60 Teen Wolfs in 60 Days: day 12, Code Breaker

[hth]

Hey, it's the end of season one!  Happy Easter to the Christ-followers among you, and on this joyous occasion, please click through to read about even more people who won't stay dead.

 

Are you ready for this, y'all? We're wrapping up a bunch of plotlines! Because we got a bunch of plotlines! Do you remember who is on whose side? No? Well, neither do half our characters, so don't stress it too much.

 

I generally really like the music on this show (now I know where all the music lives on MTV), but I also really like the combination of dead silence and weird whirring industrial noises that soundtrack Allison and Scott's respective nervous breakdowns.

 

Don't worry, Stiles, she won't try to tear you personally apart. She still doesn't give a shit about you.

 

Ever wonder what kind of tires Stiles' jeep has? Well, that's too bad, because know you know. It's in your brain forever, taking up valuable space. Honestly, I don't really object to product placement, at least the theory of it, but it just sits so weirdly in a show that's otherwise so hellbent on being atmospheric and so otherwise competent at its art direction. This stuff is just chucked in half-heartedly, like, “Fine, here's your shot of the fucking tires, when do we get paid?” I've never seen a show manage to include product placement in a way that feels surly.

 

Man, that's fucking cold-blooded of Peter. He basically just said, “I am holding you prisoner and could kill you at any moment, but let's be real, you're not the leverage I plan to use against Scott. You're the one who does things for Scott, not vice versa.” Whether or not it's true, it's just – damn, dude. Guys, I'm beginning to think that Peter's not a very nice person!

 

It does set up probably the best joke of season one, though.

 

So...that was definitely shot like a seduction scene, right? I mean, I know that the conventions of the genre make it kind of inevitable that “would you like me to bite you so you can join me in the darkness” is always going to sound a little like that, but I feel like they went pretty far out of their way to sexualize that whole interaction. And I don't think it's Peter; Peter is seductive in the larger sense of the word – he's very snake-like, his chilly demeanor and calm use of what seems like reason to work you around – but he's not particularly sexual. I mean, I don't think it's just me; I think he's off-putting when he fucks with your head, which is clever acting/directing choice, because the more sense he makes, the more you kind of hate yourself for listening to him. It's definitely the way O'Brien responds that makes this an uncomfortably/fascinatingly sexual scene, with the direction focused on his quick, shallow breathing and his ambivalence about Peter taking hold of him.

 

I do love Stiles and his dad's Grumpy Cop/Cranky Cop routine. Sometimes to keep things fresh, they trade roles! I have this headcanon about how Stiles grows up to be a social worker, showing up at the scene of carnage to charm and comfort little kids who have been orphaned by monsters/little kids who are monsters. But also, it's not hard to see him as a detective of the rumpled, deceptively scattered, kinda-fucking-with-you Columbo school.

 

Stiles hasn't seen Scott since the dance, right? So he just critically failed his roll by making a truthful statement sound like a total lie, right? Oh, Stiles. I expect more from you.

 

Haaang on. Peter's nurse came looking for the picture of the deer marked with the vendetta symbol. And this proves that Peter lured Laura--- Nope. Nope nope nope. I'm not getting derailed on this again. They just know, okay? They just do. Scott said it, and he had a piece of paper in his hand, so now Derek knows, too.

 

About the time Chris says “Never,” I became convinced that he absolutely knew about Kate and was just hoping until this point that if there was never any evidence, he'd never have to decide what to do about it. Maybe that's kind of a harsh judgment; Chris does not have a demonstrated habit of punting on the hard calls. I don't know, though, I definitely get that vibe from the whole episode.

 

If the Code requires the Argents to get proof that someone has spilled human blood – if it recognizes that there are werewolves who haven't and, by implication, maybe won't – then why do they have to kill themselves when they turn? I mean, I guess the answer is you just can't be too careful? But actually, you know, when the alternative is plunging a butcher knife into your own heart – I think you can! I think that's being a bit too careful!

 

Oh, Peter. I think we all want to like you! If only you weren't so...you.

 

I did entertain the notion this time around that Derek had planned all along to betray Peter, but yeah, no, that's a pretty untenable theory. Clearly he wanted to believe Peter was as purely motivated by the love of the Hale Legacy as Derek is. I don't suppose we ever really know why Derek did what he did; it can't be so simple as a power grab, because if he were motivated by power in a simple sort of way, it wouldn't have been such a struggle for him to decide to do it. I like to think it was the duty he felt he owed his family – the ones he's believed for years he's responsible for setting up to die. If Scott kills Peter, nobody is an alpha – either Scott is human again and Derek is still a beta, or they both still are. Either way, there's no one left to repopulate. I think that Derek feels like if he can gather a new pack around him, it's in some tenuous sense the survival of the Hales, and that he's obligated to salvage what little he can from the wreckage. This is a guy who spends two seasons nesting like a raccoon in the burned-out wreckage of his family home, after all. He's clearly attached.

 

These two kids, jeez. How can they literally rub noses and it's like... nice-cute, not the-most-cloying-thing-you've-ever-seen cute? They really are an appealing Doomed Young Lovers. I think it's because they both have a certain playfulness that a lot of YA paranormal in particular seems allergic to.

 

So what kind of finale has it been? I appreciate that the show didn't cop out – there really were four untrustworthy motherfuckers present at the final confrontation, and not a damn one of them turned out to be secretly heroic and noble. The three kids who are supposedly our leads had weirdly little to do in the last act, honestly, but I think it makes sense; they're still at the very beginning of their character arcs, and the narrative is busy just clearing the decks from all the old crap they stumbled into, before they get a chance to go on and do significant things themselves. In a way the show is really tapping into the Romeo & Juliet vibe at a deep, thematic level; it's not just that Scott and Allison are from antagonistic families, it's that they're from feuding families. The weight of the history bearing down on them is almost immobilizing, and they're still trying to figure out where they want to fit themselves into this history, as opposed to the sides people expect them to take.

 

I take it back. Chris is the one character who really transcends himself in this episode – in this whole arc. Otherwise, the characters are sorted into two groups: the innocents who are still just struggling to function in all this, and maybe to move the needle a tiny bit in favor of their own happiness (Scott, Stiles, Allison), and the characters who end the season exactly as they began it, willing to do damn near anything to anyone in order to get what they've set their sights on (Kate, Peter, Jackson, Derek). The people in that last group have goals that are varying degrees of laudable, and have various degrees of personal responsibility regarding the carnage they leave in their wake, but ultimately none of them are much altered by the events of the season (unless you count death as an alteration, and in this case you really shouldn't). Chris Argent is the only person who assesses the person he's been, decides to alter it, and then does, and his decision to hold Kate fully accountable for her crimes is the single thing that most determines the outcome of the season-long plot arc on its crudest level: will Scott McCall survive the werewolf attack he endured in episode 1? He's arguably the most powerful character in the season – “character” in the literary sense, not in the sense of how one has character, although he's certainly a contender there, too. So that's not something I would've expected! But it felt strangely satisfying, even though I don't think most of us were viewing Chris Argent's fate as especially crucial to the story until it became crucial at the 11^th hour. That should feel like a cheat, but somehow it doesn't.

 

Thanks, everyone who's tried to follow along as I staggered drunkenly (not literally – usually not literally – ) from topic to topic, probably skipping all of your favorite parts. I'm psyched about season two – the season where they try to decide what the hell to do with Lydia, and we meet some new monsters, and Derek for some reason thinks he has the people skills to foster a bunch of traumatized teenagers, and some people play lacrosse, probably, at some point!

 

(Where does this episode title come from, by the way? I'm coming up totally blank. I'm probably going to be really embarrassed when I finally get it because it's so obvious, right?)

 

Comments

[anatsuno]

Isn't it called Code Breaker because Kate broke the Argent code? I mean, does the title have to come from anywhere else than that? Apparently there's also a manga called Code: Breaker, telling "the story of a high-school girl who is trained in martial arts and a new transfer student, a boy with mysterious powers." Otherwise, I don't know. Surely a few songs bear that title too...

I hadn't thought of what you're saying about their arcs and respective groups, and it pleases me SO MUCH that Chris here is the one who has a transcendent moment. :)

Looking forward to S2 with you! :D <234

[hth]

See, I KNEW I was going to feel dumb! I was fixated on the sense of, like...Alan Turing-type code breaking. All I could think was, but no one is encoding any messages....

[mific]

I'm still following along, watching these eps, and got through season 1 tonight. The big catch-up across Easter didn't work out as a bunch of RL stuff happened involving family and hospitals. so this is a pretty good distraction from all that now the acute stuff's settled down a bit.

I know a lot of the plot points from the fanfic, but it's good to actually see the episodes play out and get it a bit...clearer? Not that the plot makes actualfax sense, of course.

Chris Argent is impressive, but I'm also struck by how his wife, Alison's mother, is a controlling, vindictive bitch who doesn't seem to give much of a shit about Alison, for all the protective posturing. So I think we're going to see the reason for "plunging a butcher knife into your own heart...I think that's being a bit too careful!" is that she's too rigid and obsessed to tolerate joining the enemy. Team werewolf's well shot of her, IMO.

God, I loved Stiles's "Alison. Alison. Still want him on your team?" Heh.

Interesting take on Derek's reason for killing Peter. But Peter did kill Laura, so maybe in the end that was unforgivable, mixed in with his usual self-centeredness and wanting to be boss. Peter's taunting seemed to be about Derek taking power, though. Mostly I think it's as the writers needed to maintain dramatic tension - Derek not being the alpha and Scott being human again'd be pretty much a damp squib, plot-wise. It's also yet another reason for Scott to be mad with Derek and motivated to eventually form his own pack (which I gather he does - The eps are all new for me now so I'm going by the fanfic).

And there must be a ton of meta out there about Scott's hair as a symbol of his werewolf status, right? I was making TW icons and noticed how his appearance changes across the series. I reckon it'll be something like:
Bad floppy longish hair = human/very new werewolf
Shortish hair but still with a floppy forelock = more experienced beta
Ultra-cool short hair like Derek's = alpha.

Interestingly, as this happens, Stiles' hair gets longer (but not uncool like Scott's initially is). Maybe it's a wizardy thing? Or Dylan was just sick of the buzz-cuts.

[hth]

I'm sorry you had hospital-type stuff over the weekend! And glad that things are starting to find some solid ground again.

I wish we did learn a little more about Victoria. She does seem pretty intensely scary, and she's very free with the threats and murder and so forth, but given that she's an Argent by marriage, that only makes me wonder more what her deal is. Is she also from a legacy hunter family? Where did she come by the deeply ingrained loyalty to the cause that the Argent-born are raised with? I don't mind that she's controlling; I think it makes sense for someone in her position to be very, very not good at just chilling and letting things unfold -- people die that way, in her lifestyle! She's obviously well-loved by her family, which is an interesting distinction between her and Gerard, who literally no one seems to view fondly or with trust. I feel like there was a lot of potential to make her an interesting partner for Chris, but that never really played out.

Obviously the real reason Derek killed Peter and not Scott was that it made more sense for the plot -- Scott doesn't make sense in the show as a human or as an alpha at this point, and one of those two things would've happened if Derek had backed off and let him have the kill. (Definitely Derek wasn't going to let Laura's killer live, but he might've lived up to his promise to let Scott do it to save himself.) But it launches Derek on an interesting arc for the second season, as he becomes more and more estranged from Scott in exchange for the increasing power he has over his own pack, and it creates a satisfying end to the arc when he voluntarily gives up his power for Cora's sake.

I also appreciate how as people get stronger and better at life, their haircuts become better. If only real life worked that way!