Teen Wolf 3B
Sep. 2nd, 2024 04:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annavereI'm trying to get through this show quickly, so that I can finish mapping and structuring the remaining story I (so help me) need to write. Now I'm in season four and it's Not Good. So Very Not Good. But 3B was strong.
I'll start by saying I can understand the hype for this season quite easily. It was creative and played to all of the show's strengths, and although I'm gonna say it did not fix any of the problems, at least it avoided tripling down on them. It's always Teen Wolf and it always makes no actual sense, but I continue to love it.
'Anchors' is likely my favorite episode of the entire show. They've always had great skill with dream sequences, with me so often forced to second guess myself as to what is and isn't happening, and this episode cranked it so high into overdrive I was literally applauding. This episode was driven by Scott, Stiles and Allison, and what they fear. It's pure psychological horror (with Kira bouncing around being adorable in the background) and they knocked it out of the park. Once they have to start explaining stuff, it gets a little (lot) confused, but best foot forward, for sure.
Dylan O'Brien was fantastic throughout the season, and I liked how personal the stakes were for everyone involved. One thing I truly appreciate about this show is how tightly focused the plots are on local dangers. Since there are no monsters of the week, there's no need to up the stakes for the season finales and it has so far completely avoided world-ending peril. I love it for that. These high schoolers aren't trying to save the world, they're trying to save their world - their lives and loved ones and chances for happiness. It's so much easier to invest in.
So many nice elements throughout. There were two episodes featuring Todd Stashwick as a grieving, mildly unhinged father (♥). There were newly introduced female characters Kira (who was instantly adorable and a neat addition to the group), Noshiko (hell of a backstory which I'm sure will be massively underutilized), Malia (whose coyote form was so pretty I was disappointed when she reverted) and, though sadly only for one scene, Braeden (badass gun for hire whose survival from 3A was hilariously unexplained, but she's so cool I'll overlook it).
Allison should have gotten more focus during the season, considering how it ended for her. A total downer, hitting a lot harder than it should have been able to. Again, this show might not make much logical sense, but it's got heart and lovable characters, so that was quite a gutpunch.
I really was enjoying the way both Scott and Allison moved on, started seeing other people, and weren't too bent out of shape over it, and were capable of being happy for each other. It was refreshingly mature and rather sweet, even if Allison's thing with Isaac didn't seem all that well developed. I really loved Allison's visions of her Aunt Kate, and as with her earlier images of Victoria, I think they could have leaned way harder on her family history and how it haunts her and how she fights against it. No more, alas.
Meanwhile, Lydia's made of awesome and continues to break my heart, trying so hard to help, without any information to go on. Scott has Deaton and Derek to give him guidelines. Lydia has no mentor and her banshee powers are based on intuition, which is a cruel fate for a girl who operates on facts and logic. And once she hit her despair threshold (in a really haunting visual of silent screaming), Peter finally swooped in to offer assistance, having had his sister's claws for three and a half episodes, but refusing to approach Lydia until she was so emotionally wrecked, she'd seize any rope thrown to her. There is no way his careful avoidance of her during this season was anything other than a tool of psychological warfare. Dude's a monster, but their chemistry gets better with every scene they share (the actors were dating at some point, and it really, really shows).
Sheriff Stilinski and Mama McCall are amazing, and remain an example of Teen Wolf improving on Buffy, because not only are they truly supportive parents (Joyce tried, bless her, but ouch), Joyce had a useless art gallery job which only became relevant to the plot in one less-than-stellar episode. McCall being an ER nurse and Stilinski being in law enforcement, they get to be actively involved in the stories, they get to interact and assist in the crazy cases. They are a delight.
I also now love Derek. Season three improved him immensely, which was partly the beard, I know. But mostly it was him actually settling down, becoming less feral, being a better man. The timing of this fascinates me, because I am fairly certain this was a direct result of Peter's resurrection. Derek, to spite his uncle, instantly gravitated to Scott's way of doing things - but there's also something weirdly poignant in how he always lets Peter hang around his loft. His uncle is a known quantity in his life, giving the poor lad who has lost everything a shred of something back. That something is emotionally abusive and manipulative as hell, but it's what Derek knows. The Hales are messed up and always were. They send me down Tumblr rabbit holes, hungry for any explanation.
Writing the rest of my Lydia/Peter series is going to be a horror in many ways, but at least I'll be able to take my time getting through it once it's all mapped out.
I'll start by saying I can understand the hype for this season quite easily. It was creative and played to all of the show's strengths, and although I'm gonna say it did not fix any of the problems, at least it avoided tripling down on them. It's always Teen Wolf and it always makes no actual sense, but I continue to love it.
'Anchors' is likely my favorite episode of the entire show. They've always had great skill with dream sequences, with me so often forced to second guess myself as to what is and isn't happening, and this episode cranked it so high into overdrive I was literally applauding. This episode was driven by Scott, Stiles and Allison, and what they fear. It's pure psychological horror (with Kira bouncing around being adorable in the background) and they knocked it out of the park. Once they have to start explaining stuff, it gets a little (lot) confused, but best foot forward, for sure.
Dylan O'Brien was fantastic throughout the season, and I liked how personal the stakes were for everyone involved. One thing I truly appreciate about this show is how tightly focused the plots are on local dangers. Since there are no monsters of the week, there's no need to up the stakes for the season finales and it has so far completely avoided world-ending peril. I love it for that. These high schoolers aren't trying to save the world, they're trying to save their world - their lives and loved ones and chances for happiness. It's so much easier to invest in.
So many nice elements throughout. There were two episodes featuring Todd Stashwick as a grieving, mildly unhinged father (♥). There were newly introduced female characters Kira (who was instantly adorable and a neat addition to the group), Noshiko (hell of a backstory which I'm sure will be massively underutilized), Malia (whose coyote form was so pretty I was disappointed when she reverted) and, though sadly only for one scene, Braeden (badass gun for hire whose survival from 3A was hilariously unexplained, but she's so cool I'll overlook it).
Allison should have gotten more focus during the season, considering how it ended for her. A total downer, hitting a lot harder than it should have been able to. Again, this show might not make much logical sense, but it's got heart and lovable characters, so that was quite a gutpunch.
I really was enjoying the way both Scott and Allison moved on, started seeing other people, and weren't too bent out of shape over it, and were capable of being happy for each other. It was refreshingly mature and rather sweet, even if Allison's thing with Isaac didn't seem all that well developed. I really loved Allison's visions of her Aunt Kate, and as with her earlier images of Victoria, I think they could have leaned way harder on her family history and how it haunts her and how she fights against it. No more, alas.
Meanwhile, Lydia's made of awesome and continues to break my heart, trying so hard to help, without any information to go on. Scott has Deaton and Derek to give him guidelines. Lydia has no mentor and her banshee powers are based on intuition, which is a cruel fate for a girl who operates on facts and logic. And once she hit her despair threshold (in a really haunting visual of silent screaming), Peter finally swooped in to offer assistance, having had his sister's claws for three and a half episodes, but refusing to approach Lydia until she was so emotionally wrecked, she'd seize any rope thrown to her. There is no way his careful avoidance of her during this season was anything other than a tool of psychological warfare. Dude's a monster, but their chemistry gets better with every scene they share (the actors were dating at some point, and it really, really shows).
Sheriff Stilinski and Mama McCall are amazing, and remain an example of Teen Wolf improving on Buffy, because not only are they truly supportive parents (Joyce tried, bless her, but ouch), Joyce had a useless art gallery job which only became relevant to the plot in one less-than-stellar episode. McCall being an ER nurse and Stilinski being in law enforcement, they get to be actively involved in the stories, they get to interact and assist in the crazy cases. They are a delight.
I also now love Derek. Season three improved him immensely, which was partly the beard, I know. But mostly it was him actually settling down, becoming less feral, being a better man. The timing of this fascinates me, because I am fairly certain this was a direct result of Peter's resurrection. Derek, to spite his uncle, instantly gravitated to Scott's way of doing things - but there's also something weirdly poignant in how he always lets Peter hang around his loft. His uncle is a known quantity in his life, giving the poor lad who has lost everything a shred of something back. That something is emotionally abusive and manipulative as hell, but it's what Derek knows. The Hales are messed up and always were. They send me down Tumblr rabbit holes, hungry for any explanation.
Writing the rest of my Lydia/Peter series is going to be a horror in many ways, but at least I'll be able to take my time getting through it once it's all mapped out.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 02:18 am (UTC)You know what? Write that horror show.
God, I wish this show hit home for me the way it did for so many other people. It was so close to doing so.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 10:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 10:39 pm (UTC)I think that it might be! Between that and noping out of BBC Merlin after s1 ended, I missed a couple of the mega-fandoms, but my portions of them would've been so very small. Morgana, my forever blorbo, terribly abused by the narrative. At least Katie McGrath was well-treated by Supergirl!