#and while scott is often willing to kill monsters (the beast when it stops being mason and is just the beast; the anukite; etc)

[bericas]

SCOTT APPRECIATION WEEK (DAY 1) → FAVORITE QUOTES/DECISIONS

scott’s willingness to do what needs to be done often means sacrifice, and it’s often a burden he takes onto himself; however, it doesn’t always mean self-sacrifice. 

(aka: talk shit get hit!!!)

#twedit #scott mccall #scottmccalledit #scottmccallweek #HELLO I LOVE HIM!!!!!! #so ive honestly never been heavily involved in other fandoms so i dont really know if this is unique or not but i think something about tw #is that it has so many characters that often they get flattened into archetypes by fandom to make them distinguishable #which makes sense!!!! but also leads to ignoring the entirety of the character in favor of tropes #and while scott is often willing to kill monsters (the beast when it stops being mason and is just the beast; the anukite; etc) #he often tries to be forgiving when the lines are blurred (theo; the betas who killed hunters in s5; the hunters in s6) #and i think a lot of that genuinely is because of who he was in s1!! he was someone who WANTED to kill peter. he wanted to. he would've #and as time goes on who he is and what he's willing to do changes and he goes from someone willing to kill to willing to die #(which: not that scott was some kind of monster in s1. he was a kid who was traumatized and hunted by a monster and so even when peter was a #dying human on the forest floor it was VERY easy to not see him this way and VERY easy to not care because scott WAS going to die; allison's #father at this point was VERY WILLING to kill him; and being a werewolf was a death sentence; and killing peter was supposed to cure him) #BUT he never actually....... is not willing to kill? it's just ALWAYS the worst case scenario. it's always the last option #and we see a lot of him being at his end in 3a especially (which is also before stiles gets posessed and blurs the lines in a big way again) #right like gerard is out of chances; jennifer is going to kill his mother and the sheriff and chris she is out of chances; deucalion #harassed him for the entirety of 3a and his pack killed people he's out of chances) #but then as it goes on the threats become other kids. become reflections of him; of allison; of stiles. these are not people he is willing #to put down. these are not people deserving of being put down. and so we see a lot less of this!!!! #so i tried to choose scenes where he wasn't joking or talking hypothetically; he was looking at (or in the case of the last gif about to fac #e down) the people he was threatening and it was not a hypothetical it was a FACT; this is what will happen next #let me kill peter; i poisoned gerard; i will kill gerard; i will kill jennifer; i will kill deucalion; i will fight for my life against pete #r; i will kill this random dude who tried to kill me if he makes me; i will put gerard down to end this war #and it's these moments that make everything else SO POIGNANT and i wish we got this explored in s5 so much more bc s5 was the season of Oh! #Scott's Baby! AND FRANKLY THEO DESERVED TO GET KNOCKED ON HIS ASS!!!!! like i know liam had fucked scott up pretty bad already when theo get #s there but SCOTT EVENT TELLS LIAM!! I CANT LET YOU KILL ME!!!!!! HE SHOULDVE LET THEO KNOW THAT HES WILLING TO KILL ACTUALLY! #IF HE WAS NOT SO CLOSE TO DEAD. IF THEO HAD COME FOR HIS FIRST. THEO WOULD NOT HAVE MADE IT OUT OF THE FIGHT. AND SCOTT SHOULDVE TOLD HIM #THATTTT WE DESERVED IT AS A CHARACTER MOMENT!!!!

[princeescaluswords]

About Teen Wolf. I love both Scott and Stiles, I think both symbolize two paths to take when surrounded by violence. Scott is the Hero and chose kindness while Stiles chose violence but still tries to be good. The one character I stopped liking was Noah, he was self-righteous.

I have a lot to say about Stiles and his ability to chose violence while still trying to be good and how it runs counter to the primary theme of the show, but I do think it deserves some thought. On the other hand, I have to openly disagree with your interpretation of Noah as self-righteous.

"Self-righteous" implies that Noah believed that every action he took was correct simply because he took it. I think that the production wrote Noah Stilinski with more self-awareness than that. In fact, I think about the scene in Ouroboros (5x08) where he tells Melissa "I've set my badge aside a few too many times in the last couple of weeks," and I realize that a better word for Noah Stilinski is not self-righteous but corrupt. The sheriff is a character willing to use his authority outside the 'parameters of the law' when he profits personally from it, only to stand on principle when it doesn't cost him anything.

Now I'm sure that the production never intended the Sheriff to come across as negatively as I and other people view him. I feel he is intended to come across as a good-hearted person making the best out of difficult circumstances, and that served three goals for the production.

The production had to make sure that the solution to the plotlines remained Scott and his pack's tasks. Scott McCall was the lead protagonist after all. Noah's troubled relationship with the requirements of his office often served to prevent him and his deputies from being a force of resolution.

The production also wanted an ambivalent relationship between Noah and Stiles. Both characters frustrate each other, yet both characters would go to extremes to protect each other. Stiles charges merged alpha twins with a baseball bat; Noah interferes with a federal investigation while undergoing impeachment proceedings. It created opportunities for both emotional payoffs and character development.

The danger of involving the police was used to heighten the tension of supernatural events. The Beacon Hills Sheriff's Department was always woefully ill-equipped to deal with the season's murder sprees and it was often made clear that their involvement would only lead to more violence towards innocents. Scott's stand against revenge and kill-them-first mentality was always meant to be the answer: the only way to stop the cycle of violence was to not pursue violence. The sheriff, the police department, the FBI, even the self-appointed vigilantes of the Argents and the Calaveras couldn't really end the killing sprees of monsters like Peter or the Beast.

I honestly believe that those were the goals of the writers, and yet I ended up despising the Sheriff to the depths of my soul, and that is also the responsibility of the the writers, because of the privileged position they gave Noah throughout the series.

Noah possessed the privilege of having the consequences of his actions being portrayed as unfair. No audience member watching the show was allowed to think that the impeachment proceedings in Season 3B were just in any way, even though their premise, as Rafael put it in Anchors (3x13), "The lack of resolution and ability to close cases is what's going to get him fired." is valid. The writers focused instead on Rafael's unreliability and ulterior personal motivations rather than the fact that sheriff was pretty bad at his job. Or in 6B, they may have allowed Monroe to deliver a well-deserved trouncing of the sheriff's authority in the Werewolves of London (6x17), but the sheriff was able to simply Johnny-Cage his way out of the consequences.

He's not the only white male character to receive this privilege. Anyone remember any consequences for Paige Kraiskeva? Peter and Derek were portrayed as the victims of their own actions. Contrast that approach to the scene in Raw Talent (6x12) where Scott, under the influence of the Anuk-Ite freaks out when surrounded by armed deputies! The Sheriff who is a trained police officer and knows who and what Scott is because he's calling out Scott's name, literally puts a gun to Scott's heart to kill him. Compare that scene to De-Void (3x21), and remember that Scott is the one who apologizes to the sheriff.

Unsurprisingly, this wasn't the first time that the Sheriff showed a complete disinterest in Scott's life or the life of any supernatural creature. There's the famous "call the border patrol" incident in Smoke and Mirrors (4x12), where the Sheriff was content to let Scott and Kira die at Kate Argent's hands as long as his son was safe. Or in The Benefactor (4x04) when he let Peter Hale murder someone in police custody right in front of him. On the other hand, he often complains that he can't ignore the law. Hilariously, Noah tells Scott they can't move Tierney and Jiang in Pressure Test (6x15) because he has to follow the rules and they killed people, but then turns around and tells Scott not ten minutes later that Scott has to be prepared to kill people. There is no promise from Noah won't arrest Scott immediately afterwards, because the only person Noah has promised to protect from legal consequences is his own son. Compare "I would burn the sheriff station to the ground to protect you!" to "Do you expect me to cover that up?"

The production wanted us to think that Noah's dedication to the law until his son was involved is a sign that Noah loves Stiles, and I can say this because the production made it clear that we were supposed to appreciate him for it. For example, remember that scene between the Melissa and the Sheriff after their confrontation in Ouroboros (5x08) where the Sheriff admitted he was wrong to Melissa? You can't because there wasn't one. Noah had asked Melissa repeatedly to endanger her job by giving him access to medical records, but when she calls him out on being a hypocrite, he never talks to her again.

"Kira was a mistake." Yes, a mistake for which the sheriff never had to apologize to the people he hurt or even act as if he did something wrong. Because, like all the white male characters named Stilinski in Teen Wolf, his mistakes are not actually mistakes, they are gestures of love.

No, the Sheriff wasn't self-righteous. He recognized that he played fast-and-loose with the law when it suited his emotional needs and played tough cop when it also suited his emotional needs. He was corrupt. The writers simply wrote him as entitled to be corrupt, even as they wrote Stiles as entitled to betray and beat Scott, yet then had Scott beg for forgiveness. Like father, like son.

This might have been an interesting dynamic to explore if it wasn't always coupled with triumphant Stilinski hugging-time while Melissa and Scott didn't get a reunion scene in seven out of nine season endings, or if someone had been able to stand up to the sheriff and not be portrayed as mean. Would it had killed the writers to have Noshiko or Ken scold him in 5B? Would it have killed the writers to have Scott shout at Noah in 6A? Apparently, it would have.

BUT IT'S NOT RACISM.

#anti sheriff stilinski #teen wolf meta #scott mccall defense squad

[princeescaluswords]

Favorite Scenes, Part 2

This in regards to an ask about my favorite scenes.  

Season 4:  “He said we shouldn't try. But now I've got you. I got an Alpha.”

As a matter of fact, Violet, you do.  I love this scene from I.E.D. (4x05) because it shows that Scott, like all other alphas, is fully capable of violence, he simply chooses not to indulge in it.  It shows that Scott, like all other werewolves, is fully capable of anger, he simply chooses not to indulge it.  No one would blame him if he tore Violet’s head off in an act of self-defense.  She wasn’t a helpless victim forced into attacking him or twisted by an incautious Bite or dark experiments into an out-of-control monster.  She was an assassin trying to collect the twenty-five million dollar bounty on his head.  She was part of a team who had killed at least one werewolf and were targeting many of his friends.  He had the opportunity, the capability, and more than enough reasons to end her.  He chose not to.

Did Scott sometimes get his ass kicked because he was reluctant to resort to violence?   Absolutely.  That’s the price you pay for valuing other’s lives regardless of what they mean to you.   The show repeatedly focused on the pointlessness of revenge -- it’s theme was everyone has darkness in them, even the best of us.  When extremist fandom tries to argue that the world would be so much better if Scott (but more often Stiles and Derek and Peter) would just kill the people who threatened them, they forget the lesson of the show -- anyone can threaten them.  Not just hunters, not just other werewolves, not just other supernatural creatures or knowledgeable humans, but anyone -- even Sydney, the senior worried about passing the SATs because her parents can’t get her into college.  Ruthless killing to make yourself safe creates a world of corpses.  

Season 5A: “Let me see it.” “It’s fine.” “Let me see it.”

I love this scene in Parasomnia (5x02) for the same reason I love the one I talked about above, though the show comes at it from the opposite angle.  Sure, it’s a testament to Scott’s and Stiles’ friendship, but it’s more than that.   Stiles has not had a good day.  He’s shouted at people in the library, “I don’t need anyone!”   He’s dragged Liam into stalking Theo.  He got caught by Theo in an embarrassing situation.  He’s frustrated and angry at himself and he takes that anger out on Scott.  “Because you trust everyone!”   Scott does trust everyone, except of course Derek and Peter, and Gerard, and Deucalion, and the twins, and Noshiko, but let’s not go through the first sixty episodes of the show and find all the people that Scott didn’t trust because Stiles’s anger isn’t about Scott, it’s about his own sense that Scott shouldn’t trust him.  

Scott has every reason to not focus on helping Stiles or to brush off that Stiles is in pain.  Stiles has expressed -- in an aggressive fashion -- that he doubts Scott and that he thinks Scott is dangerously wrong.  He’s been mean and thoughtless.  But Scott doesn’t, because Scott’s compassion isn’t reserved for those who deserve it or those who treat him well.  He’s going to help Stiles the way he helped Derek at the beginning of Season 3A, the way he will help Peter in Season 6a.  He’s helping them because they need help.  And that’s all.

Season 5B: “Go upstairs.”

I love this scene in The Maid of Gevaudan (5x18) because this is the ultimate choice that Scott makes.  He’s preparing to die in the same place he felt his heart stop before, but this time, it’s his choice.  He’s been fighting La Bete for the entire episode, and he can’t beat it.   But he won’t -- not can’t, but won’t -- run away while the Beast kills the people hiding in the library.   There’s nothing good in this library for him.  He’s not far from where Theo revealed himself as the First Chimera and then stuck his claws into his chest.  He’s not far where Liam announced that he wanted to kill him and beat him to the point of death.  He’s not far from Allison’s initials.  He has every reason to run.  He can survive.  They can’t.  He probably knows who they are, but they’re not his friends. One of them, Nolan, will even become his enemy.  But he’s helping them because they need help.

And he’s ready to die for that.

This is ultimate expression of the True Alpha path that he started on.  This is what Deaton believed, what Boyd acknowledged, what Deucalion obsessed over, what Kate and Peter could never understand.  When people talk about Scott being weak or arrogant or stupid, they miss the entire point of the story.  It’s not weak to find another way other than violence; it’s not arrogant to have hope for everyone; it’s not stupid to put others before yourself.

Season 6B: Waiting for the Fall

I love this scene in Raw Talent (6x02) because this is the payoff.  Theo is homeless and lonely, and he just had a frightening encounter with something that he doesn’t understand.  He was a power-obsessed, manipulative product of twisted science and an abusive upbringing.  He’s a sarcastic, sneering atheist and realist who doesn’t believe in anything or anyone.  And right there in that moment, he’s struggling to call someone for help.  Who?  Not the police.  Not the powerful.  He’s struggling to call Scott, the person who will help him because he needs help.

This is how a True Alpha changes the world.  This is how any hero like Scott McCall changes the world.  Teen Wolf had a lot of flaws -- huge, gaping, ugly flaws -- but it had a powerful theme and it stuck to it.  What would Allison have become if Scott had ran in fear when he found out her family hunted werewolves?  What type of blood-soaked alpha would Derek have become by trying to recreate his family through violence?  There are so many lives that Scott made better simply by being willing to try: Stiles’s, Lydia’s, Chris Argent’s, Liam’s, and so on.  

In summary, I love this show.

Part One. 

#teem wolf #teen wolf meta #scott mccall #scott mccall defense squad #stiles stilinski #theo raeken