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Season 1, Episode 1:
Wolf Moon
Red Riding Hood anyone?
An unusual occurrence while searching for a missing body in the woods with his best friend gives sophomore Scott McCall everything he'd ever wanted: new lacrosse abilities, a date with the girl of his dreams, and supernatural skills. But is there a downside to these new powers?
Tropes
- The Aloner: Derek Hale is introduced as a guy just a few years of high school who lives out on the edges of town in the ruins of the burned house where his family died.
- Bad to the Bone: "Cobrastyle"
by Teddybears played during Scott's Lacrosse performance. As soon as you hear the first few notes, you know what's going down. - Bait-and-Switch: It happens twice regarding Derek. Scott and Stiles believe that Derek may have tricked Allison into leaving with him so that he can murder her. In reality, Derek saw what happened to Scott, knew she needed a ride, and took her home. Scott believes that Derek is the danger but realizes that the older man is actually trying to save him from the hunters who are stalking the woods for prey.
- Boy Meets Girl: Scott and Allison immediately have this adorable, sweet chemistry and Scott successfully asks her out. Things are immediately complicated when Scott discovers he's become a werewolf and Allison's father is a werewolf-hunter who shot him with an arrow during the full moon.
- The Bully: Jackson invests a lot of time and energy trying to intimidate Scott and make him feel like a loser.
- Chekhov's Gun: Stiles mentions that wolves howl to let the rest of the pack know their location. This piece of information is not only important in this episode, but across the series.
- Curse That Cures: Scott needs an inhaler for asthma. After he becomes a werewolf, Stiles notices Scott no longer needs it.
- Doing Research: Stiles throws himself into learning everything he can about lyncanthropy.
- Entertainingly Wrong: About ten minutes into the episode, Stiles confidently declares that Scott couldn't have possibly been bitten by a wolf because there are no wolves in California.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: The cats at the animal clinic are immediately set off by Scott after he's Bitten. The dog barking at the party at Scott and Derek. The dog clearly aware both of them are werewolves.
- First Day of School Episode: The episode takes place on the first day of school, Allison is a new transfer student, and it is tryouts for the lacrosse team.
- Foreboding Fleeing Flock: Scott is knocked over by a herd of deer fleeing something in the woods.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Stiles' research includes wolfsbane, silver bullets, and crossbows, all of which will be important over the course of the season and series.
- Inciting Incident: Scott and Stiles sneak into the woods to try to get a peek at the dead body the police are investigating. While in the woods, Scott is bitten by an unknown animal.
- Joggers Find Death: Stiles tells Scott that joggers made the initial discovery of the partial remains in the woods.
- Instant Expert: A variant. After being Bitten, Scott is a pro at lacrosse. Before he was simply a benchwarmer.
- Last Day of Normalcy: When we're introduced to Scott, he's going through his bedtime routine: washing up for bed and preparing his school gear for the next day. Then Stiles comes and asks him to go into the woods to watch the police search for a dead body. Scott's decision to go with Stiles leads to the bite which lead to him being transformed into a werewolf.
- Mr. Exposition: Scott to Jackson.Scott: What's going on with me? You really wanna know? Well, so would I! Because I can see, hear, and smell things that I shouldn't be able to see, hear, and smell. I do things that should be impossible, I'm sleepwalking three miles into the middle of the woods, and I'm pretty much convinced that I'm totally out of my freaking mind!
- Mysterious Stranger: Derek. His whole family had been burned to death in a fire years ago.
- Nerdy Inhaler: Scott and Stiles are considered weirdo outsiders. Before being bitten, Scott frequently uses his inhaler whenever he's in a tense situation.
- New Transfer Student: Allison Argent.
- Oh, Crap!: Scott when he sees the leader of hunters who shot at him as a werewolf during the full moon with a crossbow is Allison's father.
- Pilot Episode: Of the series.
- Plot-Triggering Death: [[Spoiler:Laura's]] murder is the event that brings all the main players into contact.
- Power Incontinence: Scott has to leave the party because he's beginning to wolf out and has no idea how to stop it from manifesting.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Jackson is correct that Scott didn't just suddenly get dramatically better at lacrosse but he's completely wrong in his belief that the true cause is steroid use.
- Super Hero Origin: Well, werewolf origin, but the elements of the trope are there.
- Three-Point Landing: Scott jumps out of his second story bedroom window and lands in the traditional superhero pose.
- Waking Up Elsewhere: Scott goes to sleep in his bedroom and wakes up in the forest.
- Wham Shot: The final shot of the episode reveals that Allison's father is the hunter who shot Scott.
