Courtesy of SPACE / Syfy

Nothing says awkward like your ex-lover posing as your cousin while your boyfriend gets frisky. Unless of course the pedophile who molested you as a child crashes your gallery opening.

Let’s bitch it out…

The mutts conquer and divide as Elena (Laura Vandervoort) and Clay (Greyston Holt) return to Toronto for the opening of her art exhibition while tensions rise at Stonehaven when a Pack survivor comes under scrutiny by Jeremy (Greg Bryd). With only a few episodes remaining in the season, ‘Descent’ feels like the dominoes are being lined up in advance of the big climax to come.

The Toronto storyline doesn’t hold a lot of surprises as Elena’s exhibition is little more than a ruse designed to maneuver her into position. The mutts orchestrate a surprise confrontation between Elena and Victor Olsen (Patrick Garrow) in the middle of her show, while Clay confronts Santos (Michael Luckett) in what appears to be a nose-breaking conversation. It’s a two-pronged development: Olsen’s very public engagement reinforces that Elena is a priority in the mutts’ endgame, while Clay’s presence throws her relationship with Philip (Paul Greene) into question. The latter piece doesn’t entirely work for me because it’s alternatively played for laughs (Clay cooking an enormous breakfast) and drama (Elena’s confession to Philip about her “family”). The result – Philip’s departure/break-up – should come as a shock to absolutely no one. Good riddance buddy. Hope that vodka campaign works out for you! (Also, it’s your condo. Why are you leaving?)

Meanwhile the mutt hide-out is discovered when their special guest of honor, Joey Stillwell (Elias Toufexis) escapes captivity and arrives at Stonehaven with key information. The revelation that the mutts are after Elena in both storylines is the worst kept secret on this show – we’ve known this for weeks! – so the most interesting part of this half of the episode is whether or not Joey is actually a double-agent. I thought Toufexis played the role with a certain ambiguity that made it difficult to determine whether he was playing a role or being truthful. Having Nick (Steve Lund) defend him also complicated things; although Nick comes off as a mixture of naivety and earnestness, his willingness to defend Joey helps to cloud the issue. Ultimately had I remembered that there was a body in a sack a few episodes back, I might have found all of this less engaging. Since I’d forgotten, however, it all felt fresh and exciting!

Other Observations:

• James Williams – patron saint of the gallery and dude who insisted on the particular date and time – is likely also the mutts’ bankroller. The question is whether he’s someone we’ve already met or is he someone new?
• Diane (Natalie Brown), naturally, is completely smitten with Clay when she sees him. Because single gals are incapable of resisting making desperate and obvious plays for jacked-up, beefy dudes when they’re single, amirite ladies?
• While I still don’t care about Logan’s (Michael Xavier) baby-daddy dilemma, the conversation between he and Nick about the need for young werewolves to be around their mothers is probably one of most authentic discussions on the show thus far. I’ve complained about the dialogue before, so it’s nice that despite the ridiculous subject matter, some heartfelt content is actually making it into the final product.
• Finally, how many pictures do you think Elena sold? I imagine that people would be talking about how a fistfight broke out during the show and there would be a lot of interest in seeing what the fuss was about! After all, there’s no such thing as bad press.

Best Lines:

• Elena (when she learns what Logan told Phillip): “Oh yeah, skinny dipping with my cousin. Nothing weird about that.” Didn’t I say just this last week?

Your turn: were you surprised that Philip left Elena? Were you shocked that the mutts appear to be targeting her? Do you think it was mean of her to talk to Philip knowing Clay could hear them? Did you doubt Joey’s intentions? Is Victor Olsen scary/creepy enough? And who do you think James Williams is? Sound off below

Bitten airs Saturdays at 9pm EST on SPACE in Canada and Mondays at 8pm EST on Syfy in the US