Bitten is a Canadian television series based on the Women of the Otherworld series of books by author Kelley Armstrong. The series is set in Toronto and upstate New York and is shot mostly in the Toronto region. The series is based on the werewolf myths and focuses on the life of Elena Michaels, who in this universe, is a rare female werewolf and the family or pack that she belongs to. The series stars Laura Vandervoort (Elena), Greyston Holt as Clayton Danvers, Greg Bryk as Jeremy Danvers, Paul Greene as Philip McAdams & Steve Lund as Nick Sorrentino. Regular costars include Michael Xavier as Logan, Genelle Williams as Rachel Sutton, Natalie Brown as Diane McAdams & Fiona Highet as Sheriff Karen Morgan.
Elena who grew up as an orphan meets Clayton, a professor of anthropology when she applies to become his assistant, while at university. Although she initially doesn’t like him the two become lovers and later he takes her to meet his rather unusual family of all men all who are werewolves that belong to a single pack. Fearing that Elena saw him change from wolf to human form, the pack’s alpha Jeremy – as per the rules – is supposed to kill her – but a lovelorn Clay bites Elena in wolf form which converts her into a werewolf. The pack is surprised to note that she survived the transformation as women don’t usually do so. Elena now a werewolf joins the pack which also includes Antonio and his son Nick, Logan & Peter among a few others. After 4 years she has a falling out with Clayton after learning that it was he who turned her into a werewolf and leaves the fold, joining Logan in Toronto and begins a new life as a photographer. She makes friends with Diane and meets Philip, Daine’s brother, and begins a relationship with him. However when unaligned wolves, called mutts, start dumping dead bodies near the Danver’s estate and the estate comes under police investigation Jeremy calls all the pack members, including Elena, back home.
Elena and the pack members hunt the mutts and initially think that it’s a solitary mutt or two who want to challenge the pack for membership. However the members are being killed one by one and finally it’s down to only Jeremy, Logan, Nick, Clayton & Elena. She must find a balance between her new life, lover and friends in Toronto and her obligation to help Jeremy and the family back in NY. Not to mention the humans she loves cannot find out that she is a werewolf as the rule is to kill them in order to keep the secret. Philip is struggling with her constant absence and travel to NY. The pack soon finds that a Daniel Santos is assembling a team of mutts to challenge Jeremy of the pack leadership and among them are Victor Olson, a pedophile who had troubled Elena when she was a child and criminal killer Thomas Leblanc who enjoys hurting people. Logan is also concerned as his girlfriend Rachel is pregnant and it’s a boy – as per werewolf rules, they take the baby boys away from the mother and raise the child within the pack as humans cannot know the truth of the pack.
All things head for a showdown as Santos wants not just alpha status but also Elena for himself; as female werewolves are rarely seen, a child born of two werewolves will be extremely powerful, making him important among all wolf clans. The finale leads to a showdown at the Danver estate in which all the mutts are killed and Santos is taken prisoner and killed after one of the mutts, Karl, changes allegiance to Jeremy. However the finale shows us that behind the mutts challenge lay the leadership of James Williams, a former member & powerful older wolf but instead of admitting defeat, Williams confronts Jeremy and reveals his intention to take Elena. In the chaos of the battle, Rachel is kidnapped by James Williams who turns out to be Malcolm Danvers, Jeremy’s father. Elena discovers the head of Philip and screams.
I have to say that the series started out rather dull with a lot of passive emotional stuff in the forefront and some bad acting but the show does pick up and improve a lot from episode 6 onwards and things get really interesting and intense. The bad CGI wolf effects are also a downer. What will season 2 bring us?