Everyone wants to be cool, and even those who deny that are being so uncool-y cool in their own cool way. And to be “cool” might mean different things to different people—being well-liked, being popular, being confident, being considered hot—but every single person strives for at least one of those things, and there’s nowhere cooler—or nowhere to be cooler—than high school. The scratchy beginnings of Teen Wolf centered around Scott McCall being this lax lacrosse loser, and it wasn’t until he harnessed his wolf-y powers that he got the girl, the new social status, the self-confidence. I can dig that about Teen Wolf, as it helps the whole aspirational feel of it all: don’t you wish you had supernatural powers to boost your cool?
So “Ice Pick” sort of regenerates that idea tonight with a bunch of new characters; I don’t think Teen Wolf nails the intricate intertwining of human emotion and supernatural hijinks as well as, say, The Vampire Diaries, but there’s no complaint in making the effort. It’s very thinly laid work and a little sudden, as we’re just meeting these characters for the first time: Erica is an epileptic mess of a girl whose ailments—and attractiveness—are suddenly erased once Derek gives her the bite, and Boyd, who has ostensibly spent the entire series sitting at a table alone, wants friends to hang out with, or whatever. But it’s better than just having them exist as wolves for the sake of existing as wolves.
This would have worked better had we known the characters longer, but their pasts clearly aren’t as important as where they will side now that they’ve got the bite. Jackson, on the other hand, is still searching for his own great “cool”, and losing his mind by the second the more he realizes that his transitioning isn’t working out the way that it should. I’m enjoying watching Jackson fall apart and come to terms with whatever he’s becoming, and each episode has had some twisting development towards whatever that thing is. He’s not a wolf, but he’s not entirely human, either: no human can lift a 4x4 with his bare hands, no matter how many abs you have.
But plot-wise, “Ice Pick” tries to do too many things, dropping several points off and never bringing them up again: Allison is set to begin her training as a hunter, Scott and Allison’s relationship is discovered by her mother, Lydia has a strange vision of Peter Hale in the ice rink, and each of those are relegated to one scene, max. I don’t doubt that we’ll pick these points back up eventually, but the painful thing about the holdover episodes—despite the fact that you can undeniably trust Teen Wolf with a great payoff—is that you leave them feeling slightly empty. It’s an episode that focuses on cool, but ends up feeling slightly cold.
SumOlogy: Still mapping out plots.
Grade: C+
Leftovers
GOD, Gage Golightly. GOD. JESUS.
I’m still torn on Derek. I like him as a character in theory, but I constantly fight with myself over his motivations, and why he’s such an asshole. I think the show tried to establish his want to be a leader of something, but it doesn't exactly divide Derek/his cronies and Scott for a solid enough reason.
Was there a point where Erica totally grabs Stiles’ junk?
The unknown creature struck again! But it’s an Alpha?
ELECTRIC GUEST!
Allow me to laugh hysterically over the fact that Erica walked into school like a boss, grabbed an apple, and then just left.
“Do you wanna just try making out for a second? Just to see how it feels?”
“I don’t wanna be forced to pursue you.”
“Do you know what happens next? I piss myself.”
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