60 Teen Wolfs in 60 Days: day 20, Raving

[hth]

 

Who is Matt faking this for right now? I mean – he's Jackson's controller. I know this now. Why is he acting like he isn't when no one he knows is anywhere nearby? That's just cheating. I fucking hate when shows do that.

 

I feel like this is the point in the season where we're starting to fall apart. A lot of exposition is happening here. Maybe it's me, maybe I'm just impatient, but this episode feels like a lot of plodding through people talking about the kanima, and I appreciate that they've set up a plotline that takes multiple people to solve it, but.... Yeah, it's a lot of talking about the kanima this week.

 

I'm pretty sure that pendant-thing that Deaton holds up is the famous probably-a-god-named-Cernunnos image from the Gundestrup Cauldron. I have no earthy idea why he uses it to illustrate the concept of “puppet and puppeteer.” I guess it's just a druid thing – the irresistable compulsion to drag the Gundestrup Cauldron into conversation, whether it's germane or not. I'd be lying if I said I'd never done it.

 

Scott covers his mouth with his hand while witnessing Isaac doing violence. It's the cutest fucking thing I've seen since the last time Scott did literally anything.

 

Okay, this might seem like a stretch, but you have to believe me on this. Victoria's angry face, in that bit where she's framed in the window, is eerily similar to the demon/substitute teacher in that X-Files episode “Die Hand Die Verletz,” the one about the Satanist school board. It's the same expression and weird eyebrows and everything – like when she's holding the necklace over the candle to curse the girl? It's the same face. I freaking love that episode, it's one of my all-time favorites, and I can clearly picture her in my mind. Same. Face. That's really the best I've got on interesting images, because this episode of Teen Wolf is entirely about people standing in a room discussing shit. There's nothing to look at, and every drop of new information is squeezed slowly and painfully out of the dialogue.

 

 

I give them credit for creating much more organic drama between Scott and Allison this season than last, though. The first breakup really never made sense to me, but Allison's divided loyalties are really quite reasonable.

 

And now there's kind of a generally confusing fight scene, and really subpar music, and more Some Bullshit with Erica, and Stiles manifesting his intentions, and I'm really pretty over this episode. It feels really thrown together, you know? Like I feel they tried a hell of a lot harder in season one, so that even the filler episodes had a certain distinctive look to them.

 

But I can give you this gift, my darlings! This is the episode where I finally decided I liked Derek pretty well – and not because he saved Scott, although of course that's all well and good, and I do like how besotted Derek is with Scott – the look on his face last episode when Scott said he'd go to prom-- sorry, no, be in the pack with him was hilariously cute. No, though. No, I really decided when he cut Stiles off with “oh, my god, Stiles, I just know!” Is that not the cutest fucking thing? It's like danger summons forth Derek's inner Valley girl for some reason.

 

But yeah. Ultimately this is the first Teen Wolf episode that just fails for me. A couple of relevant things happen: the Sheriff getting fired, Victoria getting homicidal. But the vast majority of it is people just – I don't even fucking know. What was the plan again? And the direction was a bunch of static scenes of people blathering about the kanima, and Stiles being totally humored when they tell him “throw this shit on the floor” is a job, and Boyd finally beating out Erica 1-0 for lines. The only decent bit artistically was the very end, mostly thanks to Bourne getting some acting in, plus a crane shot.

 

I'm not loving season 2 on the rewatch, to be totally honest. I think I found it pretty compelling the first time through because I really did wonder if they were going to have to kill Jackson, and what kind of impact that would have on the tone of the series. But now that I know the answer to that, I feel like there's not that much to focus on. “Venomous” is a stand-out for me, and I'd definitely count “Ice Pick” and “Frenemy” as keepers, but this season has definitely become an effortful slog overall, which season 1 never was. I think the problem is that it's stuck in between seasons 1 and 3, which are both about these characters having to race to keep up with the sudden, terrifying expansion of their world. The world doesn't really get bigger in s2. “Oh, some shape-shifters are scaly instead of furry” doesn't really count. It just feels like the kanima was a monster-of-the-week that got called up to the majors before he was ready. It's werewolves, only more of them, and hunters, only a new one, and Deaton being ominous, again, and we got a bestiary, but it's not all that significant, and – just, it all takes too much time. This whole season could've been five really good episodes, but they had to fill twelve and they're mostly just all right.

 

 

Comments

[hth]

Yeah, Isaac was a little bit Some Bullshit, too, but I warmed up to him a lot over 3rd season -- he and Allison play off against each other nicely, in particular. I like that the legacy of his abuse is that he's a kid who never fully settles between "I want to be a badass and no one can tell me no anymore!" and "Just tell me what I have to do to be liked, please?" It's an interesting tension that feels very believable to me.