I’m thinking of starting a series about the stuff I’ve read or watched that were shown in the series that were relevant to the themes of series.
Starting with the first thing I read:
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The cover of this book was given a close up in season 3 episode 12 when Rafael McCall is sitting in Scott’s room while the kids are trying to safe their parents from the Darach.
It is one of the books Scott read over the summer which I think greatly impacts his views on ‘justified’ violence and righteous dogmas that perpetuate throughout the entire series but especially here through Deucalion and Julia Bacchari.
This book represents the theme of cyclical violence that pervades the entire series but especially season 3A. Specifically how such violence only escalates, leading to more pain, strife and casualties. The book being in Scott's room serves to illuminate our understanding of him and the realisation he has of the violence around him.
(Take a shot for every time I say violence)
To be rudely brief, this book tells a tale of the French Revolution (it’s origins and motivations), but centres around the people caught in the cross-hairs.
The main characters (relevant to this analysis) are:
Doctor Manette (The face of the French Revolution, a former prisoner of the Bastille. Incarcerated for 18 years due to a false allegation given by Marquis St. Evrémonde)
Lucy Manette (A devoted daughter, recently reunited with her father, Dr. Manette, after his incarceration)
Charles Darnay (A former French noble who relinquished his titles and wealth to live peacefully and frugally in England. He later marries Lucy and they have a young daughter together)
Marquis St. Evrémonde (Uncle to Charles Darnay. A tyrannical noble responsible for the death and torture of many working-class french citizens and the reason for Dr. Manette’s incarceration)
Madame Defarge (An unassuming yet crucial member of the revolution. She experienced the death and torture of her family under St. Evrémonde’s hands and uses her pain as fuel to enact revenge. Her and her husband nursed Dr. Manette back to health after his imprisonment)
Sydney Carton (A listless, depressed legal aide based in London with an uncanny resemblance to Charles Darnay, and in love with Lucy Manette)
The revolution consists of two waring parties, the nobles, and the working-class revolutionaries. Both parties used their own ideologies to justify the violence they caused.
The marquis thought it was his god-given right, and that inciting fear was what secured him to his power, wealth, and safety. Whenever something bad happened to them, nobles used it to argue for the necessity of their violence.
This mirrors Deucalion and his pack who use Gerard’s actions to justify using fear as a means ensuring their safety, but also have no qualms about threatening, maiming and killing for their entertainment/benefit as they think it is their right as powerful beings.
The revolutionaries, specifically Madame Defarge justifies her violence as part of an uprising. It is the accumulation of the violence she and the other revolutionaries have faced and they feel that the only way they can be recompensed is through bloodshed. You agree with them after hearing their stories but quickly grow horrified as they begin sacrificing working-class servants, helpers, nannies and children. It is seen as the "lesser evil" against the powerful nobles.
In their quest for liberation, they end up jeopardising the life of their own hero, Dr. Manette, and his family. Madame Defarge does this by orchestrating the incarceration of Charles Darnay and plans to execute him for his noble blood, Lucy for marrying him, and finally to execute their young child (for her noble blood).
She mimics Julia Bacchari almost entirely as they both sacrifice innocent, blameless people in their quest to defeat their true oppressors.
Just as the revolution (as depicted in the book) is perverted into senseless propaganda which ultimately endangers the victims of nobility (the Manettes), Julia’s motivations turn void as she begins endangering the lives of the Alpha Pack's other victims (Boyd, Isaac, Derek, Scott, and Melissa).
The pinnacle of this parallel occurs when Derek says to Julia (after her big sacrifice yap-fest):
“Stop talking to me like a politician. Stop trying to convince me of your cause.”
As for the others, they are not a part of the war. Doctor Manette (though face of the revolution) only seeks peace, quiet and recovery with his newly reunited family. This reminds me of Derek, who is seen by Julia as a partner though he wishes no part in the conflict. Like the doctor towards the nobles, Derek hates Deucalion, but cannot use his hatred to fully take part in Julia’s destruction. Though he stands by Julia at some point, it is more that he is trapped due to Julia’s idealisation of him (just as the Revolutionaries idolised Dr. Manette).
In the book, Charles Darney is in the middle of the two parties, yet fundamentally separated from both of them, very similar to Scott.
Darnay is noble by blood but abhors all that it represents. He loves and marries into the Manette family, and even teaches french in London due to the love of his country, yet he cannot sit by as the Revolutionaries try to execute his former family servant.
Though Scott is not yet an alpha, he is regarded as one. He also has responsibility over others as an alpha (*cough* noble *cough*) does. Despite this, he is fundamentally against everything the Alpha Pack represents and his unwillingness to promote the system acts as a threat to what the Alpha Pack preaches.
On the other hand, he, like Julia, is a victim to the cruelty of alphas, yet does not use his victimhood as a justification for more violence, rendering Julia’s ideologies just as sloppy as Deucalion’s as she also fails to proselytise him. In the end Scott is basically shoved into Deucalion's corner as Julia jeopardises his family (just as the revolutionaries jeopardise Darney's family).
Now for my beloved Sydney Carton (this is going to be the most reductionistic analysis of this character, but alas, this meta is about teen wolf). This man, for his love of Lucy's happiness and all that it represents, bribes his way into Darnay's prison and forcefully changes their places so that he can die in Darnay's stead. His execution serves as a distraction to ensure the Darnay and Manette family's safe passage back to England (much like Scott distracting Julia until the lunar eclipse fades to save the lives of the parents). He represents true sacrifice and (though it sounds cheesy) the power of love. It is his love that spurs him into action after a life of passivity. It is his sacrifice that ensures that peace (the conciliation of the Manette's and the St. Evrémonde blood line) can exist, that violence in spite of pain can be rejected.
Derek willingly loses his power, status and safety for the love of his Cora. Scott thrusts himself upon mountain to save the parents, essentially sacrificing himself (Remember when he says: "I did it once, but it almost killed me"). The kids actually sacrifice themselves to prevent more, irreparable blood shed.
Scott (and essentially his entire pack + Derek but I want to focus on Scott's book in Scott's room), is a victim of the war in which he really should have no part in. But unlike Deucalion- and Julia's other victims, he willingly sacrifices himself in the hopes of, like Sydney Carton, ensuring a better future with the redemptive powers of love.
I believe that if Scott had died then, he would've, as Carton, “see[n] the lives for which [he] lay[s] down his life”
Podcast Episode · Fandom on the Rocks · 07/16/2025 · 1h 7m
What happens to werewolves on the lunar eclipse? I hope it makes us stronger.
In 3×12, "Lunar Eclipse," Scott, Stiles, and Allison finally discover the location of the Nemeton, which definitely doesn't want to be found. Stiles and Allison, along with Isaac, find and rescue the parents in the Nemeton's root cellar, making the surrogate sacrifice worth it. Jennifer fights off against the Alphas, killing Kali and wounding the twins, making off in the night after Deucalion.
Will Derek and Scott help Jennifer with her ultimate quest for revenge? Does Scott actually become a True Alpha? Does Peter ever get past screaming very emotional lines directly into the camera?
Find out this week on the season 3A finale of Pack Dynamics.
