What I've Been Watching: 18th November

Without a show so devoid of intelligence as Doctor Who on the box to get me riled, I tend not to be able to find the passion to write frequent reviews. I have a tendency to be able to find a lot more to say about the negative aspects of a programme than the positives. I don’t know if you’ve noticed that.

Nevertheless, for the sake of giving this blog a point outside of complaining about what I still claim is the greatest TV show of all time, let me take you through the shows I’ve been watching recently.

Review: Wolfblood: Episodes 3, 4, 5 and especially 6.

So, Wolfblood. When we last checked in with the inhabitants of Stoneybridge, I gave a glowing review of the first two episodes, but pointed out several key areas for improvement, including the generic bullies, the underdeveloped secondary characters, and the underused locations.

Well, I’m over the moon to announce that episodes 3, 4 and 5, titled Family Ties, Cry Wolf and Occam’s Razor, do a bang- up job not only of fixing those problems, but of improving on the show’s existing strengths almost to perfection. Family Ties in particular has a massive amount of character development not only for Tom, but also for school bully Jimmy. Cry Wolf and Occam’s Razor focus on the build- up to Maddy’s first transformation (quite a surprise after Young Dracula, where we had to wait until midway through season 2 before Ingrid first became a full vampire), expanding on the show’s mythos, and elevating former wild card Rhydian to the status of ‘the sensible one’ as Maddy becomes increasingly irrational and Shannon begins to suspect all is not as it seems.

Also, the teacher has gone from being a total tyrant in the first two episodes, to being the reasonable voice of authority in later installments. I still don't trust him.

One question, though: Cry Wolf has the characters sitting their GCSE exams. Occam’s Razor, set just days afterwards, features everyone merrily going on a school trip to Lindisfarne. That’s… that’s not how school works these days, is it? And what subject is this school trip supposed to be? It’s implied to be History, but surely every single named character wouldn’t be doing History, would they?

Review: Wolfblood: Episodes 1-2 (Or: Maybe it's time to be a little less cynical)

Although, as I’ve already said time and again, I never go into a TV show wanting to hate it, there are definitely a heck of a lot of shows I go into where I’m expecting to hate it. Case in point: Wolfblood.

 

Because it’d be pretty hard to deny that, based on the preview material, Wolfblood looked atrocious. Let’s face it, CBBC needed some new dramas, what with the stars of Sarah Jane Adventures and Tracy Beaker Returns respectively dead and on Strictly Come Dancing, The Sparticle Mystery unlikely to be recomissioned on the grounds of being utterly wretched, and M.I.High finally consigned back to the deepest level of hell from whence it came. But, to kick off the brand new season of programming… this? This cynical kid’s-show-by-the-numbers, coming off as a desperate attempt to cash in on the success of Young Dracula, with its two leads blatantly cast for their vague resemblance to Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart circa the first Twilight movie, complete with vacuous stares into camera for the promotional shots… well, it didn’t look good. And the case certainly wasn’t helped by the promo material that advertised the show as focusing on:

“A mysterious race who have lived among humans for centuries by disguising their abilities and blending in. Wolfbloods have razor sharp senses with an amazing sense of smell, are incredibly fast and super strong. They also change into wolves every full moon…”

Can you spot what’s missing from that synopsis? Well, how about the word werewolves?! I’m telling you, as soon as I cottoned on to the deliberate, almost desperate attempt to avoid actually calling their werewolves… erm, werewolves, alarm bells started ringing in my head. Yes, in every piece of promotional material, this species is specifically referred to as ‘Wolfbloods.’ I mean, what exactly were they trying to do here? Were they seriously trying to convince us that werewolves were their own personal creation? Because I’ve got to tell you… people know about werewolves. They’re not exactly an obscure part of mythology.