Teen Wolf 3.13 Review: The Darkness We Let Inside

As a friendly reminder to all those that have yet to watch last night’s midseason premiere of Teen Wolf, entitled ‘Anchors’, this is the point where I suggest you look elsewhere until you have. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Proceed ahead at your own discretion.

For the most part, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this MTV series’ newest episode. Sure, I was a little confused as to how it began, and couldn’t quite recall enough details from the first half of the season, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t able to enjoy it.

Okay, so I do have to mention how I was a little bored with the opening five minutes, up until around Stiles’ last dream that he thinks is real.. Yes, I was able to appreciate it more afterwards, within the context of the entire episode, but it didn’t grab me as much as the beginning of an episode should have. If I wasn’t invested in this series and these characters – particularly Stiles – I might have stopped watching and gone back to viewing Gilmore Girls. Alas, I have been watching this series from the very beginning, so I will keep on watching. I found myself almost bored with the tedious opening act of Stiles’ dream. It was well acted, but it was a little too much of a run around. Plus, it didn’t feel like I was invested with most of the dream because I could barely remember where this series had left off.

Elsewhere, I did enjoy the interactions between Scott and Isaac, and Scott’s mom telling them not to damage the house. It was really fun getting to see Isaac thrown into the wall – twice – because Scott was just a little mad at his fellow werewolf and housemate for poaching on his ex-girlfriend (Alison, for all those that have yet to watch this series). Sure, I do think Scott and Alison are done – for now at least – but there’s a rule among bro’s, that you don’t act unless the other is honestly okay with it.

That leads me to another thing, where we see Scott is becoming interested in the new girl in his history class. Yes, I think Alison and him are done, like I said for now, but there relationship seemed such an integral part of the show for the first two and half seasons, despite not always being together, that this seems a little dishonest to the character. Not only that, but it was done in a way that mirrored his crush on Alison in the beginning of the series, and that just doesn’t sit right with me. If they wanted Scott to move on and find love elsewhere, the least they could do was make it a bit more unique and not just like he was replacing Alison or holding her spot for her with a temporary fix. Plus, I really feel like there were major vibes between him and Lydia in the first half of this season. Sure, Stiles has had a thing for Lydia for a while, but there was some major connection between Scott and her, and it feels like that’s now just been glossed over since Derek’s sister, and what seemed to be the fancy of Stiles this past summer, was not apart of the series this week. So I’m kind of feeling like this is becoming a bit convoluted.

Oh, and a couple other things that I need to mention. Tyler Posey’s performance when he began freaking out when confronting his father over trying to oust Stiles’ father from being sheriff was both powerfully and wonderfully done. This may have been my favourite moment in this episode, and when he tells his mom his anchor was Alison and he doesn’t have her anymore – that was perfect. Also, I have to make note of how beautifully man-shaped Dylan O’Brien has gotten these past few years. Honestly, that young man is beautifully and just makes me love Stiles – and not just because his sense of humour and fascination with all things supernatural is akin to my own. Finally, I have to mention how perfect the final scene of this episode was. As a screenwriter myself, I thought that fit wonderfully into the whole picture of this show, and made sure to include Derek and his uncle in an otherwise good episode. There are moments where I watch movies and television episodes and remember why I want to work as a screenwriter in this industry, and that was one of them.

Overall, I thought this episode was very well done. Sure, the vet’s acting is a little uneven and plain at times, but the other actors are most assuredly growing into there own – most notably Tyler Posey and Dylan O’Brien. Sometimes I’m surprised that this is a MTV series because it’s quite often better than that industry name.

My rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“I think you should hit me.” – Isaac tells Scott.

“Wait a sec, I know that look. That’s the we-know-exactly-what-is-wrong-with-you-and-we-have-no-idea-how-to-fix-it look.” – Stiles remarks.

“Glow your eyes at it, do something, be the Alpha.” – Stiles tells Scott.

“I think I just had a minor heart attack.” – Stiles declares.

 “My anchor was Alison. I don’t have Alison anymore.” – Scott says. “Then be your own anchor.” – Scott’s mom tells him.

All right folks, check back later for a review of Almost Human, although it may just be a brief one later on tonight. Also, I may get to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Trophy Wife, and Cougar Town tonight as well, I may not.

Revenge 3.11 Review: Who Am I?

This is a friendly reminder for all those that have yet to watch Sunday night’s episode of Revenge, entitled ‘Homecoming’, to kindly turn away from their screen before proceeding ahead. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!You’ve been warned.

There were some definite ups and downs regarding this week’s post-Christmas premiere episode. Things picked up almost immediately where they’d left off in the December finale. Daniel – to which I’d guessed right before watching the last episode – shot Emily after learning she’d poached his family and faked the pregnancy and after blood loss and some head trauma in the water, she had – of all things – amnesia. In my opinion, while it was a cliché TV trope, I thought that this would be able to bring a refreshing on this series, that has had a stronger third season compared to it’s second, but nowhere near as good as its first. Sadly, it seems that Emily may have gained her memories back by the end of the episode, and I was hoping she would at least have amnesia for a couple episodes.

One thing I do have to say is how completely naïve Charlotte seemed to be when Emily said that her father was David Clarke. Sure, it is somewhat reasonable to believe her damaged memories were spewing out such things because Charlotte was the one in the room, but when she approaches Jack with the confusing information his reaction is so completely obvious to me. He turns away just to keep the look from confirming the information with Charlotte, but she’s still somehow able to believe what he says. It was so obvious on his face for a good few seconds, and I was disappointed that Charlotte wouldn’t catch on and just feign believing what Jack was saying to be true. But then, I suppose the truth is often too difficult to handle. I guess the writers just didn’t want another person in the loop at this point, but I am disappointed with the way they handled that tidbit.

Possibly my favourite part about this episode was Emily VanCamp’s stellar performance. While I do believe her voice over on the episodes can come out dry and tedious, and her performance has been off and on this season giving me the feeling she was often phoning it in, this week’s episode made it seem like she honestly has the acting chops. That performance with Daniel when she can’t remember who she is or where she is was simply beautiful and something I would very much like to see more of. If I were still doing Best Performances of the Week, even without watching all the other performances this week, Ms. VanCamp would most certainly be in the running.

Something I have to say I’ve hated this season is how terribly they’ve been writing Daniel. His character just seems like he’s had character development come completely out of nowhere. Honestly the trajectory he’s had, merely since the character of Sarah has reemerged, seems utterly ridiculous. Yes his character seemed to naturally love Sarah, but then the way he’d react around Emily made absolutely no sense as to why they would get married at all – even with the belief that there was a baby involved. Last season Emily and Daniel seemed to be back in love and set on the path towards this wedding, but all season I’ve felt none of that chemistry that they used to have. Seriously, have these two actors broken up? I know they’d been dating last year, but if they’d broken up since then there’d be an actually feasible reason for their lack of chemistry, even with the introduction of Sarah.

On that note, does anyone sincerely believe that Sarah would try and kill herself? I mean we only got to know her over the course of a handle of episodes, but she appeared to be the most genuine of people and even with the loss of Daniel it would not seem honest in any form for her to try such a feat. Yes, she’d loved him, but, to quote a bad cliché, there are more fish in the sea. I can’t see any possible reason that she would try something so rash. Now, if this is part of the writers plan, then it is completely within reason, but if she actually did do it, then I am losing faith in the skills of these writers. But then, I’ve found a lot of this season to be a bit drab. Sure, there have been some stellar moments, but as a whole last season was almost better.

All in all, there were a lot of good parts to this episode. It did not disappoint me as much as I thought it might, from the grand scheme of the delectable previews, but it wasn’t as fantastic as it could’ve been. This series canstill count me as a viewer, but I really hope they fix what they’ve done to Daniel, because his character doesn’t seem like he could’ve gotten to this point in any fashion. He’s dark in a way that isn’t fun to watch – if that makes sense – and this is coming from someone who enjoys dark and damaged characters more than other characters. He’s treading Ashley territory, that’s how much I’m beginning to not like him. The only time he is good, at all, is when he’s around Sarah, and he needs to be able to interact with other characters to be able to keep going on this show.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

No memorable lines.

Okay, so check back soon for reviews of Teen Wolf and Almost Human.

The Crazy Ones 1.12 Review: Out of the Comfort Zone

This is a warning for all those that have yet to watch last night’s episode of The Crazy Ones, entitled ‘The Face of a Winner’, then now would be the time to divert your eyes from this screen. For this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!Proceed ahead at your own discretion.

Maybe it’s just that I’ve been binge watching Gilmore Girls the last week or so and have really been in that state of mind, but I wasn’t quite feeling this week’s episode as much as the previous few episodes. It definitely did have its funny moments, but I found that it wasn’t as strong a comeback episode post Christmas break as it could’ve been. I was kind of hoping for a New Years related episode, and wasn’t as excited to watch this episode one day after New Years when it had no major pizzazz to it.

So this week’s episode included Sydney – with Lauren’s help – swapping accounts with Zach and Andrew after Simon has an epiphany that made him decide things needed to be mixed up for creative reasons. I did enjoy the beginning where they all pretend it was a great idea Simon came up with, but then immediately groan about it after he’s out of earshot. Also, I loved the brief glimpse at Sydney beating Lauren at the videogame, and especially when she’s dancing with that trashcan on her head. That was probably my favourite moment of the episode. So it wasn’t a complete wash, but the episode wasn’t anything as special as the previous eleven.

All in all, I do enjoy these characters each week, and think that this is a great comedic series, but they can’t be a great show every week. This must just have been one of the weaker episodes this series has had written. Like I said, it didn’t have as much pizzazz as I would have liked, and wasn’t quite as fantastic as the last episode. But every series has to have their own Zeppo… Although, I, myself, enjoyed that Buffy the Vampire Slayerepisode, but that’s beside the point.

My rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Best Line:

“I fear an analogy coming on.” – Sydney mutters to herself, relating to Simon.

Okay, so this may not be my strongest review, being that I tried to go old school like I used to do with essays in high school and watched Gilmore Girls while I typed this up, but I stand by my views. As evidenced by this coming up, I did skip over the reviews of the last episode of Revenge, Almost Human, and How I Met Your Mother. Despite taking notes on the episode, I do think I was too excited for Christmas at the time, and a bit burnt out concerning writing as many reviews as I was at that point, but nevertheless I will continue writing these. Now, I’m off to shower, but check in Sunday for my review of Revenge– to which I will say that I guessed right concerning who shot Emily. Anyways, until next time.