Lydia freaks out well and oftenWould you forgive me for continually not writing up Teen Wolf episodes if I gazed off into the distance like I was seeing something invisible and horrific, as psychic Lydia does, and let out a bloodcurdling scream? Because that is actually what I do each morning on my second cup of coffee when I realize I have about 45 minutes of free time for the next 12 hours of deadlines and demands and I've already wasted 15 of it on the first cup.
Let this post serve as my train-of-thought apology to those of you watching Teen Wolf which I hope you will accept and do, respectively. It won't be the last time I go "damn, I wish I had time to write up Teen Wolf!" but ...yeah. Moving on so we can catch up.
Deucalion barks a lotThis season began, memorably, with an episode called "Tattoo" (written to accomodate star Tyler Posey's new tattoo... thus rationalizing the hilariously dumb 'how do werewolves get tattoos when they heal so fast?' C-plot). Since then it's settled into three repetitive mysteries. The first is about when a team of hateful alphas who want Derek (Tyler Hoechlin) to kill his pack will attack?Answer: Every episode. mystery solved! [more]
The second is about a serial killing druid who likes to kill in triplicate. The final hinted at mystery is whether or not he's the Big Bad of the season and how he is connected to the more visible Big Bad, Deucalion (Gideon Emory), alpha of alphas. Deucalion looks like an emaciated lycanthropic Scott Summers with all the superiority, prickisness and sunglasses that that implies.
Deucalion's bark is so far much worse than his bite his primary sins being killing one of his own, hogging literally all the vowels in the alphabet (that name!) and making a ton of threats. In Season 2 Teen Wolf's plotlines grew increasingly baroque and its Buffy the Vampire Slayer influences grew clearer which ended up elevating the series considerably from its first too-simple Season. And hey, if you got a ripoff a show, Buffy is the way to go!
Teenage Suicide... don't do it
But lately I think its wearing the Buffy-homage business a little too obviously. "Motel California" ended with a touching and very well acted platonic "don't destroy yourself i love you" scene between the series MVP Stiles and his bestie, Scott. It played like a sibling to the famous Xander/Willow "yellow crayon" confrontation in Buffy when Willow was out of her witchy mind and needed to become herself again. And then in "Currents", Monday's episode, Allison (Crystal Reed) and Scott seem to have discovered that Beacon Hills is sitting on top of its very own Hellmouth!
Beacon Hills is sitting righ on top of a...
Not that they called it that but come on people!
Season 3 is, thus far, less successful than last season though still a highly enjoyable watch. Teen Wolf is all over the place these days, both figuratively and literally. The show spends lots of time at the hospital ☑ at an abandoned bank ☑ and recently spent a whole bottle episode at a haunted motel ☑. The only place Teen Wolf don't go no more is high school ☐ . I think that's a problem for the show, which does have the world "Teen" in the title after all. Since the writers room loves Buffy so much they should remember the growing pains of Season 4 Buffy and treasure the time when they can stay in high school narratively!
But anyway four more things worth commenting on:
TRUE ALPHA
Scott became one in the last episode apparently because he is just an all around good guy "strength of character" or some such. Making Being a Stand Up Guy / Hero a huge plus for werewolf powers is kind of like making vampires twinkle in the sunlight: it's stoopid. These are werewolves not boy scouts.
GAY SEX!
Teen Wolf isn't the first show to treat gay sex scenes the same way as straight sex scenes are treated (Brothers & Sisters seemed to understand that sex was sex was sex, too) but it's still surprising given how rare that understanding actually is in media. Plus his new romance with one of the villains means more Danny on the show which is a good thing. I don't understand why he didn't get a title card the second Colton Haynes was gone freeing a spot up in the title sequence.
LYDIA LOVIN'
Sometimes I grouse that they need to decided what Lydia's powers are but I have to admit her general weirdo-ness and denial of her supernatural abilities is kind of a good recurring joke, especially in this latest episode where she kept objecting to the term "psychic"
UNINTENTIONAL LAUGH
Where is everyone!?! Where are all the nurses and doctors!?"
That line made me lol since the hospital and the school in Teen Wolf have both been curiously empty in virtually every episode. I bet the school is even emptier now that Scott, Stiles, Allison and Lydia never go to class any more.