You’ll have to excuse us, we’re going through some growing pains and trying to figure out how much space we actually want to dedicate to tv. So that means you get two quick reviews in one post! How exciting is that? We’ll be grouping similar programs so it shouldn’t be too jarring. A mashup of The 9 Lives of Chloe King and Teen Wolf really does make sense, if you think about it (but don’t think about it too long or you’ll get a headache).
This week’s episodes have almost changed my mind about which show is better. They’re both working off a standard Romeo & Juliet, puberty analogy, storyline about kids with claws, and aimed at a teen audience, so this is a valid comparison to make. Teen Wolf *might* actually be better. I know, I know, I was all kinds of slamming Teen Wolf when I reviewed the first episode of 9 Lives, but it’s really growing on me. Perhaps that will change over time, but head to head it’s a tough call.
Spoilers Ahead!
Teen Wolf 1.4: Magic Bullet
This week on Teen Wolf we meet another member of the Argent family, Aunt Kate (brilliantly portrayed by Jill Wagner from Wipeout). She’s a crazy, asskicking bitch who may or may not (but probably did) have something to do with the fire that killed most of Derek’s family – 11 of them to be exact, and many of them not werewolves. Turns out Papa Argent and Kate might not see eye to eye on how to deal with werewolves. When Kate shows up in town she shoots Derek with some nasty rare wolfsbane, so Scott has to spend the episode having uncomfortable conversations with the Argent family so that he can figure out what Derek got shot with, steal one of the bullets, and show up in the knick of time to save him. I was slightly disappointed Stiles didn’t get to cut Derek’s arm off. Oh well.
Oh and Derek scratched Jackson after a conversation about drug dealing, so maybe Jackson will be a werewolf too! SWEET! We definitely need more than one teen wolf!
Papa Argent was appropriately creepy talking about putting rabid dogs down, Lydia is actually a super genius, but encourages teen sex, Allison reveals she wants to have sex with Scott, and Stiles is still the best part of this show (but there was far too little of him in it this week). Aside from some horrible green screen work and a totally nonsensical magic cure for wolfsbane (wolfsbane counteracts wolfsbane, what?) this was actually another solid episode. I particularly like the interplay between Stiles and Derek. Derek threatens, Stiles makes snarky quips. It’s all kinds of goodness. Stiles actually had the balls to tell Derek he can’t give him “barking orders” – GENIUS!
The 9 Lives of Chloe King 1.2: Redemption
This week on 9 Lives: Chloe asks daddy to come home to help her but gets no response and Alec wants Chloe to stop risking all of her lives and stop dating Brian, but she ignores him on both counts. Still feeling guilty for killing Xavier, Chloe hits up the funeral, discovers empathy powers and decides to help Xavier’s drug supplying brother, Gabriel (he’s trying to get clean, yo). Unfortunately, the straight-thugging drug dealers don’t like their supply drying up so they decide to kill Gabriel. Chloe and gang save the day! Yay! Of course, the important thing is that Chloe didn’t actually kill Xavier – it was Scratch-face! Duh, duh, duh. This show is becoming something of a sitcom superhero angle with only a loose arc of broader story, that may actually be a good thing considering the relative lameness of the Mai thing. At some point they’ll have to deal with the fact that a group of really irresponsible teenagers are wandering around San Francisco pretending to be superheroes, but until then we’ll go with it.
We also find out the Brian’s dad is kinda a dick. I guess we already should have known that since he’s sending out Scratch-Face to kill Chloe, but now we know he’s also a crappy father. It’s still a little creepy that Brian, who is taking a semester off from COLLEGE, is dating a 16 year old, but apparently it’s ok to get married at 16 in most of the US so I guess that makes it kosher. Chloe’s mom is still awesome, Paul isn’t getting enough opportunity to be a super-geek, and Amy is a standard bubbly sidekick friend. Jasmine wasn’t in this episode (still recovering from the knife to her back), so let’s hope she never comes back! Jasmine and Alec were the worst part of episode 1 and Alec is pretty much the worst part of episode 2, so if they both disappear I won’t mind.
This week’s episode really wasn’t anything special. We didn’t learn anything new about any of the characters, except maybe that Brian desperately wants to connect with his father and his father won’t let him in. Chloe is pretty much acting like a typical 16 year old by ignoring advice from people who know better and acting completely oblivious to reality – therein lies my biggest problem; last week Chloe seemed to take her change in circumstances seriously, this week she seems too carefree, even given her guilt and concern for Brian. I’m sure something will happen to get her refocused, but if it doesn’t happen quick I’ll start questioning the writers.
