60 Teen Wolfs in 60 Days: day 18, Frenemy

[hth]

The title of this episode is “Frenemy,” but really the title of almost any episode could be “Frenemy.” None of these people have friends in any kind of remotely uncomplicated way, except Scott-and-Stiles, and maybe Allison and Lydia. Everybody else is kind of a friend who might want to kill you at some point.

 

Derek always looks really different to me in his wolf makeup, in a way that Scott really doesn't. I don't know if that's on purpose, but it seems to me like it could be. Your transformation obviously makes you progressively wolfier as you gain power, on a spectrum of badass/lupine that goes Scott → Derek → Peter → Talia.

 

Great, Allison, way to ask for a favor by making Lydia feel crappy about her stupid relationship with Jackson. I mean, maybe it'll be good for her to realize how stupid her relationship with Jackson is, but it doesn't seem likely to make her want to do you any favors. And hang on, how did this even become about Lydia doing you a favor? Isn't what she actually wanted for you to explain literally anything about the plot to her? So your answer is, “Yeah, no, I'm going to do none of that, but here's what I need you to do for me!” A bold strategy.

 

Poor Stiles. I think the reason boys don't buy you drinks is that you unironically do that SNL “What Is Love?” dance. Or possibly your haircut. But take heart! Drag queens seems to like you, and that's the kind of thing that will seem very cool and worldly to the other freshmen you meet at the LGBTQ center in college. Anyway, I'm a huge Scott McCall superfan, and even I think you get just as cute as him eventually. I don't know, early season 3, partway through season 3? Whenever it is you get your shit together and do something about your hair.

 

I love the reaction shot of Scott literally biting his nails while he watches helplessly as Stiles tries to spin a sensible story for his dad. Also, man, it's just been a very gay day for Stiles, hasn't it? He wrangled a naked Jackson and came out to his dad, and I'm pretty sure none of that played out the way he imagined it. (I like to hope that Stiles never imagined Jackson naked, but then also, that's imposing my personal standards on a 16-year-old boy. He's probably pictured everyone he knows naked.)

 

It says a lot about Stiles' relationship with his father that he would think the non-suspicious version of a text from your missing teenage son would end in “Love you.” Obviously he had no way of knowing that whole 11 years thing, but is that really a thing that most teenagers do just naturally? It's sweet that Stiles thinks so. Or else it's kind of sad; is it possible that he's so used to worrying about his father's career and so fragile about the very idea of losing him that he treats routine interactions as though they might be his last contact with his father, just in case? And now it's just normalized for him and he assumes everyone does that?

 

“Know thy enemy. Do you know what that means?” “It means in order to win a battle, you have to know your enemy.” “Very good.” What? No, it wasn't very good! She literally said the same thing you said, because what choice did she have? That's not exactly a quote with some kind of hidden meaning for initiates. It means – that. What you just said. What a weird, clunky bit of dialogue.

 

I really appreciate the way that the teenager and adult plotlines are separate but also overlapping, so that the kids have their own concerns and their own plans, but the show resists the inevitable moment when you're thinking, Jesus, just call the police and they're still insisting The Police Can't Handle This, Only We Can! Adult authorities aren't the only or necessarily the best option that Our Teen Heroes have, but they are one rational option. The narrative keeps them centered without just throwing all good sense to the wind and declaring that Harry has to fight Voldemort every single year all by himself just because he does.

 

Poor Lydia, man. I mean, I guess it makes sense that Allison assumes her thing is life-or-death so Lydia's things will have to wait, but – Lydia's things are pretty dire, too! And for whatever weird reason, she really does have no one to talk to. She thinks she's alone because her supposed best friend is intentionally keeping her in the dark about the exact things that would let Lydia feel safe enough to talk about all the weird shit happening in her life – so actually, I take it back, maybe Allison and Lydia aren't on the healthy-friends list after all.

 

Guys, I know this one is a little all over the place and not very long! It's a good episode; I liked watching these semi-competent children bumble their way through their first kidnapping. And it had Danny! Who's still weirdly adorable every time he has a scene with Scott – I really wish they'd hang out more. This weekend was Mary's birthday, and we had a big party over here and things have just been really crazy and I honestly can't believe I'm getting this up before midnight at all. Everyone's kind of a dick to Jackson and makes him feel badly about himself, so this one's a win for me.

 

 

Comments

[hth]

I didn't warm up to Lydia at all until s3; I felt like she hung around without all that much to do except be the standard-issue TV High queen bee character. If they hadn't brought her back at all I wouldn't have minded. I think maybe they didn't intend to? And s2 was them trying to figure out how to use this character now that they'd fallen in love with Roden? I have no idea. She does more in s2 than in s1, and yet it's still ultimately a lot of wandering around to no real effect while the important characters largely ignore her.

I like Bohen, though! He's a *huge* ham, but I think he's supposed to be? Like, I think Peter is actually also a huge ham and that's a thing that Bohen is playing on purpose. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit...