60 Teen Wolfs in 60 Days: day 50, 117

[hth]

De-aging plotlines, in my humble opinion, don't really belong in canon. That's the sort of shenanigans that's all in good fun in fanfic, but “your plot sounds like some fanfic shenanigans” isn't really a compliment.

 

I do find it interesting that even though Derek told us that Peter taught him how to control his shift through anger, but this episode adds some fascinating detail to that. We see Peter attempting to use the Hale-standard mantra, although it seems clear that ultimately it didn't work. So it looks like anger is the back-up method when modulating your emotions doesn't work, in which case it's interesting to me that – unlike Peter – Derek used it as a first, not last, resort when he tried to teach his own betas. Derek: not that great an alpha, as I and many others have mentioned in the past.

 

I love Scott for his keen reflexes.

 

So...we won't be using the Hale house set anymore, I guess. I stand by my fondness for it. Goodnight, sweet burned-out shell of a murder house. You had a sweet-ass staircase.

 

Hey, look, a police force where you can lay hands on an officer and don't just get the absolute shit kicked out of you and a criminal record! I love supernatural shows.

 

This scene in the Sheriff's office is a definite contender for funniest of the series, I feel. Between the Sheriff gearing up to give them a stern talking-to about time travel (“I need you to be absolutely and completely honest with me...”), Stiles having the gall to act as if that's crazy talk, and just attempting to brazen his way through the story (“...in Mexico”), it's a very brief and highly concentrated dab of awesome. (Extra credit for the following scenes, with Stiles' “that's your plan, huh?” face and his sanguine feelings about Scott's ass. The tone of this episode really does remind me of something that would have fit in s1 – which is a compliment.)

 

At least someone on this damn show speaks Spanish! They live in California, and the only person we've seen not look terrified at the prospect of speaking Spanish is Lydia, who managed to get through a few sentences in the last episode, albeit with a heavy enough American accent to knock down an oak door. Good for you, Derek.

 

“Can't someone in this town stay dead?” Well, Allison, apparently! And Aiden. Boyd. Erica. Pretty much anyone you might theoretically want to be alive, yeah.

 

I always thought it was an odd choice to cast an actor to play young!Derek who's – no offense to whoever he is, but he's pretty doofy-looking, as well as looking far younger than the other ostensibly teenage characters on the show. And I have no idea if this was ever in anyone's mind during the casting process, or if “Visionary” was supposed to be a one and done for him, but this scene really pays off the choice of actors in a big way. Having Kate be seductive with this doofy-looking child really drives home that her motives were never sexual in the slightest; oh, she's totally capable of perving on teenagers, but teenagers who look like Jackson. This kid she's not perving on. This kid she's manipulating. Seeing these two actors together – even given that years ago Kate would've been years younger herself – really drives home how overtly predatory their relationship was, and strips out any misguided sense of romance anyone might have been tempted to project onto it.

 

I like the shot of the berserker chasing Scott and Malia up the stairs. Actually, I like the berserkers in general; they have good henchman physicality, and the weird combination of almost mechanized-looking armor plating and the bones. Good combat in this episode.

 

Well...hang on, now. Wait. Somebody planned the heist, but – who could that possibly be? Kate gives no indication that it was anything other than her idea; she's the one who was seen in the temple, she's always the one who has controlled the berserkers, she's the one who knew Derek and could reasonably have come up with this plan. So Kate had to be behind the heist...right? And yet she really, really seems to be upset about the triskelion; she doesn't react at all to that like it was a red herring, or like it was all part of her plan. She seems panicked about losing the thing she's pinned her hopes on. So she planned the heist but expected to get the money and the triskelion, too, right? I mean, I think that's what had to happen, but we also know there's a Benefactor, so.... Basically, bzuh? It's only ep2 and I'm mad lost, y'all. This doesn't bode well for the season.

 

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