Teen Wolf Season 3b
I finally caught up on Teen Wolf. The second half of the third season was a fantastic showcase of Dylan O'Brien's acting skills. Scott wasn't any worse than he was before. Other than that it was a mess. The questionable quality of the writing doesn't give me great hope for next season, but I still love the actors and the bad storytelling didn't tick me off enough to stop me from watching one more year.
There were a lot of things wrong with the current season:
1) Treatment of characters like easily replaceable cardboard cutouts. Kira is Allison. Erica, Cora, and Malia are all the same character. Boyd wasn't on screen enough to have much character, but the twins were basically his stand in. When the writers don't really care about the characters as people, it's hard for me as the viewer to care. Allison dying was kind of ho-hum because she'd already been replaced by her Japanese twin.
2) Too many balls in the air from a not very adept juggler. Jeff introduced hints of all kinds of interesting character things. There was Scott & his dad, Peter & Malia, the woman who came to see Chris, the twins trying to join Scott's pack, whatever is going on with Derek & Talia's teeth, Derek and Chris starting to get along, so on and so forth. However, instead of examining any of that further, there was a lot of ineffectual running around after the nogitsune.
3) On going lack of understanding of what makes a good leader. Scott didn't exhibit any leadership skills, again. As of this season, he's actually matching Derek's record of two for two on dead packmates. He didn't betray anyone or act like an irresponsible douchebag, so progress. But, the speeches from Derek about what kind of alpha Scott is didn't make any actual sense, especially coming from Derek who Scott has never treated with any kind of honor.
4) I'm getting really tired of Isaac being passed around like an unwanted puppy.
The only thing I can say in favor of this past season (other than Dylan's really impressive performance), is that Derek doesn't appear to be part of Scott's pack. I have no problem with Derek as a beta, but given the history he should never be in Scott's power. Working with Scott, as equals, for the sake of Beacon Hills, that's fine. But, if Derek were to be in someone's pack, he needs an alpha he can trust and Scott just isn't trustworthy when it comes to Derek. Of course, maybe he is supposedly in Scott's pack and that was left out because they needed more screen time for teenage making out.
I'm not really excited about Kate coming back. I think dead enemies should stay dead. Constantly bringing them back bugs me because it lacks resolution. However, I'm hoping there will finally be some closure for Derek to come out of it.
I'm not exactly looking forward to the next season. Given the level of the writing thus far the chances of the problems being identified as problems and fixed are slim to none. But, on the other hand, they haven't written themselves into a corner just yet. The problematic parts of Teen Wolf could still be fixed. Epiphanies could be had, amends made, and previously unknown information revealed. Add some focus to the writing, and it could turn from really questionable into a solid show.
There were a lot of things wrong with the current season:
1) Treatment of characters like easily replaceable cardboard cutouts. Kira is Allison. Erica, Cora, and Malia are all the same character. Boyd wasn't on screen enough to have much character, but the twins were basically his stand in. When the writers don't really care about the characters as people, it's hard for me as the viewer to care. Allison dying was kind of ho-hum because she'd already been replaced by her Japanese twin.
2) Too many balls in the air from a not very adept juggler. Jeff introduced hints of all kinds of interesting character things. There was Scott & his dad, Peter & Malia, the woman who came to see Chris, the twins trying to join Scott's pack, whatever is going on with Derek & Talia's teeth, Derek and Chris starting to get along, so on and so forth. However, instead of examining any of that further, there was a lot of ineffectual running around after the nogitsune.
3) On going lack of understanding of what makes a good leader. Scott didn't exhibit any leadership skills, again. As of this season, he's actually matching Derek's record of two for two on dead packmates. He didn't betray anyone or act like an irresponsible douchebag, so progress. But, the speeches from Derek about what kind of alpha Scott is didn't make any actual sense, especially coming from Derek who Scott has never treated with any kind of honor.
4) I'm getting really tired of Isaac being passed around like an unwanted puppy.
The only thing I can say in favor of this past season (other than Dylan's really impressive performance), is that Derek doesn't appear to be part of Scott's pack. I have no problem with Derek as a beta, but given the history he should never be in Scott's power. Working with Scott, as equals, for the sake of Beacon Hills, that's fine. But, if Derek were to be in someone's pack, he needs an alpha he can trust and Scott just isn't trustworthy when it comes to Derek. Of course, maybe he is supposedly in Scott's pack and that was left out because they needed more screen time for teenage making out.
I'm not really excited about Kate coming back. I think dead enemies should stay dead. Constantly bringing them back bugs me because it lacks resolution. However, I'm hoping there will finally be some closure for Derek to come out of it.
I'm not exactly looking forward to the next season. Given the level of the writing thus far the chances of the problems being identified as problems and fixed are slim to none. But, on the other hand, they haven't written themselves into a corner just yet. The problematic parts of Teen Wolf could still be fixed. Epiphanies could be had, amends made, and previously unknown information revealed. Add some focus to the writing, and it could turn from really questionable into a solid show.