#aka the episode when Stiles found out that getting a reputation for lying

[princeescaluswords]

Pants on Fire

Another day, another complaint that I'm harsh because someone goes into my favorite character's tag to repeat a popular but easily disprovable slander, and, in response, I take the time to disprove that particular slander.

Maybe I am harsh, or maybe I'm simply tired of people taking scenes out of context in order to undermine the basic principles of a show that's been successfully concluded for five years; so long that the truth of it should not be in doubt.

So let me be even more harsh. Let's talk about Lies of Omission (5x09).

Stiles is a liar. It is a running gag through every single season that Stiles lies when it suits him. He lies to Scott, he lies to his father, he lies to everyone.

Stiles threatens or actually indulges in violence against people who might endanger his father, repeatedly, including his best friend.

Stiles was emotionally unstable at the beginning of Season 5 to the point that he was engaging in illegal activities that could get him in serious trouble, hurting himself, and endangering other people.

It wasn't just Scott who didn't believe him about Theo: Malia, Liam, Kira, Lydia and the Sheriff didn't believe him about Theo in the first place.

Theo wasn't a stranger; by the time he deceived Scott about Donovan, Theo had helped save the life of every member of the pack. (I thought that fandom believes that saving lives was supposed to endanger trust; that's what fandom says about Derek).

Stiles had literally volunteered to work with Theo in front of Scott.

Stiles had plenty of time to present his side of the story, both in Lies of Omission and the four episodes leading up to it.

Given that all these things are true -- and they are -- Scott shouldn't have believed Stiles.

So, playing by fandom's own rules, the character who bears the responsibility for Scott not believing Stiles is Stiles, who fandom says is so incredibly smart and always right and is the best friend in the whole world, but either a) literally didn't see Theo's plan coming, b) saw it coming but for some reason did nothing to stop it, or c) felt the best course of action, instead of trusting his best friend, was deceiving Scott.

Let me be clear: I don't believe the above paragraph. I don't hold it against Stiles that he didn't react perfectly in a high-pressure situation. Stiles was manipulated by the villains, suffering from the aftereffects of repeated trauma, and burdened with an unfair self-image (in his case put there by his ill mother and a Japanese fox demon). BUT SO WAS SCOTT. Scott was manipulated by the villains, suffering from the aftereffects of trauma, and burdened with an unfair self-image (in his case, being saddled with the responsibility of being the Protector of Beacon Hills by almost every single person he cared about, which includes saving lives.)

So, in conclusion, let me be most harsh. Nattering on about the idea, five years after the show was over, that "Stiles is always right" and "Scott is a bad friend because he didn't believe Stiles" is racist bullshit, because it has nothing to do with what happened on the screen in a scene which was the result of Stiles's long-time behavior AND villain manipulation, but instead it has everything to do with the idea that Stiles as a white male character should be the primary frame of reference for a show that wasn't about him.