Boa | twenty-something | German |
This is my personal blog, containing art, ramblings, feminism and pretty things.
People who photoshop Dylan O’Brien’s face on top of Brittany Snow’s face in the photos hacked from Tyler Hoechlin’s private account
Mistakes Were Made: Okay, so the thing that really got me about this weeks episode is that…
Okay, so the thing that really got me about this weeks episode is that Stiles gave up.
After Gerard kicked him around a little bit, he just went home and did nothing.
Scott is calling and he doesn’t answer.
He knows Erica and Boyd are in trouble and he doesn’t tell anyone or start making plans.
He knows shit with Jackson is still going down. He knows Gerard is still making people’s lives hard. He knows that there are so many giant terrible important problems to be dealt with.
And what does he do?
He sits in his room and just. Does nothing.
This is the first time we’ve ever seen Stiles not doing anything. Not just in the face of a crisis, but ever.
But the thing with Gerard, that was the last straw. Because Gerard pointed out to him the thing he’s been worrying about the whole time. That he, Stiles, is nothing but a liability. All he’s every going to do no matter how hard he tries to help, no matter how much he sacrifices, is hurt the people he cares about.
At least half of what he yelled at Lydia was really directed at himself. Because all he can see is his dad’s face at another funeral. His dad ALONE, and it’s all his fault. Because he’s useless, because he’s a pawn, because he can’t even save himself. Not really. Because he keeps being used to hurt the people he loves.
Which is heartbreaking. And watching Stiles sit in his room and DO NOTHING was the most heartbreaking thing in the world, because he was full ready to let himself drown.
And the thing is, that episode tag. That fluffy little Scott & Stiles BFF moment didn’t help at all.
Because Stiles’s conversation with his dad? It may have motivated him to go and help, but once again he was useless. He was just the ride, he just watched stuff happen while Scott held him back. So what did he ultimately take from his conversation with his dad? Probably something like “well, lacrosse is the one thing you can not be useless at” and so what does he do? Start practicing fucking lacrosse so he can be the team captain.
Because the kid is drowning. Head all the way underwater, and t season resolved NOTHING.
He’s STILL going through hell, and nobody has stopped to help him yet, because nobody can see it.*
Which is why this episode made me antsy more than anything, because I’m still waiting for the emotional fallout.
*(except his dad, who knows there is a problem, but who doesn’t know what he problem is)
Yup! It feels sorta like essentially Stiles is at where Jackson and Lydia was at end of Season 1; and now look how Season 2 turned out.
Season 3 of the Stiles and Derek, here we come?
The fluffy last scene made me smile, but it also made me do a ‘oh no’ in my heart because Scott is so, so wrong. IT IS NOT THE SAME. The last image of Scott’s eyes just stressed that point even more - sure they’re just BFFs playing lacrosse again just as they did before this whole thing ever started, but they can’t *really* play the same because Scott is a werewolf now with all the werewolf powers while Stiles is still a measly human. Scott will always be stronger than Stiles now.
“I’m not a hero.”
That ending also highlighted how Scott, to an extent, takes Stiles for granted. Scott’s joking about how he’s got nothing again and Stiles has to prod him - hey, “you’ve always got me” - and it’s obviously a jokey little thing between two close friends, but after a whole two seasons of getting hammered by his own weakness and helplessness I can’t help but feel Stiles is at an inflection point here. Remember that Stiles is now the only guy without the bite - even Jackson is now a werewolf, not to mention the same newborn werewolf Lydia reaffirms her love to. After watching that scene between them, Stiles has to know now that he has no chance with her.
Things haven’t “changed” for Scott, but they sure have for Stiles.
***
Stiles, I think, is going to get isolated; drift apart from Scott, drift apart from Lydia, leaving her to be with her Jackson. Look at how Stiles just brushes off the fact he was beaten to Scott. I don’t think Stiles is physically beaten all that often, in light of his dad’s I’m-gonna-kill-him reaction to his face, so it has to be a HUGE deal, and he just…deflects about it to his best friend? Lies about it to his dad? He’s already drifted so badly from his dad thanks to the whole werewolf thing, and now he’s not even talking about the serious shit in his life to Scott.
Look at how the narrative suggests that Stiles is becoming useless, at the same time that Stiles feels so weak and helpless it’s almost become resignation. Scott didn’t even need Stiles to defeat Gerard at the end. He defeated Gerard by teaming up with Isaac and Dr. Deaton, and using his own brain for once, after a whole two seasons of depending on Stiles to save him. Scott is growing independent. I dunno how Stiles will take that, but I think it’ll be a major point of contention in S3.
Especially with Peter on the loose and seeking his own angle….
Agreed.
And from a production angle, I can totally see them wanting to milk the goldmine of Dylan’s talent and range. He can totally pull off a darker arc, and I bet he can do it while keeping a morbid comedy about it too, and I can see him being able to pull of a ‘return’. I can see Jeff Davis and the team wanting to give Dylan these scenes through the way they lavished attention on that drowning monologue. I mean if they don’t take advantage of Dylan, that would be a frankly stupid move, and they have 24 episodes for several arcs.
Yes to everything. Stiles is still going through hell and skating along the surface of his life isn’t going to hold him for very long.
