This scene is twisted so much, I wanted to remind people what actually happened in it. I’ve heard it described so often as “Scott hung up on Stiles when he was in danger because he wanted to spend time with Allison and it endangered Stiles and Derek’s life.” Not only do these ignore exactly what it was that Allison and Scott were doing when he hung up, but they also pretend that Scott never saved them anyway.
35:16 Scott hangs up on Stiles while in Gerard’s room breaking into his safe, since he and Allison are afraid the phone call will mean that someone will find them. The camera remains on Stiles who drops his phone and picks up Derek from under the pool.
35:32 Allison and Scott try to figure out where the Bestiary could be. Allison realizes it’s on the key chain.
35:52 The camera cuts to the key chain hanging on the door of the principal’s office where Stiles left it when he was abducted by Erica.
35:59 Scott and Allison come down from Gerard’s Room; Scott excuses himself.
36:16 Scott leaves the Argent House.
36:33 Scott arrives at the school and calls Stiles, looking for him
36:54 Securing the key chain, Scott hears the kanima.
37:21 Scott pulls Stiles and Derek from the pool, saving them both.
So, there was exactly twenty-seven seconds of screen time for Scott from between when he hung up on Stiles and when he started to leave the Argent House. Was he being Scott the Master Spy when he hung up? Nope. He did have a reason beyond just wanting to snuggle with Allison. But a ten-second conversation between Stiles and Scott on the phone wouldn’t have made Stiles and Derek any safer.
And Scott also was a good friend this episode -- people tend to forget earlier when Scott ditches Allison in order to pick Stiles up after the mechanic is killed. And if hanging up because you’re frightened means he’s a bad friend, why don’t they talk about Stiles being a bad friend the next episode when he nearly shoots Scott in the head with a crossbow bolt? Because it was clearly an accident -- as clearly as Scott hanging up was an accident.
Luckily, the show was produced by moderately reasonable people who understood that Stiles wouldn’t take Scott hanging up because he was afraid of getting caught as an indictment of his moral character, just as Scott wouldn’t hold it against Stiles that he was screwing around with Allison’s crossbow.
But this is what I come back to every time. Why is Scott hanging up on Stiles accidentally when Stiles is in a dangerous situation a deathblow to their friendship, but this ...
Is not considered by the fandom anything more than a funny moment? Because Stiles’s boundary crossing and Scott’s early moments of panic are part of their characters, part of what gives them depth, and neither mean that Scott doesn’t care if Stiles is in danger or Stiles doesn’t care if Scott gets hurt or killed.
