#draeden speculation

[weasley-detectives]

stalia still is happening and it's ruining my entire mood. and everyone keeps hoping that dylan and tyler h will leave the show and i'm worried that their wishes will be granted. :(

I really wouldn’t worry about Stalia being endgame love. Just remember, the show isn’t a romance - it’s a supernatural mystery/horror. The show even told us that first loves aren’t necessarily forever (like Scallison) - the same holds true for Stalia, Malia being Stiles’ first relationship. Furthermore, because the show is not focused on romance, the odd things that don’t add up about Stalia and Draeden? Part of the mystery! These relationships become even more suspicious when compared with positive slow build pairings like Scira and Marrish, which are built on openness, honesty and trust. Remember the TW writers are challenging popular romantic tropes through show vs tell - they want us to challenge them, to notice that they’re not healthy, that something’s a bit off. I completely understand how you feel - personally I have more of a cringe issue with Draeden than Stalia at this point. Braeden’s awesomes whichever side of the fence she winds up on (she may just be a neutral player), but once again we have a fairly suspicious character we know so little about physically involved with a character who has been sexually abused twice, and in a show that loves its’ “three’s a pattern” I’m really hesitant to jump on board this pair. Derek’s character and history make it hard to ship him with anyone who hasn’t shared at least a season’s worth of build/up. Now, if Draeden had the sort of build up that Parrish and Lydia appear to be getting, I’d be more supportive of it. But it’s not, which tells us it’s more likely to be part of the plot, rather than a romance.

As for Tyler H and DOB leaving, I really don’t see that happening. Obviously I can’t promise anything, I don’t have any insider knowledge, but think of it this way - both are very tied to their roles, never underestimate that. Its good work, fantastic publicity and there’s very likely only one season left, so I’d say the chances of them sticking around until the end are high.

[weasley-detectives]

If this whole story arc includes Braeden getting pregnant from this fling, my rage will be uncontainable. It seems Jeff already walks a fine line when it comes to fandom, that might be enough to push people over the edge. I don't know if people would forgive him for that.

Ah, I wouldn’t worry about that. It’s possible, but I’d be surprised if that’s the way Davis chose to end Derek’s arc. While I hope she sticks around, I suspect Braeden’s role will end this season unless it’s revealed she’s still working for Deucalion who is almost certainly due to come back into play next season (I know we're losing at least one regular at the end of s4). In a series that really loves its “3’s a pattern”, Braeden unfortunately seems to be Derek’s third bad romance. At least it’s significantly better than his relationship with Kate and Jennifer, but it’s still unsettling because Derek’s using sex appeal as a weapon, the only weapon he feels he has left. While sex as a distraction and comfort can be a positive thing, that scene didn’t strike me as either, but more of a game. Certainly not grounds for a healthy relationship, and I think Derek developing a healthy relationship with someone (whether romantic or platonic) is an important part of his story.

In any case, even if we wound up with a storyline where Braeden has Derek’s kid, I think its importance would lie in Beacon Hills having a new generation of Hales rather than any kind of endgame relationship between Derek and Braeden. Considering the way their relationship has played out, I don’t think it’s going anywhere. You’ve got two very different characters with very different motives. Derek is on a hero’s journey, his mother passed him the crown and he must live up to the title of protector of Beacon Hills (Mr Yukimura foreshadowed this earlier in the season when he gave his class talk about great leaders failing spectacularly in their early years). Braeden by her own admission is a mercenary who kills for money - her moral compass is a little off, she’s very cocky (I think she underestimates Derek for one), and the gun is her weapon of choice. She also appears to be pretty happy with her life and choices, so unless something changes drastically in the next few episodes and she has a great big change of heart or reveals she’s had heroic motives all along, I can’t see how Draeden fits into the big picture in the long run.

[weasley-detectives]

You know, the more I think of the Draeden scene at the end of the trailer, the more I think the 2nd Sterek scene (we know there will be one after the one on Monday) will be related to that. I could see Stiles being the one to bring dying Derek back, seeing that he is his anchor (I don't think Jeff put that 3B finale scene in for nothing). Maybe that's how we'll also learn what Stiles actually is (with him using his "spark" again). And Derek will come back as sth. "more" (not a beta or omega).

Fingers crossed! I'm not sure it will turn out exactly that way, but considering the anchor scene of 3b, I certainly have a lot of hope that Derek's anchor arc this season will feature Stiles in some important way. That Monday episode features a scene with Derek, Stiles and Peter convinces me of the importance of this trio (with Stiles moving in to replace Peter) all the more. But Davis never does things the way we think, so it's difficult to guess. ^^

[weasley-detectives]

I might be totally wrong, but I actually think the derek/braeden stuff might be all happen in same ep? Maybe not the last one but i wouldn't be surprised. The bandage and the whole weapons and stuff. In another promo he's shirtless leaning on a table with loads of guns at the loft. Maybe it's like i'm gonna die anyways once i go for Kate so why not sex.

Possibly, though I suspect it will last a little longer. I think it'll start off as casual sex and develop into something else, but I do think that too much of it has been spoiled and progressed too quickly to be a lasting storyline. We haven't had a genuine Derek romance arc - of the relationships we've seen, we had a Scallison-like teen love which ended in tragedy, Kate who manipulated a vulnerable Derek after said tragedy and murdered his family, and Jennifer, a serial killer who magically whammied him. So asking the audience to trust this Derek/Braeden as a genuine endgame romance without a slow-burn and knowing very little about her character is asking a lot. It's understandable when people are suspicious. Even O'brien pointed out during one of the cons that Derek should maybe get to know some of the women he's involved with before dating them (come to think of it, that could be another sneaky piece of foreshadowing).

The scene with Braeden looking concerned could be closer to the end of the season - it's likely they're facing off Kate. Tbh I think we're going to see Derek - this Derek - close to death, if not die. But I subscribe to the two Dereks theory.

[weasley-detectives]

What do you think about the blank space regarding Derek's li in the TVLine thing? How do you see the chances of Derek having a thing with a guy and Draeden being the mislead?

I haven’t actually read the TVline thing, I’ve just seen people freaking out about it. Uno momento, I’ll look it up…

Okay, so aside from TVLine being well known for exaggerating things and talking bollocks (Matt in particular seems to be bad for this - I’m sure I remember people getting angry at him way back during 3a), what did the article actually tell us Sterek-wise that we didn’t already know? Derek will be hooking up with Braeden, and Stiles will continue his thing with Malia. We also know Derek and Stiles will have scenes together because we’ve glimpsed them together in the trailers (one in the animal clinic, one in what looks to be the school). I really don’t think anyone has seen previews of this season beyond episode 6 or 7 at the most, so I very much doubt TVLine was talking about the full season. Remember O’brien and Hoechlin said they couldn’t speak about Sterek in S4, which implied spoilery reasons - they could have said ‘Yeah we have a couple of fun scenes together’, but instead they refused to say anything, which struck me as interesting. Might not be anything, but something to think about. They couldn’t tell us about Sterek, but TVLine could?

Anyway, to answer your question, I’m suspect the “…” space in that article refers to Braeden. I could be wrong, Derek did make a connection with Parrish in ep2, but given that I’m fairly certain TVLine have only seen two or three more episodes than we have, and we know a Draeden kiss is coming up, I’m willing to bet that’s who they meant.

[weasley-detectives]

I'm still terrified that Draeden and Stalia are going to be a big thing, especially after Monday's episode. I just don't get Megan Tandy, why the hell did she lie to us? That was a shitty thing to do and raised a lot of hopes for Sterek actually going canon after the way 3b ended. I know I shouldn't, but I absolutely hate her guts for that. I'll never be able to get over the way she lied. She didn't even misdirect, it was a blatant lie. And now she's denying it despite ppl having proof!

Here’s the thing, if you want the majority of your audience to get really attached to a romantic pairing, rushing into sex scenes isn’t the way to do it. Not that I think sex scenes are a bad thing personally, but viewers tend to be protective of their main characters. Think of the most successful romances in tv history - they’re slow builds where both characters have developed together and individually. Malia and Braeden really haven’t had that chance and their relationships with Stiles and Derek are both pretty rushed. In fact, they mirror each other closely. Both are moving at the speed of light and focused on sexual chemistry, rather than a natural coming together of two characters obviously suited to each other.

You know why I’ve always liked the idea of Deputy Martin (Lydia/Parrish)? Because they spent an entire season developing Parrish away from Lydia. We can imagine what he might be like with Lydia because the show gave us space to think about him as an individual and form an attachment to him separately. We also know that, even though it’s “on the cards”, Lydia’s not getting a romance arc this season which says if they do go there, Deputy Martin won’t be a proper thing until S5. So they’ll be working together this season, but it won’t be overtly sexual. THAT’S a slow build.

Derek and Stiles are the show’s favs, there’s no doubt about that, so if you’re going to win audiences around with their romance arcs you need to build it the same way they appear to be building Deputy Martin or Scira. We’ve had several seasons getting to know Derek and Stiles, but we’ve had very little time getting to know Braeden or Malia as individuals (sadly *grump* though I do suspect there’s good reason for that - I don’t believe their sole purpose is simply “love interest”). So I think it’s natural for the majority audience not to forge a strong relationship with pairings like these. We just haven’t been given time to, which implies they’re not together for the long run (which is ok, even potentially healthy - okay, maybe Stalia’s not healthy, but I think Draeden possibly could be). So that’s why I don’t think Draeden or Stalia are going to last long. The best couples are the balanced ones, the pairings with seasons of development and work, where we know a great deal about both characters involved. Otherwise it just doesn’t have a big impact or the potential for conflict. And this show’s all about conflict!

As for Tandy, I don’t know why she said what she did. Perhaps she didn’t know at that point, perhaps it’s a red herring, or perhaps it may become clear after the season’s finished. Who knows? I admit it was an odd thing for her to say, but think of this - there was a lot of secrecy around Derek’s LI, but one of the very first S4 trailers showed the Draeden kiss. Maybe it’s just me, but something doesn’t seem to add up there. It could either be that Braeden isn’t Derek’s LI this season, or that Draeden just isn’t a big deal to spoil in the trailer.

[weasley-detectives]

Hello! Quick speculation, do you think that the girl kissing derek in the s4 trailer is someone who wants to kill derek, because apparently the beacon hills pack is on the dead pool list?

Heyup! ^^

I don’t think so, I’m fairly certain the girl kissing Derek in the trailer is Braeden and it seems like she’ll be working with Derek and Peter to track down Kate for a while. But like Hoechlin said, Braeden’s one to watch though, it could be that she’s tempted by the Benefactor. After all, “Girl’s gotta eat.” ;) (can you tell I love her? I love her).