Teen Wolf Season 3, Episode 7: "Currents" Recap/Review

Just when I'm like, "Nope, Teen Wolf can't possibly be more more of an emotional rollercoaster," the show decides to take it as a personal challenge and always, always succeeds. It's like all riddles and metaphors and buildup until the last five minutes, and then it changes to "OH HEY LOOK DRAMATIC REVEALS, DEATH, AND A CLIFFHANGER BOOYAH." And then I spend the next week dying of anticipation. When did this become my life? I should probably just get on with it, yeah?

Previously, on Teen Wolf: Derek was super broody to Jennifer about how everyone around him always gets hurt. Deaton taught Stiles about the magic of positive thinking (especially in combination with some mountain ash, natch). Deucalion threatened Scott about the possibility that he will eventually having to choose between his anti-killing moral code and saving the life of one of his loved ones. The Argents bragged about how much research their family has done regarding the amount of electrical current it takes to disable and/or kill a werewolf. Finally, the Alpha Pack (mistakenly) believed that Derek killed Ennis, (or rather, they believed that Ennis died as a result of the wounds he got after Derek pushed him over a ledge and he fell two stories onto an escalator) so now he has to kill all his Betas and join their pack or they'll kill him. In reality, Deucalion killed Ennis with his own bare hands for reasons about which we're still not really sure. Basically, this week's "previouslies" automatically gave me a really terrible feeling about how this episode was going to end, and I was right. :/ But, I'm getting ahead of myself here.

We begin this week at Beacon Hills Hospital, where we're automatically thrown into the chaos that has resulted from a ten-car pile-up downtown. Since Melissa McCall is the only nurse in all of Beacon Hills, she's more than a little frazzled from having to run all over the place treating various patients, but luckily, her son is the biggest sweetheart in existence and brought her dinner. 

He notices how stressed she is, so she takes a moment's break to tell him about the car wrecks and how it has made them extra busy, since their attending ER physician not only didn't show up for his shift, but also isn't answering his pages, either. So, now they have to wait for Dr. Hilliard, the on-call physician, to show up to help treat all these patients. This new bit of news pings Scott's internal "hinkiness"-radar, but before he can comment on it, a woman from the wreck-- who is pretty battered and bloodied--interrupts them to ask Melissa for pain medication. Since giving patients pain medicine before they know what is wrong is a serious no-no in medicine and nursing, since you don't know what kind of contraindications there might be and you could end up doing more harm than good, Mama McCall has to let her down gently before assuring her that they'll get her taken care of ASAP. Unfortunately, for now, she'll have to tough it out a little longer.

Scott frowns a little and sits down next to the woman in the waiting room once his mother leaves to scarf down a quick dinner. He sweetly makes up some story about how he "read online" somewhere that human touch can help relieve pain, but you can tell that she's not really in the mood, because she's just, like, "yeah, okay, whatever, kid."  She doesn't know he's IRL angel, though, so Scott gently wraps his hand around her wrist as he starts to absorb some of her pain for her, turning the veins in his hand and forearm black for a few moments. Scott, you fucking beautiful person, oh my god. I love him so much, how could you not?!

Now, I need to take a quick sidebar here, because a certain section of the fandom (i.e. the Scott-hating side of the fandom, which is my eternal nemesis) has taken this idea that Scott has directly gone against what Melissa just said and put this poor woman in danger so he can be the ~hero~ and get the ~glory~ or whatever, and I just have one thing to say to them-- who the fuck hurt you? Like, seriously, there is no way in hell this is how we're supposed to interpret this scene, nor is it in Scott's character to purposely do something that would actively harm someone for no other reason than to get some kind of kudos for it. I mean, shit, no one even knows he did it except for him and the woman!

Pain meds are an issue when you don't know what's wrong because they could do something like make unknown internal bleeding worse, or mask symptoms that could otherwise help diagnose the person later, or even because the person may be allergic and they don't know it and being already injured just makes it worse. There are a ton of reasons! However, from what we're told about the pain absorption power, it is not like a morphine shot whatsoever, at least not at this point in Scott's ability-- who knows if it will eventually develop to be something more powerful. Still, how Deaton described it was essentially taking the edge off of someone's pain to make it more manageable-- it's not stealing it forever so they're totally euphoric and painless, it's just alleviating some of their discomfort for a short time to make things easier for them to deal with, which, as Deaton pointed out when Isaac used this power on the dog back in Season 2, can sometimes be the difference between life and death. So, in this case, Scott is just trying to make this patient more comfortable while she waits, but she's still going to be in at least a little bit of pain. 

Basically, too long; didn't read version-- people hate on Scott for no reason and the scene was written with the intent of leading us to believe that Scott saw someone suffering, knew he had the power to make it a little bit better, and then quietly used it to provide both emotional and physical comfort. That's it! That's the scene! Anything more than that is just whiny people who are mad that human Stiles isn't the main focus character of a show literally titled Teen Wolf. There. I said it. Don't @ me. 

Anyway, the woman's face brightens a little, and you can tell just by looking at her that she's starting to feel better. Unfortunately, their tender moment is quickly interrupted when the waiting room suddenly fills with shouting voices. Scott turns his attention toward the entrance to the ER, where he notices Ethan, who is half-carrying a gasping Danny, is the one yelling for help. Nooo, Danny!

Cut to Dr. Hilliard, who is driving to the hospital. She calls someone at the ER to tell them she's running late because of bad traffic, and they're like, "Uh, yeah, we know, it's because of the ten-car-pile-up, which is why we need you here in the first place, duh." 

Back at the hospital, Scott stands by as Ethan and Melissa manage to sit Danny down in one of the chairs in the lobby, and it's clear that Danny is struggling to breathe. Scott naturally accuses Ethan of hurting Danny, which is a pretty fair assumption imo, considering what we know about the Alpha Pack. Ethan <3s Danny TONS, though, and tells Scott as much. "[I did] nothing! He said he was having chest pains and trouble breathing, and then it just kept getting worse!" Melissa points out that Danny's larynx has shifted to the right, and is almost positive that he's having a tension pneumothorax, which is when air builds up in the pleural space around the lungs, and the resulting air pressure effectively chokes the lungs and keeps the person from being able to breathe. Thank you, nursing school! 

Danny suddenly starts to choke and vomits about three liters of mistletoe berries and chewed up leaves onto the tile floor, much to everyone's shock and horror. Ethan, who has probably been filled in on the whole sacrifice thing from Deucalion and Aiden, quickly puts the pieces together and mutters, "Mistletoe," under his breath, causing Scott to look at him like, "Uh, the fuck you say?"

As Dr. Hilliard drives downtown, a moth flies onto her windshield, so she flicks her windshield wipers to fling it away. She's so focused on how bad the traffic is that she doesn't even notice the same moth (or maybe a different one) sneaking inside her car through the air vents. Uh oh.

Melissa has put Danny on a stretcher, and is wheeling him into the actual treatment area of the ER with Scott and Ethan in tow. She asks them to leave, but they both want to help, because Danny is awesome. Unfortunately for them, they can't help, because they're not doctors, and since the hospital is way short-staffed because of all the car crash victims, all the other doctors are busy with other patients. Wouldn't a tension pneumothorax put Danny pretty high on the triage list? Just saying. 

Our girl Melissa points out that Danny is basically suffocating, which understandably makes Scott even more worried. "He's gonna die, isn't he?" This hits Melissa where her heart lives, so her face goes steely, and she's, like, "NO WAY IN HELL," before she orders them to get scissors to cut away his shirt. Ethan doesn't even bother with the scissors, though, and instead uses his hands to rip his tshirt like paper. Hee! Always gotta flex those Alpha muscles, huh, Ethan? She then takes a huge syringe and takes a deep breathe before she stabs it into Danny's shoulder! I won't nitpick about the fact that Danny's lungs are actually in his chest, which is where she should be stabbing that needle, but whatever. (Although I kind of just did, didn't I? Oops. Still, I get actors didn't actually go to nursing or medical school, and for all I know, it could be to make Keahu more comfortable or it could be some kind of prop thing. Who knows! Moving on!)

Meanwhile, Dr. H is just still sitting in traffic when she notices the moth flying around her face. And then another one. And like twenty more. They all fly into her face, diving into her mouth and beating their wings against her cheeks, which makes her so distracted that she swerves all over the road trying to bat them away. Why does everyone get so freaked out by actually-harmless bugs on this show? Remember Boyd and the fireflies? Jesus. Spiders and scarabs or whatever, I can totally understand, but moths? Lightning bugs? They're hardly terrifying. ANYWAY, so as she's freaking out, she glances into her rear-view mirror, where THAT CREEPY FACE FROM THE FLAMES LAST WEEK APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE AND HISSES MENACINGLY. WHAT THE FUUUUUCK IS THAT? Doc is pretty terrified, as you can imagine, and screams like hell.

Mama McCall opens the one-way valve in the giant syringe she stabbed into Danny to help relieve the pressure in his chest, which allows Danny to finally inhale deeply. Everyone else holds their breath as she removes the needle, and after a moment, Danny finally opens his eyes and whispers, "Thanks, yo!" Scott is in awe of his mom and her mad skills, and has never been prouder; even scary, murderous ETHAN is like, "Seriously though, that was badass." Melissa just shrugs, all, "What, that little thing? It was nothing," because she's a humble badass, thank you very much. Cuties, all of them!

(via Teen Wolf's official Tumblr)

                                                                      
(hilarious gif via apriki!)

Outside the hospital, Scott is in the middle of hopping on his bike when Ethan follows him out, and the two wolfies get into another fight. Ethan reiterates that he didn't do anything to Danny, but Scott quite rightfully argues, "Well, all I know is that as soon as you got here, you went after Danny, and your brother went after Lydia." YOU TELL HIM, SCOTTIE! Ethan promises that he's not going to hurt him. "We knew that one of them was going to be important to you. Now, we know it's Lydia." Um, what? How? I would say that Scott's reaction to Danny's illness is evidence that he is pretty invested in what happens to Danny, so this makes no sense to me at all. And really, Scott loves Danny and Lydia, but let's be real here, if you really wanted to get in with someone close to him, why not go for Stiles, or Allison, or Isaac? Wouldn't they be your first pick before Danny or Lydia? Ugh, whatever. Remember when I said sometimes the fast pace of the show sucks? This is one of those times. I still give this episode an A-, though.

Anyway, TL;DR: apparently since Danny isn't the person Scott cares about, and is the one Ethan cares about, that makes him safe? Which probably means Lydia won't be for too much longer. Shit! Shitty shit shit!

Behind where the boys are talking, a car is slowly approaching them in the parking lot. It veers off and wrecks into a parked car, so the boys immediately drop their argument and run after it to see what's up. What is up is that the car was DRIVING ITSELF. There's no one left inside except for a dead moth, laying on the driver's seat, which Scott picks up all dramatically. As expected, no one knows what the fuck this means. So, moths are the new lightning bug/scarab beetle now? Cool. TITLE CARD!

Outside the hospital, the Sheriff has just arrived for duty-- with Stiles in tow-- to respond to the call about the missing doctors. Thankfully, Stiles is able to help Melissa and Scott explain to Stilinski just what the fuck is going on during this ridiculous night: two separate (but likely related) kidnappings of two different doctors who happen to work at the same hospital. The car that wrecked in the lot belonged to Dr. Hilliard, who we saw driving earlier to cover for the unnamed attending who never showed up and got attacked by moths. Sheriff decides to start with Dr. H, since there's actually evidence there, and pulls Melissa aside for her statement.

The boys back up a couple paces to sidebar and speculate on the night's events; Stiles is sure that this is another set of sacrifices, because Dr. Deaton told him (in "Unleashed") that "healers" were one of the power groups that the Darach is using in her ritual sacrifices. They're confused about Danny though; he threw up a shit-load of mistletoe, which is totally a druid thing, just like how they found it in Kyle's dog's stomach, but Danny's not a healer, so he doesn't fit the pattern of those who were sacrificed. Just then, Sheriff Stilinski gets a call, and Stiles urges Scott to eavesdrop on him to see what's being said. After a moment, Scott informs Stiles that someone is calling his dad to report that they found a body.

At the scene, the unnamed attending ER doctor is laying dead on the floor of what looks like yet another abandoned warehouse, wherever that happens to be. While the officers document the scene, a dozen or so rubberneckers gather outside the crime scene tape and gawk. Included in this group are: 1) Aiden, who is whispering the details of what is happening to 2) Deucalion; meanwhile, behind them is 3) Chris Argent, who is giving both of the Alphas a hilariously dramatic stink-eye. Way to be subtle, dude!

Derek is dozing in his bed, book in hand, when he's swiftly awoken by the alarm to his security system blaring. He quickly gets up to turn it off, just as Cora walks in from who knows where and gestures towards the wall of windows. "What does it mean?" Derek turns to look and sees the Alpha Pack's symbol painted in black, which apparently translates roughly to, "I'm so kicking your ass this evening. Love, the Alpha Pack." Is that what set the alarm off? Derek looks over at the graffiti symbol as though he's seeing it for the first time, but how could they paint it that fast without him noticing it? Again, some parts of this story just move way too fast to keep up.

What happens next is probably my favorite scene of the episode: Melissa wakes up in her bed the next morning, and is totally startled when she sees that Scott and Isaac are both sound asleep, on her chair and on the floor, respectively, surrounded by sodas and snacks. Look at these precious, perfect angels! (macro courtesy of the lovely isaaclaheygirlhey)

Mama McCall takes a moment to compose herself before shouting, "BOYS,"  and asks what the hell they're doing. They instinctively jump up and look around, and it's just so hilarious and endearing. Isaac holds up his hands in surrender and explains that they were just watching over her, in case she was going to be the third sacrifice. When she brings up the fact that they were both asleep, they fight over who had last watch for a moment. Isaac is adorable in this scene, and I love how much he must trust Scott and Melissa to be able to admit that he fell asleep on last watch. I'm sure his dad probably locked him in the freezer for less. :(

(via charliecarvers)

Anyway, Melissa is adorably, like, "Oh, my heroes!" and points out that she's not a doctor, so she should be groovy. Scott reminds her that anyone who falls into the category of "healer" could be a target, and what she did for Danny last night was definitely healer-material. (I agree, Scott! Signed, a baby nurse in Ohio) She assures them that she's not going to be sacrificed today and orders them to school. MORE MCCALL (+ISAAC) FAMILY FEELS PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU, JEFF DAVIS. 

We meet up with Scott (who is sitting next to Stiles) again in Physics, which is now being taught by Ms. Blake, although she is an English teacher and totally not qualified, a fact of which she is one hundred percent transparent about with the class. She rambles to the students even more about how Mr. Harris is "still missing...I mean, sick..." which just makes me more suspicious of her, tbh. As she babbles about praying that he comes back so they can have a teacher who knows actually what they're talking about, Stiles and Scott regroup again to compare notes. Stiles informs Scott that the doctor they found wasn't strangled, but still died of asphyxiation, so they have no idea how the killer managed that and wtf happened to her. They realize that there are like, twenty other doctors at that hospital, so it's kind of hard to predict who the next sacrifice will be. Plus, they haven't found Dr. Hilliard's body, yet, either.

Their conversation is cut short when Scott hears his phone buzz and checks it to see that Dr. Deaton is calling him. Scott ducks down behind his desk to answer, right in the middle of class, and informs our favorite vet/supernatural expert/maybe-Druid (but not Darach) that it's a bad time, but can he call him back later? Nope, says Deaton. "I honestly thought I might never have to burden you like this," he admits, as he holds up a moth in his hand. "But, I'm afraid at the moment, you're my only hope. [beat] I'm going to be taken. I need you to find me." Then, he hangs up, instead of taking the brief amount of time he has left to give Scott any other pertinent details that may prove themselves to be useful in saving him. Deaton stares at his phone in his hand while millions of moths fly onto his vet clinic windows, building up a thick layer of wings that eventually blocks out all the light in the room. Meanwhile, Scott promptly freaks out at this news and tries to get hold of him again, to no avail. Nooo, Deaton. :(

Boyd and Isaac waltz into Derek's loft, and Derek immediately groans, all, "Hey, you kids, get back to school now!" Isaac informs him that they can't, because they're super sick, you see-- though not with brain damage, as Derek suspects. Isaac has a terrible migraine, and Boyd has explosive diarrhea, so they were sent home. LOLOLOL.

(via recklessdhampir)

Isaac plops himself down on the table and fumbles through Derek's books before Boyd gets to the point: "We're here to protect you!" Derek's like, "Ugh, damnit, now I'm a deadman," which is way harsh, bro. Boyd is a genius, as we'll see here soon, but they forgot a key point: always have a back-up plan, which will totally end up fucking them. Boyd drops a huge duffel bag onto the ground before he reminds us all of that one time Gerard held him and Erica hostage, and electrocuted them a whole bunch (before beating up a helpless human teenager and then nearly manipulating his teenage granddaughter into slaughtering all of her friends.) He pulls out a roll of thick cables from the bag, and says he has a similar idea, but on a bigger scale. 

Scott runs into the animal clinic to find Sheriff Stilinski and his deputies already there and looking around; apparently, Stiles called his dad as soon as Scott left school and filled him in on the particulars. (Or, at least, the details that Stilinski is allowed to know, at this point). Stilinski and his deputy inform him that Deaton's car is still there, and the doors were left wide open, but Deaton is gone, so they're pretty sure he was kidnapped, too. Our favorite werecub is clearly distraught by this news, and Stilinski kindly instructs Scott to tell him EVERYTHING. Yes, Scott, do it! Pull a Jacob Black and just shift in front of him already!

Boyd, Isaac and Derek are in the middle of filling Derek's probably-super-expensive loft with water, and Boyd lectures about square footage of water and electrical currents and power surges and things like that. I'm so turned on by Boyd's brains that I can't even understand a word he's saying, but I still maintain that this was a pretty smart idea. Isaac points out that the electricity will be a big surprise for whoever walks in, especially a certain she-wolf who always walks around barefoot.

Stilinski assures Scott that they're going to do everything they can to find his boss. When the Sheriff goes to talk more with his deputies, Scott pulls Stiles into the back room and suggests that it may be time for them to finally tell his dad everything. Like, everything-everything. Predictably, Stiles is not at ALL a fan of this idea, because he's afraid telling him will get him killed, and he can't bear to lose both of his parents.

(via cora-hale)

While I completely understand Stiles' concern, I'm pretty sure his dad can protect himself much better if he has an idea of what he's fighting against, you know? Keeping people in the dark to keep them safe is a common concern in supernatural dramas, but it rarely, if ever, actually ends up protecting them. So, really, full-disclosure is just the way to go, particularly if you're the Sheriff in a town that has roughly 50 supernatural-related murders and/or kidnappings a week. Scott agrees, and argues that Stilinski is constantly stressed all the time now, because people in his town (the town he was elected to protect) keep dying and he only has approximately 35% of the information to figure out who did it and how to stop it. Stiles, who knows that his bestie is right, eventually agrees that they need to read his dad in, and Scott reassures him that Scott will help him explain everything. They walk out of the back room with the intention to confess what is really going on, but before they can, they're stopped in their tracks by the sight of one Marin Morrell, AKA the high school's guidance counselor slash French teacher, who is also Dr. Deaton's baby sister.

She tells the Sheriff she'll do anything see can to help them find her brother. When he and his deputies leave, she turns to the boys, and goes on about how the police aren't going to be of any use to them. Scott's like, "you don't have to ask us for help," even though, in my humble opinion, she should have to, considering the stunts she pulled on behalf of the Alphas, but I digress--she's actually here to help them. Her advice is that they need help from the one person in this town who might actually be able to seek out the supernatural. Scott clearly doesn't understand what she means, so Stiles finishes that train of thought for her-- she thinks they need Lydia, pronto.

                                                                         
(via sakura-drops)

And where is our fair Lydia? In Coach Finstock's office, naturally, making out with Aiden on his desk. Suddenly, the fire alarm goes off, which basically deafens the Alpha, much to my delight, so Lydia demands that they skedaddle ASAP. She insists that he leave first, but once he has, she's stopped by Cora Hale before she can walk out the door herself. "You don't have very good taste in guys, do you?"

At the hospital, Mama McCall is walking down the hall with Sheriff Stilinski, where she asks him to look at the bodies of the ER attending and the recently-found Dr. Hilliard with her. He's confused at first, so she explains that she thinks she's found medical information about them that could help him figure out how they both died.

Back at school, Cora demands (on Derek's behalf) that Lydia stop macking on Aiden, and then goes so far as to threaten her with violence if she doesn't comply. Lydia retorts, verbatim, "Listen, sweetheart-- my last boyfriend was a homicidal lizard, so I'm pretty sure I can handle a werewolf,"  and the two have a little sass-off. Cora grabs her roughly by the arm, but before someone really gets hurt, Stiles finally finds them both and steps in so he can talk her down. She seems to have received all of Derek's aggressiveness genes, I guess.

Scott is back at school, and about to meet Stiles, Lydia, and Cora, but gets distracted by a beating noise. He stops for a moment to listen intently to the sound before he turns around to wander the halls to find the source. STOP SCOTT, GO BACK TO THE REST OF THE GANG. YOU TURN AROUND RIGHT NOW, MISTER.

Stiles takes the girls to the Physics classroom and pulls out a Ouija board to set on one of the laboratory benches. He tells them that they're all going to use it to find out where Deaton is, and reminds them that they're all obligated to help, considering Deaton has saved all of their collective asses on more than one occasion. Lydia and Cora are extremely skeptical of Stiles' methods, but they still all humor him and put their hands on the pointer anyway. Stiles asks aloud where Dr. Deaton is; after a moment of complete silence, he looks at Lydia and is like, "So, what's the answer?" She hilariously points out that she thought they were just asking random spirits or something, and then this beautiful exchange happened:

(via hoechloin)

Scott follows the beating noise to the band room, and of course it's the fucking Demon Wolf, who has come here today to be as confusing and vague as possible. He starts spouting metaphors about metronomes, tempos/heartbeats, and stress, and then kind-of gets to the point: he can help Scott find Deaton, if he wants.

Meanwhile, Stiles' next trick in their attempt to find Deaton via Lydia is psychometry, by using Deaton's animal clinic keys to help her make a connection to him. He instructs her to hold out her hand, and when he places the keys there, she is to concentrate really hard on finding him. She points out that she's not a psychic, but Stiles is convinced that she's got some kind of superpower that can help, so she just sighs resignedly. She makes a face when he drops the keys in her hands, but, much to Stiles' dismay, she didn't have a vision or anything; they're just cold. After a few more moments, she's like, "I got nothing," and judging by the facial tics that Stiles is starting to develop, he's quite obviously starting to lose his damn mind.

(via beyonstiles)

Deucalion notes that Scott is angry, judging by the quick beat of his heart, and deduces that he believes Deuc is responsible for Dr. Deaton's kidnapping. He says he'll make a deal with Scott: if Scott can take his cane away from him, he'll reward him by telling him where Deaton is being held. Scott does a pretty awesome job of trying to fulfill this task, flipping around and jumping onto stuff, but Deuc still has him beat, even despite being blind. Ultimately, Deucalion stabs Scott in the shoulder with the shiv hidden on the end of the cane, which ends the game. You can tell he's still the tiniest bit impressed with Scott, though, before he goes on with his spiel.

"You know I'm not the one slashing up people, praying to ancient gods, gathering herbs or whatever the hell druids are supposed to do." This made me laugh, especially the way he says "herbs" instead of "erbs" like a proper Englishman. He adds that he does belong to a pack that wants Derek dead, and explains the catch in this whole situation: Kali is going after Derek tonight, so one way or another, someone's gonna die. Whether that person is Derek or Deaton is apparently up to Scott. Scott demands that he tell him where Deaton is, and of course he won't, he just drops a vague riddle instead: "Let the current guide you." Then he swans off to god-knows-where. Jesus, I love to hate that guy. He's the worst, but I could listen to his voice all day.

Stiles' last hope is automatic writing, so he hands Lydia a notebook and a pen and tells her to get scribing. Lydia, who has no idea what Stiles actually expects of her, starts to draw a tree, and you can tell Stiles' is about to lose his mind, because his eyeball about pops out of his head and he's developing more tics. "You're supposed to be writing words, preferably sentences that will tell us where Deaton is!" Lydia's like, "uh, why didn't you just say that?"

(via beyonstiles)

Cora is starting to question whether Lydia is actually the genius she claims to be, but Lydia corrects her; she most certainly is a genius, she's just not a psychic, like she's been saying this entire time. Finally, Lydia is like, "Why the hell are you even bothering with me anyway? It's obvious you should be talking to Danny." Scott walks in, clutching his still-bleeding shoulder, and agrees with Lydia-- Danny was a target, but not a sacrifice, so they should probably figure that shit out. Why would they make Danny eat all that mistletoe? (Or better yet, HOW did they get him to eat all that mistletoe? It's pretty poisonous, from what we saw, so it's not like people would be inclined to eat huge quantities unless they had a death wish.)

At the morgue, Melissa and Stilinski are looking at the bodies of the two doctors. She points out to the Sheriff that the bodies were asphyxiated, but not strangled, since they have no ligature marks around their neck. She then shows him their wrists, which look as though they were tied up so tightly that they almost cut through the skin. Melissa corrects his assumption that they were bound, and explains that they were actually suspended by their wrists from the ceiling. After a while, they would have had to lift themselves up with their upper arms to be able to breathe, due to the lack of circulation from having their hands above their heads and being unable to move around. Once the lack of oxygen resulted in the lack of strength to pull themselves up, they died shortly afterward. According to Melissa, this happened a lot in Biblical times to people who were crucified. 

Stilinski does not like the sound of that one bit, and asks how long Deaton will be able to survive after he loses the strength to pull himself up. We cut to Deaton, who is clearly struggling, trying to pull himself up for a breath, which pretty much gives us our answer. When we return to the morgue, Melissa replies, "Minutes," before taking her leave. What a TERRIBLE way to die, oh my god. My chest hurts just thinking about it.

Scott gets a text from Allison while they're walking down the hall, explaining that she's found something that could help them, so he tells the rest of the gang that he'll meet them at the hospital after he sees her and takes off.

At the loft, the boys throw the wires into the water and get settled on little wooden pallet islands to protect themselves from the electrified bathtub that they've just created. Isaac asks if their set-up will kill the Alpha Pack. They all hope so, but you and I actually watch this show, so we know better, right?

Scott meets Allison at the new Argent Abode, and she begins to explain what she found in her dad's office, but before she can barely get a word out, Argent comes home early. Oh come on, Allison. We all know he has some kind of werewolf-detector hidden in that house somewhere to alert him to when his precious daughter has snuck her werewolf boyfriends inside. They both hide in Allison's closet, and between the closed quarters and being alone with his ex-girlfriend for the first time in forever, Scott naturally ends up getting uncontrollable boner, which both thrills and embarrasses Allison. They start flirting and generally being super adorable, and even almost kiss, but for whatever reason, they end up falling over and ruining the moment.

(via Teen Wolf's official Tumblr)

When they hear Argent leave, they crawl out and relocate to his study to get the scoop. Basically, Argent has a map on his desk, and Allison assumed it was something important because he acted shady about it in "Unleashed." (I totally wondered why he was acting so sketchy about hiding that map when the episode aired, but I couldn't see anything noteworthy on the screenshots of the scene and totally forgot about it.)

Scott points out that the map is blank, but that's just what Argent wants people to think. Allison found a blacklight in his desk, and that's what tipped her off to his secret investigation. She turns the blacklight on and shows Scott that her dad has been tracking everything in UV ink. She points out where he's marked the sites of all the important events thus far this season: the bank where Cora, Erica and Boyd were held hostage over the summer; the new apartment complex where the Argents and the Alpha Pack live; and all the dead bodies-- one mark for where they were taken, and another mark for where their bodies were found. The problem? There have only been six sacrifices so far, but there are twelve sites marked on the map. Scott immediately thinks Argent has found other bodies but never told anyone, but Allison corrects him-- she thinks her dad knows where the future dead bodies are going to be found. Which means, of course, that the sacrifices aren't even close to being finished yet.

Of course, Argent chooses this moment to come back home, AGAIN, so Scott and Allison have to do this whole scheme to get Scott out the door unseen, which involves Allison cutely eating Twizzlers and pretending to study to distract her dad while Scott crabwalks out behind him. Neither Argent nor Allison put up a convincing enough act, though, and you can tell both of them are suspicious of the other and what they're up to, but neither of them have the guts to say anything, especially since they don't want to risk showing their hands in case their suspicions are incorrect (which, of course they aren't).

Stiles walks right into Danny's room and starts to determine if he's awake; first he taps him lightly on the cheek, and then eventually builds it up so much that he accidentally smacks him pretty hard in the face. Danny stirs in response, which scares the shit out of Stiles, causing him to back up instinctively and bump into the chair behind him.

(gifs by brodysjenner)

Sitting on that chair is Danny's backpack, and, of course, Stiles just starts rustling right through it, since he's a huge nibshit who is also a better detective than any of the other police officers who work for his dad. I'm just going to transcribe this next conversation, because it's hilarious and my paraphrasing won't do it justice. A lot of it is the delivery, Danny is awesome in his drugged-up and half-asleep stupor. Good job, Keahu!

DANNY: "What are you doing?"
STILES: "I'm not doing anything! This is just a dream...that you're having."
DANNY: "Why are you going through my stuff?"
STILES: "Right...but only in the dream, remember? You're dreaming."
DANNY: "Why would I dream about you going through my stuff?"
STILES: [frustrated] "I don't know that Danny, okay? It's your dream! Take responsibility for it. Now shut up and go back to sleep! [finds a set of papers and starts to read through them] Oh Danny-boy, you might have actually found something here."

Stiles and Scott confab on the phone to compare notes once again on what they've figured out in their separate investigations. I love that the two of them are still working together so closely this season, despite them both being in the middle of two different supernatural threats right now-- Scott, as a wolf, is clearly more preoccupied by the Alpha Pack than Stiles, who is much more concerned about the Darach situation. 

Scott relays the information he got from Allison to Stiles and the gang, and adds that there are several possible places where Deaton could be, but they're all too far away for them to be able to check all of them before Deaton ends up dying from asphyxiation. Luckily, Stiles doesn't think that they'll need to check all of them, because he found Danny's research proposal for Mr. Harris regarding telluric currents, which he believes may have something to do with the Darach. Scott's ears prick in recognition at the word "currents," remembering Deucalion's unhelpful clue, so he runs to meet them at the animal clinic to confab about their options.

Derek, Boyd and Isaac are still sitting on their little wooden pallet islands in the loft, when Isaac notices that the light to the security system is off. Derek realizes in horror that it means that the auxiliary power must have been shut off, and starts to think about what could have caused it. Boyd is just about to ask about the main power supply, which is what where their trap is pulling power, when all the rest of the lights in the loft shut off as well. NOOO!

As Derek wades through the water to test it, he remains unharmed, and the boys figure out at the same time that someone has shut off all the electricity to the building. They seriously should not have had that conversation out loud! You know at least one of those Alphas has staking out the loft ever since they approached Derek about joining the pack, and likely listening in on all of their conversations and planning sessions. They need to take some notes from The Vampire Diaries, seriously. Isaac asks what they're going to do now. Derek's response, as his eyes blaze red? "We fight." Noooo, Derek, don't. DON'T. THIS IS SUCH A TERRIBLE IDEA. Also, on a random note--where has Peter been for all of this nonsense? Isn't he technically part of Derek's pack now?

Just then, Kali waltzes into the loft like she owns the place, and wastes no time informing Derek that after she learned Ennis had died, her original plan was to just straight up kill him wherever she found him. But now, her plan is to make him choose between fighting her one-on-one, or watching them kill Ms. Blake right in front of him. Aiden and Ethan, who, if you recall, are Ms. Blake's effing students, drag her into the apartment, each of them wrapping a clawed hand around her neck. Wonderful. Derek orders Isaac and Boyd to stand down, and starts battle numero tres of the season between Derek and Kali, while Jennifer watches in horror. As if we don't know how this is going to end. Derek, you really gotta learn to pick your battles, dude, because if you've lost twice already, chances are you're going to lose again, unless you have a secret weapon.

Scott, Stiles, Lydia and Cora have all gathered in Deaton's office, where Stiles is expositioning about what he learned from reading Danny's research: basically, Beacon Hills really is a beacon, because a significant portion of the Earth's geomagnetic energy or something is concentrated around the entire town. Basically, what I'm getting from this is that Beacon Hills is like a Hellmouth, only with all kinds of different supernatural mythological creatures and shit instead of just vampires and demons. They read Harris' notes on Danny's proposal, which say that Danny should pick a different topic because his research is based on pseudoscience and thus not appropriate for class. 

This leads the gang to believe that Harris was in on this before he was taken, or at least knew something, anyway. (It seems that no one has found Harris' body yet, because they still keep talking like he's just missing? Or did I just miss something? Either way, we know he was involved, so this is very good detective work on their part.) Also, I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Harris, too, pluralizes with apostrophes and it makes me rage a little inside. I know we're beyond being nitpicky about people's grammar and spelling in this era, but Harris is a terrible person with access to a great education, so I feel like I should get a pass for this one, tbh.

Scott realizes that the maps from Argent's study match the map of Danny's research, and they finally figure out the nature of the Darach's ritual sacrifices-- all the places where the bodies were found are on the telluric currents, which must help them act as some kind of magical power source. Stiles assumes that the spot where the bodies are actually sacrificed must be in a location between the points where they were taken and where their bodies are ultimately found, and starts marking possible locations on the map. Cora is one step ahead of him, though, and takes his hand to direct it toward Beacon Hills First National Bank, where she, Boyd, and Erica were held hostage. Thousands of Cora/Stiles shippers are magically born from several loaded looks and one simple hand touch.

Now that they have a location, they're all about to leave to save Deaton when Cora gets a text from Boyd. She informs everyone that Boyd's plan failed because the alphas cut the power. Scott remembers what Deuc said earlier about having to choose between the two, and orders them to go to Derek's to help him out; he assures them that he can find and save Deaton on his own. Stiles argues with him briefly but eventually obeys, although Scott is totally going to regret not bringing a regular-old human with him in a moment.

Derek and Kali are still fighting, splashing in the ankle-deep water of his flooded loft, and the Alpha Twins continue to hold Jennifer as she screams in fear. Derek's kind of getting his ass kicked, sorry to say, because Kali keeps jumping up on stuff and then jump-slashing him with her feet. Thankfully, Stiles, Lydia and Cora are on their way in the Jeep, looking stressed and concerned.

Scott finally makes it to the vault and runs full-speed to cut Deaton down. Of course, it could never be THAT easy-- Scott finds out the hard way that there's a mountain ash ring surrounding the doctor, who is fading in and out of consciousness thanks to the lack of oxygen. Considering we just learned that mountain ash is a Druid thing too, this isn't too surprising. Scott is bounced backward pretty powerfully after making contact with the barrier, and he finally notices the mountain ash after he crashes back down onto the floor. He frowns as he quickly tries to brainstorm how he can save his boss/father figure/mentor without any human help.

Back at the loft, Derek is still getting his ass handed to him by Kali. At one point, Isaac and Boyd run to help him after he gets thrown down into the water, but Derek immediately orders them back, unwilling to let anyone else get hurt on his behalf. Oh Derek. :( 

Meanwhile, Scott positions his body outside the mountain ash barrier and starts pushing through the force field with his hands, causing a gorgeous rainbow light to pour out around his hands where they make contact. It's a pretty sweet visual, really. This scene (and really, this season in general) is so visually stunning, I don't even know what to do with myself.

We get more shots of Derek getting thrown around his loft, dodging Kali's kicks and getting thrown on the flooded floor some more. Thankfully, she's not beating the hell out of him with a pipe this time, but it's still a pretty brutal fight, and he's definitely at a disadvantage.

Scott screams loudly in either pain or frustration or both as he continues to push through the mountain ash barrier. He focuses all of his energy and strength into pushing through the force field with his hands, and the effort causes his eyes narrow as his irises shift from the golden-yellow eyes of a Beta to the fiery red glow of an Alpha. Deaton, whose eyes have been fluttering open and shut as he fades in and out of consciousness, forces his eyes open so he can watch Scott's eyes change in his attempts to help free him. YES! Now Deaton knows that Scott has the Alpha in him, so we can finally get answers on WHAT THE FUCK IS HIS DEAL.

(via wolvesandco)

After a moment, the force of the barrier becomes to much, and Scott is once again thrown backwards onto the stone floor of the vault. Scott tries to come up with another plan as he struggles to pull himself off the floor, but out of nowhere, Sheriff Stilinski shows up, and demonstrates that he's here to save the day! He orders Scott to stand back, and then he literally SHOOTS the ropes that bind Deaton's wrists like a fucking BADASS. The bullet slices through the ropes binding Deaton, and the good doctor falls to the ground with a slump. Yay! He's still alive! Scott sighs with relief, and joins Stilinski who has run toward Deaton to help check him over. I really hope this means that Stilinski will get read into the Beacon Hills supernatural world, because he really deserves to know at this point. Also, wouldn't that shot be like, impossible? Excellent marksmanship, Stilinski! Maybe he should join the Chris and Allison Argent Hunter's School for Werewolf Allies.

                                                                  
 (via Teen Wolf's Tumblr)

Cora, Lydia and Stiles have finally made it to Derek's apartment complex's electricity-control room or whatever, after what feels like an eternity of driving. They're unsure of what to do to help at first, but quickly decide to flip up every single lever on the switchboard in order to make sure that the power is restored to Derek's apartment.

Isaac gets a text message from Stiles, letting him know that the electricity is coming on, giving him just enough time to hop back onto the stairs and out of the water. Unfortunately, he couldn't actually warn anyone else without tipping off Kali as well, which results in Derek, Kali, and Boyd, (who disobeyed his Alpha's orders and jumped in to help him fight) being severely electrocuted through the electrified water. Isaac watches them all with concern while he protectively wraps his arms around Jennifer.

After they all recover from the shock, which luckily for Boyd and Derek, didn't actually kill them, Kali (who is predictably furious) orders the twins to grab Derek. Kali grabs a still-injured Boyd and brings him over to them, while the twins each grab one of Derek's wrists and hold his hands out, claws up. Derek struggles against their hold, but they're way too strong, giving Kali the time and opportunity to lift Boyd up off the ground and shove him down onto Derek's claws, which impale Boyd in the chest. NOOOOOOOO. 

Derek's eyes flash red even more intensely than usual as he absorbs Boyd's wolfie magic. OMG NO BOYD DEREK NO STOP IT. Satisfied, the Kali and the twins release them and walk toward the door. Before they leave, Kali leaves Derek with some parting words; "Make the smart choice."  She adds that he has until the next full moon to kill his pack and join them, or she's going to kill them all herself.

Derek begins to freak out, and applies pressure to Boyd's wounds in hopes that they won't be fatal. A lot of people didn't understand why Boyd died, since we've seen many werewolves heal from worse injuries, but I think it makes perfect sense-- Boyd was just severely electrocuted, which we already know from the Argents can impair a werewolf's abilities, like being able to transform, or having heightened senses, or HEALING. The rest of them are Alphas, so they would probably heal more quickly, but Boyd is just a Beta, and his healing abilities were too impaired to save him before it became fatal, not to mention the fact that Derek has also unintentionally stolen his Werewolf powers, so I doubt he even has much of an accelerated healing factor at all. :( 

We already knew someone was going to die tonight anyway, so the rest of us had already passed the "denial" stage of grief, for the most part. Personally, at this point, I was at "bargaining," which will be demonstrated shortly. Boyd tells Derek it's okay, and Derek's like, "No no no, this is the opposite of okay, this is not the least bit okay." Boyd: "No, it's okay...that feeling, the full moon...it was worth it." Derek is crying at this point, and we all (including Derek, I think) witness a flashback to the bank vault over the summer, when Erica was still alive...

(via teenwolf)

Erica sits on the floor in the vault, leaning back against the wall, and wonders aloud what will happen to them during a lunar eclipse. "They last for hours, you know... it's just the Earth's shadow." She thinks that it will make them stronger, and when she notices Kali nearby, she repeats herself, even louder this time. "I hope it makes us stronger," she growls. Her eyes flash gold as she slowly rises to her feet, and when Kali gives her a patronizing look, Erica pounces on her with a snarl. We already know how this ends, but I think it's a fitting tribute to Erica-- she refused to be a prisoner, and if she had to die, she was going to die on her own terms. Her last words? "Boyd..." Excuse me while I go cry forever.

(gifs by ladywolvess)

When we return from the flashback, Boyd dies and falls to the floor with a splash. Derek and I cry even more. Cora, Stiles, and Lydia arrive to the loft a few seconds too late-- Cora runs straight to Boyd's body, lifting his head and trying to awaken him. When it's clear he's dead, she sobs uncontrollably, laying her head on his chest. :( I imagine they probably got really close when they were locked up in the vault together. Maybe it was even her hand who was comfortingly holding his hand when we saw the first indication that they were being held in the vault together? Sigh, this is wayyyy too much to handle.

Lydia hovers in the doorway, completely in shock that she has found yet another dead body, involuntarily; and this time, it's one of her peers, which makes it even worse. I yell at her to use her still-unknown powers to bring him back, but no dice. :( Peter Hale gets to come back from the dead and not Boyd? Unfair, imo.

Stiles approaches Derek from behind, and clenches his fist as he tries to decide how best to help. Eventually, he reaches out and places a comforting hand onto Derek's shoulder. It's a sign of Derek's emotional growth the past 2.5 seasons that he doesn't just rip Stiles' hand clean off his arm.

(via teenwolf)

At Beacon Hills Home for Elderly Sociopaths, Argent is yelling at Gerard, who is still suffering from the mountain-ash-induced werewolf-ink nosebleeds, for apparently leaving out important details about this whole thing with Deucalion. Gerard just kind of mops at his face with a handkerchief, while his son reminds him that he still has a lot of work to do in penance for all the fucked up shit he did last season. He then growls that Gerard will tell him the entirety of the story, the true version, before he walks out the door. When the door opens again a few moments later, it's not Chris returning to yell some more--it's Allison, the granddaughter he tried to turn into Kate Argent 2.0. She still has quite a lot of sass in her, so she quips, "Surprised to see me?" Gerard smiles his creepy murderous smile, and replies, "Only surprised it took you this long." OH, SHIT'S GOING TO GO DOWN. I'm glad Allison knows that Gerard is still alive and kickin'. I also hope that we learn why he's still leaking werewolf ink out of every orifice-- if he's not a werewolf, shouldn't he be dead by now? Is he a kanima?

Back at the bank vault, Scott is kneeling down next to Deaton, whose breathing is starting to return to normal now, thankfully. He asks Stilinski how he found them, so the Sheriff smiles before admitting that he noticed the vials at the animal clinic with the Celtic symbols on the lids, and knew that he recognized one of them-- the one with the bank's logo. Deaton smiles and thanks him for "being one hell of a detective," but the Sheriff just shrugs and tells him he'll call him an ambulance. As he leaves to make the call, Deaton pulls Scott closer and whispers excitedly, "Your eyes! They were red. Bright red!" Scott is understandably confused, considering he's never killed anyone ever, especially not any Alphas, but Stilinski interrupts their discussion for a moment to tell them that the ambulance is on its way, and assures them he'll be back in a second before heading back out again.

After he leaves, Deaton gets to the details of what we've been wanting to know forever: rarely--like every-hundred-years-or-so-rarely--a Beta will ascend to become an Alpha solely by the strength of their character, virtue, and sheer force of will, rather than having to kill an Alpha to attain the powers (like every other Alpha we know), or inheriting it (like Laura Hale did after Talia died). YES! HELL YES! These werewolves are called "True Alphas." SCOTT MCCALL IS A TRUE FUCKING ALPHA, SUCK IT SCOTT HATERS! Ahem. Sorry about that, I'm just really happy about this new development, because Scott is my favorite character and super kind, loyal, and compassionate, so in my humble opinion, he totally deserves these powers. 

Unfortunately, Scott doesn't get much time to contemplate how awesome this makes him, because he's once again putting the puzzle pieces together and realizing the implications of this discovery. Deaton, who nearly just DIED, and who is smiling and clearly super excited for his protegée, explains that from the moment he knew Scott was bitten, he believed Scott would become a True Alpha. It's then that Scott realizes that Deaton wasn't the only one who had that feeling-- Deucalion knows that he's a True Alpha, too, which explains his shady behavior. When Scott brings up that point, Deaton's smile fades, and he levels with his favorite employee: Deucalion isn't here for Derek, (or, at the very least, he's not here ONLY because of Derek) he's actually here for SCOTT. I know we pretty much all knew this all along, but it's still intense. THIS SHIT IS GOING TO BE A MESS OMG BUT I DON'T CARE. THIS IS THE BEST.

(via teenwolf)
Next week, according to the promo: Peter and Gerard sit two separate groups of kids down for some story time, and explain 1) why werewolves have different eye colors, and 2) how the Alpha Pack came to be, respectively; we are presented with more evidence to prove that Derek truly cannot love anyone without somebody he cares about dying as a result; and we finally figure out the connection between the Argents and the Alpha Pack. I am so fucking excited, OMG.

[screencaps from this Screencapped.net album]

Click HERE to read my recap of the next episode!

NOTES/SPECULATION:

-Remember that one time Kali impaled Derek for like, hours, and Deucalion told him that he wants him to kill one of his pack mates, because after that he won't need anyone to convince him to kill the rest? I really hope that Boyd dying doesn't kick Derek into some rabid pack-killing spree. If it does happen, I think Peter and Cora are probably the biggest targets, since they're family and closest to him. Isaac is obviously still loyal to Derek, but Scott seems to have quite a bit of sway with him as well, whether it's a conscious or unconscious thing on his part. Scott's probably gonna be in trouble though, too, because Derek really does seem to rely on him, plus Deuc is clearly after Scott and we already had foreshadowing about this scenario from Braeden in the premiere.

-I'm still really sad that Boyd died, for the same reason that I'm sad Erica is dead-- they were both characters with a lot of potential, whose stories I feel didn't get the chance to be told. We learned some backstory to Boyd just last week, and I was hoping that we would learn more about him, so losing him this week was a total bummer. I know in a show like Teen Wolf that has mythological creatures and magic, having characters who end up resurrected is not out of the realm of possibility. So, there's always that chance that we'll see them again, at the very least in flashbacks.  

-What happens to the "healers" set of sacrifices, now that Deaton didn't actually die? They got two out of three, does this mean that they're going to go after another healer? Or are they just going to cut their losses and try another set?

-I still don't really understand why Danny was targeted by the Darach; he did do a research project that ended up having a lot to do with the Darach's sacrificing rituals, but was that just a coincidence? Or does he know more than we think he does? I could have SWORN that Jackson told Danny about werewolves either after he got bitten by Derek, so I don't really get why the Scooby Gang always tries to hide this stuff from him in the first place. Right now, in my headcanon, Danny is totally in the know, in the same way that Deaton/Morrell/Braeden is in the know, and is just side-eyeing everyone as they run around with their terrible plans. Anyway, is the point that Danny was targeted by the Darach because he knew too much and was getting too close to understanding their plan? Interesting!

-Can we figure out what Lydia is already? I need to know! I've read a lot of theories, and right now I'm leaning towards her being either a type of fae or a necromancer. (Being fae would actually be the best of both worlds, because she could have precognition AND necromancer-like abilities. The fae are also connected to the banshee in folklore, which is another theory people have about what Lydia is, so it seems possible!)

-We now know that Scott really does have the Alpha in him, but do you think he will actually accept it? Right now, it's like he can kind of call upon it when he needs it, but for all intents and purposes, he's still a Beta. On the one hand, it's not like Scott has had a lot of positive experiences with Alphas: Peter bit him without his consent and then did countless horrible stuff to him, his friends, and his mother; the Alpha Pack killed everyone in their own individual packs to increase their own power, and they've been harassing all of the BH Pack for weeks now, beating the shit out of them and threatening their lives constantly. The only halfway decent example of an Alpha Scott has to look to is Derek, and he's made some pretty questionable decisions too, including but not limited to biting four teenagers to increase his number and power against the Argents/the Alpha Pack.

So I think a part of Scott doesn't want to be an Alpha at all because he has no interest in being like them. On the other hand, Scott will do anything to protect his loved ones, and accepting his role as True Alpha could give him the power necessary to eliminate the Alpha Pack as a threat and give him the physical power needed to take the leader role he's already so well-suited to have, so I could totally see him taking the risk in order to protect his own. I do think, though, that a True Alpha is probably much different in temperament than the alphas we've met-- there's no way that someone whose character/virtue/will was so strong that they were rewarded with Alpha powers would end up being corrupted into a killer by those powers, you know? Part of why he's a True Alpha in the first place has to be because he HASN'T killed anyone and doesn't intend to unless it's absolutely unavoidable and not for personal gain. So yeah, while those fears of turning evil are understandable, they just don't seem very likely.

What do you guys think of "Currents" and this season in general? I'm curious to hear your thoughts!