Teen Wolf Season 3, episode 1

Tattoo- This episode didn't hold our attention the entire time. Also, the opening scene went on for too long. 

It's common for a show to open right in the middle of action, but it's not as interesting as shows seem to think it is. The best opening has tension, but a dialogue-filled tension. 

A perfect example would be the opening of Inglorious Basterds.

We're sad to see Jackson has left, because we liked his character and thought he was hot. We're also wondering where Peter is too. 

We liked the new female character that the new alpha, Deucalion, might have killed. We hope he didn't.

Also, we're going to have so much fun spelling his name all season. (Sarcasm) Deucalion wants to get Derek to kill his whole pack. 

The best thing about the episode was the animal suicides. Very creepy and creative. We loved the bird scene.

We also like the new teacher and the way she started class. We're glad that Scott is focusing on school more, but who studies for the PSATs? Those matter even less than the real SATs. 

It looks like it's going to be a good season. Love Allison's new haircut; hate Scott's tattoo. We agree with Stiles. Get a tattoo that means something to you or is funny, not just a tattoo for the sake of getting a tattoo. 

As long as we have interaction between Stiles and his cop father in every episode, we'll continue to be happy with this show.

That won't stop us from laughing at the super-buff, manly looking freshman this show is trying to pass off as being 14.

Episode grade: B

Teen Wolf Summary / Synopsis / Recap of Season 1 and Season 2

Can't watch or re-watch 24 episodes before June 3rd? No problem. You can review and catch-up here. This might be hella long, but it's shorter than watching two seasons of Teen Wolf. You should probably at least watch the pilot, just so you know what some of these people look like.

Teen Wolf- Season 1-2 Review

Should you watch this show? If you like the teen fantasy genre, definitely. If you can make it through a slower first 12 episodes, yep. 

As for us, we caught up on this show just in time for season three, and man are we glad we did. The first season was merely watchable. It was a little predictable, and we didn’t love many of the characters, but it wasn’t a chore to watch. It was cute. There were a lot of filler episodes in the first season too.

The storyline didn’t start speeding along until the second year. The second season was great and a definite improvement on season one. There was more tension, we started to like more of the characters, and it went to more creative places. It went from “cute” to “reeeal fun.”

One thing we didn’t like about this show was the principal romance. We kind of wanted Allison with Jackson or Stiles or anyone else. Well, not Matt. The problem was that they got together too quickly. As a result, their relationship was based completely on sexual desire rather than anything we could emotionally get attached to. The primary romance on this show fails to get viewers swooning like it really could have.

Adding some buildup or a reason other than “we’re hot” for them to like each other would have been good. Sure, they have a solid history and a ton of trust in each other by the time the second season rolls around. That means this won’t be as much of a problem in the future. History brings people closer together. Still, the show missed an opportunity to really tap into the romance potential. The first season spent a lot of time on a vanilla romance that wasn’t all that romantic. 

Another thing we didn’t like was that Allison was a gymnast and this might factor into her growing into a more violent character. We like that the show seems to have dropped that and made her primarily more of an archer. Gymnastics does not equate to combat. Just looking cool and a natural athleticism. One of our sisters is a black belt gymnast and she would never flip in an actual fight. That’s how you die. 

As for the things we liked? Lydia turning out to be a genius who can make a molotov cocktail. Her character had a lot more depth than we’d expected, although her shallow persona is hilarious.

Speaking of hilarious: the lacrosse team coach. He’s an enjoyable side character. We also like Crystal Reed’s acting, especially when she’s reacting to personal tragedy. She’s so pretty too. Can you believe she’s 28 in real life? The girl playing Lydia is 26. Yeah guys, no one looks like that in high school. Most people’s looks improve after those years. 

Hands down, the best character on this series is Stiles. He’s like the Seth Cohen of Teen Wolf. Heck, if you close your eyes, he even sounds like Seth Cohen. Stiles is the comic relief, but he also brings a lot of heart to Teen Wolf. Our favorite relationship is the one between him and his father, especially in season two. 

A good thing about this show is that it knows to plan its stories in season-long arcs. That way, it never drags, it focuses on a short story, and it has a climax and resolution and the end of each season. If it’s ever cancelled, we won’t be left frustrated. After the powerhouse second season, we’re more than ready to watch the third.

Season 1 grade: B-

Season 2 grade: A-

Agenda

Only three episodes away from being done with Teen Wolf. Can’t wait for Arrested Development this Sunday! One of us is having a bunch of people over for an all-day marathon. It’s gonna be the tits.

Catching up on Teen Wolf

We ship Allison/Jackson.

Summer TV List

Family Tree- May 12

Arrested Development- May 26

The Fall- May 28

Teen Wolf- June 3

The Fosters- June 3

Switched At Birth- June 10

Twisted- June 11

Pretty Little Liars- June 11

Wilfred- June 20

Copper- June 23

Under the Dome- June 24

Big Brother- June 26

Dexter- June 30

Ray Donovan- June 30

Orange is the New Black- July 11

Web Therapy- July 22

The Bridge- July TBA

Breaking Bad- August 11

Low Winter Sun- August 11

We are dropping True Blood, which gets more and more boring each season. We couldn’t give a crap about a single character anymore.

Pretty Little Liars - It's Alive Review (plus a few sentences about other summer shows)

Ok, thank God Pretty Little Liars is back. We’ve been sampling summer fare for weeks, and none of it has really started our engines. We watched Teen Wolf, and it isn’t bad, but the lead actor is, and that’s very distracting. We watched The Nine Lives of Chloe King, and the first episode was pretty good, and we hear that it gets better in the second episode. Still, it's no Vampire Diaries. We’ve been watching Switched at Birth, and while the deaf thing is interesting, the show is not what we would call “quality.”One of us is really enjoying it though.

We’ve been watching The Bachelorette, and it’s stupid, but fun. We have no desire to watch Happily Divorced, even though one of us loved The Nanny. Game of Thrones and The United States of Tara are almost over. The Glee Project is weird so far and we are having trouble getting invested. We’ve been watching So You Think You Can Dance, and it’s amazing, as usual. We need to start writing about that....

But we really need a good drama again, and Pretty Little Liars fits the bill. We loved how it just picked up right where it left off, letting us see the full aftermath of the finale, rather than having the characters verbally recap it. Jenna is still the creepiest mofo ever.

In this episode, the girls toyed with the idea of actually telling an adult, their new shrink, about A. Emily was the biggest proponent of just letting all the secrets out and facing the consequences. She even just suggested telling their parents and the cops. This would be a good idea, but it would ruin the drama of the show, and it would get Ezra Fitz in a whole load of trouble (which might actually be worth ruining the drama for one of us). We loved that it was Emily who thought they should be honest, because it makes sense with all that she has been through.

We are not digging Toby’s haircut, but we have missed him. Ditto to Noel Kahn, who Ern thinks is hotter than Ezra. Leeard disagrees and thinks Ezra is hotter than ever. Ern thinks he’s scrawny, fish-faced, and he has creepy old man hair. And he’s a gaywad. Nice abs though. We need Noel with Aria immediately, because her character needs to be saved. She spent most of the premiere whining to Ezra about Jackie. And yet, we have missed the wackiness of Aria’s clothes.

We roll our eyes at the “Emily is going to Texas” storyline. We bet she is going to get all packed, goodbyes will be said, and then it’s going to fall through. “A” needs his/her victims right in town. And we were reminded at how all-powerful “A” is in this episode. “A” infiltrated the shrink’s office, which is what stopped the girls from blabbing. Leeard thinks the shrink will be the next murder victim. Ern hopes not, because she would enjoy watching the liars go through individual grief counseling. But this isn’t In Treatment…

Caleb is back for Hanna, and he got to say his “I love you.” We understand why Hanna didn’t forgive him right away, but we were still sad. We liked that she got to confront Mona about the letter, because that didn’t need to be dragged out. We were loving the re-ignition of the Emily/Toby friendship. So sweet.

One thing we thought was weird? They showed Spencer’s naked back while she was changing. First of all, it’s ABC Family. That’s a little too much skin for a family channel. Second, it didn’t add to the episode or the story. Third, who was it FOR? This is a teen girl’s show. Is it just to remind the teen girls that their backs have too much meat on them? (Spencer is tiny.) Is it to fool people into thinking that they are watching a mature show rather than quality teen stuff? We’re confused. Teen lesbians probably rejoiced though.

So, it looks like Ian is alive (not a surprise), and that’s awesome. Melissa asked Spencer for her side of the story about the whole Ian episode in the finale, and seemed genuinely open to hearing the truth. There’s not a lot of sisterhood on this show, and we kind of think it would be nice to see these girls as friends rather than enemies. They are both smart women, and they are family. We’re getting sick of the rivalry. The girls aren’t allowed to hang out for a while and Spencer is not allowed to date Toby. Like either of those things are going to stick.

There weren’t too many “wow” moments or great scenes in this episode, but we are so glad it’s back that we are giving it an A.

Episode grade: A