That’s about the face I’ve making this entire season when it comes to Alcide.

Poor Alcide. He finally gets a nice wolf-centric storyline and unfortunately, he’s the weakest link in it. As far as that storyline goes, Martha was the more interesting character, the Pelts added tension but were abruptly dropped off (perhaps to return next season bookies?) and he was beaten by a V-infused JD making him seem weak right before he got kicked out of the pack. The aftermath of that defeat lead to the biggest weakness of all of that storyline: the non-stop insistence that Alcide is a pack wolf first and foremost.

Alcide has never shown any previous pack-leaning tendencies. In Season 3, he’d largely distanced himself from the Jackson pack  – it was protecting Sookie that drew him back in again. In Season 4 he resisted joining the pack in Shreveport, ultimately only doing so because Debbie wouldn’t let it drop and even then he was almost immediately disgusted by Marcus and his character. That’s not pack-first behavior.He remained disgusted by JD especially when JD allied himself with Russell. He knew where that road lead and didn’t want any part of it. Yes, he  finally made a effort to dethrone JD – but only after it was essentially too late. Had he been pro-pack, he’d taken the mantle of leadership when it was first offered to him. So what of any of that says that he’s a pack-wolf?

I think it was a shame they went that way: it was more interesting for him to be an outsider especially because he didn’t like what packs could force a wolf to become. You can almost parallel the wolves with vampires living in nests: the net effect is almost seemingly more negative than positive whether it’s a V-addiction or standing by and doing nothing when the Pack Master is obviously doing something awful. Ultimately that Alcide was more complex and more interesting than what we got. The writers did try to give him some depth by contrasting him to his dad, but I think those scenes added so little (aside from showing the baby vamps roaming) as to essentially be filler. The ending of the arc was a bit redemptive, but somehow having to stoop to JD’s level by taking the V negates it somewhat, however necessary it was.

Best Moment: Beating the ever loving shit out of JD.
I know that only the line before I said it was a bit cheap for him to take V, but hey, sometimes you do what you gotta do. Clearly JD had lost his marbles and was causing so much harm that there were few choices to be had. It was interesting to note that no one was really stepping in to try and defend JD – even before Martha and her bow made an appearance. For all of my gripes that Alcide has not been a packwolf, they have done a decent job completing the transformation to pack wolf. Let’s see what they can do with it in Season 6.

Worst Moment: Alcide tries to take advantage of Sookie
Yes folks, that is exactly what he was trying to do. He knew that Sookie didn’t feel the same way about him. He knew that although that maybe she was attracted to him, she’d never date him or do anything physical with him. He knew that she was already an emotional wreck from trying to deal with Debbie’s death. And most importantly, he knew she was drunk while he was sober. Had he really cared about her, he would have helped her upstairs and tucked her in to sleep it off – not encourage her to drink even more when she was already so vulnerable knowing that it could finally get her to act on those feelings she wouldn’t have acted on previously. I am glad that the writers didn’t actually let them go there and I will be incredibly disappointed if they hook up in the future now that this has happened.