Character Review MTV's Teen Wolf
Scott McCall:
True Alpha
Scott McCall: best friend, loyal, trustworthy, kind, smart, fighter, noble, leader, heroic.
MTV’s Teen Wolf ended Sunday September 24th after six years of success. In a pervious review (linked at the bottom) of Teen Wolf I spoke about some of the obvious faults of the series. Yet, Scott McCall continued to save the show time after time. To be said: spoilers for the entire series are in this character review.
Played by Tyler Posey, Scott McCall becomes one of the first Latino heroes on American television. I have serious doubts about how Scott would be as a character if not for Tyler Posey. Tyler is and has always been hyper focused on his role and extremely vocal about his love for the show and for Scott. An actor without passion would have made Scott McCall lacking in pretty much every definition of the word. It should be said, Tyler did not only star as the main character of the show, but a producer and director.
Unfortunately Scott has sometimes been sidelined by his best friend Stiles Stilinski (played by Dylan O’Brien, Tyler’s off screen best friend). This is not to say that Stiles’ was not an amazing character or that Dylan is not an amazing actor, just that at times creator Jeff Davis and fans of the show seemed to forget that Teen Wolf was about Scott McCall, not Stiles Stilinski.
Scott McCall is a diverse character that is so kind and loving that it is almost impossible not to root for him. He has flaws: he can be selfish, he can focus all his attention on his current girlfriend, he makes mistakes, and he can trust to a fault…and honestly, that’s what you want in a hero, someone who has faults but continues to rise above them no matter what (let’s be clear though, Scott McCall is not an anti-hero, he is a hero).
The best way to describe Scott McCall is by his title on the show, a true alpha. According to the show the definition of a true alpha: a werewolf who becomes an alpha not by killing for the title, but one who rises to power based on the strength of their will. Scott McCall sees good in everyone, even those who have tried to kill him. He allows Theo Raeken to join his pack even though Theo murdered him (Scott was brought back to life), he offers Kate, Victoria, and Gerard Argent multiple chances to change their ways and become allies, and he would rather talk about a peaceful solution instead of fighting with his enemy. His enemies always underestimate Scott because Scott does not kill people regardless of what they have done. He allows second chances, and his enemies think this makes him weak. But it doesn’t. You do not want to get into a fight with Scott McCall. He’s smart, strong, strategic, and willing to do whatever is necessary to defeat his enemy without killing them (like clawing out his own eyes to save the entire town of Beacon Hills).
The most admirable quality of Scott’s is that he fights for people, not for himself. Every time one of his friends and pack members has died, he sees it as a personal failure and uses his sadness and anger to push himself to be a better leader. When the love of his life died in his arms Scott put aside his emotions long enough to save his best friend’s life. Only after the fight was over did he allow himself to feel pain.
Scott inspires people to be better people. Whenever Scott’s name was mentioned to another pack it was usually met with the awed response of “you know Scott McCall?” If anything should be taken away from Teen Wolf it should be the morals and values of Scott McCall. Be your own Scott McCall.
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