Teen Wolf Recap (season 1, episode 5): The Tell

It’s worth mentioning that Teen Wolf is a little better this week. You know, relatively.

Watching Teen Wolf makes me feel sad and kind of icky. As such, there is a preoccupation amongst my readers as to whether or not my viewing is elective; am I being forced to do this? It’s a question that’s been raised more than once. Neither sadness nor ickiness are typically sought out by those sound of mind, barring individual masochistic kinks. Although, if the pursuit of unhappiness was a more popular passtime, I’d at least understand Teen Wolf’s high ratings. Penchant for self abuse aside, I’m not really being forced to do this. I was asked to, yes, but not forced. As anyone that’s read my Gossip Girl reviews will know, I have a soft spot for slushy teen dramas, so I was kind of hoping for another guilty pleasure. Every review I’ve written about Teen Wolf has been excessively negative, and that’s not because I’m hoping for the series to be ‘good’ by any serious qualitative standards, but because I could stand for another guilty pleasure. Teen Wolf makes me feel sad and icky, and I’m not being forced to write about it, but I continue to anyway, because I think criticism for criticism’s sake is a worthwhile artistic endeavor. I’m also still kind of hoping that it’ll become something I can enjoy in spite of being total trash; and it’ll always be trash, but I think it has the potential to also be fun.

I’ve mentioned before that I like The Vampire Diaries. I know that I’m not supposed to, being a heterosexual male unmoved (usually) by Ian Somerhalder’s pretty blue eyes, and the first few episodes were of a comparably low quality to Teen Wolf’s display so far. But the narrative was eventually complicated and the writers got a sense for what plots were interesting and worthy of development, and which ones just needed to be dropped. Now, Teen Wolf should definitely follow suit, but I don’t bring it up because of VD’s superior narrative and thematic development (it also has better romance and action, for anyone that’s keeping score), but because Teen Wolf is so obviously aping its format. The words “Twilight ripoff” have been uttered by more than a few critics in my position, but I see more similarities between VD and Teen Wolf. You could argue that there’s a chain of custody sort of thing here, but let’s just not go there.

Stefan and Damon, the male leads of Vampire Diaries set up the archetype that Teen Wolf is using for its narrative protagonists, Derek and Scott. In Vampire Diaries, Damon is the more appealing character (and more popular, I’m told), being the stylish badboy. Anti-heroes always get the best lines, after all, and have more room for outwardly noticable character development, particularly in visual media like television. Derek more or less fulfills the role Damon paved in Teen Wolf’s spiritual predecessor, but without the charm, personality or purpose. Whereas Damon provides an effective thematic foil to his younger brother Stefan, Derek just strolls through scenes aimlessly, stopping only to provide wooden expository dialogue or perform actions that the plot dictates. They’ve cast an actor with brooding good looks and put him in a leather jacket, but muttering your lines in an ominous half whisper and perpetually furrowing your eyebrows does not a compelling anti-hero make. It’s a larger problem, though, the treating of characters as walking plot devices with exquisite abdominal muscles. In spite of being Not Quite Damon, Derek isn’t even the worst offender.

Which brings me to the wonderfully alliterative Scott and Stefan. Scott’s personality has been a focal point of derision in my earlier reviews; to put it bluntly, I’m annoyed that he doesn’t have one. He and Stefan have more overt, intentional differences than Damon and Derek, but they’re both meant to more or less occupy the same territory. Quiet, kind young men keeping a rather terrible secret which tortures them to no end. Or would, if Scott could adequately or consistently portray angst. On the surface, Stefan is a better character because he’s written better and Paul Wesley plays the role with intensity and emotion whereas Tyler Posey (Scott) has the emotional range of a my Labrador retriever; usually frustrated and confused, but occasionally blissful over very simple pleasures. Doesn’t help that he’s written so poorly. But the crucial difference, I think, is that Stefan has a few hundred years under his belt, giving his character intelligence and emotional depth. Scott doesn’t seem to have had a single meaningful experience prior to the whole werewolf thing. A character doesn’t necessarily need to be an immortal to possess depth, but Stefan’s well written angst over his past imbued him with it, and was accentuated by some good acting. Scott lacks any of these attributes, to the show’s overall detriment. Be it his romance, his friends and his involvement with the werewolf plot are all inevitably as shallow as he is.

The Vampire Diaries comparison has been a long time coming; I’d meant to do it earlier, but ended up preoccupied with how insulting I found the show. The comparison’s not really a proportional one in terms of quality, but that’s hardly my fault. It is worth mentioning, however, that tonight’s episode was a step in the right direction, particularly in its use of twists and intrigue straight out of Vampire Diaries. The characters are still flat and boring, and I’m not really convinced the premises’ legitimacy, but I spent less time with my face buried in my hands than usual; I’m often too scared and depressed to look at the screen, but I found my attention halfway engaged tonight. I almost want to know what happens next. For better or worse, I DO think there’s a smidgen of potential here, and I’d like to see it realized, if only to make my Monday nights less prospectively dreadful.  Make it happen, MTV.