Teen Wolf Season 3, Episode 6: "Motel California" Recap/Review

Last week, everyone's favorite scary mom, Victoria Argent, asked her teenage daughter a question: "How do we approach a [stressful] situation like this?" And the answer to this question is "clinically and unemotionally," which is a lesson we would all do well to learn, QUICKLY, in order to get through this third season of Teen Wolf.

So. Intense. I really don't have words for the emotional assault that was "Motel California," but I promise I mean that in the most kind and positive way possible. (That's actually a lie, I do have words, thousands and thousands of words, but they're not at all eloquent.) It was painful, but in a good way, and it hit me right in the feels with the power of an angry god.

All of the actors were so on top of their game, I really mean it; Tyler Posey did some of the best work I've ever seen from him, ditto Sinqua Walls and Daniel Sharman. However, this week's MVP is Dylan O'Brien, hands-down. I'll go into this more in a little later, but he literally crushed my soul into dust with his part this week, oh. my. gods.

Basically, I could not have more good things to say about this episode. In terms of plot, we didn't really move forward that much, but it was a great way to get a little insight into how our characters are doing emotionally before we get launched into the newest battle next week. So let's jump into it, eh?

Previously, on Teen Wolf: Derek died, but not really, and ended up dragging his seriously-injured ass to Jennifer Blake's car in the school parking lot for help. Ennis actually did die, but not because he got hurt in the battle the same as Derek did-- instead, it was because Deucalion killed him by squeezing and crushing his skull like a melon, presumably to further his sinister plot. Argent told Allison that they're staying out of the werewolf wars, but she has other plans because she's not about only saving her own ass. Isaac's dad used to lock him in a freezer to punish him and was generally a terrible human being before karma hit him in the form of a Kanima who tore him to shreds. And finally, Lydia has no idea why or how she started randomly finding dead bodies, but that seems to be her new thing now. Whew!

We open with a flashback at a shady motel called the Glen Capri, where the newspapers in the newspaper box are dated "March 5, 1977." However, it's hard to tell if that's the actual date because the newspapers are all yellow and tattered, like they're really old. Are they really old, or is this yet another production prop screw-up? We will likely never know. Anyway, a man gets out of his truck with a bag in his hand, and we can see he's injured; his hand is bleeding, as well as his leg and his torso, and, he's limping quite a bit. He walks into room 217, and goes straight into the bathroom to look in the mirror, where we learn two things! One, he has a bite-mark on his abdomen that looks suspiciously like it's from a werewolf, and two, he's wearing the Argent family wolf necklace! (I didn't notice that second part until I rewatched this episode, I'm really bad at seeing details, at least the first time around-- I'm always too absorbed in what's happening, since it always moves so quickly. However, fortunately for all of you, I usually watch the episode at least once just to watch and take my initial notes, sometimes even twice, and then I watch it one last time while I'm writing these recaps to make sure I didn't miss anything)

The guy sighs and limps back into his room to open the curtains and look out the window at the full moon before he kneels down onto the floor, rustling through his bag and pockets. He pulls out his wallet, which he throws on the floor, and then a shotgun cartridge, which he loads into his gun. As he points the barrel under his chin, he looks up towards the sky and pleads, "Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent!" (French for "We hunt those who hunt us," which is the Argents' Hunter Code!) We can see his eyes flash gold right before he pulls the trigger, so I think it's probably safe to say he's been bitten by a werewolf. 

Thankfully for us, we don't actually see him shoot himself, we just hear the gunshot. Afterwards, we pan over the growing puddle of blood next to his body, and freeze for a moment on his wallet, where his ID is visible. As we could have guessed from the animal bite, wolf necklace, and the fact that his last words were the Argent code, he's an Argent and a hunter; specifically, Alexander Argent, from Massachusetts, born in 1950. Suddenly, everything makes sense-- he's Gerard's little brother!

Of course, in the present day, this is the exact same motel is where Coach Finstock has decided the cross-country team (and hangers-on Lydia and Allison, who aren't even on the team) will be staying overnight, because apparently, their meet has been "postponed" until the next day. He makes a few comments about how this is the only place nearby that would actually allow the team's delinquent asses to stay, and as he passes out keys, he instructs them to keep their "dirty little hands to their dirty little selves." Oh, Coach, you and I both know that's so not happening.

They're paired up as follows: Scott & Stiles, of course; Boyd & Isaac; Allison & Lydia; Ethan & Danny. Surprising? Not at all. Lydia has a really bad feeling about this place, but Allison reassures her it's only for a night. And what a long night it will be. TITLE CARD!

Scott and Stiles are laying on top of their respective beds, chatting it up like bros. Scott seems to have healed from that nasty wound he was dying from last week, so that's a relief, at the very least. Stiles is running down his list of Darach suspects-- there are four in total, which he narrowed down from his original list of ten people. According to Stiles, Derek was on the list twice, which is absolutely hysterical to me, bahaha.

Anyway, at the top of the list is Mr. Harris; Stiles reasons that "just because he's missing doesn't mean he's dead." (I'm assuming they don't know he's dead yet, since they've been out of town since we learned he was taken, but it's still a smart guess, considering Harris actually was involved before the Darach turned on him and garroted him to death. Still, it's kind of weird that they haven't found him yet, considering that he was killed in the same place where Kyle was killed, or at least found, and it didn't take long for someone to stumble upon him. Though, I guess it stands to reason that Jennifer could have stashed his body elsewhere, but even so-- it's strange!)

After Harris on the list of suspects is Cora, because no one knows anything about her, and she's a Hale, which apparently means she's shady. Third is Dr. Deaton, because his "Obi-Wan thing" really bothers Stiles, though Scott doesn't seem to buy Stiles' suspicions about him. I guess Stiles can join the rest of the fandom on the Suspect-Deaton train, because man, they really, really, really want Deaton to be this evil mastermind and I honestly don't understand. Has he gone out of his way to be forthcoming with information? No, not really. But at the end of the day, he seems to have the wellbeing and best interests of Scott and his cohorts at heart, and I don't see him having some super-secret malevolent intentions toward them, tbh.

Last on the list is Lydia, because she's prone to fugue states where she has no idea what she's doing, so as much as they like and trust her, they can't deny the possibility that she could be murdering people without actually knowing it. They also hilariously banter about Matt from last season, which is really cute--Stiles is totally offended when Scott says that no one knew Matt was the one killing people, because he claims called it from the very beginning and no one listened to him. Oh Stiles, never change. In Scott's defense, Stiles' suspicions of Matt basically boiled down to "He's weird and I don't like him," so I don't blame Scott and the others for not taking that as verifiable proof that he was the puppet-master behind the Kanima. This scene was apparently written by Dylan O'Brien, which explains why it was so adorable and awesome. Yay Dylan!

Back in Beacon Hills, Jennifer is dragging Derek back to his loft, and worrying aloud about the fact that she should probably be taking Derek to a hospital. He grunts "no hospitals," since it's kind of hard to explain to doctors why he's covered in claw marks, bleeding black blood, and healing at multiple times the speed of a normal human. She's getting pretty worn out from carrying him up to his apartment, and as soon as they cross the threshold, she accidentally drops him on the floor. Oops! He's passes out again, and she nervously tries to shake him awake, to no avail.

At the abandoned mall, Chris Argent, super-hunter extraordinaire, is investigating the footprints, claw-marks, and cracks in the cement walls, trying to figure out what happened during the preemptive strike against the Alphas. As he walks around, he gets Chuck-style flashbacks of all the various hits, kicks, and jumps during the battle. You can tell he's a little suspicious about the Alpha situation and his daughter's role in it, but by this point, he has no definitive evidence of what happened.

Back at the motel, Scott's looking at his face in the mirror. For whatever reason, he tugs on his eyelid to examine his eye; it is dark brown at first, per usual, but then flashes red after a moment, which understandably scares the shit out of him. As you can imagine, he's pretty confused and a little freaked out, especially considering he's still under the impression that Derek is dead. I think the implication is that Scott's deep fear is that he himself is responsible for Derek's death and thus is becoming an Alpha because he's inheriting it from Derek, but guys, that just seems silly from a storytelling perspective-- not from Scott's perspective, because grief and guilt are not always rational, but in general, because anyone who saw that fight can tell you that Scott had little to nothing to do with it aside from causing Ennis to be off-balance. Everything else was all Ennis.

   
Stiles has worked up a bit of an appetite, after having to deal with his best friend almost dying on him and everything, so he makes his to the vending machine for some snacks. Boyd must have had the same idea, as he's already there when Stiles arrives and greets him with a "Yo!" Boyd stays silent, though, and looks a little dead in the eyes as he pushes the buttons to get some peanut butter crackers. When the crackers get jammed in the machine, Stiles decides to teach him his usual method of fixing it, which, if you recall, involves accidentally knocking the machine over and then running away like it never happened. Boyd has a better idea: wordlessly punching the glass and grabbing the crackers out of the broken machine. Stiles is unnerved by this turn of events, but that doesn't stop him from stealing a couple snacks out of the machine before returning to his room. CLASSIC.

(via saviourlydia & seanmorrisons)

Allison's in the shower, and yells to Lydia to see if she got more towels yet. Lydia's not in their room, but Scott is! He looks pretty dead in the eyes too, and it's creeping me the fuck out. Way to go, Tyler Posey! Allison is understandably wigged out at his presence too, considering she's alone in the shower and he looks sketchy as hell. She's like, "Heyyy, can this wait? Kinda naked here..." but he points out in a very detached way that he's already seen her naked before, so what's the problem? She handles this way better than I would have, by reminding him that they're not together anymore, rather than kicking him in the balls and yelling for help, as I would have done. Scott's tone of voice is about as creepy as the expression on his face; "We're friends, right? We can just be closer friends. Maybe...we can even fix things between us..."

He reaches out for her arm, and is about to pull on it to remove the shower curtain she's using to cover herself up, when Allison frantically yelps his name. This seems to snap him out of it, and he looks pretty confused and embarrassed. She whispers, "Are you okay?" He mumbles an apology, and adds that he doesn't remember why he came to see her before he tucks tail and bolts, clearly ashamed by what he's just done. Allison looks concerned, more for him than for herself and what she just experienced, as she watches him run away from her room. YIKES. YIKES YIKES YIKES.

Downstairs, Lydia is at the front desk, asking for towels that don't reek of cigarette smoke to put in their non-smoking room (typical shitty motel problem, in my experience!), when she meets one of the motel owners. She's a scary-looking woman with a tracheotomy and a very dark sense of humor. Lydia sees the number 198 hanging up on the wall behind her and asks her what it means. The woman tries to play it off as an inside joke, but Lydia has no time to waste on jokes, and urges her to explain, because it's clear that the place is still giving her the heebie-jeebies and she's trying to figure out why. 

Finally, the lady admits that the motel is known for having the most guest suicides in the forty-odd years that it's been open, 198 suicides in total, and claims that her husband insists on putting up the number as some kind of selling point? I don't know, nor do I understand. Lydia is not at all impressed by this new information either, as you can imagine.

As the two talk, we cut to Isaac in the room he's sharing with Boyd, slowly flipping through one snowy channel after another on the ancient-ass television. As he clicks the remote's button, his smile gets creepier and creeper. No wonder this episode gave me nightmares. And really, we're not even to the super scary parts yet!

Outside the girls' room, Allison is on the phone with her dad, who is still looking around at the abandoned mall for clues, not that he shares that information with her. Though, to be fair, that is pretty par for the course, because she also is not being completely transparent, either. 

She updates him on the fact that her car ran out of gas, and she and Lydia met up with the cross-country team and are staying overnight at a motel until the meet the following morning. He asks if she wants him to pick her and Lydia up, but she insists that she's cool with staying the night there. He asks where they're staying, so she tells him that they're at the Glen Capri and asks if he's heard of it. He vaguely replies that it "sounds familiar," probably because he remembers what happened to his Uncle Alexander back in '77. So, that means for sure that Alexander is Gerard's brother, right? Knowing him, Gerard was probably the one who talked Alexander into killing himself in the first place. Ugh, Gerard is the fucking worst.

Argent seems to be putting the pieces together about her role in the Alpha Pack battle, because he finds a bunch of burnt holes in the walls that were caused by her flash-bang arrows hitting them. He asks her if there's anything she wants to tell him, and emphasizes that they don't have to keep secrets from each other anymore. Still, she keeps mum about the whole thing, which is definitely interesting. It's also interesting that he brings up the honesty thing, considering what happens at the end of the episode, you know? So much for not keeping secrets!

At Derek's loft, Derek is laying on the end of his bed as Jennifer inspects his wounds. When she lifts up his shirt to examine the extent of the damage, she anxiously babbles about his "unbelievable physique" a bit before she starts freaking out that he's bleeding black blood. He starts to gasp and wheeze a little before he stops breathing completely, which causes her to be, like, "SHIT SHIT SHIT PLEASE DON'T DIE!" At a loss for anything else to do, she just straight-up lay down on top of his bleeding wounds. Once she hears his heartbeat, she relaxes a bit and sighs. "This isn't exactly how I imagined our first date." Hey Jen, this sort of creepy behavior isn't really doing much to help the fact that most Teen Wolf fans think you're super shady and/or possibly a super-secret villain of some kind. Just letting you know what's up.

Back at the motel, Lydia is filling Allison in on everything she learned about the long-standing history of suicides at this motel. She thinks it's a weird statistic to boast about, especially considering that it's really only 4.5 suicides a year, which seems pretty average. She stops talking when she starts to hear someone else's voice coming in through the air vent. She listens closer, and we can hear that it's a boy and a girl discussing who should use which gun, and whether they should pull the trigger on the count of three, or after three, and it's freaking Lydia the fuck out because it sounds like they're about to commit some sort of double murder-suicide. 

Of course, Allison can't hear it, and she watches her BFF with concern as Lydia stands on the bed so her ear can get closer to the vent in order to better hear the voices. The couple says "I love you" to each other, and you can tell Lydia knows exactly what is about to come next. When she hears the gunshots, she stifles a sob, and quickly confesses to Allison what she heard before she leaves to run off to the next room and investigate. (The room next door is 216, which means Lydia and Allison are in 217, the same room in which Alexander killed himself back in 1977. Coincidence? Probably not.)

Allison follows her, and is like, "WTF Lydia, don't go into this weird room in the middle of the night," but Lydia opens the door and walks right in. Thankfully, it's all clear--there's nothing in the room except for a bunch of remodeling stuff, like sawhorses, utility lights, and power tools. Lydia is confused, because she was sure that the couple she overheard had to have killed themselves in this room. In a surprising twist, Allison assures her that she actually believes her, especially after all of the weird supernatural shit that they've been through together. It's about fucking time people stopped acting like Lydia is crazy! Especially considering all of the equally-crazy supernatural shit that happens constantly that everyone just shrugs off like, "Welp, welcome to Beacon Hills, that's just how it is." Lydia notices the wood paneling on the walls, and as she steps closer, she sees a creepy, Scream-esque face in the wood grain.

Lydia is ready to GTFO of this hotel room ASAP, and starts to pack up her stuff. Allison tries to reassure her that it could be nothing, but Lydia is sure that the couple she heard killed themselves in that room. In addition, she figures the motel owners are remodeling the room because "they've had to scrape brain matter off the wood paneling," in her very eloquent words. Allison's still a little skeptical, but manages to convince her that they need to investigate it further before they make any final decisions.

Outside the motel, Boyd is filling a bucket with ice from the cooler, minding his own business. After a couple of scoops, he hears a girl's voice. "You told me you'd never leave me. You weren't supposed to leave me." His eyes grow wide, and fearfully whispers, "Alicia?" Following the voice, he digs around in the ice a bit. When he finally finds her, she opens her eyes, which scares him so much he drops his ice and runs away. I am guessing that Alicia is his little sister? Seriously, though, WHY MUST EVERYONE BE TORTURED ALL THE TIME ON THIS SHOW?

Speaking of torture, Isaac is sleeping in his room when a noise wakes him. Thinking he hears Boyd, he drowsily calls out for him, but when he gets no response, he tries to go back to sleep. But, since this is Isaac, that's totally not going to happen. Instead, he gets launched into a flashback-hallucination, which causes him to reenact a memory of of him and his dad. In the flashback/dream, Mr. Lahey asks him for a 7/16ths wrench, and Isaac accidentally gives him a 9/16ths wrench instead. After being scolded on the differences between the two (which apparently is "a stripped bolt") and being told to shut up, our poor boy starts becoming very distraught. "I can't fix this now, how can I fix this now?" Isaac mutters, both in the present and in the memory, over and over again, until his dad eventually orders him to "get the chains and get in." OH GOD, it's the fucking deep freezer. AGAIN!

Once he hears those words, he understandably starts to freak out, and finally, he jumps back onto his bed and covers his head with the pillow in order to get away from it all. His dad's voice stops immediately, and I'm like, THANK GOD IT'S OVER, but no, of course it's not. He peeks out from underneath the pillow to realize that he's actually in the freezer, and starts screaming like crazy, just as the lid of the freezer closes down on him. Daniel's acting was so good this week, in the way that it made me want to die a little bit inside from sadness. So sad and scary and heart-wrenching, yiiiiikes. On the happier side, we get a million different angles of Daniel's beautiful face, which helped a little.

Down at the front desk, Lydia and Allison try to find the scary lady to get more answers on WTF is up with this motel, but she's gone for the night. Shouldn't there be someone there to make sure nothing bad happens? Like security or something? I mean, seriously-- during this episode, one kid breaks a vending machine and steals a safe from the main office before trying to drown himself, another breaks into a room under construction and tries to literally saw himself in half, and yet another accidentally sets a shitload of gasoline on fire in an attempt to commit suicide by self-immolation. All, apparently, without anyone noticing that it happened? 

Hey, wait a second--where is Coach Finstock during all of this? ANYWAY, before the girls head back to their room, Allison notices the number on the wall: 201. Lydia swears that it was only 198 when she came down here to get towels earlier. They wonder aloud what that means; Allison guesses that three more people have committed suicide in the time between their two visits, but Lydia believes it might mean that three more suicides are about to happen. NOPE, NOPE, NOPE. I DON'T LIKE THIS. I DON'T LIKE THIS ONE BIT.

Scott has just walked into his room when he hears that his phone is ringing. When he answers it, a very scared/upset Melissa is on the other end, apologizing for the fact that "he" just came into the house, and she couldn't stop him. Scott is instantly anxious, and asks his mother where she is. She simply tells him to look out his window, but when he does, he sees Deucalion standing out in the parking lot, holding Mama McCall by the neck with his clawed hand. Deuc takes great joy in informing Scott that he's an Alpha now. Scott doesn't want to believe it, because he thinks that Derek could still be alive, but Deucalion insists that Scott knows deep down that Derek's dead. 

Unfortunately, there's part of Scott that is actually terrified that Deucalion is right, especially considering his eyes flashed red earlier. Mr. Demon Wolf explains that because Scott's an Alpha now, Scott and his loved ones are his new targets. Before Scott can react, Deuc cruelly claws Melissa's throat out right in front of him. Scott is completely in shock, and his heart explodes. I think mine might have, too. MAMA MCCALL CAN. NOT. DIE. I refuse to allow it!

                                           



















(via tylersposey) 
Stiles chooses that moment to walk into their room while he's brushing his teeth, and when he sees the freaked-out look on Scott's face, he asks him if he's okay. Scott just kind of gapes at him, still trying to process what the fuck just happened, and eventually, he looks back out the window, only to find that both Deucalion and his mother are gone. While Scott tries to figure out what the fuck is going on with him, Stiles is just like, "Ooookay, then," and checks his phone to see that he has a text from Lydia, which asks him to come to her room, alone. He just kinda shrugs and leaves Scott to continue to try to figure out whether what he saw was real.

In Danny and Ethan's room, super sexy times are going on. Bow chicka wow wowwww. Ethan accidentally kicks Danny's books off the bed, and teases his beau about bringing homework with him on the trip. Ethan crawls on top of Danny and takes his shirt off, kissing down his chest and oh man, is it hot in here? 

Ahem, anyway, as Ethan's lips explore Danny's awesome body, he notices a scar on the side of his ribs. Danny explains that his sternum was misshapen or something as a birth defect, so it had to be fixed with surgery when he was fourteen years old. Ethan slyly offers to turn him, by asking, "What if all that could go away?" (Danny's totally knows about werewolves, doesn't he he? I'm 99% positive that Danny made a reference to Jackson having super-strength during a full moon one time in season 2. So, unless I'm totally remembering it incorrectly, or unless they're just retconning it, I'm pretty sure Danny knows what's up and is just playing dumb because he very wisely does not want to be involved)

So, yeah, Danny declines, because his scars make him feel like a survivor, so Ethan's like, "I really hope you are." Danny doesn't have time to be puzzled or concerned about that statement, because Ethan starts kissing him again. Oh man, Ethan looooooves Danny! Their make-out session is interrupted, sadly, when Ethan hallucinates that his spine is splitting in two. It's kind of like the opposite of what happens when he and Aiden fuse to make the XXL Alpha. Ethan starts to freak out, which freaks Danny out, and eventually, the alpha runs off to the bathroom to investigate wtf is happening to his body right now.

He checks out his shirtless back and torso in the mirror, and seems relieved when nothing weird happens. That's when he suddenly begins to hallucinate that a dude (whose face looks suspiciously like Aiden's, imo) is INSIDE HIM and trying to claw his way out. At this point, Ethan is D O N E. It's one thing to join bodies with his brother, but it's another thing to have someone else inside his own individual body! He frantically pulls on his shirt and runs out of the room, leaving a very confused Danny alone, who now will have to go to work on Calculus or something.

                                                             














(via stilesed)
So, this is totally some kind of subconscious trauma or resentment about his merging ability with his brother, right? Especially since his brother isn't here to comfort or distract him or anything? It seems like Ethan takes a more submissive position in their body-sharing situation, where he's more of the base that's being controlled rather than the one in control, and I can imagine that could definitely give a guy some body horror issues. 

In the girls' room, Lydia, Allison and Stiles are confabbing about the weird events of the evening. Allison admits that she's only seen Scott act this weird during a full moon, and Stiles agrees that Scott's been a little off with him too, but adds that he's more concerned about Boyd, after the vending-machine-punching debacle. Lydia is like, "See! This place is haunted, guys. Can we get the fuck out of here now?" Stiles thinks maybe the third set of sacrifices could be werewolves, and even suggests that they were somehow meant to end up at the Suicide Suites Motel tonight, which Lydia believes only proves her point. They notice the requisite Bible in the girls' room has newspaper clippings of all the suicides that happened in that room, and realize that there could be Bibles full of articles in each room. They run next door to room 216 to see if that room's Bible has an article about the couple Lydia heard shoot themselves earlier.

They get to the room to find the door locked, and Lydia, who is horrified by this point, notes it wasn't locked earlier. Right as they're about to give up and find Scott and get him out of the motel, they hear a handsaw go off inside the room. Knowing that nothing good could be happening in there with a running handsaw at, like, 1am, they manage to bust through the locked door and into the room, where Ethan is about to CUT HIMSELF IN HALF! JFC. Stiles bravely (although kind of stupidly) wrestles the saw out of Ethan's hands, and eventually gets thrown aside along with the saw. He almost lands on it and just barely misses getting his own face sawed off in the process, but luckily for him, Lydia pulled the plug on it just in time.

Before he can recover from his near-death experience, Ethan whips his claws out and sinks them into his abs, trying to rip his guts out, or something. Allison and Stiles each grab one of his arms and pull them away from him; he fights against them for a few moments before he ends up losing his balance and falling over on top of a space heater. He uses his hands to break his fall and ends up burning them on the heater, which seems to bring him back to reality. However, he doesn't seem to remember what just happened, or why he was in the room in the first place. He starts to get overwhelmed with the confusion and just runs away. Again. Starting to see a pattern of behavior here.

Ms. Blake is staring worriedly out Derek's loft windows when she hears him trying to sit up. She tells him he probably shouldn't be doing that, but Derek is intent on finding his pack and their allies, since, you know, they still think he's dead and all. Jennifer suggests that the cubs not knowing that he's alive is probably a good thing, but when Derek gives her a questioning look, she tries to backpedal a bit, bringing up literary characters who used faked deaths to get out of trouble. I really like her, but this made me pretty suspicious, although I was already a little wary of her from the beginning. Now, I figure she's probably got some darker motives, and it makes me nervous.

Still, she reminds him of his very serious-looking injuries, and tells him she's not really even sure that he's not actually dead. He isn't, though, he's just bloody as hell and covered in wounds. Regardless, it's nothing he hasn't dealt with a million times-- Derek Hale gets injured so much, it might as well be a full-time job for him at this point. Still, beaten-up Derek is nearly always the hottest Derek. Look at those shoulders! UNF. My addiction to whump is starting to become a problem tbh.

                                                          
(via lonewolfed)
Outside the Glen Capri, Stiles is super frustrated when Ethan won't give them more details about what happened, considering they just saved his life. Ethan mutters that they probably shouldn't have rescued him before he buttons up his shirt and swans off again. Tbh, I can't say I don't agree with him. Let him give himself a hemicorporectomy, you guys! The pack would probably be better off, too. Unless, of course, Deuc manages to convince Aiden and Kali that the kids killed him, just like Ennis.

Anyway, once Ethan is gone, Allison leaves to get Scott out of the motel, and instructs Lydia and Stiles to go find Boyd and Isaac and get them out as well. Lydia waits until Allison has left before she yells at Stiles to tell her what he's thinking, since she has a sixth sense for when Stiles is hiding stuff from her. Which, given their relationship the last two seasons, seems to be just about always.  He reluctantly brings up how all of this stuff that's happening is frighteningly reminiscent of that one time she accidentally roofied everyone with wolfsbane at her birthday party (in last season's "Party Guessed") during which everyone proceeded to have the worst trip EVER and hallucinated horrible, terrifying things. Which, honestly, really is similar to what the werewolves are experiencing right now-- it's forcing them to confront their subconscious fears, just like the last time around. I'll go into the Season 2 version of this trope in the notes, if you're interested. 

Meanwhile, in the motel, Boyd is sitting on his bed, listening to the radio, but once it goes to static, he turns it off. After a moment, though, it turns itself back on, and guess what's playing? The interview tapes from when Boyd was questioned by the police regarding his sister's abduction from an ICE RINK when he was younger! So, that's why he was working at the ice rink in Season 2, right? Because he wanted to be there in case his sister showed up again? OH MY GODS THAT IS THE SADDEST THING.

Speaking of saddest things, the tape of the police interview is pretty much the same, which is why Boyd turns the radio off again, only for it to turn back on of its own accord. Boyd listens as his younger self asks, "Is she dead? Is it my fault?" His present-self starts repeating those same questions, but after a few moments, he has had enough. He throws the radio on the floor and stomps it to smithereens with his boots. Sad face x 1,223,498,723,498,123,123.

Derek's loft: Jennifer reminds him that he has no first aid stuff whatsoever for her to use to help him, but he tells her he doesn't usually need them. He explains further that time is the only thing that will heal his wounds, and then goes on to say that she should go because she doesn't know him and everyone around him gets hurt, blah blah blah, brood brood brood. Does she know he's a werewolf, or does she just have a vague idea of what's going on? I have a weird feeling that she's just playing dumb and knows wayyyy more than what she's saying.

Her response to his self-loathing that she has a "feeling" about him, and states that she's been hurt before. Then, she KISSES HIM. He is a tiny bit resistant at first, and pulls away, but then after some intense staring, he eventually kisses her back hungrily. I'm so happy he's actually kissing someone who he actually wants to kiss for once, but I'm sad too, because I'm suspicious of Ms. Blake and have a feeling she'll crush him and it'll be like Kate Argent all over again. Boo!

                                                                    
(via scottiles)
On the plus side, the song they picked ("Touch" by Daughter) was perfect for this scene; it basically describes Derek in a nutshell. ("Love, hunt me down/I can't stand to be so dead behind the eyes/and feed me, spark me up/A creature in my bloodstream chews me up/so I can feel something/...give me touch/'cause I've been missing it") Teen Wolf really does have the best music. Also, Derek is hottest when he's all beat-up and bloodied. I'm not sure what that says about me, but it's probably not good.

ANYWAY, back at the motel, Boyd is walking barefoot down to the front desk. He breaks into the office, sees a heavy safe in the back, and takes it back to his room. Uh oh.

Allison, meanwhile, is on a one-girl search party to look for Scott. She carefully checks his room, but he's not there; the only thing left in the room is just a duffel bag overflowing with stuff on the floor. This totally bodes well, obviously.

Stiles follows Lydia, and starts to apologize for suggesting that she's "involved in getting other people to kill themselves," but she cuts him off when she hears a voice again, coming from the sewer grate in the ground. He asks what she's hearing, and she replies that she hears a baby crying. A few moments later, she also hears water running. Meanwhile, as she listens, Boyd is in his hotel room's bathroom, filling up the bathtub. Once it's full, he gets in, using the safe he stole in order to keep him underwater. Wait, how does that work, if he was strong enough to carry it there in the first place? Wouldn't it stand to reason that he would be able to lift it up if he somehow changed his mind? Doesn't matter, I guess. Lydia realizes the woman she hears is about to drown the baby, and deduces that it means that someone in the motel is drowning, too. JFC, this episode, OMG.

Stiles and Lydia run in slow-mo into Boyd and Isaac's room, where they find Boyd in the tub, eyes open, not breathing. They're not strong enough to pull the safe off of him, and Lydia wonders aloud how long a werewolf can go without air. Stiles backs away to think, and accidentally bumps into the heater in the wall, burning himself in the process. Somehow, burning his arm leads him to remember that being burnt brought Ethan out of his possessed fugue state, so they try to figure out a way to burn Boyd while he's a bathtub full of water. Lydia, being the genius that she is, yells at Stiles to run to the bus and get emergency road flares from inside the emergency kit, since they have their own oxidizers and thus can burn underwater. Brilliant idea, bb!

While she's waiting for him to come back, she hears muffled sobs from under one of the beds. She kneels down to investigate and finds Isaac, curled up and hyperventilating. I love that out of all of cubs, Isaac didn't actually try to kill himself-- his sense of self-preservation from being abused for gods know how long kicked in, and instead, he just had a panic attack and found a nice, cozy place to hide until it passed. Oh Isaac, you precious little bb puppy.

                                       















(via Teen Wolf's Official Tumblr)

Anyway, Stiles manages to light the flare and jab it into Boyd's shoulder, which wakes him up enough to get him to wolf-out, shove the safe out of the tub and pull himself upright. He looks enraged at first, until he sees Stiles and Lydia's horrified faces and starts to remember what happened. After that, he looks pretty embarrassed and guilty.

After Boyd is taken care of for the most part, Stiles kneels down to check on Isaac under the bed. Once he sees Isaac cowering in the corner, Stiles cutely and kindly whispers "Hey Isaac... I've got something for ya!" before shoving another lit flare in Isaac's face. Aw, come on, Stiles! That face is precious cargo, don't burn it!

Stiles and Lydia go outside to look for Scott, where Allison meets up with them and tells them she can't find him anywhere. The three of them walk around the parking lot, which is where they find him--he's completely soaked from head to toe, and is holding a lit flare in his hand, looking sadder than a baby puppy could ever look. It's heartbreaking. The three walk around him to look at him face-to-face, and they realize that not only is he drenched in gasoline, and not water, as they originally thought, but he's also surrounded by a big puddle of it as well. So, all he has to do is drop the flare, and he'll easily kill himself and possibly everyone around him, too. Allison calls his name, but it doesn't cheer him up one bit-- in fact, he just looks even sadder as he points out that there's no hope. Allison reminds him that there's always hope, but he responds that when it comes to him, or Derek, there is definitely no hope to be found anywhere.

This scene is beautifully intercut with scenes of a very-much-alive Derek, who is having super sexy times with Jennifer Blake. In their post-orgasm glow, Derek sits at the end of the bed. Jennifer comes up behind him and puts her hand on his shoulder, kissing him from behind. As she does this, his wounds completely heal. Did he heal because of the ~power of love~ compounded by the fact that he allowed himself to be happy/not miserable for once? Or, is she magical, and used her powers to heal him herself? I need to know for... reasons. Either way, get it girl! Pretty much every viewer, regardless of gender or sexuality, is pretty damn jealous of you right now.

 






                                                          


(via scottiles)
Meanwhile, Allison and Stiles try to talk Scott down by appealing to his rational side and insisting that Derek's "death" wasn't his fault. Stiles emphasizes that it isn't Scott thinking these thoughts, it's something/someone else who is telling him to do this. Scott's not convinced, though, and believes that not only is he the reason why everyone keeps getting hurt/killed, but that killing himself is the only way to protect everyone he knows and loves from what he believes to be certain death. I'm just going to transcribe the rest of this conversation because my paraphrasing won't do it justice; it's truly sad and beautiful and soul-crushing and it made me want to cry forever. All four of them are in tears, but especially Stiles and Scott. Heart-shattering. I do love that the men on this show are allowed to show their emotions as much as the women do-- how often do we get to see men truly break down and cry in TV/movies? Not often!

SCOTT: Do you remember the way it was before [I got bitten]? You and me? We were nothing. We weren't popular. We weren't good at lacrosse. We weren't important. We were no one... Maybe I should just be no one again. No one at all. [Scott holds flare out to drop it]

STILES: Scott, just listen to me, okay? You're not no one, okay? You're someone, you're...Scott, you're my best friend, and I need you. [beat] Scott, you're my brother. Alright? So...[Stiles sighs and takes a big step toward Scott into the puddle of gasoline] So... if we're going to do this...then I think you're just going to have to take me with you, then. [Stiles grabs onto flare as well, eventually pulling it out of Scott's hands, and throwing it aside. Scott sobs.]

(1st gif by verydistinctcranium, 2nd by isaac-1ahey)
So, is your heart in a gooey pile on the floor? Mine definitely is. Scott feeling so hopeless that he would actually consider killing himself in the most horrifying and painful way possible, and Stiles being so distraught at the thought of a life without his best friend and brother that he was actually willing to risk dying himself to save him? BECAUSE IF SCOTT IS GOING TO DIE, STILES IS ABSOLUTELY GOING WITH HIM. Sorry, brb, crying forever. You know there's a problem when this beautiful face is actually crying, instead of being the cheerleader/comic relief as usual.

                                                            
(via danielsharmoan)
Anyway, so everyone sighs a breath of relief for a brief second, until the wind or some mysterious spirit blows the flare back into the puddle of gasoline where the boys are standing. Thankfully, Lydia doesn't miss a beat, and shrieks "NO!" as she tackles Stiles, who wraps his arms protectively around Scott. Allison dives beside them, and they all duck for cover as the gasoline explodes behind them. Lydia's on top of the pile, and looks behind them all to see a super creepy hooded figure, with a face much like that face in the wood grain from earlier, just chilling in the huge flames, watching them. As the fire burns, we can hear the weird chanting we've been hearing all season, along with some pretty chilling screaming noises.

 

(via johnkrasinski)
CREEPY, right? Who/what the fuck is that? Is it dead now? Was it always dead? Is Lydia the only one who can see it? So many questions! Also, as far as we know, Lydia didn't tell anyone about what she saw, which is probably not a good thing. Everyone in this show needs to start understanding the concept of "full disclosure," like, immediately. JFC, you guys.

The next morning, Coach and the rest of the team loads themselves into the bus to find Lydia, Allison, Scott, Stiles, Boyd and Isaac, who were obviously all tuckered out and unwilling to stay in their rooms any longer after all three of them about died in various horrible ways in that crazy suicide/homicide motel. Coach just shakes his head at them and mutters, "I don't even want to know," before informing the team that the meet was cancelled. Well, this has been the most pointless endeavor ever, then. Way to go, guys.

Ethan gets onto the bus and immediately sits down next to Scott for a moment, and tells him that he's not sure what happened, but what he does know is that Scott saved his life last night. Stiles gets pretty offended, since it was actually he who saved Aiden, since Scott was too busy with his own suicidal tendencies to do anything. HOWEVER, the lovely scootiemccutey on Tumblr believes that the reason why Ethan does that is because he thinks of Scott as an Alpha already, which is why he talks directly to him instead of his "Beta" Stiles. I'm kind of into this theory, TBH, aren't you guys? And it makes sense, too, because Ethan doesn't even justify Stiles' snarkiness with a response, and just ignores him as though he is just some poorly-behaved Beta who isn't worth his time, instead deferring to Scott as their leader.

Ethan decides to reward them all for Stiles' heroism by telling them that they're pretty sure Derek is still alive. He goes on to explain the problem with this, though: since Derek killed Ennis (or so the Alpha Pack and everyone else believes, anyway, since Deaton and Deucalion were the only ones to witness his real death, but more on that later), there are only two options for the gang's favorite Alpha-- Derek will kill his own pack (which includes Scott, Isaac, Boyd and Cora) and join the Alpha Pack, OR Deucalion will hunt Derek down and the Alphas will kill him, along with presumably all of the aforementioned werewolf Betas. Really nice gift, Ethan. The gang probably would have figured all that out without your help as soon as they got back to town, but okay. Plus, wasn't this was pretty much what was going to have to happen anyway, even before Ennis died? Ugh, what the hell.

So, Stiles and Scott are sitting together on the bus, per usual, and Allison and Lydia are across the aisle from them, dozing, when Lydia notices a weird purple mark on Coach's shirt.

She takes his whistle from him, takes a seat across from the boys, and blows into it. When she removes her hand, there's purple powder in it. Someone put wolfsbane in his whistle, and since he was blowing it like a lunatic in their faces all last episode, he put a shit-ton of wolfsbane in the air, and all the little wolfies inhaled it, hence the really bad trip they all had the previous night.

Stiles is sure that's how the Darach got into their heads, although it's not really known whether the Darach used their weakened state to give them the hallucinations through some sort of ritual, or if the hallucinations were just caused by the wolfsbane itself. This show moves too fast! Stiles throws the whistle out the window, for safety's sake, since he's just about done talking suicidal werecubs off the metaphorical ledge. As you can guess, Coach isn't too pleased about this, but he handles it just like he always handles Stiles-related shenanigans-- he yells and insults him without doing anything of any consequence. 

Back in Beacon Hills (I assume), Argent walks into room A151 of what I also assume is a nursing home, and guess who lives there? GERARD FUCKING ARGENT, that's who! I have suspected this entire time that Gerard is either involved in the Alpha Pack shenanigans, the Darach shenanigans, or both, and this just makes me believe it more.

Gerard, who is still leaking werewolf ink from most of his orifices, exposits that Argent has been there to visit him twice this month. I'm a little pissed he hasn't told Allison yet, to be honest, especially after all of those "no more secrets" talks with his daughter he's been having lately, but hey, nobody's perfect, I guess.

Ahem, back on subject. Argent isn't there at the nursing home for a family reunion, he's there for intel. He brings up his uncle Alexander Argent, and reminds his dear old dad that Alexander was bitten by an Alpha werewolf, and as a result of that bite, he killed himself in room 217 of the Glen Capri Motel right afterward, as is the Argent way. Gerard is like, "Um, I know all this shit already, get to the point." Argent wants to know the name of the Alpha who bit his uncle. Gerard smiles like a creep and chews the scenery to shreds, as he does best, before revealing the Alpha was....DEUCALION!!! OH SHIT!!!

This face, my friends, is the face of a dude who is super excited at the thought of murdering more werewolves. Oh dear lord, this is going to be a fucking MESS when this all goes down!

Next week, according to the promo: Dr. Deaton gets taken (by who???) and needs Scott to find him; the Sheriff maybe (HOPEFULLY) gets clued into the supernatural side of Beacon Hills; Deucalion dramatically states that someone's gonna die, and it appears there are TWO throw-downs; one that involves Derek/Isaac/Boyd vs Kali/Alpha Twins, who have captured Jennifer, and Deucalion vs Scott, the latter of whom MAYBE BECOMES AN ALPHA?!?!? UGH, is it Monday yet? OMG.

[screencaps from Heart Fixation]

Click HERE to move on to my recap of the next episode!

NOTES/SPECULATION:
-I feel like it's really weird and honestly, kind of stupid, that they put Allison and Lydia in Alexander Argent's old room, and go so far as to mention the fact that the bibles in the room have newspaper clippings of all of the suicides that have happened in that room, and yet they weren't shown discovering the clipping that announced Alexander's suicide? WTF was the point of that??? Let Allison (and the rest of us!) learn more about the Argents, godsdamnit!

-As I said earlier, I'm still convinced Gerard is involved SOMEHOW, although with whom and in what way, I have no idea. I also think Peter is involved too, maybe working with Gerard, or maybe he's working a different angle, or maybe he just happens to be benefiting somehow from whatever is happening, and is just sitting back and watching everything happen with popcorn. I still have way more questions than answers, per usual, plus I'm trying to figure out if the Darach situation and Alpha Pack are connected or just happen to be going down at the same time by coincidence. SO MUCH IS HAPPENING UGH.

-After last week's episode, I was curious about how Ennis' death would affect the Alpha Pack: would the rest of the members know that Deucalion killed him? Or would Deucalion play it off like he succumbed to his injuries? And if that's the case, is that why Deaton is taken next week? If the theories about Deucalion eventually killing his Alphas to absorb their powers, like he did with his Betas, are true, could the other members eventually figure it out and maybe defect to the other side? And if THAT is the case, my bets are definitely on Ethan; he already seems to be very attached to Danny, and we haven't seen any indication that Aiden's feelings are that serious with regards to Lydia, at least not yet. Kali seems to have been pretty affected by Ennis' death, too, so I could see her switching teams as well, if it comes out that Deucalion killed him. I'm just spitballing here, though.

-I never knew how much I wanted Scott to be an Alpha until this season, and now I can't wait! I just reaaaaaaally want him to be an Alpha due to his own merits, instead of having to compromise his morals by killing for it. Although, I can definitely see him killing one of the Alpha Pack members out of self-defense, or to protect Allison or Stiles, like Deucalion said last week. I'm just wondering what this means for Derek and the rest of the pack. In my ideal world, I would want Derek and Scott to be co-Alphas, with Isaac, Boyd, maybe Cora and Peter as the wolf faction and then Allison, Lydia and Stiles, and Danny as the human side. Derek has the knowledge of being a werewolf and the politics involved, but Scott's got heart, superior leadership skills, and seems more open to more diplomatic ways of ending conflict, rather than violent ones. If this happened, and they all joined forces, they would be UNSTOPPABLE.

-There were theories about Lydia being a Banshee or otherwise being able to communicate with the dead, and I'm slowly starting to believe they're on to something, although I'm not totally convinced on the Banshee thing yet. I'm glad that Stiles and Allison finally recognize that she's not crazy, she just has these "talents" (as Jeff Davis calls them) that she doesn't fully understand yet. And clearly, she doesn't know how to use them, or even know the extent of these abilities at this point. I am curious, though, if her talents are the reason she's immune, and if so, did Peter know that when he bit her? Is that why she was able to resurrect him? (I really hope that his resurrection is discussed more, too, because I really want to know how that happened) Or, has she always been immune, but then became a banshee after getting attacked by Peter? Again, so many questions! I hope we get answers soon.

-I am so glad Melissa McCall isn't dead and hope she stays alive FOREVER. I also want to see some Isaac/Scott/Melissa time at the McCall house now that Isaac is living there. Is that too much to ask?

What did you guys think? Please feel free to comment your thoughts!