Teen Wolf Season 4, Episode 4: "The Benefactor" Recap/Review
God, what a fucking PERFECT EPISODE, am I right? Its perfection was made even more obvious after the shit-show of a time I had trying to watch the episode last night. MTV in my area somehow froze on a still frame for a commercial for that new show that appears to be a bunch of stoners making munchie food for their fellow stoner judges, and it got stuck on that for like, two whole hours! So, I switched to a livestream online that proceeded to drop out every other minute or so, so I missed 3/4 of the important stuff until I could finally download the episode to watch it f'realsies. THEN, the download I found had the dialogue audio missing during the Lydia scene, so I had to desperately track down ANOTHER version from a non-MTV source with the dialogue audio. The struggle is real.
But, yeah, you guys don't care about that stuff-- the point is, this episode made me happy in so many ways that it was more or less worth all the effort in frustration! We saw that Derek is not only confident all of a sudden, but he's also super helpful AND good at fighting? AMAZING. Scott trying to channel Derek in his "So, you've been bitten by an alpha," pep-talk? HILARIOUSLY, EMBARRASSINGLY AWESOME. Stiles and Scott's usual Hardy Boys routine in trying to deal with Liam? Stiles and Malia's full moon together? Kira and Lydia being their flawless selves? ALLISON BEING THE KEY TO EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE EVER? I seriously have no complaints (except NO GARRETT I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU! WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!) Basically, I'm just flailing at this point so it's probably for the best if we just dig into it, yeah? Buckle up, babies, because this is gonna be a doozy.
Previously, on Teen Wolf: Beacon Hills' newest assassin, a big, bald, mouthless man known as the Mute, who speaks through an electronic gizmo, killed an entire family of wendigos who somehow managed to live in town for god knows how long without suspicion or detection. Lydia gave Malia her math notes to help her study, but instead of algebra, they were actually a computer code that she seems to have written in one of her banshee fugue states. The newest freshman, Liam, who kicked Stiles and Scott's asses in lacrosse, was revealed to have been kicked out of his old school for whatever reason. Scott and Kira finally got over their awkward limbo of a relationship and made out like a Disney prince and his princess in the high school hallway. Sean the wendigo was the last of the Walcott family to be killed by the Mute, and almost ate Liam on the roof of the hospital. Scott fought to let him free, which resulted in Liam tumbling off of the edge of the roof, holding on for dear life with his fingers. Scott's hands were tied, literally, and in a desperate attempt to keep Liam from falling three to four stories to his death, he latched onto Liam's wrist with his teeth until Sean was killed and Scott could haul him back onto the roof. Unfortunately for Scott AND Liam, Scott isn't a beta anymore, he's an ALPHA, which means his bite can and will turn people into werewolves. Oh, and Araya told him that if he bit an innocent person, she would come after him. Oops!
IT'S A FULL MOON, YAYYYYY! Thank goodness! It's been way too long since we've had one, so I was so pumped to see all of the full moon-induced shenanigans. We begin on the roof of the hospital, where Sheriff Stilinski and his deputies, including Parrish, are investigating Sean's murder. From the sound of it, there are also what sounds like news reporter helicopters overhead, trying to get a shot of the scene as well, as though a brutal murder of a teenager is actually a rarity in this infernal town. Sheriff takes Parrish aside and instructs him to get everyone off the roof and attempt to get him five minutes or so before the medical examiner shows up, because he's brought in an expert he wants to have examine the crime scene really quick. Parrish hilariously replies, "You have an expert on teenage cannibals?" BAHAHAHA. Yes, yes he does. Sheriff just kind of gives him a look, like, "What the hell am I supposed to do?" so Parrish reluctantly orders all of the deputies off the roof.
(via makos-lightningrod)
Once the coast is clear, Sheriff turns to call Derek, only to find him already standing on the edge of the roof, taking a look at the body, which both startles and exasperates Sheriff. He wastes no time informing Derek that Scott said the boy was a wendigo, and Derek in turn clarifies it for him. "Cannibalistic shapeshifters. But, I haven't heard of them in Beacon Hills in a LONG time. Must have been well-hidden." Yeah, I'd say they were-- I don't know the exact feeding habits of a wendigo, but since Sean had only gone at the very least, like, 12 hours before he was unable to resist chowing down on a deputy, I'm guessing they're each probably eating a body or so a day. That freezer they had contained what looked like at LEAST several dozen bodies, so they were probably set for a while. ANYWAY, Derek seems to catch a scent, and looks around some more while he asks Sheriff how many people were up on the roof when the fight happened, aside from Scott. Sheriff claims Scott said that it was just Sean and the axe-murderer, who Scott described as not having a mouth. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" Sheriff asks, but Derek is too distracted by a smear of blood on the ground next to his right shoe. Derek declares that there was someone else on the roof with them, who he guesses is a young male. Sheriff assumes that he must have caught a scent of the boy's fear, but Derek's like, "Uh, and this little puddle of his blood on the ground that you missed. Aren't you supposed to be the SHERIFF?"
Meanwhile, Stiles has just arrived to Scott's house, where Stiles is hurriedly telling Scott that he filled his dad in on all the details he could before he left to go check out the crime scene. Scott is clearly panicking, and asks if he told his dad about Liam, but Stiles argues that since Scott didn't even tell him anything about Liam, that would be pretty difficult. When he asks his bestest bro where Liam is, Scott sighs before vaguely stating that he's upstairs, "lying down." OH SCOTT. You can tell he's in crisis mode because he's actually referring back to Derek's method of supernatural-schooling (you know, stalking and generally being a creep), which he should know went horribly the first time, and then turned it up to 11. Stiles gives him a confused look, so Scott takes him upstairs, where poor Liam is completely bound in duct tape, including over his mouth, has been placed in Scott's bathtub. LOLOL FOREVER. When Scott pulls back the shower curtain to show him what he did, Liam immediately starts groaning a muffled plea of help through the duct tape, and Stiles' face is immediately like, "ARE YOU SHITTING ME, SCOTT?" He slowly closes the shower curtain again and takes his dumbass apex predator of a best friend into his room for a little talking-to, which is seriously HILARIOUS. It's all in Posey and Dylan's delivery, my paltry-ass recapping abilities cannot do it justice.
Oh Stiles. Oh Scott. This is already such a mess. Scott acknowledges that this may just be the most inadvertently stupid thing he's ever done, and insists that he called Stiles because Stiles always knows what to do. Stiles just has this face, like he's both super angry at Scott for putting them both in this position, and also super loving it because as much as they hate all of the soul-crushingly terrible stuff that happens, he still digs being the guy you go to for answers, you know? Besides, Stiles and Scott are bros for life, so when Scott panics and kidnaps a fellow lacrosse teammate who he just accidentally bit and maybe turned into a werewolf, Stiles is gonna do whatever he's gotta do to make things right. Even if those things don't end up helping whatsoever, as we're about to see. SO, when Scott asks him what they're gonna do now, Stiles decides that they're gonna plop the still-bound Liam into a chair and have themselves a little talk. I really wish I know how much time passed between when Scott bit Liam and when all of this went down, because it would really help for timeline purposes. Unfortunately, Jeff doesn't give a fuck about timelines, sigh.
Stiles sits Liam down and tells him the rules: basically, they're gonna remove the duct tape over his mouth, and they'll keep it off, so long as Liam doesn't scream or otherwise make a noise to indicate to neighbors that they kidnapped a teenager (for the second time, I might add-- remember Scott and Stiles' brilliant idea to steal a police paddywagon to hold Jackson until they could figure out what to do with him?) Liam acquiesces to this request, because he has no choice, so Stiles takes the tape off and starts their speech. "Okay, Liam. Now, you've seen a lot of confusing things tonight. And, more confusing things are going to happen because of the confusing things that happened tonight. Do you understand?" Scott frowns, and Liam, who is visibly fuming, sarcastically retorts that no, he has no idea what the fuck he's talking about. Scott picks it up from there. "Liam... what happened to you-- what I did to you-- which I had to do in order to save you? ...It's gonna change you." Stiles adds, "Unless it kills you," which both he and Scott immediately agree was a stupid thing to say. Liam looks like he's starting to break down in tears, so Scott immediately kneels down in front of him and assures him that he's not going to die. Of course, Stiles can't help but interject, "Probably not," which only makes him start crying worse.
His tears look super super fake, which I immediately noticed, but for whatever reason, Stiles and Scott stupidly buy it 100%, even though Nogistiles literally pulled the exact same trick on them a half-dozen episodes ago in "De-Void." Overcome by guilt, the boys quickly unbind him and apologize profusely for what they did thus far tonight. Suddenly, Liam grabs the chair he was sitting in and SWINGS IT at Scott and Stiles, shattering it into a million pieces and knocking Scott flat on his ass. Stiles is seriously APPALLED at his behavior, and is like, "LIAM! What the fuck are you doing?" which earns him a nasty right hook to the face. Liam runs frantically down the hall, and his sock-clad feet slide a little bit on the floor when he realizes that his ankle is magically healed.
Before he can consider how the fuck THAT'S possible, Stiles and Scott both manage to peel themselves off the floor and stumble out Scott's bedroom door. When Stiles sees Liam standing in the hallway, he calls out "GET HIM!" before the two rush toward Liam and tackle him, sending all three of them rolling down the steps. They all land on the floor, where Liam desperately tries to crawl out from under them and scamper out the door. Stiles and Scott blindly try to tackle and grab him, but by the time they open their eyes, they learn that they were actually just grabbing each others' legs. PRICELESS SCENE. Stiles' foot is all up against Scott's face, and he shoves it away, only to see that the front door is wide open, and Liam is nowhere to be found. "Your plans suck too!" Scott snits in frustration, an observation to which Stiles concedes with a guilty shrug. Well, shit!
Across town, Peter has seemingly just arrived to the loft, where he turns off the security alarm and calls out for his nephew to see if he's home. He paces around the room of what is probably the darkest loft in the history of dark lofts, reading what looks like the report Braedon got for them regarding the Walcott murders. He's just in the middle of yelling for Derek again when a familiar military-tomahawk flips toward Peter and embeds itself into Peter's chest, knocking him to his knees before he collapses onto his back on the floor. The Mute skulks toward him in all his mouthless, creepy glory, while Peter stares at him. He gasps, "Derek?" but the Mute just holds out his arm so he can type a message into his little voice doohicky. "Don't worry, Peter. Derek is next." NOOOO. TITLE CARD!
Its the next morning when we cut over to the Stilinski residence, where Stiles has plopped a big carpetbag onto his bed in front of Malia, full of chains and wrist restraints that look like they were stolen from Eichen House. "I hate full moons," Malia whines in response to seeing the chains that will be locking her up tonight. Stiles promises they'll get easier, which he knows from experience, after helping Scott finally get control what feels like forever ago. Malia takes a look at the leather wrist guards, which are cracked and ripped in some places, and retorts that she hopes so, since they look like they're not going to last much longer, which kind of suggests that this is not the first full moon that Malia has used these with Stiles' help. I think the showrunners said that the time jump between seasons was 1-2 months, so I'm guessing she did one full moon with them in between season 3B and season 4, and now this is probably the second. "Well, let's try to make tonight the last time we have to use them!" Stiles suggests optimistically, as he tests restraints out by wrapping and securing one of the leather straps around her wrist, and adds that there's a possibility Liam might end up needing them instead.
Malia watches as he binds her wrist, and asks him if he thinks Liam will end up being a werewolf or something else, but Stiles grimly retorts that they don't even know if he's going to live, period. I love how they keep acting like Liam could die when we allllll know that it's totally not going to happen. Naturally, just as Stiles has finished securing one of her wrists and asks her if it's too tight, the Sheriff walks in and immediately assumes that his son and his girlfriend are into some kind of bondage play. Which isn't the first time someone has assumed that-- remember how Coach assumed that Stiles is some kind of nymphomaniac who has group sex with his packmates and likes to be tied up in chains, based on all the weirdo things he's seen him do/say? I still laugh about that frequently, tbh. Stiles swears that it isn't what it looks like, but his dad just grips onto his thermos of coffee and walks back down the hall, insisting that he doesn't even want to know. "There's nothing to know!" Stiles calls out, but Malia just looks at him in confusion before using her free hand to undo the leather strap around her wrist. "I don't get it," Malia mutters with a sigh. LOL! I guess she missed all of the awkward sex jokes that come with puberty while she was off being chased by cougars, yeah? That is so hilarious.
Over at school, Lydia and Kira are in biology class, where Kira is watching Lydia work on the code that code from last week by transcribing it into a program on her Macbook. "These are your math notes?" Kira asks incredulously, as she looks at page after page of what looks like gibberish. "No wonder Malia is failing." Well, that would probably be because someone had the bright idea of throwing her into junior level classes when she hasn't been in school since 3rd grade, but okay. After Lydia determines that it's partially her math notes, but mostly a computer code of some kind, Kira asks if she remembers writing it, but of course she doesn't. "But, considering my drawing of the tree led us to the Nemeton, I should probably figure out what it means before it starts to kill us." Always a good idea, IMO! Kira suggests that it could be an enigma code like the Allies used, and Lydia just gives her this look like she doesn't understand how Kira would know that. "Remember, my dad's a World War II buff? My mom was, well, in it." Arden's delivery and the lip bite that followed it was PERFECT, god, I love her so much. Everyone is so good this week, I can't stop raving about it!
Lydia believes that what they're actually looking at is a variation of what I think she said was a Vishniac cypher, for which I cannot for the life of me find any kind of description anywhere. I'll take her word for it! Kira asks if she thinks she can crack it, but Lydia seems to suggest that without the key, it's pretty hopeless. Speaking of keys, Lydia's amazing mama, their
biology teacher, arrives with a set of keys, which she hands to Lydia, along with a warning. "Remember the rules," Mama Martin explains matter-of-factly. "No more than six people allowed at the lake house, stay out of the WINE, and, if anything gets broken, it's getting added to YOUR credit card debt." Lydia chirps in agreement and goes to grab the keys, but her mother snatches them away before adding, "And lock up the basement! From all the scratch marks I found on the walls, it looked like a pack of wild animals got down there!" Lydia smiles widely as her mother hands over the keys, while Kira just tries to keep her face neutral because of the actual pack of wild animals that was down there during the last full moon. BAHAHA. Oh god, the uninformed parents on this show are SO OBLIVIOUS.
Outside, the freshman bus must have arrived super late, because three of the new characters-- lacrosse cutie Garrett, who we already met last week, his girlfriend Violet, who has a VERY interesting bolo necklace with a big metal and onyx pendant on it, and BHHS's new cute, young gay boy, Mason, who seems to be replacing our sweet dimpled prince Danny Mahealani-- have just arrived at school. The time-space continuum of this show is very much like the one in Gossip Girl; sometimes it's breakfast in one place, and like late at night in others, and sometimes only half of the kids are in school at a given time. It's madness! ANYWAY, Magic Man's "Every Day" plays while Garrett complains that he doesn't want to spend another Friday night watching movies. He insists to Mason that there has to be something more exciting going on, but Mason reminds them that they are freshman/fourteen years old, so it's not like they're going to go clubbing. Violet cuts them off and informs them they'll be going to Mason's to watch a movie at 9, just as she and her beau head off to class or practice or whatever. God, these kids look so young! Although Garrett and Violet both are much more grown-up than you would think, as we will see later.
Mason is about to head toward the school as well when he runs into a super-flustered looking Liam and asks him why he wasn't on the bus. Liam looks pretty strung out and is still trying to catch his breath when he claims that he ran to school, which Mason finds pretty weird, since Liam lives three miles away from school and all. "I... just started running," Liam lies, badly, and Mason's just like, "Weren't you just in the ER for your leg last night, ya doof?" Then, of course, Mason notices the slightly-bloody bandage on his arm where Scott bit him and asks him about it. When Liam looks down at it, he gets overwhelmed by the combination of 1) the realization that all the weird shit he saw yesterday actually happened, and 2) the double whammy of "holy shit I'm a werewolf this is weird" feelings and "holy shit I'm a werewolf AND it's a full moon tonight this is really really horrifyingly weird" feelings. His senses are so heightened that he loses control over them altogether, and he is quickly overcome by the noises around him as he sweats anxiously. He leans over a nearby railing and tries to catch his breath, looking like he's about to throw up, and it's clear Mason is seriously concerned for his friend. Liam looks up, only to see Scott lurking a couple yards away, staring at him, Derek Hale-styles. When he looks back, Scott's gone, and Liam is just so DONE with all of it that he makes some lame excuse to get away from Mason's intense interrogation.
Liam finally makes his way into the school, though it takes all of two seconds for Scott to catch up to him. He tries to rush away, but naturally, Stiles is coming from the opposite direction to block him in. Scott insists that they need to talk, but of course, all Liam knows for sure is that he almost got killed by some cannibal and then got bitten by some weirdo that looked like Scott, but with fangs and mutton chops, and then he got KIDNAPPED by Scott and his weirdo friend, so he's basically just ready to move to another state. Which, really, is probably a good idea that everyone in this town should do. Scott begs him to stop and let him talk for one second, so Liam finally just gestures rudely at him to get him to get it over with already. Scott takes a moment to channel his inner Derek Hale, but as the words fall out of his mouth, you can tell that even he is cringing internally at just how nuts he sounds. "Liam... we're brothers now!" Scott begins, to which Liam is like, "What the FUCK is wrong with you? I just met you, and you bit me." Stiles' eyes are shooting mega-daggers at Scott in a silent order to stop talking, but Scott's on a roll. "The bite... The bite is a gift!" Stiles is just ready to just smack Scott over the head at this point, and even Scott is like "That sounded even worse than I expected, if you can imagine that."
Stiles picks it up for his brother, and snits, "You! You-- we're trying to help you, you little runt!" Liam retorts that kidnapping isn't exactly HELPING him at all, to which Stiles, ever the Sheriff of the county's son, quips, "Just to clarify-- Scott kidnapped you, okay? I... aided and abetted." Scott tries to appeal to him on a human level, by explaining that he's gone through this before (which should at least be something Liam can understand, considering he literally saw Scott IN WOLF FORM, up close and personal), and maintains that something major is happening to him right now, something that Liam needs their help to deal with.
(via makos-lightningrod)
Liam seems to know deep inside that yes, Scott is totally right, but he doesn't want to believe it, so he turns to contained rage-mode. "Nothing's happening to me," Liam insists in a deadly calm voice, before he angrily rips off the bandage on his arm, revealing that his bite has already healed, thanks to the impending full moon's superpowers. "Nothing!" Scott looks completely thrown, because the healing means Liam is indeed becoming some kind of supernatural creature, which makes this whole situation way more real, and Stiles just staring at him with this look of half-horror, half-sympathy, like, "Oh, kid, you have no idea just how weird/bad/terrifying things are about to become for you."
The high-schooler contingent of the McCall Pack meets up in the bus bay to discuss what the fuck they're going to do about their most stubborn new beta. Malia is adamant that she's not sharing "her" basement with that punk, but Lydia comically reminds her that it's actually HER basement, which her mom totally knows Malia tore up during the last full moon. Stiles defends his lady's honor by pointing out that Malia's still learning, so they should cut her a break, but Malia doesn't seem too offended, thankfully. Scott mediates by assuring them that they're going to try to get Liam into the lake house's boat house, since it has support beams to which they can chain him. Kira has an excellent point, though-- since Liam is about thisclose to getting a restraining order against them, a la Jackson Whittemore, how are they going to get him to agree to letting them tie him up? "I say, if it keeps him from murdering someone, we just chloroform the little bastard and throw him in the lake," Stiles suggests, with accompanying hand gestures that just make it a million times more hilarious, and Malia raises her hand to join Stiles's team.
(via makos-lightningrod)
Scott, though, will not be killing or kidnapping him (again), so Lydia figures they should play it smarter. Since she's the smartest of all of them, she's just like, "It's not rocket science, you guys-- just invite him to a party at the lake house and deal with him when he gets there." Stiles has a hard time believing that Lydia would ask out a freshman, which is a correct assumption, because Lydia has given up on teenage boys (which means HELLOOOOO DEPUTY PARRISH PLZ.) Still, Lydia suggests that they utilize their resident trickster to help them with this ploy. Kira is not very confident in her abilities, though, since she's only known she's a kitsune for, like, three or four months max, but Lydia makes a solid argument. "Yes, you! You know what they call a female fox? A vixen!" They all waggle their eyebrows at her, while Lydia reminds her that she can do it. I agree, especially considering how hot she looks in her outfit today! She's wearing a fitted black floral shirt with a rounded neckline, a black pleated skirt, black tights, and super amazing black patent leather platforms. As usual, I want her entire outfit.)
Inside, the bell has just rung over the sounds of "The World's Made Up Of This And That (Fatboy Slim Remix)" by Deeds Plus Thoughts, and students are filing into the hallway, including Liam and Mason. Liam stops mid-conversation with his buddy when he catches a glimpse of our stunning thunder princess making her way down the steps in slo-mo. He stares at her, clearly overwhelmed by her beauty and grace, obviously, but because Kira is the most awkward person ever, she gets distracted while trying to catch his eye and totally trips down the stairs and bites it, face first, onto the floor at the bottom. He does seem to have a bit of kindness in him, because he immediately rushes over to her to make sure she's okay (while the rest of the school aggressively ignores them both.) She's clearly embarrassed, but brushes it off quickly, and smiles the sweetest smile while asks him if he'd like to come to a party with her. I don't know if it's just the forwardness of it, or the fact that a smoking hot junior is asking out his freshman punk ass, but he's definitely stunned at her offer and can't help but accept. WOOT! Nice recovery, Kira!
Meanwhile, Peter is getting fixed up from his run-in with the Mute by his dearest nephew Derek, who has examined the tomahawk that the Mute left behind, for whatever reason. "The axe was laced with wolfsbane," Derek explains, as Peter grunts through the pain of the nasty black-bloodied wound in the middle of his chest. "I don't know the species, so I'm gonna have to burn it out." He whips out his favorite Zippo and lights it to demonstrate his point, but hello, Peter is a former burn victim, so he's quips, "I think I can handle a little fire!" Derek just smiles the biggest, happiest smile, and then brings out the big guns-- namely, that blowtorch he used to bring out Scott's armband tattoo. "Aw, hell," Peter groans, just before Derek lights the blowtorch and presses it into his chest cavity. Hey Peter? Remember that one time you said, "We all have our petty revenges?" I'm pretty sure this is Derek's, tbh.
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After god knows how much time Peter spent screaming bloody murder while he had the wolfsbane burned out of his flesh, Derek finally finishes his work, which relieves Peter so much that he flings himself backward onto the ground again. Derek eventually helps him up, mostly so Peter can show off his blackened wound and buff muscles. Peter reminds Derek that the Mute said he was coming after Derek, but Derek doesn't seem that perturbed by it. "How does a guy with no mouth say anything?" Derek retorts with his signature eyebrow-raise of skepticism. Peter pulls the Mute's long glove with the keyboard attached with an armband off the table, which the Mute also apparently left behind for whatever reason, and hands it over to his nephew. So, judging by the fact that Peter managed to hang onto the Mute's glove AND his tomahawk, in addition to the comments Derek makes later about Peter's run in with the axe murderer, seems to suggest that Peter managed to fight pretty hard against the Mute even despite having said axe impaling his heart and/or lungs, which is both impressive and kind of suspect. More on that later.
Driving on the back roads, Kira is zipping along in her car (which looks suspiciously like Lydia's car, actually, except it's dark red instead of navy blue) with Liam in the passenger seat, where they're listening to "This Party" by Matt Young on the satellite radio product placement. Liam is clearly starting to feel reallllllly wound up and restless and generally weird, while Kira tries to distract him by babbling about the "party" they're about to attend. "It's Lydia Martin's lake house!" Kira chirps happily, while Liam cracks his jaw and rubs his temples and does whatever he can to try to make this nightmare-trip of a day end ASAP. "Actually, it's her grandmother's lake house? But she's dead, so it's okay." She definitely notices that Liam is not really feeling so hot, but continues babbling anyway because she's getting more insecure about her awkwardness than anything else. "I mean, it's not okay that she's dead! I just know that she was in pain!" Kira's awkward small talk for the win!
Eventually, the loud sounds get to be way too much, and he shouts, "Can you turn the music down?" As soon as he says it, though, his heightened hearing goes back to normal, and the music becomes almost too quiet. Kira's like, "What? You want me to turn the music up?" and then totally cranks it up for him. God, I love Kira so much, you guys, it's kind of insane. I never thought I would love another Teen Wolf character the way that I loved Allison, but I've figured out the difference; Allison is the person I've always wanted to be, with her bravery and strength and confident ass-kicking prowess,but Kira is totally the person that I AM (minus the super awesome superpowers, of course), with her passive, slightly neurotic, awkward, but still well-intentioned personality, so both ladies are now occupying separate yet adjacent places in my heart. ANYWAY, Liam is ridiculously startled when his phone buzzes in his pocket, and when he checks it, he sees he has a text from Mason, asking him where he is. After hesitating for a moment, Liam asks Kira who exactly will be attending the party, so Kira just plasters on the fakest of fake smiles and assures him that EVERYONE will be there. Yeah, everyone as in ALL THE MEMBERS OF YOUR NEW PACK, YA PUNK.
Scott has just pulled up to the lake house on his bike, where Lydia, Malia and Stiles are waiting for him outside on the driveway. Scott assures them that he just talked to Kira, and that she and Liam both are totally fine and on their way, but that's not exactly why Stiles seems to be so worried. As it turns out, he talked to a bunch of people and got the scoop on Liam-- namely, the reason why Liam got kicked out of his old school. While it's never revealed what actually happened between Liam and his teacher to cause this type of reaction, what they DO know is that he has serious anger issues and took out his anger toward his teacher by beating the shit out of the teacher's car with a crowbar. Stiles pulls up a picture of the car on his phone, and it looks seriously AWFUL. A couple months ago, my sister got rear-ended by a semi truck going 55mph on the highway (she was stopped in traffic, waiting to get off on an exit) and her car after the subsequent six-car-pileup was in better shape than this teacher's car. The metal is dented on all sides, the paint is peeling off in parts of it, and the tires are all flat, but the worst part is on the side, where Liam had scrawled "THIS IS YOUR FAULT" in huge letters with his keys. To say that Scott is feeling a little regret and anxiety about accidentally biting Liam is an understatement, because those anger problems are not going to make learning how to control his wolf an easier task, as we saw with Kate and her jaguar side-- she's reckless, impulsive, and prone to fits of rage, all of which play a role in the fact that she can't always keep her human side in control. Speaking of Kate, what the fuck is that nagual up to?
Kira and Liam are still on their way to the lake house, and the full moon is already out in full force, which isn't doing anything to help Liam's general uneasiness/anxiety/uncontrollable rage as his first full transformation draws near. Kira looks over at him to check on him, and immediately becomes more concerned when she sees Liam panting heavily in an effort to calm himself down. Yeah girl, remember what happened to Malia's family on her first full moon? This is why it's not good to be trapped with newbie werewolves in close quarters like this. He looks in the side mirror, the full moon fully visible overhead, and scowls furiously as he continues to take deep, shallow breaths. Yup, looks like a werewolf to me! Remember how angry Scott was on his first two full moons? He broke a wall with the back of his head at school, angrily made out with Lydia in Coach's office, said a whole bunch of horribly mean things to Stiles, and got in a knock-out, drag-out fight with Derek when he stopped him from going after Allison and Jackson in a fit of anxious jealousy. So, this kind of behavior isn't really unusual at all for new werewolves on a full moon, especially considering what we know about his anger issues even on a good day.
The two finally arrive at Lydia's lake house, the full moon huge and hanging overhead (maybe it was the super-moon that happened in the last week? It looks AWFULLY big) as Kira parks the car. Liam instantly gets suspicious when he only sees a car, a Jeep, and a motorbike parked in the driveway by them (Lydia's, Stiles' and Scott's, respectively, though Liam doesn't know that), and he demands to know where the hell everyone is. "They're here! It's a small party," Kira chirps in response, but Liam reminds her that she said that EVERYONE was going to be there, forcing Kira to awkwardly backtrack as she grabs him by the arm and drags him to the front door. "They are!" Kira exclaims in a high pitched voice, as she claps her hands together happily. "They're late, we're and we're early, so we better hurry! Yayyy, parties!" Hahahahaha!
Liam looks as though he's starting to regret coming on this date with Kira, which turns to DEFINITE regret as soon as Liam steps through the door and sees Scott, Stiles, Lydia and Malia waiting for them inside, with Stiles' carpetbag full of chains laying in full view on the coffee table. Liam instantly turns toward Kira and glares at her, but she quickly shuts the door, locks it, and stands in front of it so she can block him in. "Sorry," Kira admits with a sheepish smile. Liam turns back to the rest of the pack and asks them what the hell is going on, and of course, Stiles can't resist being a smartass about it. Again. "Think of it like an intervention!" Stiles declares. "You have a problem, Liam." Lydia and Malia look at him sympathetically, as Scott picks up where he left off. "And we're the only ones that can help."
Back in town, Derek has just arrived to the Sheriff's department so he can fill Sheriff Stilinski in on what he's learned about the Mute. Sheriff picks up the glove and keyboard from his desk, and is once again in total disbelief about what he's just heard. "I still don't get how this guy has no mouth," Sheriff mutters, as he examines the keyboard. "How--how can he eat?" Derek's new-found confidence has apparently come with an even sassier sense of humor, because what he says next is fucking hilarious, thanks to Tyler Hoechlin's impeccable delivery. "Oh, well Peter didn't get a chance to ask, he was fighting him off with a tomahawk buried in his chest? So..." I have watched this scene about a dozen times and it never gets less funny to me, which is weird, because the words themselves aren't that funny-- it's seriously just Hoechlin's delivery, coupled with his hand gestures and head-shakes that really make it. I'm doing a terrible job of describing it. Just watch it, and see for yourself.
(via lonewolfed)
Anyway, Sheriff exclaims, "Well, who runs around with a TOMAHAWK?" just as Parrish walks in the door to talk to him. "I carried one for IED removal in Afghanistan," Parrish pipes up, which definitely piques Derek's interest. Parrish goes on to explain that tomahawks are used by the military (which we already know) and that the keyboard attached to the Mute's glove is ALSO military. Derek asks him what it's used for, but Parrish isn't sure, because he thinks it's been modified. Sheriff adorably defers to Derek's judgment, so when Derek tilts his head toward the door, Sheriff rushes over to shut it so the other deputies don't listen in before asking Parrish to show the two of them how it would be used.
DREAM TEAM, am I right? I was SO hoping that Sheriff shutting the door was to give them the opportunity to fill Parrish in on the supernatural world, and honestly, I'm actually a little disappointed that they haven't. I'm still pretty suspicious of him, but I love his character so much that I desperately want him to be good. Ideally, I would like him to be a clueless (albeit suspicious) human who will end up helping the pack, or another supernatural who has no idea about his powers yet either, or at the very least, one who does know about his powers but is just hiding them out of fear. (Also, it's kind of hilarious to me that Parrish didn't say anything about the fact that he arrested a sixteen year old boy outside the Hale house last week-- who just so happened to have Derek Hale's adult mugshot and rap sheet come up when they ran his fingerprints-- and now, the teenager version is gone and replaced again by adult Derek Hale, who is now Sheriff Stilinski's teenage cannibal expert. Wouldn't Parrish have recognized him? People like Parrish and Agent Douchenozzle and Lydia's mom are like, so unbelievably oblivious to all of the blatant supernatural shenanigans around here that I seriously wonder if they're not just playing dumb. It's definitely suspicious.)
We then cut back to the lake house, where Liam is reciting the roll call of creatures he's just learned about in the interim as he points at each person in turn. "Werewolf," Liam begins incredulously, as Scott nods kindly. "Werecoyote..." He points at Malia, who smiles weakly as she nods as well. "Banshee..." Lydia just sheepishly shrugs and points at him in confirmation. When he finally turns back toward Kira, you can tell he's about to lose his mind. "Fox?" Kira just smiles and tells him that she's actually a kitsune, but for all intents and purposes, yes, she's a fox. He sighs and turns to Stiles before asking him what he is, and instead of responding "Abominable Snowman" like everyone was hoping, he just shrugs. "Uh, for a little while I was possessed by an evil spirit!" Stiles offers, before adding, "It was very evil!" Malia just rolls her eyes as Liam asks what he is now. "Better?" Stiles replies, at a loss for words. Has Stiles ever referred to himself as a human? I'm pretty sure he hasn't. He'll say things, like, "I can't do the things that you can do," or "I'm 147 pounds of pale skin and fragile bone, sarcasm is my only defense," but that doesn't really suggest that he's HUMAN, just that he's not a werewolf with super strength and healing and reflexes. Plus, his shadow-self WAS bitten by an alpha, so I wouldn't be surprised if Stiles has some kind of residual magical abilities as a result; not a werewolf, but not quite human, either. Like Lydia!
(via hazelesgrace)
Liam notices the chains on the table, and asks them if they're for him, which at least seems to suggest that part of him does, in fact, know that something seriously major is happening to him to the point where he's going to need to be locked up, but he's still in denial. Malia insists that they're for her, and flashes her blue eyes at him, which, for some reason, freaks him the fuck out, even though he already saw a fully transformed werewolf and a fucking wendigo only 24 hours ago. When Liam demands to know how she did that, Scott assures him that he'll learn how to do it, too, but first they need to help him get through the full moon. Liam reminds them that, hello, the full moon is already out, but Scott already knows it. "And you're starting to feel something, aren't you?" Scott asks, slightly amused, as he watches him, listening to his rapidly increasing heart rate. "I feel like I'm surrounded by a bunch of psychotic nutjobs," Liam snaps, finally succumbing to the rage that has been building ever since yesterday at lacrosse practice.
"You guys are out of your freaking mind!" Liam yells, while we cut to the sequence of reactions from the packmates: Scott just sighs in frustration and closes his eyes for a moment; Lydia rolls her eyes, like, "I totally called this," and Stiles and Malia are just raising their eyebrows at him, like he's being totally unreasonable and embarrassing. Kira, who is standing the closest to him, looks like she's scared about what he's going to do. "I don't know how you did that eye-thing, and I don't care! I'm walking out that door right now, and if any of you try to stop me, I swear to God, I'm gonna--" Liam's furious bellowing is cut off when he's suddenly hit by a wave of pain as his body starts to change for his transformation. He falls to his knees, tightly pressing on his temples with his hands. Scott instantly rushes toward him, and asks him what he's feeling. Liam is once again overwhelmed by all the loud sounds, and can't believe that Scott can't hear them. Scott, who seems to have been too distracted by Liam's pain to notice the ambient noises, focuses his hearing, only to realize that the noise is a blockade of cars coming up the long driveway. Lydia asks Liam if he told anyone he was coming here, and Liam manages to admit through the pain that he told his friend Mason, since Kira told him it was a party. Stiles is like, "Then who did Mason invite?" Kira has scurried to the window, and nervously replies, "Everyone." Liam's fingernails grow out into claws that scratch loudly against the wooden floors as he clenches his fingers in pain.
Lydia, worried about what her mom said earlier about the house, immediately orders Scott to get him off the floors, but Liam's eyes and fangs are out now, too, and he roars menacingly at her. She stops in her tracks, so Scott and Kira determine they need to get him to the boat house, STAT, and each take a side as they half-carry him out the back door. As if things weren't bad enough already, Malia doubles over in pain before roaring at Stiles, eyes blazing and fangs out. Stiles is hilariously like, "OOP! Okay! Downstairs! Downstairs, now!" as he helps push Malia toward the basement door.
Lydia hysterically asks them what the fuck she's supposed to do with the horde of freshman about to flood her house, so Stiles just replies, "Lydia, who throws the best parties in Beacon Hills?" Lydia is appalled. "WHAT? Me, obviously!" she shrieks. HAHAHAHA. I love that she's so offended, even though she totally roofied everyone with wolfsbane at her last party, and they all had boggart-style bad trips the entire night. Anyway, Stiles orders her to throw a party, and Lydia about screams from frustration before she heads to the door. Tiesto and Showtek's "Hell Yeah!" begins to play as she opens it to find what looks like at least a hundred people crowded outside her house, including Mason and Garrett. "Are we in the right place for the party?" the two boys ask, so Lydia plasters on her best Queen Bee smile and replies, "Absolutely!" Oh, Lydia, you sweet angel.
Back in Sheriff's office, Parrish is on Sheriff's laptop, hacking his way into the military keyboard the Mute was using to communicate with his victims, and, as we'll soon find out, his allies, while Derek and Sheriff stand behind him and watch him work. After a moment, Parrish informs them that he found an IP address, which he assures Sheriff he will be able to use to track their axe murderer. He starts typing some more, just as the gloves' fingers twitch robotically, like a bionic prosthetic of some kind. This does nothing to comfort either of the men, especially when Parrish glances back at the screen and realizes that his program has found a message on the device. "Does anyone recognize the handle 'Benefactor?'" Parrish asks, just as the message itself pops onto the screen-- "Money transferred." OH SHIT. Derek asks what the hell that's supposed to mean, but Sheriff just sighs in disappointment and horror. "It means this guy's not just a killer. He's an asssassin." YIKES! Although, this isn't exactly a surprise to those who have seen the promos/trailers for the season. Also, did you guys notice that Parrish has a little badge and a patch on his sleeve that says "Deputy Sheriff?" That means he's literally Sheriff's number two/lieutenant/second-in-command, which is kind of awesome! When I mentioned it to Kathleen during our weekly post-Teen Wolf brainstorming session, she made a pretty good point-- "Well, he's survived more than two weeks on the job, so he's the most qualified." LOLOL. Ain't that the truth.
Meanwhile, at the boat house, Scott is holding a partially-wolfed-out Liam against the support beam while Kira quickly secures the chains to the beam and locks him up. Liam's eyes are blazing gold, and he continues to frantically snap at Scott with his fangs while he struggles forcefully against his grip. Scott shouts at Kira to grab his hands, but while Kira may be super fast and agile, she's still not as strong as the other canids in the pack, so it takes only seconds for Liam to break out of her hold. He lunges at Scott and tackles him, which ends in Scott laying flat on his back while Liam straddles him and starts punching him.
I saw a lot of people online complaining about how Scott never fought back or alpha-roared him into submission, but I feel like it makes perfect sense in terms of his character-- he's feeling extremely guilty for biting Liam, even if the alternative was that Liam would have died, because now all he can think about is how he felt when Peter bit him without his consent, and how scared and confused and just generally horrified he was about all the changes in his body and his mind. So, he doesn't want to hurt Liam any more than he already has, and he certainly doesn't want to scare him any more than he already is, so instead, he takes a leaf from Derek's book and just lets his new beta wallop the shit out of him while he begs Liam to chill out for one second. Liam ends up getting Scott in a choke-hold, and is about this close to clawing the shit out of his throat when Kira comes up behind him and whacks him over the head with an oar she found hanging on the nearby wall. Liam falls to the floor like a rock, and Kira immediately kneels down next to him, terrified that she killed him. Scott assures him that he's just out cold, though, which is convenient, because now they can chain him up easily. Way to go, Kira! "I hope Stiles is having better luck," Kira mutters, as she tries to catch her breath.
The answer to that question is yes, but just barely-- Stiles is down in the basement, where he's securing the leather wrist guards around Malia's arms. When he asks her if they're too tight, she lifts her head, revealing her coyote face, eyes and fangs, and growls, "Tighter." Damn, how is Malia's skin STILL so flawless, even with her werecoyote-scrunched up face ? It's seriously ridiculous, I need to know Shelley Hennig's skin care regimen, stat. The only part that sucks is that her flawless eyebrows have disappeared. Stiles is a little startled by her growly voice, but he does what the lady asks, and stands up once he's done, while Malia rattles the chains to test their strength. Malia reminds him that he can leave, but Stiles insists that he's staying, both for Malia, and also because he's probably better off, considering Lydia is currently babysitting a hundred uninvited freshman inside the house she was specifically ordered not to destroy just hours ago.
Stiles looks up toward the ceiling, hearing the loud electronic music ("Dub Drop" by Nifty Trick) that Lydia is blaring to cover up the noise of the howling werecanids who are hiding out from the party. Lydia pushes her way through the crowds of people in her home, trying her best not to look too impolite, and eventually ends up in the kitchen, where she finds a scruffy delivery man who is wheeling in a keg on a dolly. "Oh-kay," Lydia begins snidely, as she glances up from the keg to the man delivering it. "I didn't order a keg of beer! Especially not DOMESTIC." The delivery man, whose name is Demarco Montana, begs to differ, because SOMEONE had to have ordered it, and he refuses to believe that no one in this house wants to drink some cheap beer. Lydia rolls her eyes, and glances over to where a wineglass is precariously balanced on the edge of her Macbook, which immediately sends her into into shrieking-mode. "Who put this here?" Lydia demands to no one in particular, as she sets the glass down on the table. "This laptop is two THOUSAND dollars!"
That's when she looks over to see Garrett, who is alone and drinking from a half-empty bottle of wine he must have found in Mama Martin's stash (I'm happy to see that Carol Lockwood's booziness has seeped over into her role on Teen Wolf as well as in The Vampire Diaries!) She quickly plucks the bottle out of his hand, citing the fact that the wine cost $400 as an excuse for her rudeness. She realizes that if she doesn't want everyone to destroy the house, she's gonna have to invest in some booze, so she asks Demarco how much it'll cost. He hands her a bill, which she immediately scans, and when she sees a $100 surcharge, she calls him out on it. "I call that the, 'Yes, you DO look twenty-one to me'-surcharge," he replies with a wink. Lydia sighs, and turns around to look for a method of payment, where she notices Mason walking up the stairs. She turns back to the delivery man and promises she'll be back with some cash for him before running away to chase down Mason. Garrett, who has been watching this entire exchange curiously, admits that since he raided her wine, he should probably front the beer, and hands him several crisp bills, which seems to satisfy the delivery man, because he sets down the keg. If you're not a little suspicious of how a freshman has enough money on hand to pay for what is probably at least $200 worth of beer, you should be, as we'll see soon enough.
Back at the boat house, Liam has finally been safely secured against the support beam, and is still unconscious from the huge bonk to the head that he got from Kira. She and Scott sit side-by-side, staring at Liam, who looks quite angelic now that he's asleep and not a huge rage-monster. Kira remarks that he looks really young, and Scott just sighs and points out that it's because he IS young-- he just turned fifteen, which makes him even younger than Scott/Stiles/Lydia/Allison/Isaac/Erica/Boyd/Jackson when they all got dragged into this mess. You can tell by the sad expression on his face that he's still feeling super guilty about biting him; I remember Scott once angrily telling Derek that he ruined his life, back before he learned that it was actually Peter who bit him, and I'm sure that's a memory that is still rushing through his head, too-- that by trying to save Liam's life, he ended up ruining it even worse than it was before. Kira asks him what they're going to do with him now, and Scott insists that they're going to help him, no matter what. Kira brings up a good question--"What if he doesn't want our help?"--but Scott knows firsthand what Liam's going through. "He will," Scott states sadly. Which, as we well know, is true-- Scott tried and tried and tried to stay away from Derek, and rejected his werewolf side, and did everything he could to stay out of it, but in the end, Derek (and Allison, and Stiles) helped him through it all, whether directly or indirectly. And look at them all now!
Stiles is still sitting in a chair, just out of arms reach from Malia, who is alternating back and forth between her apex predator desire to maim and kill and her human feelings for Stiles. She reaches out for Stiles, yanking at her chains, until the urge passes and she relaxes for a short moment. Malia begs Stiles to leave, but he's a stubborn little shit, as we've always known, so he insists he's not going anywhere. "It's okay! I hate parties, it's a social anxiety thing." You and me both, Stiles! "Have you ever had a panic attack?" Stiles asks stupidly. "I'm having one right now!" Malia groans in anger, and continues to stretch her arms toward him. He urges her to breath through it, since that's the key to getting through them quickly, but Malia wonders what happens if she hurts him. He is sure that she won't, but Malia isn't.
Outside the lake house, Demarco is wheeling out his dolly to his car, only to find that someone had popped all of his tires. He drops his dolly onto the pavement and yells, "Son of a bitch! SON OF A BITCH!" His anger/stress seems to have tapped into his control issues, because all of a sudden, he doubles over in pain. When he looks down at his hand, his claws are forcing their way out involuntarily, and his eyes are blazing gold. HE'S A BETA WEREWOLF OMG! He starts to take deep breath and starts to repeat a mantra that is somewhat similar to the one Derek used to learn control. "Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, the truth." He repeats this over several times, until his claws finally recede, and his eyes return to their usual blue-green. He falls down to his knees in relief that he was able to get over his little lapse in control, but before he can do anything else, someone comes out from behind him and starts to strangle him with a garrote! IT'S VIOLET, also known as baby Garrett's baby girlfriend. She sneers as she forcefully chokes him with all her strength, while Demarco desperately starts scrabbling at his neck with his blunt, human nails.
His eyes are getting bloodshot from the pressure/hypoxia, and after a moment, Violet flips a circular metal disc on the ends of the garrote, which has a small button on the back. When she presses it, the garrote wire burns red hot, and burns/melts its way through his neck, slicing through skin and muscle before completely BEHEADING HIM. HOLY. SHIT. Satisfied, Violet smirks and pulls her phone out of her pocket, snapping a quick picture of the guy's body (and his disembodied head) before she struts off to rejoin the party. When she returns to the house, she takes the garrote and slips it around her neck, snapping the ends together and flipping the metal disc around to reveal that her pendant bolo necklace she was wearing at school is actually the thermowire garrote she used to kill Demarco! That is both the coolest thing I've seen in a while, and also really worrisome-- what if she accidentally hits that button somehow and ends up burning herself or accidentally beheading herself or something? Seems a little dangerous tbh.
Anyway, the party is blaring The Trap ft. Trophyy's "#Turn Down For What" when Violet heads straight for Garrett, a huge smile on her face. Garrett is checking his phone, and smiles just as widely as he informs her that their friend just texted him. When he shows the screen to her, we can see he's received a text from "The Benefactor," which reads, "The money has been transferred to your account." Can't those bank accounts/phone numbers be traced by the police, or the FBI, who is supposedly helping the police department with the murders? Hmmmm. Anyway, Violet and Garrett are totally getting off on their Bonnie & Clyde, teenage-assassin game, and start making out in the middle of the party.
Moon & Pollution's "Alter Eagle" plays while Lydia follows Mason up the stairs. She watches him walk into a room at the end of the hall, and quickly rushes to catch up to him to confront him about what the hell he's doing. Once inside the room, which has stark white walls and carpet and red/coral toned furniture, she reminds him that the party is downstairs ONLY, and no one is allowed to be up there. Mason immediately apologizes and admits he's looking for his friend Liam. Whoops! "Sorry, but missing freshman are a little low on my list of priorities," Lydia snits, as she stomps into the room and grabs two tumblers of wine that someone has carelessly left on the table. Mason adorably points out that Liam isn't so low on her list that she doesn't know he's a freshman, or who he is at all, which even Lydia concedes is a good point. What's with Mason and his intense questioning of EVERYTHING? It's making me suspicious. That could just be that I'm a little bitter (okay, a LOT bitter) about the fact that he seems to be replacing Danny. I know that it's not exactly Khylin Rambo's fault that Jeff did Keahu so dirty, but it just makes me really sad.
ANYWAY, Lydia reluctantly admits that she might have seen Liam around downstairs, where they're both supposed to be. Unfortunately for her, when she tugs on his arm to pull him away from the upstairs rooms, she accidentally drops the two glasses onto the floor, which splatters red wine all over the pristine white carpet. Clearly distraught over this turn of events, she falls to her knees and desperately tries to use the hem of her sweater to mop up the wine, but all it does is smear the wine around. Mason apologizes for his role in the spill, and asks if the carpet was valuable. "No," Lydia admits, as she starts to cry, smearing her eyeliner and mascara under her eyes. "That's the problem; nothing in here is valuable." She sighs and looks up toward the ceiling in hopes of stopping her tears, before whispering, "We just put the house on the market. It was supposed to be left without a scratch. It HAS to be in perfect condition, we need every penny we can get out of this place!"
I actually completely sympathize with Lydia here, tbh-- my parents inherited my uncle's house when he died a year or two ago, and they couldn't afford to keep it, so they put it on the market at the beginning of the year. The housing market is still pretty shitty right now, though, so they ended up having to give a huge discount on the property value to the buyer, because they were the only ones interested and they really needed the house out of their hands and the money from it in the bank. It would have been much easier and financially better if they could have waited a little longer until the market improved to sell it, but it just was too expensive to maintain the place, and I imagine this is probably the exact same scenario Lydia and her mother are going through. Especially considering a werewolf being beheaded in their driveway is probably not going to do much to improve the property value, you know?
Mason looks like he feels terrible, especially since most dudes are powerless in the face of a crying girl, so he insists that with some club soda and salt, he'll be able to get the white out of the carpet, and leaves Lydia to go find the supplies. Lydia takes a deep breath and tries to pull herself together, just as the door to the room closes behind Mason. It's then that Lydia realizes something is up, because once the door snaps shut, it blocks out every decibel of noise coming from the loud party downstairs. Lydia, curious and weirded out, gets up and heads to the door, and experiments by opening and shutting it and listening to the way it blocks out the sound. She realizes that the room is soundproofed, and starts to look around the room to investigate the matter further. The room is pretty huge, and appears to be even bigger than it is because of how little furniture is in it. It's a very mod aesthetic. As Lydia wanders around, she finds a record player and two speakers sitting on a small table in front of a wide, completely smooth white wall. A loud "wub wub wub" noise draws Lydia toward it, and she instinctively switches the record player on, and watches as it sets up the record.
Once the needle hits the vinyl, the vibrations from the record being played allows Lydia to hear the characteristic whispers that banshees hear to give them information; I still don't know if they're talking to ghosts, or to other banshees, or ghost banshees, or what, but they seem to have a lot to say. To add to the effect, she begins to stare at the wall in front of her, where faces begin to push their way through, as if the walls were made of elastic. She's completely engrossed by whatever it is that she's hearing, and her eyes don't leave the wall while she processes the sounds. THIS IS TOTALLY A ROOM MADE FOR BANSHEES AND I BET YOU LYDIA'S GRANDMA WAS A BANSHEE. I mean, think about it! A soundproof room to help block out the chatter so they can focus on what they need to hear, and a record player that can create the vibrations banshees need to hear the voices? It is seriously designed for banshee investigations. Also, if Lydia wasn't hearing Allison's voice, specifically saying something along the lines of "I love you," or "Be strong," or, "Tell the pack that I want them to be happy," or something similar that they desperately need to hear, I'm going to be so mad.
(via teenwolf)
Out in the boat house, Liam is still passed the fuck out, and Kira and Scott are still keeping watch beside him, when Scott hears something and turns his head to listen better. Kira gets nervous and asks him what he hears, but he assures her its just the music from the party. Kira laments that they no longer play slow songs at parties, because she's always been better at slow songs. (Aw, Kira, we've seen you dance before! You were awkward at first, but if your dance with Malia was any indication, you have loads of potential. ^_^) Scott, ever the romantic, instructs her to follow him. He leads her out onto the dock, and pulls out his phone so he can play them a slow song; specifically, "Us" by Movement, which is a seriously sexy song that you all should be listening to on the regular. He offers her a hand to come dance with him, but Kira's worriedly asks what they're going to do about Liam. "He can dance with me next time!" Scott exclaims with the sweetest smile, and Kira can't help but wrap her arms around him so they can dance. I mean, really, would you be able to resist? I wouldn't. It makes for a GORGEOUS scene, with the blue tint and the bright white light coming off of the full moon, and especially the fog that lingers along the water of the lake. In addition to the flawless acting, there was also flawless cinematography this week.
Kira asks him how he's able to stay so in control during the full moons, and Scott admits that it's really all just about learning how to control your emotions and your heartbeat, and making sure that you don't do things that could raise your pulse. "So you've mastered it?" Kira asks with a grin, and though Scott pretty much confirms it, he does confess that it takes a lot of concentration to keep a lid on it. Kira is in true vixen mode now, and starts suggesting that he could lose control if he were distracted, like, say, if she was kissing his cheek, but after the two kiss for a long moment, he maintains that he's "indistractable." Kira goes for his ear next, which is not only super hot, but also seems to be something Scott REALLY likes, because when she pulls away, she notes that his eyes are glowing, even when he insists that she's not distracting him one bit. He laughs and squeezes his eyes shut until the red fades back to brown, and he calls her a cheater for her vixen-y ways. Kira keeps teasing him, and points out that she also heard him growl, but that wasn't actually Scott-- it was Liam, who has just woken up from his little concussion nap in full-wolf face.
Liam glares at them angrily and starts growling and furiously struggling against his chains, which worries Kira enough that she asks if they'll will be enough to hold him. Scott assumes that he can't be strong enough to bust through the enormous amount of chain wrapped around him, but he's forgetting that angry werewolves have way more strength than they normally do, especially on a full moon. So, it takes little to no time for Liam to break every single chain into pieces and lunge for Scott and Kira with a ferocious growl. They both dive out of the way to avoid being attacked, not realizing that Liam was aiming to jump out the window instead of for them. They hear him crash through the glass and watch in horror as Liam runs into the woods. YIKES! DANGER! DANGER!
Meanwhile, Stiles is having similar luck with Malia. During a wave of rage and bloodlust, she manages to break one arm free from her restraint, and Stiles just barely manages to jump out of the way before she can claw him in the gut. When she can't reach far enough to grab him, she furiously begins pulling as hard as she can against the other wrist to break free completely. Stiles yells at her to focus on his voice, but Malia interrupts him and insists that he listen to hers instead: "Run!" Stiles' eyes widen in alarm, but he otherwise doesn't move a muscle. I especially appreciate Stiles refusal to fully be afraid in the face of all of these adjusting werebabies. I mean, you can see that he's tense and preparing for the worst, but otherwise, he's mostly just sympathetic and understanding about it. I feel like that definitely makes it easier for the others, because Malia and Liam aren't the kind of people who would feel better if people treated them like scary monsters.
Back in town, Derek and Sheriff have just arrived to the school, where the IP address they got off of the Mute's keyboard apparently led them. Sheriff has a flashlight in one hand and his sidearm in the other, which he keeps aimed in front of him. Derek reminds him that just because they traced the IP there, doesn't mean that the Mute is still there, but Sheriff proves himself to be the wisest of all of the people involved in this mess. "True," Sheriff concedes quietly. "But I've seen enough in this school to keep a gun in my hand when walking in after dark." SUCH ACCURACY. I would say at least half of the town's disasters have involved this school, many of which Sheriff has seen with his own eyes. The two slowly walk down the hallway, where Sheriff suddenly stops right in his tracks. He points out a huge puddle of blood that has pooled from inside the closed classroom door, which Derek immediately declares makes no sense, because he should have caught the scent long before they even made it in the school.
He instinctively heads toward the door and is about to turn the doorknob when Sheriff grabs his arm to stop him. "You nervous makes me nervous," Sheriff admits, before flashing the light through the window in the door to see what could be waiting inside. He slowly turns the door knob and opens the door a crack, thankfully noticing a wire attached to something inside. Derek crouches down so he can peek through the cracked door, and grimly informs Sheriff that it's a bomb, specifically, a claymore mine. He trails off when he focuses on a noise behind him, and just manages to tackle Sheriff out of the way before he gets a military tomahawk to the head. Instead, the axe embeds itself into the brick walls, just before the Mute jumps down the last few steps on the staircase and crouches defensively in front of the men. He kind of looks like a vampire, aside for not having fangs or anything. I think it's the eye veins and pasty pallor.
Back at the lake house, Malia is furiously tugging at the last chain restraining her left wrist when Stiles takes a step toward her. "I'm not gonna run," Stiles insists confidently. "Because I don't think you're gonna hurt me." He continues his amazing pep talk while Malia continues yanking on the chain. "And I think that maybe you're so afraid of hurting me because of what you did to your family." Malia turns around and glares at him briefly, clearly affected by his words, but the full-moon-rage kicks back in and she returns to desperately trying to break the chain. "I know what that's like, Malia," Stiles confesses, who I think is actually more nervous to be admitting this, because I doubt this is something he's ever told anyone else. "I remember EVERYTHING I did. And the worst part is, I remember liking it! Because I felt powerful. I felt fearless. And most of all, in control." Malia is visibly conflicted between her anger and her fear and Stiles' words, which she knows deep down are true. "But when I came through it, I learned something else," Stiles adds, as he nervously licks his lips. "Control is overrated."
(via obrosey)
And it's true, you know-- if anyone feels the need to be in control, it's Stiles, especially since he's the lone human in a world where everyone is supernatural and has abilities he couldn't hope to have. He's the one who always has the plan B, who always makes sure his dad eats healthy so he won't have to worry about losing another parent to illness, whose first instinct is always to just kill whoever the problem is so they never have to worry about them hurting them or fucking them over again. So, when he takes a deep breath and gently reaches around her, so he can slip the key into the padlock that is holding all of Malia's chains together, he's demonstrating his point, because he's willingly putting himself into danger force her to prove just how much faith he has in her.
Once the chains are removed, Malia waits one whole beat before she growls and lunges at Stiles, but he grabs one of her wrists in each hand and holds them back to keep her from ripping his throat out. After a short moment, she goes boneless in his arms, half-panting, half-sobbing. When she finally lifts her face to look at him, her face is back to its human shape, and she's stunned to see that her claws have receded as well. Stiles affectionately brushes a damp lock of hair off of Malia's forehead, and gives her this incredibly proud look when he informs her that she did it, and congratulates her on finally letting go enough to trust that she knows what she's doing. Malia is SO relieved to not have to worry about hurting anyone else that she throws her arms around him and gives him the sweatiest, tightest hug ever. As he wraps his arms tightly around her, he lets out a shaky breath in relief and relaxes.
YAYYYY MALIA! GET IT GIRL! See what I mean about Stiles and Malia? Stiles has been desperately trying to kind of pay it forward and help someone with their problems, as a sort of penance for the things that he did and felt while he was possessed by the nogitsune. I see it as sort of the kind of altruism that a lot of addicts feel when they ultimately get clean; some of them decide to be AA/NA sponsors or counselors, so they can help others get through the same things they experienced, much in the same way that Scott will be helping Liam with his lycanthropy. And not only that, but Malia clearly benefits from this, too, because he's giving her the same kind of fearless yet loyal friendship that she gave him in Eichen House, when he was possessed and confessed to her what he had done, and she still liked him and helped him anyway.
I've seen a lot of people suggest that Stiles is Malia's anchor, and I'm inclined to agree, but I don't think that's a bad thing, and definitely not even necessarily a romantic thing-- they're genuinely good friends, in addition for the romantic feelings they have for each other, in the same way I feel that Allison and Isaac were close friends, too. Even if they do have a romantic love for each other and end up breaking up, I think they're going to end up staying close, in the same way that Scott and Allison continued to be close. There are so many different kinds of love out there, and I kiiiind of feel like everyone is getting wayyyyy too worked up about the whole ship-wars thing-- couples break up and get back together in various combination in teen supernatural dramas. That's just the way it goes! And, just because Stiles and Malia have a thing now doesn't mean Lydia and Stiles can't have a thing in the future,(which I want/have wanted SO BADLY) or whatever other ships you guys are yearning for. And NOW I'm gonna step off my soap box. ;)
Anyway, Liam's running through the woods as quickly as he can, stumbling over branches and exposed tree roots, while Scott chases behind him and tries to follow his scent. He eventually loses track of Liam around a corner, and stops momentarily to try to get his bearings. Naturally, this gives Liam the perfect opportunity to pounce on Scott while he's distracted, and the two tumble down a huge hill, one right after the other. Once they reach the bottom, Liam punches Scott a couple times before pulling him up by the front of his shirt and slamming him against a tree. Scott tries to restraint him and appeal to his humanity, but Liam is too busy freaking out about EVERYTHING he's feeling, and is so overwhelmed that he can't stop moving. Which is pretty understandable, if you ask me. "What did you do to me?" he demands. "This is your fault! This is all your fault!" He lifts a clawed hand to slash across Scott's face, but Scott gets distracted by the tell-tale sound of a flash-bang arrow whizzing near them and instinctively covers his eyes with his arm.
OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!! CAN IT BE??? Our favorite DILF and weapon-afficionado with sparkling blue eyes and a deep, gravelly voice? Anyway, Liam doesn't have those same instincts, and is temporarily blinded as the arrowhead explodes above him. He stops in his tracks and yelps in pain before ultimately taking off in the opposite direction, leaving Scott momentarily fearful that the hunters have already found him. Which, I mean, TECHNICALLY they have, but it's not the Calaveras! THAT'S RIGHT, YOU GUYS! CHRIS FUCKING ARGENT IS BACK IN ACTION, AND WITH A SEXY GRIEF BEARD TO BOOT. He's got Allison's large crossbow in one hand, and his quiver of arrows attached to a thigh holster, and god, I've never been more happy to see him, and honestly? Neither has Scott. "How did you know???" Scott asks, 100% stunned to see him, especially in this amazing reversal of roles-- the first time Scott met Chris Argent, on his first full moon, Chris shot an arrow into his arm and blinded him with flash-bang arrowheads. Now it's Scott's first beta's full moon, and Chris totally blinded him with flash-bang arrowheads, but this time, he's here to do good by his daughter's Code, and not capture an innocent teenage boy. I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYING. STOP IT. "I got your text," Chris replies, and Scott can't help but grin his sunshine-iest grin, which Chris can't resist returning.
After the break, we return to Beacon Hills High School, where the Mute has just thrown Sheriff onto the floor. He slides up against a row of lockers, while Derek has probably the best fight of his life against the Mute. No matter how many times the guy swings his tomahawk at him, Derek manages to dodge it, and is ultimately able to disorient him enough by slamming his head into the walls that he can grab both of his arms behind his back. Sheriff picks himself off the floor, favoring one shoulder over the other in a way that indicates he might have gotten himself injured, and aims his gun at the Mute's head while he sets himself up for the most hilarious and well-timed dad-joke EVER. "You have the right to remain silent," he growls at the man with NO FUCKING MOUTH, who is like, "Mmrph?" in reply. I am seriously dying laughing all over again, Sheriff is so perfect. He starts to handcuff the Mute as he recites him his rights, just as Peter Fucking Hale swaggers his way into the school.
(via teenwolf)
Derek realizes what Peter's planning to do before anyone else does, but his shouted protests go unnoticed, so Derek once again tackles Sheriff to protect him from the beat-down Peter's about to bring. Peter lunches on top of the Mute, pinning him prone on the floor, before violently swiping at his face and neck until the Mute is nothing but a pile of bloody flesh. He reaches down and rips something disgusting-looking and bloody off the body, which I'm guessing was the skin over where the Mute's mouth should be, but they don't really explain it, so who the fuck knows. Derek looks mutinous, and Sheriff isn't feeling much better, so he points his gun at Peter's head while the older werewolf pulls a small white handkerchief out of his pocket and wipes off his bloody hands. Who the fuck does Peter think he is, Elijah Mikaelson?
Peter shakes his head at the Sheriff, like, "Nope, you're so not shooting me today," and the worst part is that he's totally true, because Sheriff is too kind to kill Peter, even if he deserves it and literally no one would miss him (character-wise, that is-- Peter has a ridiculous amount of fans.) Derek angrily points out that they've found a better way to deal with these issues, like arresting mouthless men and putting them through the USA's problem-ridden justice system, but Peter just grunts, "I'm a creature of habit" as he walks away, the Mute's blood still splattered all over his face. What's up with his good-boy hair? He looks like Archie from the comics, although as Kathleen mentioned, he is pretty much a cartoon character already, so it's not that big of a stretch. It's something about his small, triangular head and that weird pompadour of his just really cracks me up for some reason. And the deep v's, of course.
Back in the woods, Chris assures him that there's a clearing north of where they're standing where Chris has set up a trap, and all Scott needs to do is chase him into it, and the rest is all taken care of for him. CHRIS, YOU ANGEL OF THE LORD. Did Scott text him AGAIN, after the initial text about Kate, to tell him about his beta situation? Because that's what it seems like but they weren't super clear about it. ANYWAY, Scott asks him what he's going to do, but since Liam is Scott's beta, and Chris trusts Scott, he tells him that the better question is what SCOTT is going to do. Scott looks so defeated when he confesses to Chris that Liam won't listen to him, but Chris isn't done giving flawless advice just yet. "He will if you start using your own words." EXACTLY, SCOTT.
OMG, how hilarious would it be if Stiles texted Chris, too, all "SCOTT JUST RIPPED A PAGE FROM THE FAILWOLF PLAYBOOK AND TOLD LIAM THE BITE IS A GIFT LIKE A MORON, CAN YOU PLEASE SMACK SOME SENSE INTO HIM?" I would seriously love if that actually happened. Scratch that, it TOTALLY happened and no one is going to tell me differently! Suddenly, Liam's pained cries are heard from nearby, so Chris hands him a little remote that looks like the mini ultrasonic emitter that Chris used to attract Isaac and Allison to where the parents were being hidden in "Alpha Pact" and "Lunar Ellipse." Scott looks at him in such intense appreciation, but Chris is just so proud that he claps him on the shoulder and urges him to go help his newest bud.
As it turns out, Chris' trap was a square made of four of his ultrasonic emitters-- thankfully, Liam is such a newb that he didn't even realize he shouldn't have gone into the corral until he did, and then the noise hurt him so badly that he shifted back into human and curled up in the fetal position on the floor, unable to move. Once Scott gets close enough, he uses the remote to turn off the emitters and kneels in front of Liam to check on him. "What's happening to me?" Liam asks defeatedly, and there's not a trace of meanness or anger in his voice, just exhaustion and confusion and fear. Scott looks like he feels so guilty/sympathetic/worried for his newest beta when he admits that the same thing he went through almost a year ago (in Teen Wolf time) is now happening to him.
Lizi Kay's "Do You Like What You See?" plays as Kira pushes her way through the party, asking random guests if they've seen Lydia. She eventually makes it upstairs, where she finds Lydia still staring intently at the white wall, the record player still spinning. She asks her if she's okay, but gets no response, so Kira, being the thoughtful friend that she is, immediately realizes that Lydia is having a banshee moment, and asks her what she hears. "The key," Lydia admits softly, her eyes never leaving the wall. "The key to break the code." YES! Oh god I have so much to say about this in a minute.
Back in the woods, Liam is still on his knees, doubled over in the middle of the clearing, while Scott is still crouched in front of him and looking at him with concern. Chris catches up with them a moment later, but stays in the shadows so he can eavesdrop while still giving them some privacy. "They can't know about this," Liam confesses anxiously. "My mom... my step-dad... I can't do this to them again." Scott looks even more worried, and asks him what he means by "again," so Liam talks a little bit about his past at his old school, some of which Scott already learned from Stiles. "I got kicked out of school," Liam admits, practically in tears. "And I deserved it. [beat] But the way they looked at me, when they saw what I did to that car..." Liam chokes out a sob, and Scott is feeling worse and worse by the second. He tries to comfort him, but Liam isn't done with his confession yet. "They can't see me like this! Like... like..."
Scott fills in the blanks for him. "Like a monster?" Liam can't even bear to say it himself, and just nods his head yes in agreement as he continues to try to swallow down his complete devastation. Scott stands up to his full height in front of Liam, while Chris watches proudly from the sidelines. "You're not a monster!" Scott declares confidently. "You're a werewolf! Like me." His eyes flash red as he smiles reassuringly at Liam, and Liam looks back at him with this heartbreaking expression of relief and exhaustion and a tiny bit of residual fear. Regardless, I think he feels the slightest bit reassured, as he should, because that is a seriously HUGE moment! Scott, who rejected his lycanthropy for the longest time, and even when he eventually came to appreciate his powers so he could protect his loved ones, he still saw it as a curse, of sorts. So, the fact that he's able to stand up, and tell Liam that being a werewolf is not only not something to be ashamed about, but something to be proud of? This is a goddamn historic moment! Scott's not a monster, and neither is Liam, because he is going to learn the ways of the McCall Pack and become a better person for it, just like Scott did, and Stiles and Allison and Lydia and Derek and Isaac and Malia and Kira. I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS EPISODE OMFG.
While we were watching this magical moment, Lydia grabbed her laptop from downstairs and brought it up to the banshee room so she and Kira could look at the computer code. When it stops processing and asks for the keyword, Lydia lets out a shaky breath and slowly types in "A L L I S O N." Welp, so long, dearest friends, because I am GONE, this is TOO MUCH FOR ONE PERSON. When she enters the password, the encryption program does its thing, and reveals itself to be a list of names with numbers next to them:
Sean Walcott 250
David Walcott 250
Michael Walcott 250
Christina Walcott 250
Lydia Martin 20
Scott McCall 25
Demarco Montana 250
Derek Hale 15
Carrie Hudson 500
Kayleen Bettcher 250
Kira Yukimura 6
Elias Town 250
Kira asks Lydia what the fuck they just found, but it almost seems like she expected this. Maybe the spirits/ghosts/banshees warned her about it? "It's a list of supernaturals in Beacon Hills," Lydia explains grimly. "It's a deadpool... and we're all on it." Understandaly, Kira is ridiculously freaked out by this news, and Lydia's just staring at the screen with this intense exhaustion that I can't even describe. I am sensing another breakdown from at least someone in Pack McCall, because this is just way too much! Check out the notes section for my thoughts about the deadpool!
Next week, according to the promo: The gang deals with the revelation of the deadpool; Kira, Scott and Stiles have their first lacrosse game, on a team that just so happens to also include Garrett, our newly-revealed assassin; and Lydia gets help controlling her banshee abilities in the wake of someone/several someones seeking out all of their deaths.
Click HERE to read my next recap of Teen Wolf
[screencaps via KissThemGoodbye and TeenWolfDaily]
NOTES/SPECULATION/QUESTIONS:
-Okay, so we know that Garrett and Violet are working as freelance assassins for the Benefactor. My question is, how did they get this gig? Were they trained as hunters who decided they'd rather made tons of money killing off supernaturals? I don't know many 16-year-olds (or any, actually) who have bolo necklaces that double as thermowire garrotes, you know? So, how were they trained to kill people who are way more powerful than they are? (Though that is going by the assumption that these kids are just regular, albeit violent, human teenagers, though, which hasn't been confirmed.) Then, there's the party-- did they order the beer just to get Demarco there? And on that note, it's probably safe to say that they know that Lydia is on the list, and that she was hosting the party, so why didn't they go after her? I'm assuming that she's the second-most valuable bounty of the McCall Pack members, both because her abilities are powerful, (though she still doesn't fully understand them) and also because she's well protected-- she's close enough to everyone in the pack that they would all defend her to the last, and there are even a couple non-pack people in Beacon Hills who would likely protect her if it came to it, even if it's for their own motives (like, I highly doubt Chris would allow Lydia to come to harm, because she was Allison's best friend, and Allison would die a hundred times over if it meant protecting her. Then, on the other side of the spectrum is Peter, who would probably want to keep her alive/safe just because her abilities have and will still likely benefit him in some way, especially once she learns to use them.) I guess I'm just super curious about their motives, considering how young they are/seem to be and the fact that they'll probably be targeting their peers.
-So, SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT-- it looks like the blonde werewolf that Violet will be fighting in next week's episode is Carrie Hudson, who had the largest number beside her name on the deadpool list-- 500, which I'm assuming means $500,000, which is a HUGE chunk of change. She was also reciting the same mantra that Demarco was before he was killed-- "Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, the truth," which comes from Buddhist texts. I'm guessing the fact that they both use it to help with control that they're likely from the same pack, so why are they in town? How did no one know they were there before, like Derek? And that did Carrie and Demarco do that made them so valuable on the hit list?
-Did any of you guys participate in the Who Is The Benefactor? game that the TW execs and actors were involved in before the season started? It had like, 11 passwords you had to figure out in the correct order so that you could "crack the code" and gain access to the trailer for the season. Anyway, I realized that the clues we got ended up having a big part of what's happened to the season so far, so I thought I would share the words and what we've already seen so far.
117 ( 04x02, the Hale inheritance)
2436
DEMARCO (04x04, werewolf delivery man, beheaded by Violet)
BRETT
JORDAN
HEXAGON
TOMAHAWK (04x03, the Mute's weapon of choice)
TRUTH (04x04/04x05 new wolf pack's mantra?)
THERMOWIRE (04x04/04x05, Violet's weapon of choice, doubles as a bolo necklace)
DECADE
YELLOW (04x02 Derek's new werewolf eye color)
VIOLET (04x04, one of the Benefactor's teenage assassins)
CONTROL (04x04, "Control is overrated"/Malia gains control on the full moon)
MUTE (04x03/04x04, mouthless assassin for the Benefactor, killed by Peter)
IGLESIA (04x01, where Kate was hiding out and where she stashed Derek to turn him into Bb! Derek)
SATOMI
-Here is another thing that confuses me-- how short the deadpool list is/how many people are missing from it. The most suspicious part for me is the fact that Peter is missing; he was a member of the former Hale pack, who came from a really old and prominent werewolf family, so if Derek is on the list, shouldn't Peter be as well? At first I wondered if maybe they just didn't know he came back to life after Derek killed him in season 1, but whoever wrote the list knew enough to put Kira on it, a relative newcomer to Beacon Hills (though her mother lived there for quite a while in the past, but Noshiko isn't on it either, which I'll dig into more in a moment) so it seems weird that they wouldn't know Peter was alive again. Plus, Araya captured Peter last season so I'm sure it probably got around the hunter circles that Peter was back in the world of the living. Between that and the fact that he killed the Mute before any of them could glean any kind of information from him in whatever way they could find, which just seems shady to me. What is he up to? Was he THAT pissed that the Mute tomahawked him he would just kill the Mute outright? Or was he trying to make sure that the Mute wouldn't incriminate him somehow?
Other people who are notably absent from the list:
-Malia: Maybe she's too recent an addition to be listed? She did just spend almost the entire last decade as a coyote, so it's possible that no one of importance knows her identity yet
-Noshiko: Some have speculated doesn't have any powers anymore, thanks to the destruction of all her kaikens, but I'm not so sure-- she broke five before we knew about them to summon/control the oni, and then broke another two to replace the oni that Nogitstiles killed. That means she used up seven of the nine kaiken tails herself. Nogitstiles broke the eighth kaiken to steal control of the oni from her, because it was one of the strongest/oldest tails and thus had much more power, but that's still only eight out of nine, so where is the last one? Could Noshiko have expended all of her powers, making her more or less a mundane human, or is she just trying to stay on the down-low? She was adamant that no one except her friends see Kira's abilities, and she's demonstrated a kind of clairvoyancy in the past (such as knowing that the nogitsune had escaped its magical prison) so I could see her having some idea that this was coming. Maybe that's even why she wants to move them back to New York, and she's just once again too afraid to tell Kira the truth about what's going on. Stranger things have happened!
-Meredith: The other banshee from last season who I desperately want to come back soooon. Maybe she's not seen as a threat because she's still a resident at Eichen House and thus not really someone who has any interaction with the community at large? That's their mistake for underestimating her, if so, because she seems to have more control over her powers than Lydia does, and she didn't even have anyone helping her like Lydia does.
-Deaton/Morrell: They have been seen to do magic (Morrell with her badass mountain ash circles, and Deaton and his ability to force Kali to turn back into human when they were in the clinic) and who I would guess druids are considered to be supernatural in this universe, or at the very least fraternizing with them enough to be considered a threat.
-The more I think about the parallels between Scott right now and Derek from seasons 1-2, the more examples I can find. For example, just like how Derek had the unfortunate timing of biting his betas right after Kate "died" and Argent hunters began flooding the town, so the newbwolves Isaac, Erica and Boyd were pretty much thrust into this new world during an especially tense and dangerous time. Likewise, Scott had little choice in biting Liam, since he obviously wasn't going to let him die, but it's definitely going to have similar consequences-- the Golden Trio's recent surrogate sacrifices woke up the Nemeton and turned it into a beacon again, which seems to have attracted a fair amount of magical creatures, as well as assassins and supernatural-haters who want to take advantage of having all of them in one place so they can be even more easily killed off. Liam might not be on the list right now, but I have a feeling that once they learn he was bitten by Scott, the first true alpha in god knows how long, they're going to be pretty interested in taking him out as well, which is definitely worrisome. :( Obviously the difference between the two is that Derek actually consciously bit them, knowing that he was doing so to build up his pack so he could protect himself from the Argents and the Alpha Pack, while Scott had no intention of biting anyone, at least not at this point, when he has a decently sized pack as it is, but it's interesting all the same! Liam has a lot to learn, as quickly as they can possibly teach him. I'm hoping his anger problems will at least give him some booster strength in that department, to make up for his lack of fighting prowess and supernatural knowledge.
-More focus on money problems this week, too-- specifically, Lydia's family's financial problems. God, I'm really nervous that this is going to tempt our babies into killing people for money. PLEASE BE STRONG MY LOVES.
-What's with the code of the program being Allison? Is that supposed to suggest that the Benefactor is someone who knew/cared about her? If so, that definitely puts some suspicion on Gerard, Kate, Chris, and Victoria (who I am still desperately hoping is actually still alive-- she did kill herself by stabbing herself in the chest, but she was a werewolf when she did it, and we've seen Scott, Derek, and Peter heal from similar or worse injuries than that, so it's possible she pulled a Kate and has just been hiding out.) Part of me feels like that's way too obvious/easy, though, so maybe it was someone who just knew of Allison's connection to the supernatural world of Beacon Hills and used it to throw people off the scent of their real identity? I have no idea, but either way I am super concerned about the future health and welfare of our babies.
But, yeah, you guys don't care about that stuff-- the point is, this episode made me happy in so many ways that it was more or less worth all the effort in frustration! We saw that Derek is not only confident all of a sudden, but he's also super helpful AND good at fighting? AMAZING. Scott trying to channel Derek in his "So, you've been bitten by an alpha," pep-talk? HILARIOUSLY, EMBARRASSINGLY AWESOME. Stiles and Scott's usual Hardy Boys routine in trying to deal with Liam? Stiles and Malia's full moon together? Kira and Lydia being their flawless selves? ALLISON BEING THE KEY TO EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE EVER? I seriously have no complaints (except NO GARRETT I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU! WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!) Basically, I'm just flailing at this point so it's probably for the best if we just dig into it, yeah? Buckle up, babies, because this is gonna be a doozy.
Previously, on Teen Wolf: Beacon Hills' newest assassin, a big, bald, mouthless man known as the Mute, who speaks through an electronic gizmo, killed an entire family of wendigos who somehow managed to live in town for god knows how long without suspicion or detection. Lydia gave Malia her math notes to help her study, but instead of algebra, they were actually a computer code that she seems to have written in one of her banshee fugue states. The newest freshman, Liam, who kicked Stiles and Scott's asses in lacrosse, was revealed to have been kicked out of his old school for whatever reason. Scott and Kira finally got over their awkward limbo of a relationship and made out like a Disney prince and his princess in the high school hallway. Sean the wendigo was the last of the Walcott family to be killed by the Mute, and almost ate Liam on the roof of the hospital. Scott fought to let him free, which resulted in Liam tumbling off of the edge of the roof, holding on for dear life with his fingers. Scott's hands were tied, literally, and in a desperate attempt to keep Liam from falling three to four stories to his death, he latched onto Liam's wrist with his teeth until Sean was killed and Scott could haul him back onto the roof. Unfortunately for Scott AND Liam, Scott isn't a beta anymore, he's an ALPHA, which means his bite can and will turn people into werewolves. Oh, and Araya told him that if he bit an innocent person, she would come after him. Oops!
IT'S A FULL MOON, YAYYYYY! Thank goodness! It's been way too long since we've had one, so I was so pumped to see all of the full moon-induced shenanigans. We begin on the roof of the hospital, where Sheriff Stilinski and his deputies, including Parrish, are investigating Sean's murder. From the sound of it, there are also what sounds like news reporter helicopters overhead, trying to get a shot of the scene as well, as though a brutal murder of a teenager is actually a rarity in this infernal town. Sheriff takes Parrish aside and instructs him to get everyone off the roof and attempt to get him five minutes or so before the medical examiner shows up, because he's brought in an expert he wants to have examine the crime scene really quick. Parrish hilariously replies, "You have an expert on teenage cannibals?" BAHAHAHA. Yes, yes he does. Sheriff just kind of gives him a look, like, "What the hell am I supposed to do?" so Parrish reluctantly orders all of the deputies off the roof.
(via makos-lightningrod)
Once the coast is clear, Sheriff turns to call Derek, only to find him already standing on the edge of the roof, taking a look at the body, which both startles and exasperates Sheriff. He wastes no time informing Derek that Scott said the boy was a wendigo, and Derek in turn clarifies it for him. "Cannibalistic shapeshifters. But, I haven't heard of them in Beacon Hills in a LONG time. Must have been well-hidden." Yeah, I'd say they were-- I don't know the exact feeding habits of a wendigo, but since Sean had only gone at the very least, like, 12 hours before he was unable to resist chowing down on a deputy, I'm guessing they're each probably eating a body or so a day. That freezer they had contained what looked like at LEAST several dozen bodies, so they were probably set for a while. ANYWAY, Derek seems to catch a scent, and looks around some more while he asks Sheriff how many people were up on the roof when the fight happened, aside from Scott. Sheriff claims Scott said that it was just Sean and the axe-murderer, who Scott described as not having a mouth. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" Sheriff asks, but Derek is too distracted by a smear of blood on the ground next to his right shoe. Derek declares that there was someone else on the roof with them, who he guesses is a young male. Sheriff assumes that he must have caught a scent of the boy's fear, but Derek's like, "Uh, and this little puddle of his blood on the ground that you missed. Aren't you supposed to be the SHERIFF?"
Meanwhile, Stiles has just arrived to Scott's house, where Stiles is hurriedly telling Scott that he filled his dad in on all the details he could before he left to go check out the crime scene. Scott is clearly panicking, and asks if he told his dad about Liam, but Stiles argues that since Scott didn't even tell him anything about Liam, that would be pretty difficult. When he asks his bestest bro where Liam is, Scott sighs before vaguely stating that he's upstairs, "lying down." OH SCOTT. You can tell he's in crisis mode because he's actually referring back to Derek's method of supernatural-schooling (you know, stalking and generally being a creep), which he should know went horribly the first time, and then turned it up to 11. Stiles gives him a confused look, so Scott takes him upstairs, where poor Liam is completely bound in duct tape, including over his mouth, has been placed in Scott's bathtub. LOLOL FOREVER. When Scott pulls back the shower curtain to show him what he did, Liam immediately starts groaning a muffled plea of help through the duct tape, and Stiles' face is immediately like, "ARE YOU SHITTING ME, SCOTT?" He slowly closes the shower curtain again and takes his dumbass apex predator of a best friend into his room for a little talking-to, which is seriously HILARIOUS. It's all in Posey and Dylan's delivery, my paltry-ass recapping abilities cannot do it justice.
STILES: "So... you bit him?"
SCOTT: "Yeah."
STILES: [sighs] "...And, you kidnapped him."
SCOTT: "...yeah--"
STILES: "--And you brought him HERE."
SCOTT: "I panicked!"
STILES: [nods sagely] "Yup. [beat] This isn't gonna end with us burying the pieces of his body out in the desert, is it?"
LIAM: [loudly whimpers in fear from inside the bathroom]
STILES: [gulps nervously] "As a reminder, this is why I always come up with the plans! Your plans SUCK."
Oh Stiles. Oh Scott. This is already such a mess. Scott acknowledges that this may just be the most inadvertently stupid thing he's ever done, and insists that he called Stiles because Stiles always knows what to do. Stiles just has this face, like he's both super angry at Scott for putting them both in this position, and also super loving it because as much as they hate all of the soul-crushingly terrible stuff that happens, he still digs being the guy you go to for answers, you know? Besides, Stiles and Scott are bros for life, so when Scott panics and kidnaps a fellow lacrosse teammate who he just accidentally bit and maybe turned into a werewolf, Stiles is gonna do whatever he's gotta do to make things right. Even if those things don't end up helping whatsoever, as we're about to see. SO, when Scott asks him what they're gonna do now, Stiles decides that they're gonna plop the still-bound Liam into a chair and have themselves a little talk. I really wish I know how much time passed between when Scott bit Liam and when all of this went down, because it would really help for timeline purposes. Unfortunately, Jeff doesn't give a fuck about timelines, sigh.
Stiles sits Liam down and tells him the rules: basically, they're gonna remove the duct tape over his mouth, and they'll keep it off, so long as Liam doesn't scream or otherwise make a noise to indicate to neighbors that they kidnapped a teenager (for the second time, I might add-- remember Scott and Stiles' brilliant idea to steal a police paddywagon to hold Jackson until they could figure out what to do with him?) Liam acquiesces to this request, because he has no choice, so Stiles takes the tape off and starts their speech. "Okay, Liam. Now, you've seen a lot of confusing things tonight. And, more confusing things are going to happen because of the confusing things that happened tonight. Do you understand?" Scott frowns, and Liam, who is visibly fuming, sarcastically retorts that no, he has no idea what the fuck he's talking about. Scott picks it up from there. "Liam... what happened to you-- what I did to you-- which I had to do in order to save you? ...It's gonna change you." Stiles adds, "Unless it kills you," which both he and Scott immediately agree was a stupid thing to say. Liam looks like he's starting to break down in tears, so Scott immediately kneels down in front of him and assures him that he's not going to die. Of course, Stiles can't help but interject, "Probably not," which only makes him start crying worse.
His tears look super super fake, which I immediately noticed, but for whatever reason, Stiles and Scott stupidly buy it 100%, even though Nogistiles literally pulled the exact same trick on them a half-dozen episodes ago in "De-Void." Overcome by guilt, the boys quickly unbind him and apologize profusely for what they did thus far tonight. Suddenly, Liam grabs the chair he was sitting in and SWINGS IT at Scott and Stiles, shattering it into a million pieces and knocking Scott flat on his ass. Stiles is seriously APPALLED at his behavior, and is like, "LIAM! What the fuck are you doing?" which earns him a nasty right hook to the face. Liam runs frantically down the hall, and his sock-clad feet slide a little bit on the floor when he realizes that his ankle is magically healed.
Before he can consider how the fuck THAT'S possible, Stiles and Scott both manage to peel themselves off the floor and stumble out Scott's bedroom door. When Stiles sees Liam standing in the hallway, he calls out "GET HIM!" before the two rush toward Liam and tackle him, sending all three of them rolling down the steps. They all land on the floor, where Liam desperately tries to crawl out from under them and scamper out the door. Stiles and Scott blindly try to tackle and grab him, but by the time they open their eyes, they learn that they were actually just grabbing each others' legs. PRICELESS SCENE. Stiles' foot is all up against Scott's face, and he shoves it away, only to see that the front door is wide open, and Liam is nowhere to be found. "Your plans suck too!" Scott snits in frustration, an observation to which Stiles concedes with a guilty shrug. Well, shit!
Across town, Peter has seemingly just arrived to the loft, where he turns off the security alarm and calls out for his nephew to see if he's home. He paces around the room of what is probably the darkest loft in the history of dark lofts, reading what looks like the report Braedon got for them regarding the Walcott murders. He's just in the middle of yelling for Derek again when a familiar military-tomahawk flips toward Peter and embeds itself into Peter's chest, knocking him to his knees before he collapses onto his back on the floor. The Mute skulks toward him in all his mouthless, creepy glory, while Peter stares at him. He gasps, "Derek?" but the Mute just holds out his arm so he can type a message into his little voice doohicky. "Don't worry, Peter. Derek is next." NOOOO. TITLE CARD!
Its the next morning when we cut over to the Stilinski residence, where Stiles has plopped a big carpetbag onto his bed in front of Malia, full of chains and wrist restraints that look like they were stolen from Eichen House. "I hate full moons," Malia whines in response to seeing the chains that will be locking her up tonight. Stiles promises they'll get easier, which he knows from experience, after helping Scott finally get control what feels like forever ago. Malia takes a look at the leather wrist guards, which are cracked and ripped in some places, and retorts that she hopes so, since they look like they're not going to last much longer, which kind of suggests that this is not the first full moon that Malia has used these with Stiles' help. I think the showrunners said that the time jump between seasons was 1-2 months, so I'm guessing she did one full moon with them in between season 3B and season 4, and now this is probably the second. "Well, let's try to make tonight the last time we have to use them!" Stiles suggests optimistically, as he tests restraints out by wrapping and securing one of the leather straps around her wrist, and adds that there's a possibility Liam might end up needing them instead.
Malia watches as he binds her wrist, and asks him if he thinks Liam will end up being a werewolf or something else, but Stiles grimly retorts that they don't even know if he's going to live, period. I love how they keep acting like Liam could die when we allllll know that it's totally not going to happen. Naturally, just as Stiles has finished securing one of her wrists and asks her if it's too tight, the Sheriff walks in and immediately assumes that his son and his girlfriend are into some kind of bondage play. Which isn't the first time someone has assumed that-- remember how Coach assumed that Stiles is some kind of nymphomaniac who has group sex with his packmates and likes to be tied up in chains, based on all the weirdo things he's seen him do/say? I still laugh about that frequently, tbh. Stiles swears that it isn't what it looks like, but his dad just grips onto his thermos of coffee and walks back down the hall, insisting that he doesn't even want to know. "There's nothing to know!" Stiles calls out, but Malia just looks at him in confusion before using her free hand to undo the leather strap around her wrist. "I don't get it," Malia mutters with a sigh. LOL! I guess she missed all of the awkward sex jokes that come with puberty while she was off being chased by cougars, yeah? That is so hilarious.
Over at school, Lydia and Kira are in biology class, where Kira is watching Lydia work on the code that code from last week by transcribing it into a program on her Macbook. "These are your math notes?" Kira asks incredulously, as she looks at page after page of what looks like gibberish. "No wonder Malia is failing." Well, that would probably be because someone had the bright idea of throwing her into junior level classes when she hasn't been in school since 3rd grade, but okay. After Lydia determines that it's partially her math notes, but mostly a computer code of some kind, Kira asks if she remembers writing it, but of course she doesn't. "But, considering my drawing of the tree led us to the Nemeton, I should probably figure out what it means before it starts to kill us." Always a good idea, IMO! Kira suggests that it could be an enigma code like the Allies used, and Lydia just gives her this look like she doesn't understand how Kira would know that. "Remember, my dad's a World War II buff? My mom was, well, in it." Arden's delivery and the lip bite that followed it was PERFECT, god, I love her so much. Everyone is so good this week, I can't stop raving about it!
Lydia believes that what they're actually looking at is a variation of what I think she said was a Vishniac cypher, for which I cannot for the life of me find any kind of description anywhere. I'll take her word for it! Kira asks if she thinks she can crack it, but Lydia seems to suggest that without the key, it's pretty hopeless. Speaking of keys, Lydia's amazing mama, their
biology teacher, arrives with a set of keys, which she hands to Lydia, along with a warning. "Remember the rules," Mama Martin explains matter-of-factly. "No more than six people allowed at the lake house, stay out of the WINE, and, if anything gets broken, it's getting added to YOUR credit card debt." Lydia chirps in agreement and goes to grab the keys, but her mother snatches them away before adding, "And lock up the basement! From all the scratch marks I found on the walls, it looked like a pack of wild animals got down there!" Lydia smiles widely as her mother hands over the keys, while Kira just tries to keep her face neutral because of the actual pack of wild animals that was down there during the last full moon. BAHAHA. Oh god, the uninformed parents on this show are SO OBLIVIOUS.
Outside, the freshman bus must have arrived super late, because three of the new characters-- lacrosse cutie Garrett, who we already met last week, his girlfriend Violet, who has a VERY interesting bolo necklace with a big metal and onyx pendant on it, and BHHS's new cute, young gay boy, Mason, who seems to be replacing our sweet dimpled prince Danny Mahealani-- have just arrived at school. The time-space continuum of this show is very much like the one in Gossip Girl; sometimes it's breakfast in one place, and like late at night in others, and sometimes only half of the kids are in school at a given time. It's madness! ANYWAY, Magic Man's "Every Day" plays while Garrett complains that he doesn't want to spend another Friday night watching movies. He insists to Mason that there has to be something more exciting going on, but Mason reminds them that they are freshman/fourteen years old, so it's not like they're going to go clubbing. Violet cuts them off and informs them they'll be going to Mason's to watch a movie at 9, just as she and her beau head off to class or practice or whatever. God, these kids look so young! Although Garrett and Violet both are much more grown-up than you would think, as we will see later.
Mason is about to head toward the school as well when he runs into a super-flustered looking Liam and asks him why he wasn't on the bus. Liam looks pretty strung out and is still trying to catch his breath when he claims that he ran to school, which Mason finds pretty weird, since Liam lives three miles away from school and all. "I... just started running," Liam lies, badly, and Mason's just like, "Weren't you just in the ER for your leg last night, ya doof?" Then, of course, Mason notices the slightly-bloody bandage on his arm where Scott bit him and asks him about it. When Liam looks down at it, he gets overwhelmed by the combination of 1) the realization that all the weird shit he saw yesterday actually happened, and 2) the double whammy of "holy shit I'm a werewolf this is weird" feelings and "holy shit I'm a werewolf AND it's a full moon tonight this is really really horrifyingly weird" feelings. His senses are so heightened that he loses control over them altogether, and he is quickly overcome by the noises around him as he sweats anxiously. He leans over a nearby railing and tries to catch his breath, looking like he's about to throw up, and it's clear Mason is seriously concerned for his friend. Liam looks up, only to see Scott lurking a couple yards away, staring at him, Derek Hale-styles. When he looks back, Scott's gone, and Liam is just so DONE with all of it that he makes some lame excuse to get away from Mason's intense interrogation.
Liam finally makes his way into the school, though it takes all of two seconds for Scott to catch up to him. He tries to rush away, but naturally, Stiles is coming from the opposite direction to block him in. Scott insists that they need to talk, but of course, all Liam knows for sure is that he almost got killed by some cannibal and then got bitten by some weirdo that looked like Scott, but with fangs and mutton chops, and then he got KIDNAPPED by Scott and his weirdo friend, so he's basically just ready to move to another state. Which, really, is probably a good idea that everyone in this town should do. Scott begs him to stop and let him talk for one second, so Liam finally just gestures rudely at him to get him to get it over with already. Scott takes a moment to channel his inner Derek Hale, but as the words fall out of his mouth, you can tell that even he is cringing internally at just how nuts he sounds. "Liam... we're brothers now!" Scott begins, to which Liam is like, "What the FUCK is wrong with you? I just met you, and you bit me." Stiles' eyes are shooting mega-daggers at Scott in a silent order to stop talking, but Scott's on a roll. "The bite... The bite is a gift!" Stiles is just ready to just smack Scott over the head at this point, and even Scott is like "That sounded even worse than I expected, if you can imagine that."
Stiles picks it up for his brother, and snits, "You! You-- we're trying to help you, you little runt!" Liam retorts that kidnapping isn't exactly HELPING him at all, to which Stiles, ever the Sheriff of the county's son, quips, "Just to clarify-- Scott kidnapped you, okay? I... aided and abetted." Scott tries to appeal to him on a human level, by explaining that he's gone through this before (which should at least be something Liam can understand, considering he literally saw Scott IN WOLF FORM, up close and personal), and maintains that something major is happening to him right now, something that Liam needs their help to deal with.
Liam seems to know deep inside that yes, Scott is totally right, but he doesn't want to believe it, so he turns to contained rage-mode. "Nothing's happening to me," Liam insists in a deadly calm voice, before he angrily rips off the bandage on his arm, revealing that his bite has already healed, thanks to the impending full moon's superpowers. "Nothing!" Scott looks completely thrown, because the healing means Liam is indeed becoming some kind of supernatural creature, which makes this whole situation way more real, and Stiles just staring at him with this look of half-horror, half-sympathy, like, "Oh, kid, you have no idea just how weird/bad/terrifying things are about to become for you."
The high-schooler contingent of the McCall Pack meets up in the bus bay to discuss what the fuck they're going to do about their most stubborn new beta. Malia is adamant that she's not sharing "her" basement with that punk, but Lydia comically reminds her that it's actually HER basement, which her mom totally knows Malia tore up during the last full moon. Stiles defends his lady's honor by pointing out that Malia's still learning, so they should cut her a break, but Malia doesn't seem too offended, thankfully. Scott mediates by assuring them that they're going to try to get Liam into the lake house's boat house, since it has support beams to which they can chain him. Kira has an excellent point, though-- since Liam is about thisclose to getting a restraining order against them, a la Jackson Whittemore, how are they going to get him to agree to letting them tie him up? "I say, if it keeps him from murdering someone, we just chloroform the little bastard and throw him in the lake," Stiles suggests, with accompanying hand gestures that just make it a million times more hilarious, and Malia raises her hand to join Stiles's team.
(via makos-lightningrod)
Scott, though, will not be killing or kidnapping him (again), so Lydia figures they should play it smarter. Since she's the smartest of all of them, she's just like, "It's not rocket science, you guys-- just invite him to a party at the lake house and deal with him when he gets there." Stiles has a hard time believing that Lydia would ask out a freshman, which is a correct assumption, because Lydia has given up on teenage boys (which means HELLOOOOO DEPUTY PARRISH PLZ.) Still, Lydia suggests that they utilize their resident trickster to help them with this ploy. Kira is not very confident in her abilities, though, since she's only known she's a kitsune for, like, three or four months max, but Lydia makes a solid argument. "Yes, you! You know what they call a female fox? A vixen!" They all waggle their eyebrows at her, while Lydia reminds her that she can do it. I agree, especially considering how hot she looks in her outfit today! She's wearing a fitted black floral shirt with a rounded neckline, a black pleated skirt, black tights, and super amazing black patent leather platforms. As usual, I want her entire outfit.)
Inside, the bell has just rung over the sounds of "The World's Made Up Of This And That (Fatboy Slim Remix)" by Deeds Plus Thoughts, and students are filing into the hallway, including Liam and Mason. Liam stops mid-conversation with his buddy when he catches a glimpse of our stunning thunder princess making her way down the steps in slo-mo. He stares at her, clearly overwhelmed by her beauty and grace, obviously, but because Kira is the most awkward person ever, she gets distracted while trying to catch his eye and totally trips down the stairs and bites it, face first, onto the floor at the bottom. He does seem to have a bit of kindness in him, because he immediately rushes over to her to make sure she's okay (while the rest of the school aggressively ignores them both.) She's clearly embarrassed, but brushes it off quickly, and smiles the sweetest smile while asks him if he'd like to come to a party with her. I don't know if it's just the forwardness of it, or the fact that a smoking hot junior is asking out his freshman punk ass, but he's definitely stunned at her offer and can't help but accept. WOOT! Nice recovery, Kira!
Meanwhile, Peter is getting fixed up from his run-in with the Mute by his dearest nephew Derek, who has examined the tomahawk that the Mute left behind, for whatever reason. "The axe was laced with wolfsbane," Derek explains, as Peter grunts through the pain of the nasty black-bloodied wound in the middle of his chest. "I don't know the species, so I'm gonna have to burn it out." He whips out his favorite Zippo and lights it to demonstrate his point, but hello, Peter is a former burn victim, so he's quips, "I think I can handle a little fire!" Derek just smiles the biggest, happiest smile, and then brings out the big guns-- namely, that blowtorch he used to bring out Scott's armband tattoo. "Aw, hell," Peter groans, just before Derek lights the blowtorch and presses it into his chest cavity. Hey Peter? Remember that one time you said, "We all have our petty revenges?" I'm pretty sure this is Derek's, tbh.
(via seaquell)
After god knows how much time Peter spent screaming bloody murder while he had the wolfsbane burned out of his flesh, Derek finally finishes his work, which relieves Peter so much that he flings himself backward onto the ground again. Derek eventually helps him up, mostly so Peter can show off his blackened wound and buff muscles. Peter reminds Derek that the Mute said he was coming after Derek, but Derek doesn't seem that perturbed by it. "How does a guy with no mouth say anything?" Derek retorts with his signature eyebrow-raise of skepticism. Peter pulls the Mute's long glove with the keyboard attached with an armband off the table, which the Mute also apparently left behind for whatever reason, and hands it over to his nephew. So, judging by the fact that Peter managed to hang onto the Mute's glove AND his tomahawk, in addition to the comments Derek makes later about Peter's run in with the axe murderer, seems to suggest that Peter managed to fight pretty hard against the Mute even despite having said axe impaling his heart and/or lungs, which is both impressive and kind of suspect. More on that later.
Driving on the back roads, Kira is zipping along in her car (which looks suspiciously like Lydia's car, actually, except it's dark red instead of navy blue) with Liam in the passenger seat, where they're listening to "This Party" by Matt Young on the satellite radio product placement. Liam is clearly starting to feel reallllllly wound up and restless and generally weird, while Kira tries to distract him by babbling about the "party" they're about to attend. "It's Lydia Martin's lake house!" Kira chirps happily, while Liam cracks his jaw and rubs his temples and does whatever he can to try to make this nightmare-trip of a day end ASAP. "Actually, it's her grandmother's lake house? But she's dead, so it's okay." She definitely notices that Liam is not really feeling so hot, but continues babbling anyway because she's getting more insecure about her awkwardness than anything else. "I mean, it's not okay that she's dead! I just know that she was in pain!" Kira's awkward small talk for the win!
Eventually, the loud sounds get to be way too much, and he shouts, "Can you turn the music down?" As soon as he says it, though, his heightened hearing goes back to normal, and the music becomes almost too quiet. Kira's like, "What? You want me to turn the music up?" and then totally cranks it up for him. God, I love Kira so much, you guys, it's kind of insane. I never thought I would love another Teen Wolf character the way that I loved Allison, but I've figured out the difference; Allison is the person I've always wanted to be, with her bravery and strength and confident ass-kicking prowess,but Kira is totally the person that I AM (minus the super awesome superpowers, of course), with her passive, slightly neurotic, awkward, but still well-intentioned personality, so both ladies are now occupying separate yet adjacent places in my heart. ANYWAY, Liam is ridiculously startled when his phone buzzes in his pocket, and when he checks it, he sees he has a text from Mason, asking him where he is. After hesitating for a moment, Liam asks Kira who exactly will be attending the party, so Kira just plasters on the fakest of fake smiles and assures him that EVERYONE will be there. Yeah, everyone as in ALL THE MEMBERS OF YOUR NEW PACK, YA PUNK.
Scott has just pulled up to the lake house on his bike, where Lydia, Malia and Stiles are waiting for him outside on the driveway. Scott assures them that he just talked to Kira, and that she and Liam both are totally fine and on their way, but that's not exactly why Stiles seems to be so worried. As it turns out, he talked to a bunch of people and got the scoop on Liam-- namely, the reason why Liam got kicked out of his old school. While it's never revealed what actually happened between Liam and his teacher to cause this type of reaction, what they DO know is that he has serious anger issues and took out his anger toward his teacher by beating the shit out of the teacher's car with a crowbar. Stiles pulls up a picture of the car on his phone, and it looks seriously AWFUL. A couple months ago, my sister got rear-ended by a semi truck going 55mph on the highway (she was stopped in traffic, waiting to get off on an exit) and her car after the subsequent six-car-pileup was in better shape than this teacher's car. The metal is dented on all sides, the paint is peeling off in parts of it, and the tires are all flat, but the worst part is on the side, where Liam had scrawled "THIS IS YOUR FAULT" in huge letters with his keys. To say that Scott is feeling a little regret and anxiety about accidentally biting Liam is an understatement, because those anger problems are not going to make learning how to control his wolf an easier task, as we saw with Kate and her jaguar side-- she's reckless, impulsive, and prone to fits of rage, all of which play a role in the fact that she can't always keep her human side in control. Speaking of Kate, what the fuck is that nagual up to?
Kira and Liam are still on their way to the lake house, and the full moon is already out in full force, which isn't doing anything to help Liam's general uneasiness/anxiety/uncontrollable rage as his first full transformation draws near. Kira looks over at him to check on him, and immediately becomes more concerned when she sees Liam panting heavily in an effort to calm himself down. Yeah girl, remember what happened to Malia's family on her first full moon? This is why it's not good to be trapped with newbie werewolves in close quarters like this. He looks in the side mirror, the full moon fully visible overhead, and scowls furiously as he continues to take deep, shallow breaths. Yup, looks like a werewolf to me! Remember how angry Scott was on his first two full moons? He broke a wall with the back of his head at school, angrily made out with Lydia in Coach's office, said a whole bunch of horribly mean things to Stiles, and got in a knock-out, drag-out fight with Derek when he stopped him from going after Allison and Jackson in a fit of anxious jealousy. So, this kind of behavior isn't really unusual at all for new werewolves on a full moon, especially considering what we know about his anger issues even on a good day.
The two finally arrive at Lydia's lake house, the full moon huge and hanging overhead (maybe it was the super-moon that happened in the last week? It looks AWFULLY big) as Kira parks the car. Liam instantly gets suspicious when he only sees a car, a Jeep, and a motorbike parked in the driveway by them (Lydia's, Stiles' and Scott's, respectively, though Liam doesn't know that), and he demands to know where the hell everyone is. "They're here! It's a small party," Kira chirps in response, but Liam reminds her that she said that EVERYONE was going to be there, forcing Kira to awkwardly backtrack as she grabs him by the arm and drags him to the front door. "They are!" Kira exclaims in a high pitched voice, as she claps her hands together happily. "They're late, we're and we're early, so we better hurry! Yayyy, parties!" Hahahahaha!
Liam looks as though he's starting to regret coming on this date with Kira, which turns to DEFINITE regret as soon as Liam steps through the door and sees Scott, Stiles, Lydia and Malia waiting for them inside, with Stiles' carpetbag full of chains laying in full view on the coffee table. Liam instantly turns toward Kira and glares at her, but she quickly shuts the door, locks it, and stands in front of it so she can block him in. "Sorry," Kira admits with a sheepish smile. Liam turns back to the rest of the pack and asks them what the hell is going on, and of course, Stiles can't resist being a smartass about it. Again. "Think of it like an intervention!" Stiles declares. "You have a problem, Liam." Lydia and Malia look at him sympathetically, as Scott picks up where he left off. "And we're the only ones that can help."
Back in town, Derek has just arrived to the Sheriff's department so he can fill Sheriff Stilinski in on what he's learned about the Mute. Sheriff picks up the glove and keyboard from his desk, and is once again in total disbelief about what he's just heard. "I still don't get how this guy has no mouth," Sheriff mutters, as he examines the keyboard. "How--how can he eat?" Derek's new-found confidence has apparently come with an even sassier sense of humor, because what he says next is fucking hilarious, thanks to Tyler Hoechlin's impeccable delivery. "Oh, well Peter didn't get a chance to ask, he was fighting him off with a tomahawk buried in his chest? So..." I have watched this scene about a dozen times and it never gets less funny to me, which is weird, because the words themselves aren't that funny-- it's seriously just Hoechlin's delivery, coupled with his hand gestures and head-shakes that really make it. I'm doing a terrible job of describing it. Just watch it, and see for yourself.
(via lonewolfed)
Anyway, Sheriff exclaims, "Well, who runs around with a TOMAHAWK?" just as Parrish walks in the door to talk to him. "I carried one for IED removal in Afghanistan," Parrish pipes up, which definitely piques Derek's interest. Parrish goes on to explain that tomahawks are used by the military (which we already know) and that the keyboard attached to the Mute's glove is ALSO military. Derek asks him what it's used for, but Parrish isn't sure, because he thinks it's been modified. Sheriff adorably defers to Derek's judgment, so when Derek tilts his head toward the door, Sheriff rushes over to shut it so the other deputies don't listen in before asking Parrish to show the two of them how it would be used.
DREAM TEAM, am I right? I was SO hoping that Sheriff shutting the door was to give them the opportunity to fill Parrish in on the supernatural world, and honestly, I'm actually a little disappointed that they haven't. I'm still pretty suspicious of him, but I love his character so much that I desperately want him to be good. Ideally, I would like him to be a clueless (albeit suspicious) human who will end up helping the pack, or another supernatural who has no idea about his powers yet either, or at the very least, one who does know about his powers but is just hiding them out of fear. (Also, it's kind of hilarious to me that Parrish didn't say anything about the fact that he arrested a sixteen year old boy outside the Hale house last week-- who just so happened to have Derek Hale's adult mugshot and rap sheet come up when they ran his fingerprints-- and now, the teenager version is gone and replaced again by adult Derek Hale, who is now Sheriff Stilinski's teenage cannibal expert. Wouldn't Parrish have recognized him? People like Parrish and Agent Douchenozzle and Lydia's mom are like, so unbelievably oblivious to all of the blatant supernatural shenanigans around here that I seriously wonder if they're not just playing dumb. It's definitely suspicious.)
We then cut back to the lake house, where Liam is reciting the roll call of creatures he's just learned about in the interim as he points at each person in turn. "Werewolf," Liam begins incredulously, as Scott nods kindly. "Werecoyote..." He points at Malia, who smiles weakly as she nods as well. "Banshee..." Lydia just sheepishly shrugs and points at him in confirmation. When he finally turns back toward Kira, you can tell he's about to lose his mind. "Fox?" Kira just smiles and tells him that she's actually a kitsune, but for all intents and purposes, yes, she's a fox. He sighs and turns to Stiles before asking him what he is, and instead of responding "Abominable Snowman" like everyone was hoping, he just shrugs. "Uh, for a little while I was possessed by an evil spirit!" Stiles offers, before adding, "It was very evil!" Malia just rolls her eyes as Liam asks what he is now. "Better?" Stiles replies, at a loss for words. Has Stiles ever referred to himself as a human? I'm pretty sure he hasn't. He'll say things, like, "I can't do the things that you can do," or "I'm 147 pounds of pale skin and fragile bone, sarcasm is my only defense," but that doesn't really suggest that he's HUMAN, just that he's not a werewolf with super strength and healing and reflexes. Plus, his shadow-self WAS bitten by an alpha, so I wouldn't be surprised if Stiles has some kind of residual magical abilities as a result; not a werewolf, but not quite human, either. Like Lydia!
(via hazelesgrace)
Liam notices the chains on the table, and asks them if they're for him, which at least seems to suggest that part of him does, in fact, know that something seriously major is happening to him to the point where he's going to need to be locked up, but he's still in denial. Malia insists that they're for her, and flashes her blue eyes at him, which, for some reason, freaks him the fuck out, even though he already saw a fully transformed werewolf and a fucking wendigo only 24 hours ago. When Liam demands to know how she did that, Scott assures him that he'll learn how to do it, too, but first they need to help him get through the full moon. Liam reminds them that, hello, the full moon is already out, but Scott already knows it. "And you're starting to feel something, aren't you?" Scott asks, slightly amused, as he watches him, listening to his rapidly increasing heart rate. "I feel like I'm surrounded by a bunch of psychotic nutjobs," Liam snaps, finally succumbing to the rage that has been building ever since yesterday at lacrosse practice.
"You guys are out of your freaking mind!" Liam yells, while we cut to the sequence of reactions from the packmates: Scott just sighs in frustration and closes his eyes for a moment; Lydia rolls her eyes, like, "I totally called this," and Stiles and Malia are just raising their eyebrows at him, like he's being totally unreasonable and embarrassing. Kira, who is standing the closest to him, looks like she's scared about what he's going to do. "I don't know how you did that eye-thing, and I don't care! I'm walking out that door right now, and if any of you try to stop me, I swear to God, I'm gonna--" Liam's furious bellowing is cut off when he's suddenly hit by a wave of pain as his body starts to change for his transformation. He falls to his knees, tightly pressing on his temples with his hands. Scott instantly rushes toward him, and asks him what he's feeling. Liam is once again overwhelmed by all the loud sounds, and can't believe that Scott can't hear them. Scott, who seems to have been too distracted by Liam's pain to notice the ambient noises, focuses his hearing, only to realize that the noise is a blockade of cars coming up the long driveway. Lydia asks Liam if he told anyone he was coming here, and Liam manages to admit through the pain that he told his friend Mason, since Kira told him it was a party. Stiles is like, "Then who did Mason invite?" Kira has scurried to the window, and nervously replies, "Everyone." Liam's fingernails grow out into claws that scratch loudly against the wooden floors as he clenches his fingers in pain.
Lydia, worried about what her mom said earlier about the house, immediately orders Scott to get him off the floors, but Liam's eyes and fangs are out now, too, and he roars menacingly at her. She stops in her tracks, so Scott and Kira determine they need to get him to the boat house, STAT, and each take a side as they half-carry him out the back door. As if things weren't bad enough already, Malia doubles over in pain before roaring at Stiles, eyes blazing and fangs out. Stiles is hilariously like, "OOP! Okay! Downstairs! Downstairs, now!" as he helps push Malia toward the basement door.
Lydia hysterically asks them what the fuck she's supposed to do with the horde of freshman about to flood her house, so Stiles just replies, "Lydia, who throws the best parties in Beacon Hills?" Lydia is appalled. "WHAT? Me, obviously!" she shrieks. HAHAHAHA. I love that she's so offended, even though she totally roofied everyone with wolfsbane at her last party, and they all had boggart-style bad trips the entire night. Anyway, Stiles orders her to throw a party, and Lydia about screams from frustration before she heads to the door. Tiesto and Showtek's "Hell Yeah!" begins to play as she opens it to find what looks like at least a hundred people crowded outside her house, including Mason and Garrett. "Are we in the right place for the party?" the two boys ask, so Lydia plasters on her best Queen Bee smile and replies, "Absolutely!" Oh, Lydia, you sweet angel.
Back in Sheriff's office, Parrish is on Sheriff's laptop, hacking his way into the military keyboard the Mute was using to communicate with his victims, and, as we'll soon find out, his allies, while Derek and Sheriff stand behind him and watch him work. After a moment, Parrish informs them that he found an IP address, which he assures Sheriff he will be able to use to track their axe murderer. He starts typing some more, just as the gloves' fingers twitch robotically, like a bionic prosthetic of some kind. This does nothing to comfort either of the men, especially when Parrish glances back at the screen and realizes that his program has found a message on the device. "Does anyone recognize the handle 'Benefactor?'" Parrish asks, just as the message itself pops onto the screen-- "Money transferred." OH SHIT. Derek asks what the hell that's supposed to mean, but Sheriff just sighs in disappointment and horror. "It means this guy's not just a killer. He's an asssassin." YIKES! Although, this isn't exactly a surprise to those who have seen the promos/trailers for the season. Also, did you guys notice that Parrish has a little badge and a patch on his sleeve that says "Deputy Sheriff?" That means he's literally Sheriff's number two/lieutenant/second-in-command, which is kind of awesome! When I mentioned it to Kathleen during our weekly post-Teen Wolf brainstorming session, she made a pretty good point-- "Well, he's survived more than two weeks on the job, so he's the most qualified." LOLOL. Ain't that the truth.
Meanwhile, at the boat house, Scott is holding a partially-wolfed-out Liam against the support beam while Kira quickly secures the chains to the beam and locks him up. Liam's eyes are blazing gold, and he continues to frantically snap at Scott with his fangs while he struggles forcefully against his grip. Scott shouts at Kira to grab his hands, but while Kira may be super fast and agile, she's still not as strong as the other canids in the pack, so it takes only seconds for Liam to break out of her hold. He lunges at Scott and tackles him, which ends in Scott laying flat on his back while Liam straddles him and starts punching him.
I saw a lot of people online complaining about how Scott never fought back or alpha-roared him into submission, but I feel like it makes perfect sense in terms of his character-- he's feeling extremely guilty for biting Liam, even if the alternative was that Liam would have died, because now all he can think about is how he felt when Peter bit him without his consent, and how scared and confused and just generally horrified he was about all the changes in his body and his mind. So, he doesn't want to hurt Liam any more than he already has, and he certainly doesn't want to scare him any more than he already is, so instead, he takes a leaf from Derek's book and just lets his new beta wallop the shit out of him while he begs Liam to chill out for one second. Liam ends up getting Scott in a choke-hold, and is about this close to clawing the shit out of his throat when Kira comes up behind him and whacks him over the head with an oar she found hanging on the nearby wall. Liam falls to the floor like a rock, and Kira immediately kneels down next to him, terrified that she killed him. Scott assures him that he's just out cold, though, which is convenient, because now they can chain him up easily. Way to go, Kira! "I hope Stiles is having better luck," Kira mutters, as she tries to catch her breath.
The answer to that question is yes, but just barely-- Stiles is down in the basement, where he's securing the leather wrist guards around Malia's arms. When he asks her if they're too tight, she lifts her head, revealing her coyote face, eyes and fangs, and growls, "Tighter." Damn, how is Malia's skin STILL so flawless, even with her werecoyote-scrunched up face ? It's seriously ridiculous, I need to know Shelley Hennig's skin care regimen, stat. The only part that sucks is that her flawless eyebrows have disappeared. Stiles is a little startled by her growly voice, but he does what the lady asks, and stands up once he's done, while Malia rattles the chains to test their strength. Malia reminds him that he can leave, but Stiles insists that he's staying, both for Malia, and also because he's probably better off, considering Lydia is currently babysitting a hundred uninvited freshman inside the house she was specifically ordered not to destroy just hours ago.
Stiles looks up toward the ceiling, hearing the loud electronic music ("Dub Drop" by Nifty Trick) that Lydia is blaring to cover up the noise of the howling werecanids who are hiding out from the party. Lydia pushes her way through the crowds of people in her home, trying her best not to look too impolite, and eventually ends up in the kitchen, where she finds a scruffy delivery man who is wheeling in a keg on a dolly. "Oh-kay," Lydia begins snidely, as she glances up from the keg to the man delivering it. "I didn't order a keg of beer! Especially not DOMESTIC." The delivery man, whose name is Demarco Montana, begs to differ, because SOMEONE had to have ordered it, and he refuses to believe that no one in this house wants to drink some cheap beer. Lydia rolls her eyes, and glances over to where a wineglass is precariously balanced on the edge of her Macbook, which immediately sends her into into shrieking-mode. "Who put this here?" Lydia demands to no one in particular, as she sets the glass down on the table. "This laptop is two THOUSAND dollars!"
That's when she looks over to see Garrett, who is alone and drinking from a half-empty bottle of wine he must have found in Mama Martin's stash (I'm happy to see that Carol Lockwood's booziness has seeped over into her role on Teen Wolf as well as in The Vampire Diaries!) She quickly plucks the bottle out of his hand, citing the fact that the wine cost $400 as an excuse for her rudeness. She realizes that if she doesn't want everyone to destroy the house, she's gonna have to invest in some booze, so she asks Demarco how much it'll cost. He hands her a bill, which she immediately scans, and when she sees a $100 surcharge, she calls him out on it. "I call that the, 'Yes, you DO look twenty-one to me'-surcharge," he replies with a wink. Lydia sighs, and turns around to look for a method of payment, where she notices Mason walking up the stairs. She turns back to the delivery man and promises she'll be back with some cash for him before running away to chase down Mason. Garrett, who has been watching this entire exchange curiously, admits that since he raided her wine, he should probably front the beer, and hands him several crisp bills, which seems to satisfy the delivery man, because he sets down the keg. If you're not a little suspicious of how a freshman has enough money on hand to pay for what is probably at least $200 worth of beer, you should be, as we'll see soon enough.
Back at the boat house, Liam has finally been safely secured against the support beam, and is still unconscious from the huge bonk to the head that he got from Kira. She and Scott sit side-by-side, staring at Liam, who looks quite angelic now that he's asleep and not a huge rage-monster. Kira remarks that he looks really young, and Scott just sighs and points out that it's because he IS young-- he just turned fifteen, which makes him even younger than Scott/Stiles/Lydia/Allison/Isaac/Erica/Boyd/Jackson when they all got dragged into this mess. You can tell by the sad expression on his face that he's still feeling super guilty about biting him; I remember Scott once angrily telling Derek that he ruined his life, back before he learned that it was actually Peter who bit him, and I'm sure that's a memory that is still rushing through his head, too-- that by trying to save Liam's life, he ended up ruining it even worse than it was before. Kira asks him what they're going to do with him now, and Scott insists that they're going to help him, no matter what. Kira brings up a good question--"What if he doesn't want our help?"--but Scott knows firsthand what Liam's going through. "He will," Scott states sadly. Which, as we well know, is true-- Scott tried and tried and tried to stay away from Derek, and rejected his werewolf side, and did everything he could to stay out of it, but in the end, Derek (and Allison, and Stiles) helped him through it all, whether directly or indirectly. And look at them all now!
Stiles is still sitting in a chair, just out of arms reach from Malia, who is alternating back and forth between her apex predator desire to maim and kill and her human feelings for Stiles. She reaches out for Stiles, yanking at her chains, until the urge passes and she relaxes for a short moment. Malia begs Stiles to leave, but he's a stubborn little shit, as we've always known, so he insists he's not going anywhere. "It's okay! I hate parties, it's a social anxiety thing." You and me both, Stiles! "Have you ever had a panic attack?" Stiles asks stupidly. "I'm having one right now!" Malia groans in anger, and continues to stretch her arms toward him. He urges her to breath through it, since that's the key to getting through them quickly, but Malia wonders what happens if she hurts him. He is sure that she won't, but Malia isn't.
"But I want to!" Malia admits frantically as she continues to growl and struggle against her restraints. "Ahhh! I wanna grab your face and I wanna squash it! AHH, I want to tear it, I want to feel your bones crack between my hands!" By this point, Stiles is pretty unfazed by just about any threat of violence, and he points out that she's not the first person to say something like that, to him or to anyone, considering how many werecreatures are probably out there in the world. Stiles leans in close to her face and maintains that not only is he not going anywhere, but he's also not going to let her go anywhere. Her eyes blaze even bluer than they already were, and she gets a surge of strength that causes her to rip the leather bands around her wrists even more than they already were. "You're not going to have a choice," Malia admits sadly, after she shifts back momentarily into human-thinking-mode. This makes Stiles a liiiiiiiittle nervous, enough to where he reflexively backed up a bit, but he sticks to his guns and stays put.
Outside the lake house, Demarco is wheeling out his dolly to his car, only to find that someone had popped all of his tires. He drops his dolly onto the pavement and yells, "Son of a bitch! SON OF A BITCH!" His anger/stress seems to have tapped into his control issues, because all of a sudden, he doubles over in pain. When he looks down at his hand, his claws are forcing their way out involuntarily, and his eyes are blazing gold. HE'S A BETA WEREWOLF OMG! He starts to take deep breath and starts to repeat a mantra that is somewhat similar to the one Derek used to learn control. "Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, the truth." He repeats this over several times, until his claws finally recede, and his eyes return to their usual blue-green. He falls down to his knees in relief that he was able to get over his little lapse in control, but before he can do anything else, someone comes out from behind him and starts to strangle him with a garrote! IT'S VIOLET, also known as baby Garrett's baby girlfriend. She sneers as she forcefully chokes him with all her strength, while Demarco desperately starts scrabbling at his neck with his blunt, human nails.
His eyes are getting bloodshot from the pressure/hypoxia, and after a moment, Violet flips a circular metal disc on the ends of the garrote, which has a small button on the back. When she presses it, the garrote wire burns red hot, and burns/melts its way through his neck, slicing through skin and muscle before completely BEHEADING HIM. HOLY. SHIT. Satisfied, Violet smirks and pulls her phone out of her pocket, snapping a quick picture of the guy's body (and his disembodied head) before she struts off to rejoin the party. When she returns to the house, she takes the garrote and slips it around her neck, snapping the ends together and flipping the metal disc around to reveal that her pendant bolo necklace she was wearing at school is actually the thermowire garrote she used to kill Demarco! That is both the coolest thing I've seen in a while, and also really worrisome-- what if she accidentally hits that button somehow and ends up burning herself or accidentally beheading herself or something? Seems a little dangerous tbh.
Anyway, the party is blaring The Trap ft. Trophyy's "#Turn Down For What" when Violet heads straight for Garrett, a huge smile on her face. Garrett is checking his phone, and smiles just as widely as he informs her that their friend just texted him. When he shows the screen to her, we can see he's received a text from "The Benefactor," which reads, "The money has been transferred to your account." Can't those bank accounts/phone numbers be traced by the police, or the FBI, who is supposedly helping the police department with the murders? Hmmmm. Anyway, Violet and Garrett are totally getting off on their Bonnie & Clyde, teenage-assassin game, and start making out in the middle of the party.
Moon & Pollution's "Alter Eagle" plays while Lydia follows Mason up the stairs. She watches him walk into a room at the end of the hall, and quickly rushes to catch up to him to confront him about what the hell he's doing. Once inside the room, which has stark white walls and carpet and red/coral toned furniture, she reminds him that the party is downstairs ONLY, and no one is allowed to be up there. Mason immediately apologizes and admits he's looking for his friend Liam. Whoops! "Sorry, but missing freshman are a little low on my list of priorities," Lydia snits, as she stomps into the room and grabs two tumblers of wine that someone has carelessly left on the table. Mason adorably points out that Liam isn't so low on her list that she doesn't know he's a freshman, or who he is at all, which even Lydia concedes is a good point. What's with Mason and his intense questioning of EVERYTHING? It's making me suspicious. That could just be that I'm a little bitter (okay, a LOT bitter) about the fact that he seems to be replacing Danny. I know that it's not exactly Khylin Rambo's fault that Jeff did Keahu so dirty, but it just makes me really sad.
ANYWAY, Lydia reluctantly admits that she might have seen Liam around downstairs, where they're both supposed to be. Unfortunately for her, when she tugs on his arm to pull him away from the upstairs rooms, she accidentally drops the two glasses onto the floor, which splatters red wine all over the pristine white carpet. Clearly distraught over this turn of events, she falls to her knees and desperately tries to use the hem of her sweater to mop up the wine, but all it does is smear the wine around. Mason apologizes for his role in the spill, and asks if the carpet was valuable. "No," Lydia admits, as she starts to cry, smearing her eyeliner and mascara under her eyes. "That's the problem; nothing in here is valuable." She sighs and looks up toward the ceiling in hopes of stopping her tears, before whispering, "We just put the house on the market. It was supposed to be left without a scratch. It HAS to be in perfect condition, we need every penny we can get out of this place!"
I actually completely sympathize with Lydia here, tbh-- my parents inherited my uncle's house when he died a year or two ago, and they couldn't afford to keep it, so they put it on the market at the beginning of the year. The housing market is still pretty shitty right now, though, so they ended up having to give a huge discount on the property value to the buyer, because they were the only ones interested and they really needed the house out of their hands and the money from it in the bank. It would have been much easier and financially better if they could have waited a little longer until the market improved to sell it, but it just was too expensive to maintain the place, and I imagine this is probably the exact same scenario Lydia and her mother are going through. Especially considering a werewolf being beheaded in their driveway is probably not going to do much to improve the property value, you know?
Mason looks like he feels terrible, especially since most dudes are powerless in the face of a crying girl, so he insists that with some club soda and salt, he'll be able to get the white out of the carpet, and leaves Lydia to go find the supplies. Lydia takes a deep breath and tries to pull herself together, just as the door to the room closes behind Mason. It's then that Lydia realizes something is up, because once the door snaps shut, it blocks out every decibel of noise coming from the loud party downstairs. Lydia, curious and weirded out, gets up and heads to the door, and experiments by opening and shutting it and listening to the way it blocks out the sound. She realizes that the room is soundproofed, and starts to look around the room to investigate the matter further. The room is pretty huge, and appears to be even bigger than it is because of how little furniture is in it. It's a very mod aesthetic. As Lydia wanders around, she finds a record player and two speakers sitting on a small table in front of a wide, completely smooth white wall. A loud "wub wub wub" noise draws Lydia toward it, and she instinctively switches the record player on, and watches as it sets up the record.
Once the needle hits the vinyl, the vibrations from the record being played allows Lydia to hear the characteristic whispers that banshees hear to give them information; I still don't know if they're talking to ghosts, or to other banshees, or ghost banshees, or what, but they seem to have a lot to say. To add to the effect, she begins to stare at the wall in front of her, where faces begin to push their way through, as if the walls were made of elastic. She's completely engrossed by whatever it is that she's hearing, and her eyes don't leave the wall while she processes the sounds. THIS IS TOTALLY A ROOM MADE FOR BANSHEES AND I BET YOU LYDIA'S GRANDMA WAS A BANSHEE. I mean, think about it! A soundproof room to help block out the chatter so they can focus on what they need to hear, and a record player that can create the vibrations banshees need to hear the voices? It is seriously designed for banshee investigations. Also, if Lydia wasn't hearing Allison's voice, specifically saying something along the lines of "I love you," or "Be strong," or, "Tell the pack that I want them to be happy," or something similar that they desperately need to hear, I'm going to be so mad.
(via teenwolf)
Out in the boat house, Liam is still passed the fuck out, and Kira and Scott are still keeping watch beside him, when Scott hears something and turns his head to listen better. Kira gets nervous and asks him what he hears, but he assures her its just the music from the party. Kira laments that they no longer play slow songs at parties, because she's always been better at slow songs. (Aw, Kira, we've seen you dance before! You were awkward at first, but if your dance with Malia was any indication, you have loads of potential. ^_^) Scott, ever the romantic, instructs her to follow him. He leads her out onto the dock, and pulls out his phone so he can play them a slow song; specifically, "Us" by Movement, which is a seriously sexy song that you all should be listening to on the regular. He offers her a hand to come dance with him, but Kira's worriedly asks what they're going to do about Liam. "He can dance with me next time!" Scott exclaims with the sweetest smile, and Kira can't help but wrap her arms around him so they can dance. I mean, really, would you be able to resist? I wouldn't. It makes for a GORGEOUS scene, with the blue tint and the bright white light coming off of the full moon, and especially the fog that lingers along the water of the lake. In addition to the flawless acting, there was also flawless cinematography this week.
Kira asks him how he's able to stay so in control during the full moons, and Scott admits that it's really all just about learning how to control your emotions and your heartbeat, and making sure that you don't do things that could raise your pulse. "So you've mastered it?" Kira asks with a grin, and though Scott pretty much confirms it, he does confess that it takes a lot of concentration to keep a lid on it. Kira is in true vixen mode now, and starts suggesting that he could lose control if he were distracted, like, say, if she was kissing his cheek, but after the two kiss for a long moment, he maintains that he's "indistractable." Kira goes for his ear next, which is not only super hot, but also seems to be something Scott REALLY likes, because when she pulls away, she notes that his eyes are glowing, even when he insists that she's not distracting him one bit. He laughs and squeezes his eyes shut until the red fades back to brown, and he calls her a cheater for her vixen-y ways. Kira keeps teasing him, and points out that she also heard him growl, but that wasn't actually Scott-- it was Liam, who has just woken up from his little concussion nap in full-wolf face.
Liam glares at them angrily and starts growling and furiously struggling against his chains, which worries Kira enough that she asks if they'll will be enough to hold him. Scott assumes that he can't be strong enough to bust through the enormous amount of chain wrapped around him, but he's forgetting that angry werewolves have way more strength than they normally do, especially on a full moon. So, it takes little to no time for Liam to break every single chain into pieces and lunge for Scott and Kira with a ferocious growl. They both dive out of the way to avoid being attacked, not realizing that Liam was aiming to jump out the window instead of for them. They hear him crash through the glass and watch in horror as Liam runs into the woods. YIKES! DANGER! DANGER!
Meanwhile, Stiles is having similar luck with Malia. During a wave of rage and bloodlust, she manages to break one arm free from her restraint, and Stiles just barely manages to jump out of the way before she can claw him in the gut. When she can't reach far enough to grab him, she furiously begins pulling as hard as she can against the other wrist to break free completely. Stiles yells at her to focus on his voice, but Malia interrupts him and insists that he listen to hers instead: "Run!" Stiles' eyes widen in alarm, but he otherwise doesn't move a muscle. I especially appreciate Stiles refusal to fully be afraid in the face of all of these adjusting werebabies. I mean, you can see that he's tense and preparing for the worst, but otherwise, he's mostly just sympathetic and understanding about it. I feel like that definitely makes it easier for the others, because Malia and Liam aren't the kind of people who would feel better if people treated them like scary monsters.
Back in town, Derek and Sheriff have just arrived to the school, where the IP address they got off of the Mute's keyboard apparently led them. Sheriff has a flashlight in one hand and his sidearm in the other, which he keeps aimed in front of him. Derek reminds him that just because they traced the IP there, doesn't mean that the Mute is still there, but Sheriff proves himself to be the wisest of all of the people involved in this mess. "True," Sheriff concedes quietly. "But I've seen enough in this school to keep a gun in my hand when walking in after dark." SUCH ACCURACY. I would say at least half of the town's disasters have involved this school, many of which Sheriff has seen with his own eyes. The two slowly walk down the hallway, where Sheriff suddenly stops right in his tracks. He points out a huge puddle of blood that has pooled from inside the closed classroom door, which Derek immediately declares makes no sense, because he should have caught the scent long before they even made it in the school.
He instinctively heads toward the door and is about to turn the doorknob when Sheriff grabs his arm to stop him. "You nervous makes me nervous," Sheriff admits, before flashing the light through the window in the door to see what could be waiting inside. He slowly turns the door knob and opens the door a crack, thankfully noticing a wire attached to something inside. Derek crouches down so he can peek through the cracked door, and grimly informs Sheriff that it's a bomb, specifically, a claymore mine. He trails off when he focuses on a noise behind him, and just manages to tackle Sheriff out of the way before he gets a military tomahawk to the head. Instead, the axe embeds itself into the brick walls, just before the Mute jumps down the last few steps on the staircase and crouches defensively in front of the men. He kind of looks like a vampire, aside for not having fangs or anything. I think it's the eye veins and pasty pallor.
Back at the lake house, Malia is furiously tugging at the last chain restraining her left wrist when Stiles takes a step toward her. "I'm not gonna run," Stiles insists confidently. "Because I don't think you're gonna hurt me." He continues his amazing pep talk while Malia continues yanking on the chain. "And I think that maybe you're so afraid of hurting me because of what you did to your family." Malia turns around and glares at him briefly, clearly affected by his words, but the full-moon-rage kicks back in and she returns to desperately trying to break the chain. "I know what that's like, Malia," Stiles confesses, who I think is actually more nervous to be admitting this, because I doubt this is something he's ever told anyone else. "I remember EVERYTHING I did. And the worst part is, I remember liking it! Because I felt powerful. I felt fearless. And most of all, in control." Malia is visibly conflicted between her anger and her fear and Stiles' words, which she knows deep down are true. "But when I came through it, I learned something else," Stiles adds, as he nervously licks his lips. "Control is overrated."
(via obrosey)
And it's true, you know-- if anyone feels the need to be in control, it's Stiles, especially since he's the lone human in a world where everyone is supernatural and has abilities he couldn't hope to have. He's the one who always has the plan B, who always makes sure his dad eats healthy so he won't have to worry about losing another parent to illness, whose first instinct is always to just kill whoever the problem is so they never have to worry about them hurting them or fucking them over again. So, when he takes a deep breath and gently reaches around her, so he can slip the key into the padlock that is holding all of Malia's chains together, he's demonstrating his point, because he's willingly putting himself into danger force her to prove just how much faith he has in her.
Once the chains are removed, Malia waits one whole beat before she growls and lunges at Stiles, but he grabs one of her wrists in each hand and holds them back to keep her from ripping his throat out. After a short moment, she goes boneless in his arms, half-panting, half-sobbing. When she finally lifts her face to look at him, her face is back to its human shape, and she's stunned to see that her claws have receded as well. Stiles affectionately brushes a damp lock of hair off of Malia's forehead, and gives her this incredibly proud look when he informs her that she did it, and congratulates her on finally letting go enough to trust that she knows what she's doing. Malia is SO relieved to not have to worry about hurting anyone else that she throws her arms around him and gives him the sweatiest, tightest hug ever. As he wraps his arms tightly around her, he lets out a shaky breath in relief and relaxes.
YAYYYY MALIA! GET IT GIRL! See what I mean about Stiles and Malia? Stiles has been desperately trying to kind of pay it forward and help someone with their problems, as a sort of penance for the things that he did and felt while he was possessed by the nogitsune. I see it as sort of the kind of altruism that a lot of addicts feel when they ultimately get clean; some of them decide to be AA/NA sponsors or counselors, so they can help others get through the same things they experienced, much in the same way that Scott will be helping Liam with his lycanthropy. And not only that, but Malia clearly benefits from this, too, because he's giving her the same kind of fearless yet loyal friendship that she gave him in Eichen House, when he was possessed and confessed to her what he had done, and she still liked him and helped him anyway.
I've seen a lot of people suggest that Stiles is Malia's anchor, and I'm inclined to agree, but I don't think that's a bad thing, and definitely not even necessarily a romantic thing-- they're genuinely good friends, in addition for the romantic feelings they have for each other, in the same way I feel that Allison and Isaac were close friends, too. Even if they do have a romantic love for each other and end up breaking up, I think they're going to end up staying close, in the same way that Scott and Allison continued to be close. There are so many different kinds of love out there, and I kiiiind of feel like everyone is getting wayyyyy too worked up about the whole ship-wars thing-- couples break up and get back together in various combination in teen supernatural dramas. That's just the way it goes! And, just because Stiles and Malia have a thing now doesn't mean Lydia and Stiles can't have a thing in the future,(which I want/have wanted SO BADLY) or whatever other ships you guys are yearning for. And NOW I'm gonna step off my soap box. ;)
Anyway, Liam's running through the woods as quickly as he can, stumbling over branches and exposed tree roots, while Scott chases behind him and tries to follow his scent. He eventually loses track of Liam around a corner, and stops momentarily to try to get his bearings. Naturally, this gives Liam the perfect opportunity to pounce on Scott while he's distracted, and the two tumble down a huge hill, one right after the other. Once they reach the bottom, Liam punches Scott a couple times before pulling him up by the front of his shirt and slamming him against a tree. Scott tries to restraint him and appeal to his humanity, but Liam is too busy freaking out about EVERYTHING he's feeling, and is so overwhelmed that he can't stop moving. Which is pretty understandable, if you ask me. "What did you do to me?" he demands. "This is your fault! This is all your fault!" He lifts a clawed hand to slash across Scott's face, but Scott gets distracted by the tell-tale sound of a flash-bang arrow whizzing near them and instinctively covers his eyes with his arm.
OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!! CAN IT BE??? Our favorite DILF and weapon-afficionado with sparkling blue eyes and a deep, gravelly voice? Anyway, Liam doesn't have those same instincts, and is temporarily blinded as the arrowhead explodes above him. He stops in his tracks and yelps in pain before ultimately taking off in the opposite direction, leaving Scott momentarily fearful that the hunters have already found him. Which, I mean, TECHNICALLY they have, but it's not the Calaveras! THAT'S RIGHT, YOU GUYS! CHRIS FUCKING ARGENT IS BACK IN ACTION, AND WITH A SEXY GRIEF BEARD TO BOOT. He's got Allison's large crossbow in one hand, and his quiver of arrows attached to a thigh holster, and god, I've never been more happy to see him, and honestly? Neither has Scott. "How did you know???" Scott asks, 100% stunned to see him, especially in this amazing reversal of roles-- the first time Scott met Chris Argent, on his first full moon, Chris shot an arrow into his arm and blinded him with flash-bang arrowheads. Now it's Scott's first beta's full moon, and Chris totally blinded him with flash-bang arrowheads, but this time, he's here to do good by his daughter's Code, and not capture an innocent teenage boy. I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYING. STOP IT. "I got your text," Chris replies, and Scott can't help but grin his sunshine-iest grin, which Chris can't resist returning.
After the break, we return to Beacon Hills High School, where the Mute has just thrown Sheriff onto the floor. He slides up against a row of lockers, while Derek has probably the best fight of his life against the Mute. No matter how many times the guy swings his tomahawk at him, Derek manages to dodge it, and is ultimately able to disorient him enough by slamming his head into the walls that he can grab both of his arms behind his back. Sheriff picks himself off the floor, favoring one shoulder over the other in a way that indicates he might have gotten himself injured, and aims his gun at the Mute's head while he sets himself up for the most hilarious and well-timed dad-joke EVER. "You have the right to remain silent," he growls at the man with NO FUCKING MOUTH, who is like, "Mmrph?" in reply. I am seriously dying laughing all over again, Sheriff is so perfect. He starts to handcuff the Mute as he recites him his rights, just as Peter Fucking Hale swaggers his way into the school.
Derek realizes what Peter's planning to do before anyone else does, but his shouted protests go unnoticed, so Derek once again tackles Sheriff to protect him from the beat-down Peter's about to bring. Peter lunches on top of the Mute, pinning him prone on the floor, before violently swiping at his face and neck until the Mute is nothing but a pile of bloody flesh. He reaches down and rips something disgusting-looking and bloody off the body, which I'm guessing was the skin over where the Mute's mouth should be, but they don't really explain it, so who the fuck knows. Derek looks mutinous, and Sheriff isn't feeling much better, so he points his gun at Peter's head while the older werewolf pulls a small white handkerchief out of his pocket and wipes off his bloody hands. Who the fuck does Peter think he is, Elijah Mikaelson?
Peter shakes his head at the Sheriff, like, "Nope, you're so not shooting me today," and the worst part is that he's totally true, because Sheriff is too kind to kill Peter, even if he deserves it and literally no one would miss him (character-wise, that is-- Peter has a ridiculous amount of fans.) Derek angrily points out that they've found a better way to deal with these issues, like arresting mouthless men and putting them through the USA's problem-ridden justice system, but Peter just grunts, "I'm a creature of habit" as he walks away, the Mute's blood still splattered all over his face. What's up with his good-boy hair? He looks like Archie from the comics, although as Kathleen mentioned, he is pretty much a cartoon character already, so it's not that big of a stretch. It's something about his small, triangular head and that weird pompadour of his just really cracks me up for some reason. And the deep v's, of course.
Back in the woods, Chris assures him that there's a clearing north of where they're standing where Chris has set up a trap, and all Scott needs to do is chase him into it, and the rest is all taken care of for him. CHRIS, YOU ANGEL OF THE LORD. Did Scott text him AGAIN, after the initial text about Kate, to tell him about his beta situation? Because that's what it seems like but they weren't super clear about it. ANYWAY, Scott asks him what he's going to do, but since Liam is Scott's beta, and Chris trusts Scott, he tells him that the better question is what SCOTT is going to do. Scott looks so defeated when he confesses to Chris that Liam won't listen to him, but Chris isn't done giving flawless advice just yet. "He will if you start using your own words." EXACTLY, SCOTT.
OMG, how hilarious would it be if Stiles texted Chris, too, all "SCOTT JUST RIPPED A PAGE FROM THE FAILWOLF PLAYBOOK AND TOLD LIAM THE BITE IS A GIFT LIKE A MORON, CAN YOU PLEASE SMACK SOME SENSE INTO HIM?" I would seriously love if that actually happened. Scratch that, it TOTALLY happened and no one is going to tell me differently! Suddenly, Liam's pained cries are heard from nearby, so Chris hands him a little remote that looks like the mini ultrasonic emitter that Chris used to attract Isaac and Allison to where the parents were being hidden in "Alpha Pact" and "Lunar Ellipse." Scott looks at him in such intense appreciation, but Chris is just so proud that he claps him on the shoulder and urges him to go help his newest bud.
As it turns out, Chris' trap was a square made of four of his ultrasonic emitters-- thankfully, Liam is such a newb that he didn't even realize he shouldn't have gone into the corral until he did, and then the noise hurt him so badly that he shifted back into human and curled up in the fetal position on the floor, unable to move. Once Scott gets close enough, he uses the remote to turn off the emitters and kneels in front of Liam to check on him. "What's happening to me?" Liam asks defeatedly, and there's not a trace of meanness or anger in his voice, just exhaustion and confusion and fear. Scott looks like he feels so guilty/sympathetic/worried for his newest beta when he admits that the same thing he went through almost a year ago (in Teen Wolf time) is now happening to him.
Lizi Kay's "Do You Like What You See?" plays as Kira pushes her way through the party, asking random guests if they've seen Lydia. She eventually makes it upstairs, where she finds Lydia still staring intently at the white wall, the record player still spinning. She asks her if she's okay, but gets no response, so Kira, being the thoughtful friend that she is, immediately realizes that Lydia is having a banshee moment, and asks her what she hears. "The key," Lydia admits softly, her eyes never leaving the wall. "The key to break the code." YES! Oh god I have so much to say about this in a minute.
Back in the woods, Liam is still on his knees, doubled over in the middle of the clearing, while Scott is still crouched in front of him and looking at him with concern. Chris catches up with them a moment later, but stays in the shadows so he can eavesdrop while still giving them some privacy. "They can't know about this," Liam confesses anxiously. "My mom... my step-dad... I can't do this to them again." Scott looks even more worried, and asks him what he means by "again," so Liam talks a little bit about his past at his old school, some of which Scott already learned from Stiles. "I got kicked out of school," Liam admits, practically in tears. "And I deserved it. [beat] But the way they looked at me, when they saw what I did to that car..." Liam chokes out a sob, and Scott is feeling worse and worse by the second. He tries to comfort him, but Liam isn't done with his confession yet. "They can't see me like this! Like... like..."
Scott fills in the blanks for him. "Like a monster?" Liam can't even bear to say it himself, and just nods his head yes in agreement as he continues to try to swallow down his complete devastation. Scott stands up to his full height in front of Liam, while Chris watches proudly from the sidelines. "You're not a monster!" Scott declares confidently. "You're a werewolf! Like me." His eyes flash red as he smiles reassuringly at Liam, and Liam looks back at him with this heartbreaking expression of relief and exhaustion and a tiny bit of residual fear. Regardless, I think he feels the slightest bit reassured, as he should, because that is a seriously HUGE moment! Scott, who rejected his lycanthropy for the longest time, and even when he eventually came to appreciate his powers so he could protect his loved ones, he still saw it as a curse, of sorts. So, the fact that he's able to stand up, and tell Liam that being a werewolf is not only not something to be ashamed about, but something to be proud of? This is a goddamn historic moment! Scott's not a monster, and neither is Liam, because he is going to learn the ways of the McCall Pack and become a better person for it, just like Scott did, and Stiles and Allison and Lydia and Derek and Isaac and Malia and Kira. I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS EPISODE OMFG.
While we were watching this magical moment, Lydia grabbed her laptop from downstairs and brought it up to the banshee room so she and Kira could look at the computer code. When it stops processing and asks for the keyword, Lydia lets out a shaky breath and slowly types in "A L L I S O N." Welp, so long, dearest friends, because I am GONE, this is TOO MUCH FOR ONE PERSON. When she enters the password, the encryption program does its thing, and reveals itself to be a list of names with numbers next to them:
Sean Walcott 250
David Walcott 250
Michael Walcott 250
Christina Walcott 250
Lydia Martin 20
Scott McCall 25
Demarco Montana 250
Derek Hale 15
Carrie Hudson 500
Kayleen Bettcher 250
Kira Yukimura 6
Elias Town 250
Kira asks Lydia what the fuck they just found, but it almost seems like she expected this. Maybe the spirits/ghosts/banshees warned her about it? "It's a list of supernaturals in Beacon Hills," Lydia explains grimly. "It's a deadpool... and we're all on it." Understandaly, Kira is ridiculously freaked out by this news, and Lydia's just staring at the screen with this intense exhaustion that I can't even describe. I am sensing another breakdown from at least someone in Pack McCall, because this is just way too much! Check out the notes section for my thoughts about the deadpool!
Next week, according to the promo: The gang deals with the revelation of the deadpool; Kira, Scott and Stiles have their first lacrosse game, on a team that just so happens to also include Garrett, our newly-revealed assassin; and Lydia gets help controlling her banshee abilities in the wake of someone/several someones seeking out all of their deaths.
Click HERE to read my next recap of Teen Wolf
[screencaps via KissThemGoodbye and TeenWolfDaily]
NOTES/SPECULATION/QUESTIONS:
-Okay, so we know that Garrett and Violet are working as freelance assassins for the Benefactor. My question is, how did they get this gig? Were they trained as hunters who decided they'd rather made tons of money killing off supernaturals? I don't know many 16-year-olds (or any, actually) who have bolo necklaces that double as thermowire garrotes, you know? So, how were they trained to kill people who are way more powerful than they are? (Though that is going by the assumption that these kids are just regular, albeit violent, human teenagers, though, which hasn't been confirmed.) Then, there's the party-- did they order the beer just to get Demarco there? And on that note, it's probably safe to say that they know that Lydia is on the list, and that she was hosting the party, so why didn't they go after her? I'm assuming that she's the second-most valuable bounty of the McCall Pack members, both because her abilities are powerful, (though she still doesn't fully understand them) and also because she's well protected-- she's close enough to everyone in the pack that they would all defend her to the last, and there are even a couple non-pack people in Beacon Hills who would likely protect her if it came to it, even if it's for their own motives (like, I highly doubt Chris would allow Lydia to come to harm, because she was Allison's best friend, and Allison would die a hundred times over if it meant protecting her. Then, on the other side of the spectrum is Peter, who would probably want to keep her alive/safe just because her abilities have and will still likely benefit him in some way, especially once she learns to use them.) I guess I'm just super curious about their motives, considering how young they are/seem to be and the fact that they'll probably be targeting their peers.
-So, SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT-- it looks like the blonde werewolf that Violet will be fighting in next week's episode is Carrie Hudson, who had the largest number beside her name on the deadpool list-- 500, which I'm assuming means $500,000, which is a HUGE chunk of change. She was also reciting the same mantra that Demarco was before he was killed-- "Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, the truth," which comes from Buddhist texts. I'm guessing the fact that they both use it to help with control that they're likely from the same pack, so why are they in town? How did no one know they were there before, like Derek? And that did Carrie and Demarco do that made them so valuable on the hit list?
-Did any of you guys participate in the Who Is The Benefactor? game that the TW execs and actors were involved in before the season started? It had like, 11 passwords you had to figure out in the correct order so that you could "crack the code" and gain access to the trailer for the season. Anyway, I realized that the clues we got ended up having a big part of what's happened to the season so far, so I thought I would share the words and what we've already seen so far.
117 ( 04x02, the Hale inheritance)
2436
DEMARCO (04x04, werewolf delivery man, beheaded by Violet)
BRETT
JORDAN
HEXAGON
TOMAHAWK (04x03, the Mute's weapon of choice)
TRUTH (04x04/04x05 new wolf pack's mantra?)
THERMOWIRE (04x04/04x05, Violet's weapon of choice, doubles as a bolo necklace)
DECADE
YELLOW (04x02 Derek's new werewolf eye color)
VIOLET (04x04, one of the Benefactor's teenage assassins)
CONTROL (04x04, "Control is overrated"/Malia gains control on the full moon)
MUTE (04x03/04x04, mouthless assassin for the Benefactor, killed by Peter)
IGLESIA (04x01, where Kate was hiding out and where she stashed Derek to turn him into Bb! Derek)
SATOMI
-Here is another thing that confuses me-- how short the deadpool list is/how many people are missing from it. The most suspicious part for me is the fact that Peter is missing; he was a member of the former Hale pack, who came from a really old and prominent werewolf family, so if Derek is on the list, shouldn't Peter be as well? At first I wondered if maybe they just didn't know he came back to life after Derek killed him in season 1, but whoever wrote the list knew enough to put Kira on it, a relative newcomer to Beacon Hills (though her mother lived there for quite a while in the past, but Noshiko isn't on it either, which I'll dig into more in a moment) so it seems weird that they wouldn't know Peter was alive again. Plus, Araya captured Peter last season so I'm sure it probably got around the hunter circles that Peter was back in the world of the living. Between that and the fact that he killed the Mute before any of them could glean any kind of information from him in whatever way they could find, which just seems shady to me. What is he up to? Was he THAT pissed that the Mute tomahawked him he would just kill the Mute outright? Or was he trying to make sure that the Mute wouldn't incriminate him somehow?
Other people who are notably absent from the list:
-Malia: Maybe she's too recent an addition to be listed? She did just spend almost the entire last decade as a coyote, so it's possible that no one of importance knows her identity yet
-Noshiko: Some have speculated doesn't have any powers anymore, thanks to the destruction of all her kaikens, but I'm not so sure-- she broke five before we knew about them to summon/control the oni, and then broke another two to replace the oni that Nogitstiles killed. That means she used up seven of the nine kaiken tails herself. Nogitstiles broke the eighth kaiken to steal control of the oni from her, because it was one of the strongest/oldest tails and thus had much more power, but that's still only eight out of nine, so where is the last one? Could Noshiko have expended all of her powers, making her more or less a mundane human, or is she just trying to stay on the down-low? She was adamant that no one except her friends see Kira's abilities, and she's demonstrated a kind of clairvoyancy in the past (such as knowing that the nogitsune had escaped its magical prison) so I could see her having some idea that this was coming. Maybe that's even why she wants to move them back to New York, and she's just once again too afraid to tell Kira the truth about what's going on. Stranger things have happened!
-Meredith: The other banshee from last season who I desperately want to come back soooon. Maybe she's not seen as a threat because she's still a resident at Eichen House and thus not really someone who has any interaction with the community at large? That's their mistake for underestimating her, if so, because she seems to have more control over her powers than Lydia does, and she didn't even have anyone helping her like Lydia does.
-Deaton/Morrell: They have been seen to do magic (Morrell with her badass mountain ash circles, and Deaton and his ability to force Kali to turn back into human when they were in the clinic) and who I would guess druids are considered to be supernatural in this universe, or at the very least fraternizing with them enough to be considered a threat.
-The more I think about the parallels between Scott right now and Derek from seasons 1-2, the more examples I can find. For example, just like how Derek had the unfortunate timing of biting his betas right after Kate "died" and Argent hunters began flooding the town, so the newbwolves Isaac, Erica and Boyd were pretty much thrust into this new world during an especially tense and dangerous time. Likewise, Scott had little choice in biting Liam, since he obviously wasn't going to let him die, but it's definitely going to have similar consequences-- the Golden Trio's recent surrogate sacrifices woke up the Nemeton and turned it into a beacon again, which seems to have attracted a fair amount of magical creatures, as well as assassins and supernatural-haters who want to take advantage of having all of them in one place so they can be even more easily killed off. Liam might not be on the list right now, but I have a feeling that once they learn he was bitten by Scott, the first true alpha in god knows how long, they're going to be pretty interested in taking him out as well, which is definitely worrisome. :( Obviously the difference between the two is that Derek actually consciously bit them, knowing that he was doing so to build up his pack so he could protect himself from the Argents and the Alpha Pack, while Scott had no intention of biting anyone, at least not at this point, when he has a decently sized pack as it is, but it's interesting all the same! Liam has a lot to learn, as quickly as they can possibly teach him. I'm hoping his anger problems will at least give him some booster strength in that department, to make up for his lack of fighting prowess and supernatural knowledge.
-More focus on money problems this week, too-- specifically, Lydia's family's financial problems. God, I'm really nervous that this is going to tempt our babies into killing people for money. PLEASE BE STRONG MY LOVES.
-What's with the code of the program being Allison? Is that supposed to suggest that the Benefactor is someone who knew/cared about her? If so, that definitely puts some suspicion on Gerard, Kate, Chris, and Victoria (who I am still desperately hoping is actually still alive-- she did kill herself by stabbing herself in the chest, but she was a werewolf when she did it, and we've seen Scott, Derek, and Peter heal from similar or worse injuries than that, so it's possible she pulled a Kate and has just been hiding out.) Part of me feels like that's way too obvious/easy, though, so maybe it was someone who just knew of Allison's connection to the supernatural world of Beacon Hills and used it to throw people off the scent of their real identity? I have no idea, but either way I am super concerned about the future health and welfare of our babies.
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