This series is based on a book (series) by Canadian author Kelley Armstrong. Like many an urban fantasy tale, it was told in first person by the main character, Elena Michaels. And, like most urban fantasy brought to life, it has to be converted into third person. This is where most book-to-screen adaptations end up losing the meat of the original story. But alright, lets see what they got right.
Elena is a werewolf. Check. She's a journalist in Toronto. Wait, they already screwed up. In the show she's a model, I think? Her best friend in the werewolf world is Logan, a lawyer in LA. They got that wrong too; in the show, he's a psychologist? And apparently he also lives in Toronto and hangs out with Elena. Whatever, meaningless details at this point. So Elena is living with her boyfriend Philip, and we sort of meet his family. There's some werewolfy stuff in Toronto. All of that is close enough to the book.
We also meet a few other pack members. Oh yeah, there's this thing called the Pack. They're werewolves and basically control all of the territory in North America, leaving a few small sections to "mutts", which are non-Pack werewolves. So the leader, or Alpha, is Jeremy Danvers. His adopted son is Clayton (or Clay if you don't wanna get your ass kicked), who is indeed an anthropologist in the book and show, and the father/son duo of Antonio and Nick. Though I was sorta thrown at the point where we meet Nick. There's a lot of TV sex in this show.
So everyone in the pack is summoned home to deal with a murder thought to have been carried out by a mutt. Elena doesn't wanna go home because she's sort of estranged from the Pack and doesn't enjoy werewolf life, but Logan tries to convince her it's for the good of the Pack.
While this story is way more fun when told by Elena herself, it's always interesting to see a book brought to life on TV or film. The first episode didn't seem so bad, since I knew what was going on already, but I can see how this might not be a hook for those unfamiliar with Armstrong's novels. To them, definitely go read Bitten.
Hopefully this show will stay more canonish than something like Legend of the Seeker. And here's two thumbs up for not being Blood and Chocolate.
Elena is a werewolf. Check. She's a journalist in Toronto. Wait, they already screwed up. In the show she's a model, I think? Her best friend in the werewolf world is Logan, a lawyer in LA. They got that wrong too; in the show, he's a psychologist? And apparently he also lives in Toronto and hangs out with Elena. Whatever, meaningless details at this point. So Elena is living with her boyfriend Philip, and we sort of meet his family. There's some werewolfy stuff in Toronto. All of that is close enough to the book.
We also meet a few other pack members. Oh yeah, there's this thing called the Pack. They're werewolves and basically control all of the territory in North America, leaving a few small sections to "mutts", which are non-Pack werewolves. So the leader, or Alpha, is Jeremy Danvers. His adopted son is Clayton (or Clay if you don't wanna get your ass kicked), who is indeed an anthropologist in the book and show, and the father/son duo of Antonio and Nick. Though I was sorta thrown at the point where we meet Nick. There's a lot of TV sex in this show.
So everyone in the pack is summoned home to deal with a murder thought to have been carried out by a mutt. Elena doesn't wanna go home because she's sort of estranged from the Pack and doesn't enjoy werewolf life, but Logan tries to convince her it's for the good of the Pack.
While this story is way more fun when told by Elena herself, it's always interesting to see a book brought to life on TV or film. The first episode didn't seem so bad, since I knew what was going on already, but I can see how this might not be a hook for those unfamiliar with Armstrong's novels. To them, definitely go read Bitten.
Hopefully this show will stay more canonish than something like Legend of the Seeker. And here's two thumbs up for not being Blood and Chocolate.