More Teen Wolf thoughts

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orangecrush1189 has a cold and we marathoned Teen Wolf at her house today, which was super, super excellent as she basically falls off the couch with glee at EVERY SINGLE KEY PLOT POINT and also every time anyone makes eye contact with anyone else.
Okay, so: I watched through Season 2 up till currently airing super fast, and I kind of dismissed Scott/Allsion as a thing I shouldn't pay attention to, because teen shows have love interests and that is boring, right?

I was NOT CORRECT. Okay, I love Scott to pieces (I do!) even if I refer to him to Orangecrush as the most annoying things about Harry Potter mixed with the most annoying things about Buffy. (I just have a general hero problem whenever there's only one hero.) And his motivations are good and honorable - he has superpowers and he's trying to save everyone and he's just a kid who goes from having a really standard life where even his problems are standard to living in a world where people apparently get hurt and killed, like, all the time.

AT THE SAME TIME. Wow, Allison keeps trying to assert that she's not defenseless and can take care of herself throughout the middle of season 2, and every time Scott is basically like SHH IT'S OKAY I'VE GOT THIS. His urge to protect her is straight-up contributing to the conflict that's barreling down at them, because he's undermining her ability to feel like she's his equal and like she can make decisions in their relationship as an equal.

I seriously did not think about giving the show any credit for this until I realized that it was doing the Matt-is-a-textbook-manipulative-stalker thing on purpose, and that creepy emo teen Peter was meant to be creepy. I usually watch boy/girl tv dating dynamics on shows with my shoulders up around my ears, assuming that anything that seems dysfunctional or like it's going to cause problems later isn't meant that way by the writers and will never ever come back around to actually be a thing. And on Teen Wolf apparently it is? Dear Teen Wolf I did not mean to take you seriously at all, Jackson EATS A SNAKE and it COMES OUT OF HIS EYE and werewolves are just yellow-eyed people with sideburns and that guy from Highlander directs ridiculous fights under bridges, and yet apparently you're going to do actual interesting honest things about gender and power and relationships? WHAT IS THIS. HOW DO I EVEN PARSE THAT THIS HAPPENS.

And the thing that blows my freaking mind is that Allison is all "I can take care of myself, I'm good at things," but when Scott tells her no she doesn't, like, prove to him in one fell swoop that she is a strong female character BAMF whatever. No, she loves him and trusts him and so even though she does take care of herself it also messes with her head and undermines her confidence and is probably a major reason why instead of being able to build a strategy with him she winds up calling in her family.

I just - I just can't believe I was missing so much by wandering off to do the dishes whenever there was Scott/Allison stuff just because I never like their songs.

OKAY SO I need to go through and make a list of the instances where this happens. Everyone else has noticed, right, that Derek is super terrible at everything, and super convinced that everyone's motives are as base as possible, and yet he will seriously do whatever it takes to come through for Scott every single time he possibly can? He bailed on Jackson (he hates Jackson), he doublecrossed his uncle, he's been vicious to his pack, but he will do selfless things for Scott, a lot.

... I think Derek loves Scott a little. Yes, I do, I don't mean that I ship it (though of course I ship it, I'm stubborn like that, I also have a roundabout way that this could get Sterek on deck if you're interested), I think that Derek genuinely cares about this kid his terrible uncle dragged into this werewolf world all unwilling, I think he sees Scott as a bit of a reflection of the person that he was before Kate ruined his life in every possible way. I think he admires what Scott (...mostly via Stiles, but I am of the unpopular opinion that Derek doesn't get Stiles at all yet) has been able to do from scratch with no werewolf friends. I just think he really really likes Scott, and that pleases me a lot, because I think if he's ever going to unclench enough to not turn into a total villain he's got to be able to form a positive emotional tie with somebody.

Basically I think Derek's relationship with Scott is kind of like giving someone in rehab a houseplant to take care of and that in learning to take care of Scott even a little, Derek might learn to, you know, nurture himself in any way at all. Instead of seriously assuming that he has to death-threat people into not letting him die and thinking that his only powers in life are violence and being really really really ridiculously good-looking. Those are my thoughts on Derek/Scott.

I got an icon, it must be serious.