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Game Review | The Wolf Among Us | Season 1, Episode 5 | "Cry Wolf"
Episode Summary: Secrets are revealed and decisions are made as Bigby squares off against the Crooked Man, facing off against his deadliest agent, Bloody Mary and learns the full truth about his crimes against Fabletown. (Wikipedia)
Much like The Walking Dead’s first season, The Wolf Among Us has a finale that is very good, even if not a great deal happens. Once again, it’s how these events unfold and how the characters we’ve come to know across these five episodes are affected that makes things special.
Don’t believe me? Here’s a quick summary: there’s a brief scuffle between Bigby and the Crooked Man’s followers in his hidden lair, Bigby then follows the Crooked Man to an empty factory where Bloody Mary is finally dealt with, before the sheriff drags the Crooked Man before a gathering of the inhabitants of Fabletown to face judgement for his actions.
That’s it. Hard to believe that those four lines of plot manage to fill a (mostly-)satisfying ninety minutes or so, isn’t it? It stands in stark contrast to the previous episode, although even less happened in that and it had to leave the ending open for the finale, so it lacked the most satisfying moments of “Cry Wolf”.
The best of which is the showdown at the factory between Bigby and Bloody Mary, where we finally see her true form, a shambling figure with jagged glass protruding from various parts of her body, which soon becomes an army as she multiplies to take on the hero.
I say ‘hero’, but this episode reveals why the other Fables were rightly scared out of their minds by Bigby in the past and continue to dislike him now: as Mary cuts him apart, he finally snaps and progress beyond the various werewolf forms we’ve seen him take on already, instead turning into a giant wolf that so totally annihilates Bloody Mary it almost seems unfair.
It’s such a cathartic moment of unadulterated power and victory over an unquestionably evil character that it makes even previously-satisfying moments seem somewhat tame in comparison. You truly become the Big, Bad Wolf and it is so much fun.
The only downside unfortunately comes right after this though, when you take the Crooked Man for his trial before the other Fables and give him the opportunity to speak before his peers. It starts out fine enough, with him initially looking like he’s winning over the crowd before Bigby and Snow cut him down to size and win them back, with a fantastic shot of the Fabletown united against the villain.
The problem is that the scene then continues with the Crooked Man starting to win them back over just so Faith can come in and have her moment to seal his fate. It stretches out the scene for longer than it needs and makes the Crooked Man’s first period of talking seem redundant.
Why couldn’t Faith have come in when Snow and Bigby were winning the argument and seal his fate then? Only the developers can answer that, but it’s a little deflating, especially coming so soon after what feels like a massive victory. Still, that is the only real complaint I have about the finale.
"Cry Wolf" has a lot of action, including the fantastic Mary vs Bigby battle; the majority of the Crooked Man’s trial is very well-written; and the ending manages to provide closure while also opening up possibilities for a second season. A fitting finale to Telltale's finest series so far.
