You know what they say, there are no small parts, just blah blah blah. I didn’t know how to start
this one so I figured a cliché would at least get the words flowing and it kind of worked.
I’m Paul Rea and this is a look at those Teen Wolf characters that only appeared in one episode or even in just one scene
but still managed to make a big impression either on the main characters or on viewers or both.
Before we get to our one-episode wonders, a quick news update.
At the time of this recording, that fake-ass MTV Teen Wolf channel has changed
it’s branding in an attempt to continue to fool fans with fake-ass season 7 nonsense.
I’ve alerted MTV and ViacomCBS, again. I’ve reported it to YouTube, again. I’ve now warned
anyone who happens across my videos, again. I don’t know what more I can do really. It’s fake.
As of this moment in - December 2020 - there’s no Season 7. If you’re just hearing about this
for the first time – there should be a card on screen now that will link you to more information.
Okay – let’s get back to Beacon Hills.
There were, over the course of six seasons, more than 300 named characters
that appeared on screen in only one episode. So, this may turn into a multi-part video
thing, but here are the one-episode wonders that popped into my head immediately.
First, we have the conspirators. These are the recruits Kate Argent
used to burn down the Hale house. You have Reddick and Unger who actually did the deed.
Garrison Myers, the bus driver and former insurance investigator, who covered it all up
and the video rental guy who had something to do with it that was never really made clear.
And before you jump on me about flashback appearances, I’m not counting flashback
appearances for the purpose of this list. All of these characters appeared in just
one episode and all met gruesome deaths at the hands of Peter Hale, which of
course, is what he considered to be justice for them killing his entire family.
But Peter didn’t only kill the conspirators in Season 1. This poor janitor was apparently in
the wrong place at the wrong time. There’s no mention of this guy being involved in
anything related to the arson meaning Peter killed at least one innocent human being
in his revenge rampage. That makes this janitor a key character in the Teen Wolf Universe.
In addition to those brief appearances that have an impact on the larger in-universe
canon, there are those characters that hit a little different with the viewers. Alicia
Boyd is the one that jumped to mind first for me. Widely assumed to be Vernon Boyd’s sister,
Alicia appears for less than one second. No, really, I timed it. The whole Boyd ice machine
interaction takes about 50 seconds. Of that, Alicia appears in only 23 frames.
That’s less than one second of screen time. And yet, many fans use her as an example of how the
Teen Wolf writers failed us because they teased us and then didn’t give us Alicia’s full back story.
I’ve seen her cited more than once as one of the great failures of character development.
I mean, they hinted at giving us a deeper understanding of Boyd and that just further
deepens the feeling that we as viewers were cheated by his all-too-quick death.
While we’re at Motel California, I personally wanted more backstory on
Alexander Argent. The 1970s hippy hunter was only brought in for one episode
so he could die and add fuel to the feud between Gerard and Deucalion as
well as establishing the Motel Glen Capri as a favored suicide spot.
But I instantly imagined a full season of 1970s Teen Wolf
with hippy Argents and werewolves disco dancing on roller skates and smoking doobies.
Yeah, I’m weird like that. But in all seriousness,
with shows like Fargo and American Horror Story so successfully doing the single-season serial
approach, I think that would be a smart way to keep doing stories in this Teen Wolf universe.
Oh and by the way, if they ever do that, I’m totally taking credit for it.
On with our wonders, we’re up to a couple of single-episode characters that had major
impacts on both the story and on fans and they both appear in the same episode.
Alicia Coppola’s turn as Talia Hale in Visionary brought the right mix
of calm strength and motherly energy to the matriarch of the Hale family.
You can easily imagine Peter scheming in the background to undermine her
and Talia calmly steering the family in the right direction while raising all her little wolf cubs.
In the same episode we met Derek’s first love. It ended with mercy killing,
yes. But meeting Paige shook the foundations of the Teen Wolf universe.
It’s very "girl the refrigerator" story or whatever that trope is called.
Of course, it’s a trope because it works. It’s not fair to the character but Paige’s
death deepened our understanding of Derek’s journey and changed the world significantly.
Speaking of changing the world – Lydia’s grandmother Lorrain Martin was responsible for
all of Season 4. Her banshee abilities combined with her computer programming
skills gave us the dead pool and exposed all of Beacon Hills supernatural population. She
only appeared in one episode and we only ever heard her voice on tape,
but Lorrain’s story gave us so much insight into Meredith Walker and into Lydia’s parents.
She also inadvertently gave us the assassins and the first of those, the Mute, doesn’t make this
list because he appeared in more than one episode. However, one of his victims makes the list
because he changed Scott’s life forever with his one-episode appearance.
Sean Walcott was that toothy Wendigo who escaped the mute’s massacre of his entire family.
He’s also the guy who got one of my previous videos marked 18-plus for his table manners.
Sean: I couldn't help it. I'm so hungry.
Sean: I'm just
so
hungry!
We’ll see if going black and white on this scene makes it through.
If this whole thing is blurred right now, you know it didn’t make it past the censors.
Anyway, in addition to feasting on hospital security guard,
Sean is on our list because he was directly responsible for Scott biting his first Beta.
Without Sean, no Liam, without Liam, no Mason,
without Mason, there's no beast in Season 5. See how important Sean is to the whole thing?
These last two on my list of single-appearance characters made it mainly because of the
performances. The characters had impact, but the actors here just really brought them to
life and made the whole Teen Wolf Universe feel deeper and wider, if that makes sense.
I don’t think I’ve ever hated a character more on first sight than the Chemist.
He's just so smug you want to smack him upside his smug head. In universe, he killed most of Satomi’s
pack and gave Stiles his first up close look at what a nine millimeter can do to a human skull.
But the performance here is just so grand.
Chemist: You may now open your test booklets and begin.
with his preening and his tea and his obvious disgust at having to get his hands dirty to finish the job.
I can imagine this guy’s whole life.
He goes around poisoning people and makes loads of money doing it. He has a mid-century-modern apartment
in the Bay Area and drives an Aston Martin because he thinks
it makes him look cool like James Bond. I hate this character but I absolutely love him at the same time.
Kudos to James Urbaniak for bringing this asshole to life.
Finally, in this part of our one episode wonders list, the incomparable Doug Jones as William Barrow.
They said he was crazy but he wasn’t. Barrow presents a tragic tale.
He saw children with glowing eyes. He knew there was something going on, but no one would listen
so he did what any non-crazy person would do, he took an entire bus full of children hostage.
Barrow: I am going to shake them out of their paralysis.
I'm going to get them moving. I'm going to.
Okay, so maybe he was crazy, but Jones gave the character a whole lot more than your average
psycho. I was terrified of him but also felt really sorry for him too.
That’s an amazing villain arc for a one-episode appearance.
Okay, as I said, this is just a first pass at the most memorable
one-episode characters. There are literally hundreds more. If you have
a favorite let me know in the comments and we’ll do a part two at some point.
Thanks for watching. Remember that there’s no Season 7 no matter what someone else tells you
and, if you feel like it, you can join more than 11 thousand of your fellow Teen Wolf fans
by hitting subscribe and the bell so you won’t miss our next trip back to Beacon Hills.