Fangs For The Fantasy

Last episode Stiles was kidnapped (not Stiles!) and we start this one with Melissa McCall going to the hospital with, presumably, Jackson in a body bag and Stiles being shoved into a basement with chained Erica and Boyd – the targets on the walls point to this being an Argent kidnapping.

And they’re joined by evil granddaddy Argent (I may drop the “evil” since it’s redundant now that all the Argents are evil) and starts beating Stiles because… because he’s an evil Argent and doesn’t need a reason.

Evil Argent Gerard is having some quality time with Evil Argent Allison when Evil Argent Chris decides to play his “I’m the good one card” and question Gerard about what happened at the game. He maintains his backbone for, oh, 3 seconds, before Gerard wanders off, all questions unanswered. We then find that Allison blames Jackson being dead and the weregecko on Derek, as she blames the death of the murderous Kate and the suicide of the murderous Victoria all on Derek. Totally none of her own evil family’s fault, oh no. She’s pouting because Chris isn’t all behind this new “kill anything that moves” Allison, which is a little unfair since she is just following in the family footsteps – including his.

At the school Sherriff Stilinski is investigating both what happened to Jackson and his missing son. Coach shows his slightly more human side (I can’t decide whether I love Coach or hate him, I think both).

Scott and Isaac rip into Stile’s locker to get clothes so they can follow his scent – and Derek arrives. With Peter. Scott and Derek have a debate about this and Scott’s feeding information to evil granddaddy Argent, Gerard (Peter adding the odd word for sarcasm’s sake. Damn I didn’t know he was sarcastic before they killed him, what a waste!) But Derek has good news, Peter can save Jackson – to which Scott and Isaac inform him that Jackson is dead. This isn’t greeted as good news since, if he’s dead, it must be because evil Argent Gerard wanted him dead – and anything an Argent wants is bad.

Stiles does return home to his dad – but rather beaten up. He blames his disappearance and beat up state on players from the opposing team. Personally I would have fed Chris and Gerard to the law. At very least the accusation should have Gerard suspended as headmaster.

Lydia comes to visit and she’s pretty devastated about Jackson, despite his treatment of her, and is shockily fixated on the fact she never had chance to return his key. She and Stiles have a cutsey, touching moment. Until Lydia gets a text message and decides she’s going to help Jackson – no matter how much Stiles wants to protect her. Stiles is left all depressed and sad – until Sheriff Stilinski drops in to assure him what a hero he is.

Chris Argent finally uses that conscious for something other than 2 seconds of backbone – and, reflecting about what side of the line he and his family are standing on – he turns off the current that’s holding Erica and Boyd captive.

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This episode begins stylistically very different with Stiles narrating various things to Ms. Morrel the school guidance counsellor. It’s an elegant and very powerful and emotional way to bring together just how much happened last week. It brought it all together, everything up to date, and added a whole truck load of emotional impact. This scene needs applauding.

We move into the action with evil Grandaddy Argent, new master of the Kanima, using the weregecko to hold Melissa McCall (Scott’s mother) captive while he talks to Scott. He wants Derek and his pack, to avenge his evil daughter, Kate. Melissa can’t deal with any of this – the weregecko or Scott as a werewolf for that matter, and just wants Scott to give Granddaddy Argent whatever he wants.

Meanwhile Erica and Boyd are worried about the whole being a werewolf thing and the risk that comes with it (especially since there’s suddenly a whole lot of howling going on). In particular, to live they want to find another pack, another alpha, one that isn’t under attack by the evil Argents. And since they heard howling, they assume there’s another pack that they could join and they’re leaving.

Isaac didn’t join them and went to Dr. Deaton instead where Scott and the vet are treating a dog – and we get to see a new werewolf power, apparently they have the ability to take the pain of other creatures. It’s a bit randomly inserted (we didn’t get to see this before) but still kind of nicely done. Isaac is there to ask for Scott’s advice – and planning to leave during the lacrosse game as well, same as Boyd and Erica.

That night they run, running off into the woods – but are hunted by Argents. Including Evil Argent Allison who decides to join her murderous family and shoot Erica with an arrow. Erica urges Boyd to run. Helpless and shot in the leg, Erica lies there unable to stop Allison shooting another arrow at her – an arrow that is caught by Boyd. Allison the fills Boyd full of arrows, forever confirming her as a villain. Finally it’s Daddy Argent that has to stop his sadistic daughter. Can we have all the Argents dead now?

As if that wasn’t bad enough for Derek, Peter Hale comes to talk. Though Derek isn’t in the mood for talking and attacks Peter while Peter offers help and advice since he has failed so badly. Ouch, methinks that hurt rather more than werewolf claws. Pete goes on to try and convince Derek to work with him.

And Peter has a big bargaining chip – he knows how to stop the weregecko, how to save Jackson. A Kanima has no identity, to restore him back you need to restore his original identity – by appealing to his heart. Though it’s Jackson – which means you have to find someone he cared about (oh dear, this is Jackson). Peter points out he had a connection with… Lydia. We then get a wonderfully cheese hailing of the power of love and that Derek, who masters anger, needs Scott because he has Heart.  Hey it’s dramatic enough for me to forgive any amount of cheesiness.

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On Fangs for the Fantasy we’ve covered some of the many ways to dodge around actual inclusion of minorities in TV shows and books - usually the writers just throw tokens at us, or erase us entirely. But when it comes to GBLT inclusion there is a new crafty tactic on the horizon - the suggestive Bromance. And no show has mastered this more than Teen Wolf. Teen Wolf has already set itself apart because it is one of the few shows on television wherein the male characters are overtly sexualised and the women are not. This, in addition to being an excellent twist on the gender roles we see, unfortunately also gives perfect fodder for these Bromances and faux inclusion seen through “slash goggles.”

What is slash? Slash is fiction, usually fanfiction, which places two male characters into romantic/sexual relationships usually for the purposes of fetishization. “Slash goggles” is a term developed to refer to watching a show and looking for hints of anything (a touch, a gesture, a look, anything) that would back up these characters being a couple.

So, what is the problem with this? Well, aside from the problem of fetishisation, appropriation and homophobia that are unfortunate issues within slash, there’s a huge problem with ambiguity encouraging erasure.

For too long, writers have been using character ambiguity as an excuse to avoid including GBLT chaarcters. Rather than overtly say a character is GBLT, they can imply it - and get praise for inclusion from people desperate for inclusion (or desperate to see hot guys get it on) when they haven’t actually included anyone, or only made the slightest gestures of inclusion.

Teen Wolf doesn’t just subtly cater to this - but is probably the most blatant in pandering to it. Don’t believe me? Look at this little video made by Dylan O’Brien and Tyler Hoechlin.

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It’s time to see what happened in this series through Matt’s eyes, in particular how he found out about Jackson being the weregecko and how he became its master

First of all, when Jackson borrowed the camera from him so he could film himself shift, Matt was in his car streaming the video (I do rather wonder WHY Matt was doing this) Jackson recorded. It was then he saw Jackson shift and had his first little binding moment through the car window, followed by the killing of Isaac Leahy’s father.

Stiles and Scott have the fun job of trying to convince Stiles’s dad that Matt is the actual killer, which he doesn’t buy it.  Scott just assures him that he has to trust them (yeah, that works real well in criminal cases). The sheriff would really like to know if they have a motive for Matt to kill the swim team and its coach. Which they don’t have. They beg to see the evidence – but that’s in the police station where he doesn’t actually work any more. Stiles asks to be trusted – his father refuses, but he’s willing to trust Scott. Ouch, poor Stiles.

They check CCTV footage from the hospital where the pregnant woman was killed since it was the only time he killed someone himself, and they see Matt, albeit from the back which isn’t useful – but they do catch him talking to Scott’s mother – who does recognise him as Matt because she stopped him for tracking mud through the hospital. Which strikes another insight because they found muddy footprints at one of the scenes that they can try and match. And they had a receipt signed by Matt for an oil change at the garage where the mechanic was killed.

Apparently this constitutes enough evidence for a warrant. They call in Scott’s mother to get an official ID from her and Stiles runs to the front desk to tell the woman there to let her in. Except she’s dead – and Matt is there with a gun. Well you have some better evidence at least, guys!

He has the sheriff handcuffed to a pole and takes Scott and stiles on a police station tour of all the many many police officers he’s killed. Apparently the fun thing with being a weregecko master is that you just think about someone being killed and the gecko does it.

Meanwhile, last week we saw Derek being used by Lydia to raise Peter Hale, the last Alpha. This week he’s awakened from his gratuitous shirtlessness by Dr. Deaton using a dog whistle (hah) and letting him know that he fails as an Alpha – though he still is one. He finally tells us why he’s helping Derek so much, kind of anyway. Apparently advising the Hale family used to be an important part of his life, he promised Derek’s mother he’d look after him and he used to adviser Derek’s sister. And he has some advice for him – that he needs to not trust Hale even if he does offer him a deal to try and take down Gerard (hey, if it will kill an Argent, I’m all for team Hale!) and that he should be trusting Scott in helping him take down Gerard’s (that’s granddaddy Argent) master plan.

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Poor Lydia. She’s still having nightmares and hallucinations/visions of Peter Hale, the last Alpha, who has a plan for the next full moon which will apparently make him real (on her birthday as well). All because she is immune – to what she doesn’t know because no-one’s filled her in, something Peter points out most accurately.

If only she had a good friend to confide in. Alas, all she has is Allison.

Derek and Scott are closer now Scott’s accepted being part of his pack (thankfully. I always thought the rift between them was excessive) but Scott thinks Derek is keeping secrets still about the weregecko(of course) and Derek’s all depressed because he doesn’t think they can save Jackson or kill him.

Allison has finished her Not!Date with Matt, tells him she’s Not!Dating Scott and how everything is complicated., Lots of cute flirting – but he leaves his camera behind, giving Allison a chance to go through his pictures (as you do – because I know I always go through friends’ stuff if they leave it unguarded for 10 seconds) and find that he has pictures of the sports team and class and her and her and her oh and more of her and yet a dozen more of her. His sweet little crush is upgraded to full-blown spooky stalking with a side-order of peeping Tom.

Stiles and his dad are still stuck on the case trying to put together who is controlling the weregecko – and it seems Harris, the chemistry teacher, has been taken in for questioning since his car (with its Einstein bumper sticker) has been seen at so many of the crime scenes (ok, it’s official, he’s definitely not the weregecko master). But Stiles doesn’t buy it, despite how Harris hates him – it’s not enough; and he’s determined to solve the case for the sake of his father. But flicking through the year book they find something else the victims had in common – including the latest victim – they were all in the swim team, and Isaac Lahey’s father was the coach.

Lydia invites Jackson to her party but he scares her and tells her she doesn’t want him there. He’s clearly disturbed and becoming more and more aware that something’s happening to him. Still time for Lydia’s party. Stiles brings a huge present before discussing his findings with Scott (weregecko doesn’t like water and is linked to the swim team, a connection perhaps). Unfortunately for Lydia, the party is also deserted except for Allison, Stiles and Scott because Lydia’s mental illness/haunting has turned her from the most popular girl in school to a pariah (the term they use is “nutjob” repeatedly. At length – which is both unnecessary and vexing). Allison insists they have to do something since they’ve completely ignored her for 2 weeks (just noticed, Allison? Late in the day for guilt. Though I love Scott’s come back “Lydia ignored Stiles for the last 10 years” poor Stiles). Out of guilt, Scott and Stiles pull in what contacts they have to fill the party.

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Stiles is having a fun time at the police station with his dad, feeding him healthy vegetables (that’s torture Stiles! I heartily disapprove) and questioning him about the various cases. Stile’s dad can’t really keep the confidential information confidential because of the big board full of information on the wall behind him. Giving up keeping secrets, it turns out there’s one thing linking the three victims (Stiles’s mechanic, the pregnant woman and her husband) – they were all 24. And while Isaac’s father wasn’t, Isaac had an older brother who died in the military – and he would have been 24 had he lived. Stiles’s father goes from trying to keep the information from Stiles, to actively discussing the case with him (did I mention that Stiles makes this show?) Stiles points out that same age meant they went to the same class at school (then they have a gloriously little snark because Stiles’s dad didn’t spot this). Checking the class notes they find that they were all in the same class.

And one of the faces in the yearbook for that class? Is the woman selling tickets to an underground party (which Matt mentioned in passing last week). Which is where Matt is, along with Jackson acting even more odd than usual, and Scott, watching Jackson. Jackson doesn’t kill her, but it’s clearly an option for later

Meanwhile Allison and Daddy Argent (who likes to pretend he isn’t evil) are having a nice daddy-daughter day at the morgue, checking out the Kanima’s victims, while Daddy fills her in on all the stuff she already knows, the kanima, what it is, that it’s being controlled by a human. He launches into another hooray, go Argents speech, followed by questioning Allison about what she knows (that would be this matriarchal Argent society, y’see). He has the gall to suggest that her protecting her friends makes her responsible for the dead (as opposed tom her keeping secrets from her family because they’ve proven to be callous murderers? Can something please eat the Argents, now?)

Scott and Derek (and Isaac, yapping along behind them) go to see the still mysterious vet, Scott’s boss and guy who knows way more than he should, about saving Jackson (Derek still wants to kill him, I agree, but Derek concedes). There follows lots of debates about why the weregecko can’t kill a pregnant woman (because it can only kill murderers and the foetus isn’t a murderer? Because Jackson’s mother died while pregnant?) and they make the huge logical leap that since the weregecko is afraid of water and Jackson isn’t, then it must be a link to the controller (who must be afraid of water) and shows that what affects one affects the other. It’s not so much a leap of logic as a plummet of logic, as logic falls into the abyss screaming, but let’s go with it.

Mystery Vet (in case you forgot his name, like me, he’s Dr. Deaton) has some magical help to give Scott and Stiles – some ketamine to slow Jackson and some black, powdery ash that Stiles must use and ignite with his will (words cannot describe how awesome it would be if Stiles became a magic user in this series, hey I can hope). Apparently this stuff is a big supernatural ward and Dr. Deaton has used it before to keep rampaging werewolves at bay.

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The weregecko’s master is setting him on poor people in a trailer – killing the man, but sparing his pregnant wife (more hints adding to Allison’s conclusion that the weregecko does have some moral compunctions about its murder spree)

The Scooby Gang – Allison, Stiles and Scott, have a recap on what it must be like to be Jackson the weregecko – how he must be completely forgetting not just being the weregecko, but also shifting, cleaning up afterwards, everything – though his master must be helping him edit the video.

Of course, talking to Jackson is somewhat difficult because the of the restraining order that has now been put out on them against Jackson (though I admire Stiles his ability for causing every adult in the room to cross their arms in exasperation at the same time). And the parents are also Not Pleased with the whole kidnapping and restraining order thing. Scott’s mother in particular has grounded Scott from Stiles – and wants to know what’s going on with him, alas, at Stiles’s urging, he doesn’t tell her.

Derek and the Wolfies (except Boyd who is never ever around) want to find the identity of the weregecko from Scott and Stiles – and it seems Erica and Isaac still have to be chained up (for kinky reasons… wait, no, because of full moon) and Derek hasn’t been teaching them while worrying about the Argents (which was the whole point of having them) and Jackson the weregecko. Derek also notices that Granddaddy Argent wasn’t afraid of the weregecko – that would be a weregecko that needs a boss, the killing machine that is being controlled. Now I wonder I wonder why Granddaddy Argent isn’t afraid? Oh what a mystery. Here, let me beat you to death the clues a little more.

Meanwhile Allison is sneaking around the CCTV and passing on Lydia’s confused translations – under the excuse that they’re part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures. This a) allows Stiles to be geekily adorable and b) confirms Allison as the worst friend ever since, last episode, Allison refused to talk about Lydia’s trauma and hallucinations and insisted they do the translation instead. If my friend said “sorry, no time for your major real life trauma – but can you translate the Monster Manual for me?” I’d slap them. And they learn that the weregecko is an agent of vengeance – it kills murderers until the Master gets full control then it kills whoever the Master (Granddaddy Argent) wants. Also, the weregecko will become a fullfledged werewolf when he finally resolves his issues, whatever they may be. They put 2 and 2 together of his story and wonder about Jackson’s biological parents (we’ve already learned he has issues with his adoptive parents).

Jackson, meanwhile, is getting really really friendly with a snake. Really friendly, extra friendly if that expression on his face is anything to go by – and the snake crawls down his throat, while he still looks very happy about it (you are all forbidden to come up with innuendos, it’s just too damn easy).

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Teen Wolf is far removed from the original Teen Wolf movie starring Michael J Fox.  We have gone from camp to a story involving menacing werewolves, and werewolf hunters.  Since the show is still largely aimed at a young audience, we are subjected to copious amounts of angst and the usual social justice fails.  We have decided to focus on gender this time because after a season a half, the women of Teen Wolf are treated quite differently than the males.

When we were first introduced to Erica she was a young teen suffering from epilepsy.  She was sweet and kind but, because she never knew when she was going to have an attack, Erica was quite removed from her contemporaries. When she meets Derek and is turned into a werewolf everything changes for Erica. Suddenly she is turned into a complete sex vixen who draws the attention of others the minute she walks into the room. Erica suddenly goes from weak and forgettable to powerful and desirable; however, her power is limited because as a beta, she spends most of her time doing Derek’s bidding. Erica has the distinction of being the only female werewolf and most of her power is based in her ability to beguile whereas Derek intimidates and did so from the time he was a beta.

Teen Wolf could reasonably get away with having Erica do Derek’s bidding because she is his beta but the fact that they have turned her into a vapid, jealous, angry person is incredibly sexist. Other than doing Derek’s bidding her only other purpose is to drive a wedge between Allison and Scott. This of course serves the purpose of giving the characterless Allison something to fight for. Erica’s sudden obsession with Scott is never explained.

Then we have Lydia, who is actually very smart, but pretends not to be intelligent in the hopes of keeping Jackson’s interest. In fact, Lydia does not show her intelligence until she is asked to translate ancient Latin after Jackson has left her for greener pastures.  Much of Lydia’s life involves putting on a show in the hopes of either achieving or maintaining the acceptance of others. Though she is supposedly best friends with Allison, Lydia is often left to her own devices to deal with her issues and only draws the attention of the group when she is need of saving. Stiles has had a long obsession with her and see her as a prospect for a girlfriend but beyond being physically attracted to her, he makes no real effort to get to know he as a person. In Abomination, (season 2, episode 4)  Lydia clearly needs to talk but Stiles says he will be right back and leaves her sitting in the car for a night. For all of the ridiculous antics that antis Stiles pulls to get her attention, when she really needs him, he is nowhere to be found.

Of course, no comment on women in Teen Wolf would be complete without looking at Allison. I’d love to say a lot about Allison, but I can’t, because she’s nobody. Allison is Scott’s love interest and under her father and grandfather’s intimidating control. That’s about the entirety of her character - she has no real personality, no real activity in the plot that doesn’t revolve around the men in her life. Even her interactions with her father are now eternally affected by her relationship with Scott. She is a character who cannot even spend time with or communicate with her family without her boyfriend looming large.

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Last episode we learned that the weregecko was Jackson and he has a new friend (aww). I predict there will be a lot less effort spent keeping him alive because, well, he’s Jackson.

Danny has finished fixing Jackson’s video, and as per his lord and master’s instructions, he hasn’t watched it – he puts his tablet in his car. Meanwhile, the weregecko is fleeing from Derek who wants to slice and dice him. Derek and the weregecko have a semi-good fight (a little too choreographed – lots of punching ridiculously at a shield and the weregecko completely forgot about his paralysing venom, but still pretty good) when Daddy Argent arrives and totally cheats – shooting the weregecko repeatedly in the chest. Yeah, that’s not going to work. That never works. Daddy Argent looks for Derek who has disappeared –leaving the fallen weregecko to get back up again (never turn your back on the monster. You’d think the professional werewolf hunter would have guessed this). The weregecko kicks him (yes that venom stuff? Totally out of it) and in the glare of the lights we see the weregecko bonding with his friend – Granddaddy Argent.

Stiles and Scott follow in Stiles’ jeep (wasn’t that requisitioned as evidence?) and Scott running ahead when the jeep meets a barrier. Scott takes a swing at the weregecko and ends up facing Granddady Argent who stands there looking menacing and/or constipated.

Allison is dropping of Lydia and need Lydia to promise not to tell anyone what happened. While Lydia is more concerned with actually what happened. Derek, Jackson, Erica – someone explain! Allison, rather than talk about the life and death issues, decides to talk about keeping her relationship with Scott secret (Allison, please, for five seconds, try to focus on something besides Scott. Like the weregecko? Look, there’s Lydia right there, you could at least take a stab at passing the Bechdel test? No?) and bringing up all the romantic gooshiness (oh nauseating teen crushes how I despise thee), with an extra side-order of “this is the wonderful romantic love I have that you haven’t.” I waited for Allison to bring out the thumbscrews to see if we could elevate Lydia’s suffering even more, but she refrained.

Scott runs into Stiles while looking for the weregecko and Stiles resorts to sarcasm – as he points out, the only weapon he has in this fight (poor Stiles). They wonder at Jackson passing the test and Stiles, the only person on the show with a working brain, points out that Jackson isn’t actually the Kanima weregecko when in human form so why would he be immune to the toxin (which, of course, is what I said. Yes, I am “I told you soing” sue me). They do see the weregecko sneaking into a club – and Scott smells Danny’s Armani aftershave and assumes that’s who the weregecko is after (possibly since Danny is the person who decoded the video and could know who the weregecko is).

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Awesome Mysterious vet is hurriedly cleaning Scott’s wound (that, since it has been inflicted by Derek the Alpha, won’t heal quickly) before the murderous Argents return. He knows about werewolves, and knows the Argent the lizard thing killed wasn’t one (though, if it’s killing Argents I’m all for it. Go Team Lizard Thing! Go Weregeckos!). He doesn’t know anything about them but he thinks the Argents will because they will have books and records.

And then the Argents arrive – including murderous Granddaddy Argent who knows Alan the Awesome Vet who awesomely points out that they’ve ripped up their own code (Daddy Argent, chief apologist  tries to cast them as the victims, but Awesome Vet isn’t having any of his conscience dodging) but granddaddy Argent is only interested in shape-shifting murderers, not Argent murderers.

He discusses his findings from examining the dead Bennett – he was hit by a paralytic venom and that he was clawed up by something very strong and very fast – and that the Argents need to be very very afraid. And that the killer killed just to kill – not to eat (hey, if he’s killing Argents? I’m still Team Weregecko!). Did I mention that I loved Alan the Awesome Vet?

Stiles is getting his car fixed of a little problem, but the very diligent mechanic (ahem) has found lots of other expensive problems that need fixing too. Poor Stiles. There’s also goo on the handles of the garage door (which I assume is indicative of Geckoness or the ominous music wouldn’t have started) – and yes, having touched it Stiles can’t move his hands. He can look through the window, though, and see the Weregecko paralyse his mechanic (aww, don’t’ kill the hot mechanic! Go find an Argent – any Argent will do!) and lower Stiles’s jeep on top of him until it crushes him (in a very very very tense scene). He also lets Stiles see his gecko face and roar/scream/whatever at him. It’s actually a lot less scary after seeing its face.

The police arrive to Stiles’s struggled phone call and he tells his dad what happened – albeit with the supernatural elements removed.  And his jeep has to be impounded for evidence.

Moving on we meet up with Allison (please give this character some more personality) and her murderous, evil Granddaddy Argent, playing the “pity me old man” routine and then giving a very transparent lecture about trust to Allison (here, let me finish it for you – Allison, your family are murderers, don’t trust them. Simple!) . He then spends some time defending the murderous Kate Argent who died “doing what she thought was right.” In case you have forgotten, dear readers, what she thought was right was burning a house full of people to the ground, killing them, then going around torturing and murdering people. Even Allison is moved to protest that (and Granddaddy responds by saying she reminds him of Kate – wow, Allison, you going to take that insult?). He liked that she challenged him too. When she seems half hearted about trust he demands a clear yes that she can trust him. Yeah – this is the extent of Allison’s challenge?

Stiles consults with Scott, confirms that the weregecko isn’t a werewolf but also says he’s sure he’s seen the gecko before (presumably in human form) and that it recognised Stiles.

Meanwhile Derek is training his new pack (who aren’t entirely up to his standards) and to be unpredictable Erica climbs him to make out with him – which is quite quite quite understandable. Which he doesn’t agree with. Derek’s training, however is brutal and cruel – including breaking Isaac’s arm to make a point while Erica and Boyd look on in fear. Derek is worried – there’s both the Argents and the Weregecko – his pack needs to be ready and able to fight.

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