Why Teen Wolf should kill Stiles
Contains spoilers from the most recent episode
HOLD ON, DON’T MURDER ME, YET. HEAR ME OUT.
I wrote here about the main problems that the show has with characterization. Namely, Scott is really boring, and possibly the most boring werewolf since, well, ever. Scott doesn’t exist outside of other characters in the show. If he’s not bantering with Stiles (well, when he’s not listening to Stiles banter), he’s either pining/moping/being boring with Allison, or yelling at Derek. That’s it. Those are the three things he does, especially now that they’ve pretty much ignored lacrosse this season (for the better). If you separate Scott from Stiles, Scott becomes… nothingness.
This characteristic is more than fine for a Jackson or a Derek, or any other supporting character, but is a fundamental flaw when it’s the protagonist. Now, don’t get me wrong, Teen Wolf, for what it is, is a pretty solid show, but it has the potential to be a great show, what seems to be holding it back is a lack of bravery. I understand why they do it, the show has a great following, and why mess with something that works? The answer is: otherwise, Teen Wolf will become a redundant bore-fest (and with the re-introduction of Peter Hale, it sure seems like it’s heading that way already).
I said that the best way for the show to make Scott interesting was to make him and Allison enemies- have Allison think that Scott killed, or helped kill, one of her parents, and then have Allison fulfill her destiny as a hunter. Now, he has an enemy that is not only a hunter, but a betrayed lover, which makes for great TV. This takes away what Scott wants most (heros should never get what they want, otherwise, they stop being heros), and gives him depth he lacked, and it gives Allison depth she lacked.
And now, given Victoria Argent’s death, we are so close to it happening.
There is one more element we need. Allison has a reason to hate Scott, if the death of her mom is played right, and she thinks Scott had a hand in it (fingers crossed), but Scott still has no reason to make Allison an enemy. At the moment, we’re left with an angry Allison, and a moping Scott, which is still boring. Better, but still boring.
And that’s why Allison needs to kill Stiles.
It doesn’t have to be on purpose, maybe she was aiming for Derek, but because Stiles and Derek were kissing (my gift to you), she hits Stiles instead.
What would that leave? Well, we’d have a protagonist that not only lost the love of his life to circumstance, but also his best friend at the hands of his former lover, whom he still loves (awesome). And we have his enemy, who is equally conflicted, equally scorned, and equally the victim of circumstance. Two scorned lovers, who are enemies. They want nothing more than to not be enemies, but fate says otherwise.
I would watch the shit out of that.
Allison doesn’t actually have to kill Stiles, but she has to do something awful to him. The more permanent, the more damaging, the better, though, as it is the catalyst for Scott’s transformation from “boring, mopey guy” to “hero.” And in actuality, permanently injuring Stiles, would not only accomplish the job of catalyzing Scott, but also add a layer to Stiles. He’d no longer just be the goofy sidekick, he’d have an edge, too (there would be many, many paths to choose from if that happened, but baby steps).
The other, simpler, less brave option is to separate Scott from Stiles, and make Scott use his “wit” and “personality,” to solve problems on his own for awhile. Killing Stiles would accomplish this, too, but, having Stiles kidnapped, or whatever, would work. It’s weird to have to do this for a protagonist, as it’s usually the sidekicks who get their own episodes to develop their characters, but Scott needs it. Badly.
I guess it depends on what kind of show Teen Wolf wants to be. I already noted that the show lacks any kind of self-deprecation, and it desperately wants to be taken seriously as a drama. So, it should go all out. When you look back at the shows you like the most, they are usually the ones that made tough decisions (you may have hated the choices at first, but because you trusted the writers, you went along with it, and ended up liking, or at least understanding the choice). How much trust do you put in the writers of Teen Wolf?
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