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Great Googling Jupiter, I think this might be the first plan these three have had that actually works? I mean, discounting plans like, “Let's get the Alpha to come here,” and “Let's unbury Derek's dead sister,” which do work, but on sort of a cosmic level just shouldn't count. Okay, stealing the trick bullet from Kate was a plan, and it did work, but it really only worked because of a freak accident stemming from Allison's actions, and she wasn't in on the plan. So drawing the hunters' fire away from Derek is kind of a big win, I think!
I honestly can't believe Stiles let Scott drive, though. Stiles is the one who owns a vehicle! He's surely the far more experienced driver. And also, as Scott ably proves here, Scott is a big waffling pansy who is going to try maintaining safe speeds during a car chase. How did Stiles not see that coming? I saw that coming, and I've only known them for roughly six hours now. Do not put the deer in charge of traffic-related plans! Deer are what you put up signs so traffic can avoid.
I love Scott being all like, “Yes, I framed you for a series of gruesome murders for which you are still being pursued, but I said I was sorry, so why do you keep on being mad?” That is such 16-year-old logic that I can't even stand it.
So one of my favorite quick jokes in the series is this bit about “You're thinking about her in the shower, aren't you?” And it's hilarious to me not only because it's so them – the eternal pragmatist and the... Scott – but because Posey has a great line reading on “Yeah.” He sounds almost sad about himself. Thinking About Allison is his official safe-space by this point, the one thing that makes him not two seconds from detonating due to stress, and yet he does know that he's becoming obsessive. There's this sort of wistfulness to his line: “Yes, and it's wonderful and also I am the worst.” It combines totally losing the plot with self-recrimination, which pretty well sums up Scott when he's not fully on his game.
Body horror is the best/worst/most horrifying kind of horror, and this show does a pretty good job of it. I think everyone on some level has that fear of lying helpless while a doctor stands over you telling you something unbearable is eminently reasonable and good for you – right? It's just a great modern archetype for our entangled fears of helplessness and dehumanization. But also that thing where something deeply inappropriate goes into or comes out of your body. I mean, that's some primal shit, right there, especially for those of us who may or may not have been profoundly traumatized by seeing the ear-scorpion in The Wrath of Khan in the theater when we were six years old, thanks a lot, Dad.
Again, I can't stress how much I love that people in this show actually accept the obvious conclusion, no matter how weird it might seem. Jackson has seen beast-man-shaped monsters. He is having hallucinatory episodes. He's watched Scott sprout literal fucking superpowers. When he realizes that some dude's claw-shaped fingernails have somehow introduced wolfsbane to his bloodstream, that's it. He's got all the pieces, and he doesn't do that unbearably boring scene of “But that's crazy! Werewolves don't exist!” He's just like, yeah, that seems like werewolf, probably. What the fuck better explanation does he have? Werewolves are the theory with the greatest explanatory power at this point, so he rolls with it. Love love love love this about the show.
Another tiny Scott moment that I love: when Stiles says “werewolf” in the middle of the hallway, Scott not only looks around to see who might be in earshot (something probably any actor would do), but he makes this great, silent gesture, spreading his arms very slightly in the international sign for, DUDE!
Lydia blocking Scott from Allison is cute, though it still doesn't answer my question from yesterday: does Lydia believe Scott is a scrub that Allison genuinely needs to be protected from, or does she know he's not and genuinely not care because Allison doesn't want to see him and that's what counts? Either way, I always love girl-loyalty, especially from girls who are mostly coded as people-pleasers like Lydia is. It reminds me of the Sex & the City movie, when Charlotte, of all people, inserts herself between Big and Carrie and barks him down. I bet Charlotte was a lot like Lydia in high school, actually.
Usually I object to “girls are totally crazy!” lines, but – okay, I almost have sympathy this time. Because I have more than twice as much life experience as Scott and a grown-up brain, and I also can't figure out what Allison is doing. No wonder he's frustrated. Scott, you probably don't know anything about girls, but this time you're right, this is totally nonsensical! Trust your instincts.
It's an interesting question, really: is Scott “cheating” at lacrosse? I mean, I'd argue no, to be honest. You're allowed to use the actual body you have, and honestly everyone who's legitimately great at sports just has some way in which their bodies are superior. You get good by practicing, of course, but you get great by just – being that particular type of weird you were born to be. Michael Jordans and David Beckhams and Wayne Gretzkys practice a ton, yeah, but no amount of practice is going to turn anyone else into Michael Jordan or David Beckham or Wayne Gretzky. They are singular talents, but we don't say they're cheating just because they luck into those singular physical talents. Scott's singular talents aren't inborn, but he lucked into them just as much as anyone else did their genes. This is the body he's got now, and if he dominates the field because it's an objectively better body than other people have (hey, now, I'm being serious, so stop that...), that's – just how sports works, isn't it? I mean, I guess if I were going to argue the other side, I'd say that the rules presuppose everyone in a given competition is a human being. Which, sure. But that's true of everything ever, right? To what degree is Scott ever allowed to compete for anything for the rest of his life? Only for stuff he's not especially suited for? That seems weird.
Oh, also, FUCK JACKSON. Seriously, he's never, ever coming back from this for me, because there is absolutely nothing I hate more than the “I'm going to fuck your woman and that'll sure show you” trope. I hate it. It's terrible and wrong and offensive and awful in every possible way, and while I'll still grudgingly admit that Jackson has a shit time of things in this series and undergoes things that no one deserves, not even Jackson, there's not going to be a point where I like or root for him, because this is some bullshit. I wish Stiles had punched him a lot more.
Also, the show is very weird about the Lydia/Jackson relationship, which is clearly not a great one for either person, but it sort of seems like they want you to be sad every time it craters even further? Roden does really good wounded, so my innate empathy does occasionally kick in, all, Hey, why you make that pretty girl sad? Go fix! But the rest of my brain is like, good, fine, can we be done with this terrible relationship between two people who can't stand each other? And it's not great for Lydia's characterization, when she keeps taking Jackson's crap, insisting she doesn't care, and then returning for more crap. I mean, I know that happens, but it's not fun to watch.
I tend to skip over scenes where O'Brien is hilarious and awesome, because it would be pretty repetitive; he's become a victim of my high expectations, as now “hilarious and awesome” is my baseline for Stiles. Still, occasionally something will clear that very high bar, like this scene where he tries to act normal while being afraid his bedroom is about to become the scene of life-altering carnage. All of it is gold-plated joy, but particularly, “I'm happy. And proud. Of myself...” You should be, Stiles. You really should be.
But on a slightly deeper note, I think it's amazing how dedicated Stiles is to reasserting himself against Derek – especially, but not only, during this scene. Look, he knows Derek is dangerous, and he knows he has no defense if Derek decides to just be like fuck it and eat him. He knows. But he's also just inherently unwilling to go through life accepting that he's reliant on Derek's mercy, so over and over, he keeps coming back with every small thing he's got that gives him some leverage, making sure Derek knows about it. It's in the dialogue, but it's also in the little things, like how he reacts to Derek's slightly patronizing straightening of his jacket by straightening Derek's. It's all in good fun if you've already internalized that the narrative is making them Reluctant Allies, but Stiles doesn't know there's a narrative, and I've already gone over the fact that Derek really will jack a dude up if he feels the need – go ask Dr. Deaton. So it's actually insanely brave of him, and I really mean insanely, or maybe the better word is “irrationally.” There's no pragmatism or calculation in these choices; it's just Stiles knowing that once you start acting like a sheep, a wolf will treat you like one forever (I guess; that's not something I've checked with actual wolves to verify, but it sounds good, doesn't it?), and that's not going to happen with his consent. Maybe Derek's going to savage him at some point, but it's not going to happen because Stiles gave him permission, and that's just so great. That's a fucking life lesson right there; everybody go forth and be more like Stiles.
It's nice that Stiles isn't a Hacker Genius, too. That's too often the go-to move for shows that need to let a human play with the supernatural. Because computers are basically magic – human magic! Give the human the magic information-box power! Which is okay, I guess. I mean, I love Willow and Chloe as much as the next person, but it feels lazy at this point. I like that Stiles isn't retired to dig up plot points for a living, but genuinely does get to participate in the fun action stuff that we're actually watching the show for. And also it lets Danny be the Hacker Genius, which is good because there's never too much Danny.
JR Bourne is a stealth MVP, I feel. He's not someone who leaps out at you as a flashy, awesome character, but eventually you start to notice that he fucking nails every scene he's given. It doesn't hurt that he rocks that terrifying, predatory smile, but it's more than that. Chris Argent is a complicated character of the type that this show loves: not a misunderstood anti-hero, but a genuinely dangerous dude who might well be the literal death of you...but also has virtues that deserve to be recognized. That's not an easy dynamic to get right! I've seen it attempted and botched so, so many times, in so many novels and tv shows that aspire to be “morally complicated” but just really are not at all. This show has a particular talent at getting that right, and the writing should get much of the credit, but also I think you need an actor with the light touch that Bourne has to really make it work. He actually reminds me a little of Michael Rosenbaum on Smallville in that respect, although Rosenbaum benefited by being framed in a flashy, awesome way. Bourne's doing similar work in a supporting role that's easier to gloss past.
You don't have to be psychotic to be a killer, Kate. But it helps, doesn't it?
There's probably something objectionable here in the way that the show kind of construct's Allison's “I want to be powerful” as a fatal flaw for her – a sort of hubris that causes her to do foolish things like reject the love of her benevolently protective man and fall into the clutches of her powerful/sociopathic female mentor. I mean, when you break it down, there's some pretty dubious shit going on here, especially as you follow Allison's arc further down into her complicity with both Kate and Gerrard, all fueled by this sense that she's choosing to become a victimizer rather than a victim. None of the male characters, although they also clearly don't want to be disempowered and wait for rescue, are asked to make that choice, or even really tempted to. Maybe Derek does, actually, but it happens sort of on a subtextual level. Scott and Stiles both actively move to increase their power and decrease their vulnerability, and the narrative makes them Big Damn Heroes for it. Allison does it, and it's the beginning of this frightening dark spiral that she has to claw her way out of down the line.
I do think it makes Allison a human and relatable character, which is great, and I'm not inherently opposed to female characters having harrowing arcs where they descend into dubious behavior and then struggle for redemption. I'm actually for it. It's just that the juxtaposition bothers me a little. Everyone on this show is confronted by how to grab and hang onto power, and she's the only main character who's really morally tarnished by it. Without these examples of Dudes Doing It Right smack up against it, I don't think I would have the same cringe reaction to Lady Doing It Wrong.
Okay, I laughed when Derek slams Stiles into the steering wheel, but then I felt super, super guilty for it! That had to actually hurt a lot. Did he deserve it? I have no idea; they've both been so aggressively terrible to each other that I've kind of lost track of the scoreboard. But still, Derek is exponentially stronger than Stiles, and it feels like crossing a line to physically assault him. I mean, it's in character, since Derek doesn't really give a fuck about The Line, but I feel like I shouldn't tacitly approve by laughing. However, it's a well-timed scene, and the line reading on “You. Know. What that was for,” is pretty five-star. It's awesome, and I disapprove. That covers all my bases, right?
I continue to love how Scott's persistent objection to having awesome fucking superpowers is “But it's really dangerous!” I love it because it's utterly reasonable, and yet it really does buck the expectations for a main character, who's supposed to show Unfailing Courage. Yeah, Scott can come through when it's necessary, and he'll show physical bravery when he's protecting someone else, but at the end of the day Scott isn't a guy who thinks this is all really worthwhile, because he doesn't want to hurt anyone and he doesn't want to get hurt. He's the closest you can possibly come in an adventure show like this to a genuinely non-violent hero, someone who doesn't easily get seduced by power, but really remains ambivalent about this whole business because he'd rather everybody just be cool and stay far away anyone who looks like they might want to shoot you with a crossbow. That's just good sense to Scott, and he consistently can't seem to understand why that's a risk people around him are almost universally more than willing to take. Scott is fundamentally very much a lover and not a fighter.
The end of this episode just feels a little scattershot to me – they're dumping all this data on us, like they got to the end of the season and were like, Oh, shit, we have to resolve some of these plotlines, don't we? Peter seems to happen too fast, and they spend time they could've used to build a little more context around that on this Harris stuff, which looks like it's supposed to be important, but only tells us that Kate burned the Hale house, which...I mean, we knew that, right? That's just confirmation of what they've been pushing at us ever since Kate showed up. And then they throw Jackson into the Argent/Alpha fight, or at least imply he's about to be implicated, and by that point I just feel like that Eddie Izzard bit where Britain is just flinging ice cream trucks at the Germans, anything they have to hand. Like the writers' room is going, “We have three episodes left, get it all in! Everything in!” Just – settle down, kids. Budget your time wisely.
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Date: 2015-04-09 05:59 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2015-04-09 02:06 pm (UTC)From:But what I can't quite disengage from is the way that Stiles seems to be projecting a lot of his fears and frustrations about being weak and not being able to do enough in these crazy situations onto Derek and fixing on Derek as The Problem Here. Even after it becomes clear that a lot of what he's blamed Derek for is really due to Peter or the Argents, he maintains this attitude that if Derek would just go away everything would be better, and I think it's because Derek's become a stand-in for everything that scares him.
I would TOTALLY read a story about how that's tangled up with the elements of Stiles's sexuality that scare him; I think there's a natural fit there, and it would capitalize on the intensity the actors have together. But I think there's too much legitimate bad feeling and bad behavior on both sides of that for me to latch onto kind of an uncomplicated "They'd be fun together as a pairing!" stance. The dysfunctional couples are the most fun as a writer, but I find as a fan I like rooting for my characters to sleep with people who make them happy. *g*