Teen Wolf Season Three A
Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5
If you're a child of the 80s or early 90s, you may have grown up with Teen Wolf starring Michael J Fox. Based on the hit movie, Teen Wolf the TV show has stepped in to fill the void. First the country went crazy for vampires, now for werewolves. The show follows Scott McCall, a shy teenager, as he copes with life as a lycanthrope. He is joined by his best friend, love interest, and rivals in high school.
Season Three of Teen Wolf was inexplicably broken down into two halves: 3A and 3B. They have two decidedly different overall themes and bad guys, but I was incredibly surprised by how long they decided to make it. Since the two parts are radically different, I'm going to review them as two parts and consider them two different seasons for all intents and purposes. 3A has 16 episodes that encompass the threat and resolution of the Alpha Pack storyline.
The Alpha Pack: Led by the blind demon-wolf Ducalion, it's a whole pack of Alphas who've killed their packs to become stronger. You know what's great about them? It's 5 Alphas with different personalities and abilities. Every one of them is hot and threatening and everything you want in a bad guy. Also, not NEARLY as annoying as most of the people they're trying to kill. While Ducalion is dead set on either eliminating the threat of Scott being a true Alpha or collecting him in his pack, he's got to get through quite a few bodies to do that. In the process, Derek ends up losing his "alpha-ness" to save his (stupid) sister after she gets hurt indirectly because of the Alpha pack. Really just lots of good things here.
Turns out the Alpha Pack brought more than just attitude with them, they invited a serial killer to take her revenge - Jennifer. She claims that after Kali bitched up her face and left her for dead, the nemeton brought her back to life. She also claims she had to take the sacrifices. You have to see the new Star Trek movie - you don't have to kill a fistful of people. After Ducalion takes a swipe at her neck, we see her crawling back to the stump. Peter gets her there, but I'm not sure if she's still alive after his power trip speech. Not everyone really dies on this show, so he could be keeping her for his own plans later on. Having a darach would be useful for him I guess. Or did he just use her to fully power up the nemeton.
Then, after all that, Scott lets Ducalion go. Really? Psycho demon wolf who crushes people's faces? I get that he's hot and was totally sane once, but not sure if that's the way I would have gone. He was an interesting enough character that I wouldn't mind if he had a spot later on in the show though, so let's see where that goes.
Motel California. This whole episode felt very out of place to me. I mean, it was good. The story was interesting, but it felt like I was watching Supernatural as opposed to Teen Wolf. Now we've got a haunted motel that possesses a bunch of the students, a mysterious link to the Argent family, the revelation that Gerard is still alive, and some very intense Derek/Jennifer frickle frackle. All in all, I'm not sure if the strangeness of this episode compared to all the others is a pro or a con, but the episode itself was pretty damn good so I'll ignore it especially because of my favorite moment where Scott is about to kill himself over guilt for Derek where it cuts away to Derek getting laid. Good show, old boy.
Visionary was much the same in the sense that it felt out of place and didn't really move anything forward. Did we get anything from this episode that actually mattered? I mean, I appreciate the extreme closeups of Ian Bohen's goatee, but I don't think it actually told us anything that was important to the storyline aside from a little virgin on root action.. Now, on Ducalion's end it was interesting back story, but a whole episode?
I am displeased with the whole Cora thing. So Derek has another sister, but hey wasn't she burned in the fire? No. Are we going to explain how she got out? No. Is she at all useful to the story? No. Is she at least an interesting character? Not even close. She's close to being on par with Erica for being as much of a douchebag, but she one ups her by also being a hypocritical airhead ready to pull dumb stunts then immediately chew out other people for doing the same things. She makes me wish we had Erica back. I'm very ready for her to die.
Deaton has been hovering on the outskirts, just kinda chilling for the last two seasons. This season he's taking a more active approach and being extra cool. The Sheriff is stepping up and joining him on Team Awesome. And Jennifer was an interesting character and well acted when not in full crazy mode.
Isaac was the gem that I didn't recognize before. This season, we get to see a lot more of all the characters and they are much more fleshed out. I'm not sure if the writers are growing or if the show was meant to grow with the characters. Either way, Isaac has become one of my new favorites. He's a sometimes funny, often emotionally fragile character like we've never really seen on this show. Everyone is so busy trying to be strong all the time. Well Isaac can still be strong, but he's got an unashamedly soft core that he's willing to let people see. Unfortunately, he takes after Derek in his poor decision making, though he often doesn't get people killed as much.
Overall, I feel like this was a very ambitious season. It had its pitfalls and some strange pacing, but I feel like its much improved from what we saw in the last two seasons. Characters are getting more fleshed out and also allowed to act more natural. We're getting a chance to see the skills some of these actors possess. We're also getting more interesting bad guys and a lot of territory to cover in the future. I'm increasing my overall score from a 3 of the last two seasons to a solid 3.5. I want to verge on a 4, but I'm not ready for that kind of leap yet. However, I'll readily admit that I'm starting to get sucked in and really enjoy this show.
You can purchase Teen Wolf: Season 3, Part 1 from Amazon. If you are an Amazon Prime member, the first two seasons are free on Prime as well as the first half of Season 3. All seasons are also theoretically on MTV.com, but it seems like half the episode are "not available" at any given time. I don't understand why as it's their TV show, but I don't get paid to ask questions.
Here is also a link to a website that lists the songs played in the Season Three episodes.
If you're a child of the 80s or early 90s, you may have grown up with Teen Wolf starring Michael J Fox. Based on the hit movie, Teen Wolf the TV show has stepped in to fill the void. First the country went crazy for vampires, now for werewolves. The show follows Scott McCall, a shy teenager, as he copes with life as a lycanthrope. He is joined by his best friend, love interest, and rivals in high school.Season Three of Teen Wolf was inexplicably broken down into two halves: 3A and 3B. They have two decidedly different overall themes and bad guys, but I was incredibly surprised by how long they decided to make it. Since the two parts are radically different, I'm going to review them as two parts and consider them two different seasons for all intents and purposes. 3A has 16 episodes that encompass the threat and resolution of the Alpha Pack storyline.
Big Bad of the Season:
- The Alpha Pack: What's worse than one alpha? A whole pack of them. The concept is almost absurd, but I'll go with it mostly because everyone is hot, but also because they're not whining teenagers which just really gets me going. They waltz onto the scene with some cryptic symbols and a whole lot of blood. They carry on with the blood but throw in some tense high school classes and sleeping around. It ends like you would expect: blood, teamwork, and a second chance. It's cliche but actually very entertaining.
- The sacrificing serial killer: When they want people dead, they mean really dead. The threefold death includes strangling, head injuries, and a slit throat. That's the kind of dead you don't come back from (unless you're watching Supernatural... or Buffy) and is inherently un-wolfy. We confirm this after we start getting rather terrifying glimpses of a white cut up face. They ruin it a little when some of the shots linger too long on the face, which takes much of the horror away from it but whatevs.
Top 9 Favorite Moments of Teen Wolf Season Two
- S3.E1: Everything about Stile's reaction to Scott's new tattoo. Also, the intro of the mysterious leather-clad woman on a motorcycle saving Isaac's ass? That's some real live Buffy shit right there.
- S3.E3: Stiles and Melissa in the morgue. Melissa Ponzio always does a great job as Melissa and Stiles is ready to save the day with his quick thinking and wonderful, emotional acting.
- S3.E4: Danny offering to sleep with Stiles. The fandom loves Danny. We don't get enough of him.
- S3.E5: The bus. From poor Jared about to hurl the whole time to Coach being an epic ass and Stiles just being Stiles, the whole ride was great. Also, can we focus on the fact that Peter made a Hercules reference? I'm sorry, he will always be Hercules to me. How about Lydia being a BAMF with Aiden as well. If you haven't noticed, I'm way more into this season than the other two.
- S3.E7: Melissa saving the day and Danny's life. And the award goes to... Plus Scott and Isaac being the most incompetent guards ever.
- S3.E9: Ethan turning into a soccer mom and fussing over Danny. You are just turning into the cutest thing in the whole world. I love these two! Also, I'm super proud of the Sheriff. He may have had a bad run with all the supernatural bullshit, but he's still a damn good cop.
- S3.E10: Mommy McCall for the win! Also big shout out to Isaac for being the comic relief here.
- S3.E11: I don't think a panic attack has ever set off the fans the way Stile's did. Him and Lydia were great here.
- S3.E12: I actually think this was a pretty good finale. The most touching part for me was the kids down in the root cellar with their parents. They pulled through in the end.
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| Mad skillz, bruh. |
Major Story Arcs
Turns out the Alpha Pack brought more than just attitude with them, they invited a serial killer to take her revenge - Jennifer. She claims that after Kali bitched up her face and left her for dead, the nemeton brought her back to life. She also claims she had to take the sacrifices. You have to see the new Star Trek movie - you don't have to kill a fistful of people. After Ducalion takes a swipe at her neck, we see her crawling back to the stump. Peter gets her there, but I'm not sure if she's still alive after his power trip speech. Not everyone really dies on this show, so he could be keeping her for his own plans later on. Having a darach would be useful for him I guess. Or did he just use her to fully power up the nemeton.
Then, after all that, Scott lets Ducalion go. Really? Psycho demon wolf who crushes people's faces? I get that he's hot and was totally sane once, but not sure if that's the way I would have gone. He was an interesting enough character that I wouldn't mind if he had a spot later on in the show though, so let's see where that goes.
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| Teen Wolf says yes to drugs. They don't last long. |
Pros and Cons
As far as great opening episodes for the season, this is really the way to go. We jump in and immediately get down to what feels like it's going to be an interesting plot and we're already fleshing out the characters. This is a full speed ahead way to go and I was very pleased by that.Motel California. This whole episode felt very out of place to me. I mean, it was good. The story was interesting, but it felt like I was watching Supernatural as opposed to Teen Wolf. Now we've got a haunted motel that possesses a bunch of the students, a mysterious link to the Argent family, the revelation that Gerard is still alive, and some very intense Derek/Jennifer frickle frackle. All in all, I'm not sure if the strangeness of this episode compared to all the others is a pro or a con, but the episode itself was pretty damn good so I'll ignore it especially because of my favorite moment where Scott is about to kill himself over guilt for Derek where it cuts away to Derek getting laid. Good show, old boy.
Visionary was much the same in the sense that it felt out of place and didn't really move anything forward. Did we get anything from this episode that actually mattered? I mean, I appreciate the extreme closeups of Ian Bohen's goatee, but I don't think it actually told us anything that was important to the storyline aside from a little virgin on root action.. Now, on Ducalion's end it was interesting back story, but a whole episode?
I am displeased with the whole Cora thing. So Derek has another sister, but hey wasn't she burned in the fire? No. Are we going to explain how she got out? No. Is she at all useful to the story? No. Is she at least an interesting character? Not even close. She's close to being on par with Erica for being as much of a douchebag, but she one ups her by also being a hypocritical airhead ready to pull dumb stunts then immediately chew out other people for doing the same things. She makes me wish we had Erica back. I'm very ready for her to die.
Deaton has been hovering on the outskirts, just kinda chilling for the last two seasons. This season he's taking a more active approach and being extra cool. The Sheriff is stepping up and joining him on Team Awesome. And Jennifer was an interesting character and well acted when not in full crazy mode.
Isaac was the gem that I didn't recognize before. This season, we get to see a lot more of all the characters and they are much more fleshed out. I'm not sure if the writers are growing or if the show was meant to grow with the characters. Either way, Isaac has become one of my new favorites. He's a sometimes funny, often emotionally fragile character like we've never really seen on this show. Everyone is so busy trying to be strong all the time. Well Isaac can still be strong, but he's got an unashamedly soft core that he's willing to let people see. Unfortunately, he takes after Derek in his poor decision making, though he often doesn't get people killed as much.
Overall, I feel like this was a very ambitious season. It had its pitfalls and some strange pacing, but I feel like its much improved from what we saw in the last two seasons. Characters are getting more fleshed out and also allowed to act more natural. We're getting a chance to see the skills some of these actors possess. We're also getting more interesting bad guys and a lot of territory to cover in the future. I'm increasing my overall score from a 3 of the last two seasons to a solid 3.5. I want to verge on a 4, but I'm not ready for that kind of leap yet. However, I'll readily admit that I'm starting to get sucked in and really enjoy this show.
Where to Watch
You can purchase Teen Wolf: Season 3, Part 1
from Amazon. If you are an Amazon Prime member, the first two seasons are free on Prime as well as the first half of Season 3. All seasons are also theoretically on MTV.com, but it seems like half the episode are "not available" at any given time. I don't understand why as it's their TV show, but I don't get paid to ask questions.Here is also a link to a website that lists the songs played in the Season Three episodes.