Emily Watches Too Much Television

(Blogger's note: for any of you who are following me on Tumblr, I have moved to a new blog that is 99% dedicated to fandoms and 1% social-justice-y/feminism, so if you'd like to keep reading my stuff over there, you can follow me at bisexual-rebekah .) So, I actually meant to write this like, five , six   seven   eight  months ago, but then I realized that I didn't have much time to catch up on my TVD Season 5-rewatch and decided to make that the priority. Then, naturally, the new seasons of TVD and The Originals started, which ended up taking priority over THAT, and I got ridiculously behind and kind of forgot about this post for a bit until notomys on Tumblr messaged me and reminded me that I totally meant to write this whole big thing and it ended up being forgotten while I have been playing catch-up on actual recaps. So, since we still have another five four three   two months   ONE MONTH before our blessed and beloved Teen Wolf comes back, I figur...

Welp, even though I'm positive my heart stopped at several different points while watching this episode, we all made it through (I think?) what ended up being hands-down the best episode of Season 4. I mean, what's not to love? Scott McCall truly is the truest of alphas; Derek Hale is a reborn-beta with even more power than before; Liam Dunbar is the most precious, strong, and brave little babe in the world, Malia Hale exceeded everyone's expectations and tbh, I think the fandom owes her a huge apology; Lydia Martin and Mason are two of the most die-hard loyal friends in the universe; Stiles Stilinski loves his pack so much that he ran into an Aztec temple full of berserkers and werecreatures in the middle of a full moon with no weapons whatsoever; and while Peter Hale and Kate Argent may not have been killed like I was hoping, they are out of the picture for now, each with their own story lines that have the potential to be amazing next season. Plus, Stilinski family feels...

Sorry, guys, but this week's episode killed me. Like, I am straight-up cremated, ashes-spread-at-sea dead . There was so much about this episode that I wholeheartedly loved and so much that I hated in the way that it's so bad because it is so intense  and I can't handle my faves being hurt. I'm not even going to try to summarize my feelings for this intro, I'm just going to dive right in, because honestly, a shitload of drama went down in "A Promise To The Dead," and to be honest with you, I still don't completely understand it. So, let's talk about this season's penultimate (NOOOOOO! :((((() episode of Teen Wolf ! Settle in, babies, because this recap is seriously going to be a doozy. Like, as long as my "Insatiable" recap was. Consider yourself warned! Previously, on Teen Wolf :  Kate Argent was killed by Peter clawing her throat out, but instead of being dead the last eight to twelve months like everyone thought, she was actua...

Alright, so a lot of confusing stuff has gone down this season up to the events of 04x10 "Monstrous," right? And a lot more confusing stuff is going to go down because of the confusing stuff that has already happened. Do you understand? No? Me either, but I'm going to try to make sense and order of what has been revealed so far, as well as coming up with some predictions about what the last two episodes of this season will be bringing us. I plan on making a decent guess at the timeline of the season, as well as the timeline of the events that led to the deadpool, plus we have a LOT to speculate about in regards to banshees, true alpha werewolves, nagual werejaguars, berserkers, and what the fuck Jordan Parrish might be, as well as our dear Stiles. We'll probably be talking a lot about the characters, too, naturally, because that's the best part. Basically, get saddled in, kiddos, because I have some words to say. ALSO, just as a warning-- this post will contain s...

HOW, how nuts was this episode, right? As kind of off-the-wall as it was, it had some really excellent character moments, some really neat reveals, AND dug deeper into the theme that has always been present in the show, but never as much as this season-- the "man versus beast" trope. It's been a struggle for Scott to maintain a healthy balance of humanity and lycanthropy in his life from the second he was turned, but as the stakes get higher and higher, and Scott has to sacrifice more and more in the name of protecting Beacon Hills, that struggle gets harder and harder to overcome. Scott has had a lot of reminders this season, and this week especially, that his life is nowhere close to "normal" human life, and that he's prone to repressing the thoughts that scare him-- that he can't go out on dates with his girlfriend or enjoy a bonfire with the lacrosse team without the constant fear of being attacked, that someday he could accidentally slip up and gi...

So, I have to give credit where credit is due to the writers, because I was literally just saying last week that I have read so much meta/speculation/theories about who the Benefactor is that I wouldn't be surprised by the reveal, because I had read compelling arguments that pointed to anyone from Danny to Mr. Harris to one of the Argents to Liam's stepdad and Agent Douchenozzle and everyone in between. But even despite the fact that Scott guessed that the Benefactor was likely a banshee because they knew when someone was or wasn't dead whether they had proof or not, everyone figured that it had to be Lydia's grandmother, Lorraine, since they found out she wrote the code, and NO one (or no one I know of, at least) even considered the fact that the Benefactor was Meredith. I know that personally, I saw her name on the deadpool and figured that fact meant she couldn't be the Benefactor, in the same way that I was desperately hoping that Jordan's presence on the li...

[I apologize in advance for the lateness-- this week has just been exhausting, between having to babysit my dad after he had surgery on Thursday and going out of town on Friday, so this is posted MUCH later than I ever intended. I promise that I'll be back on schedule next week!--Emily] Alright, so I know I'm always crowing about how every episode of Teen Wolf is the best episode of the season/ever, but seriously, you guys-- "Time of Death" is one of my favorite episodes of this season, if not my favorite. There is just SO much to love about it: there was TONS of Liam, Derek was in a hilariously sassy and playful mood all day and managed to have some hot sex with Braeden (FINALLY!), we got backstory on Malia and Lydia's families, some adorable Scott/Kira moments, a badass mother team-up (MELISSA AND NOSHIKO SHOULD JUST RULE THE WORLD TBH) and Chris defending Scott against Kate! Not to mention all of the drama surrounding Scott's "death" and the ...

When Teen Wolf's season 4 trailers and promos started coming out, a friend and I were talking about it, and she said, "This season looks so scary!" I figured it would be pretty anxiety-inducing, because it always is, but by now, I feel comfortable saying that this season has stressed me out more than any other, in a good way! This week's episode did nothing to disappoint, either. Between the amazing character moments and the decently-intense plot, there was definitely plenty going on this week! So honestly, I'm just going to cut to the chase and get started, because we have a LOT to discuss, my friends of friends. Let's talk about "Weaponized!' Previously, on Teen Wolf :  Liam's lacrosse rival from his old school, Brett Talbot, was nearly killed by Violet and Garrett at the first lacrosse scrimmage, and was ultimately revealed to be a member of a werewolf pack led by now-alpha Satomi Ito, also known as Noshiko's friend while she was in the O...

OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS. My heart is still pounding from all of the shit that happened this week, I don't even know where to start. As usual, Scott McCall is KING, and Malia temporarily took on Kira's role as Queen of Everything. Then, we got the last third of the deadpool, learning a LOT of new mythology stuff from Derek, as well as some more backstory on our old friend Satomi from "The Fox And The Wolf!" And best of all, Jordan Parrish is TOO PRECIOUS FOR THIS WORLD. But the main thing I'd like to briefly discuss before we get started is that while Allison may be dead, her presence is still constantly being felt in this first half of the season, even if she's not explicitly mentioned. Between Lydia and Stiles lamenting the number of people who have died that they know in the last year, to Scott's vow to not let anyone else on the deadpool die, regardless of what kind of creature they are, to Chris' determination to neutralize or put down Kate and the ...

OH MY GOD YOU GUYS. The fifth episode in any season of Teen Wolf is usually pretty fucking bananas, but this one really takes the cake. The funny parts were so enjoyable that I could not stop laughing, but the rest just made me so anxious and worried for our heroes that I felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack for the entire hour, in the best way. Before we start, I'd like to talk about Scott McCall, true alpha of all our hearts, because for being the main character around whom the show revolves AND the titular "Teen Wolf" himself, he does NOT get the credit he deserves, and this episode is evidence of that fact. Wasn't it such sweet comeuppance when Violet got so high off of the amount of money flooding her bank account that she deluded herself into thinking that taking down the most valuable supernatural on the list was something she was capable of doing? Even Garrett insisted that they at least needed to prepare a little before going after the big game ...

God, what a fucking PERFECT EPISODE, am I right? Its perfection was made even more obvious after the shit-show of a time I had trying to watch the episode last night. MTV in my area somehow froze on a still frame for a commercial for that new show that appears to be a bunch of stoners making munchie food for their fellow stoner judges, and it got stuck on that for like, two whole hours! So, I switched to a livestream online that proceeded to drop out every other minute or so, so I missed 3/4 of the important stuff until I could finally download the episode to watch it f'realsies. THEN, the download I found had the dialogue audio missing during the Lydia scene, so I had to desperately track down ANOTHER version from a non-MTV source with the dialogue audio. The struggle is real. But, yeah, you guys don't care about that stuff-- the point is, this episode made me happy in so many ways that it was more or less worth all the effort in frustration! We saw that Derek is not only co...

HOLY. SHIT. When Kathleen and I were talking about the promo, and were wondering what Sean and his family were going to be, and she mentioned she saw speculation that they would be cannibals, so I was like, "OH I BET THEY'RE WENDIGOS," because I've watched way too much Supernatural. I wasn't exactly serious, but then, lo and behold, they totally were, and now I'm kind of dying laughing because Jeff Davis said we'd be getting back to human problems this season and away from supernatural drama, and yet, we've already been introduced to at least, like, four different varieties of new supernatural creatures: a nagual, a pair of berserkers, a family of wendigos, and that weird mouthless guy who I still do not understand yet. So, needless to say, we have PLENTY to keep us busy in this episode: the introduction of the new lacrosse babies Liam and Garrett, some serious chemistry and detective work with Lydia and Deputy Parrish, and so many A+ Skittles moment...

So, was this a hilarious and entertaining hour of television, or what? I thoroughly enjoyed "117," you guys, although I will admit that I'm still not 100% sure that I understand what happened (I'm hoping that puzzling it out while I write this recap will probably help.) Regardless, we did manage to get some answers about what the fuck is happening, and also quite a bit of set-up for a couple of issues that I'm sure are going to become a problem in the near future. But really, the best part was just all the bantering, the hilarious explanations, and adorably endearing character interactions that make this show so addicting. Seriously, as long as all of the pack mates are constantly sassing each other in the most loving ways possible, I will continue to watch this show. So, enough with the chit chat, yeah? Let's talk about Teen Wolf ! Previously, on Teen Wolf:  Scott found a bunch of shell casings carved with a skull at Derek's loft, indicating he had ...

I have a problem, my friends, and that problem is Kate Argent. Between her hijinks in the time since her "death," her weird connection to Araya and the Calavera hunters, and those crazy bony things that I am pretty sure are berserkers, I have so many questions (and half-formed theories) and I am DYING for answers. And that's not even getting into that whole "turning-Derek-into-a-cute-teenager" thing. Like, what the fuck is she doing? What are her motivations? I have a couple ideas, tbh, though probably unlikely-- with this show, though, you never really know. I'm hoping it will help out timeline-wise, as well, although we all know Jeff Davis is allergic to numbers, and as such, trying to make a logical timeline is totally futile. I cannot take credit for all of these ideas, though; anything in this post are theories and hypotheses that are a result of my frequent brainstorming sessions with my dearest Kathleen , which is very much a collaborative effort. ...

[Edited to add: I started writing my notes/speculation section after I finished the recap, and realized that I have way too much to say in the way of theories/meta to tack it to the end of an already way too long recap, so they're going into another post that should be set to be posted on Saturday. Expect TONS of discussion regarding Kate Argent, Araya/the Calaveras, and Teenage!Derek, among other things! Sorry for the switch up, but I figure it's probably easier to read this way.] HOLY. SHIT. HOLY. SHIT. HOLY. SHIT. I admit that I was the tiniest bit nervous about this new season, because losing Allison and Isaac both seemed like a huge blow to the pack and to the show in general, especially considering they were my favorite characters after King Scott. Don't get me wrong, this show is my baby, and I will most likely watch/love it until the bitter end, so I was mostly SUPER EXCITED to learn what's going down in Beacon Hills for this round, but there was still that ...