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schneefinkFor some reason, I'm not quite sure why - okay, it was probably boredom - I watched the first episode of season 3 of Teen Wolf. And then the next one. And the next one. And now I'm caught up on the first season, eagerly waiting for the new episode tomorrow, and already have some vague fic ideas that I will most likely never write. How did that happen.
It's become obvious very quickly that the actual show and the majority of fanworks have very little to do with one another. On the one hand, good, I like the actual show much better, but it also means that despite the thousands of fics on the AO3 it's hard to find the kind of fic I want to read. I suddenly have renewed sympathy for SGA fans who didn't like McShep; Sterek seems if possible even more of a fandom OTP, or perhaps I just haven't found the other parts yet. Not that I mind reading it, some stories are good, but most of them are so very obviously either AU or OOC or frequently both and not what I want at all.
One thing that I noticed quickly was that the main characters are actual teenagers, with teenager problems and teenager maturity. Most of the recent canons I've followed have adult main characters (in Gundam Wing the teenager main characters had soldier training and mostly (tried to) act like it, and in Homestuck it's often easy to forget (which makes scenes like self-sacrifice scenes where you suddenly remember how incredibly young they are all the more heartbreaking, and both of these are animated) and it makes a difference in how I react to bad things happening to them. They're so young, and already so traumatized! Scott thinking he killed a man, being afraid that he'll kill everyone he loves, and being afraid because he can't protect people - he's sixteen. So is Stiles, and he's been attacked by his best friend-turned-werewolf and kidnapped and threatened by a psychopath. Allison is seventeen, and she saw her aunt torturing a man and her aunt's throat being torn out right in front of her. Even Derek: his sister died, he is captured and tortured by the woman who seduced him to kill his family, his only surviving family member deliberately killed his sister. Jackson has some internalized family trauma that so far has only been hinted at, and then hallucinations on top of that, no wonder he's a bit messed up.
I like that all of the characters a) make stupid decisions, b) are not perfectly nice people. All of them occasionally behave like assholes, actually. Stiles would prefer it if Derek died because he believes it would make his life easier. Derek is a dick to Scott and Stiles, threatens them, and doesn't tell them anything they need to know. Scott more than once puts Allison over everything else when it's very stupid to do so. Jackson and Lydia are pretty obvious, likewise Chris Argent. Allison maybe the least, but she enjoys taking revenge on Lydia for making out with Scott. Nobody is the clear-cut hero of the story, and even the villains are either on another side (Chris Argent, Jackson) or have some redemptive qualities (Peter was driven crazy and still cares for his family, Kate is crazy and, uh, hm, okay that's difficult.)
The show occasionally skips over a lot, which is annoying. We barely get anything about why Derek either pretends to or actually joins forces with Peter, and similar things happened e.g. in the last season 3 episode.
There are also some things that I would dearly love to know more about, like why does Allison become such a good friend of Lydia so quickly? By the end of season 1 they're close enough that Allison has some "leverage" over her, yet in the beginning Allison was the new girl and Lydia one of the most popular girls in the school who presumably has many other friends that we hardly ever see. I want a lot more Allison&Lydia.
The resolution of Stiles&Lydia at the dance was great, btw.
Things that I found particularly surprising when contrasted with fanon: obviously the dislike between Derek and Stiles. Also apart from his Allison fixation Scott is never shown as stupid on the show, only in completely over his head, and understandably so. Stiles is not the one running around trying to help everyone, in fact he seems very fixated on the people close to him (I really liked the scene where he chains Scott to the radiator partly to help him but also to punish him for making out with Lydia.)
Sure, the show is cheesy (some of the romance scenes, some of the howling-at-the-moon scenes, the frequent shirtlessness, the villains are very dramatic), but it's also more often than I expected genuinely good, and I'm enjoying it a lot. New episode tomorrow, yay!
It's become obvious very quickly that the actual show and the majority of fanworks have very little to do with one another. On the one hand, good, I like the actual show much better, but it also means that despite the thousands of fics on the AO3 it's hard to find the kind of fic I want to read. I suddenly have renewed sympathy for SGA fans who didn't like McShep; Sterek seems if possible even more of a fandom OTP, or perhaps I just haven't found the other parts yet. Not that I mind reading it, some stories are good, but most of them are so very obviously either AU or OOC or frequently both and not what I want at all.
One thing that I noticed quickly was that the main characters are actual teenagers, with teenager problems and teenager maturity. Most of the recent canons I've followed have adult main characters (in Gundam Wing the teenager main characters had soldier training and mostly (tried to) act like it, and in Homestuck it's often easy to forget (which makes scenes like self-sacrifice scenes where you suddenly remember how incredibly young they are all the more heartbreaking, and both of these are animated) and it makes a difference in how I react to bad things happening to them. They're so young, and already so traumatized! Scott thinking he killed a man, being afraid that he'll kill everyone he loves, and being afraid because he can't protect people - he's sixteen. So is Stiles, and he's been attacked by his best friend-turned-werewolf and kidnapped and threatened by a psychopath. Allison is seventeen, and she saw her aunt torturing a man and her aunt's throat being torn out right in front of her. Even Derek: his sister died, he is captured and tortured by the woman who seduced him to kill his family, his only surviving family member deliberately killed his sister. Jackson has some internalized family trauma that so far has only been hinted at, and then hallucinations on top of that, no wonder he's a bit messed up.
I like that all of the characters a) make stupid decisions, b) are not perfectly nice people. All of them occasionally behave like assholes, actually. Stiles would prefer it if Derek died because he believes it would make his life easier. Derek is a dick to Scott and Stiles, threatens them, and doesn't tell them anything they need to know. Scott more than once puts Allison over everything else when it's very stupid to do so. Jackson and Lydia are pretty obvious, likewise Chris Argent. Allison maybe the least, but she enjoys taking revenge on Lydia for making out with Scott. Nobody is the clear-cut hero of the story, and even the villains are either on another side (Chris Argent, Jackson) or have some redemptive qualities (Peter was driven crazy and still cares for his family, Kate is crazy and, uh, hm, okay that's difficult.)
The show occasionally skips over a lot, which is annoying. We barely get anything about why Derek either pretends to or actually joins forces with Peter, and similar things happened e.g. in the last season 3 episode.
There are also some things that I would dearly love to know more about, like why does Allison become such a good friend of Lydia so quickly? By the end of season 1 they're close enough that Allison has some "leverage" over her, yet in the beginning Allison was the new girl and Lydia one of the most popular girls in the school who presumably has many other friends that we hardly ever see. I want a lot more Allison&Lydia.
The resolution of Stiles&Lydia at the dance was great, btw.
Things that I found particularly surprising when contrasted with fanon: obviously the dislike between Derek and Stiles. Also apart from his Allison fixation Scott is never shown as stupid on the show, only in completely over his head, and understandably so. Stiles is not the one running around trying to help everyone, in fact he seems very fixated on the people close to him (I really liked the scene where he chains Scott to the radiator partly to help him but also to punish him for making out with Lydia.)
Sure, the show is cheesy (some of the romance scenes, some of the howling-at-the-moon scenes, the frequent shirtlessness, the villains are very dramatic), but it's also more often than I expected genuinely good, and I'm enjoying it a lot. New episode tomorrow, yay!
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no subject
Date: 2013-07-01 09:47 pm (UTC)That may be the most promising/intriguing thing I've ever heard anyone say about Teen Wolf ever.
(And I'm one of those people who couldn't stand McShep. Well, I started out giving it my usual treatment of "Well, I don't see it, but ship and let ship" and ended up in a place of "I hate everything McShep and want it to stop being everywhere like slime mold.")
no subject
Date: 2013-07-01 09:52 pm (UTC)I'm the opposite: I started out annoyed by McShep and now don't mind it at all, I started out indifferent to Sterek and am now leaning towards annoyed.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-01 09:56 pm (UTC)(I had the same problem with Supernatural, then picked it up around season 3 and thought it was a good show! Then I dropped it around season 5 again. :/)
It's so... it gets overpowering, it seems like, when the entirety of fandom drops onto a pairing and fills everything with it. If I find time and end up watching Teen Wolf, maybe I can write some of the stories you'd like to read. ;)
no subject
Date: 2013-07-01 10:00 pm (UTC)At least this year it won't be eligible for Yuletide!
no subject
Date: 2013-07-02 12:35 pm (UTC)Yeah, fandom & the whole Sterek thing really isn't very rooted in canon. I mean, Stiles-as-bisexual I think you can definitely make a case for, but for the first two seasons there's mostly antagonism between Stiles and Derek, rather than chemistry. I enjoy Sterek well enough, mind, but it's very fanonical characterisation.
...I'm terribly fond of the show, because it harks back to oldskool buffy with its worldbuilding, and it's blessedly unhomophobic, and unmisogynist, but it's not very well written or consistent. But I love Allyson, and I feel terribly sorry for Derek (who is a wretchedly terrible alpha). I'm fond of fanfic that has LauraNOT being killed, myself. Especially any AU where Derek is not so blisteringly miserable and alone - because, yes, i know he's a great big strapping bloke, but he's still horribly young and he's had positively Winchesterish levels of misery in his life so far.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-02 07:32 pm (UTC)No, the show isn't well written or consistent, but my first comparison is still SGA and that wasn't very good at that either, so I'm used to ignoring or headcanon-fixing details that don't make sense. ;)
no subject
Date: 2013-07-02 08:28 pm (UTC)Die Serie hat so viele Plot-, Charakter- und Realitätslöcher, dass ich sie wirklich nur als Crack ertrage. Der ist dafür dann aber erste Sahne! XD
no subject
Date: 2013-07-02 08:34 pm (UTC)Und dann Szenen wie Allison mit Nadel und Faden, die man ernst nehmen kann aber auch nicht, je nachdem, in welcher Laune ich gerade bin. Von allem ein bisschen, passt mir gut :)
no subject
Date: 2013-07-01 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-01 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-01 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-01 10:21 pm (UTC)One thing that I noticed quickly was that the main characters are actual teenagers, with teenager problems and teenager maturity. (...) like that all of the characters a) make stupid decisions, b) are not perfectly nice people.
So much Scott bashing is going on in fandom, claiming he's making stupid decisions all the time and being selfish etc - all the while I'm just thinking: "He behaves like a teen with a lot on his plate - which he is." He's tryinig his best, and that's not always that good, but then the other kids and Derek don't strike me as consistently brilliant decision makers, either.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-01 10:33 pm (UTC)Exactly, his reactions are very understandable given the horrible experiences he's having. Sixteen! Suddenly a werewolf, with a completely different body, people trying to kill him and telling him to help kill others and having to fight for his life, he can't control himself, he has to act normal and go to school, and on top of that he's in love for the first time. It's true he's not as active as many other canon heroes, but that fits him very well, he doesn't want to be.
Nobody makes consistently good decisions in this show. Huh, now I wonder what a good Mary Sue would look like *g*
no subject
Date: 2013-07-02 07:13 pm (UTC)I know that strictly speaking Scott is the (flawed) hero, but to me it's really an ensemble show, will all the teens being 'the hero' and Derek the anti-hero....
There's no UST in season 2, either. However they've made a bit more efford for Derek and Stiles at least to appear in the same scene and interact, but it's always much more 'partners of necessesity' rather than willingly working together.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-07 02:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-08 02:40 pm (UTC)