Seriously? Teen Wolf?
So, as might be guessed, I'm in a fandom dry spell. While I'm enjoying the Avengers, occasionally watching Supernatural, still dabbling in the dregs of Torchwood etc, etc, there's no active fandom that I'm... active in. Plus also, health, work issues … whinen'cheeze.
But, I started to watch MTV's Teen Wolf, of all things – based on following a hulu link and being bored. And, hey … it's pretty damn good, actually.
The acting is decent, the stories are actually pretty good, and the actors chosen actually look like teenagers, instead of adults whom everyone is pretending are teenagers. The guy who plays Sillinski is quite good, I think. I particularly like the fact that the POV male character isn't yet another brooding, generic looking guy. He's got a big nose and is a little funny looking (but all these youngsters have incredible bodies! Geeze!). All the characters act believably like teens – risk taking, naïve, impulsive, discovering things about themselves and the world, still feeling the assurance of parental protection – even when they know better.
It is, as you might guess, loosely based on Teen Wolf, the movie but instead of being a flat-out comedy; it's a drama with some pretty dang dark humor in places. It is, yes, about teenage werewolves and the show does focus heavily on the way teenagers lives go – something I'm usually totally disinterested in; at 40+, high school drama-lama just doesn't cut it for me – but the show doesn't really focus on the drama of bad grades so much as the drama of not getting killed by a supernatural creature who might also be your best friend. Stillinski – the male lead's best friend – really carries a lot of the show's tragedy; while he's the comedic character, he is also the one who really seems to get just how awful some of the things that happen in the show are.
Several of the teachers (high school settings abound) are fascinating to me. The lacrosse/economics guy is great fun and the guy who teaches … history, I think, looks like he may have some intriguing secret in the show.
It's also a moderately decent ensemble show; while there is a clear POV character – the male lead, Scott – other characters have significant storylines of their own, that affect the course of everyone on the show. Even 'the bully' and 'the popular girl' have their own storylines and evidently, the focus of the show may shift to emphasize characters who seemed more supporting cast in S1. It's surprisingly gory and somewhat sexy for a show aimed (I assume) at teenagers but it's oddly … teen appropriate w/o being 'for kids'. The sex scenes are make-out sessions; filmed and treated as hot as if it where Barrowman whipping out his little captain, but everyone is clothed and clearly not having penetrative sex … yet. The gory scenes are usually brief, though shocking.
The werewolf mythology and actions in the show are logical and in-depth, and the reveal of various aspects of the world happen across the course of the movie (and a web-isode), instead of us getting an infodump. The reasons for the actions of the werewolfs in the movie make sense (they are literally stronger in packs, thus driving the need to make more of their own kind), and the reactions different characters have to the discovery of werewolfs are suitable to the characters and help drive story.
It's also an interesting mirror to Supernatural, in Teen Wolf; there are 'hunters' whose family calling is to kill werewolfs. And they do, with the same disinclination to listen or care about protestations of innocence that Sam and Dean show when they deal with monsters. It certainly looks different from the other side. Hopefully, some of the complexity of the hunters will be investigated in S2 – they were mostly background threats in S1.
I also like the fact that, while the show is clearly about the teenagers, the adults are not blank slates with any motivations of their own. They have appropriate and active relationships with their children, are also impacted by the events of the show and several of them are very good actors (the guy who played General Tigue in Battlestar Galactica is going to be the main villain for S2).
I watched several of the interviews with the show creators and they have some interesting takes on what they're doing. It's a horror/drama but they're also looking at comic books in the handling of the werewolf potentials and the conflicts that can come up. They seem to think about things: there's a joke about why the werewolfs always bit the guys they change on the waist – that's it's to maximize the shirt off potential – but the creators said it's because that side of the belly is such a vulnerable spot. Everyone flinches if they get touched there unexpectedly. In addition, they promise … no vampires. Other supernatural creatures, yes, but no vampires, thank god.
The werewolfs in the show are more or less like classic non-Twilight werewolfs. They don't change into actual wolves, rather animal-like people. Old-fashioned, like Chaney and co. I really like the way they are handling the looks, movements and sounds of the werewolfs; their howl is nothing like an actual wolf and the 'lope' (which the directors talk about rather extensively, comparatively speaking) has the proper look of awkward, realistic, but effectiveness. Also old fashioned is the fact that werewolfs cannot easily control their bloodthirsty impulses. The 'bite' is genuinely a burden, if not an actual curse. Ad that to the poor decision making skills of the average teen and you get … well, S2, it looks like.
The show is much less misogynistic than Supernatural (not that there's a high bar there …) and there is a gay character who as actual speaking lines and a vague personality who isn't dead yet. Racially … there is a PoC minor character that seems to have significant information and a few PoCs in the background but it could use some work there. The POV's character is very much 'the girlfriend' there are suggestions that she'll get to be more than that in S2.
All in all, I'd recommend it (the whole of S1 is available on MTV and hulu, and the first 2 eps of 2S) giving it a try
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