Teen Wolf Part 1: The Wolves
So, as I mentioned in an earlier post. I'm pretty sure that Jeff Davis is now in possession of my soul. I didn't start watching this show until a few months ago. I watched the first season in 4 days, and then waited fairly impatiently for Season 2 to roll around. I watched those episodes pretty much as they came out (I was a day late with several which I ended up having to buy when I either couldn't watch because I wasn't home or I couldn't watch because DirectTV was fighting with MTV's parent corporation). I love my show beyond all reason, and have, so far really enjoyed the fandom as well.
I'm kind of surprised at that, because I expected the fandom to skew a little younger than most of the ones I am now, or have been involved in. I wasn't expecting the general level of respect and frankly, sanity, that I've found there.
This post will likely get a little spoilery, though I will try to refrain from talking about the last couple episodes because I know there are people on my FList who haven't had the chance to see them yet. If you've not watched at all though, be warned there are no secrets from Season 1 once you get behind the cut, and not a whole lot of them from Season 2.
Also, this post is very very image and embedded video heavy. I might have gone just a wee bit overboard. I just couldn't help myself.
If there's anyone here that doesn't already know the concept, I'll be shocked, but here you go. This is an extremely loose adaptation of the '80s, Michael J. Fox film, Teen Wolf. In it there is a teenager who is a mediocre athlete who becomes a stellar athlete after he turns into a werewolf. He has a quirky best friend/sidekick named Stiles and a coach named Finstock. And there ends the resemblance of one to the other.
You've got to know that I loved the movie. I adore Michael J. Fox and I probably watched this a hundred times when I was a kid. I even liked the less fabulous Teen Wolf Too. But this...it's something really special. It manages to hit on all of the Teen Supernatural Creatures tropes without feeling stale or predictable. There's the forbidden romance. The mysterious and vaguely menacing stranger. They're all here, but blended together in an incredibly unique way.
Also, a delightfully queer-friendly show. Not just because the Ho!Yay is kind of oozing from it, either. There's a much beloved (if secondary) canon gay character. And not only that, he's the best friend of the head jock of the high school. He's a star athlete. And both coach and team are cool with that. The coach is actually supportive, not just of Danny, but of another character he thinks might be having boy troubles. I'm incredibly thrilled by the way the show is handling the issue thus far.
As is usual for me, though, it's the characters who keep bringing me back. And not even the major characters (okay so some of the major characters), but a lot of my love is for the secondary characters.
I had a lot of thoughts about how to divide these characters up, and ultimately I decided on making three categories. There are The Wolves, The Humans, and The Hunters. It's not perfect. The Hunters are human after all, and there are some indications that some of the people I have listed in The Humans may be a little more than baseline normal humans, but it's the best I could come up with.
This actually ended up being so long, that I'm going to make 3 posts. One for The Wolves, one for The Humans, and one for the Hunters plus fandom & ships.
So, Let's get started with
The Wolves
Scott McCall
I've listed him first, because he is the main character of the show. As is usual for me, he is far from my favorite. In fact, I tend to find Scott more than a little dull.
I have 97 Teen Wolf pictures saved, and this is the only one of Scott. That should say something about how interesting I don't find him. Not all wolfed out, he's the center guy in the picture up top. The one who looks angry and vaguely confused all at the same time. Season 2 Scott wears this look often.
That said, Scott isn't all bad. He's got a hugely overactive protective streak. He feels responsible for the safety of pretty much everyone. He can be incredibly stupid, but at least he usually recognizes his weaknesses. And every once in a great while, he actually has a flash of insight that proves useful.
Scott is a lacrosse player. Prior to the bite, he wasn't very good. He never actually got to play. His asthma probably didn't help (even though it didn't keep him from getting perfect abs). After the bite, he is an incredible player and is quickly promoted to co-captain.
I don't hate him. I just would much prefer to look at and think about most any other character.
Derek Hale
I used the shirtless pic, largely as an excuse to point out how often various characters wander around half-dressed, often, for no apparent reason. This is generally a good trend.
Derek was born a werewolf. His family was made up of wolves and humans, and he and his sister were both wolves. Several years before the show starts, a local Hunter burns down his home with everyone but he and his sister inside. There's one other survivor (Peter, to be talked about soon) but the rest of the Hales are gone. His sister is dead in the first episode.
This tragedy pretty much defines Derek. He has had to become something that he wasn't really meant to be, The Alpha. He's also got a tremendous amount of guilt surrounding the circumstances of the fire. He's a big ball of anger and mistrust. It's no wonder he fails to be an effective leader.
I generally like Derek. He plays the tortured soul routine with a lot less whining than many characters of his type. I think a big part of that is because he's completely okay with being a werewolf, and so often, the self-loathing is over that essential part of what they are. Yes, I am talking about Angel, Nick Knight, Louis, and other, mostly vampire characters of their kind. His self-loathing is more specific. He still can't change it, but at least it isn't all, "woe is me, I'm a monster."
Still I wish we saw him smile more. He's so pretty, and yet still menacing when he does.
Here's a still of that same shot.
The fact that he has recently been arrested in connection to a murder should make it more awkward than it is for him to spend his days with a bunch of teenagers.
Mostly it's not that much of a problem though.
Being the Alpha gives Derek these red glowy eyes. When he was still just a Beta, his werewolf eyes were much prettier. They were bright glowy blue, and if I could have found a picture, I would have included that one too. The other wolves all seem to have glowy amber/yellow eyes. Pretty sure it's based on their natural eye color and not any hierarchy sort of thing though. Only the red seems to mean something.
This picture was just because I can't resist the kind of goofy werewolf look. I read that their wolf sounds are mostly actually gorilla sounds. Not that this has anything to do with anything.
And this video is just because I can.
Click to view
Peter Hale
Peter is Derek's uncle and the other survivor of the fire. He was seriously injured, but as you can see he comes back. He's a whole lot of crazy in the first season. Derek is pretty much forced to kill him (thus robbing Scott of the slim hope that killing the one that turned him would make him human again. Yes, they have issues). And now, he's back again. He seems less psychotic this time, but he's definitely not trustworthy. He's working an angle, I'm just not sure what it is.
I like Peter a lot. He's got this kind of charm to him that's seductive. It makes him dangerous. He's also really incredibly smart.
And oh yeah, he's an Alpha now too. So there are, currently, two Alpha werewolves running around Beacon Hills. Peter is smarter, but there's probably more people who are loyal to Derek and/or trust him at least a little bit more than they trust Peter. I'm anxious to see where this goes. I can't believe the season is over already.
Isaac Lahey
Isaac is a classmate of Scott's and another member of the lacrosse team. We don't meet him in Season 1, but he is bitten by Derek early in Season 2, becoming a member of his pack.
Before the bite, Isaac was routinely beaten up by his abusive dad. After the bite, his dad gets killed, but not by him. Isaac spends a brief time on-the-run when he's suspected of the murder, but ultimately comes back to school. I'm not sure where the school thinks he's living, but he appears to actually be living in some kind of abandoned train station with Derek.
He's got attitude to spare after, but later events make me think that's mostly just an act.
I think he's very pretty, but most of my Isaac pictures are Isaac with someone else. I hope we see a lot more of him next season. Because I'm kind of in love with him.
This video probably sums up Isaac's character better than I ever will.
Erica Reyes
Erica was the second of Derek's new baby wolves. She was the unpopular girl. She had epilepsy and her medications had nasty side effects, but not quite as nasty as the seizures that the epilepsy caused.
Derek made her an offer, more of a promise really. Take the bite and not only will all of these awful things go away, but everything will be better than she could imagine. At first it definitely seems to be working for her. The school practically falls to the ground at her feet. She's gorgeous and aggressive.
Despite, Derek's insistence that he told her about the bad things associated with being a werewolf, specifically the hunters who will want to kill her, she still seems pretty unprepared for the realities. She and Isaac both are a little bit broken, and somehow thought that all this physical strength that the bite gave them would cover over the other cracks as well. It hasn't, and that makes them infinitely more interesting than if this new scary girl was all that Erica was.
And a shortish character vid for her.
Boyd
Boyd really needs another name. He's a guy from the high school. The guy you go to when you want something. He can get anything for a price. He doesn't really have friends though, which seems to be why he joins Derek. He's the third of the baby wolves, and the one I have the least grasp of their personality. He's smart and quiet, and doesn't seem as overcome with the power the wolf brings. Though he does enjoy the lacrosse game that he gets pulled out of the stands to play.
I want to like, Boyd, I really do. I just don't feel like I know him yet. His reasons for becoming a wolf are different from Isaac & Erica's and that makes him interesting. Early on, Scott is trying to talk him out of the bite. He tells Boyd that he doesn't want to be like Derek. Boyd says he's right, but that he does want to be like him. I can only assume he meant the part where Scott plays grand protector and not the part where he's kind of dumb.
Jackson Whittemore
So, Jackson is kind of a jerk, and his abandonment issues or whatever it is that's up with him really doesn't excuse it. But he's so very pretty.
I've included him here, because he isn't Human or Hunter and he was the first to receive the bite from Derek. He spends the latter part of Season 1 wanting it.
And he finally gets it in the finale. It doesn't take. Derek is suspicious about what that means. Jackson is even nastier than ever, because he's mad that he doesn't get the power that being a werewolf brings. I pretty much think he just wants to take back top-spot from Scott on the lacrosse team. Which he could almost do without any super-reflexes or strength in Season 2 because Scott is just so damned distracted.
Then weirdness begins happening around him. Turns out, he's not actually human, but he's not a wolf either.
Nobody should be that pretty covered in blood.
Note the strange slitted eyes.
Jackson is a kanima which makes him some strange lizard creature thing with venom that's a neuro-paralytic and seems to coat his claws and some sharp spike on the end of his tail. Yes, he's got a tail, a big long whippy tail.
And we wouldn't want to forget the extreme frequency with which the cast walks around without clothing would we?
This was the best Jackson-centric video I could find. I would have thought there'd be more of them.
He is just so very pretty, and while he's kind of an asshole, he does have his moments. Oh, and apparently working through his issues should allow him to get rid of the kanima (which is looking for a master who has pretty much turned him into a killing machine) and be a normal werewolf.
