04/30 Well, Teen Wolf?

[darkemeralds]

What has gone wrong, Show? More analytical minds than mine can probably parse it out (I'm lookin' at you, ravurian).

I would love to get comments pointing out what people liked about the ep. Me, I'm just gonna riff and rant.

Because I'm interested in the existing canon, I'm going to give it another chance next week. I always need to see TW episodes at least twice before the crazed interchopping of three or four disparate storylines starts to cohere in my mind--so maybe on a second watching this ep will improve on B-, C+ grade that was my first impression.

But I doubt it.

I'll give them a pass on crappy CGI. The show is already famous for endearingly crappy CGI, and okay, the budget won't stretch. Filming in LA is expensive. I've been immersed in fanon, and I'm trying not to downgrade the ep for failing to meet the expectations that a super-long hiatus built up in the fanfic. It's okay to be Jossed. That's not it.

It's that the toe-claws were bad (in a hospital? Please). The Misfit-slash-Hulk twinsy boys were ridiculous (though I'll admit to not having seen that coming at all--BECAUSE IT'S TOO RIDICULOUS).

The blow-torch tattoo was horrific. (The idea that Stiles could hold down a wolfed-out Scott under torture was absurd. The idea that Derek is a tattoo artist, while very common in fanfic, is equally dumb--did you see the way he waved that torch around? No accuracy.)

The introduction of a fascinating Ms-Morrell-like character only to slaughter her in Act I absolutely sucked. (That's not storytelling--I don't care how much backstory is planned for her--what is this? Supernatural??)

I didn't mind The Birds as a scary effect, and the suicidal deer actually sort of worked for me. The returning cast, on the whole, looks great. Scott's new revised personality is promising (and I can live with the "four months have passed and our hero has turned over a new leaf" plot device). (Please, Jeff, spare us any more word-of-the-day jokes/symbolism inserts, though, okay?)

I like that Stiles has grown up a bit too--but then, in several of his scenes Dylan looked to me like he was thinking, "I'd rather be on the set of a major motion picture right now..." Maybe I'm projecting. The Adele DeWitt-like teacher wasn't bad (and I did like your mass text message, Sherlock.)

Hoechlin is still bringing the eyerolling one-liners and, oddly enough, is looking like the best comic relief in the cast. My Sterek fixation aside, they really should just let him and Dylan do scenes together.

And what about the story? The actual canon? That's just it--I DON'T CARE. This episode didn't make me care. The minute they killed motorcycle heroine, my only remaining interest was in Dylan's hair and whether Melissa and the Sheriff were maybe sparking a little, and doesn't Posey look good in gray, and did Stiles just wink at Derek?

None of that was meaty enough to re-engage my fannish love of the show. It was a bit too...ephemeral. I AM DISAPPOINT.

Comments

[darkemeralds]

This may be the best comment I've ever gotten on a journal post!

Derek's tight pants and continued grumpy woe-is-me man-pain still makes me want to give him cookies and warm milk and tell him everything's going to be ok... well, among other things I'd like to do. ahem.

Well yeah! Cookies. heh-heh-heh. I'm filled with a new appreciation of Hoechlin's actual acting skills because of what SF pointed out to us. It's a mark of how good a job he's doing as Derek that we completely forget his ball-of-sunshine natural demeanor. And even when he turns the lights on as Derek (flirting in the police station) he manages to make it seem smarmy and fake and kind of scary. Whereas his natural persona almost makes you forget how frighteningly gorgeous he is because he just seems so normal and happy and not-special.

I keep forgetting that Stiles isn't the star, too. Mind you, the producers certainly recognize his drawing power because they gave him quite a bit of screen time. There's never been a Stilinski Men scene yet that wasn't absolutely wonderful.

I just hope they get a move on with the story line!

Truer words was never spoke. This show has the weirdest story pacing--revealing an absolute waterfall of plot in a single scene, then lingering endlessly over Scott and Allison making out.