Werewolves on SPACE: Part II

Back in May, I posted about my tentative excitement for SPACE channel's upcoming supernatural drama, Bitten. Now that two episodes have aired, it's time to review!

Before Bitten aired, SyFy and SPACE began their promotions and I have to admit, they didn’t make it look or sound very appealing. The only female werewolf, surrounded by a bunch of hot male werewolves, torn between her two loves. Someone on G+ raged about this entire concept, assuming that this would just be another vagina show with Elena woefully swooning over all the men trying to bed her.

As this is based on one of my favourite books, I felt the immediate need to jump to its defence and point out important things like the fact that wolves are monogamous, dammit! They don’t share! But I refrained. In fact, I didn’t even blog about it at the time. Instead, I’ve just let the show speak for itself. The haters might still be hatin’, but so far, I’m quite pleased. And no, I’m mostly not saying that because of all the Clay and Logan body works that have been going on over the last two episodes. Mostly.

There are actually some legitimate reasons for my approval thus far. First of all, Elena. She remains the strong female character that Kelley Armstrong created. Her past is slowly being teased out, but it’s clear that there has been quite a lot of trauma that she’s managed to deal with on her own. While she loves her Stonehaven family and the new family she’s working her way into, Elena is still a fiercely independent woman and the men in her life have to work hard to get her to bend if they need her. What she does, is on her own terms.

With Elena being the only female werewolf and knowing what I did about the first book, I was pleased to see a reasonable emphasis and subsequent passing of the Bechdel Test in episode one, with Elena finding a firm friend in her fiancé’s sister. Okay yes, they talked about the fiancé a bit, but there was other stuff too. Sort of.

Speaking of the fiancé, Philip, there’s been a bit of a change to his appearance and demeanour, if I recall correctly. He was a bit more mousey before and there was a sense that he absolutely could not hold a candle to Clay. There was also more of a sense that he was a cover for Elena. Now, her relationship feels more genuine and implies much more of an inner struggle for Elena.

As far as holding to the source material goes, they are mostly doing well and I am holding on to my original desire to give the show the benefit of the doubt. Jeremy’s appearance is still questionable. I am not happy that they chose to pass over his Asian heritage. I don’t bind myself to appearance any more than Armstrong herself has, assuming an actor understands the character and can truly bring him to life. I am trying to give the benefit of the doubt, but thus far, I’m largely unimpressed with Greg Bryk, though I admit that it could very well be my bias speaking. Bryk has Jeremy’s subdued manner and the Pack responds to him accordingly as their Alpha, but… he’s still not quite Jeremy. And he needs to get rid of those godawful vests.

The character I do absolutely love is Stonehaven. In early production videos, I was very pleased to see so much love and attention going into the Pack’s home and am pleased now to see it expressed not only in its appearance, but in how the Pack interacts with the building. I also adore the Pack life, which we got loads of in the most recent episode. As much as Elena has struggled with the concept of family and is trying to avoid Stonehaven for reasons, the family vibe is wonderfully portrayed, which is an extension of the entire Pack mentality. Naked Logan and Clay aside, what really sold me on the show was Elena waking up to Nick hanging out in her bed like it ain’t no thang, and then breakfast. Breakfast was just perfect.

Because. Bacon.

I would like to see more of the wolves in action, though. Prior to reading Bitten, werewolves were the big, violent, lone monsters. Armstrong changed that view for me by putting so much into the them being an actual pack of wolves. When they Change, they hold on to their human awareness, but they are also very much wolves and act accordingly.

So this leaves only the problem of Clay and Elena’s relationship. I hope they don’t drag things out too long here. Clay’s stalkeriness can only be tolerated for so long, even by fans who know why Elena wants him out of her life.

Yes, I know I’m being very cryptic, because I don’t want to spoil. I imagine that, even as a fan of the book, I’m still going to be surprised (and kinda am hoping things will diverge a bit … for reasons… ). I’m hooked so far and hope those who didn’t read the book or who weren’t too impressed by the superficial advertising will at least give it a try. I’m very curious to see where things will go with future seasons. As Bitten is the first in a series that Armstrong later dubbed “Women of the Otherworld,” I would love to see the other ladies make an appearance, particularly the witches, Paige and Savannah, whom Elena meets in the second book, Stolen…

Wendy's Book Haul

I'm focused on World Without End's Women of Genre Fiction reading challenge and my local library has been good to me. I did my best to walk out with only the books I had requested, but got caught right at the check out desk with the "book of the day": The Red Chamber by Pauline A. Chen.

The Red Chamber by Pauline A. Chen

In this lyrical reimagining of the Chinese classic Dream of the Red Chamber, set against the breathtaking backdrop of eighteenth-century Beijing, the lives of three unforgettable women collide in the inner chambers of the Jia mansion. When orphaned Daiyu leaves her home in the provinces to take shelter with her cousins in the Capital, she is drawn into a world of opulent splendor, presided over by the ruthless, scheming Xifeng and the prim, repressed Baochai. As she learns the secrets behind their glittering façades, she finds herself entangled in a web of intrigue and hidden passions, reaching from the petty gossip of the servants’ quarters all the way to the Imperial Palace. When a political coup overthrows the emperor and plunges the once-mighty family into grinding poverty, each woman must choose between love and duty, friendship and survival.


The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

The Blind Assassin opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge."

They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the reader expects to settle into Laura's story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a-novel. Entitled The Blind Assassin, it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. When we return to Iris, it is through a 1947 newspaper article announcing the discovery of a sailboat carrying the dead body of her husband, a distinguished industrialist.


The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn't know much about her background - the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip - but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island. Until now.


Aaaand as I was writing this post, this just popped up on my Goodreads radar (Amazon's one-click buy button wins again!):


Eye of the Goddess by M.J. Faraldo

Kyra St. Clair’s life is about to change. Terrible events will thrust her head first into a world unknown to her, a secret world where ancient Egyptian gods are not myth but in fact very real. With the help of an unexpected friend she will come to terms with who she is, and in doing so they will both discover that there is much more to the story than meets the eye.

Werewolves on SPACE

Laura Vandervoort as Elena Michaesl

Bitten was my first real introduction to urban fantasy and supernatural books. I fell in love with Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. Part of my love comes from national pride: both Armstrong and her main character Elena Michaels are Canadian and it's always nice to find the familiar in something you're reading or watching.

The story goes: Elena is the only female to survive a werewolf bite, but she's not too keen on pack life. A product of the more negative aspects of the foster care system, family doesn't quite mean the same thing to her as it does to her pack. Since wolves tend to mate for life, her ex, Clay Danvers, is a little upset by this concept. Circumstances draw Elena back to the pack's home at Stonehaven and murder and mystery ensue.

Greyston Holt as Clay Danvers

Since I learned last year about plans already underway for a TV series, I’ve been patiently excited. After Lost Girl, I’m quite happy to see more Canadian-made supernatural shows getting some attention. This month, SPACE released first looks from the set and fans are, unsurprisingly, already up in arms by what we’re seeing (video). We've been waiting for Clay's blond curls and southern drawl, but we won't be getting either. Elena's casting is acceptable, but personally, I would have liked to see a more Asian Jeremy Danvers. That might just be because I have a thing for quietly powerful, broody darkangels with long black hair.

Still, I’m not upset by what I’ve seen so far. I’m far more interested in actors that understand and can bring to life the internal workings of a character than just having someone who looks (and sounds) the part. There have been enough excellent examples of actors (e.g. 50% of the Game of Thrones cast) doing this that I am willing to be cautiously optimistic. More so because Armstrong seemed to feel the same way when I asked her about it. When I visited Fan Expo last summer and learned about the show, I got to chat briefly with her. I was curious about her involvement. I always worry that great stories will be swept away from their creators, like Ursula K. Leguin’s issues with EarthSea, if the creator isn’t involved enough. Armstrong noted that she had seen the some of the pre-production concepts (and didn’t seem bothered by any of it), but she specifically did not want to be part of the casting because she felt her idea of how her characters should look would cause too much bias. I was glad to hear that she was able to let that go, so hopefully, fandom will find it in our hearts to forgive as well, once we see what the show actually has to offer us.

Ignoring Laura Vandervoort’s references to 50 Shades of Grey and Twilight, the on set video snippets and interviews seem to confirm to me that the creative team and the actors have grasped the essence of the story and characters (and are aware of what the fans will be upset about, with actor Greyston Holt already apologizing for Clay’s lack of a southern drawl), which is far more important to me as a fan of the books. I particularly love that the pack’s home, Stonehaven, has been recognized as a character unto itself and given the love and attention it deserves with details including first and foremost, Jeremy Danver’s paintings on the wall.

For now, Bitten is focusing, it seems, on Armstrong’s first book, but I definitely plan to stick around to see if the world of the werewolves will expand to include the other Women of the Otherworld and the respective supernatural races they belong to.