Hello there.
My last video peeled back the layers of Young Peter Hale to expose his soft villainy center.
If you missed that video go and watch it right now. I’ll wait.
I’m kidding! I kid.
I’ll do a quick recap in case you missed it but today I’m focusing on Peter in Season 6.
It’s what a lot of fans think of as Peter’s redemption arc and I think even the writers
thought they were giving the character that final season redemption treatment.
But unlike Theo Raeken’s arc, which I also examined recently,
I don’t think Peter found redemption. Mainly he
didn’t find it because he wasn’t looking for it and probably doesn’t think he needs it.
If you like it when I talk about Teen Wolf canon and nostalgia
you should probably stop stalling and just subscribe already. Y’all
just end up over here every week anyway. Hit the button, go on, it’s free.
In the earlier video, which you really should watch, I showed how Peter was
always a comic book baddie, manipulating his nephew into a mercy killing just to
score a minor victory against his sister because he didn’t like her management style.
We also went over Peter’s well documented murder spree that started with the death of his
niece and included almost driving his nephew crazy while Peter just sat there playing possum.
He’s a bad guy with an established pattern of villainy. The writers did a really good
job of establishing that pattern. Peter is shown repeatedly manipulating and
moving people like pieces around a chess board in the pursuit of power
But no matter how many times he shows us he’s a bad guy,
I still get people saying, "but Peter loved his family."
Yeah, loved them right up until they were in his way at which time he disposed of them.
He loved them so much that he did that Season
4, Legion of Doom, super-villain team up with the woman who literally massacred his family.
I believe this desire to create a positive narrative from irredeemable
actions is one of the reasons why we have so many repeat cases of domestic violence.
It’s the “but he has a good heart” syndrome.
And even if they recognize all Peter’s actions as those of a true villain, some fans still cling to
the fact that he helped out against the big bads in Season 6 and that somehow means he is redeemed.
Poppycock I say, poppycock and balderdash.
Peter is the same level of bad at the end of the series as he was at the beginning. There’s
a lot to examine but I think I can debunk this redemption narrative using only three key scenes.
The first from Radio Silence:
The power is out at Eichen for the first time since Peter was locked up at the end of Season 4.
He escapes, but catches the scent of his daughter who is trapped and in desperate need of help.
In this moment, Peter has the opportunity to do something heroic
or even just decent. Instead, he decides to save his own skin to avoid a difficult situation.
He leaves that building knowing that there’s a good chance his daughter will die there.
Second scene – Peter’s escape through the portal where so many fans see the mirage of redemption.
Stiles: Yeah, what about Malia?
Yeah, no.
His decision to escape comes not due to anything Stiles said about saving his friends.
It happens because Peter has just realized that he is not in a hopeless position.
Peter: This isn't a train station. This is a way station.
Prior to this, he thought he was inside the Wild Hunt from which nothing ever escapes. But
then he realizes this is a way station and he actually has time, all the time it will take the
riders to clean out Beacon Hills. Plenty of time to escape through the portal and get out of town.
Unlike before, Peter now has a choice, stay here and eventually get taken forever or try his luck
and maybe save his skin. He chooses to save his skin once he realizes that’s an option.
"But the keys!" I hear you screaming. "He picked up Stiles’ keys so his friends could find him!"
In other words, Peter did the very least he could do to help. He bent over at the waist and lifted a
few ounces of metal that just happened to be under his foot. Okay. You got me. Redemption complete.
Yeah, no.
Peter actually believes that Beacon Hills is a lost cause, but if there is a way to save the town
he knows that Scott’s pack will figure it out, and if they’re given the chance, they’ll save the day.
Peter is not dumb, he knows these heroes often win in impossible situations
and that would benefit him in case he can’t get out of town in time.
If you don’t believe me, listen to Peter’s assessment of the McCall Pack.
Peter: I admit that you have a flair for beating the odds.
He thinks Scott might actually come up with something which is
why he bothers to lift those keys from the floor.
But that doesn’t make him less of a villain. Please listen to the voice of reason.
Melissa: Remember who we're dealing with. Your father is a
ruthless conman who always has a devious plan to hurt everyone around him.
Trust Mama McCall in all things!
Okay, the third scene... You know, I might need to show more than three scenes here.
Peter: Why aren't you running?
This standing up to the ghost riders while Malia escapes thing happens twice,
once in Heartless and again at the end of Blizkrieg.
People view this as love for his daughter and they’re probably right. Peter does love his
daughter. I mean, Hitler doted on his niece and had a dog.
A villain isn’t defined by hating everybody, their defined by viewing everybody as disposable.
In this instance, Stiles is disposable to Peter.
Malia is too, but she’s more valuable to him than Stiles or the rest.
Peter: Go!
But facing the Ghost Riders isn’t the sacrifice you guys seem to think it is. I mean, he knows the
worse that can happen is that he ends up back in the train station and he knows that Scott
is close to figuring out how to open that portal to save Stiles. He also knows that they’ll
save him rather than let him get taken forever because they’re heroes and that’s what they do.
Maybe the writers intended for him to look heroic, but he is literally in no danger in these moments.
This is getting really long but there’s at least one more scene we need to look at.
In the second half of Season 6, he comes back after first claiming he won’t help against the hunters
Peter: Hunters, destroyed my perfect automobile.
I’m sorry for those who see heroics here but this is actually Peter’s most selfish act.
There is literally nowhere he can hide from the worldwide kill-all-werewolves brigade.
So, he has no choice but to stick with the one pack left in Beacon Hills.
But there’s this montage when Malia confronts him about this decision.
She claims it’s because he saw something in her head
and I agree with that but for a very different reason than what the writers intended.
I’m sure the writers wanted this collection of scenes to give the impression
that Peter is helping the pack because Malia loves Scott but that’s not what I see here.
What I see is Peter realizing it will be just as hard getting her away from Scott
as it was getting her away from Stiles in the first part of the season.
I see him realizing that he has an automatic
in with the most powerful alpha that Beacon Hills has seen since Talia Hale.
He’s not changing or growing as a person here. He wants to restore his family as a power base.
It’s what he always wanted. In this case that means keeping Malia close
and if her boyfriend happens to be THE power player in Beacon Hills, all the better.
Remember Peter’s pattern of villainy, manipulate and move people like game pieces
while seeking power. Nothing in Peter’s Season Six arc breaks that pattern.
Thanks for watching. Do the YouTube stuff. Like and comment to justify the actions of
a murderous narcissist. I’ll see you next time we go back to Beacon Hills.