Bitten Recap 'Bitten'

Image from Bitten, streamed via Netflix

Season 1 Episode 5

On this episode we were shown how Elena Michaels became a werewolf. She was a broke college student when she applied for a typing job with Dr. Clay Danvers. The two of them became a couple after months of working together, and they eventually got engaged. Jeremy was not happy that Clay brought his fiancée to Stonehaven. Stonehaven was a sanctuary to the pack; outsiders like Elena were not welcome. Seeing that his happily ever after with Elena was not going to happen whilst she remained human, Clay transformed into a wolf and bit her. 

Because no woman has ever survived the bite before, Jeremy was furious with Clay and sent him away. Jeremy was outside Elena’s cage when she woke up and began to change. Despite being certain she would die, Jeremy talked Elena through her first, excruciating transformation.

I can understand Elena’s anger toward Clay. After all, it was Clay who bit her and sentenced her to a decidedly non normal life. There was a narrative disconnect, however, in the fact that Elena did not immediately leave Clay after she was bitten. In fact, she willingly worked with Clay for at least two years; the two of them were in charge of policing the mutts for the Danvers pack. After years of working with him, and likely loving him, she was suddenly filled with hatred for him. She blamed him for every bad thing that happened to her since they met, including having to drag a dead body out of estate grounds. If she got over her anger after she turned, then what caused the return of such fury? The only reason we have been shown so far on why Elena left a year ago was that she felt a ripping of her humanity when she killed someone whilst on an errand for Jeremy.

It was Elena who dragged Braxton’s body out of Stonehaven grounds. It was as much to protect Clay, who was already a murder suspect in the eyes of the townsfolk, as it was to protect the pack. Elena declared that she was going home to be bridesmaid to the sister of the man she loved. She knew she would come if Jeremy called, so she asked Jeremy not to call.

How many times has Elena said goodbye to Stonehaven ‘permanently’ in the last five episodes? I am not sure. I kind of admire Jeremy for not rolling his eyes now that Elena said goodbye once more.

Daniel Santos wanted pack status in exchange for information on Marsten and Zachary. The information he provided here was so not worth pack status. Marsten and Zachary were creating an army of mutts because of Clay’s brutality. Elena kept him in check when they were partners in mutt police. With Clay on his own, there was no one to rein him in. How could it have helped the family to know Clay’s brutality toward mutts was the reason for these repeated challenges toward the Danvers pack? There has to be more going on here, especially with Daniel Santos insisting on Elena being in the room when he spoke to Jeremy and the pack.

Elena is the centre of Bitten, and I really wish the writing for her were stronger. Bitten was a largely okay episode, kept afloat by the comforting presence of Greg Bryk as Jeremy, the consistently solid performance of Laura Vandervoort as Elena, and the brooding sexiness of Clay (Greyston Holt). There was even a glimpse of Joel Keller as Pete, which made me miss him.

The episode’s most menacing part was the introduction of Victor Olson, recently released from prison. Victor was already a creepy presence even before it was revealed that he was connected to the then young Elena Michaels. It made sense to introduce him in an episode dedicated to exploring Elena’s past. Victor’s presence heavily hinted at an unimaginable trauma Elena experienced as a child.

When Elena was going through her initial changes as she transformed into a werewolf, Clay told her she would survive because that was what she did. Elena was a survivor. What else she had to survive apart from Clay’s werewolf bite, we would soon find out.

Strays

■ Braxton’s truck with blood on the seats was found on the Stonehaven property line. It was clear that someone dumped it there to cast suspicion on the Danvers. At the rate that bodies were dropping at Stonehaven, Elena deduced that Marsten and company were not far. She wanted to search for them, even act as bait, but Jeremy refused.

■ I have property envy. I really like Stonehaven, both the house and the grounds.

■ When Jeremy found Clay, he was a young boy who was already bitten. Jeremy sat on a tree stump for weeks before Clay trusted him enough to go near him.

■ Jeremy was born a werewolf. Clay was bitten.

■ Elena had to step in as Becky’s bridesmaid.

■ It was so random that Philip’s client wanted to use the footage of the two werewolves fighting a coyote for their ad campaign. There has to be more to this. Philip promised to track down the owner of the video.

■ Victor was approached by Zachary and mentioned Elena.