Where was the pink champagne on ice?

[the_deep_magic]

I liked the episode, but I don't think it warranted all the crazy hype.  Maybe it's because I've watched Hannibal, among other things, but I feel like the "viewer discretion is advised" warning was mostly for the long, loving shot of Danny's nipple.  Uh, I don't think that's a spoiler.

• Items of "Continuity": Derek's loft appears to be bolted and barred from the outside (?); Deucalion bit Chris' uncle, causing him to kill himself; Gerard is alive and presumably Chris has known where he was this whole time.


• At least they writers seemed somewhat aware of the movies they were ripping off: The Shining, Psycho (the Bates Motel was in Fairvale, CA), Poltergeist (TV static), 1408, Saw (I assume?), The Two Towers (Isaac's little conversation with himself).  Any others anyone can think of?  The faces in the wood and the shot of the ceiling fan seemed familiar (ETA: from Twin Peaks, thank you vee_dub).


• There really is a Glen Capri Inn & Suites in California... but it's down in LA county.  It's obviously a bit nicer, but it is actually a motel and the sign -- at least the original one from the 1960s -- is the same as in the show.  A bunch of other stuff has filmed there -- the scariest being Georgia Rule with Lindsey Lohan -- so it might've been filmed on location.  Probably everybody already knows this from Tumblr or some shit, but I had to Google it.


• I think/hope Stiles was kidding about having put Derek on the list of Darach suspects, because seriously, Derek?  Pulling off all this covert dark magic shit?  Just try to imagine it.  Shh, take a moment to really picture it.


• I like to think Chris knows werewolves well enough that he can accurately imagine the completely unnecessary backflips that go down during fights.


• Allison: "It's not like this place is haunted, right?"  Uh, Lydia just heard disembodied voices next door of a couple that shot each other.


• Why would becoming a werewolf heal Danny's old scars?  I don't think the healing is retroactive, and scar tissue isn't like asthma.


• Who or what caused the car wreck that stopped traffic and delayed the meet (ignoring the fact that a meet's not going to be delayed/canceled because one school doesn't show)?  Is this important?  Did the Darach orchestrate this or just plant wolfsbane in the whistle (hey, that sounds kind of dirty) and run for it?


• Stiles just throwing himself in the path of a power saw to save Ethan is... well, I don't know what it is.  Hopefully it's an actual bit of characterization and not just a reason for Ethan to tell Scott that Derek's alive.  Also, why in hell does Ethan think Scott saved him?  Did I miss something, or did he just not remember?


• And I'm glad Stiles drew the connection with Lydia's party, because that had been bugging me.


• Why would Boyd work at an ice rink?  To punish himself?  Does anyone on this show not have a martyr complex?  (Well, Stiles may have a benign messiah complex, but that's a thought for another day.)


• Okay, I like Derek and Ms. Blake together better now, but: they really didn't have to go straight to home base, particularly with Derek's gaping wounds.  And if they did (she's got some kind of fetish?), you couldn't have saved him some grief and at least been on top, Blake?  I'd have liked it better if they'd just kissed until, you know, Derek's insides were back on the inside.  And seriously, kissing would have been enough, because the way that Derek hesitated and then his breath shuddered a little before he kissed her back?  GUH.  FETCH THE PANTY EXTINGUISHER.  But I guess we don't have time for any sort of "build-up" or "romance" or "characterization."  Naw, it's straight-up sex until we figure out how they're going to use Ms. Blake (Why can't I call her Jennifer?  Well, I still can't call my own high school teachers by their first names, even when I [briefly] worked with them.) to torture Derek.  How can this possibly end well?  I almost like the idea of Derek faking his death and running off with her, that is how much I want Derek not to suffer.


• I laughed out loud at a really inappropriate moment before Boyd tried to drown himself, because I thought he was going to try to electrocute himself with the safe in the bathtub.  Good luck with that, buddy.  If he can lift the safe so easily, why would it be able to hold him down?  And does heat always counteract wolfsbane poisoning, or what?


• I wonder why Isaac hid under the bed -- an enclosed space -- instead of trying to kill himself like the others.  His poor face looking out from under the bed... until Stiles shoved a road flare in it.  Good times.


• And, of course, we have that gorgeous, gorgeous scene between Scott and Stiles, with Stiles crying again (Does he still feel like a "no one," I wonder?  I don't think that's how Scott intended it to sound, but it did verge on "I was a nobody just like you are.").  I love that it was Stiles that talked Scott down, not Allison.  I'm not a Scott/Stiles shipper (they're essentially brothers, and that's not my cup of slash), but wouldn't Stiles be a much, much better anchor than Allison?


• Ha ha, that stupid-ass whistle was important, even though it makes no fucking sense at ALL as a wolfsbane-dispersal unit.  Finstock would've either been stoned off his ass (that would be a fun fic for someone to write) or very, very dead from aconite poisoning.  (Also, I kept thinking of Gob Bluth: "But how did the wolfsbane get in the whistle?")


• Something about the last scene between Gerard and Chris struck me as off.  Obviously, Chris has been visiting Gerard, though not often, but it still seemed a bit too... casual, I guess?  Gerard was essentially responsible for the death of his wife (and probably his uncle as well) and he was perfectly willing to let the kanima kill Allison.  I hope we find out why Chris is so keen to avenge his uncle, because just last week he was all preachy about not getting involved, and I thought he'd learned his lesson about revenge.  Ah, but that wouldn't make for an interesting story, would it?

Alas, no rant tonight, since I don't think I've been back on Tumblr in almost a week.  And honestly, I don't feel like I'm missing much.

ETA: I found this meta on Derek/Jennifer to be really interesting and to help explain all the steps that were blithely skipped over, and why that makes sense for both of them.  (It does have an eye on a Stiles/Derek end game, but so do I.)(In theory, at least, if not in canon.)

Comments

[vee-dub.livejournal.com]

Faces in the wood and shots of ceiling fans is straight up Twin Peaks.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

YES, YES, THANK YOU, THIS WAS DRIVING ME BATSHIT!

[rhodynne.livejournal.com]

~Hands of everybody who wasn't surprised Chris knew where Gerard is, keeping him locked away.

~Stiles is too smart for some of that list. He'd be the first one to still be wondering where Gerard went, unless he's a "out of sight, out of mind" guy, which I don't think he is.
The writers can't have it both ways; he doesn't trust Derek, yet has never once refused to help him. Pick ONE!

~I hope they're setting up Psychic!Lydia

~"It was a fierce battle, both masters"

~I liked Ethan and Danny, although the bite shouldn't heal old scars. Maybe he doesn't know that? Born Were? If Danny had a bar put in at 14, and it stayed there for 2 years...math isn't my forte, but how old is Danny?

~Power tools don't stop that fast.

~Maybe Ethan just doesn't count humans as anything. Actions by the human counts as the Were's action?

~Maybe the wolfsbane was supposed to fuck them up at the meet? Maybe they planned on people getting hurt and hunters getting involved? Maybe the writers never thought it through? :-P

~I liked that Allison's reaction to Scott wasn't "get out!" but "are you ok?" I also liked that Allison is willing to believe Lydia, without any evidence, but is still looking for rational explanations.
What I didn't like was her in the hallway talking to her dad, and then going back to the room where suddenly her hair's wet and she half-dressed? c'mon you guys! dammit.

~I too like Derek and Jennifer (I made myself write her name, it felt dirty ;-) ). Not ever having had sex with a gaping abdominal wound, or with someone with a gaping abdominal wound, I have to agree that it is the yuckiest idea ever. The healing power of orgasm also made me giggle a bit. But I buy that they both need some comfort, and I don't even need them to ignore it tomorrow.
I want to know something about her, I want them to make her a person. before they kill her or make her evil.
But! How'd she get him on the bed? I love that her priorities are "on my god" for beauty first and gaping wounds separate. A girl's gotta have her standards. :-)

~I wonder if the bit about faking death might go somewhere?

~I like that Lydia is learning how to control Stiles and his talking habit. He hesitates and she's "Stiles!" and it makes him say what he's thinking. Then she just lets him run until she's doing something else, then its another "Stiles!" to make him pay attention. It was a nice look at the two of them.

~Someone said the safe was to keep him from floating up and healing. That works, cause I'm afraid I laughed a bit too.

~Don't know about Isaac. Maybe the under the bed thing was his brain putting him in the freezer? And he didn't know he was free?

~They didn't actually need a flare to work under water, Boyd's feet were hanging out.

~Beautiful moment with the boys. It looked to me as if Stiles only really started crying when Scott says "it all started that night". Does Stiles feel any guilt for that? Scott was out because he talked Scott into it. And I loved the way Scott said "we" were bad at lacrosse, not popular, implying Stiles is still right along with him, even on every front. I like to think that's how Scott really feels about them.

~Lydia covering Stiles was a nice echo of him protecting her in the classroom.

~Ethan says "Derek killed one of ours". Point of fact, Deuc killed (t)Ennis. Maybe he lied to all of them and said he died of his wounds?

~On tumblr someone started a thing saying that Deuc is too young to have bit Uncle Alexander and that the name Deucalion is like the Dread Pirate Roberts. Do you want me to cut and past it so you can read it? Its funny. :-)

~I liked the moment with the whistle for one reason. It shows another aspect of intelligence that they keep ignoring. So far Lydia is spouting trivia and math. The logical leaps of a truly bright mind have been forsaken. (its also the aspect I'm most envious of, so I notice it sometimes). She's clearly been wondering if maybe those moments of finding herself in weird places doing whatever are actually something more, and so she sees the whistle, the stain on the shirt and her bright mind catches it.
But yeah, the logistics of powder in the whistle are stoooopid and clearly the writers are not Lydia.

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

Stiles is just in denial of his love for Derek. He doth protest too much, methinks!

According to an answer Jeff gave on one of those Q&A things, Lydia is neither a psychic nor a witch. But he also lies, so, y'know.

I think they're ALL supposed to be 16/almost 17, since it's the beginning of their junior year. It's just that they're all played by 25-year-olds.

Power tools don't stop that fast.
No, but thank god for TV magic, or STILES' BEAUTIFUL FAAAAAAAAAAACE!

Maybe the wolfsbane was supposed to fuck them up at the meet? Maybe they planned on people getting hurt and hunters getting involved? Maybe the writers never thought it through?

I'll go with "C," final answer.

I, too, wish they'd give Jennifer (you're right, that feels weird) some actual characterization -- she's more a Mary Sue for Derek fans than anything else. HOLY SHIT YOU'VE GOT A HOT BODY OH HEY IS THAT YOUR PANCREAS? IT IS A HOT PANCREAS. Oh, and I like the fan theory that she's faked her own death at some point and is still running from something.

Good point about Boyd's feet. But it's more ~dramatic~ to jab him underwater, I guess.

It looked to me as if Stiles only really started crying when Scott says "it all started that night". Does Stiles feel any guilt for that?

At some point, I'm going to work it into a fic that the reason Stiles never gives up on Scott, not even when he's ditching Stiles for Allison and seeming not to give a shit about Stiles getting beaten up as a warning to him, is that Scott has never, ever brings up the fact that it was Stiles who dragged him into the woods that night. Stiles blames himself for what happened, but Scott doesn't.

Lydia covering Stiles was a nice echo of him protecting her in the classroom.

She's got some serious momentum, being five-foot-nothing and taking both of them DOWN. That was awesome. Though the second Stiles threw the road flare away instead of handing it to someone, I thought "NOOOOOOOOO!"

No doubt Deucalion told everyone that (t)Ennis died from his wounds. I just don't know why no one wants to see the body.

You can totally send me the Dread Pirate Roberts thing!

So far Lydia is spouting trivia and math. The logical leaps of a truly bright mind have been forsaken.

Excellent point. I keep forgetting fic!Lydia does so much more badass stuff than canon!Lydia, who we're just TOLD is brilliant.

[rhodynne.livejournal.com]

His love for Derek is so intense denial is his only comfort and solace.

HOLY SHIT YOU'VE GOT A HOT BODY OH HEY IS THAT YOUR PANCREAS? IT IS A HOT PANCREAS
that is just really fucking funny to me. :-)

You MUST write that fic! Need a beta? I'm not very good! Can I make you dinner? grade your papers?