Preliminary thoughts/ranting on the TW finale
After about half an hour of wavering, I went ahead and watched the leaked version of the midseason finale, because it's not like I watch it legally anyway. The thoughts I post after each episode are made after at least two viewings, so I'll probably post more specifics after Monday night.
I was so disappointed. I mean, I was 95% sure that nothing mind-blowing was going to happen, but there was still that 5% that hoped... But, no, we got a simplistic solution that sidelined just about everyone but Scott, Derek, Deucalion, and Jennifer. And don't worry -- all your favorite white males survived! But if last week's catchphrase was how fucking convenient, this week's was are you fucking serious? I did have some hope at the beginning, with the way Scott, Stiles, and Allison all flashed back to very beginning of the show and saw where the Nemeton was (if you think too hard about that, it doesn't make sense, but at least it was visually and conceptually cool). And then it went downhill.
Scott's tattoo was really the rings of a tree! Are you fucking serious? Derek survived several hours of a pole through his internal organs, but Kali died from some mirror shards! Are you fucking serious? The parents don't have to die if Derek goes with Jennifer as her... guardian? Are you fucking serious? Jennifer had spent years planning those 15 minutes in the warehouse to get revenge on Deucalion, yet stopped and used up her Darach juju to give him his sight back! Are you fucking serious? An aluminum bat holds up what a werewolf and two grown men couldn't! Are you fucking serious? Derek let Deucalion tear Jennifer's throat out, then let him walk free because, gee, he used to be such a nice guy and probably is again now that he can see! Are you fucking serious? Both twins get a free pass on murdering Boyd! Are you fucking serious?
The relationship between Kali and Jennifer was never explored. Nothing about various characters' mistletoe ingestion or how Cora got sick was explained. Nothing about Cora at all -- how she survived the fire, what she's been doing for six years. Wassname Uncle Argent who killed himself at the Motel Hell was never spoken of again. Paige? Who's Paige? And here's something I absolutely detest, particularly in the sci-fi/fantasy genre: they ignored the rules. Suddenly there don't need to be guardian sacrifices if Derek's a chaperone? Suddenly Scott can walk through mountain ash because he is Pure of Heart enough to become a True Alpha? Suddenly Peter's been an alpha all along? You can make up whatever rules you want for your universe, but breaking them all willy-nilly isn't a Shocking! Plot! Twist! It's shitty, unimaginative writing.
The True Alpha thing frustrates me, too. Look, I get that Scott has a good heart and truly cares for people, but I also get some of the fandom -- well, I don't want to say hatred, because I don't hate him, but it's stronger than frustration -- that's thrown his way. He can be a selfish asshole and make decisions without telling other people who are affected by them -- so can everyone else on the show -- but Scott's the only one who never suffers any negative effects as a result of his choices, or even by chance. In the whole show so far, Stiles was nearly killed by Scott (twice), had the shit beaten out of him by Gerard, lost a childhood friend, and suffered a months-long rift with his father. Isaac was orphaned and then the guy that took him in usually acted a lot like his abusive father. Allison lost her mother, and then lost her shit and tried to kill a bunch of people, then found out her grandfather would have murdered her without a second thought. Lydia was possessed and psychologically tortured by a dead man, watched her boyfriend die and come back to life only to leave her again, and then became (?) a banshee and started finding dead bodies all over the place. Erica and Boyd got killed. Even Danny ended up in the hospital with a collapsed lung. Derek... I don't even have the space.
Scott got some werewolf powers that he didn't want and is (temporarily -- you know it) broken up with Allison. That's it. Everything else turns out just fine for him. His mom accepted his werewolfiness. Stiles forgave him for abandoning him for Allison and not even paying attention to what Stiles is going through. He's getting along fine with the whole Allison and Isaac thing which, yes, does show some positive growth. But even Peter doesn't try to fuck with Scott the way he fucks with everything else. Okay, maybe I'm going overboard and pinning too many of my frustrations on Scott, but this is one of many shows where the main character is the least interesting one, and in this case, arguably the one with the least accountability despite his apparently cosmic importance.
I'd be less upset if I thought any of this would get addressed in 3b, but it won't be, aside from perhaps the occasional reference to previous events and maybe Gerard coughing up more (new and unrelated) exposition along with black goop.
Ugh, okay, I'd better stop now. Be prepared for more on Monday, though. I want to start writing ALL THE FIX-IT FIC and the episode hasn't even aired yet. If anybody would like to give their thoughts on why I should like this episode, please do.
I was so disappointed. I mean, I was 95% sure that nothing mind-blowing was going to happen, but there was still that 5% that hoped... But, no, we got a simplistic solution that sidelined just about everyone but Scott, Derek, Deucalion, and Jennifer. And don't worry -- all your favorite white males survived! But if last week's catchphrase was how fucking convenient, this week's was are you fucking serious? I did have some hope at the beginning, with the way Scott, Stiles, and Allison all flashed back to very beginning of the show and saw where the Nemeton was (if you think too hard about that, it doesn't make sense, but at least it was visually and conceptually cool). And then it went downhill.
Scott's tattoo was really the rings of a tree! Are you fucking serious? Derek survived several hours of a pole through his internal organs, but Kali died from some mirror shards! Are you fucking serious? The parents don't have to die if Derek goes with Jennifer as her... guardian? Are you fucking serious? Jennifer had spent years planning those 15 minutes in the warehouse to get revenge on Deucalion, yet stopped and used up her Darach juju to give him his sight back! Are you fucking serious? An aluminum bat holds up what a werewolf and two grown men couldn't! Are you fucking serious? Derek let Deucalion tear Jennifer's throat out, then let him walk free because, gee, he used to be such a nice guy and probably is again now that he can see! Are you fucking serious? Both twins get a free pass on murdering Boyd! Are you fucking serious?
The relationship between Kali and Jennifer was never explored. Nothing about various characters' mistletoe ingestion or how Cora got sick was explained. Nothing about Cora at all -- how she survived the fire, what she's been doing for six years. Wassname Uncle Argent who killed himself at the Motel Hell was never spoken of again. Paige? Who's Paige? And here's something I absolutely detest, particularly in the sci-fi/fantasy genre: they ignored the rules. Suddenly there don't need to be guardian sacrifices if Derek's a chaperone? Suddenly Scott can walk through mountain ash because he is Pure of Heart enough to become a True Alpha? Suddenly Peter's been an alpha all along? You can make up whatever rules you want for your universe, but breaking them all willy-nilly isn't a Shocking! Plot! Twist! It's shitty, unimaginative writing.
The True Alpha thing frustrates me, too. Look, I get that Scott has a good heart and truly cares for people, but I also get some of the fandom -- well, I don't want to say hatred, because I don't hate him, but it's stronger than frustration -- that's thrown his way. He can be a selfish asshole and make decisions without telling other people who are affected by them -- so can everyone else on the show -- but Scott's the only one who never suffers any negative effects as a result of his choices, or even by chance. In the whole show so far, Stiles was nearly killed by Scott (twice), had the shit beaten out of him by Gerard, lost a childhood friend, and suffered a months-long rift with his father. Isaac was orphaned and then the guy that took him in usually acted a lot like his abusive father. Allison lost her mother, and then lost her shit and tried to kill a bunch of people, then found out her grandfather would have murdered her without a second thought. Lydia was possessed and psychologically tortured by a dead man, watched her boyfriend die and come back to life only to leave her again, and then became (?) a banshee and started finding dead bodies all over the place. Erica and Boyd got killed. Even Danny ended up in the hospital with a collapsed lung. Derek... I don't even have the space.
Scott got some werewolf powers that he didn't want and is (temporarily -- you know it) broken up with Allison. That's it. Everything else turns out just fine for him. His mom accepted his werewolfiness. Stiles forgave him for abandoning him for Allison and not even paying attention to what Stiles is going through. He's getting along fine with the whole Allison and Isaac thing which, yes, does show some positive growth. But even Peter doesn't try to fuck with Scott the way he fucks with everything else. Okay, maybe I'm going overboard and pinning too many of my frustrations on Scott, but this is one of many shows where the main character is the least interesting one, and in this case, arguably the one with the least accountability despite his apparently cosmic importance.
I'd be less upset if I thought any of this would get addressed in 3b, but it won't be, aside from perhaps the occasional reference to previous events and maybe Gerard coughing up more (new and unrelated) exposition along with black goop.
Ugh, okay, I'd better stop now. Be prepared for more on Monday, though. I want to start writing ALL THE FIX-IT FIC and the episode hasn't even aired yet. If anybody would like to give their thoughts on why I should like this episode, please do.