In Sheep’s Clothing, the fourth episode of The Wolf Among Us, tries its best to hide behind the illusion of things happening. Protagonist Bigby Wolf still wanders all across Fabletown, gathering clues and busting heads, but there doesn’t seem to be anything to it. Wherever he goes and whatever he does, he always seems to be one step behind the Crooked Man and his gang. That would have been fine, if by the end of the episode Bigby would have found some big clue to help him find his man and bring him to justice. But no, when the time comes for the story to move on, it happens as if by magic, with nothing to do with Bigby’s actions so far. The Wolf Among Us: In Sheep’s Clothing ends up feeling like filler, which is a real shame considering there’s only one more episode to go.
As the episode begins, Bigby is at his lowest. He just got his ass handed to him by a mysterious new comer to Fabletown, and he lost Ichabod Crane – his number one suspect. Back to square one, Bigby and Snow White have very little to go on, so it appears it is once again time to brush off on your detective skills and go explore the town for clues. Unfortunately, there isn’t all that much to find. No matter where you go, it seems like the Crocked Man and his cronies are one step ahead, so Bigby spends the majority of the episode accomplishing absolutely nothing.
Sure, Bigby still needs to make choices and split-second decisions along the way, but they don’t feel as fateful as they were in previous episodes. There’s still the possibility we’ll see the consequences in the upcoming final episode, but for now this lack of impact just makes In Sheep’s Clothing just feel even more irrelevant. There’s one choice fairly early on that can completely make or break the entire episode. One way will lead you to some very interesting conversation that shades a lot of light on what is going on, while the other pretty leads nowhere. It’s feels really unfair that so many people will probably end up with no know information about the Crooked Man and his operations, just because they decided to go down a certain road. Though at the end, both choices lead to the exact same place, with nothing truly gained.
It’s not only your choices that don’t seem to matter, it’s almost everything you do. No matter where go, who you talk to or what you say, the grim situation Bigby is in solves itself as if by magic. Actually, it is magic. Subsequently, once the story does move forward, you don’t feel any sense of accomplishment, just relief that now you can finally see what happens next. But even when you do get to do things by yourself, it is always stuff you’ve done in previous episodes. It just feels lazy.
Admittedly, while there’s almost no story progression and little for the player to do, In Sheep’s Clothing still has its moments. One particular brawl against what might just be the coolest-looking Fable we’ve seen so far is undoubtedly the highlight of the episode, and the best fighting sequence in the entire season. It is also one of the few moments when you feel like Bigby is actively contributing to the episode’s events.
This new challenger isn’t the only new face you’ll meet. There are more than a few new fables to talk to and new places to see. Searching around in a packed meat locker is unexpectedly intense, and rummaging through a pawn shop’s inventory can teach you quite a lot about the denizens of Fabletown. This is something In Sheep’s Clothing does quite well – it gives you the time to talk with a lot of fables, both familiar and newcomers, to really get to know them and their agendas. You may not be doing anything of any importance to the case, but at least it’s interesting.
The Wolf Among Us: In Sheep’s Clothing has a lot of what made previous episodes in the season so great, but it doesn’t manage to put together any sort of compelling narrative. Your choices and actions don’t matters all that much, and apart from the very last few minutes, everything is completely negligible. If it weren’t for a couple of interesting conversations and that one awesome fight scene, In Sheep’s Clothing could be skipped entirely. The penultimate episode ends up being nothing but filler, but hopefully the big bad wolf will let his true self show in the final episode of the season.
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