teen wolf meta link - being less ethically utilitarian is not actually being morally superior

[cimorene]

I realized I wanted to preserve this meta for posterity a bit belatedly. I wrote it on Tumblr a few days ago in defense of the ethics of Derek's actions over s1-2 of Teen Wolf in reply to some comments. That's not the only thing I said, but it's the reason I want to save the post, anyway.

Anyway, affectingly:cimness: Allison found her inner strength, tested her relationships, and… 19 Aug 2012. Teen Wolf meta, spoilers through all of season 2. Trigger warnings: references to mental breakdown and alcoholism, murder and serial killers.

Comments

[scy]

Very nicely said.

If they don't address the fact that Allison went off on a spree of vengeance (for something that very likely was not done by Derek or his pack, given the scene where Derek rescue Scott), then I am going to think a lot less of the writers and consequently the character.

As you say, Allison has some issues, and in that she isn't much different than others on the show. However, it's the way in which she went about trying to get revenge that definitely set her apart. She tortured people that weren't hunting her, she broke the code. The only one she COULD have argued might have hunted her family, was Derek (from a certain point of view) and even that's not true. The single Hale we have seen hunting the hunters, is Peter, and he did so for a very understandable reason.

Then there is Derek, who is basically working with what he has, trying not to let the idiocy of Scott get people killed, and protecting innocents, alll of whom don't give a fig if he lives or dies.

The fact that he continues to care, and to treat Beacon Hills as his territory, and a place worth protecting is impressive, given the trauma that he has been through, is impressive. He doesn't just curl up in a ball and cry, or go insane and kill every single hunter he can find. He's (relatively) sane, and he still CARES about people.