"http://www.fakejazz.com/images/wolflake/wolflake_top.jpg"
wolf lake
"Oh yeah and another thing, the moon, is it my imagination, or is it
always full around here?" - John Kanin (as played by Lou Diamond Phillips)
the show
"There are strange happenings in the small Pacific Northwest town of Wolf Lake, where the most prominent residents are "shape-shifters" who can transform themselves into wolves. As a struggle for power is brewing among the "shape-shifter" population to become the Alpha (leader) wolf, local Sherrif Matthew Donner (Tim Matheson) and Seattle cop John Kanin (Lou Diamond Phillips) attempt to get to the bottom of the mysterious goings-on. Further complicating matters is Sheriff Donner's 16-year old daughter Sophia (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and her budding romance with high school bad boy Luke Cates (Paul Wasilewski)son of the town's most powerful industrialist, Willard Cates (Bruce McGill) and his wife, Vivian (Sharon Lawrence) who are the reigning "Alpha" male and female. Tyler Creed (Scott Bairstow) is an ambitious entrepreneur challenging Willard Cates for supremacy among the pack. Sherman Blackstone (Graham Greene) is the keeper of all the town's secrets and he alone knows the ancient lore of Wolf Lake." - CBS
lou diamond phillips
|
|
Some guys get all the wolves
|
Lou Diamond Phillips is the star of Wolf Lake, however, he is really
only the brightest star in an amazing ensemble cast. The series, of
course, started with Phillips' character John Kanin (note the last
name, Kanin comes from "canine") proposing to his mysterious, half-naked girlfriend.
When she leaves to get Chinese takeout, that's when Kanin's journey
of discovery begins. The fiancee, Ruby, is violently attacted while
getting in her car, only most of the violence is not to Ruby but
rather from Ruby, as the show's first "shape-shifting" sequence begins,
with brightly glowing yellow eyes, as Ruby destroys her assailment,
leaving only a bloody hand before running away.
Kanin is left alone, totally unaware of what really has happened. He
desperately tries to find Ruby, however no leads appear until a mysterious
phone call many months later. That phone call leads Kanin to Wolf
Lake, a mysterious town in eastern Washington where everyone is secretive
and resistant to Kanin's snooping around.
the town of wolf lake
|
|
Lou, there is a pack of wolves behind you!
|
The town of Wolf Lake is full of odd wolven dynamics. The high school
clique spends their nights not knocking down mailboxes but rather running
around the forest hunting for prey. The town is controlled by Willard and
Vivian Cates (who just happened to be Ruby's parents). Willard is the
alpha male, behind everything that goes on in the town, but he is old
and ailing from cancer. The werewolf that will take his place is Tyler
Creed. Sensing Cates' weakness, Creed steps in on his territory, sleeping
with both the wife and daughter of Cates, while trying to undermine Cates'
control of the town through shady business deals that would turn Wolf Lake
into a toxic waste dump.
|
Even the horses in Wolf Lake
are part-wolf
|
Almost everyone in Wolf Lake is a werewolf, and as such, each one thinks
and acts like a predator and the town's religion and politics are unlike
any known to man. Most teenagers at Wolf Lake die, because the fertility
rate is so high, with all the hot wolf sex, that the teenagers must struggle
to keep their place in the Wolf Lake hierarchy. Some die from a
mysterious illness, and some die when they hunt and fight in their
cliques, or, rather, packs. The religion of the town, one totally
unknown outside of Wolf Lake, is a mix of Native American spiritualism
and wolf-like brutality. John Kanin must go deep into this whole
wolf world of Wolf Lake, a world that lies just under the surface of the
the facade of a normal wilderness community. It's a secret world Kanin
will not find easily. It's a town so odd and mysterious, he won't be
able to leave without finding out it's secrets, a town he won't be able
to leave alive.
wolf lake trends
As with any show that becomes "appointment television" and a "water cooler
hot topic," Wolf Lake has inspired several trends. Of course, the biggest
trend is not doing anything else between 10 pm and 11 pm EST on Wednesday
nights. That, of course, is "Lake time" or, as others call it, "Diamond
time."
Another trend, oddly enough, is
the name "Diamond." Lou Diamond Phillips has been a star actor for years
now, however, it wasn't until Wolf Lake that people realized the utter
coolness of his name. "Diamond." It so perfectly matches with any first
and last name. Several of the fakejazz writers, as well
as hundreds more Americans, have officially changed their middle name
to "Diamond" to give their boring old names more umph and pizazz:
Daron Diamond Gardner, Anthony Diamond Gerace, Jim Diamond Steed, Gil
Diamond Gershman. How cool does your name sound with a Diamond in the
middle?
|
|
"The Scott Bairstow"
|
The other trend is what people are starting to call "The Scott Bairstow."
Scott Bairstow is, of course, the renegade, possibly evil "Tyler Creed"
on Wolf Lake, the young werewolf challenging to become the alpha male
of the town. "The Scott Bairstow" is, simply, the new "Rachel." Spikes in the
front and an ominous-looking, unkept goatee, is there anything more
attractive? The hairstyle surely is attractive but also lends a look of rebellion, and
it has caught on everywhere from New York City to middle America. Finally,
a TV-related hair trend for men!
talk
Please join the discussion of the show on our special Flippers Anonymous
email list. What is Flippers Anonymous? Well, in episode 4 of Wolf Lake,
"Tastes Like Chicken," a bulimic cannibal serial murderer (who is also a
werewolf and Wolf Lake resident naturally--she owns the beauty salon) attends
meetings of a group called Flippers Anonymous to try and help herself keep
her natural, murderous wolven tendencies at bay. Flippers Anonymous
is an Alcoholics Anonymous-type support group for werewolves, and thus
a fitting name for this discussion list.
"http://www.fakejazz.com/images/wolflake/wolflake_bottom.jpg"
