommy? Hi. That flashback to you, sneaking through that house while those kids are asleep? Kinda creepy and boundary-crossy-like. Think like a vampire — you need permission to enter someone’s home…and you’re always welcome at mine.)

Even though she’s so incredibly cautious — and sometimes calculating, a predator stalking prey — for most of her interactions with Garrett, she jumps right into action when necessary. And when it means saving his life, there’s absolutely no time to hesitate. Case in point: Kristin takes the split second to push Garrett out of the line of fire before going full kickass on Malcolm.

And even after seeing her in action, Garrett may hold that gun up out of fear…but do we really think he’s ever going to shoot? Eh. The only way we’ll ever know is if we get more episodes. And honestly, while we don’t exactly want to see Garrett attacked by Baron, it’s not like Kristin can’t heal him right away. (Small detail with all the healing. With all the saving the world a lot, if you will…)

Uh, and for what it’s worth. That there mommy wolf has still got it in the badass department.

More on Wolf Pack 1×08

• Saw the title, thought about tropes and how this series has been a, uh, cascade of them. Read the title again. Smacked myself.
• Actually witnessing Baron’s visual perspective, with all those blurry lights and the four pack members standing above him, is cool in a geeky TV/film nerd sort of way.
• So, the whole scene with “Everett” in treatment immediately took me back to the “Normal Again” episode of Buffy. Here you have Baron/”Everett” seeing this distorted reality, while remembering a very real treatment experience, and not quite having anyone believe him when little pieces of truth (the wildfire, in this case) make their way in.
• Ok but if Everett had to have such an awful, bitchy mom, SMG taking on that role…yes. Just. Yes. I agree. White suit, absolute derision in every single word and look. So true.
• Runner up to SMG as Everett’s bitchy mom: SMG saying “fucking phone” as Blake’s garbage mom.
• Based on that classroom scene with the knife, Armani Jackson would make a great Ghostface. Just saying.
• “That’s your anxiety, not mine.” Well, well, well. How turn the tables.
• “Personally, I don’t know why anyone would choose to be ordinary.” That part!
• “Luna, how’s he smell?” “Obviously not good. But I don’t think he’s dying.” A comedy!
• There’s a special something about the attitude Luna has with her “yes and no” to Garrett at the police station.
• Ice water in Kristin’s veins when she asks Harlan if she’s lying…wooooowwww.
• Soo, Cyrus is, in fact, the arsonist. Just not from this fire. And the look Kristin gives Luna through the windows when she goes in there with him…RIP to all of us!
• I very much love the “WIN!” on Danny’s screen when Blake finally stops correcting him about his own experiences and starts listening to him. That’s right, kiddo. NOT parking lot.
• …Buffy can mark me any time.
• If Everett’s dad wasn’t some hallucination, uh…He really changed tactics, huh. And WTF with bringing up the incident with the car keys? He wasn’t even there to know, and it was not at all an attack.
• “She killed all those people. Just to find you! Some kind of motherly love. Isn’t it?” I mean. I’ll take her.
• The blue light, the way the shot’s framed, the snarking back and forth, even that head tilt. You can not convince me, upon any threat of violence or with any monetary bribe, that this was not set up specifically like this to make the people tuning in “because Buffy” have a moment to fangirl. I refuse. That was a Buffy vs. Big Bad, from top to bottom. Period. And my God, SMG still has it.
• Like, hello??? “So you could try to kill me. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” It’s her…but as a wolf.
• Her eyebrow when Malcolm picks up his axe again, right before she just destroys…such a small thing, yet so huge. (And so Buffy.)
• “You’re not as strong as you think you are. You’ve been human for too long.” And…bet.
• “I want my family back.” “What if I try to stop you?” Oh, but you won’t. The way these two actors just…let me go watch that whole final scene a few more times.
• And it really has been about family, from start to finish, huh?
• …this would’ve been better as a binge, though.

Thoughts on Wolf Pack 1×08 “Trophic Cascade”? Leave us a comment!

All eight episodes of Wolf Pack are now streaming on Paramount+.