“Teen Wolf: The Movie” took a bite out of my heart, hopes and dreams. I’m tired.
It was fun seeing many of the characters again, but at what cost? The movie tore the pack apart in many ways. It threw away six years of character development and growth for a movie that’s getting bad reviews anyway. What was the point of this needless return to Beacon Hills?
How many times must we endure pain at the hands of a creator who seemingly treats their characters/cast so flippantly when things don’t go their way offscreen?
“Teen Wolf: The Movie” was released on Paramount+ Thursday, Jan. 26 and was written by Jeff Davis. It’s a continuation of Davis’ MTV “Teen Wolf” series that ran from 2011 to 2017. Many of its original cast members reprised their roles as a new threat entered Beacon Hills nearly six years after the original final scene faded to black.
Returning cast members include the following: Tyler Posey (Scott McCall), Crystal Reed (Allison Argent), Holland Roden (Lydia Martin), Tyler Hoechlin (Derek Hale), Shelley Hennig (Malia Tate), JR Bourne (Chris Argent), Colton Haynes (Jackson Whittemore), Linden Ashby (Sheriff Stilinski), Melissa Ponzio (Melissa McCall), Seth Gilliam (Dr. Alan Deaton), Ryan Kelley (Deputy Parrish), Ian Bohen (Peter Hale), Dylan Sprayberry (Liam Dunbar) and Orny Adams (Coach Finstock).
Fan favorites Dylan O’Brien (Stiles Stilinski) and Arden Cho (Kira Yukimura) did not return. Cho didn’t come back after being offered less than half the salary of her costars. Cho was a series regular in seasons four and five and was the only woman of color among the female cast.
I’m giving this movie 1.5 out of 5 stars. (I would personally like to thank Roden, Hoechlin and Haynes for their performances as Lydia, Derek and Jackson. Their scenes felt like little gold nuggets in this movie. Also I missed having Orny Adams as Coach back on my screen.)
SPOILER ALERT WARNING:
Problematic plot
As an original fan, this physically pained me to watch. Reunion movies should act as an ode to the fans and characters, but this felt like anything but. It was a cash grab that benefited off of Kira’s (Cho) Asian backstory and heritage without actually paying her what she deserved to come back. The movie never even mentioned her.
Kira and Stiles carried the Nogitsune storyline on their backs in season 3B, but the movie creators didn’t fight hard enough to have them with the continued storyline in the movie. It feels inherently problematic to have the Nogitsune storyline – one based in Asian culture – without the one Asian actor the series had from the main cast.
It was built off the back of the one female character of color, and they wouldn’t even offer her half the same compensation as her counterparts. I applaud Cho and O’Brien’s decision to stay away from Beacon Hills the second time around.
The movie was a mistake. The pack should not have returned.
No Stiles. No series.
“Teen Wolf” simply cannot exist without Stiles Stilinski. It cannot fully exist just like it couldn’t without Scott or Lydia. Scott McCall was the brawns. Lydia Martin was the head, and Stiles Stilinski was always the heart of the series for me. I even made his blue Jeep one of my personality traits as a teenager (I too drove a Jeep in high school but mine was orange).
The blue Jeep, Stiles’ baseball bat, the lacrosse uniforms, his red string mind maps on the wall, his humor, his brotherly relationship with Scott and his moments with his dad and Lydia. This was “Teen Wolf” to me.
Stiles was the core of what “Teen Wolf” was despite him being one of the few humans on it.
That was solidified when the season six storyline placed him in another realm and tried erasing his existence. His friends and family forgot him as the new season’s villains tried erasing him out of reality. However, Lydia was the one who remembered him and brought him back. How could the show spend an entire season showcasing how important his very presence is when they tried cutting him out of the movie? A 15-year time jump is long but it’s not that long.
It truly felt like a crime to have the Nogitsune storyline without Stiles. Davis knew season 3B was a fan favorite, so they brought it back. Only this time, Allison was the one being controlled.
Were the fans really meant to believe Stiles was too busy with the FBI to come back to help with the Nogitsune? He was the one possessed by the spirit in season 3B. Stiles knew almost more than anyone how dangerous it is. His entire character was based on him breaking the rules to help his friends. Of course he would put his job on the backburner to do this.
I also want to note that season 3B was so popular because of #VoidStiles. O’Brien’s acting soared in those episodes. He was already a fan favorite but this solidified it for many audience members. Stiles was captivating as the villain and heartbreaking as the victim. It felt disrespectful to dive back into this without him there.
The creators could have chosen a different villain to bring back. Instead, they chose to capitalize off of two actors who weren’t part of the project.
Needless destruction
Why break up #Stydia? Why kill Derek Hale?
There were so many destructive things in this movie for no reason.
What was the point of spending six years developing Stiles and Lydia’s relationship, having them finally become canon and happy just to throw that all away in the movie because she had a recurring dream of him dying? They’re telling me Stiles would let Lydia go for something as small as that (compared to everything else they’ve endured)? As if.
What was the point of the entire “Teen Wolf” series if they were just going to have most of the characters revert to how they were in season three six years after the show ended?
What was the point of having Derek “sacrifice” himself to help kill the Nogitsune when Parrish could have just held him, killed him and made it out alive? I loved Derek in this movie, but he had a needless death.
I have so many questions:
- Why did Scott and Malia break up?
- How did Malia and Parrish get together?
- Who is Eli Hale’s mom?
- Why did we go back on three seasons’ worth of Scott’s character growth just for Allison to be revived and end up with him anyway?
- How did Allison’s body age during those 15 years and she still managed to have the same perfect red nail polish she had on when she died?
- Will Stiles and Lydia get back together?
These are questions I’d love answers to, but I’m scared to ask for a second movie. There shouldn’t be a movie series unless all the actors are paid what they deserve.
I will always hold a special place in my heart for Beacon Hills, but I wish we didn’t return this time.
