Courtesy of MTV
The team is having “performance issues” as the search for a missing girl heats up. Plus we’re making fun of the show’s ridiculous hashtags with some suggestions of our own.
Let’s bitch it out…The second episode of 3B finds Scott (Tyler Posey), Allison (Crystal Reed) and Stiles (Dylan O’Brien) still coping with their debilitating deficiencies, which are at one point amusingly aligned with erectile dysfunction (#TeenWolfcantgetitup).
Unfortunately that means that a fair chunk of screentime is dedicated to showcasing the trio hallucinating or trying to recover from said hallucinations. The laws of diminishing returns is at work here, though; the creepy imagery that was so unsettling last week is basically just repeated again this week from a slightly different angle. That means that instead of creepy Aunt Kate (Jill Wagner) crawling around the morgue, we see her eating Allison’s guts on a gurney (Side Note to the FX team: at least make an effort to convince us that Reed’s body is on the table and not just hiding beneath. If you need to learn how to do this, please speak with representatives from American Horror Story).
Don’t get me wrong, I like that there are ramifications from their brush with death (I applauded it in ‘Anchors’) but there has to be a progression. It can’t simply be the same stuff every week, particularly when it comes to Jill Wagner’s Kate. I mean, I get that the show wants to help Wagner pay off her debt to society for participating in Wipeout, but perhaps they can have her do something else? Like maybe advise on weather and terrain appropriate clothing options for the girls before they trek into the woods in mini-skirts?
Thankfully things seem to be resolved as each of the three is put into a compromising position that requires them to buckle down and focus. Just like the erectile dysfunction metaphor the show so aptly includes, all these kids really need to do is stop overthinking things and just read/shoot/howl. That’s the way to “get it up” as Daniel Sharman’s Isaac so bluntly suggests (Side Note: Sharman is clearly the show’s greatest asset – imagine a road trip comedy with him and Stiles. #Brainexplosion!). As a result, Stiles manages to overcome his paralyzing dyslexia (#scaryfallingletters) because he’s got to save lovely Lydia’s (Holland Roden) gams from Mr. Tate’s (Todd Stashwick) animal traps. Allison, meanwhile, has to overcome her tendency to point weapons inappropriately at people by tranq-darting Mr. Tate before he accidentally murders his own coyote-daughter. And Scott overcomes his fear of losing control (#repressedhomosexuality) by howling at said coyote-daughter, scaring her back into human form.
By the end of the hour our trio is seemingly back to normal. Solving this one cold-case also apparently gets the pressure off of Sheriff Stilinski’s (Linden Ashby) back and the girl who has been trapped in wolf form simply goes home to her obviously deranged father (#nocounsellingrequired #shewouldbecrazy). All’s well that ends well in Beacon Hills, I guess.
Courtesy of MTV
Other Observations:
- I got excited when I saw that the twins were in this episode, but their “pound on Scott” scene feels incredibly forced. If nothing else, it comes off as a conscious attempt by the writers to shoe-horn some action in because we hadn’t seen slow-mo in more than two minutes. I approve of the decision to retain Max and Charlie Carver on the payroll (#jailbaittwins), but if this is what we’ll see when they appear, perhaps it’s better to cut them loose.
- P.S. #WheresDanny?
- Say it with me: Kira (Arden Cho) is totally adorable, right? I mean, obviously the Scott/Allison shippers are going to be haters, but since that ship has clearly sailed, a new love interest is kinda mandatory at this point. You can’t have a main character on a teen drama go without nookie (#chastitydoesn’tsell)
- The Hale boys, Peter (Ian Bohen) and Derek (Tyler Hoechlin), continue their own separate/unexplained adventure that began in last week’s closing scene. Unfortunately everything about these scenes make no sense since it’s unclear who the “she-wolf” in question is (perhaps Derek’s mother? #noidea) The details are trivial, however, since Braeden (Meagan Tandy) – remember her on a CGI motorcycle waaay back in 3×01 ‘Tattoo’? – rescues them and discovers a mysterious object in a white ash box. Where is this going? No clue…#welcometoTeen Wolf
- Having just watched the premiere of Space/Syfy’s new series, Bitten, I will commend Teen Wolf for using real wolves and coyotes. CGI wolves just don’t work, so #kudosforauthenticity
- Finally, those ridiculous hashtags were ridiculous…and terrible. #hashtagfail #notfeelingit #hatersgottahate #sorrynotsorry #wolfzrule #Isaacishot #wecantstop #pleasesendhelp If Teen Wolf is going to keep it up, then so are we. #consideryourselfwarned
Best Lines:
- Peter (to Derek, when his torturers state they want to hear him scream): “No one ever wants to hear me sing”
- Stiles (to Isaac): “What’s up with the scarf anyways? It’s 65 degrees out” I concur…aren’t those damn things out of fashion yet?
Your turn: are you happy that the missing girl storyline has been wrapped up? Do you think Scott, Allison and Stiles are cured? Is Isaac the show’s secret weapon (despite the scarves)? Do you think that the cutesy hashtags are ridiculous? Sound off below
Teen Wolf airs Mondays at 10pm EST on MTV
I think this episode was incredible for several reasons, including the fact the writers built upon the show’s mythology and deepened existing threads.
Pros:
1) The cannister Derek and Peter went looking for had the Triskelion (the same one Derek has tattooed on his shoulders – shown in S1), which means it’s probably something to do with the Hale Pack since Derek said in S2 that the symbol was a family thing while training his Betas. It does make me wonder if the “she-wolf” in question is supposed to be Cora, since we never did find out where she was between the aftermath of the fire and showing up in the bank vault. Mayhap she escaped to Mexico or near the border with some Hale Pack treasure that was taken from her, and that’s why the Hales went there trying to get it back? I’m also convinced the family holding the Hale Boys was Mexican for a fan treat as it plays off of Stiles’ cousin “Miguel” bit (especially when the HBIC said he understood Spanish).
2) I disagree with your supposition about how the continuation of last week’s terror bit for our intrepid trio wasn’t a progression. It was there to showcase how this is not only an ongoing problem, but has consequences for them outside of their own personal hells. When they are able to overcome the problem, even if only for the moment, notice it caused a change not only in them (they went from powerless to helpful as they’re the only ones capable of protecting BH right now), but in their environment (a growth on the allegedly dead Nemeton).
3) The fireflies from 3A are suddenly important again, just in case you forgot about them. I knew they had to have some significance since not only were they in the cold opening, but Scott and Chris Argent had a discussion about them, which only highlighted they had some influence on events. Back then, of course, everyone wrote them off as phenomena related to the Darach, which is true to a certain extent since they are connected to the Nemeton, but obviously now they’re more since they manifested in manlike shapes (the demons I’m assuming we’re going to be meeting face to face very soon). This does lead to interesting questions since we’re obviously mixing Celtic lore with Asian, and how does this play out with the Nemeton? Is it the “beacon” that draws all sorts of bad things to it?
4) Sheriff Stilinski in the know is still capable of thinking rationally, or would be rationally if he wasn’t living in Beacon Hills. Sure, there are things that happen that aren’t supernatural, but unfortunately almost everything is in YOUR town sir. I liked how he kept an open mind yet still played Devil’s Advocate (his bit about the boys’ story sounding like a Chinese fable cracked me up).
5) Kira and her father are awesome together in every scene (I would hate to be in her shoes when he’s embarrassing her, but I love to watch from an outsider p.o.v.). I don’t doubt Scott will fall into like with her if simply because she’s (another) female version of Stiles (though I hope this time she doesn’t turn out to be evil like Jennifer/Julia did); this model, however, is closer to how Stiles is now with her researching and run on sentences.
Cons:
1) Braeden. Her employment by Deucalion was problematic for me because it seemed like the writers’ attempt to shoehorn him in (like they did Peter 2.0 and Gerard) as a reminder he’s still out there. So, he hired her to save Derek as recompense for not killing him at the end of 3B? While he never lived up to his Big Bad hype, I can’t buy the turn around. And why the hell did he claw her throat up – to get her to do his bidding? At least we got some idea of what Braeden is – some sort of supernatural bounty hunter I guess? Also, if Duke was the one to hire her for this, who hired her to save Isaac? Deaton? Morrell? I mean, they were the only ones who knew outside of the wolves and Team Human that he was missing.
Honorable Mention:
1) Drink up for gratuitous locker room scene. While I appreciate Kira trying to be friendly and give back the boys’ backpacks, why in all name did she go near the locker room? I mean, in most high schools locker rooms are usually sequestered away from main classroom buildings and nurses’ offices where the boys supposedly went, so it makes no sense for her to even be there.
2) Ian Bonham definitely has bulked up over the last few seasons, looking more and more cut the longer he’s on the show. He definitely looks like a Hale now with his angled jaw line and super fit body. Interesting that Peter wanted his finger put on ice and when he picked it up after being released it appeared he shoved the severed part onto the stump. Does werewolf healing allow for grafting?