Teen Wolf Season 3, Episode 23: "Insatiable" Recap/Review

[Just a warning, but this is a LONG recap. Like, 14,000 words long, about 5,000 more words than I normally write, and TONS of gifs and screencaps to boot, so bear with me! This is gonna be a doozy--Emily]

Okay, gentle readers, settle in and let me explain you a thing about Allison Argent.

Allison Argent is and will forever be an important character in the young-adult supernatural drama genre. Whenever I think about her journey through the last three seasons of Teen Wolf, I think of a quote Sansa Stark said in George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones series. "My skin has turned to porcelain, to ivory, to steel." The first time we met our dear Allison Argent, she was a wide-eyed, dimpled, porcelain-skinned naive girl who had no idea about the secret world of supernatural creatures, that her family had a centuries-old tradition of hunting them, and that her new boyfriend was a werewolf. Even before she learned the truth, she begged her aunt to teach her how to fight, because she saw Kate as being strong and capable in ways that she isn't, and she absolutely loathed the fact that she felt weak and powerless.

It was Kate who, after kidnapping Derek and chaining him up in the basement of the Hale house, revealed to Allison that werewolves and other creatures of the night DO exist, and she was horrified. And, when she learned the same truth about Scott, she nearly passed out in her father's arms, she was so overwhelmed and confused. Despite her father's initial reservations, Allison learned the skills of the hunter trade and immediately showed an aptitude for weaponry and combat, even at the beginning of her training. She was feeling immense pressure on all fronts to choose a side, but still, Allison made it clear that she wanted to have it all--she wanted to be in love AND be independent, she wanted to be a hunter AND have a werewolf boyfriend and friends, she wanted to be her own person AND embrace her legacy. "Can't I be strong AND go to prom?" Despite her parents prejudices, she continued to date Scott behind their back, and helped Scott and Stiles protect Lydia and Jackson from Derek and his pack.

Then her mother died by her own hand after inadvertently being bitten by Derek, which left Allison vulnerable to her grandfather Gerard's manipulative, sociopathic ways. He was able temporarily used her as a weapon against her own friends, to the extent that even Chris realized she was being twisted and used by his father. Once Gerard inevitably showed his true colors, though, she immediately switched sides again. She not only apologized for her role in what happened to Scott, Isaac, et al as a result of her actions while under his control, but also, amazingly, refused to let others make her feel guilty for what she had no control over, such as Gerard's reign of terror with regards to Jackson. In Season 3, Allison finally found herself and where she belonged (after a short awkward period)--Scott's pack. Even when her still-grieving father insisted that they stay out of the supernatural, she continued to throw herself into danger for the people she cared about--helping in the rescue mission for Erica, Boyd, and Cora at the bank, and then again when they needed to trap Boyd and Cora at the school; saving the pack from the Alphas by causing enough of a diversion to turn the tides; manipulating Gerard into giving them information about Deucalion; actively forming a plan of attack against Jennifer and the alphas.

She sacrificed her life temporarily to the Nemeton to save her father, her only remaining family, and then, after she succeeded, she insisted that the Argents change their centuries old Code. She said, "Instead of hunting those who hunt us, we will PROTECT those who need protecting." She encouraged her father into a better man, a hunter who is willing to work with benevolent werewolves and kitsune and combine their strengths to protect their own and their town. And, when Stiles was possessed by the nogitsune, she was the head of every plan they made to stop it, from stealing a mystical scroll from an armored car, to leading a search of the hospital, school, and Eichen House. When her best friend and sister-in-arms was kidnapped, she insisted that they save Lydia the second they found out her location, believing they didn't have the time to waste.

Now that I've had more time to consider the events of this episode, and the implications of what happened, I've decided that if Allison Argent's story absolutely HAD to end, and there was no other choice, then this is how she would have wanted to go out--fighting her ass off, successfully figuring out how to kill the demons who had constantly been attacking her and her family/pack, and dying in a last-ditch effort to save her loved ones from the same fate. Allison, the incredible young woman who, after just being fatally stabbed, only had one concern: "Is she safe? Is Lydia safe?" Allison, who couldn't rest without knowing that Scott, her first love, knew that she was okay, and that he should be okay, too, even without her. Allison would have NEVER left her friends hanging when the stakes were this high. She never would have decided to "thread the needle" by finding the safest route between two opposing forces, because in her words, to do so "sounds a lot like saving your own ass." She would have never fled to France and allowed her friends to go it alone, no matter how much you and I and the rest of Allison's fans wish she had. That's not how Allison operated, especially not when her friends were in serious danger and people all over town kept getting killed. Allison Argent died a warrior goddess with skin made of steel and a heart made of gold, and she taught me so many things during her short time on this show that I will never, ever be able to forget her.

That said, I love Crystal Reed. I think she's a phenomenal actress and in general just a lovely, beautiful person, and I wish her so much luck in whatever she decides to do next. I know I will definitely be checking out any projects she'll be involved with in the future. But, I can't say that seeing Allison Argent go didn't break my heart.

ANYWAY, while Allison's death definitely overshadowed pretty much everything else in this episode, "Insatiable" still gave us quite a bit of new information/mythology, and a multitude of great character moments that were a great reprieve from all the grief. I have so, so, so many things to say, and I've already written a novel as it is. SO, brace yourselves for more of my uncontrollable sobbing as we discuss what else happened this episode!

Previously, on Teen Wolf: Allison and Isaac finally did the frick-frack, though we barely saw any of it. A girl named Meredith, who was at Eichen House during Stiles' stay, seemed to know a lot more about the supernatural drama going down than anyone expected at the time. Kira's mom, Noshiko, revealed that the nogitsune was summoned by her at an internment camp near Beacon Hills in 1943, during WWII, which brought more chaos, strife, and pain than anyone could ever deal with. Nogitstiles finally tracked down Noshiko, who admitted she didn't want the destruction she wanted back then, just before he stole her last kaiken and ripped Stiles' gut right open. To make matters worse, hundreds of flies came out of his stomach and proceeded to hop into Derek, Isaac, Ethan and Aiden's bodies, which caused them to act out their anger without inhibitions and caused a shitload of shenanigans. Peter figured out a way to get Stiles back, using an alpha ritual that allowed Scott and Lydia to go into Stiles' mind and guide him out of his subconscious. It worked, kind of--Nogitstiles vomited up a pile of old, dirty bandages and black smoke, which ended up forming a fully-corporeal being that looked just like bandaged-up Rhys. However, once Scott removed the bandages, he revealed that the bandaged guy was actually REAL STILES, which means the bandage-puker was actually the NOGITSUNE! Who, apparently, seems to have gained the strength to continue to wear Stiles' face without actually being in his body more. Can the world handle two Stiles? I guess we'll find out. Oh, and naturally, everyone was so shocked to see that Real!Stiles was back that they didn't even notice the nogitsune sneaking right out of the house, with poor Lydia in tow. Which is where we pick up today!


If you thought "De-Void" was disgusting (which, it totally was), just wait for this cold open! Deaton has arrived to the school, and is currently in the midst of de-flying the twins and Isaac. He's working on Ethan when we join him, which involves him shoving his entire fist down Ethan's gullet and getting past all the nasty black werewolf ink in order to grab the fly that is apparently lodged in the back of his throat. Once he's done, he moves onto Isaac, who is NOT looking forward to it, and proceeds to yell at him a bunch of times to quit fighting against him while he pulls the fly from the back of HIS throat. EW! I'd be shocked if one of the actors didn't accidentally throw up during the filming of this scene, because I totally would have. Also, didn't the fly go into Isaac's body through the IV in his antecubital space? (Or, for you non-medical professionals, his elbow-pit?) And Aiden's fly went into his ear. How did all of them get into their throats? Anyway, after Deaton fishes out the fly and drops it down the drain, Isaac stumbles over to his girlfriend and dry-heaves a couple times for good measure. Allison, who looks extremely disgusted by this entire scene, just like we all do, asks Deaton if they're in the clear now, but Deaton thinks they can only hope. "The part that's worrisome is that this was most likely just a distraction from what was happening with Stiles."


Kira is stunned that there is actually two of Stiles, now, and asks how it's possible. Is this the first time Kira has actually interacted with Deaton? I think it is. Allison also adds, "And how did the other one just take Lydia?" Deaton recaps the end of the last episode by explaining that he literally just turned around, and in that time, the nogitsune and Stiles were both gone. Aiden is a little pissed about his girlfriend getting abducted by some awful, sadistic fox spirit, and asks, "So, no one notices him kidnapping her right out of the house?" Deaton isn't really in the mood for the blame game, though, and snaps, "Most of us were concentrated on the bizarre sight of a creature materializing from out of the floor!" Touché, doc. Kira brings up an excellent point, which is--how do they know which Stiles is which? Deaton implies that the rest of the pack are working on that as they speak.


We cut to the McCall House, where a still-pale-and-sickly-looking Stiles is laying on Scott's bed, wearing Scott's clothes(!!!), and in the middle of being assessed by Nurse Melissa. After she checks his pupilary reflexes with a pen light, she goes to check his pulse. Unfortunately, she's still a little wary of him, after all the bullshit the nogitsune pulled on her last episode, and she's visibly nervous as she tries to muster up the courage to grab his wrist. Noticing her hesitation, Stiles weakly lifts his wrist up, and Melissa takes it in her hand, looking a little embarrassed at the fact that she's afraid of him. Once she's finished, she gingerly lays his wrist back onto his stomach and nervously informs him that from a medical standpoint, he's a-okay. "You're definitely a real person," she adds, with a weak smile and an even weaker laugh. "Okay, so I'm real, but am I really me?" Stiles asks softly, and MAN, I can not even begin to imagine how he must be feeling now. Spoiler alert, but he was awake and aware during everything that the nogitsune did in his body, from torturing Scott with the sword to setting up the trap at the hospital and the sheriff's department, so the amount of guilt he must be feeling has to be soul-crushing. Stiles sits up when he sees Scott enter the room, and asks him if "she" is here. Scott doesn't look particularly happy to say that she is, and neither does Melissa, but Stiles is adamant. "Okay. Let's do this," he says, as confidently as he can muster, but he still gets a look from the McCalls. "Guys, we have to do this," he insists.

Scott helps him down the stairs, since he still seems to be weak from the possession. Once he reaches the dining room, we see that the "she" in question is Noshiko Yukimura, of course, and it's pretty obvious why she's there. She asks Stiles if he recognizes her, and he nods awkwardly before gently releasing himself from Scott's grip and walking toward her. Suddenly, Kira bursts into the house and urges her mom to stop, but Stiles continues to approach them and assures her that it's okay, because he was the one who invited her. "You're the one who's going to get stabbed with swords," Kira argues stubbornly. I love how protective she is of him already. She is certainly no Allison replacement, but these kids need all the good, loyal friends they can get, and Kira is definitely one of them. Kira begs her mom not to do this to Stiles, but Noshiko insists that it's already done.

The oni appear out of the shadows, and Melissa immediately panics, because she's already had TOO MANY interactions with them. One of them pops up in front of Stiles and puts his head in his grip as he turns his firefly eyes onto him. Stiles just gapes and gasps a little bit until the exam is over, when he's dropped onto the floor. Since their job is done, the oni poof into black smoke, and Noshiko orders the gang to check behind his ear. Sure enough, he has the onore kanji ("å·±") tattooed right on the side of his head. Stiles is shivering, but manages to sit himself up to gasp, "Am I me?" Noshiko smiles weakly and concedes that he's more Stiles than the nogitsune, which is really all they could ask for at this point..


When Stiles asks her if the oni will be able to find the nogitsune, but she claims they'll have to wait until the following night, because it's too close to dawn now. Wait, what time is it? How much time has passed since the nogitsune split from Stiles? There was still sunlight outside when Lydia took off, but now they're acting like it's like 4:00AM or something, which makes it seem like at least eight hours or so have passed. Damn this fucking timeline! Stiles is understandably disappointed, and asks if the oni will even be able to kill the nogitsune. "It depends on how strong he is," she replies, which is really not at all reassuring. Scott changes the subject to Lydia, and asks Noshiko what the nogitsune would want with her. "He would only take her for an advantage," she replies vaguely, and Scott suddenly understands what she's implying--he needs the abilities of a banshee to help him. How does she know about Lydia and her powers? She seems to know all kinds of stuff that she shouldn't know, and the same with the nogitsune. Is that a power that comes with being a 900-1000 year old fox spirit or something?

Meanwhile, Lydia is trapped in the tunnel at the abandoned Oak Creek internment camp, pacing around and trying to ignore the multitude of voices she's hearing. Poor girl, it's just like when she was at the Glen Capri motel, with so many deaths occurring there that her banshee senses are super-heightened, only this time is like ten times worse. She anxiously looks around the room as she continues to hear the screams of Rhys and all the rest of the other people who died in the riot and at the nogitsune's hand. Behind her, the nogitsune calls out, "Can you hear them? [beat] It's louder than usual, isn't it? Well, that's because a lot of BAD things happened down here." As he talks, he slowly walks toward her, leading Lydia to frantically rush away from him as quickly as her impractical heels will allow. "What are the voices telling you?" the nogitsune asks, as he continues to taunt her. "Are they saying that Stiles is dying? He is, you know. He's dying." God, the sing-songy way he said that line was CHILLING. God damn you and your fabulous acting, Dylan O'Brien!


Lydia rounds a corner and continues to run from the nogitsune, but she's not fast enough, considering the condition of the old, cramped tunnel, the lack of light, and the aforementioned impractical footwear. She hysterically shrieks, "Then what do you need me for? You think I can tell you something?" She reaches the end of the tunnel and fights a wrought-iron gate, which, of course, is totally locked. She tries to pull the door open, but to no avail, and the nogitsune quickly manages to corner her, just like he did to Meiko in the flashbacks in "The Fox and the Wolf." The nogitsune chuckles evilly, which echoes through all the tunnels in the creepiest way, and counters, "Oh, I KNOW you can." Lydia screeches that she's not going to tell him anything, which makes me CHEER because could you imagine the Lydia from the pilot episode putting herself in this much danger for Stiles and the rest of the pack? I don't think so. She is SO amazing, and has grown so much! I love her dearly.

She's startled when she hears the nogitsune's voice right behind her, and spins to face him. "You won't have to," the nogitsune sneers. "You'll be screaming." THIS IS SO TERRIBLE OMG. And also, so amazing! Just like I always forget that Katherine and Elena (and Amara) in TVD are all played by Nina Dobrev, because she is that great at making them separate and unique characters, I have also been forgetting that Stiles and Nogitstiles are the same actor, because they are so different! Just their posture alone is so strikingly different. Such great acting! TITLE CARD!

Kira and Noshiko have just returned home, where Kira is panicking about her new friends and the mess in which they've all found themselves. "How are they gonna find him? And what are we supposed to do until then? Sit around and wait?" Noshiko pulls out her own Go game, and declares that Kira is going to learn how to play while they wait for news. She reluctantly takes a seat on their sofa, though she is not impressed with this idea at all, considering she's suggesting they play a board game in the midst of all this life-and-death drama. "Scott says he saw Stiles and the nogitsune playing the game of Go. That's a very important detail, perhaps even crucial!" She then starts to outline the basics of the game: you start with an empty board, and the person with the black stones goes first, and then the one with the white stones; you place the stones on the board to create territories, and you take over your opponents territories by completely surrounding them. Unfortunately for her, Kira is REALLY not in the mood to learn a complicated strategy game, because she and her friends are totally in danger right now, and it's pretty much Noshiko's fault. "This is life and death, Mom! This isn't a game!" Noshiko argues that to the nogitsune, it IS a game, and the nogitsune is totally kicking their asses right now. "You want to save your friends? You want them to survive? Learn to play." Yeah, this totally isn't an attempt to stall for time or anything...


Over at the sheriff's station, Sheriff Stilinski is sitting at his desk, staring forlornly out of his office's windows. Judging by how late it is, I'm gonna guess that he's probably been doing it for quite a while. Eventually, Deputy Parrish knocks on the door before quickly opening it and gently encouraging Sheriff to finally go home. He promises that he'll call him the second any news about Stiles comes up, but Sheriff insists that he's not going anywhere. Parrish laughs at his stubbornness, and jokes that he's not going anywhere either, since his shift isn't over 'til morning. He asks if Sheriff wants a coffee, but Sheriff just shakes his head. "You're a good guy, Parrish," Sheriff admits tiredly. "That's what they all said at your previous station." He turns around in his seat to face him, and mentions the fact that no one there could tell him why he wanted to leave. "Maybe I needed a change?" Parrish replies. "I don't really know. I guess I felt drawn here." RUH ROH. Something tells me this is a little vague Season 4 set-up, yeah? Is Parrish a supernatural creature? Or is he a hunter who's been read into the whole "the Nemeton is a beacon for supernatural creatures" thing and has showed up to deal with as many creatures of the night as he can find. I hope it's the former and not the latter, but I guess we'll see soon, eh?


Parrish also admits that he knew this station had openings. Y'know, because of the constant massacres that keep happening in this town, both to the police force as well as the general population. Sheriff doesn't understand why he would CHOOSE to come here, just like the rest of us, but Parrish just shrugs. "The statistics don't worry me." "They worry ME," Sheriff retorts, and they probably should, considering the number of cold cases they have. Parrish figures his worry means he should actually get some sleep, like a normal person, and Sheriff is way too exhausted to argue with him anymore. He grabs his coat and is about to walk out of his office when he realizes that he can't find his keys. "In your coffee cup," his son calls out from the doorway, having just arrived at the station with Scott. "You always drop them in your empty cup." Sheriff is so fucking thrilled to see his real, though exhausted-looking, unpossessed child that he literally LEAPS across the room to give Stiles one of those patented Stilinski-men hugs of theirs, so tightly that Stiles can barely gasp out a "Hey, dad." OH MY GOD THIS FAMILY, I s2g. Scott follows Stiles into the room, so Sheriff turns to him and asks him if this means this latest horror story is over. Unfortunately, Scott just sighs and grabs Sheriff's keys out of his cup before confessing, "Not yet."

Chris is depositing a less-possessed-looking Derek into the elevator so he can go home, but Derek stops it before it can close and go on its way. Wait, did Chris de-fly Derek? I can't tell if he did and it just happened off screen, or if he did and Jeff just forgot to acknowledge it, or if he DIDN'T and we're supposed to ruminate over it until season 4 starts. Regardless, if Derek still has a fly in him, this could end veryyyyy badly. "You had a gun pointed at my head," Derek reminds Chris incredulously. "You could have pulled the trigger. Why didn't you?" Chris literally rolls his eyes at that, but after a sigh, Chris replies, "Because you're not my enemy anymore, Derek. And I'm not yours." LOOK AT THAT PROGRESS. Derek unintentionally caused his wife's death (though I don't at all blame Derek for biting her, because he was defending himself) and Chris has still totally forgiven him and is even kind of buds with him! How great is that?


You know Derek, though--he may be way more stable now than we've ever seen him, but he's still not emotionally ready to handle that kind of love or affection, so he rapidly changes the subject to the nogitsune, and how they need to get out there and look for him. Especially now that they know that he has the ability to take Stiles' shape while no longer needing to possess his body. Chris, however, doesn't think they'll need to track him down at all, because since the nogitsune was able to pull that stunt off, then that he's more powerful than he's been since he was reawakened, likely because of all the drama he's manufactured in order to binge on all the resulting chaos, strife and pain. AWESOME. Like he needs MORE power than he already had. JFC!

Sheriff returns to Stiles and Scott in his office and informs them that they have an APB out on Lydia's car, and that they have all the officers they can spare out looking for her. Scott asks Sheriff what else they can do to help them, but he says that this late in the night/early in the morning, there isn't much they can do. Stiles insists that they need to figure out WHY the nogitsune took her in the first place, because then, they can hopefully figure out where he took her. Sheriff checks to make sure the coast is clear before asking, "What would a nogitsune need with a banshee?" Stiles reminds his dad of Lydia's particular talent for finding dead bodies, and figures that he could possibly need her for that, but Sheriff isn't sure. He turns to Scott for advice, because he's under the impression that Scott knows more about this situation that any of them, since Noshiko told him "the whole story." Stiles is like, "The whole story?" and gets set off on one of his typical dawning epiphanies. He flashes back to his time in Eichen House during "Echo House," when he and Oliver overheard Meredith talking on the dead payphone. "I should tell them," she whispered firmly. "They're going to want to know the story. The whole story." Those three words from his dad are all that is required to lead Stiles to believe that Meredith could be of help to them.


After the break, Deputy Parrish hangs up the phone, and informs them that Meredith (whose last name is Walker, by the by) is still at Eichen House, but they put her in the closed unit because she allegedly "wouldn't stop screaming." OH SHIT, I KNEW IT! SHE'S A BANSHEE. We cut to Eichen House, where Sheriff has arrived to interview/get answers from Meredith. Brunsky is the orderly who escorts him to the closed unit, of course, who immediately starts showing his ass when Sheriff remarks that the ward sounds quiet now. "We had to send a guy down to sedate her," Brunsky smugs. "Trust me. This little nutjob wouldn't stop screaming. But, five mils of Haldol? Takes 'em out like you wouldn't believe." Sheriff just side-eyes him SO HARD, as he should, because Brunsky is a dick, and also doesn't know shit about medicine because Haldol doesn't work that way. (Which, he wouldn't, because as I already ranted earlier, orderlies don't pass meds)


Brunsky's smug ass grin wipes right off his face when he gets to Meredith's room, though, and sees that the nurse who was supposed to sedate her is laying unconscious on the floor with a syringe in his shoulder. Meredith jabbed him with the sedatives that were meant for her and then flew the coop! BADASS! Brunsky points out that she got the nurse's keys, too, but he and Sheriff are too busy tending to the knocked-out nurse to notice that Meredith is quietly slipping out of the unlocked door to the closed unit. YES! BE FREE, MEREDITH! I am so excited about Meredith, you guys. I love her already. I hope we see more of her next season, because I would love to see her and Lydia being banshee queens together, talking to spirits and solving mysteries and whatnot.


Ethan and Aiden, meanwhile, are out in the nature preserve, running around in hopes they can find clues to track Lydia and/or the nogitsune. They take a breather so Ethan can ask his bro if he's found anything, but Aiden replies that he found neither a scent nor a track that could help them out. They freeze when they hear a clicking sound, which Ethan identifies as "a round being chambered," which isn't ENTIRELY true, because it's a shotgun, but I digress. The twins immediately bolt just as buckshot blasts start firing, but the two only make it a couple of yards before they're both shot and fall wounded to the ground. Ethan grabs at his chest, only to find that he's bleeding black blood, and he gasps, "Wolfsbane," as a warning to his brother. Unfortunately, he looks over at him only to notice that Aiden is not only unconscious, but leaking black blood out of his ears and nose. HOLY SHIT! As if buckshot rounds aren't nasty enough, since they fragment into pieces, but these are soaked in wolfsbane, too! YIKES, YOU GUYS. This is such bad news! Before Ethan can go tend to his brother, more shots start to go off around them, so he curls up into the fetal position just in time to barely miss getting shot in the face. Wonderful! Because there weren't enough complications as it were without hunters adding themselves into the fray. THIS IS A DISASTER.

Over in Beacon Hills' impound lot, Isaac uses his werewolf-strength to break the chains on the chainlink fence so he can let himself and Allison in. There's only one car inside--Lydia's little blue Toyota, just as expected. Isaac points out that her scent is very strong with emotion, but not with fear, as Allison assumed. Instead, the emotion he's reading is ANGER. "That sounds like Lydia," Allison jokes weakly, before she instructs him to help her look for any other clues. As they check inside and underneath her car, Allison decides to take advantage of the fact that they're alone to get some clarification on the events of a couple nights ago.

ALLISON: "Uh, just--just out of curiosity...do you remember the other night?"
ISAAC: "...You mean, the night before last night?"
ALLISON: "That night before you...weren't you?" [shakes head awkwardly]
ISAAC: [confused] "...Yeah, I remember?"
[both get into Lydia's car to drive it out of the lot]
ALLISON: "So, that night, were you...you? Or were you...not-you?"
ISAAC: "...You mean, the night when we were us?"
ALLISON: [smiles awkwardly] "Yeah...I just--I just wanna know if it was...actually you...with me."
ISAAC: "...Did you want it to be someone else?"
ALLISON: "No. No! [laughs] Of course not!"
ISAAC: [smiles] "Okay. 'Cause it was me."
ALLISON: [nods]
ISAAC: "And...I do remember it. I really remember it."

I'm kind of sad that we were robbed of an Allison and Isaac sex scene, you guys. Like, I know there was WAY too much shit going on in "De-Void" to really have time for that, but I mean, they had time for a Malia/Stiles hook-up, you know? They could have at least had them take their shirts off so we would KNOW that sex was about to happen, right? And Scott got his closure, but Isaac definitely did not, and that would have been a nice way to make that happen. OH WELL. Anyway, Allison and Isaac are being all bashful and cute, but the moment is broken when Allison notices something on the window. She frowns, and leans in so she can fog up the window with her breath. They're both shocked when they see the note left in the fog, written by Lydia-- one that she had to have known Allison would find, because the window-fog thing was Scott and Allison's secret code."DON'T FIND ME" No, no, no, no, NO.

Over at school, where nobody but Kira and Danny decided to show up for class, Coach is on the phone, arguing with Beacon Memorial Hospital. Apparently, he just received the bill for $10,000 from the hospital after his little incident in "Letharia Vulpina." His response, "They pulled an arrow out of my stomach! What, did they fill it up with diamonds?" is absolutely classic, and naturally gets him pretty good and enraged, as you can probably guess. Once he's hung up, he's about to start an impromptu lesson on the highway robbery that is the American healthcare system when Danny finally points out the fact that they have an "unexpected" visitor. It's Meredith! Who is just chilling in a desk in the back of the room, staring at her lap. I have to give it to Danny for being like, the only person who wasn't a dick to Meredith in this episode. Good job, Danny, you sweet dimpled prince, you.

Back at the McCall house, Stiles is on the couch, getting some MUCH deserved sleep, when he awakens with a gasp and immediately jumps up to his feet. Scott hears him freaking out and wastes no time running into the room to grab him before he tips over. Stiles worriedly asks him how long he's been asleep, but Scott assures him that he was only napping for a couple hours, and that he promised he wouldn't let him out of his sight. He tries to get Stiles to sit down, but he asks about his dad (who is at Eichen House, looking for Meredith) and the others (who are looking for Lydia). Stiles catches his breath and admits, "I just sort of feel like we're waiting on a random call," before anxiously grabbing one of Scott's jackets and putting it on.

Scott can tell something is up, and frowns a bit when he asks Stiles if he's okay. Stiles just shrugs it off and vaguely mentions that he hasn't been able to get warm since he got his body back. Everyone on Tumblr immediately assumed this had something to do with Malia, since she made a big deal about not being able to get warm, but I think it has more to do with the oni check from earlier. Do you remember how cold everyone was after the oni did that test on them during "Illuminated" and "Silverfinger?" And Stiles, like Lydia, doesn't have a supernatural healing ability, so I think it's only normal that he'd still be a little hypothermic a few hours later. Plus, he just got un-possessed, so that's bound to have some physical side-effects, as well.

Once again, Scott encourages Stiles to sit down and take a break for a minute, but when he touches Stiles's hand to try to comfort him, the blood vessels in his hand and arm go black, and Scott realizes that Stiles has been in pain and didn't say anything. Usually, it's a conscious thing on Scott's part, so the fact that it happened accidentally tells me that 1) Scott REALLY wants to help Stiles, which DUH, they're best bros 5ever, so his body is already very open to that sort of a bond anyway, and 2) Stiles is probably in a LOT of pain, so much that Scott accidentally took in the overflow without even realizing he was doing it. THIS IS NOT GOOD AT ALL. Scott immediately starts to worry about Stiles' pain level, but, per usual, he shrugs it off. "It's not that bad. It's just more like a dull ache."
























(via teenwolf)
If Scott wasn't concerned before, he most certainly is now, so he channels his mother's nursing skills and asks him where his pain is, but Stiles is too tired to keep up the facade any longer. "Sorta everywhere?" Scott affectionately grips Stiles' hand in his own again soothingly, and is shocked at how cold Stiles is, but again, Stiles just stays silent and parks himself on the couch. Have I ever talked about how much I LOVE how tactile Scott and Stiles/Dylan and Posey are? There is an incredibly deep and open love between them that they are completely unashamed of any of their physical contact, which is how friendships/relationships should be, imo. Scott sighs and sits down next to Stiles. "Tell me the truth--how much does it really hurt?" Stiles doesn't answer, but the fact that he's pretty much gnawing on his own fingers speaks volumes to how shitty he feels right now, both physically and emotionally. Their moment is ruined by Kira, who is calling Scott up to advise him to get his sweet butt down to school, because Meredith showed up and they need to get her before the Eichen House orderlies do.

Of course, Coach Finstock doesn't have a politically correct bone in his body, so he just kneels in front of Meredith and snaps his fingers right in front of her face before asking which "insane asylum" she escaped from. When Danny's like, "Coach, 'insane asylum' is not correct or even appropriate terminology," he revises his statement by replacing it with "nut house." Charming as ever, Bobby. Meredith replies that she escaped from Eichen House, which startles literally EVERYONE, considering the William Barrow connection. Coach asks her what the fuck she's doing so far from the facility, but she insists she's trying to help. "I can hear them," she continues. "They scream." Surprisingly, Coach is able to empathize with her enough to admit that it must be scary for her, and gently asks her why they're screaming. "They scream when someone's about to die," she admits. So wait, IS she a banshee? Or is she just connected to them? Do banshees have a connection to each other? She seems to have both similar as well as very different abilities than Lydia does, so I can't tell if they each use their powers differently or if Meredith's just more in tune with them or what. Coach can't help himself, and asks if they're screaming right now, so she confesses that ALL of them are.

Back in the woods, Ethan is desperately trying to carry his brother to safety, but they're both pretty badly injured and already starting to feel the effects of the wolfsbane that is beginning to circulate through their system. Eventually, Ethan loses his balance and they both fall to the ground just as they notice the sound of someone coming toward them. Ethan groans and tries to lift himself and Aiden back up to continue running, but out of nowhere, DEREK appears and pulls Ethan to his feet before yanking Aiden up as well and wrapping his arms around him. "RUN!" Derek yells, as more shotgun blasts fire behind them. YESSS! Derek Hale to the rescue, and successfully, no less! I have never been more proud of him. I've said it once, and I'll say it again--Scott's influence has made every character in this show better and more endearing. It's amazing.


At school, Brunsky and his orderly lackeys have just arrived through the entrance, where Kira notices them. Realizing that they're running out of time to get Meredith to come with them and help, she rushes over to Coach to run interference for a bit until Scott and Stiles are able to show up. "Coach!" she babbles, as Finstock is just coming out of his office. "You can't let them take her back!" Coach is shocked into silence, so Kira continues her speech. "It's hard to explain, but if you let her go back, then really, really bad things are gonna happen, to Lydia, and Scott, and Stiles, and maybe everyone--including you. So please, PLEASE. Don't let them take her." When she finally stops to take a breath, Coach is blinks and is like, "Who are you again?" Kira just shrugs and chirps, "Um, I'm Kira! I'm new." BLESS YOU, KIRA YUKIMURA. She is the sweetest, isn't she? She is already such a good friend to them, I am loving it so, so, so much. That girl has loyalty in spades.



























(via teenwolf)
Fortunately, Coach sees Brunsky smirking as he approaches them, and seems to have some history with him, given the looks they're giving each other. "Aw, hell," Coach mutters under his breath, as Brunsky greets him, and makes the requisite "Those who can't, teach," jokes and mocking him for being a high school teacher. You know, because being a jerkoff mental health center orderly is SUCH a much more prestigious gig. Something tells me this guy took this job so he could be in a power of authority around people who he can bully to make him feel as if he has superiority over them. Like us, Coach is tired of the mean small-talk, so he opens his office door to hand Meredith over and get Brunsky out ASAP. Unfortunately for him, Meredith has once again escaped! Damn, girl is really resourceful, which is an excellent quality.

My favorite song of the episode, "The Greatest View" by Flume (ft. Isabella Manfredi) plays as Allison cleans her cross-bow in preparation for whatever fight they're about to get into at nightfall. She's in some kind of basement room, I don't know if this is like, a storage facility, or in the basement of their apartment complex, or what, but I'm digging it. Her dad walks in and remarks that he figured she'd be there, and she smiles at him as she continues to work on the scope. She sighs, and admits, "I needed to do something. I hate waiting and...feeling useless." Chris asks where Isaac is, and she exposits that he's out helping Scott. "Trying to be useful?" Chris jokes, which just makes Allison more frustrated as she tries to unscrew part of the bow. He chuckles at how much she's like her mother, and takes the screwdriver from her as he informs her that he has another task for her, something that he should have had her do a long time ago. He takes a small black case out of a safe, and opens it to reveal six bars of silver with the Argent fleur-de-lis stamped into it. "It's time for you to graduate," he tells her proudly, and she smiles. Seriously, this song just makes me want to cry every time I hear it because it is such an Allison song. "Yes, I'll be fine, you know I'll be fine/because I've been there before"


Lydia's still at Oak Creek, slowly making her way down one of the staircases with the locked gate and whispering, "They'll find me. My friends are going to find me." Brb, off to go put the pieces of my heart back together. She pulls on the gate in hopes that she might be able to break it open, but her effort is futile. Nogitstiles (which is not Real!Stiles, mind you, I'm just tired of saying the nogitsune over and over) sits at the top of the staircase and asks, "You think so?" Lydia tries her best to ignore him and not give in to what he wants (namely, to scare the shit out of her so he can feed off of all of her strife and pain), but Nogitstiles isn't a fool. "I myself was kind of wondering what they're doing right now." As he speaks in voiceover, we cut to various scenes of our heroes. "What useless lead they're chasing." Scott and Stiles arrive at the school to find Meredith before Brunsky and his goons do. "I wonder if maybe some of them have bigger problems to deal with right now." Ethan hobbles as Derek half-carries Aiden and keeps a lookout for more hunters.

Back at Oak Creek, Lydia looks incredibly scared and worried, as Nogitstiles continues to taunt her. "Are they really spending every minute looking for you? OR, are they waiting for nightfall, focused on some hopeless gesture to pass the time." Cut to the Argents, melting down their silver to start to forge Allison's silver bullet. Lydia braces herself against the bars of the gate until she musters the nerve and energy to turn around and face him. She quietly asks him what he wants, but all he has to say in response is "More." Lydia doesn't understand, so the nogitsune drops some mythology factoids on us. "The trickster stories are all about food, Lydia," he explains as he descends the stairs to talk face-to-face with her. "The coyote, the raven, the fox. They're all hungry. I'm the same. I just crave something a little different." 


Lydia can definitely see where this is going, and silently starts to cry in fear as she turns away from him, which, unfortunately, is exactly what he wants, because he feeds on negative emotions. She more she hurts, the more she becomes afraid, the more fuel for him to grow more and more powerful. It's definitely a convenient diet for the nogitsune, but it doesn't help poor Lyds one bit. He gets up right behind her, and quietly whispers, "I eat what you feel," into her ear. She flinches when he brushes her hair behind her ear, and caresses the side of her head with his nose. "And I'm INSATIABLE." God, Nogitstiles is so scary and so hot and so scary hot and I HATE that I think that because he's acting really, really gross to Lydia in a way that is not at all a turn-on under normal circumstances. Damn you, Dylan O'Brien!

As it turns out, Meredith fled Coach's office for the music room, where she's got her head planted above the strings of the open grand piano. She plucks at the strings and listens for the whispered voices that come from it, just like Lydia did in "Riddled" with the strings in Stiles' room. Man, Meredith has figured out so much about her powers without even really knowing what she is or what they mean! It really must have been because she was more open and curious as to what her banshee-hallucinations were trying to tell her, instead of actively pushing it away and ignoring it, like Lydia did up until recently. She continues plucking the strings and listening as Brunsky quietly slips into the room, and she politely whispers, "I can hear you, but I can't understand. Just a little louder, please?" She wants to help so badly! I really, really, really want her to stick around, you guys. I need to know EVERYTHING about her. She starts plucking the strings again, and while the whispers are quite noticeable, I couldn't catch anything that was said, which I think is the point--only banshees can understand it.


Unbeknownst to Meredith, Brunsky is silently walking towards her as she desperately tries to figure out what the voices are trying to tell her. It isn't until she's startled by the sizzling sound of his taser that she stops what she's doing and turns to see him. "Lets go, sweetheart," Brunsky orders smugly. "As you know, I am not averse to using the tools of my trade, as often as necessary," he adds, as he holds up his taser and pulls the trigger menacingly. Meredith immediately goes into bargaining mode, and begs him to give her a few more minutes in order to get the full message from the spirits on the Other Side, or whatever the Teen Wolf equivalent is, but, of course, Brunsky just assumes it's just a delusion or something and goes to taser her. Miraculously, Coach jumps in at the last moment and wrenches Brunsky's arm behind his back. "This school has a very strict no-bullying policy," he growls, before grabbing Brunsky's taser and tasing him in the neck with it! HELL YEAH! Coach is a hero for once! Cue the rejoiceful Indiana Jones-style soundtrack as he stands above Brunsky and frustratedly orders Scott, Stiles, and Kira to grab Meredith and get the fuck out of dodge. As the pack grabs Meredith and high-tails it out of there, Brunsky bellows, "You little piece of shi--" before getting tased AGAIN right in the chest! I'm pretty sure that would probably cause cardiac arrest or at least a pretty severe arrhythmia, but whatever, it's a tv show about teenage werewolves. "We also frown on cursing," Coach adds with a smirk.


Scott, Stiles, and Meredith pile into Stiles' Jeep, and Kira promises to call Scott later. When she rushes away, the boys turn to Meredith and ask, "Okay, where's Lydia?" Meredith looks extremely confused for a moment before asking, "Who's Lydia?" Uh oh!


(via badassraziel)
We return to the Argent's silver-forging lair, where Chris is finally satisfied with the melted silver and encourages Allison to get started. He assures her that she can start over at any point, and tells her about how much of a perfectionist he was when he made his own silver bullet, because he was very picky about making sure the seals were right and the fleur-de-lis was flawless. When she asks him how many he made, he admits that he made six, but he used all of them, at close range, because silver bullets aren't quite as accurate to shoot as lead ones, no matter how cool they may be. He pats her on the shoulder and goes to leave her to her work, but Allison stops him. "Dad, wait. I think I should use my own mold." He's surprised that she has her own bullet mold, but she corrects him. "No, not a bullet, an arrowhead. [beat] The bow is my weapon, so, I think I should make a silver arrowhead." Chris just smiles the most beautiful smile, because he couldn't be prouder at the fact that Allison is embracing her family legacy while still making her own. He bends down to kiss her on the forehead, so she takes the opportunity to say something else.


ALLISON: "Dad? If something happens..."
CHRIS: "Hey. Hey! You don't have to worry about me."
ALLISON: "Well, I didn't get to say anything to Mom..."
CHRIS: "You didn't need to say anything. And, I'm gonna be around for a long time, I promise."
ALLISON: "Well, then, take it as a reminder. Maybe you don't need to hear it, but I--I need to know that I said it. [takes deep breath] I love you. [smiles] I'm proud of you. I'm--I'm proud of us." 

SHUT UP, I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYING. Seriously, this has made me so stupidly emotional I still don't even know how to deal. Chris just smiles again and gives his baby daughter one last forehead kiss before leaving her to her to forge her arrowhead.


Scott, Stiles, and Meredith burst into the McCall house, only to find Isaac awkwardly sitting at the dining room table, staring at Agent Douchenozzle, who is just standing there like the asshole that he is. "What are you doing here?" Scott asks incredulously, as Isaac looks at them both like "Aw, here we go." ADN replies that he could ask Scott the same question, so Stiles jumps in and lies that they have a free period, so they came home so they could all do a group study. ADN isn't quite buying it, so he asks who Meredith is. Trying to think fast on his feet, Stiles wraps his arm around her and lies again that she's his girlfriend. Meredith hilariously pulls away from him and deadpans, "You're not my type." Stiles just gulps and retorts, "Well, obviously we have a lot to talk about. We should maybe take this upstairs?" Meredith looks over at Isaac, and even more hilariously adds, "He's my type," which just proves that she is totally sane, because unlike Jackson, Isaac IS everyone's type. Stiles awkwardly invites Isaac to come upstairs and join them, leaving Scott alone with his dad.

























(via stilinskitime)
"Hey, dad, I'll explain all of this later," Scott says hurriedly, which is kind of funny to me, since I don't think Scott actually has any intention to read him into the supernatural program. (Although, at this point, it might be easier just to let him in on it instead of continuing to lie and evade his way out of his questions, which I could totally see resulting in making him so mad that he aggressively investigates to see why everyone is lying to him.) Surprisingly, ADN isn't mad that Scott skipped school, because he claims he knows his grades are good again. His purpose here is to finally have that talk that they've been alluding to since the beginning of 3B. Scott insists that now is not a good time, but ADN maintains that it needs to happen RIGHT NOW. Awesome.

Upstairs in Scott's room, Stiles and Isaac are talking to Meredith, who suddenly realizes that Lydia is "the red-haired girl," so either they've met at some point, or Meredith has had visions of her or some kind of connection to her as a result of their mutual banshee-ness. I NEED TO KNOW MORE. Stiles and Isaac are thrilled to be making progress, so Stiles urges her to tell them where Lydia is. "Okay," Meredith replies awkwardly. "...If she tells me." Isaac is a little confused, and wonders her if that means she can talk to Lydia. "Can you ask her?" Meredith gives him a cute little smile and admits that she already did. Stiles proclaims this to be perfect, and asks her what Lydia said. Meredith is silent for a moment, as if she's having a conversation with her in her mind, but finally answers. "She said...she doesn't want to be found." OH NO. Stiles and Isaac are both like, "Welp, fuck."


Downstairs, Scott is already losing patience, since he desperately wants to get back to finding Lydia, but it's not like he could tell his FBI agent of a father about it, so he just pretends to be a typical petulant teenager in hopes that it will make him give up. "Dad, can't we do this tomorrow?" ADN claims that he's been saying that to himself for years, but believes that he finally needs to just bite the bullet and get this conversation done, once and for all. He instructs Scott to get up, and walks him over to the bottom of the staircase, where there is a dent in the floor. "That was from your head," Blobfish admits. "The night before I moved out, your mother and I were fighting. You came out of your room, I grabbed you by the wrist, you pulled back, and you fell. We watched you tumble down those stairs. You were out for probably twenty seconds. When you came to, you didn't remember a thing. Your mom told me to be out by the morning. That's the last time I ever had a drink. And, that's why I left." Okay, wait a second--didn't Scott say in season one that he used to live with his dad? Is this a retcon or something? If Melissa wanted her drunk of a husband out of the house, why would she allow her son to live with him? I am majorly confused about this very anticlimactic reveal, tbh. I really hope that there is more to this story than that.


The twins, who are leaking werewolf ink from their mouths and ears, finally come to after passing out, and are incredibly confused about where they are. Derek sharply informs them that they're in a coyote den, and orders them to keep their voices down so the hunters don't find their hiding spot. So, this is Malia's old home, yeah? Or does the preserve have more than one coyote den? Anyway, the boys groan and cough up nasty black blood as Aiden asks if Derek noticed the shooter. "No, I was a little busy," Derek retorts sarcastically. "Who else did the two of you piss off?" Aiden confesses that they've literally pissed off EVERYONE, and that it was only a matter of time before one of their old enemies learned that they're no longer alphas and came after them for revenge. Derek reminds them that the bullets contained/were laced with wolfsbane, so if they don't get out of there soon, they won't be able to get medical help before they die from wolfsbane poisoning, so they need to hang in there until Derek can get them out of there. He orders them to continue to stay quiet and stay were they are before he leaves to get back-up. Aw, Derek! I can't believe he's risking himself for them. More character development, woot! Everyone's looking out for everyone.


Meredith is still in Scott's room, but Isaac and Stiles have moved into the bathroom for a quick confab on what to do from there. Isaac starts to say something, but Stiles cuts him off and tells him that they're not going to torture her. Isaac backpedals and insists he meant to "scare her," but Stiles is like, "We're not going to PSYCHOLOGICALLY torture her, either!" Oh Isaac, you still do have a little murder-y side, don't you? You need to always remember--WWSMD? What would Scott McCall do? "Okay, how about this," Isaac begins. "You said she hears things, right? Doesn't that mean she's like Lydia? A banshee?" DING DING DING! I'm glad someone else figured it out! Took them long enough. They both look over at Lydia and start to get an idea.


Downstairs, Scott walks away from the staircase, and starts to make his counterargument as he points out various spots of the house. "Okay, Dad, let me show you something. You see the edge of this windowsill? When I got my first skateboard, I slid right into it, broke my collarbone. [points to the coffeetable] THIS used to be glass, until I fell on top of it trying to catch a lacrosse ball from Stiles. I got three stitches in my cheek! This house is full of accidents! The stairs? Maybe it was an accident, maybe it was worse. But, I healed. And I don't need your apology." ADN looks like he's about to say something, but swallows it down. Scott sighs, and adds, "So, see you at graduation? Or whenever you decide to show up again." DAMN! That was an awesome speech, tbh. I definitely think Scott's supernatural powers have made physical injuries seem pretty blasé to him, which seems pretty typical of Isaac and Derek, too. It's like, "Oh, I got stabbed with a sword, that sucks. I got tortured by having my bones broken, but it's cool, I just had to reset the bones. Oh, someone cut off my finger? I'll just stitch it back on real quick." So maybe that accident with his Dad was a bad thing, maybe it was proof that he was a shitty dad back then, but either way, Scott believes himself to be okay now, and he's got way bigger fish to fry than his dad's guilty conscience, either way. And on that note, Scott returns to the job at hand, which is Mission: Save Lydia & Stiles.


Stiles and Isaac are still trying to get more answers from Meredith, so Stiles kneels in front of Meredith and tries to coach her a bit. "Okay, focus on the sounds around you, on what you're hearing. Just focus on the silence." Isaac adds, "Listen to the silence," but Stiles isn't really appreciative of Isaac's backup. "Okay, will you just let me handle it?" Stiles snaps. "It's just--Isaac, please--I have more experience with banshees." LOL! I'd say so, Stiles! Isaac sighs and retorts, "Yeah, and mental patients," which was pretty mean for Isaac. Simmer down, you two! Finally, Meredith interrupts their bickering to ask, "Isn't anyone going to get that?" They don't understand what she's saying, so she has to clarify that Stiles' cell phone is ringing (even though it totally isn't). He pulls it out and humors her by pretending to answer it, and then telling her that the call is for her. She takes the phone from him, puts it to her ear, listens for a moment, and then hangs it up and hands it back to him.


"They say...'Coup de foudre,'" Meredith informs them, in a perfect French accent. For the curious, during the last Teen Wolf marathon on MTV, they had what they called "Pack Facts" scrolling across the bottom during all the episodes, and one of the facts was that Meredith uses "phone calls" as a way to make sense of the voices she hears of the dead spirits who are trying to communicate with her. I think that's pretty neat, and it totally makes sense, given what we saw in "Echo House," so I can't wait to see more of it. Stiles and Isaac apparently don't take French at school, (or Spanish, for that matter, which is what Stiles originally thought she was speaking) even despite the fact that Isaac's own girlfriend is French and whose whole family seems to be fluent. Scott comes in, and once he hears it, realizes where Lydia's being kept. FINALLY.

Over at the Yukimura household, Kira and Noshiko's Go board is still out on the table when Kira returns home to find her mother. Papa Yukimura insists that he has no idea where Noshiko is. "But, I do know she's trying to keep you out of this for as long as possible." Unfortunately for him, that answer doesn't impress Kira one bit. "Well, she should have thought of that before she had me magically rebuild a samurai sword." Papa Y concedes that this is definitely not going to be easy for her, and that she's going to have to learn a lot very quickly, but Kira just rolls her eyes. "Yeah, like board games?" He informs her that in Korea, the game of Go is called "Batok," and gets into more exposition about how the game works. Basically, there are different styles of play: aggressive, passive, orthodox, etc. He sits down at the game board, and Kira asks him if he can tell who is who. As it turns out, he can, because the novice player is always black, because black always goes first, as we learned earlier. Papa Y points out that the game board is set up in Noshiko's style of play--aggressive, natch. Kira insists that her mom set up the game board to represent the nogitsune, but her dad isn't so sure.


Down in what I'm going to assume is the Argent's apartment complex's basement, she holds up her newly finished silver arrowhead, which has a fleur-de-lis stamp near the tip, and compares it to her dad's remaining silver bullet. "What am I missing?" she whispers to herself, but before she can consider the answer, she gets a phone call from Scott, informing her that they know where Lydia is.


At the abandoned Oak Creek internment camp, Noshiko stomps her way toward the gate in those amazing black platform boots of hers, with the five oni marching in lockstep right behind her. She looks badass as hell, basically, and is able to break through the gates when one of the oni uses their ninjada to slice the locked chain right off of the bars.


Derek called CHRIS of all people to help him out, and the two of them were successfully able to get the twins out of the coyote den and over to the loft. HOW AMAZING IS THAT. Not only is Derek helping the twins, who he doesn't even LIKE, but Chris, a former werewolf hunter and current werewolf-ally comes and helps them get away with other fellow hunters! I am so, so, SO impressed with all of the character development shown in this episode, omgggg. Derek deposits them on his couch, and then returns to Chris to discuss the hunters.


He pulls out the buckshot shells that he found on the ground as he and Chris agree that Araya (the Latina hunter lady who cut off Peter's finger) wasn't involved because she uses different ones. However, when Chris takes the shell and examines it further, his eyes grow wide with shock and fear. "It's not possible," he mutters. I'm sticking a pin in this, and we'll discuss it more in the next recap, because there's no time for it now. Derek's interest is definitely piqued by that comment, but before they can discuss it further, Chris gets a call from Allison, telling him that they know where Lydia is. She tells him she's on her way, but Chris wants her to wait until he joins her to head over. "I can't, Dad!" she argues. "There's no time! It's already night, there's no time, Dad." He continues to order her to wait, but she hangs up. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.


Meanwhile, Stiles, Scott and Isaac are in Stiles' Jeep, on their way to Oak Creek to meet up with everyone else. Stiles notices that Scott looks extremely worried, and asks if he's okay, but Scott assures him he's fine, and tells him not to worry about him. Isaac, ever the blunt one, decides that it's time to point out the elephant in the room. "Alright, I'm gonna say it," he begins, which catches both boys' attention. "You look like you're dying. You're pale, and you're thin, and you look like you're getting worse." Scott looks at Isaac, all, "WTF MAN," but Isaac totally has a point--Stiles is basically ghost-white at this point, with super-dark half-moons under his eyes and really dry, cracked lips, and he just in general looks like he could keel over at any moment. "We're all sitting here thinking it," Isaac continues. "When we find the other you, is he gonna look like he's getting better?" I hate to spoil you, Isaac, but no, he isn't--both Stiles' look equally sickly.










(via teenwolf)
Scott sighs, and asks what happens if Nogitstiles gets hurt, but at this point, Stiles is too physically and emotionally exhausted to give a fuck either way. "What do you mean, like if he dies, do I die?" Stiles asks weakly. "I don't care. Just so long as no one else dies because of me." He looks over at Scott, who looks HEARTBROKEN at this answer, and elaborates. "I remember everything I did, Scott. I remember pushing that sword into you. I remember twisting it." Scott insists that it wasn't him, it was the nogitsune, but Stiles still remembers it happening with his own body, and that's all the evidence he needs to feel guilty about it. "You guys gotta promise me. You can't let anyone else get hurt because of me." Even Isaac, who is not Stiles' biggest fan, looks super sad to hear this, and looks over at Scott, who sighs and promises Stiles that he won't let that happen.


















(via teenwolf)
At Oak Creek, Nogitstiles is on the alert, listening to the sounds around him, when Lydia realizes what's really going on. "You're nervous, aren't you?" she manages to rasp through the tears still wet on her cheeks and under her eyes. "You know they're coming. You know they're going to kill you," she sing-songs. Nogitstiles just grits his teeth and corners Lydia by bracing himself against the wall with his arm right above her head. "Well, that's exactly why I'm keeping you SO close," he purrs, his face just millimeters from hers. Terrified, she turns away from him again. GOD, the nogitsune is such a creep!

























(via teenwolf)










The boys park the Jeep outside Oak Creek, where they meet up with Allison and Kira, each with their weapon of choice--Allison has her usual black bow and quiver strapped to her back, while Kira has her newly repaired katana. They all form a huddle outside the gate, and Scott looks at them all with a tiny bit of fear in his face, before starting his pre-fight pep talk. "We've done this before, guys. A couple weeks ago, we were standing just like this, and we saved Malia. Remember?" He looks around at them, and Allison nods at him encouragingly. "That was a total stranger," Scott continues. "This is Lydia." Stiles gets a hard look on his face as he gathers up his strength. Allison turns to them, and exclaims, "I'm here to save my best friend." Scott adds, "I came to save mine," as he looks over at Stiles. Isaac, not to be outdone, quips, "I just didn't feel like doing any homework," which earns him a chuckle from me and a side-eye from Kira. Whatever, Isaac totally loves all of them, regardless of what he says, and he would fight like this for any of them, no question.

























(via blondiepoison)
The pack (or the part that is present, anyway) takes a deep breath and heads inside the abandoned internment camp. It takes them no time at all to find Noshiko and the oni, the former of whom immediately calls out, "Kira! Turn around and go home, and take your friends with you." Kira informs her she can't, and Allison immediately pulls an arrow from her quiver, notches it, and aims it right at her new friend's mother. "When I looked at the game, I realized who I was actually playing," Kira admits. "You."

Scott and Stiles left Isaac, Kira and Allison to deal with Noshiko while they went to go find Lydia, and they run through the halls until Scott stops, takes a deep whiff of the air, and determines that Lydia is in the building before leading Stiles in her direction. WHY DID THEY BRING STILES? Like, I get that he doesn't want to put his friends in danger for him, but he looks like he's about to pass out, and it just feels way too risky to allow him to be so close to where the nogitsune is hanging out.

Back outside, Allison orders Noshiko to call them off, confident and strong like the Argent matriarch that she is. "You think you could take him alive?" Noshiko asks coldly. "You think you could save him?" Kira reminds her that she doesn't know for sure that they can't, but Noshiko claims she tried something like that seven years ago, and it didn't work, which intrigues me, because HOW? WHY? WHO? "Your friend is gone," she insists. Kira doesn't buy it, though. "Are you sure? Or, if Stiles doesn't have to die, maybe Rhys didn't have to die, either." The two oni backing her up immediately swing their swords around and get into a defensive position, as Noshiko gives her daughter quite a condescending smile. "I see I'm no longer the fox now, Kira. You are. But, the nogitsune is still MY demon to bury."

The oni disappear into a poof of smoke, just as we cut to Lydia and Nogitstiles. He's locking them into another one of those rooms with the wrought-iron gates, and jumps anxiously when he hears Scott and Stiles' thundering footsteps above them. This gives Lydia a tiny little bit of ammunition to turn the tables on him. "They're here!" Lydia proclaims with as much glee as she can muster under the current circumstances. "And I don't need to scream to know that they're going to KILL you." Nogitstiles proclaims this to be just according to plan, and reveals that the real reason he brought her was so that way she could pinpoint exactly when his death was about to occur. Why, you ask? Well, as it turns out, he actually did keep the last kaiken that he stole from Noshiko in "De-Void," which he pulls out of his pocket just as all five of the oni materialize in the room with them. Lydia immediately backs away from them as far as she can, as each of the oni aim their swords at Nogitstiles and approach him. "Because, only when they're close can I do THIS," Nogitstiles finishes, as he BREAKS NOSHIKO'S LAST KAIKEN. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Outside, Noshiko can sense that something is very wrong, and when she opens her hand, there is a firefly in her palm whose light eventually flickers out before it evaporates into a puff of black smoke, just like in "Silverfinger."  Kira, Allison and Isaac can tell this is bad news, and when Isaac asks what the FUCK that means, Nogitstiles decides to make his appearance known and provide them with an answer. "It MEANS there's been a change in ownership," he proclaims, as he arrives with all five of the oni behind him, at his command. "Now, they belong to me." THIS IS TERRIBLE! And as much as I enjoy Noshiko's badassery, as far as I'm concerned, this is all her fault. Not only did she summon the damn nogitsune in the first place, but she completely failed at getting rid of it! Like, she KNEW when he took that kaiken from her that this could happen, and yet she seems totally shocked at this turn of events. UGH. Also, does this mean she's gonna die? Or is she just a human now?

When we return from the break, a fight between the McCall pack and the oni is in full swing. Kira's eyes are glowing as she kicks so much ass with that sword! I know people don't seem to think she's that badass, but she NEVER manages to get hurt, not like the werewolves, so I think she's pretty impressive. And naturally, Nogitstiles isn't in the fray at all--instead, much like Noshiko is doing now, (and as Peter has been known to do, as well) he's hiding behind some kind of structure so he can't get hurt while the oni does his dirty work. Isaac, on the other hand, is fully wolfed out, and though he doesn't have Kira's precision in fighting, he does have strength AND reflexes, which are definitely an asset. Allison has her bow out and is shooting off arrows left and right, but unfortunately for her, the oni seem particularly adept at slicing them in midair with their ninjadas before they can hit them.

Lydia is alone in that locked room, after Nogitstiles and the oni went kapoof, and when Scott and Stiles show up to find her, she immediately starts freaking out. "No! No, no, no, no! What? Why are you here?" Stiles is like, "Duh girl, we're here to save you?" Unfortunately, Lydia already made it clear earlier that she didn't want to be found, at least not yet. "You weren't supposed to be here! Didn't you get my message?" I don't know if she means the one Allison found in her car, or the one she relayed through Meredith, but either way, she is VERY distraught, and for very, very, VERY good reason. Scott asks her what the fuck is happening, but Lydia just asks him who else came with them to fight.

Back at the fight, Isaac's shirt and torso has already been sliced open by an oni sword, and he gets pushed into a bunch of metal barrels. Allison runs to his aid, and holds her bow horizontally as she uses it to beat the oni away from him. Seriously, it's an incredible move, see for yourself! This move gives Isaac the time to get up and get back on the defensive. Kira is taking on two oni by herself, as her mom watches nervously on the sidelines. Allison takes aim again, and Isaac turns around to ask Noshiko how the fuck they're supposed to stop them. "YOU CAN'T!" she screams frustratedly, which kind of pisses me off, tbh. You can't really complain about the oni turning on you when the whole reason the oni are here in the first place is because of YOUR ACTIONS.













(via emmyrossums)
Get ready for a lot of cutting back and forth, because this is seriously the most stressful final-five-minutes of a penultimate episode in TW history. Isaac gets slashed in the gut with a sword again, just as Scott, Stiles, and Lydia are running through the tunnels in an effort to get back to the fight and turn the tides. Stiles is wearing down fast, and eventually, he collapses on the ground, leaving Lydia to stay behind to keep watch over him. Probably for the best that they stayed away from the fight, honestly, considering even well-trained people like Allison are having trouble fighting them.

Isaac is a decent fighter, though a little clumsy, but since he's also up against two oni, his abdomen and thighs keep getting slashed, which is slowly weakening him as his body attempts to heal itself. As Allison watches Isaac getting cut down again and again, she aims her arrow at the oni and waits for the right time to let it fly. Once she does, she reaches for her LAST arrow, and takes her aim again. The camera zooms toward the arrowhead, and I think I can make out the fleur-de-lis on it, which means it's the silver arrowhead she made! Isaac gets hit again across the chest and falls to his knees, and just as the oni lifts up his sword to aim the killing blow, she lets her arrow fly, and it lodges itself right into the oni's heart (or, where the heart would be, if demons had them).

The oni drops its sword onto the ground, and a greenish-yellow light comes from the wound right before the oni straight up EXPLODES into a puff of black smoke with so much force that the entire area shakes as if they're in an earthquake. HOLY FUCKING SHIT SHE KILLED IT! The oni are so shocked by the blast that they immediately go poof, and Allison looks SO FUCKING PROUD when she realizes what she just did. Nogitstiles is completely stunned and pissed that she discovered the one weakness of the oni, so he makes one last play before he leaves for the evening. Right as Allison is realizing the implications of  the silver arrowhead against the oni, one quickly rematerializes in front of her just long enough to take advantage of the fact that she's distracted to stab her right through the chest with his sword. NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE. I STILL CAN'T HANDLE THIS.

Allison's eyes are wide with shock as she realizes what just happened, and down in the tunnel, Lydia lifts up her head and shrieks "ALLISONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN" in the most heartbreakingly soul-crushing wail of grief that a banshee has ever wailed. Stiles is completely passed out under Lydia as she breaks down. Scott makes it to the fence just as the oni pulls the sword from her body, and he runs toward her as she falls to the ground. SHIT SHIT SHIT I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING. In "Riddled," Allison got all those voicemails in Japanese about the Oak Creek internment camp that said that all internees had to stay ten feet away from outside fences. I'm pretty terrible at judging distance just by sight, but I'm guessing that Allison's death happened within ten feet of those fences, which means those voicemails were actually a WARNING. From whom, I have no idea, though I wonder if somehow Meredith wasn't trying to pass the message along from the spirits in the camp, or maybe the other banshees she's connected to? She is a banshee/harbinger of death, and she uses phones in order to process the information she gathers from her abilities, so it would make sense. Still, this is TERRIBLE AWFUL HORRIBLE AND I'M STILL SO DISTRAUGHT ABOUT IT.

Nogitstiles, realizing that Allison's basically a goner and hoping that she'll be unable to pass her revelation about the arrowheads, takes his oni and teleport elsewhere. Scott holds Allison in his lap as he falls to his knees, and Isaac, who is too injured to manage to stay in wolf form, watches in complete shock as he realizes that his girlfriend is going to die. Kira starts to sob as her mother grabs onto her for dear life, and they just stand and watch. Scott can barely string a sentence together, but there's only one thing Allison wants to know right now--"Did you find her? Is she okay? Is Lydia safe?" Scott brushes the hair from her face and assures her that she is as safe and okay as any of them can be at the moment. He sees the blood gushing from under her hand where it's pressed against her wound, and he grabs her wrist desperately in order to try to take her pain. He starts to panic when the ability won't work, but Allison just gasps, "It's because it doesn't hurt." SORRY FRIENDS, THIS IS THE END FOR ME. I can't. I can't.

There must have been some part of Scott that thought she could make it, and when he realizes she's totally accepted the fact that she's dying, he starts to break down. "It's okay," she assures him. "It's okay. It's okay, it's okay. It's perfect. I'm in the arms of my first love. The first person I've ever loved. The person I'll always love. I love you, Scott--Scott McCall." And, I'm literally sobbing. Again. I'm sorry, guys, I have no idea why I'm so emotional about Allison Argent, but I AM. There's blood on her lips, now, and Scott begs and pleads with her not to leave him like this, but Allison suddenly remembers the oni, and tries to communicate one last message.

"You have to tell my dad! You have to tell my dad! Tell him--" She starts breathing really shallowly, and after a moment, finally passes on. Her archery-gloved hand falls to the ground, and Scott completely breaks down. Correction--EVERYONE breaks down. Scott, Isaac, Kira, Lydia. James Vincent McMorrow's "Look Out" starts to play as Scott gently kisses her forehead. In the tunnels, Lydia sobs over Stiles' unconscious body. Chris runs up to the entrance, guns out and ready to jump into the battle, but he stops dead in his tracks when he realizes the fight is over. He sees Kira and Noshiko trying to hold in their tears, Isaac curled up in a ball and rocking back and forth, and Scott holding Allison's body and looking like he doesn't know whether he'd rather cry, throw up, or die himself. When Chris realizes what happened, he literally about falls over, and I seriously just want to hug everyone.

Next episode: Season 3B finale! Time for the aftermath of Allison's death and the final showdown against that goddamned nogitsune. Also, there is lots of chaos at the hospital and sheriff's station, because when things go wrong in Beacon Hills, everything breaks down at once.

Click HERE to move onto my next recap of Teen Wolf!

[screencaps via KissThemGoodbye]

NOTES/SPECULATION/QUESTIONS:
-To say that the pack feels badly would be an understatement. Scott lost his first love and close friend; Lydia lost her best friend and sister, the only girlfriend she has who knows the real Lydia; Stiles lost a good friend and packmate and is probably feeling immense guilt over the fact that the nogitsune was connected to him; Isaac lost his first girlfriend and is probably feeling very guilty because 1) she died protecting him, and 2) he overheard her last words with Scott, so there's the confusion over wondering how she really felt about him, and the guilt that comes from being a little jealous, and the pain that comes from never having gotten any closure. Even Kira became pretty close with Allison through the last couple of weeks, feels partially responsible for her death because of her mother's role in it, and probably feels like she doesn't deserve to miss her for that reason, as well as the fact that they weren't best friends like she was with everyone else. Chris lost his only daughter and non-evil family member, after already losing his wife and sister so recently. Seriously, he's basically the hunter equivalent of Derek Hale, and if they don't go to each other for comfort I am going to be seriously disappointed. Basically, Allison's death impacted EVERYONE, and there's no way that this isn't going to dramatically change things. God, i miss her already.

-I'm already salivating at the thought of Season 4 because I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT BANSHEES RIGHT FUCKING MEOW OKAY. PLEASE JUST GIVE IT TO ME.

-So, how do you guys think Sheriff is covering up Stiles (and the rest of the kids') involvement in all of this? Like, surely SOMEONE outside of their group of friends has noticed that it was Stiles (or the nogitsune wearing his face) that has caused all of these problems, with the bomb at the sheriff's station, the Coach getting shot by the arrow, Malia getting tied up in Eichen House, the trap at the hospital with the live wire. I mean, just Stiles being a minor and running away from home would be enough to at least warrant an interview or something, right?

-Do you think the nogitsune's lesson on tricksters is a hint about stuff that will be covered next season? We did, after all, just get a new werecoyote character this season, and the coyote is a huge part of Native American/South American mythology, so it's possible that could be something to dig into. As for the raven, I'm wondering if it's not related to Lydia, considering banshees are often associated with The Morrigan, or the Triple Goddess, who is pretty well known for taking the shape of a raven. Either way, I'm really fucking excited.

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