Dear Geekiary: Should I watch Teen Wolf Season 5 for Sterek?

December 16, 2014 Farid-ul-Haq

DearGeekiary

Hi,

I am a huge fan of Teen Wolf and I ship Sterek. It was great to be part of the fandom in the beginning, especially during S1 and S2. However, since S3A and 3B I noticed a shift in the online fandom. I watched S4 and it has been very emotionally draining for me and the fandom reaction has been very negative, with some Sterek shippers saying the show queerbaited.

I believe such a thing happened and S4 even took out Danny. I’ve cried tears of anger and sadness a few times during S4. It was if they were deliberately keeping Stiles and Derek apart. I’ve read meta on Tumblr that Sterek is still there and Jeff Davis kept them apart for a reason. Should I watch S5 when it airs in hopes of seeing Sterek? I want to say I want to watch because of a coherent plotline as well, but I think we can all agree Teen Wolf doesn’t have that and the love for the characters has outgrown the love for the show.

Thanks!
Sad Sterek Fan

 

Hi, Sad Sterek Fan, you are not alone in having the feelings you just talked about. A lot of fans have experienced a shift in the Teen Wolf fandom, especially since Season 3. The show gained popularity and a lot more people came. Along with them came different opinions about what they liked and disliked about the show. Now, I’m not going to go into the whole ‘who’s right and who’s wrong’ in the fandom or if the show is queer baiting or not because we have talked a lot about it in our Teen Wolf Masterpost.

Instead, I’m going to address a thing I noticed in your question. You said that Teen Wolf Season 4 was emotionally draining for you and you even cried tears of sadness. That’s a big ‘No’ as far as I’m concerned. If a show, may it be Teen Wolf or any other, is making you emotionally uncomfortable, you need to take a break from it. And I’m not saying take a break as in when the show is in hiatus. No, just stop watching, especially if you are hoping to see ‘obvious’ Sterek in the upcoming Season 5 of Teen Wolf.

If you think that’s going to be tough for you then why not just follow recaps or review of the episodes? We do a lot of that here. You can also get to know what happened in the and if ‘Sterek’ occurred in an episode by following the ‘Sterek’ tags on Tumblr. This way you won’t have to sit through an hour of Teen Wolf, which might have content that can make you uncomfortable, if there isn’t any Sterek, or it’s presented in a way that might upset you.

10848002_330669810450160_7124656278446421601_nShipping is a big part of fandom and it can be tough to deal with, especially when you ship a pairing that isn’t canon. But if shipping a pairing is making you feel uncomfortable when the show doesn’t make it canon then the best thing for you to do is let it go. Yes, you can make your voice heard. You can vote for the best ship on internet polls and whatnot, but all of that isn’t worth it if you are damaging your physical and/or mental health in the process. Will we see Sterek as a canon pairing on Teen Wolf? Who knows! I’m not a part of TPTB (The Powers That Be). What I can do is enjoy the show and call it out on stuff I don’t like.

Believe me, if I ever experience any stress because of Teen Wolf or find myself very unhappy because a fictional pair of characters weren’t shown as canon then I will stop watching the show. No show is ever worth mentally harming yourself over.

I hope my advice helped you. Feel free to check our reviews when Teen Wolf Season 5 starts to air, along with any other opinionated articles that might follow. If you like something you read then watch the new season, if not, then don’t stress over it and move on to other shows that might give you what you need.

Your own emotional health is far more important than any fictional show. If you are looking for TV shows with impressive LGBTQ+ representation then feel free to look at our recommendations of Queer Representation Series. These shows actually have major queer characters and you won’t have to worry about subtext. Enjoy!

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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12 thoughts on “Dear Geekiary: Should I watch Teen Wolf Season 5 for Sterek?”

  1. We mustn’t watch it for Sterek. Tyler Posey says we’re wrong to do so. No, I’m not bitter.

    I won’t be watching the show for Sterek, because I’ve long since given up hope that Stiles and Derek will even share scenes together.

    I won’t be watching the show in the hope that they’ll actually explore the idea of Stiles being bi, because apparently that was only played as a joke.

    I won’t be watching the show for its LGBTQ+ representation, because they swap one gay character for another without explanation, because neither is meant to be more than a prop for a straight friend.

    I won’t be watching the show for its treatment of women or persons of color, because the ratio of white male characters who survive Beacon Hills vs. the number of women and POC who do speaks for itself.

    I won’t be watching the show for its coherent storylines, tightly-knit plots, or great characterization, because I watched Season 4.

    I won’t be watching the show for its slowly-developed, multi-layered romances that don’t reduce characters in order to make the relationship work – because again, Season 4.

    I won’t be watching the show out of loyalty to keep the ratings up, because the PTB use fans and then chew them up and spit them out.

    So what reason do I have to still watch the show? Probably none. I’ll read the recaps here and if it sounds like the show improves in at least one of the above areas in S5, I’ll start watching again. I’m not holding my breath.

    2. Also, the actual ratings last season dropped seriously. Keep it up. Maybe those assh*les will get the picture.

  2. I won’t be watching the show because every show that uses its fans the way sterek fans were used for votes, poll, ratings, awards and free press and then insult, censor and erase them doesn’t deserve to be watched.

    I won’t be watching the show because censoring the name of an award winner charity project is fascist.

    I won’t be watching the show because mtv/teen wolf ethics and professionalism are a shame.

    I won’t be watching the show because they used people just to erase them and I have a dignity.

    1. Also absolutely agreed. Cast and crew were both abhorrent in their treatment of the Sterek fandom. Fans of this, just keep reading and writing and following of the fiction.

  3. Pingback: Dear Geekiary: Which Resident Evil Games should I play? | The Geekiary

  4. Perfectly said my friends! Amen to that…I’m not even sorry for giving up because I can’t forgive & forget how badly TW cast&crew treated us fans. Enough said ;-P)

      1. when tyler posey said all sterek fans would watch the show for the wrong reasons and they basically said that sterek is weird and should never happen.
        Even though Dylan and Tyler H. gave us a lot of hints that they would be cool with it.

  5. I think there is no point watching the show week by week. I did so with episode 2 and 3A and 3B and I felt like after waiting a whole week that it was pointless, the new episode didn’t deserved the waiting and the excitedness I felt for it, it was a disappointment. So with season 4 I started a new thing. Watch the whole season together after it ended. Like that, it only takes a day of my life, not months. I’m satisfied, and I don’t have to suffer through the lame, usually not informative episodes, except the final.

  6. Well I’ve only watched Teen Wolf up to the very first episode of Season 4. I got into the fandom by accidentally stumbling onto a sterek fic while looking for my precious JDOX…….anyway, sterek is the only reason I decided to watch the show (well more for Stiles then anything, I love that guy xD) But if there is no hope for sterek, then I’ll probably still give season 5 a whirl because I thought season 2 was absolutely incredibly written, I like the characters, and I think most of the story line for season 3B (my poor baby Stiles though!) was brilliant as well. Oh well. :3 I’ll keep my hopes up, but to be honest I dint think very highly of Malia and I’ve heard that season 5 REALLY digs into her and somehow her biological background has some bad stuff for Stiles. Fingers crossed that ship bites the dust! 😉

  7. I really hope Stiles and Malia break up. I think the pairing is awful and their “romantic story” was very poorly written. It all happened too fast and didn’t really made sense.

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