by Chelsea Doyle, Editor

So this show is one of those guilty pleasure I have. I like it a lot better than The Vampire Diaries for a variety of reasons. By the way, that show is still off my DVR list. It feels good. I like Teen Wolf because it knows how cheesy it is and embraces that. None of them take themselves too seriously, you can see this by how silly the writers and actors are when talking about it. I am affectionate toward people who say “it is what it is” about their material. They’re all sweet, charming, and down to earth, outside of a few – ahem colton ahem – and I don’t know. It’s cute. I laugh a lot while watching. I also go wtf at least once an episode, and at the end of the day it is entertaining. Also, I love that the parents are such a major part of the show. Too often teenagers run amuck and we never see their parents or they just mindlessly ignore things. I loved when Buffy the Vampire Slayer made Joyce a regular character and let her step up. I feel the same about this show and how active the parents are in the life of their kids, and if they aren’t, it’s clearly because they are apathetic and that’s frowned upon (re: Lydia’s parents).

A general summary: Teen Wolf is about Scott McCall, who got bitten by a werewolf and becomes the teen wolf in question. He’s goofy, sweet, a little native and immature, but he has a good heart. He’s had to navigate the waters of being in a new supernatural and dangerous world while continuing on with his day to day life. He falls for Allison Argent, who wouldn’t you know it belongs to a family of werewolf hunters. They have a strict code, and her father Chris Argent follows that code to a T. Of course he also has his own sense of morality which occasionally deviates from the normal hunters. Allison’s best friend Lydia Martin got sucked in the show by proximity and then because she mysteriously cannot succumb to a werewolf bite. Hmmm! She also helped resurrect Peter Hale somehow, who was the first season bad guy, an alpha werewolf who went on a tear around town. His nephew Derek Hale is the main alpha, and boy is he bad at it. Honestly it’s an ongoing joke how terrible he is at being in charge. There’s also Stiles Stilinski, the only fully normal human on the show who is Scott’s BFF and the comedy relief. Last season we were introduced to new werewolves Isaac, Erica, and Boyd, who became Derek’s pack, although their fate was left unknown by the end. There was also Jackson, but who cares about him because he’s gone and his actor’s kind of a jerk. As mentioned before, Scott’s mother, Stiles’ father, and Chris Argent are all regular and active members of the show. And they rock.

The show picks up after the summer when the kids are all getting ready to go back to school. First we see Isaac escaping a group of alphas that Derek warned him about at the very end of last season. A mysterious woman is trying to save him, but they’re both injured and sent to the hospital. Meanwhile Scott and Allison have avoided each other to get some space, but are still hung up of course. Lydia has moved on from Jackson. The kids run into each other while driving and this leads to a suicidal Bambi jumping through Lydia’s front window. Ooookay. This becomes a serious problem through the episode as a bunch of birds commit suicide flying into a classroom and the mysterious vet from the past few seasons say other animals are killing themselves. It’s supposed that it has to do with the pack of alphas in town. And the girl who saved Isaac says Scott is the alpha she’s looking for. Him? Really? Aw.  I guess anyone is better than Derek.

When he goes to the hospital – thanks to his mother – to find Isaac he is waylaid by a blind man. Who is obviously evil but they don’t reveal that yet. He fights with one of the alphas in the elevator only for Derek to save him and Isaac both. There’s also something about how these twin alphas can turn into one giant wolf. WTF IS THAT. IT LOOKS TERRIFYING. That girl (can I call her a hunter? No idea) brands Lydia and Allison with a strange mark and then she is subsequently killed by the blind alpha and his gang. For some reason they spend way too much time in this episode on Scott’s path to getting a tattoo that will stick. They sort of explain it, but it still seems silly. Isaac can’t remember what happened to Erica and Boyd, unfortunately, although at the end of the episode it is implied they are together for now. We can’t see them very well.

So! Teen Wolf is back. I’m glad. I still find it a thoroughly entertaining show. I do think it was silly to waste so much time on Scott’s tattoo, but it also seemed like something he’d do. Stiles’ hair looks a lot better, I think we can all agree on that. I’m intrigued to see what happened with Erica and Boyd, DON’T BE DEAD, and what the alpha pack is there for. It has to be said the CGI for this show is the absolute worst. Adorably terrible. I don’t think they’re even trying, which is fine by me, because I’d feel bad for them if they were. And the music hahaha. Oh MTV. In general I had a good time and I’m into seeing more.

Rating: – Not a bad opening, although it should have spent less time on Scott’s tattoo and more on the actual interesting things going on.

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