After writing my article Everything I know about Teen Wolf I learned from Tumblr, I decided to finally watch the pilot. And oh boy, Tumblr, you lied to me. This is a very different show than I thought it would be.

Tumblr is an amazing resource for fans and the fandom-adjacent, but apparently GIFs and feels are not enough to give an entirely accurate view of a TV show. It’s like a game of Chinese Whispers, and clearly we lose some of the finer points in translation.

After seeing the pilot, here are some of the things I now know about Teen Wolf, which Tumblr completely failed to prepare me for:

This show is hilarious

Honestly, the pilot was a lot funnier than I thought it would be. I was skeptical about the Buffy comparisons before (because come on, it’s Buffy), but I see where that’s coming from now.

The dialogue was fast-paced and intelligent, and set everything up really well. And of course the line, “My mom does the grocery shopping” actually had me laughing out loud.

But I mean, okay, so clearly this is a pilot. And like any pilot, it’s a bit rough around the edges. There’s some sketchy cuts between takes, and both Scott and Stiles struggle to get their tongues around the wordy (but witty) dialogue.

It’s clear that the cast and crew haven’t quite gotten into the groove of the show, but again, it’s a pilot. I didn’t expect perfection.

The humour still worked though, and is one of the main reasons why I’m eager to watch more. Sometimes, a pilot shows promise, but there’s no hook, and no reason to care about what happens to the characters. In the Teen Wolf pilot, their witty banter gave me a reason to care.

Good dialogue is what gives characters their personalities and cements their relationships. So far, I haven’t spotted any one-note stereotypes – except perhaps Colton Haynes’ character (I forgot his name), but I’m sure as we learn more about him, he’ll reveal himself to be more complex.

Yes, I expect the lines to flow a lot better as the actors find their rhythm, because otherwise you all wouldn’t like the show as much as you do. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t immensely enjoy the first episode. It made me want more, so clearly it did its job.

It’s also slightly above-average on the morbid scale

I mean, all supernatural teen dramas are morbid, and feature gross and bloody dead bodies. I think it must be on a checklist somewhere, along with “Shirtless scene” and “Almost-kiss with main love interest.”

But that half of a dead girl in the forest? That was pretty shocking, and totally caught me off guard. Put 12 of her in a circle and you’ve got the opening scene of Game of Thrones.

And hey, let’s not forget about the fact that Scott and Stiles – two awkward, semi-nerdy 17-ish-year-olds kids – find out there’s half a dead body in the woods and go look for the other half.

Beacon Hills must have an exceedingly tame night-life if that prospect seems appealing.

Helloooo Scott (Stiles and Derek who?!)

Before I watched Teen Wolf, I honestly thought Stiles was the main character, and also the alpha of their little group of teen wolves. Turns out, Scott is the only werewolf (except Derek), and also the lead character. Huh.

Knowing almost nothing about Scott from my Tumblr safaris, this caught me off guard for exactly 0.5 seconds. And then I’m pretty sure he accidentally became my favourite character.

Tumblr is all about Stiles, and I get that. He’s funny and cute and is clearly going to be a scene-stealer. And Derek seems appealing too, for all the five minutes he was on screen.

But Scott? I have to admit, I’m more of a cat person, but I might have to make an exception for this guy.

He’s like a young Sam Winchester, dorky and in desperate need of a haircut (though I like his season 1 look), making awkward jokes and feeling proud of himself for handing a girl a pen. I love it. #TeamScott all the way.

…Okay, Stiles is pretty cool too

I mean any character who enters a scene hanging upside-down has got to be cool by default, right? A commenter in my original article likened him to Seth Cohen from The O.C., and that’s a near-perfect comparison, at least based on the pilot.

Stiles is also pretty much the best friend ever, chasing after Scott into the woods after realising he’s a werewolf. He even does research! Complete with cliché werewolf reference books and Twilight-inspired Google searches. Way to accept Scott just as he is, bro.

(P.S. I may have been wrong about Stiles being a werewolf, but he totally could have been bitten in that forest too. I’m just saying.)

The romance is adorable (for now)

I actually wasn’t expecting an early introduction of what I assume will be an over-arching will they/won’t they love story. Looking back, I realise that I actually had no knowledge of actual Teen Wolf relationships, I only know the fanon pairings.

Even though this is a teen drama and I should have known better, I actually kind of assumed that there wasn’t much actual romance in Teen Wolf at all, because they were all too busy being teen wolf-y.

So as you can imagine, this whole Scott/Allison story being set up like a Buffy/Angel, Lucas/Peyton, Max/Liz thing kind of caught me off guard.

But hey, I’m into it. Theorizing wildly here, I’m gonna say that there’s probably something more to Allison than meets the eye, seeing as Scott honed in on her the moment she arrived on campus. Does it have something to do with her dad’s connection to werewolves? Hmmm.

I’m also going to make a wild, crazy guess and say that Scott and Allison’s romance won’t be smooth sailing. Cause, duh. If it was, that’d be super dull.

But if nothing else, at least they got to bond over poor injured animals. Cuties. I’m going to enjoy this early romance while it lasts, because it’s only a matter of time before there’s A Horrible Misunderstanding and Allison starts dating someone else. I just hope it’s not Derek…

Lydia is not Stiles’ sister (!)

Well damn. I thought I had that one in the bag. Honestly, nothing lies like Lydia GIFs on Tumblr lie. I thought she was going to be all cute and innocent, the main character’s BFF like Haley on One Tree Hill, and instead she’s the Brooke!

But, like Brooke, I expect that eventually Lydia will become more likeable. Like Cordelia on Buffy, she’ll find out about the werewolf thing and prove surprisingly helpful. And help Stiles with his supernatural research in the high school library, of course. (That’s where I assume they keep all those convenient leather-bound old books on lycanthropy.)

I also have a romance theory for her… and a lot more random predictions. Here we go!

‘Teen Wolf’ theory time

So now that I’ve seen the pilot, clearly I’m an expert on the whole show. I can totally tell you exactly what’s going to happen. WATCH ME GO!

• Derek is actually Scott’s secret half-brother and/or cousin! This is why he wants him in his one-man wolf pack, The Hangover-style. I’m guessing it all comes back to Scott’s curiously absent father. It’s always about fathers.
• Derek is NOT the one who turned Scott. He also didn’t kill that girl. There’s some more sinister werewolves out there… and they have a plan. (Cause, you know, they’re cylons.)
• Allison has some sort of tie to the supernatural world. It might be she’s born to hunt werewolves, like her father, or she has some other ability. Why else would Scott’s enhanced hearing single her out like he was some sort of Edward Cullen? Something is drawing him to her, but I don’t know what it is yet. I’m intrigued.
• Lydia and Scott are going to get together at some point. I mean, that glance at the party? Hello foreshadowing! She’s totally going to go after him now that he’s the new lacrosse hero. And Stiles is gonna be pi-i-ssed.
• Allison and Colton Haynes are also going to get together. Because… it’s high school.
• The lacrosse teacher is somehow a part of The Conspiracy. (He’s just too nice, it’s gotta be an act.)
• And finally, I predict that the first person to find out that Scott is a werewolf (other than Stiles) will be… Colton Haynes’ character. Cue blackmail drama, and eventual grudging friendship.

10/10 RIGHT? No, don’t tell me. I have a feeling trying to judge the whole show by the pilot is like trying to imagine what a beach looks like based on a pinch of sand. Well, to bring this horrible analogy full circle, I’m ready to dive in.

…To the sea, that is. Not the sand. You got that, right?

Okay. Maybe the morale of this story is that Tumblr GIFs should not be taken wildly out of context. I’m going to watch the rest of Teen Wolf season 1 now, because I’m already hooked.