Teen Wolf (2011) Season Review - Small Screen Spot

Teen Wolf (2011) Season Review - Small Screen Spot

By Jose

Main Cast:

Tyler Posey (Scott McCall), Crystal Reed (Allison Argent), Dylan O’Brien (Stiles), Tyler Hoechlin (Derek Hale), Holland Roden (Lydia Martin), Colton Haynes (Jackson), JR Bourne (Argent), Linden Ashby (Sheriff Stilinsky), Mellissa Ponzio (Mellissa McCall), Jill Wagner (Kate Argent), Ian Bohen (Peter Hale)

Review:

Remake/adaptation is a terrible word that makes movie fans cringe. Movie makers/Hollywood love to see those fans cringe so they abuse that word constantly. But every once in a while those remakes and adaptations are good if not better or dare I say surpass the original. Teen Wolf is one of those.

Now before you all go grabbing pitch forks and torches let me tell you that I was not on board for this show at first. I mean first you have it on and done by MTV, which is a huge warning sign itself. Second since Twilight is so huge and it being MTV, they could just do a werewolf version of Twilight and inject a ton of top ten pop songs. Or it could have been Teen Mom meets Jersey Shore meets werewolves.

But no. For some odd reason Teen Wolf was just a modern yet slightly romantic take on the classic Michael J. Fox comedy of the same name. It seemed whoever was behind the scenes of creating this show didn’t want to take the obvious MTV route. They wanted something serious and good. And they got it.


The first episode introduced us to the main cast and our main teen wolf, Scott McCall, and his crazy buddy Stiles. We got to know a bit of everyone that would be involved and my first look at seeing an actual decent show coming together. Throughout the season we are given many reasons to like these characters and to enjoy the show. Hell at one point I was left wanting more and upset that I had to wait a week for the next episode. Season one of Teen Wolf gave us a perfect view of a teenager falling in love and going through high school and being on a sports team all while fighting against his inner teen werewolf. A bit more into the season we start to see that an underlying story was boiling to the top. Who was attacking and killing all those people? Who are these hunters and what is their connection to the attacks? What side is Derek Hale on? Who is the alpha? And Will Scott become a killer?



After the season finale this past Monday (8/15/2011) all was answered, to a degree, along with adding the finale cliffhanger leaving you wanting more. All the twists and turns were great. The action and drama was to me spot on and good. The interactions between the characters were believable and the friendship between Stile sand Scott was fun and nice to see. Now obviously I am treaty this season review as I do a movie review, I don’t want to reveal too much and spoil anything just in case someone hasn’t seen the show yet or haven’t finished watching it or hell hasn’t aired yet. But I will say that Teen Wolf surprised me and I loved the show. It was great and can’t wait for season two to begin.


Now how about those characters? For me Stiles stole the show. I loved that kid. He was hilarious and faithful. And great friend I wish I had in real life. Just his mannerisms and facial movements alone are funny. Scott was a great teen wolf. What can I say, you ended up falling for the kid. Crystal Reed who played Allison Argent was a good looking somewhat of an outcast girl that Scott fell in love with. A strong character that was tormented by not being able to protect herself they way she wanted. Even if she had to go through and experience things that were not all that “nice”. Derek (Tyler Hoechlin) did well being the brooding, mysterious, tormented mentor werewolf to Scott. Holland Roden (Lydia) was the hot red head popular girl dating the star jock who had a secret of actually being an intelligent girl. I didn’t like her at first but as the end of the season was playing through we saw the other side of her that I liked. I hope she ends up with Stiles at some point. Speaking of the jock Jackson (Colton Haynes) was exactly what you think. The cocky jock who thinks he is better than everyone. Then becomes this asshole paranoid freak when Scott becomes better and eventually co-captain of the lacrosse team. Jackson ends up wanting Scott to turn him or any of the werewolves at any cost. We will see if he survives in the coming season.

The FX of the show were on par with what you would normally see in other TV shows. What I did like was that they went with practical effects and makeup along with enhancing with CGI. I liked that a lot. Because knowing how CGI can look without a proper budget (SYFY movies). Although they went full CG with the alpha werewolf, but thankfully they showed that during dark scenes and at night so we couldn’t see the faults.

I pretty much enjoyed the way they made Scott look while transformed into a werewolf. They kept it simple and easy. A humanoid with a bit of warped facial features. Some extra long sideburns, teeth and contacts, and the long pointy ears.

What I also liked that there was an obvious different between Derek and Scott. Scott looked rather adorable as a wolf while Derek was more rugged and ugly as a wolf. It showed to me how the age difference can come into play with how the transformations looked. Speaking of looks, because of this being an MTV show and the majority of the viewers would have been teenage girls and boys, the hot guy and hot girl cast was pretty obvious. The guys were all good looking and given many excuses to be shirtless, sweaty or wet. While the girls were all hot yet never shown in anything too “slutty”. Jill Wagner caught my eye more then the others. She could try and kill me whenever she wants.

Final Thoughts:

Teen Wolf could have been a mess especially with MTV but what we got and what I saw was a well made TV adaptation. Great story and great cast. I can’t wait to see what they have in store for season two.