My Review of Teen Wolf 2.10- Fury

Aptly named episode for any number of reasons. In it secrets are revealed, alliances are revealed and broken, hostages are taken, people are killed, and at the end is a twist that I *SO* didn't see coming....

Ok, let's start with the end. The Kanima has a new master. Gerard (aka Grandpa Argent) killed Matt by drowning him and then the Kanima came to his side. This cannot be a good thing. Given how it will kill whatever its master sets it after or thinks about killing, I am seeing the Kanima as a massive weapon against the wolves. And now that Alison knows that Derek bit her mother, the wolves list of allies is precariously thin. Also, any and all attempts to kill the Kanima (by anyone) has resulted in complete and utter failure. I suspect that beating the Kanima is going to come down to getting Jackson over his issues.

 

So, we learned about how Matt came to control the Kanima. 6 years ago, the swim team almost drowned Matt in a pool. Isaac's dad warned him not to tell anyone and he has lived in fear of water ever since. He saw Isaac's dad at the funeral for Alison's psychotic aunt and he was obsessed with revenge. That was the day that the Kanima killed him. The next day; when Jackson taped himself; Matt used his phone to tap into the video feed and saw Jackson transform and met the Kanima. Since then, he has been using the Kanima as his own personal Fury to get revenge for what happened. As explained in the episode, the Furies were Greek deities who would take revenge on people who had gotten away with a crime. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erinyes for more details. Anyway, up until this point everything was good. But when the Kanima did not kill the pregnant woman (presumably a hangup from Jackson), Matt killed her. This upset the balance that was supposed to exist and Matt started to slowly turn into a Kanima. The balance was that the master orders and the Kanima kills.

 

Now, I would assume that the reason the Kanima latched onto Gerard is that Gerard is angry about the death of his daughters at the hands of werewolves and wants to use the Kanima for vengenance. Presumably, the only reason he didn't get the Kanima first is that Matt's hatred came first and/or was stronger. So, we have a deadly creature that is being controlled by one of the biggest threats to the wolves. Yeah, this is *SO* going to end well.

 

Now the revealed secrets:

[1] The vet is an advisor to Derek's family and he is not impressed with Derek so far. He also is not afraid to let Derek know it.

[2] Scott's mom knows about the Kanima and werewolves. She also knows Scott is a werewolf and did not react particularly well. I must say that given the circumstances she was in when she found out, I don't blame here. Lemme see- son shot, she's locked up, creatures fighting and one is Scott. Any surprise she doesn't react well?

[3] Scott has been feeding information to Gerard. I would assume this is part of the deal me made a few weeks ago to save his mom. Derek overheard this and he ain't happy.

[4] Alison found out that Derek bit her mom and she is really not happy about it. She wants to kill Derek and any member of the pack who tries to defend him. She balked at going after Scott, however.

 

Until next week!

My Review of Political Animals Episode 3- The Woman Problem

Bud goes to get information to help Elaine make her decision, Doug and TJ go with him and Doug finds out some new information, the president makes a move to head off the potential challenge from Elaine, Elaine feels out her family regarding her potential run, and Susan shows that she can play the political game very well.

Washington is abuzz with rumours that Elaine is going to run and the president has decided to take steps to neutralize her. Bud nominated a woman named Diane Nash; who is also a lesbian; to the Supreme Court when he was president. Justice Nash was one of Elaine's law professors and mentors. The President tries to pressure Justice Nash into retiring saying that he will nominate Elaine to the Supreme Court. Susan catches wind of the plan and informs Elaine about it in order to give Elaine time to neutralize ther threat. This has the side benefit of allowing Susan time to pull together information to write "The Story" about Elaine challenging the President in the primaries. Having been thwarted, the President sends Elaine on a long trip for a similar purpose. What he does not count on is Bud and Douglas.

Bud has gone to visit a friend who is a polling master. Unfortunately, Bud apparently slept with the guys wife, which is obviousl not endearing Bud to the guy. However, he comes around and agrees to help Elaine. Now we get to my one complaint with the episode. The episode consistently referred to the last presidential election as being 2 years ago. Problem? The episode is taking place in 2012 (as mentioned in the dialogue). 2010 was *NOT* the last presidential election. So someone, somewhere screwed the pooch on this score.

Anyways, in the last election, Bud did a couple of interviews where he used the words "penis" and "vagina" which many people (including Douglas) blamed for Elaine's loss in California. According to the pollster, Elaine couldn't win, so Bud decided to fall on his sword (so to speak) and use the words in the interviews in order to make it look like he lost her the primary. When he heard this, Douglas decided to work with Bud to help Elaine.

Douglas also discovered that TJ is still doing drugs and Douglas is not happy about this (and that is putting it mildly!). Elaine also figured out that Douglas gave TJ the money and she was not happy about it. Douglas defended his decision to give TJ the money by saying that if TJ had something to focus on and be proud of, he would be less likely to use drugs and drink. Likely? Don't know. TJ is the king of excuses. I am not sure what can be done to help him at this point.

Douglas is also in trouble where Susan is concerned. On her own, she decided to hold off on the story. She has agreed to hold off on the story until Elaine makes her announcement provided that Douglas provide her with the inside information about the decision making process. Not a good thing.

Elaine's mom is not happy about Elaine running, but will support Elaine if needed. TJ claims to be ok with it, but I am not sure if he really is.

Until next week!

My Review of Teen Wolf 2.09- Party Guessed

Someone dies, someone is (re)born, a master is revealed, and changes happen....

 

Mrs. Argent is dead with some help from her husband. It is unfortunate mainly because of the effect it will have on Alison (and Scott). You have to admire her willingness to stand on principle even though it means that she will die. And Alison's grandfather is one ice cold SOB. At least Mr. Argent showed some regret over what happened. Like I said last week, this bodes very poorly for any sort of reconciliation between Scott and Alison, particularly since she will probably learn why her mom committed suicide. The question is whether or not she did the right thing. That is debatable. I understand her view that she did not want to be a werewolf, but is it better to kill herself? I do not buy the argument that anyone should die "with dignity" (under any circumstances). So, I understand why she did what she did, but I don't agree with it.

 

Peter Hale is alive again. The reason he has been haunting Lydia is revealed. He needed her to bring Derek to him during this particular full moon (the last one of winter) in order to revive him. His being back is not good. Not good at all. Derek is clearly terrified, and unless I am mistaken, Derek is no longer the Alpha. Peter may be helpful in the fight against the Kanima and its master, but can he be trusted. Putting him and Alison's father and grandfather in the same city is asking for a disaster.

 

Speaking of Lydia, she spiked the punch for her birthday party with a hallucinogenic that had some interesting effects. Alison saw a darker version of herself who expressed displeasure with how she is handling things. Scott saw Alison making out with the Kanima (eww!!!). Stiles saw his dad who blamed him for his mother being gone, his job loss, and other issues. Jackson saw two faceless figures who were his real parents. Not sure what that drug was, but it was sort of interesting.

 

And the Kanima's master is revealed to be Matt the photographer. Not terribly surprised as he is one of the people I tagged a few weeks ago as being a possibility. But now that everyone knows who the Master is, what will they do about it? Also, how did he come to control the Kanima? And why did he say (via the Jackima) that he was dead last week? Finally, what does he have against the swim team from 2006? Lots of questions, hopefully answered soon.

 

Gotta feel for Stiles. The way his "dad" laid into him last night shows some massively deep insecurities. He blames himself for things that have happened. Granted, he is somewhat to blame for his dad's job loss because of his helping Scott, but for everything else? I think not. Not sure why exactly he blames himself (unless it is just a guilt thing), but I hope he figures out what is up and deals with it.

 

Tonight was a major change for the three new werewolves. Derek chained them all up and they all got free. Somehow, Isaac used his father as an anchor to retain some semblance of his humanity and some control. Color me impressed.

 

Until next week!

My Review of Political Animals Episode 2- Second Time Around

Elaine sends Bud on a mission; Douglas gets upset with Elaine; TJ hits rock bottom, steals from Margaret, gets caught,a nd gets help from Douglas (twice!); and Susan gets more information for her story.

Well, talk about alot packed into a little bit of space. Let's start with Elaine and Bud and then move to the brothers.

After last weeks tryst, Elaine decided to send Bud to Iran to negogiate for the release of the hostages. When she went to get the president's blessing, her choice did not sit well with the VP who proceeded to act like a little kid and tell the papers where the *SECRET* meetings were being held. Wow, can we just say serious hissy fit? Now, it is possible that he was acting under the orders (or a "suggestion") from the president, but still... Either way, that was extremely stupid and tacky. Luckily; after Oman pulled out due to the publicity; Elaine managed to persuade the Turkish ambassador to allow the negogiations to take place in his country. All she had to do was agree to go on a date with him.

I have to say that I loved Bud's method of negogiating. He used Susan as a fake presidential envoy and managed to get the Iranian president to release the hostages in exchange for the President coming to his funeral and Bud saying some kind words about how he was "the Hero of Iran". That was impressive thinking on his feet, I must say. I am also glad that Susan had the sense to play along and keep her poker face up for most of the time. I was not as impressed with his sleeping with the one reporter on the plane. <sigh>

One interesting storyline took place in 1997 just after one of Bud's affairs was revealed to the press by the woman he slept with (who worked for and was fired by Elaine). He adamantly denied the affair and Elaine threw a centuries old Ming (I think) vase at his head. Sidenote: that makes this one of the more expensive tempers in history I would think! Ok, back to the point. Elaine decided to hold a press conference to back her husband up and he admits that the affair happened, so she basically does an in-house separation, reasoning that when he became president, the fact that they were married was a vow between her and the American people. Not entirely sure how that works. I understand not divorcing him until after he is done being president, but her reason here seemed exceedingly strained. I do think that Douglas is right. She loves Bud entirely too much. Like an abused spouse will often go back to their abuser, she goes back to Bud regularly. She does need to break from him completely, which is difficult because of their sons.

 

Speaking of Douglas, he did not react well when Elaine told him that she was going to run for office. He was very concerned that trying to take on a sitting president was not going to work at all. His biggest concern was for the family. TJ has been having a rough week with the news of his attempted suicide coming out and his parents refusing him money for the night club. Then his partners in the nightclub told him that they only wanted his name. Then, to top it all off, he stole a check from his grandma. So we have an addict being told that he is basically useless. Not a good time to be adding the pressure of a campaign. Douglas was also worried that Anne would get really upset and leave him because she doesn't like the political life as it is. And on top of that, Douglas figures out that Elaine slept with Bud and he goes through the roof. While I understand his reactions, I am not sure what he did was the right thing. Going to Susan to reveal that Elaine will be running is not a smart move.

 

I feel so bad for TJ. He is trying so hard to hold things together and his parents won't help him. I am glad that Douglas helped him and loaned him the money. Unfortunately, Margaret figured out that TJ stole the check. But, she handled the whole thing rather well. She got calmly upset at him (without raising her voice) and told him very seriously what would happen if he did it again. This is a wonderful relationship and I hope TJ doesn't screw it up. He needs her support and I hope he doesn't alienate her somehow.

 

Until next week!

My Review of Teen Wolf 2.08- Raving

The hunters and wolves make seperate, but convergent plans; Alison's mom sees something she shouldn't have seen; we get some more information about the Kanima; the events of the past few weeks leave unintended collateral damage; and Scott and Alison come to an agreement...

Not sure where to start, so I'll hit the collateral damage. Stiles' dad has been fired because of what Stiles has been doing to help Scott out recently. That seriously sucks. It didn't stop Stiles from doing what he needed to do tonight, but I suspect that his enthusiaism will be even more limited in the future because of what has happened. I was definitely impressed with Stiles during the episode. He worked with his dad to figure out links between the Kanima's victims (although the links ended up being for naught, but more on that later), he took on the dust duty and had faith in himself (an impressive act in and of itself), and face the Jacima with a sense of purpose (until it freed itself). Scott should be on his knees thanking God that he has Stiles for a friend.

Speaking of Scott, he and Alison are in a weird place right now for several reasons. First, after his chat with Alison's mom last week, he decided that it would be a good idea if they were to start seeing other people. Which worked out for her because she had agreed to go out with Matt (the video guy) already. They kissed, which was seen by Alison's mom who was massively pissed. Second, Alison told her dad about Jackson being the Kanima and now the hunters are out for blood. Unfortunately, Scott has persuaded Derek and his pack to go after Jackson as well to capture and help him. Scott was annoyeed at Alison for telling her dad, in part because he knows the hunters will want to kill Jackson and in part because it fouled up his plans. Ok, and jealousy may have played a part in this as well. Third, Alison's mom kidnapped Scott and tried to kill him using a wolfsbane aerosol. Derek rescued Scott and bit Mrs. Argent. That is not going to help things at all.

As for plans, I gotta say, Scott and the vet came up with a good one. Unfortunately, the plan had a flaw and that flaw was that they assumed that the Kanima was being controlled by a live person. They also didn't seem to realize how powerful the Kanima's master is. Based on the literal meaning of the master's word as he/she was talking through Jackson, the master is; in fact; a spirit. That could throw a slight monkey wrench into the entire thing. Now, if the master was being more symbolic about being murdered, then the master could be very much alive. But the fact that the master was able to control Jackson for a lengthy period of time and force him to change into the Kanima while he under the influence of a fairly major sedative. Between this and the conversation between the vet and his (presumably) daughter at the end, I am concerned and worried.

The hunters' plan; on the other hand; was predictable and fairly crude. Go in with force and kill. Just want to roll my eyes at them for that wonderfully original plan. At least Scott and the pack are trying to figure out what is going on as opposed to a simple mission of destruction. Sigh....

So, what do we know about the Kanima? Well, we know that it is a creature created when a person is turned into a werewolf but has unresloved issues. When the issues are resolved, the transformation to werewolf is (presumably) completed. The Kanima seeks a master who (seemingly) controls both it and its human counterpart at will. It will seek out and kill murderers and has venom on its claws that paralyze its victims. This is all fairly old news. What we learned is waht was mentioned above: the master can still control the Kanima even if the human counterpart is dosed with a sedative. This is; again as I mentioned; definitely dangerous. Although thinking about it, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. After all, the master can control the Kanima while the human is asleep, so knocked out is pretty much the same. I was considering guessing at the master, but I am totally unsure at this point. If asked, I would name the chemistry teacher, Jackson's biological parents, Lydia, or Peter.

Next week, we will learn the identity of the master, the fate of Alison's mother, and there is a party under a full moon.

Until then!

My Review of Political Animals Episode 1- Pilot

Since this is a limited length series (6 episodes), I will only number the episodes as opposed to giving them the season and episode number. Now, onto the episode. Since the episode was on last night, I will dispense with the normal spoiler space.

 

This show is about a family (the Hammonds) who are a cross between the Kennedys and the Clintons. Like the Kennedys, they are called American royalty. There is a mother (Sigourney Weaver), an ex-husband (Ciaran Hinds), two sons (James Wolk and Stan Sebastian), and the grandmother (Ellen Burstyn). Let's look at the characters.

 

First, you have Elaine Barrish who is the current Secretary of State, a former presidential candidate, former governor of Illnois, and former First Lady. She is very concerned about appearances, but is not paralyzed by this concern. She is very strong willed but also very feminine. I love the way the Sigourney balances the yin and yang that are present in Elaine's character. She cares deeply about both of her sons and still loves her ex-husband despite everything he did during their marriage.

 

Speaking of her ex, we have Bud Hammond the philandering ex-president and egotist who is still trying to remain relevant. He is currently dating a movie star but still obviously harbors feelings for Elaine. He is also addicted to politics and can't resist meddling on occasion.

 

Douglas Hammond (Wolk) is pretty much a straight shooter. He also shoots from the hip, not a good trait. He helps to run his mother's campaigns and seems to be her chief of staff. He is dating (and soon to be engaged to) an Asian woman, Anne (played by Brittany Ishibashi) who is also bulimic. He is passionate, blunt, devoted to his mother and family, and in general seems to be a good person.

 

His brother Thomas (Stan), called TJ, was the first openly gay child of a President. He is addicted to drugs and alcohol and seems to sleep around. He also seems to have tried and failed various ventures in the past and wants to open a nightclub using his parents' money. He also tried to commit suicide by carbon monoxide on December 22, 2011.

Margaret Barrish is Elaine's mother. She is incredibily blunt, drinks like a fish, and calls it as she sees it. She promises to be very entertaining.

 

Other important characters are the President (Adrian Pasdar), the Vice President (Dylan Baker), and the President's Chief of Staff (Roger Bart). Then there is Susan Berg (Carla Gugino), a reporter with the Washington Globe who covered the stories of Bud's infidelities while he was in the White House. She discovered the truth about TJs attempted suicide and used that story to get a week long interview with Elaine. Unfortunately for her, she mentioned the story to her boyfriend (also the editor of the Globe) who gave the story to a blogger who published the story leading to Elaine ending the special interview and a breakup of Susan and her boyfriend. Susan apologizes to Elaine and ends up getting a nice scoop in the process.

 

I have to say that I loved the show. They gave alot of backstory in the first 10-15 minutes and let us see how everyone got to where they are. The last few minutes told us that Elaine wants to run for President again and she is going to recommend to the President that he send Bud to Iran to sort out a problem. Basically, these; along with the personal issues; will seem to serve as the driving plots for the remainder of the series.

Some thoughts on the Glee Project

I rarely write about reality competition shows, but I just wanted to write a little about the Glee Project.  Since I am assuming everyone knows about Glee (if you don't, what rock have you been hiding under?), I will briefly explain the premise of the Glee Project.  It is a competition to be cast on Glee for a brief arc.  I didn't watch the first season last year and wish I had, because four of the competitors appeared on the show and I didn't know much about them.  So, I decided to watch this year.

Basically each week, the group is given a theme and song to perform live in front of Robert Ulrich (Glee's casting director) and a member of the cast.  The cast member picks a winner and that person has a private mentoring session to discuss some ideas for how to act to that theme.  They also get tips for their stand-out performance during the song that the group will perform and make a video of. The group also records their part of the song and learns choreography.  The choreographer (Zach Woodlee), vocal producer (Nikki Anders), and Robert pick out the top 2 and bottom 3.  The bottom three are each given a song and must perform it in front of Ryan Murphy (creator/executive producer of Glee) who then eliminates one of them.

Ok, that is a little about the show.  Ok, more than a little.  Sorry, me and being brief, not necessarily the best companions.  :-)

Anyhow, we are almost half way through the season, and I just wanted to make some comments about the show so far and my thoughts on the future.

First, off I was severely disappointed when Dani was eliminated in the second episode.  Personally, I loved her uniqueness and her quirkiness and think she left far, far too early.  Sadly, 'twas not to be.  Personally, I don't understand how Tyler made it as far as he did.  Not that I didn't like him or anything, but I just don't think he was as talented as Dani was in any respect.  I get that as a transgender person (female to male), he would have made for some fascinating stories on Glee, but I really think he needed more time to grow into his new body before coming onto the Glee Project.  But, he was eliminated a week or two later, and I must say that he improved in many ways, so I was impressed with that.

Second, I was saddened that Charlie was eliminated last night.  Surprised?  No, but saddened.  He was probably the most entertaining person on the show, as evidenced by the performance of "It's Not Unusual" he gave last night to Ryan.  He changed alot of the lyrics to reflect his situation and came and sat in the seats by Ryan and the others as he was singing.  It was really fun and reflected one of his biggest strengths, his complete spontaneity.  This was also his biggest weakness.  He had ADHD and it showed in the fact that he could get so carried away and spontaneous that he made poor choices.  Totally get that because I have ADHD and can get in more trouble by my spontaneous actions, which is why I tend to be so damned cautious.  But, because this was his fourth week *IN A ROW* in the bottom, I didn't see him staying.

Of the remaining contenders, here are my thoughts:

Lily- I did not like her at first, but she has grown on me.  I admire her forthrightness, her confidence in herself, and her ability to not take things too far.  I am betting on her being in the top unless she manages to severely screw something up.  If she wins, I suspect she'll become the new Lauren.  Either that or the mean head cheerleader.

Nellie- I so want her in the top, but don't know if it is going to happen.  Like Dani, she is quirky and fun, but she lacks self-confidence.  She found some in the Sexuality video, but lost it shortly thereafter.  She needs to get it back, otherwise I fear she'll be off in a week or two.  If she wins, I would think she'd be a character like season 1 Tina, soft and shy.  Maybe Tina would bring her under her wing to help her blossom which would be totally cool.

Ali- Gotta admire this girl's spirit.  Last night during the slushie fight, she basically demanded to be slushied to prove she could handle it. The problem is that because she is wheelchair-bound, she couldn't use her arms or move around as much to avoid some of the slushies.  But she really soldiered on and did a great job.  If she wins, it would be neat to have her as someone for Artie to relate to (obvious, granted, but still cool).

Shanna- I like her, but she doesn't stand out in any way.  She seems similar to the character of Brittany (although not anywhere near as dumb), but a little blander.  I don't know if she'll make it much further without standing out.  If she wins, see my comment earlier in the paragraph.

Aylin- Just about the only person I would sort of like to be eliminated.  Something about her just rubs me the wrong way.  It could be her constant references to her conservative Muslim upbringing (at least 2-3 times an episode, or so it seems), her overconfidence, or the fact that she seems to think she is the best at almost everything (same thing with Mario).  If she wins, I expect her to become Santana II.

Abraham- Like Shanna, Abraham hasn't impressed me that much.  He seems pretty middle of the road in all respects.  Don't have anything good or bad to say about him.  Like Shanna, I suspect that if he doesn't start standing out soon, he'll be gone.  And honestly, if he wins, he is the one person I don't have a role idea for.

Blake- Good actor, solid singer, very handsome.  Basically, he would be a safe bet.  Maybe a bit too safe.  He has the classic All-American jock/A&F model look, so if he winds, I would expect him to be playing a jock of somee sort, similar to Sam.

Michael- Cute guy next door type.  He can be very good, but if he gets too involved, he overthinks everything and starts screwing up.  He needs to loosen up and be a bit more spontaneous.  If he can do that, he'll go far.  If he wins, I would expect to see him as either an athlete of some sort (running or swimming given his build) or a hot nerd.

If I had to pick the ones to go to the top 4 I would say: Lily, Ali, Nellie, and either Michael or Blake.  Can't decided between the two of them and would love to see either.  I would love for Nellie to win, but not sure if that is in the cards.

Some Thoughts Regarding Ben from Falling Skies

You know, one of the most consistently interesting characters on Falling Skies is Ben. While I do love all of the characters, Ben is by far the most interesting character. For me there are a couple of reasons for this:

[1] Unlike most teenage characters on TV, he is not whiny or completely self-involved. I think this has alot to do with the fact that he had to grow up entirely too quickly given the invasion and the fact that he was harnessed; neither of which is particularly conducive to childhood innocence. While there is a certain amount of self-involvement (he is an adolescent after all!), it is well restrained by his desire to serve and protect.

[2] I have always been fascinated by characters with special abilities/traits. When I was younger, I loved watching Escape to Witch Mountain and (especially) Return from Witch Mountain. I loved watching the 90s X-Men series and other similar shows. Even as a grownup, some of my favorite shows have had enhanced characters in them (Roswell, Buffy, Angel, Teen Wolf, etc.). Ben is a character like one of these. His enhancements come as a result of the harnessing (presumably), but they are still pretty cool.

[3] Ben is at the center of a seismic shift in the show. Up to this point, it has been aliens v. humans. Now, with Red Eye's claim that there is a civil war brewing between some of the Skitters and the Overlords, everything could change. So here is the million dollar question: Is the shift real? In my mind there are three possibilities:

         {a} Red Eye and Ben are telling the truth and the shift is there. How long it will last is uncertain, but the potential shift in power is amazing. Getting access to the alien's technology, possible new weapons against the mechs, instantaneous passage of information via Ben, and more. Will it be enough to bring down the Overlords? Possibly.

         {b} Red Eye is lying and Ben is telling the truth. Ben could be being lied to in order to manipulate him and Tom in order to confuse the remaining resistance.  If this is true, then the "battle" between the Skitters and Mechs at the beginning of the last episode was one hell of a setup.

         {c} Both Red Eye and Ben are lying. If this is true, then Ben is either being controlled directly or is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. I regard this as the least likely option, but it does bear mentioning.

Regardless of which option is true; or even if it is an option I am not seeing; the show has now taken an interesting turn. Things which were previously black-and-white now bear shades of grey. It will be interesting to see how it develops.

My Review of Teen Wolf 2.07- Restraint

We find out the truth about Jackson's parents (well, part of it anyway), part of what is going on with Lydia, and Scott comes to an understanding with Derek....

Jackson has three distinct personalities. First, there is the douche we all know, then there is the Jackima (the personality of the Kanima in Jackson's form), and the Kanima itself. Not sure why all three exist, but they do. And the Jackima is not nice. Witness what he said and did to Alison.

As for how he became the Kanima, it turns out that if someone has an issue that is unresolved and they are bitten by a werewolf, then they turn into the Kanima until such time as they resolve the issue. Jackson's is apparently the manner of his birth. He "was from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd" (Bonus points if you can name that reference without looking it up!) His parents died in a car accident the day before he was born and he was delivered by C-section. No wonder he has issues. As for who is controlling him, I suspect that it may be the chemistry teacher. I could be wrong, but I swear that we saw that bumper sticker on the car which drove away from the Kanima.

That boy Lydia has been seeing is the image of Peter Hale; the Alpha Derek killed. He said that since Lydia is immune from the bite (why though?) she is perfect to carry out a mission. Not sure what yet, but it can't be pretty. I shudder at the implications.

Erica has had a crush on Stiles for a while. Not bad taste, I must admit. But, he never noticed her, which sucks for her. So it was nice to see her in his arms at the end of the ep. So we have Stiles crushing all over Lydia and Erica crushing all over Stiles. Might be headed for love triangle territory, although I hope not.

 

Scott has agreed to work with Derek in order to catch and stop Jackson. Key word: Stop. Scott insists that Jackson not be killed and that the hunt be done his way. Derek seemed to acquiesce to Scott's demands. Does this mean that Scott is joining Derek's pack? Or is this more in the nature of a temporary alliance against a common enemy? Also, how much do you wanna bet that at least a part of this is going to involve getting the hunters involved in tracking the Kanima?

 

The scene where Jackson ate the snake was definitely freaksome and wigged me out. When the snake came out of his eye, I wigged out even harder. Totally nifty, but wigsome.

 

Did anyone besides me almost bust a gut watching Scott's mom unsuccessfully resist cleaning/searching his room? Was definitely amused. He is going to have to tell her the truth at some point. He is going to need adult allies and I do think that his mom and Stiles' dad could be helpful. Also, after she found the mostly used box of condoms and then went to go talk to Alison's mom, I groaned. Good parental skills, bad timing. As for the scene where Alison's mom was sharpening a pencil while asking Scott if he was having sex with Alison, I was definitely amused. Wonder if the pencil was symbolic of a weapon, was a phallic symbol, or both!

 

Until next week!

My Review of Teen Wolf 2.06- Frenemy

Scott races to stop the kanima/Jackson (henceforth Jackima) from killing anyone or being killed and takes some drastic steps with Stiles, Jackima has a confrontation with Derek and Mr. Argent, Alison gets creeped out at school, and Lydia starts digging for the truth only to run across something that disturbs Alison...

You know, one thing you have to admire about Scott is the fact that no matter what, he tries to help and save people, even if they don't necessarily deserve it.  Jackson is a total ass to Scott and Stiles, but Scott is still intent on saving him.  Stiles was right, the easiest thing would have been to get rid of Jackson, which would have accomplished the goal of saving other people.  However pragmatic this might be, it is not something Scott would do.  I really hope Jackson realizes how lucky he is to have Scott as a protector.  Derek and Mr. Argent are out to kill him to save lives.  Scott, on the other hand, wants to save Jackson and other lives.  Admirable?  Yes.  Best idea?   Probably not, but he wouldn't be our Scott if he didn't try.

As for how Jackson was paralyzed last week, I wonder if Stiles was right.  Could Jackson be separate enough from the kanima that the paralyzing agent would still work on him?  Possibly some sort of protective measure to ensure that the human identity of the kanima is not discovered?  That is an intriguing possibility.

I was also struck by the fact that Alison's grandad wasn't attacked by the kanima at all.  Now, the obvious conclusion is that he is controlling it somehow.  However, I wonder if maybe Scott was right.  The kanima seems to go after people who have killed.  Or, in Danny's case, someone who can identify it.  Could grandaddy have figured this out and known that by standing still he wouldn't be a threat to it?  Because at this point, there seem to be two likely candidates to be the kanima's controller.  One is grandad Argent, the other is the counselor given the fact that she mistranslated the text.

My worry now is what the sheriff is going to do.  Did Jackson report Stiles and Scott for kidnapping him?  If so, that would suck.  True, granted, but it would still suck.  I really hope he didn't, but am not holding any hope on that score given his track record.  I have to say that when Scott proposed revealing everything to the sheriff, I was shocked.  Not going to happen now, but I was impressed.

And poor Alison has both grandad and mom at school.  That has to suck.  And grandad is installing cameras all over school, presumably to keep track of what is going to due to the many supernatural problems.  And having mommy Argent as a sub could not have been fun.

Until next week...