Is it possible that I've been too hard on Teen Wolf for eschewing all its credibility to become so outwardly gay? It's no secret that in the past two years, Teen Wolf has bypassed being homo-friendly and gone full homosexual, which I have to explain is not a problem that exists only in this show: plenty of shows struggle—many unsuccessfully—with catering to its fanbase verses creating a great show, regardless. It's a Pretty Little Liars problem, it's a Vampire Diaries problem, it's a problem for any show whose persistent fans want millions of different versions of their ideal show. And I'm fully aware that my ideal Teen Wolf heavily skews my opinion of it each week, but doesn't yours? Doesn't everyone's?
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So my issue with the show isn't the fact that its gay legion grows by the week, but that it caters to them so much that it hinders what makes it such a good show. "Restraint", ironically enough, is a much better balance of Teen Wolf than one that spends twenty minutes in a gay club with werewolves and giant lizards and oiled-up male models, and puts all that wildly inventive creativity where it should be: the action and madness surrounding our tragic lil' high school heroes. I've mentioned before how Colton Haynes is shockingly superb as Jackson goes mad, and this week sees him takes that to new (and yes, extremely naked) heights. Even if that restraining order did nothing to keep him away from sharing the same room with Scott and Stiles, which happened multiple times in the episode, it allowed Allison to feel the need to interrogate him, which lead to all that saucy nude threatening.
All of this is supposed to help conceal the fact that Jackson is the Kanima, a secret that Scott needs to keep from Derek until Stiles accidentally reveals the truth to Erica (who has a thing for Stiles now? Ilike this). This all fits into another puzzle piece pretty poorly—how Jackson's parents died—but I don't care! The gang plus Erica now believe that Jackson's parents didn't die in a car crash but instead were murdered (how Harry Potter of you, Jeff Davis), and since Jackson was born the day after his parents died, it could be a clue as to why he's been targeted to become the Kanima. Also within this episode, a pregnant woman was killed in the hospital by a masked man, which happened for some reason we don't know yet. Babies live hard lives in Beacon Hills, I guess.
But I've begun accepting that Teen Wolf is just going to go completely nuts, and I'm becoming more fine with that so long as it results in great television. After Kanima Jackson attacks Erica and Matt and threatens to kill our heroes via chalkboard, Erica has a seizure that needs attending to by Doctor Derek (I know), which is a good chance for Scott to explain that he'll join Derek's pack only to save Jackson, not kill him. Meanwhile, Lydia learns a lot of truths about herself tonight, the biggest of which being that the nameless guy who's been wanting to seduce her isn't even real: it's Peter Hale, and a crispy, burnt Peter Hale with a mission for her that will ostensibly include killing Scott and Derek and a bunch of other wolves. It's what might be the best ending to the episode in weeks, a great twist, and a fantastically edited one at that.
Last week, my affliction towards "Frenemy" was skewed—possibly unfairly—because of its start causing some exposure to how ludicrous it all is. And I get it: Teen Wolf is a crazy show. It's designed as such. But it works best when it feels real, despite all of the CGI and special effects. It works best when Jackson inexplicably swallows a snake which later bursts out of his bloody right eye and slinks away for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and you still watch it with the shock and awe and fully blind belief that it actually just happened.
SumOlogy: Loved this episode. Back on the right track.
Grade: A-
Leftovers
I howled with laughter when Jackson screamed "I HAVE A RESTRAINING ORDER!" Yes, Jackson, as if that was going to stop a werewolf.
Both fight scenes tonight and many other things were so well shot that it'd be very hard to dislike this episode. It's hard to believe how much they accomplished on an MTV budget.
Dylan O'Brien was also even better than usual this week- penners Nick Antosca and Ned Vizzini (who also wrote the brilliant "Venemous") get a really good grasp on all of his Stiles-isms.
Scott's mom is just terrible at existing, and this episode was pretty good proof of that. I like that they broke her down a bit instead of making her Super Mom, instead going for the truth: she barely knows what's going on with her son, much less how to address it.
God, how SMOKING HOT was Holland Roden tonight?! My jaw dropped to the floor the moment she walked into the hallway.
Where was Danny? And I was honestly expecting the Danny-Matt storyline and Matt's obsession with Allison to head somewhere, but either we're just biding time or it's not happening. Matt is learning way too much about Scott and Jackson to worry about those things.
Was anyone else paying attention to THE CAMERA IN THE LIBRARY THAT CAUGHT EVERYTHING?!
What'd you think of tonight? Let us know in the comments.
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