Smile! Summer TV ain’t so bad.
Mid-season TV! My impression of programming for summer fillers has always been pessimistic, especially if they’re fresh concepts. Networks at this time are like, “Everyone is travelling, so let’s just throw some random bullshit and see what sticks”. You usually don’t get a Mad Men or The Killing every time, you know? They only put on their serious hats in time for Fall.
So what’s crap and what’s worth watching? Here’s stuff new and old.
NEW SHINY THINGS
Awful. Dreadful. Don’t come back.
Mistresses
What’s this?!: Four grown-ass women with great careers are faced with every possible soap opera love story trope known to mankind. Messy results.
Opinion: Okay, guys. I have to start off with the worst news. Alyssa Milano is in this. So is Yunjin Kim. And from what I’ve seen of their work, they’re mad talented. I mean, I can’t count how many times I’ve ugly-sobbed my way through Jin and Sun scenes towards the end of Lost.
But their presence doesn’t make this good. At all. The writing is painful. The delivery, somehow, is painful. Alyssa Milano’s power lawyer character is nicknamed Savi and her hubby is sterile so she gives in to her creepy colleague. I mean, seriously, the vibes I got when I watched him make passes at her. Can I file for sexual harrassment by this show?
I suppose this is marketed towards housewives with tattered copies of 50 Shades stashed in their top drawer. Because well, it’s about affairs, duh. And the shit spatter that follows. Too bad that the lines are way too cheesy, and the directing is god awful. I’m not even going to go into the others’ stories. You’re better off watching Keyboard Cat on repeat for 40 minutes.
I’ve never watched the British original, but I’ll bet that it’s a million times better than this deuce.
Watch? Hell no, do not touch with a ten foot tampon. (Although, if you’re into Desperate Housewives, this will be twenty times of that.)
It’s raining cops
Graceland
What’s this?! A bunch of hot undercover agents from all walks of US law enforcement live under one roof called Graceland.
Opinion: Do you like Hawaii Five-0? Kicking down doors and sweaty biceps flexing? Good cops parading around with bad girl attitudes? Watching other people drink? Watching people do impersonations while drunk? Watching people banter with the same wit, camaraderie and chemistry you wish you had with your bestest buddies?
Graceland has just slightly more than that, but it’s fun. I try not to think too much about it because it doesn’t sell itself as a serious cop show. Programs like these are all about ogling. Ogling the bodies, ogling the action, ogling the scenery. Brain, see you later, catch you at the door.
Because of that, the show will surprise you often and easily when it does something smart. It handles introductions cleverly. I mean, you’re completely new to the show as the audience and they want to shove you right into the thick of the season’s key issues as quickly as possible. So they have a character, Mike, who’s the new guy thrust into the action. New guy? Yeah, he represents the audience. As he gets introduced to every character in bullet points, we get the same introduction. When we get brief lowdowns on what the situation is like, we start living vicariously through Mike, because he, like us, is new. I thought that was neat.
There are also a few good reveals and episodic twists. The writers do a fine job balancing character growth with trickles of information about their past, which is fine because I can appreciate a slow (but has to be eventual!) unraveling of people. It makes you think about who they really are and what’s their purpose for being in Graceland. “Not everyone is who they seem” is a resonant theme, and thanks to an able cast, you’ll spend a lot of time questioning their strong personalities, decisions and intentions.
Watch?: If you enjoy show with cops who bend rules and spend lots of time drinking, you’ll like this. If you’re masochistic and want something heartwrenching, or are looking for a more structured format, you might want to look for episodes of the brilliant but cancelled Awake.
Love triangleeeee. Obviously.
Twisted
What’s this?: Danny Desai, a teenager fresh out of juvi for murdering his aunt when he was 11 returns to public high school where his two estranged childhood ex-friends Lacie and Jo attend. Unfortunately, someone dies, and he’s an easy target for accusations.
Opinion: Oh look! Another teen show about being severely ostracized for being smart! Or for being a suspected murderer!
There’s something else on ABC Family that’s currently doing the Big Bad Mystery format. You know Pretty Little Liars? If you’ve seen it, the mood and the way the Big Mystery is handled is similar. It’s like how you look at James Franco and Dave Franco without knowing they’re related and though they don’t look quite the same and do different styles of the same genre, you just can’t help but draw a similarity between the two.
How are they the same? Both shows focus on the pivotal deaths of someone prominent in their community (childish, manipulative queen bees). The core group of reluctant friends (Danny, Lacie and Jo) all face unwanted attention from a major antagonistic presence. Questions are hardly answered and when they are, there are even bigger questions. And most of all, you don’t know who the heck is the evil force at work and if there’s ever a conclusion. Oh, and Jo looks like blonde Lucy Hale.
Having sat through four seasons of PLL, I feel like I’m sitting through a spin-off. Like how The Walking Dead game is in the graphic novel universe, just with different characters. I’m not saying it’s a terrible thing, but I just feel like it’s PLL 2.0. Except that, y’know, with 3 key characters in the lead.
Which means that obviously, there’s going to be a love triangle somewhere in there along the way. Just… no more 4-season triangle of doom back and forth. I’ve had enough with Vampire Diaries doing that already.
The premise itself is pretty run-of-the-mill, but it’s executed fairly well. The guy who plays Danny has a really good poker face (as pointed out in the show too) and his old buddies Lacie and Jo are both two very distinct individuals. You can usually look at characters in the pilot and assign them to stereotypes and tropes, but Twisted is quick to introduce new layers to their characters through interesting interactions and memories so that you can’t really categorize them easily.
I’m just not sure about the Big Mystery itself. I’m sensing that it’s just going to be stringing me along for 4 seasons without even dropping a hint on the real identity of the killer and if Danny really murdered his aunt when he was 11. That could be frustrating.
Watch? I wouldn’t recommend it, but since it doesn’t totally gross me out, I’m going to stick to it and see if the season cops out with a cliffhanger that ends up as a red herring on the second season’s premiere.
Look at this JLo-endorsed family. Diverse up and down the street.
The Fosters
What’s this?: The Foster family, made up of two mothers, boy-girl twins, and one biological son, temporarily house angsty teen Callie after she’s released from juvi.
Opinion: Also an ABC Family entry, but this one is so incredibly positive. It’s crazy how feel-good this show is.
First I have to talk about the dynamics of the family. Here you have two women (not married, but as good as), Lena and Stef. Stef had a biological son from her previous marriage. It’s inferred that they’ve been partners for some years because their baby adopted hispanic-identifying twins (an ADD afflicted boy and regular, bitchy girl) are now teenagers. Lena is biracial. With this introduction alone, the show’s tackling every possible controversial topic that a politician could focus on at any Congress debate – homosexuality, premarital sex, prochoice, multi-ethnic families, sexual power, responsibility, adoption, etc.
The family unit functions pretty well, until Lena and Stef decide to house teen rebel Callie. To be honest, the actress who plays Callie really channels a laidback cool girl to a tee. I love that she’s just trying to get by without being wedged back into the awful foster system. And I love a character that doesn’t embrace drama. She just wants to chill out, be left alone and have a roof over her head. No drinking or troublemaking or any of the stuff that makes teens as obnoxious as they tend to be.
I really tried to watch this with an objective eye, but I found myself wanting to hug my screen. When the show starts out, it gives off a very Nickelodeon/Disney teen drama feel, but as you listen to the dialogue and revel in the honest acting, it goes much deeper than that.
There’s really nothing more refreshing than a show that keeps telling you, in many ways, to not be an asshole to the people around you, whether it’s your parents, your friends, your girlfriend, your siblings. And that it’s okay to be yourself. And to ignore asshats that aim to make you feel unsafe because you don’t match their expectations of what a person should be like.
I get so much feels thinking about it!
Watch?: I suppose it depends on your political/religious views. It may feel a little preachy with their messages on tolerance and family values, but I think there are very little shows that even care about presenting these in a recognizable situation/setting above some other crappy melodramatic plotline parading under the guise of critical social commentary. For me, I’m in loveeee.
Self-explanatory
Under The Dome
What’s this?: An invisible dome caps the town of Chester’s Mill and everyone freaks out.
Opinion: Yeah, the premise is that simple. This one has a lot of hype surrounding it because it’s pulled from the pages of Stephen King’s work. It’s just one of those adaptations that have a lot of pressure to perform because of what it’s based on.
I don’t recognize any of the cast except for Brit Robertson, Dean Norris (Haaaaaaank!) and Jeff Fahey (the pilot from Lost, anyone?), so I had an easier time focusing on the characters’ behaviours rather than the actors’ portrayal of them. The main ensemble is actually pretty large, with all their subplots intersecting with the dome crisis.
It’s a little predictable in the sense that you can sort of guess what type of trouble the town goes through. I mean, if you’re a seasoned viewer of all work apocalyptic, you’d know that the general concerns of isolation are food, weapons, water, soundness of mind, medicine and all those other survival-related things. So what I was interested in seeing was the depth and breadth of character development. It’s going to be my reserve parachute for when the explanation and mystery of the dome is either unsolved or poorly resolved. Also, a guessing game for who dies.
I really have to draw a parallel to Lost here, because the format is pretty similar. The island is a character on its own as is the dome. There isn’t much we know about the dome (and neither am I expecting to know it comprehensively) except for some throwaway traits – it’s indestructable, permeable, and it’s effectively sliced a cow right in half. Does the dome make people insane? Are people just projecting their closeted claustrophobia? How long will they be stuck in it? Why does it make people’s pacemakers stop? These are in the same vein of questions that I asked watching Lost. Parallels. You can’t stop it.
The characters are varied and atypical, which I’m grateful for. We have the lady cop who’s made sheriff because of her proven competency (yay!), a mayor who’s in a little shady business with the reverends, the mayor’s obsessive creep son who holds his ex-girlfriend prisoner in his dank basement because he loooooves her, a lesbian interracial couple with an angsty hormonal kid, a woman who unknowingly houses the hitman who killed her husband, a disc jockey and his smarty pants engineer, and probably a slew of other side characters that I’ve missed out on. It’s not exactly Game of Thrones but you still have to keep tabs on a number of them. Thankfully, it’s doesn’t take as much brain power because they hardly ever talk about each other if they’re not in the same space. Or is that a bad thing?
Either way, I think the cast doesn’t seem to have as much onscreen chemistry with one another compared to other big name shows like Lost or Fringe or even the lacklustre Revolution yet. I guess the town just needs a little more time to gel.
80% of the characters appear to have great potential to go batshit insane on everyone else, so I’m just waiting for the day that everyone unhinges at the same time.
Watch? I think it’s worth catching. Plus I especially like seeing Brit Robertson trying desperately to escape her hellhole. I think it’s because it’s more acting range I’ve ever seen her demonstrate. But if you want to avoid a Lost-like fate at all costs then you should just walk away because there’s a really high chance of this show nosediving in that direction.
VETERAN TV
Best friendship EVAR
The Killing
This season: Linden and Holder team up again to bring another slippery murderer down.
Opinion: Treat the third season like it’s the first season. In fact if you’ve never seen The Killing, it’s okay to start from this point because there isn’t anything that you need to know from the last 26 episodes that will stump you now. I like that this is a fresh start. Mostly new cast, new city. I personally loved the Rosie Larsen development (and its flaws), but it’s good to see that they’ve gone on to build a compelling new case.
Linden and Holder’s relationship still remains delightfully platonic and supportive. Their emotional connection as colleagues and friends is, in my opinion, the most honest and enjoyable portrayal of an actual friendship between a man and a woman. And I really appreciate how much they steer away from creating romantic tension, because not all opposite-sex protagonists have to get together. Their teasing banter reminds me so much of what I have with my own buddies, and it’s much more effective in breaking up the dour mood of the show in general.
I’m not saying that the show is in great need of comic relief – God knows how much I love flogging myself with dark, painful stories – but when their friendship moments happen, you can’t help but feel like you want to gather it all up and hide it away because it’s so special.
Needless to say, Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman are masters of their craft. They’re raw, and act the hell out of their characters. Holder is still extremely likable while Linden is extremely flawed (which may annoy some people but I’ve always loved when a character is so deeply etched with imperfection), and they play off the performances of the new people involved in their case with great flair and chemistry.
The new characters are great. The young actors and actresses bring these streetwalking hoodlums big personalities, heart, and a pinch of reality to their roles. I don’t think I’ve ever really thought that much about how much poverty there is in the cities and how many kids or young people who just go on surviving on fifty dollars a week by giving a stranger a handjob. They have ideals, and dreams that they want to achieve, always thinking that they’re on the cusp of breaking out of their vicious cycle when it’s just the naivete of youth pulling wool over their eyes. Worst of all, not only do they have to live this terrible life of selling themselves on the street, but they’re also the target of a murderer who preys on young girls who don’t mean anything to anyone. The kids who get lost in the system of justice, and foster care, and life.
There’s another plot thread, involving a man (namely Peter Sarsgaard) who may or may not be guilty of beheading his wife. It seems to serve as Linden’s special vein of character development and is completely separate from the case. But I’m fairly certain that some twist of fate will magically link them up and my mind will be blown. Sarsgaard is absolutely sublime as a man counting down the days to his execution – he is violent, an enigma, and not as easy to read. Although he appears to be a murderous shit, you’ll really pity the man. And fear him. Simultaneously.
Not much else I can say about the plot because there’s so much exciting stuff that I can’t spoil. So much sad stuff that I can’t spoil. Help!
Watch?: Well clearly I’m still in love with this show, so I’d always recommend it. But if you really hate a slow burn sort of mystery unraveling because you don’t have patience for a 13-episode case, maybe you’d be better off with the gritty-but-procedural Southland.
Final farewell for our fave serial killer
Dexter
This season: Everyone is dealing with the aftermath of Laguerta’s death, and Dexter finds himself responsible for the way Deb feels. As usual, another serial killer is on the loose and another focal character is introduced.
Opinion: The last hurrah for Dexter. I love Michael C Hall, and while I’ll miss his nuanced portrayal of the iconic vigilante, it’s about time for the show to bow out. That awful waste of Edward James Olmos’ talent was a hole that nearly buried it, if not for the last second cliffhanger of Deb discovering Dex’s real nature.
Since we’re in the final season, the writers have every opportunity to stuff in as much development as they can before it all ends. Personally, I think it’s about time we learnt the truth about Dexter’s past and the whole deal with Harry. It’s the best time to dig into Dexter’s identity and that foggy history of his, and the show is achieving that through Miami Metro Homocide’s new neuropsychiatrist consultant Dr Evelyn Vogel.
Vogel is intriguing, creepy, and formidable. She’s very motherly towards Dexter, embracing him for his dark, murderous nature. From the very beginning of the series, we all know that Dexter has never had a mother figure in his life. The closest would probably be Rita, and that’s just freaky to think about it because it’s so oedipal. The moment Vogel is introduced, she’s pretty much mothering Dexter into some sort of manipulation by making him hunt for this season’s serial killer of the moment. Said killer has been scooping bits of people’s brains out and sending it to her.
My only issue is that Vogel’s responses to these “gifts” seem artificial at times, leading me to suspect that the goose chase that Dexter’s being sent on is somehow orchestrated by her. This is just a wild guess, but if it turns out to be that… Well, I called it.
Deb also takes up a fat amount of the screen time, which, contrary to popular opinion, is a good thing. I think Deb being the ultimate (and possibly the only) example of how sudden exposure to Dexter’s preternatural ways can be unforgiving with a person’s sanity. Especially if they’re an emotional firecracker like her. She’s been a constant in his life and it’s so apt to have her be the final straw that break’s Dex compassion and feelings, to be the last link severed before he slips into total monster mode. She’s a great part of the Dexter case study. I just hope they can wrap it up well without reducing her to a big fat plot device for Dexter’s redemption/fall.
Watch?: So far so good. Now’s as good a time as any to eat up the last of the series.
As much comedy as there is blood
True Blood
This season: Bill + Lilith = Billith, Warlow swings by after something like a millenium to claim Sookie, humans may, for once, eradicate the earth of vampires once and for all.
Opinion: I’ll start off boldly by saying that this has been True Blood’s best season since its first. It’s embracing its incredible cheesiness and the show is blessed with an insanely talented cast. There’s very little people who can earnestly deliver corny lines and still come off looking cool or create a mess out of your heartstrings at the end of it.
It seems like since Alan Ball has left the building, they’re really trimming the fat with their stories and thinning the cast out. It’s not a bad thing. They also reduced the season run to 10 instead of the traditional 12, which is basically what I wanted out of True Blood for a long time because it would force them to keep their season arcs watertight. Great.
And though there are still some boring stories (nobody gives a shit about werewolves or shapeshifters at this point), the writers are making quick work of them, moving the stories along at a breakneck pace. The whole focus of this season hinges on this Warlow character and the role he plays in both Sookie’s future and Bill’s reign as a semi-demi-god.
I expected the same T&A routine with lots of blood (which they delivered in spectacular volumes), but I didn’t expect to laugh so hard (in a good way) and be excited to know how Sookie’s situation was going to turn out. I’m literally clawing at my neck in anticipation for True Blood to be in my folder. And I think this is the kind of improvement I yearn to see in a lot of great shows that I’ve grown old and tired with. Streamlining is good. It’s possible to improve your show after so-called jumping the shark. Characters I used to want off my screen are now becoming likable. Underutilized talent is now being stretched to the fullest. And that’s what I’m so impressed with for the new True Blood. In fact, I’m glad to say that knowing Season 7 is a go is pretty great.
Watch?: You might have to catch the semi dreadful previous season, but it’s worth it when you have a fuller understanding on the current season’s context. Man this season is so ridiculous. It’s so good!
Viewers are rotting waiting for this secret
Pretty Little Liars
This season: We catch a glimpse of a red coat and Hannah’s mum is being framed. Nothing much, really.
Opinion: PLL is a show that doesn’t go anywhere. In fact, I’m baffled that I’ve watched it for 3 whole seasons and put up with little to no resolution over the question of, “WHO IS MOTHERFUCKING A?”
Up until now, we know that A is actually a team of people who are scared for their lives over an even bigger bad. All signs point to the false death of Alison DiLaurentis, who’s supposedly been dead since she was introduced in the first season, as well, a dead girl. And not a zombie. Just flat out decomposing. Is red coat actually A, the mastermind?
This exhaustive arc of not knowing who the real A is should be enough to put someone off the show entirely, but thanks to some great dialogue and sassy actresses, you have something to watch. If anything, PLL is an eye-candy show with little to no definitive direction or resolution. It’s not a good sign when your many little subplots with short lifespans hold more water and interest than their seasons-long mystery.
Frankly, this is my last chance I’m giving them before I’m done. If it gives me another rat bastard answer, I’m going to ragequit this show altogether.
Watch?: 4 and a half seasons later and still no payoff. If you’ve never started, forget it. The teen drama isn’t that riveting. If you’re up to season 3, and you’re still invested in what the characters are going through, by all means. But seriously. No.
Skin’s MVPs return one last time
Skins
This season: Effy, Cook and Cassie return for the last run of dramatic young adult shenanigans.
Opinion: I felt like the last generation was terrible. I sat through all of it, hoping to find a sliver of the heart of what made series 1 to 4 riveting, but nope. Disappointment. Shows like these depend on a really strong cast to make the stories of teenagers actually hurt, and I have to say that they were really nailing it the first four years because of multifaceted writing and poignant developments in terms of characters and the general overarching plots.
You can immediately tell the difference in how it approaches the depiction teenage problems – early Skins had always been this incredibly emotional, wrist-slitting, bulemia-hugging, drug-addled, hypersexual trip that was the full representation of a problematic young delinquent. In other teen laden shows you’d notice more care taken to even out the general mood of episodes, where for every dark topic (suicide, eating disorder), there was a PSA-like message not so subtly inserted in someone’s monologue to counterbalance the tragedy that was being presented. I never understood why bringing up the topic of human darkness to young people is an issue, but apparently it is.
Never with Skins. They adopt a shit-happens all the time, no matter what route. The only message is that sometimes life fucks you up and you just can’t control it. That’s what I always liked about the show, especially in this last series. I love Effy. Kaya Scodelario is so beautiful that it hurts. I lose my pants over her all the time. But damn, is little Stonem a well and truly fucked up person, even with all her badass attitude and dress sense. She gets into the sort of trouble that you know is going to end horribly. She can be nice, she can be cruel. Watching her really drives me nuts. It’s an art, to get viewers to root for a character that’s just not right in the head.
That said, bringing back the old cast was a stroke of genius. People were most in love with the characters and the actors who played them, so sending the series off with an extended epilogue disguised as the last season just seems so right for both writers and viewers. It’s like taking the best of what made Skins so great and closing it up all proper.
Another thing I have to mention is the camerawork. The shots. Whoever planned those shots, the framing, the lighting – you need an Emmy. No, you need a Peabody. It’s just so visually interesting that I wished it could dribble into my glass and I’d drink it up and keep it inside me forever.
Watch: Even if you never watched a single episode of Skins, the final series is worth it. It’s great as a standalone season. In fact, it presents itself more like a proper, very polished mini-series. All the better for it.
Look at these beautiful men.
Suits
This season: Catelyn Stark joins the show as a hardass, badass CEO who’s being sued for bribery, Harvey pits himself against Jessica, and Mike’s career seems peachy even after he and Harvey break up.
Opinion: Suits continues to impress me, now that Pearson Hardman has gone through a merger. I like that they’ve gone from making it about Mike’s little secret to fending off an old enemy, to having the company totally assimilated with a new enemy to save the firm’s ass. I like the discord and dissent going on everywhere. And while there is personal drama going on, it doesn’t feel as melodramatic as say, Ally McBeal.
I love that it’s always about the firm, and the cases that aren’t just self-contained per episode. It’s witty, it has big memorable characters that bring style and strength and flaw and dimension to an otherwise tiresome genre of lawyers misbehaving in the office. The performances of the big bad lawyers in Pearson Hardman (now Pearson Darby) – of Gabriel Macht’s Harvey, Gina Torres’ Jessica, and Rock Hoffman’s Lewis are believably fun.
I feel like there’s not enough feeling of competition or high ambition to be the shark that eats everyone. But Suits brings that. Everyone has the capacity to be a huge asshole, and they act on it to save their own asses. Things don’t just fall into their lap, and it’s not day-by-day living, they’re constantly churning this monster of a machine that is a law firm and they’ll mow down everyone if they have to, just to stay at the top. I suppose the focus on corporate law cases does help cut down the cheesy melodrama typically brought on by including murder trials or big divorces, but still.
Back to the discord. Jessica versus Harvey. I can’t tell you how in love I am with Jessica. This is the biggest draw for me this season because it’s such a huge battle. Ignore everything else. The scale of Jessica clashing with Harvey alone with the stakes so high is enough to make me bite my nails, because I love both characters and their worldviews and whatever little drivel of history we know about them. Plus, they have history. Not romantic history – another example of a great platonic, professional relationship – but working history. Their work is their life, so it’s basically life history. They’re the kind of people who will give credit where credit is due but will never give you the satisfaction of feeling you’re invincible or indispensable. I love that about them, and I love even more that you pit two great allies against one another to rock the foundations of your show.
Of course, there’s Mike and Rachel, but that kind of goes under easily. I’m not a huge fan of the Mike and Rachel relationship, but I can roll with it now that it’s happened. It’s just not exactly something I care about that much at this point, which is perfectly fine because then I can arrow my focus on the whole Jessica/Harvey explosion. I just wanna see the big players’ mind games. Let’s do it.
Watch? Are you kidding?
RANDOM MENTION
Teen Wolf
What’s this?: A show about teenage werewolves, DUH.
Opinion:I was so skeptical when I picked up this series, but my Tumblr dash is flooded with gifs and graphics of the show, so I resigned and downloaded the first season. I wasn’t expecting much because I have a horrid impression of MTV programming. The last time I watched an MTV drama, it was the American remake of Skins, and it was the worst piece of shit I’ve ever seen. Terrible acting, writing, EVERYTHING. I hated it. And then there was The Hard Times of RJ Berger. Boring, corny. Not funny. Imagine how I felt about trying another MTV show for the third time. It was really the tags on my dash that convinced me. They were about ugly sobbing and screaming and getting punched in the feels, which is basically everything I look for in a great TV show because I’m a disgusting masochist. Then I did it. I watched it.
I am so shocked by Teen Wolf. Seriously. I’m almost done with season 2 and I find myself completely sucked into this vortex of beautiful people growing up. The basis of it is so classic. What’s more beautiful about a coming of age story veiled by the outlandish premise of being a werewolf in a small town anyway?
Of course, Scott, our protagonist, who unwittingly gets bitten by a werewolf, finds himself in the unwanted “blessing” of power. He goes through the motions of liking a girl, and then finding out that her family’s a bunch of werewolf-hating hunters, and then struggles with some power play in the pack. I’m going to say that it gave me Buffy feelings. Because it’s just that kind of story, and if it’s handled well, it’s going to be among the best things you’ve watched in a long time.
And those characters. Popular and extremely smart Lydia, not really a nerd or dork or geek or wallflower or loser or nobody Stiles, jock with major parental issues Jackson, sweet and scared and sharpshooting badass Alison, troubled and mysterious Derek, parents, all these people are really easy to love and sympathize with. For a show on the MTV network, these people can act the hell out of these roles. The writing is good. Nothing overly convoluted, not exactly an obvious formula/format for an episode (there’s no monster of the week). There’s just a lot of focus on the heart and soul of what makes these kids tick and putting you right there with them as they deal with heartbreak, loss of family members, dating – it really makes you feel like this could be a giant metaphor for yourself.
Against other shows that deal with the supernatural, it stands well. Every character has a good backstory that makes you feel a lot closer to them with every episode. There are also a few WTF moments in terms of plot twists, which is always a good thing.
So did I ugly sob and scream and get punched in the feels? Yeah. Jeff Davis treats Teen Wolf like Joss treats Buffy, so….
Watch? It’s so current. I haven’t been a teenager for awhile now but watching this makes me feel hip. If you’re just not willing to compromise on the whole teenage werewolf premise, then let’s just leave it at that, because you’ll most likely let that cloud your opinion about it. But if you dig something like Supernatural or Buffy, you might actually like Teen Wolf. You may in fact, unintentionally fall in love with it.
STUFF ON AIR I DON’T EVEN CARE ABOUT ANYMORE
666 Park Avenue
Do No Harm
I’m mentioning these because you should know about how much I don’t give a crap about these anymore. That’s all I will say about them.
