If you’ll notice, we’re now halfway into season 3A, and I’m pretty sure no one has an actual grasp on what exactly is going on — not the characters in the show, and certainly not us. If I had to assign one negative to the season, and I can’t believe I am saying this, it’s that it may be too frenetic for its own good. Certainly, this is The Show That Never Takes a Breath, but ultimately we wind up without any time to understand anything.
And at the end of the hour, what we’re left with is exactly what we had going in. I’ve never been a fan of episodes where all the tension comes from whether or not characters you know are for sure not going to die might die. We knew throughout the entire hour last week that Derek was going to make a last-minute appearance and prove he was alive (to us). Tonight was all the same: Isaac isn’t biting the dust just yet. Perhaps we might have had to say bye to Boyd and Aiden. But there was definitely no way in hell that Scott was going to torch himself.
Then again, it gave us a Stiles cry scene. When Stiles cries, we all cry.
But to argue about Teen Wolf being too crazy is like arguing about its very essence. For the most part, I admire Teen Wolf‘s ability to take one setting and completely own it in an episode. Last week was the bus (granted, with flashbacks). This week, it played like an eerie and breakneck-pace short film of horror movie staples. And it never once shows weakness or hesitation; throughout the hour, it commands the screen. There aren’t may series that can do that on a regular basis. It’s like Scandal but with werewolves and more half-nakedness.
Motel, Hotel, Horror Day Inn
The gang has to stay in one the scariest motels ever. In fact, 198 suicides have been committed there, says the heavy smoker who is in charge of the front desk just in case you weren’t creeped out enough. Dirty and dinginess? Check. Creepy front desk lady? Check. Fog? Obviously. There’s always fog.
Lydia is hesitant because, I don’t know, did you look at the motel? It’s creepy. But Allison, ever the one to press on about this aimless road trip, tells her that everything is fine. So there’s fog even though it doesn’t make sense? So what? So you’re hearing voices through vents about people killing themselves? Lighten up, Lyds!
Turns out that Lydia had good reason to leave: all the werewolves are trippin’ out, man! What Teen Wolf does cleverly is play into all of their respective insecurities… which I have to admit I’m always a fan of. For Isaac, it’s certainly his claustrophobia. For Boyd, it’s having survived Erica. For Aiden it’s… I don’t know, having a person living in his stomach? I don’t.
But for Scott (who, if I haven’t mentioned, saw a glimmer of his alpha red eyes tonight), it’s feeling guilty for having indirectly pained so many of his loved ones. As far as insecurities go, this is kind of every supernatural show’s main character’s insecurity. And I’ve always never understood it. The price of ignorance would always have been more steep than keeping your relatives in the know. (Like when Buffy never wanted to tell Joyce anything even though having knowledge of how to keep yourself safe is VERY IMPORTANT. But, whatever, I always just let these things go.)
Thankfully, Stiles figures out that heat takes the werewolves out of their suicidal trance. Later on, Lydia notices that there’s wolfsbane in the coach’s whistle, which must have poisoned them all and weakened their minds. However, it doesn’t exactly explain all 198 suicides (including an Argent relative).
We All Cry
So basically I just needed to reiterate that we cried.
No, but seriously, it was nice to take a moment and have everyone tell each other they love each other. Or maybe just Scott and Stiles. On a show like Teen Wolf, it can be easy to forget that everyone has feelings other than “Ahhhh!” and “I am being possessed by things!”
Meanwhile, in Beacon Hills…
While the kids are in the motel trying not to kill themselves, Derek is getting patched up by his new lady friend. Well, at least he should be getting patched up, but Teacher has more pressing things on her mind. Namely, she wants to get it on.
Like, honestly, this lady is really past the point of worrying about his safety. She takes his shirt off and is all, “Holy crap that body! Oh, my goodness!”
“Am I bleeding?” Derek asks of his three gaping wounds.
“Huh? Wha— oh, yeah, I notice some blood leakage around your… is that an eight-pack? Dang boy!” We get it, Teacher. Even when she reminds him that he should probably seek medical attention and that a huge fraction of him is bleeding, she goes in for the kill. Not that Derek minded, anyway.
And the Rest
Sex as treatment for wounds actually reminded me of Lost Girl… as did another sex scene, between Danny and Aiden. The Teen Wolf producers weren’t kidding when they said they wanted to push the envelope a bit here. I think it’s actually a great thing that they treated it as they would any other couple. Go MTV for being what sadly still counts as progressive.
Also, Lydia is hearing things from the past? If I had to guess, I think that whatever is happening to Lydia is actually someone trying to protect her or warn her. So far, everything that has been happening to her this season (as opposed to last season), have been positives. Well maybe not positives, but they certainly have felt like they are aiding her. She’s been brought to a body; tonight, she was warned about a couple of possible suicides. That said, whatever was in the fire was still creepy as hell and reminded me of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer demon.
Well, with everyone packed and shipping back off to Beacon Hills, I can’t wait to see how else Teen Wolf could get all kinds of crazy.
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Well this was trippy. And that's something, considering the previous 4 episodes were ALREADY trippy, but this topped that. Although this episode DID convince me that Jeff Davis and entire writing staff are consistently on drugs. No sane or rational or clear headed person could think up stuff like this. The only way to explain this season is - Jeff Davis is insane and they all are on drugs.
I don't know on if I understand anything on what is going on, but hell on if it is not glorious and mind-bending. Brilliant. I just hope that once this plot ends, I will be able to make at least some semblance of understanding about it. So far all I get is "druid versus werewolves versus alpha pack".
Love, LOVE that Derek is getting a love interest. Some parts of fandom might be unjustifiably offended at it for some reason, but I welcome it - its nice to see a person who can get him out of that shell he has lurked in so far, with possibility of making him a better person -because let's face it, maybe he's got the power, but as a person, Derek is somewhat lacking in quite a few fields. Having someone OUTSIDE of this whole crazy supernatural wolf thing, someone who understands him(somewhat) is something he sorely needs to develop as a character. I just hope Teen Wolf does not pull the "She's EVIL" card, which is, like, the main running trope of sexism cliches.
Intrigued where they are going with Lydia's plotline - it seems to be quite obvious that she is a new druid, whose powers are just awakening (possibly triggered either by the age or by Peter's bite, most likely the former since there was foreshadowing that something is up with her even before the whole bite thing happened).
Really have no idea who Darach might be, but with the possibility that the dark druid is doing this through peers or remotely, and with the return of Grandpa Argent, the range of suspects just grew even wider. The most likely candidates being Peter or Gerard(either by themselves or with the help of someone)
Overall this was a great and VERY well shot episode(seriously this is exemplary cinematography supernatural shows should strive for instead of taking soap opera approach to filming like certain other shows *cough*vampirediaries*cough*), well acted and well-written episode. As I said before, not sure I understood anything on what happened, but the fact that it still felt glorious is quite a good indication of quality.
Bravo, show, bravo.
But for Scott (who, if I haven’t mentioned, saw a glimmer of his alpha
red eyes tonight), it’s feeling guilty for having indirectly pained so
many of his loved ones. As far as insecurities go, this is kind of every
supernatural show’s main character’s insecurity. And I’ve always never understood it. The price of ignorance would always have been more steep than keeping your relatives in the know.
It stems from the fact that back then when they WERE ignorant - things were good for them. In this case, Scott did not have to worry about his friends dying and did not have to continuously try to save everyone and see just how fruitless his tries might be and how it just goes on and on and on(angel the series continuously tackled the similar subject - that there's no "happy ending" no ending at all in fact - stuff just comes after you again and again till one day it might succeed and how do you deal with that since you can't "get out" and you can't win).
Scott feels that by being a werewolf, by having these powers, he put all of his friends at risk. That if not for him - they all would be just another part of beacon hills population with the usual "might get maimed by supernatural" risk, instead of being at the center of everything. Peter was fixated on Scott, Gerard was quite fixated on Scott and now Deucalin does the exact same thing.
For Scott - whose one of major weaknesses is wanting everyone he knows, loves and cares about to be okay - the thought that HE is the one putting them into danger in the first place is unbearable.
. However, it doesn’t exactly explain all 198 suicides (including an Argent relative).
It does on if someone was repeating similar things again and again, with that motel as a choice of location - luring supernatural and not there and driving them to suicide - Wolfsbane is dangerous to normal humans too, after all.
did
Did anyone else think the thing in the fire looked like silas lol
I would not be surprised. Teen Wolf does have tendency to do right what TVD did completely failed at ;]
no,that thing was scary as hell,silas on the other hand was meh but then again teen wolf is a thousand times better than tvd
What's your take on the vet? Did I miss something or is it still super confusing what his and the French teacher/counsellor's roles are? Also, I wonder what the significance of an Argent dying in the hotel was...?
What's with all these horror-type tv shows being such a big hit amongst teens? Teen Wolf, The Vampire Diaries, and even something non-supernatura like Pretty Little Liars? The fear factor is exciting and all but this episode of Teen Wolf took it to the next level! It was definitely like watching a horror film!
^Calling TVD a "horror" type of a show.
LOL. Sorry. The term you are looking for is soap opera types(since shipping is a thing in current pop-culture). TVD can't survive on "omg how intense and scary was that?!", hence why it thrives on "who will the that-girl-who-totally-is-there-to-make-the-audience-insert-themselves-in-her-place will sleep with"
Otherwise "tension" and intense atmosphere is the basis of thrilling television - building up the suspense, keeping up the suspense and delivering a pay off is the basis of any successful show that ran for a longer period of time(ex: X-Files, Dead Zone, btvs, etc). Show makes you invested in characters, establishes threat as real(hence why I hate "death undoing mcguffins" with passion) and then threatens the said characters. Its not just teen shows and not just now.
What I want to know is: Why was Isaac was only hiding under the bed? There were four werewolves there. The other three were trying to off themselves but not Isaac. Why were only three more deaths marked? Three sacrifices, four werewolves. Was it luck of the draw or is there something else going on?