Tuesday, July 30, 2013

'Teen Wolf' 3.09 "The Girl Who Knew Too Much" Review

MTV
Over the weekend Teen Wolf fans were teased that on Monday’s episode, ‘The Girl Who Knew Too Much’, the killer aka the Darach would finally be revealed. That happened but we also got an answer to what Lydia is and finally one of the adults (oh who am I kidding, it’s Papa Stilinski he’s the only one who didn’t know) gets closer than ever to the truth of the happenings in and around Beacon Hills.


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

'Teen Wolf' 3.08 "Visionary" Review


MTV
Did you ever hear the one about the two unreliable narrators that served as a story frame for Teen Wolf’s first ever flashback episode ‘Visionary’? Well, much like Deucalion or Scott when asked the same question about the scorpion and the frog (or turtle) in the show itself prepare because I’m about to break it all down for you. By the end of this, admittedly much-needed, hour of exposition exploits we as an audience as well as the characters on the show finally have answers to some of the show's big questions. This includes Deucalion/Alpha pack backstory, the nature of Derek’s first tragic love story, and how much of an instigator Peter Hale and Gerard Argent have always been. Mainly though this was a great way to show some background info in order to illuminate some ideas and characters that were immediately thrust into focus early on this year without much known about them. It actually could have been better to have this episode air a little earlier on in the first half of the season, but there are always growing pains when a show has a much longer season to deal with balancing its story in.


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

'Teen Wolf' 3.06 "Motel California" Review

MTV
Now that I’ve written separately about the problem with Jennifer Blake and Derek Hale, reviewing this episode can be done without the distraction of random love-making scenes with the mortally wounded. Aside from that, ‘Motel California’ might well be one of the best episodes outside of last season’s ‘Battlefield’ and easily a stand-out for season three so far. The entire cross-country team plus Lydia and Allison are in the middle of nowhere forced to stay at a sketchy hotel with a history of violence that fuels an exploration of the inner demons of three of our increasingly tortured Were boys: Scott, Boyd, and Isaac. It also gave Team Human a chance to show why they continue to be the most capable characters on the show.

'Teen Wolf''s Derek Hale and Jennifer Blake: A shipper-free perspective

MTV
Throughout the hiatus the whisperings of Derek getting a love interest this season got louder and louder until there was actual confirmation. We knew who it was going to be and those of us willing to give the development a chance were eager to see how it all played out. We’re now halfway through the first part of the third season and so far, the development between Derek Hale and high school English teacher Ms. Jennifer Blake has been quite underwhelming. But in ‘Motel California’ it became downright ridiculous as their scenes together hit all the wrong notes and proved that if this pairing is ever to be saved then there is so much work left to be done by Jeff Davis and co.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

'Teen Wolf' 3.05 "Frayed" Review


MTV
Since Teen Wolf is balancing out two main antagonistic forces in the first half of this season, it was time this week to have an episode that once again focused primarily on the war with the Alpha pack instead of the sacrifice rituals. Make no mistake about it, this is definitely a war and with that distinction comes the establishing of roles, battle plans, and scars lots of scars physical and otherwise. It also comes with casualties and ‘Frayed’ saw the demise of an alpha. Despite that grim subject matter, this episode also had some of the very best Stiles antics yet as well as the most effective case made so far for the redemption arc of Allison Argent.