last night i was rewatching the final episodes of teen wolf and paid special attention to nolan throughout it bc after yapping about him on the post i jumped onto yesterday, he really started to stick out to me more.
now, i only watched 6x19 and 6x20, so i haven't observed him closely at the start of the war, but neck deep in it, you can really see how munroe's "leadership" gets to him quickly. (and froy does a brilliant job despite the lack of detailed writing his character gets.) however i do remember the scene where mccall is questioning both munroe and nolan, and he looks visibly uncomfortable with mccall and repeatedly looks to munroe for help. as soon as she gives him the permission to leave, he wastes no time getting out of that room. here, he clearly sees her as a figure of guidance or possibly even a parental figure. now, we don't know anything about his home life or family, but it's pretty easy to determine he does not receive the support he needs because of how strongly he looks up to her. in his eyes, she's someone who understands him. she knows what he's afraid of and she fears it, too, but she's willing to stand up to it. she's going to protect him. he latches onto that strongly and follows her without questionâat firstâbecause she's probably the most nurturing relationship he has. this trust and respect stood out to me in the scene where nolan is talking to liam in the library about wanting to show him something in the hospitalâhe calls her "miss munroe". everyone else in the show only calls her munroe, even gabe, but nolan refers to her with a polite title even when he's not directly speaking to her. in that same sentence, he tells liam to beat him up later at the hospital so she thinks liam had to hurt him to get the information. he is afraid of munroe being upset or losing her trust in him despite his loyalties beginning to waver. this scene with liam almost immediately follows the scene where we can see that loyalty faltering.
the episode itself (6x19) opens with munroe speaking to her gathered hunters while ethan's held chained and bleeding against the metal fence. the camera makes several pans back and forth from munroe, to the hunters, to ethan, to show the wide range of emotions being felt around the room. though while the majority of the hunters celebrate munroe's words, nolan begins to look visibly uncomfortable and even turns away when she stabs ethan with an arrow. luckily for him, munroe doesn't seem to notice, although gabe certainly does. furthermore, when munroe calls him out directly and has him stand in front of everyone, he finds it hard to fake a smile for the crowd. gabe, across from him now, holds back anger. he carried out the job so that nolan could be praised because he sensed munroe was beginning to distrust him, but nolan can't fake being proud nor thankful.
also in the armory, the camera focuses on several seemingly-random people in particular amongst the crowd. these are the same people nolan points out to liam in the hospital, and in my opinion, those focuses were nolan's photographic memory locking in on certain people to bring to liam's attention later. he might be afraid of the supernatural, but he's finding he can't stomach munroe's brutal response to their existence. he still respects munroeâstill seeks her approvalâbut he doesn't quite agree with her practices and it's causing a great turmoil within himself.
allowing liam to attack him as part of his own plan to help the werewolves without getting in trouble himself would've taken a great deal of both courage and fear. after "triggers", he knows how dangerous liam could be if he really wanted to hurt nolan back. when he's talking to liam and trying to explain his plan, he stutters and visibly shakes but he still manages to force himself through the interaction until liam agrees with it. then later, when liam frowns at nolan's reasoning that since no one saw them, liam technically has no reason to beat him up, he freezes in fear and is noticeably shocked when liam lets him go unscathed anyway. he probably would've left the hospital feeling proud of himself for warning liam, because morally he's been feeling guilt for repeatedly attacking the boy that's clearly proven to not want to hurt him, but he didn't necessarily betray munroe, either. that pride is cut short, though, with gabe blocking his path and pushing him into an empty room.
and here is where i could see nolan's expression change from "okay-ish" to downright terrified. he is afraid of gabe clearly more than he's afraid of anyone else. first of all, he knows gabe enjoys hurting the supernatural because he's proven it several times; he gladly offered to get rid of edgar earlier on, he shot up the mccall house for him with quite the sinister smile, and he happily grabbed a gun when they were distributed amongst the crowd. gabe immediately tells nolan he knew the boy would betray them by going to liam. he doesn't try to sugarcoat it with nolan and he hadn't tried to defend him with the hunters. he then gets great joy out of attacking nolanâsomething liam chose not to do, despite having "permission"âuntil he's unconscious. i think it's safe to assume he would be thinking about that with each punch he takesâhow liam was not the enemy he thought he was, and how badly he fucked up by believing so.
nolan does not see munroe again because he wakes up at the hospital mid-fight while she's at the high school. melissa is the one to wake him up and instinctually, he looks afraid but seems to settle quickly. after all, melissa is the "parental figure" to the werewolves, sort of how munroe is the "parental figure" to him. it would make sense for him to be afraidâto assume she'd be angry with him. yet he settles because melissa doesn't punish him like he knows munroe would've. she simply encourages him to join the fight without giving much acknowledgment to the fact that he's been on the opposite side thus far. so nolan joins her. he trusts her immediately because she is not a danger to him. she has no "hidden agenda" nor any desire nor reason to stab him in the back. his loyalty shifts fully and he fights alongside her.
nolan hesitated against hurting edgar and ethan in the beginning and nearing the end of the war, respectively. he attacked liam with confidence mid-war because munroe truly did have the upper hand and the odds seemed in the hunters' favor. liam's morale was weakened by the recent murders of brett and lori, and he and gabe were placed on a pedestal in the eyes of munroe. young, impressionable teenagers can be easy to manipulate when they're shown just enough attention that it can be passed off as love and care. theo had a whole reign of terror throughout season 5, yet fought for liam devotedly and cringed at gabe's horrific death. the doctors placed him on a pedestal of being the first chimera, the first success (in a roundabout way, but a success nonetheless), then they yanked that favor and pride right out from underneath him and deemed him a failure. gabe had already told munroe that nolan betrayed them by telling liam. he knows his punishment would be great if he were to return to her, so he knocks out a hunter with a nearby rifle and warns theo and liam that gabe is behind them. as soon as he knows he's expendable to munroe now, just like everyone else, his confidence and ego slips. had he never had her favor has strongly as he did, nolan likely never would've attacked liam. he would be afraid of him, but he wouldn't ever act on it like he did. when he's reduced back down to nothing in her eyes, his moral character returns to him; he doesn't want to let gabe hurt liam a second time. yes, warning liam in that moment betrayed gabe directly to his face, which probably terrified him, but i think he knew by that point that liam could and would protect him regardless of their past.
nolan has complex emotions and he feels very deeply, and even though he doesn't want gabe to hurt anyone else, he doesn't want him to die, either. when he stares at gabe on the verge of tears and struggling to breathe, he doesn't seem to know what to say or do. it probably didn't faze him to hear munroe over the radio telling the hunter to shoot them both. he probably expected the hunter to at least try to aim more for liam than to just start shooting, but his death didn't seem to shock him, almost like it was inevitable to happen to one or both of them by the end of the war. the whole time theo's crouched down next to him, he watches intently, and maybe he saw the way theo's veins darkened as he took his pain and maybe he wondered, again, why the hell he was conditioned to fight against the werewolves instead of for them.
before the series wraps to a close, the heaviness of the war is lightly relieved with a scene where nolan and liam stand in front of coach asking to work together, and it results in coach almost laughing in disbelief. nolan's probably not quite used to coach's exuberant reactions but liam likely assures him such behavior is normal, and actually preferred, for himâsomething scott did several times when they were on the other end of the stick. nolan seems to have great confidence in working with liam in this scene; any fear he harbored before seems to be gone. in fact, he seems glad that such a thing is happening, like he's finally a part of something goodâfound in the people he least expected to befriend.
and i know that theo stupidly disappears off-camera in his final scene, but i choose to ignore that because it's bullshit. liam is much too clingy and grateful to let him just wander off, and i think nolan would agree that they shouldn't let theo be alone anymore. i think nolan would find solace in the fact that theo was once in his shoes, not too long ago, either. when he finally pulls the chimera's story out of him or liam, he realizes how similar their pasts were and how they're both on the road to working on being someone the pack is willing to forgive. but i think forgiveness comes easy with the "puppy pack", especially with liam "leading" it. he's forgiven brett, theo, corey, nolan, and with time, the rest will, too. he'll find a trustworthy, dependable friend in liam, and he'll be able to tease and joke with him soon enough. he'll relate to corey in terms of his parents' lack of care, and mason's trust will come a little bit after he gains corey's. he'll look up to theo in a way theo doesn't quite understand and liam tries really hard to explain. eventually theo stops trying to understand it and then, finally, maybe, he'll actually see it.
he'll fit in well, though, by the time everything settles down and the war becomes only something in his nightmares rather in his reality. he'll still have nightmares of munroe and gabe and all the pain to which he contributed. sometimes he'll question if he actually belongs or if he's just fooling himself, and occasionally he'll fear munroe coming after him to finish the job, but the pack doesn't let him ruminate in those negative headspaces for long. he may be human, but he's still their pack. unlike with munroe, he doesn't have to prove himself over and over to insist he belongs. he just has to be his true selfâhis true characterâand that's all they need to believe him.
