You don't want the bald guy from Lost to fill you in retroactively. Trust me on this.

[the_deep_magic]

Let's see which is longer this week: my recap or my rant.

• Items of "Continuity": Cora is 17 (my ass) and she hasn't told Peter -- and presumably Derek -- where she's been for the past six years (is no one ever going to ask how she survived?); Morrell is Deaton's younger sister and seems to be helping the alpha pack without knowing their full plan (or at least Deucalion's plan, which I doubt the other alphas even know); the alphas are pimpin' it up in a penthouse above the remaining Argents; Beacon Hills has more abandoned buildings than Chernobyl


• Glad to see more screen time for Boyd, but he wasn't actually on the lacrosse team, nor was he at the cross country team's first "practice."  Is he just along as a fan?


• Stiles' iPad appears to be more self-aware than the writers.


• Scott's wound -- particularly after it's been stitched up -- looks suspiciously like the tree at the end of the opening credits, which Lydia was drawing during music class.  At least three of the Druish (because they're not quite Druid, and... please tell me you get the reference) murder victims were killed up against trees.  Will this amount to anything?  Who the fuck knows.


• Military-grade armor-piercing arrowheads?  For what military?


• The fight between Scott and Allison was probably the most emotionally complex thing that's happened all season.  Also it was kinda hot.


• Damn, being an alpha must pay well.  A penthouse?  Really?  Y'know, I bet Peter has one, too.


• Ugh, the "planning" scene was the stupidest thing ever.  How exactly are you going to get Deucalion alone, Derek?  How are you going to puppy-face your way out of everyone getting killed, Scott?  Where did you get that vest, Boyd?  (Okay, the last one was a little off topic, but ARMS.)


• Ooh, bad press on the Toyota.  Poor gas mileage AND abandoned on the side (in the middle?) of the road.


• So Danny definitely doesn't know Thing #1 is a werewolf.  Does Lydia know about thing #2?  Is anyone going to share?


• On a related note, are Lydia and #2 fucking at school?  JFC, somebody Lysol all the desks right now.


• In the elevator scene, it seems pretty clear to me that Deucalion is threatening Allison.  Has Scott lost his everything-is-Allison input filter?


• Gee, it's a good thing Danny's phone doesn't have an off switch or any kind of volume control.  Then how would Stiles sext him?  (Seriously though, I want to see the content of those texts.)


• The bit with Finstock and the whistle was almost aggressively not funny, though I loved Stiles losing his temper there at the end.


• So far, the black ooze has been associated with wolfsbane poisoning and bodies rejecting the bite.  I was starting to think there was some type of connection, but I think they're just using it as multipurpose gross stuff to let us know Something Bad is Going On.  Because otherwise, how would we be able to tell?


• I want to know how Scott and Deucalion arranged their meet-up and why they picked the abandoned mall.  Does Deucalion have a cell phone?  Were they slipping each other notes?  Carrier pigeons?


• You know, I want to like Kali, but her entire characterization is her nasty-ass toenails.  That's it.


• How did Deucalion get into the vet clinic?  Did Deaton forget to shut the doggy gate?  Peter seemed to think he couldn't get in.


• So... Kali and the twins are just not going to notice poor (t)Ennis (ball)'s squished head?


• Why didn't Allison bother to, say, hit Deucalion or even Ennis with an arrow or five?  They are trying to kill her not-boyfriend.


• Lydia's "some Druids practice sacrifice before battle" was the laziest example of writing on the show with the laziest writing I've ever seen.  Cheers.


• ARGH, the ending with Derek and Ms. Blake.  I want to like them as a couple, but I have a hard time even buying them as a couple.  If that wanky Tumblr post had anything right, it's that "boy + girl = WUV" is taken as a given.  Even Jackson and Lydia were more believable, and you know how I feel about that "relationship."  I realize there are 27 other story threads going on, but at least give them some back story other than "I saved your life once, now I get to pop up and scare you (and also bleed on you)."  If this is going to happen, and it is, I want to buy it.  Because the gifs of the kiss from next week look kind of hot, but it's going to take a hell of a lot of suspension of disbelief for me to pretend it's a rational action on either of their parts.  Unless Ms. Blake is an evil seductress, and c'mon, is there even any room left on Derek to stab another knife to twist?


• Peter and Derek each lurk once, but for once, Derek does it with more flair.  Or blood.  Definitely one of the two

I've been spending too long thinking about ways in which Tumblr has ruined changed fandom.  I know that post that's being passed around is probably from a troll, but that doesn't change the fact that many Derek/Stiles shippers (and I'm speaking as one, though hopefully not one of these) are the most entitled, martyr-complexed group of fans I've ever encountered.  Dude, we are by far the largest ship in the fandom.  That makes the whines of "stop picking on meeeee!" much less convincing.  It seems to me that the lack of comms, and thus the lack of mods, on Tumblr is making this disproportionately worse.  On a platform like LJ, mods set rules for the comm, and if there are people who are rude or wanky, they can say, "These are the rules of this sandbox.  If you don't like them, make your own sandbox."  And because modding takes a great deal of time and personal investment, the wankers don't bother.  But on Tumblr, to even respond to a wanker, you have to reblog their post, increasing the visibility and driving the "notes" count up, which apparently means something.

And as for the entitlement, it doesn't help that Jeff Davis is so involved with the fandom, which I've probably said before.  It's not a bad thing in itself, but his coy interactions plus a young (age-wise) fandom that largely has no concept of the fourth wall is a disaster.  Just because you ship them doesn't mean that's what the writers intended -- hell, half the fun of it is that it's not what the writers intended.  And just because it's such a popular ship does not mean it deserves to become canon.  Because here's the thing: YOU DON'T ACTUALLY WANT IT TO BECOME CANON.  I mean, you think you do, but even if you have faith in the writers (does anyone?) and they don't fuck it up so masterfully that you actually gape at the TV for several minutes on end, then turn to your best friend and ask her to please tell you that it was a hallucination (The X Files, anyone?), it's never going to live up to the way you wanted it to go in your head.

I don't know all the details of what's been going on in TW fandom, particularly Derek/Stiles fans vs. everyone else, and quite frankly I don't want to.  I want to bitch about the episodes and ogle hot guys and write porny fic that I don't want to become canon.  Because filling in the gaps is where most of the fun is.

Okay, the recap was much longer.  I'll try harder on the rant next time.

Comments

[hardticket.livejournal.com]

Perfect example of canon not being what you want it to be: Jack/Ianto.

With Jeff Davis's track record in the romance department do they really think he would do justice to Derek/Stiles?

This is why I'm firmly on the fence about the whole going canon thing. Be careful what you wish for you just might get it.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

I wasn't so deeply invested in Jack/Ianto that I was angry about how it ended, but I could understand how some people would feel a bit betrayed by it.

With Jeff Davis's track record in the romance department do they really think he would do justice to Derek/Stiles?

THIS. EXACTLY THIS.

[rhodynne.livejournal.com]

~I've decide with Jackson gone, the team needs some help. So Coach found Boyd, gave him the "hey baby" smile and then basically informed him he was now on cross country and then lacrosse.

~Good lookout, that tree does seem to be cropping up. It is, as always, a crapshoot as to whether the writers have noticed. :-P

~"She doesn't look Druish."

~I liked Scott and Allison's little moment. Except, since they're not really talking yet, why'd she let him into her room? Isn't that a violation of the whole "I can't really be near him yet" thing?
I agree, what military has armor piercing arrows? Besides the Spartan Army?

~A penthouse, yeah, but a penthouse in Beacon Hills. You know that building is just a step away from being abandoned (hello, shopping mall???) so it was Super Cheap.

~planning, meh. Leather Vest HI BOYD!

~I don't know what about Cora and the boys. I can see her being all "I can't talk bout it *sob*" and Derek backing away immediately because, ew emotions. But I don't see Uncle Re-Peter being put off by anything. So that little talk on the stairs was nice for me because they're both "I don't trust you at ALL" and I really just wanted someone to say it out loud. I do want to see something of Boyd and Cora's relationship. They were stuck in a room together for 3 months, they must have some kind of interesting dynamic.

~Lydia does know, during the Dead Baby Day talk Stiles told her. I find it wonderful and possibly interesting that she simply chose to ignore it. Nobody tells Danny anything he needs to know to make informed decisions about his life.
Too bad about that phone, no off switch. Maybe he should exchange it?
The whistle thing hit some of my buttons ( I have more issues than a Grandpa's National Geographic Collection) but to me it was worth it just for the smile he gives that kid.
Dylan. That's all I should ever have to say. :-D

~I loved the moment with Mama Argent. Is Allison seeing things? Did she just think of her in a crisis? I did like the way Mama went from yelling to teaching, it was better characterization than she got alive.
I thought the black shit was wolfsbane too! I don't know why suddenly it isn't, damn this show.

~SHE COULDN'T OPEN THE GATE! I don't think it was just a power play with Deaton. I don't think she could touch the gate! WHAT'S IT MEAN?!?
Gross, to D killing the big guy. eww. And the reaction of Kali was interesting. Do they think he died from his wounds? Or is she mad because now D has the extra power? Or did they play Spite & Malice every night and now she has no one to play with?

~The toenails make me crazy, the fight was stoopid, and I want to know why they want Derek so bad.
BUT, Scott's momentary Alpha!Eyes were cool.
Maybe the no-shooting-the-actual-bad-guys was her way of staying "out" of the whole thing? She'll even the playing ground, give the underdogs (heh) a fighting chance, but not actually affect the outcome?

~I'm just going to go with Derek not remembering that his remaining betas were out of town. So he's in the parking lot looking for the Jeep, when blood loss gets the best of him and he lands on Jennifer.
...sure, that works...so long as you don't ask where Cora and Uncle CrazyPants are...
I'm okay with the idea of them vs. Sterek, but it seems way to fast for the show. I have this elaborate thing where she's lonely and overwhelmed and has a bad history with leaping at the first guy who's nice to her and he's so beaten down and weirded out by his sister that he stops thinking and it just happens and the next day they'll be all "yeah...maybe we could just forget this ever happened..."

Again, I'm working harder than the writers. As for the tumblr wank, pfffttt. I could give a... I'm always on the outside of this stuff, good and bad. If you keep writing, and another half dozen authors I can think of, I'm good. If I'm not going to stop watching this annoying and glorious show for all the crap they mess up, tumblr certainly isn't going to get me to stop.

I'm old enough to have been watching the night Dave and Maddie finally kissed ~'ships made canon~ and that show just fell apart at the seams after that. Derek and Stiles can be together if they promise me its the last season and they wait until there's only about 4 episodes left.
:-D

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

Don't think I've mentioned it, but last season, when Finstock was looking for lacrosse players in the stands, I cringed when he went straight for the big, black guy. I mean, yes, werewolf, but for all Finstock knew, he could have been a drama nerd who hated sports but got dragged there by friends.

YAAAAAAY somebody got my Spaceballs reference!

I figured Allison let Scott in because in every "Previously on Teen Wolf..." they've shown the scene about Allison wanting to have a talk with Scott. Okay, this was kind of Scott talking at Allison (and the sparring), but they do seem to be sort of communicating.

I just can't believe they introduced Cora by dropping that huge emotional bomb... and then did absolutely NOTHING with it. I'm sure(ish?) we'll get to it later, but the reveal was timed terribly. The scene with Peter was good, though.

Right, right, the dead baby day conversation. I had forgotten Stiles mentioned the Forehead Twins, what with all the dead babies being thrown around. Uh, metaphorically.

DYLAN'S FAAAAAAACE.

Totally agree that Mama Argent is getting better scenes now that when she wasn't dead. I'm actually intrigued as to where they're going with Allison seeing and hearing her... though I don't imagine I'll be delighted with the explanation. :oP

I think Morrell couldn't open the gate because Deaton was the one who put the "spark" into the mountain ash? It's not been firmly established whether mountain ash lines can be broken by any human or only by the one who laid it. Or maybe Morrell's some other type of supernatural creature, just for funsies.

I'm guessing they're just going to pass it off as the other alphas simply accepting that Ennis died of his wounds, though if Kali was that attached to him, you'd think she'd at least want to see the body. But I have a feeling that scene was only in there so that Peter and Cora would know for sure that Ennis was dead. Laaaaazy-ass writing.

I think we're supposed to THINK the alphas want Derek, but they actually want Scott, because remember The Girl was asking to see Scott, not Derek. What Deucalion's strategy is, god only knows, but I think that's the BIG TWIST we're going to get soon-ish.

Derek headed to the school because Cora and Peter were out farting around and the high school is literally the only place in town where Derek knows anyone.

I'm thinking of dropping Tumblr altogether. Honestly, it's a chore to check because it takes so damn long to load -- I only follow about 20 people who actually post, and it takes me about an hour and a half (I do other stuff during the load time) to view a day's worth of posts.

And I've not seen Moonlighting, but I know it's the prime example of a show going to shit after the sexual tension is resolved. The only show I can think of that actually pulled it off is The Office. I like your idea of waiting 'til the last season, but those last four episodes had better be nothing but porn!

This got away from me. Sorry.

[rae1013.livejournal.com]

Oh shit. I had to stop and open notepad for my comments. So much awesome here to touch on.

-

Ooh, bad press on the Toyota.

I feel that this was a comment on 'women drivers' and not on Toyota. Like 'she's so emotional she couldn't be trusted to read the gauge' bullshit. And Lydia pointing it out doesn't negate it as she is a passenger, not the driver. It grates on me.

-

Does Lydia know about thing #2? Is anyone going to share?

She wasn't told so much as Stiles let it slip last week while he was trying to convince Lydia to get rid of Prada. Still not really sharing, more assumption that she already knew than anything else.

-

The bit with Finstock and the whistle was almost aggressively not funny, though I loved Stiles losing his temper there at the end.

Can we spend a moment and talk about how damn brilliant Dylan is as an actor? Just a second of your time. Because FUCK!!!!!! Like my temperature was rising with his. His cheeks were flushing with rage. He was in the moment, in complete character and lost his cool right at the end as Stiles. That was superbly done. But I was hoping Finstock would choke on that fucking whistle.

-

So far, the black ooze has been associated with wolfsbane poisoning and bodies rejecting the bite. I was starting to think there was some type of connection, but I think they're just using it as multipurpose gross stuff to let us know Something Bad is Going On.

I think werewolf magic may operate the same as Stiles' spark. Because Scott 'believed' the wound shouldn't heal it didn't. Because Scott 'believed' he should die from the wound it then began to fester and ooze black goo.

-

How did Deucalion get into the vet clinic?

I think the barrier was already broken for Morell and the alphas she brought in, therefore there was no resistence for Deucalion. Like the mental barrier didn't go back up. If you remember, Deaton released the barrier with a nod. Like a mother-fucking Jedi! The force is strong with this one. And he needs to teach Stiles how to handle his fucking force! NO. Wait. That went wrong and got super dirty. My bad.

-
Why didn't Allison bother to, say, hit Deucalion or even Ennis with an arrow or five? They are trying to kill her not-boyfriend.

That wouldn't be conducive to the super convoluted plot. I'm assuming because I don't know what the actual plot is anymore.

-

ARGH, the ending with Derek and Ms. Blake...

I wrote a whole response to this on Tumblr so let me just c/p that here.

This touches on a lot of what made me uncomfortable about the scene we were given. Especially since she appears to be the aggressor during the act. It just reads as all kind of wrong to me. One, Derek hasn’t healed yet, so that implies that alpha wounds take longer to heal even for other alphas, and that Derek went to her for help and instead Blake starts macking on him.

And of course Derek is going to just let her take what she wants because when has Derek ever defended himself? When has he ever valued himself? When has he ever said ‘no’ to anything that could harm him?

And for Blake to go from 75% timid around him to ‘fuck yeah let’s get it on’ in the space of one blood-pumping heartbeat (literally, he is fucking ripped open here) seems a bit off. IMHO.

Also, the same discomfort is felt with the fanart where Blake was swapped with Stiles. I didn’t suddenly go ‘no yeah this is hot’. It still squicked me out. JSYK.

-

And I agree with you 100% about the pairing becoming canon. It would be about 5 seconds of joy before becoming another thing to bitch about. What we (the royal we) want is for it not to be demeaned or made impossible. Don't pull a 'no homo' or het up one of the characters as if to say 'see you're so wrong look at this straight guy here'. Which I don't think Jeff Davis would do but then again Jennifer Blake. Now I'm really, really hoping she's the Darach because her innocuous self suddenly revealed to be the big bad would have seriously awesome ramifications. But then again, Teen Wolf. So I'm not holding my breath.

Also I did not know you were on tumblr. I just stalked you down and followed you. Isn't nice that the tumblr format makes you feel worshipped? Some more than others. W/E.

Re: This got away from me. Sorry.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

Ick, I hope it wasn't commentary on women drivers. That's not how I perceived it -- I thought it was just a super-convenient plot device for why they couldn't just drive Scott out of there and had to end up with them on the bus.

Yeah, I'd forgotten about that part of Lydia and Stiles' conversation, as it was somewhat overshadowed by the dead babies.

Okay, yes, Dylan's face is a thing of magic, and his reactions were perfect. I just groaned at the fact that they were essentially reenacting a scene from Austin Powers.

That's certainly plausible about the mental barrier, but you'd think Deaton would be more careful than that. Eh.

As far as the Derek/Blake scene from next week, all I've actually seen are two gifs. I try to go spoiler-free between episodes, so I need to wait and see what the context is, but even if she is the instigator, I am of two minds about it. I don't see it as being in character for her (though we have almost no characterization to go on) BUT I can see Derek as completely starved for touch from someone who has no (known) ulterior motives, and odds are Blake doesn't KNOW she's taking advantage of that. I'm not saying that would make it right, I'm just saying that it MIGHT be something Derek wants and finally gets. But, again, I'm going off of nothing but two gifs.

What we (the royal we) want is for it not to be demeaned or made impossible.

Totally makes sense. But there is no canon evidence that Derek is gay or bisexual and Stiles is underage, which everybody seems to forget and which I think Derek might actually be sensitive to (though he wasn't with Erica, so... I may have undermined my own point). I'm just happy that we're finally going to get an actual queer relationship on the show, because as "gay-friendly" as it is, there has been very little actual gayness (gaiety?). But Danny's bound to get his heart broken AGAIN, because, you know, having feelings for half of a fisting werewolf Transformer cannot end well.

Ooh, I would LOVE for Ms. Blake to turn out to be the Darach... except that it would further traumatize Derek. Really, I don't know how they're going to handle that relationship in a way that DOESN'T end in more trauma for Derek.

Re: This got away from me. Sorry.

[rhodynne.livejournal.com]

I don't think we have any actual idea that Derek did anything with Erica but let her kiss him? Am I forgetting something?

...they're going to hurt Derek so bad, aren't they? *wibble

Re: This got away from me. Sorry.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of the scene where Derek turns Erica. He wheels her into the empty hospital room and starts running his hands up her legs and basically seduces her into taking the bite.

And yes, they are going to do terrible, terrible things to Derek. Seriously, it's like they're just stomping on him for fun now.

Re: This got away from me. Sorry.

[rae1013.livejournal.com]

OH! You're so right. Derek is touch starved and just starving for some kindness in his life. Which just makes the relationship with Blake all the more horrible to me. And that's only because they haven't given her a role outside of damsel in distress and forced love interest.

If she had half of a personality I'd be less afraid about the make out scene. Hell, the writers put more of an effort to develop the lesbian couple in the woods and they were only around for less than a fourth of one episode.

If Blake's characterization weren't so shady (shady in that it is so lacking) I wouldn't be as worried. My fear is that Derek let's himself close to someone again and it turns into another 'Kate' situation.

OH! What if Blake is the head Alpha. Like holy shit. Cause Scott didn't sense that Duke was an alpha or even that he was a werewolf while leading him all over the hospital. What if Blake is HBIC and the Alpha's are terrified of her and that is why she was the one to suspend the twin, and also why she didn't have a nervous breakdown in the basement.

Oh, this is my new head canon. I can't think of anything else but how glorious this would be. Better even than her being the Darach.

Re: This got away from me. Sorry.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

If Blake's characterization weren't so shady (shady in that it is so lacking) I wouldn't be as worried. My fear is that Derek let's himself close to someone again and it turns into another 'Kate' situation.

Yes, this. I don't want her character to turn out to be as bland as she seems, but the only other option seems like she's secretly EEEEEEEEVIL. And it would be awesome if she were head alpha. Bad for Derek, but awesome.

[verizonhorizon.livejournal.com]

This is fascinating b/c I'm watching Teen Wolf with little to no fandom interaction (except catching up on your rants). I just watched the latest episode and was surprised that the best scene with the best tension for me was definitely Allison and Scott's fight. As a casual viewer, I remember very little detail from week to week, although I know at some point the Druid plot and the alpha pack plot will meet up. The particular mystery bothering me the most tonight is what is up with Lydia. Is she human still? Is she something else? What gives? Does she even know? As for Blake and Derek, I'm reserving judgment until I have some context.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

Probably a good choice, staying out of the fandom. You can read the fic without getting tangled up in the madness. That's what I'm trying to do.

We don't know what's up with Lydia. Jeff Davis has said she's neither a witch nor a psychic, but that we will find out at some point in the season. All indications are that she's human with some "gift" that she's becoming aware of but doesn't understand -- whatever you're imagining, it's probably more interesting than what it'll turn out to be. All we know for sure is that she's immune to a werewolf bite and she was able to be possessed by Peter.

[chibinecco.livejournal.com]

I see your "don't make it cannon"and raise you a Klaine, though honestly, I think they're just the exception that proves the rule. Give it time, Ryan Murphy will fuck that one up eventually. (btw, that was a Glee reference, since I know you dying follow the show, though you probably know the portmanteau art least... And I blame this bit of nonsensical babble on 11:18?)