Recently, I came across an old CBBC TV show called Wolfblood. This series is aimed towards the younger teen demographic and consists of 5 seasons with 30 min episodes. After watching all 5 seasons, it is safe to say that this series is quite unique in its own way. For starters, it is very rare for the younger demographic to get a fantasy show that actually has a strong story line, mystery, and action. Typically fantasy genre shows are made for the older teen/ young adult demographic. This show delivered a powerful story line with great characters and a suspenseful plot. Ofcourse it was packed with messages of friendship and overcoming hardships, that is a given considering the target audience.
Season 1 - 3: These seasons center around a girl named Maddy who seems to be in the early years of high school. Maddy and her entire family are wolfbloods, commonly known as werewolves. An oprhan boy moves into a foster family in her town and begins the same high school as her. His name is Rhydian and he is a wolfblood while his foster family is not. From the start, Maddy and her family accept Rhydian and treat him like their own. They guide him and aid him in his wolfblood development. Maddy also reaches her first transformation and becomes a complete wolfblood. The story consists of the pair hiding their secret and dodging tricky situations, such as involuntary full moon transformations.
Their crew consists of two human friends, Shannon and Tom. For a while their human friends are unaware of their identity, but soon they learn the secret and promise to have their back. Tom and Shannon do keep their word and help their wolfblood friends, Maddy and Rhydian, through all of their struggles. Shannon is a budding scientist who has a keen interest in wolfbloods. In countess occasions, she crosses the line and broaches Maddy's family's privacy just to study wolfbloods more. This results in a lot of friendship dilemmas. The portrayal of their friendship and their rifts and arguments really exhibited the struggle of two entirely different species being friends. The crew always managed to patch it up and move along.
The friendship dynamic in the first 3 seasons was far more superior to the friendship dynamics in the later seasons. It was full of humor, meaning, and a great group chemistry. These seasons also include supporting characters such as the popular girl clique in their high school called "The K's." This trio consisted of pompous, cliche, and ditzy girls who all had names beginning with the letter K. The K's start off as very unlikeable popular girls who have it all. They are basically mean gossip girls. But through the course of the show, they gain more character development and become much more likeable, specifically Katrina.
Another key supporting character is Liam. He is an obnoxious boy who is in the popular jocks clique. He has an interest in exposing wolfbloods and proving their existence to the world. He is constantly suspecting Maddy and coming up with schemes to expose her. He does achieve his goal eventually. But that is part of the climax of the show. Another vital supporting character is Dr. Whitewood. She is a scientist who also studies wolfbloods. She is quite unlikeable at the start of the show as she seems to be more concerned about her research than the privacy and lives of wolfbloods. Maddy and her crew get into great problems with her and suspect what her motives are for a while. In the latter seasons, Dr.Whitewood does become likeable as her motives become clear. She just wanted to study wolfbloods to develop human cures and nothing more. She is quite fond of wolfbloods and does end up going to great lengths to protect them.
Seasons 1-3 of the show included great parenting. Maddy's parents were involved and strict at all the right times. Alot of teen shows tend to lack parental presence. So this added a feel of realism to the show.
The first three seasons build up to a huge plot where the crew of friends have to face off a mad scientist from a Wolfblood science company called Segolia. The scientist, who I will not name to avoid spoilers, is bent on dewolfing Wolfbloods and ending the species as a whole. The season 3 finale was spectacular and thrilling wrap up the earlier storyline of the show.
Season 4 - 5: The last two seasons are sectioned off because these last two seasons have very few of the original characters and mostly a new cast. The storyline and settings also change in these seasons. These last two seasons, almost seem like a spin off of the show. Many viewers were on the fence about the mostly new cast and did not give the show a chance. I for one did, and to be quite frank the latter two seasons are far superior to the earlier seasons.
Yes the cast is new, but the main character is still from the original cast. These seasons follow life after high school. The main wolfblood in this series is Jana, she is Rhydian's friend from the earlier series. Jana is the alpha of the Wild Wolfbloods. These seasons cover Jana's life after high school as a secret spy for Segolia. The setting is in the city and not in the countryside as before.
These two seasons tell the story of Jana and her new pack of wolfblood friends trying to keep their secret hidden. It becomes tougher and tougher to do with the rise of social media and technology. They are faced with various challenged and eventually the group of friends decide to lead a revolution. A video of them shapeshifitng into wolves under the moonlight gets leaked and goes viral on YouTube. Soon the group decides to come clean and they reveal their true wolf forms in a BBC press conference. This highlights the end of season 4.
Season 5 shows the struggles of wolfblood as they and humans learn to coexist. Many humans are accepting of the wolfblood, but just as many have a racist attitude towards wolfbloods. Wolfbloods everywhere are starting to be singled out in school or are starting to lose jobs. Not only is there a huge divide between humans and wolfbloods, a huge rift forms between wolves who are ok with assimilation and wolves who preferred to stay hidden.
Soon wolfbloods themselves become scattered and start to form their own packs based on their political beliefs. The whole show starts to replicate the way our modern world today functions with issues such as race. Soon a racist organization of humans forms and they are enforcing laws that dictate that wolfbloods must take a treatment to be dewolfed in order to coexist. An extreme wolfblood pack that wants to reign over humans also forms. Eventually, there is a talk of war between the humans and wolfbloods.
Season 5 is steeped in suspense, action, and tension. It is by far the best season of the show. It's unfortunate that so many fans did not give the season a fair chance because their favorite actors had left the show. If this season had been the first season or maybe even an entirely different show, the reception would have been much different. This season showed a more matured face of the wolfblood world and touched on many real life subjects with a fantastical twist of course. The finale of season 5 was absolutely amazing and full of twists. It was a huge ending to the show. Sadly, the series did not carry on after season 5 since there was a general loss of interest by fans.
I would definitely recommend wolfblood. All of the episodes are available on YouTube and its a quick paced, easy watch type show. You will get hooked on it and will find yourself rushing to get to the finales of each season. This show is aimed at pre teens, but teens can definitely watch it. Season 4 and 5 would appeal more to the older demographic in general. I recommend that you give each season a fair chance and just enjoy the show. One thing does hold true, given the years this show was made in and the audience it targeted, this show is truly unique in it's own right.
Thank You For Reading!
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