Teen Wolf Season 4, Episode 10: "Monstrous" Recap/Review
HOW, how nuts was this episode, right? As kind of off-the-wall as it was, it had some really excellent character moments, some really neat reveals, AND dug deeper into the theme that has always been present in the show, but never as much as this season-- the "man versus beast" trope. It's been a struggle for Scott to maintain a healthy balance of humanity and lycanthropy in his life from the second he was turned, but as the stakes get higher and higher, and Scott has to sacrifice more and more in the name of protecting Beacon Hills, that struggle gets harder and harder to overcome. Scott has had a lot of reminders this season, and this week especially, that his life is nowhere close to "normal" human life, and that he's prone to repressing the thoughts that scare him-- that he can't go out on dates with his girlfriend or enjoy a bonfire with the lacrosse team without the constant fear of being attacked, that someday he could accidentally slip up and give in to his monstrous urges and end up like Peter, the power-hungry sociopath, or Deucalion, the cold-blooded apex predator of apex predators. And as we saw tonight, he did get a little caught up in his werewolf-instincts, which brought him closer to his true alpha form, though he realized what he was doing pretty quickly and had the strength to pull himself out of it.
There have been other hints to the man vs. beast theme: Satomi and her non-violent, Buddhist werewolf pack, which was created after Satomi learned the hard way what happens when you can't keep control; Liam and his anger, and how being turned into a werewolf affected it; even Stiles, and his having to deal with the consequences of what happened while he was possessed, and having to accept the fact that he, too, has a darkness inside him that has to be countered; Malia has a combination of Stiles and Liam's problems, due to the fact that she's still learning to control her coyote side in human form, and having to confront her own emotional baggage that is connected to her coyote side (killing her family in a full-moon rage, her biological relationship with Peter); and even Jordan has been having to come to terms that he thought he was just a regular human for his entire life and now he doesn't know WHAT he is. All of this exploration into our characters is what has really kept me interested in this season, even though many have argued that it's not as good as seasons past. The plots itself may have been hit or miss, but the character moments and character/relationship development have been brilliant, imo.
And, like I said, these themes are explored a LOT this week, so we have a lot to discuss! (So much to discuss, in fact, that I'm 90% sure that my end-of-the-recap notes are going to have to have their own post, just like "The Dark Moon" did, so keep your eyes peeled for that!) So, let us get to discussing "Monstrous," yeah?
Previously, on Teen Wolf: A half dozen years or so before the start of the series, Kate Argent set fire to the Hale house, killing eight family members (including Derek's mother/Peter's sister, Talia) and burning Peter so severely that he was in a coma for six whole years. Then, Peter killed Derek's sister, Laura, who inherited Talia's alphahood when she died, and then proceeded to kill everyone who had anything to do with the fire, including Kate herself, right before the kids killed him. Malia learned that she herself is a Hale, too-- specifically, Peter's daughter-- and felt incredibly betrayed that Stiles, which ended with Malia sort of dumping him. Lydia's grandmother, Lorraine, was a banshee who didn't understand her powers, either, until she managed to find Meredith, who was revealed to be in with the Benefactor, as well as controlling Brunsky, who killed Lorraine and an entire list of people Lorraine left in a message for Lydia. Whew!
We pick up this week late at night/early in the morning at the high school, after the events of last week's "Perishable." It's pouring down rain, for whatever inexplicable reason, and we have just caught up with Lorilee Rohr, who looks to be about twelve years old maximum, and who is one of the names on the deadpool (with a value of $250,000.) She's being chased through the bus bay, and is so frantic to get the hell away from whoever it is that is chasing her that she turns a corner too quickly and accidentally flings herself right at a chain-link fence. She continues to run as a tall, dark figure growls menacingly behind her, and, as with every horror movie ever, she trips in a puddle and falls on her hands and knees on the ground. Before you start to worry that she's being chased by an angry werewolf, the man behind her reveals himself to be that cute twink lacrosse player rival of Liam's, Brett Talbot, who kindly pulls Lorilee to her feet and yells at her to keep going. The two rush past a gap in the row of buses, which leaves them vulnerable long enough for Brett to be should in the shoulder by an arrow, but Brett is so pumped up on adrenaline that he just pulls it out and continues to encourage Lorilee to keep moving.
He barely avoids getting hit by another arrow as he makes sure Lorilee is still ahead of him, and when he turns around, he sees a black-clothed man with a cross-bow approaching him. Brett pushes him into the chain-link fence, and though the guy does get in a few blows with his cross-bow, Brett uses the pain to flash his yellow beta eyes, and the added werewolf strength eventually allows him to overpower him and push the assassin onto the ground before taking off after his packmate. He sees Lorilee running toward the lacrosse field and yells at her to stop for a moment, but she doesn't hear him, forcing him to take off even faster to catch up. Lorilee runs onto the field, and once Brett finally joins her, the stadium lights immediately start to turn on, one by one, startling them. Brett stands protectively in front of the little girl as they stare into the blinding lights, not seeing the red laser sights behind trained right in between Brett's shoulder blades. Still, Brett senses more men coming after them, and seems resigned to his fate of death. When Lorilee asks what's happening, Brett just tells her to close her eyes, which she does.
Brett braces himself when he hears the arrow being fired, but just as it's about to hit him, a katana comes out of nowhere and slices the arrow in half. YASSSS! MY FLAWLESS THUNDER PRINCESS HAS RETURNED. Kira is soaked by the pouring rain as she slices through the air, stopping more arrows before they hit the two wolves, and she quickly yells at them to run while she holds the assassins off for them. After a moment, the arrows stop coming as the assassins apparently decide that they're not properly armed for this kind of battle, while Kira pants and rides out her adrenaline rush, her rain-soaked hair hanging in her face. I'm not sure why they didn't try harder to kill Kira, considering she's worth more than Brett and Lorilee combined four-fold, but whatever, I want her alive! Plus, I'm just happy to see her back and kicking ass, tbh. TITLE CARD!
(via teenwolf)
After the break, we return to Scott's bedroom, where he is changing into non-gasoline-soaked clothes. He grabs his keys and both of his motorbike helmets before he rushes down the stairs, where Liam is waiting for him, still in his lacrosse jersey. Scott hands him one of his helmets and informs him that he just heard from Kira, who has just found Brett. You can tell he's stressed, because he quickly tells Liam that they've got to go join them and heads straight from the door. "More assassins?" Liam asks, and when Scott replies that yeah, probably a lot of assassins, Liam gets totally overwhelmed. "Different than the ones who just tried to set us on fire?" Scott can hear the fear and anxiety in his beta's voice, and stops right in his tracks . Liam sets the bike helmet on the kitchen table, and the sad, scared look on his face just adds to the reminder to Scott that Liam is just a kid who isn't equipped to handle constantly having his life and the life of his friends threatened on a constant basis. "How about I take you home?" Scott says with a sad smile, as he hands him back his helmet. It's clear by Liam's demeanor that he still has a lot on his mind, though.
"I'm not like you," Liam begins, but Scott assures him that though he isn't yet, he will be, thinking that he's talking about the werewolf thing. That's not exactly what Liam meant, though. "I don't mean I'm not strong," Liam argues weakly. "Or I'm never gonna learn how to be in control. I mean... everything else. You and your friends... you're trying to protect everyone! Have you been doing this the whole time? I mean, how are you all still alive?" OUCH OUCH OUCH, MY HEART. Scott's face falls a little bit, before he replies, "Not all of us are." This does nothing to quell Liam's fears, but sometimes you have to know the truth, right? Scott once again hands Liam his helmet, and insists upon taking Liam home. DOUBLE OUCH. That revelation has got to be extra scary for Liam, and extra painful for Scott-- Erica, Boyd, Allison, Aiden, all of whom were his friends, and all of whom died because of the supernatural, just like any of them could do at any moment, at this point. Erica and Boyd were Derek's betas, and Scott saw what their loss did to him, and now, Scott has his own beta, whom he already cares for a LOT, and with all the assassins running around, everyone is in even more danger than they normally are. And, in Liam's case, he was a totally innocent kid, just like Scott was, who was dragged into this without his consent. Now, he's a beta werewolf who is still struggling with his new nature, and who has an eighteen million dollar price on his head. As if being a teenager weren't hard enough as it is.
(via teenwolf)
And that's what really kills me, I think, because Scott really only has a year over Liam when it comes to werewolf/supernatural experience, which isn't that much in the grand scheme of things. In fact, in a way, Liam almost has it easier than Scott did, because 1) he has an alpha who cares, and 2) Scott has had to learn a lot by doing and trial-and-error and has way more knowledge than he did when he was bitten, so Liam gets to go into it with way more answers. But after everything the pack has been through the last twelve months, Scott ultimately learned to force himself to shove down his fears, grief, stress and exhaustion, compartmentalizing it, like Chris and his dad talked about; instead of dealing with his grief and fear and post-traumatic stress, he tries his best to forget about it in favor of focusing all his attention on the pack's survival. It's not just Scott who has grown to become this way, either-- we see Lydia refusing to leave the Sheriff's department in a little while, despite the fact that she was just nearly killed just hours ago, because she'd rather focus on figuring out how to stop the deadpool, and it's the same with Stiles, who will desperately try to get out of the hospital so he can keep researching/brainstorming, too. Not to mention Derek's insistence on fighting against of hunters who not only outnumber them, but also out-arm them, even though he has none of the enhanced healing, senses, strength, and agility that he used to rely on to stay alive. It may not be something they've done from the very start, but it's something ALL of them have begun to do since the deaths of their friends. They've lost enough already, and they refuse to lose anyone else.
And honestly, I think Liam sees this pretty clearly-- not only is he afraid for his own life, and traumatized from the few fights he's already been involved in, but I think he genuinely feels bad for Scott, because it's clear that Scott puts literally EVERYONE in front of himself, pretends that the constant threats to his life and those he loves don't bother him, and refuses to let himself break down because he has to be strong for everyone else. I don't blame Liam for being scared, or wanting to check out of the life-or-death scenarios. He's fifteen, he should be playing lacrosse and flirting with cute fellow students and watching movies and sneaking drinks from his parent's booze stash, not fighting berserkers and evading assassins. In the end, though, I think Scott's influence is going to push him to fight, too, just like it did for Stiles, and Allison, and Lydia, and Derek, and Malia, and Kira, and even Boyd and Erica, to an extent. I LOVE LIAM AND SCOTT SO MUCH, YOU GUYS, I CAN'T EVEN DEAL. Okay, moving on!
Over at the hospital, Stiles is in the room in which he was admitted after his near-death-experience with Brunsky the previous night, and is fighting to get out the door. Unfortunately, Melissa is on duty, as always, and refuses to let him out of the room, no matter how "fine" Stiles claims to be. "Uh-uh!" Melissa replies loudly. "You completely and totally have a concussion, Stiles, lie back down!" Wait, how many concussions has Stiles had at this point? I feel like it's a lot. Anyway, Stiles isn't having Melissa's overprotectiveness, and tries to duck around her, but she insists that Dr. Gardner said Stiles isn't leaving without a CT scan to make sure he's okay. "We still haven't paid for the last one!" Stiles quips humorlessly as he struggles to get past her, but Melissa isn't someone to be trifled with, so she puts her foot down. "No, no, no, no, no, no! Meredith is at the station. Your dad said it COULD take some time, but he will get her to talk." Stiles just sighs and looks down at the floor, but Melissa adds that even IF she let him go, what would he be able to do, anyway? Defeated, Stiles pouts and flings himself over to his bed. After thinking for a moment, he asks her if she can do him a little favor, to which she replies, "Anything!"
Lydia, still wearing the same clothes that she wore the previous day, is pacing around outside of Sheriff's office until he finally comes out, his right arm in a sling from getting shot in the shoulder by Deputy Dickweed. Lydia wastes no time asking him what Meredith had to say, but Sheriff just sighs exhaustedly and replies, "Hard to tell. There were WORDS... I'm not sure there were actual SENTENCES." Lydia rolls her eyes and determines that they've got nothing, to which Sheriff agrees, before grabbing a phone off of one of the desks in the bullpen and informing her that he thinks they need either a psychologist or a medium to help with getting her to talk. I read this awesome serialized fic series once where Coach Finstock was a powerful medium who mistakenly believed he was just some low-level psychic, and it kind of made me wish that Sheriff had called Coach up for some hilariously outrageous assistance. Then again, given how unsympathetically Coach dealt with Meredith's presence in "Insatiable," it's probably a good thing that he didn't, to be honest.
Anyway, Lydia asks if Meredith is even competent enough to be charged with a crime, and Sheriff, who seems to be genuinely pissed that assassins are coming after his kids (I have decided that Sheriff, Melissa and Chris have all essentially adopted the McCall Pack, even Derek, which makes them all their kids whether they're related or not.) gives us a damn fine summation of just how clever Meredith really is. "If Meredith is the Benefactor, then that means she was competent enough to trick Kate into opening the Hale vault, competent to blackmail Brunski into helping her, competent enough to create a hit list AND pay out money for it's completion. This girl is practically a criminal mastermind." Lydia frowns as she and Sheriff turn to look at Meredith through the office window, where she is sitting silently and clearly eavesdropping on their conversation.
Lydia insists that there HAS to be a reason why Meredith would go through all of this trouble just to kill off all the supernaturals in Beacon Hills, but Sheriff points out that he really gives no fucks about "why" she did it unless it tells them how to stop it-- Meredith is in custody, and Brunski is dead, but Scott, Malia and Liam still almost got killed last night, which means that the payments are likely being sent out automatically. I still don't understand how the computer aspect of the deadpool works, and I'm guessing we're not supposed to-- all that matters is that it's all automated to the point that it basically runs itself. And, as Sheriff points out, as long as the assassins are still being paid richly for their kills, they're going to keep pouring into town until every single person on that list is dead. "We don't just need to stop the deadpool..." Lydia realizes aloud. "...We need to stop the money," Sheriff finishes for her. Dun dun dun!
Scott, after having presumably taken Liam home, rushes into Deaton's animal clinic, where Kira leaps toward him so she can hug and kiss him after being separated for a couple days while Kira stayed with her mom in the hospital in Palo Alto. After a moment, the two break away, allowing Scott to make sure that everything with her mother is okay, but Kira assures him that she's healing and doing well. Scott, clearly still feeling bad about all the trauma Liam is struggling with, asks Kira if SHE is okay, but Kira just smiles and replies, "Right now? Very." The two kiss a little bit longer, and when they pull away again, Scott gets down to business. "Did you find him? Did you find Brett?" Kira clarifies that actually, she thinks she found ALL of them, and leads him into the back room, where Lorilee, Brett, and Satomi are standing around the exam table.
Kira informs Satomi that Scott is the person she was telling her about, but Satomi just smiles weakly and replies, "I know who Scott McCall is." How trippy must it be for Satomi to be around Kira when she is literally a carbon copy of Noshiko when they were in Oak Creek together? That would be surreal for sure! Also, I really want Satomi to be an alpha mentor to Scott or something, he could use some good alpha role models. Anyway, Scott seems surprised that she would know who he is, but Lorilee interrupts and asks them if they're safe there. That's when Scott looks around the room to find that there are actually seven or eight total members of Satomi's pack who survived the virus, including Satomi, Brett, and Lorilee, all of whom look like they've been through hell. Alarmed, Scott turns back to Kira and insists that they're going to need a LOT of assistance to help protect both their pack and Satomi's, and Kira nods in agreement. I'm just glad that Satomi still has a pretty large pack, despite everything! There must have literally been a couple dozen people in it before they got hit with the virus.
The scene cuts to a warehouse, where a man in tight jeans and boots knocks down a guard and throws him through the door he's guarding. As the camera pans up, we see that the man is actually none other than Chris Argent, who has an assault rifle in his hands and is slowly slinking into the warehouse. When the guard manages to pull himself to his feet and lunge after Chris, Chris doesn't even take the time to turn around-- he just slams the butt of his rifle into the guy's face and knocks him out cold. While Chris takes a look around, it becomes clear pretty quickly that the place he's is raiding is some kind of hydroponic farm where someone is growing several different varieties of wolfsbane. Why can't anyone in this town grow normal plants, like marijuana or something? Maybe then nobody would be in bad financial straits, because the drug business is recession-proof. ANYWAY , so at first, I thought this was Argent Arms, and maybe it was their own growhouse, but if that's the case, then why would Chris need to knock out the guards? So, now I'm wondering if maybe this isn't where the assassins (specifically the Orphans and the Mute) obtained the wolfsbane they used on their weapons. At the end of the aisle of plants, Chris finds a single (albeit large) yellow wolfsbane plant sitting in a clear glass pot in the middle of the room, the same species that Violet put on Garrett's blade that had neurotoxic effects on both Garrett and Liam. Chris glares at the plant, which makes me both curious and suspicious as to why he ultimately ends up taking it. What are you up to, Chris?
After the break, we return to the Sheriff's Department, where Lydia is dozing outside of Sheriff's office. She quickly awakens when she hears Sheriff come out the door and sit beside her on the bench. "I thought I told you to go home," Sheriff says with a tired sigh, but Lydia just retorts, "I thought I told YOU I wasn't going anywhere!" which a cute smile, which seems to mildly amuse him. She peeks at Meredith through the glass and asks if the psychologist managed to get anything out of her, but Sheriff drolly replies that he should have gone with the medium instead. Thankfully, Parrish chooses that moment to grace them with his presence, although he doesn't have much to report, either.
"We went through everything in Brunski's office," Jordan admits, as Sheriff and Lydia stand to greet him. "And so far, everything amounts to pretty much nothing." He realizes that Lydia is still in the same clothes she was wearing when he rescued her at Eichen House, and adds, "Did you not go home yet?" because he LOOOOVES Lydia, you guys. Lydia insists that she's not leaving until Meredith starts to talk, but Sheriff tries to talk her into going back home and getting some rest until they manage to get something useful out of her. Lydia rolls her eyes and demands that Sheriff let her talk to Meredith, but Sheriff isn't having it, as you can imagine. "No! We've already discussed this," Sheriff declares in frustration, but Jordan, on the other hand, seems pretty partial to the idea, in lieu of better options. "I've gotten through to her before!" Lydia argues. "Just let me try!" Since no man can resist Lydia when she really wants something, Sheriff just sighs in defeat, all, "What the hell."
Over at Beacon Memorial, Melissa knocks on the door of Stiles' room, and he turns from where he's sitting to greet her and ask if she managed to track down a tape player. Unfortunately, she didn't, but she DID find someone who has been looking for Stiles. When she steps out of the doorway, Malia awkwardly steps into the room, and Stiles looks SO happy to see her that Melissa just smiles a cute little smile and shuts the door behind her as she leaves. Stiles greets her with a nervous, "Hey..." before the two just stare at each other for a long moment, neither knowing what exactly to say. "I heard you almost got killed," Malia blurts out, as if to downplay just how much she wanted to see him, but Stiles just retorts that he also heard that SHE almost got killed, as well. Malia ignores him and asks him if he's okay, but Stiles just shrugs it off. "Yeah, Brunski punched me in the face," he replies in a detached voice. "Turns out he was a serial killer." Malia doesn't seem at all surprised by this news, since she's probably been tased/held down/dosed with Haldol by him more times than she could count while she was in Eichen House, and simply says that it makes a lot of sense. When Stiles asks about her experience the previous night, Malia sighs, and informs him that she, Liam, and Scott almost got set on fire, which shocks Stiles so much that he immediately cuts her off and asks her if everyone is okay. "Basically," Malia answers in a detached voice. Stiles then asks her if SHE is okay, but she insists that she's fine, and after another awkward silence, she states that she should probably go.
Disappointed, Stiles responds that she doesn't have to, if she doesn't want to, but she insists that she should probably go, and grabs the doorknob to let herself out. Unfortunately for her, the door is locked, so neither of them are able to leave. Stiles, confused, asks why Melissa would lock the door, and strides over so he can try to open it himself, despite the fact that Malia is (supposed to be) much stronger than he is. "Uhh, hey, Melissa?" Stiles calls out from inside his locked room, but no one seems to be listening to him. Malia offers to break the lock, but Stiles is just like, "How about you not? I already owe this hospital enough money, so..." Malia doesn't understand why Melissa would lock them in a room together, either, but Stiles defends Melissa and suggests that it was just an accident, which leads into a seriously adorable conversation that is both about Melissa and also about Stiles and his major screw-up with regards to Peter and Malia's biological connections.
Eliza Hull's "Echoes" starts to play in the background as Malia considers Stiles' words. She takes a step toward him and asks him if "Melissa" is going to keep begging, to which Stiles responds that she might, while he steps closer to her, too. "I don't have much practice in things like forgiveness," Malia admits carefully. "Some things I'm picking up fast, but other things are like..." "... like math?" Stiles finishes for her, to which Malia just growls that she hates math. Stiles slides even closer to her and stares her in the eyes as he asks, "Do you hate me?" Malia sighs, clearly hating this whole talking-about-your-feelings-thing, and confesses, "I LIKE you, Stiles. I like you a lot!" Stiles is THRILLED by this answer, as you can imagine, and smirks before insisting that he can work with that, and they both lunge for each other and start making out, which is super hot and adorable, as usual, because Dylan O'Brien is a professional kisser, you guys. He wraps his arms around Malia's waist and pulls her close to him while they continue to make out for a few long moments. Suddenly, the door pops open, though Melissa is nowhere to be found, and the sound of the lock clicking startles them out of their embrace.
(via teenwolf)
So, the major question in the fandom right now seems to be, did Melissa lock and unlock the door? Or did Stiles? There is a theory that is being analyzed to pieces on Tumblr that Stiles is not actually human (or, at least not TOTALLY human), and that he actually has some kind of magical powers that are starting to manifest themselves; in this case, he wanted to talk to Malia and make up with her, so he somehow used his powers to lock the door until that happened. No one seems to have nailed down for sure whether Stiles was never fully human to begin with, or if this is a side effect from the nogitsune's possession, getting a new body, and the nogitsune being bitten by Scott while the nogitsune and Stiles were still sort of connected. The major points that are being made is that Stiles has done some extraordinary things for a human, including: turning a handful of mountain ash into enough to finish his boundary line in "Raving;" super-strength (holding Malia back while she was unrestrained in "The Benefactor," breaking out of handcuffs while he was possessed in "Echo House" and "De-Void," and somehow breaking one arm out of his restraints in "Perishable"); and generally being able to *believe* things into actually happen.
People are also arguing that Stiles was more strongly affected by the virus in "Weaponized" than the rest of the human students, as he was getting worse when everyone else started to get better, suggesting that he was something different than the werecanids but not completely human. Part of me really likes this idea, because I have always wanted Stiles to be turned into a werewolf, mostly so he could protect himself, so having other powers that could help/strengthen the pack is a-okay to me. On the other hand, I feel like it's way too late in the season for this kind of thing to come into play yet, so if it IS true, I doubt we'll get any build on it anytime soon. Season 5 is going to be twenty episodes, as opposed to twelve, so maybe that'll be a good time to dig in! What do you guys think?
Chris has arrived at Argent Arms, where he's slowly walking through the warehouse, which is still trashed from his and Scott's fight against Kate and the berserkers in "Orphaned." He finally makes it over to one of the major support columns, in which a safe has been built inside. He sets down his duffel bag and his assault rifle so he can use a key and a four-digit code to open the safe. Chris then reaches into the duffel and pulls out the super-rare yellow wolfsbane plant that he stole from the wolfsbane grow-house, which he places inside the safe. OKAY, so did he take the wolfsbane to protect the pack from having it be used against them? It's pretty safe to say that at least some of the assassins were using it, so that would make sense. OR, is he keeping hold of it because he plans to use it himself if he has to? There's still Kate to worry about, and maybe even Peter-- I don't know how much of Stiles' suspicions about Peter Chris has been told about, but I figure Chris and Peter have had some unfinished business for quite a long while, so I would not be at all surprised if he was keeping hold of it in case of emergencies. Who knows! Either way, I'm excited to see what happens with that, seems like it's going to be pretty important here soon!
Anyway, Chris notices a set of wet footprints on the floor leading away from him, and immediately picks up his rifle to investigate. He slowly follows the set of footprints toward one of the plastic-curtained walls, where he sees a shadowy figure heading toward him. After a long, tense moment, Chris is startled when Satomi's steel spike rushes toward him, and is barely able to drop his rifle and hop out of the way before it embeds itself in the support column. Just as he pulls out his trusty 58-E Desert Eagle, Brett lunges toward him, fangs out and growling ferociously. Thankfully, Scott rushes over to them and shouts, "WAIT! Wait! Brett! This is his place, it's HIS!" until Brett finally gives Chris a sheepish look and stands down. Kira, Satomi, and the rest of the pack follow Scott out, and Chris, looking a little annoyed, puts his gun down and points out that if Scott was bringing company with him, he could have called and let him know so he wouldn't accidentally shoot someone. "I-I didn't have anywhere else to take them," Scott admits, clearly feeling the pressure of keeping all of these people alive, just like he promised Chris and Deaton back in "Orphaned." Chris takes a look around at the rest of Satomi's pack, and Satomi (who still has a healing--but still painful looking--gas on her cheek) points out that she knows Chris, because they've met before.
Scott insists that they can trust him, because HE trusts them, but Satomi isn't convinced. "How do we know he's not like the others?" she asks quietly. This piques Chris' interest, and he asks them who they're talking about. Kira informs him that there was a whole group of them, all of whom were wielding cross-bows, who went after Satomi's pack the previous evening. She then hands him one of the arrows she snagged after they took off, which has what looks like either a bat or some kind of bird in flight engraved in the arrowhead, just like the fleur-de-lis and skull the Argents and the Calaveras use on their bullets and arrowheads. New hunter family that will probably be introduced properly next season, I'm guessing? Scott correctly assumes that they're hunters, but Chris insists that if they're killing for profit, they are most certainly NOT hunters, at least not anymore. Brett is still very tense, and asks Chris if the hunters can find them. "They might already know you're here," Chris admits carefully. "Maybe they're waiting for dark." Kira determines that they're not safe there, but Satomi reminds them that they're really not safe ANYWHERE. "We've been trying to get out for days," Satomi confesses, giving Chris a look as she does so. "Everywhere we turn, we find someone new trying to kill us." Chris approaches Scott and quietly reminds them that if these hunters are coming, they'll be coming after him, too, since he's still the most valuable person on the list, but Scott is well aware. "I know. I know Lydia can get the answer from Meredith, she just needs more time." AGH, MY SCOTT/LYDIA FEELS, I LOVE THEM AS FRIENDS SO MUCH. "Well, then that's what she'll get," Chris replies, because Allison believed in Lydia as much as Scott does, if not more, which means that Chris believes in her, too.
Stiles has finally been released from the hospital (or, more likely, Malia helped sneak him out, because I don't think he would have had time to have a CT scan unless Stiles had it between when he asked Melissa for the tape player and when Malia showed up), and he and Malia headed straight for his house, where they dug up a tape player and started to listen to Brunski's "Lorraine Martin" tape. The part that they are listening to is a conversation that Brunski had with Lorraine some amount of time before he killed her. Brunski tells her that she has to go, but Lorraine begs him to listen to her. "Please, listen. There's something I have to do. Something I have to stop." Brunski insists that he has to take her back to Eichen, but Lorraine is not going to take his abusive shit lying down. "No, I don't think you're going to be taking me anywhere," she replies, as Malia and Stiles turn up the volume and listen intently. "I can hear the recorder in your pocket. It's on now, isn't it? You're making a tape, just like you taped the others." CREEPY, BRUNSKI. Also, banshee hearing skills for the win, amirite? Stiles stops the tape, and points out that their exchange couldn't have happened at Eichen House, since Brunski kept insisting that he had to take her back. (Seems like the security at that place has always been bad, because literally EVERYONE seems to have escaped at some point, good lord.) Malia asks him where on earth she could have gone, then, but Stiles assumes that is what they need to figure out.
Over at the Sheriff's office, Sheriff and Jordan are both sitting stone-faced across from Meredith on the couch, while Lydia paces around the office as she tries to piece together all the bits of information she's learned over the last few weeks. "I think I'm getting an idea of how all this happened," Lydia begins. "You used Brunski, right? You knew he'd killed people, and that he would do it again." Sheriff and Jordan watch Lydia curiously as she quietly walks over to Meredith and sits next to her on the couch, her demeanor much more friendly and kind than she has been in the past. It's almost like she somehow understands Meredith now, and knows what she needs to do to make her comfortable enough to give them the answers they need. "He used my grandmother's code for the deadpool," Lydia continues. "He put it online. He took the money from the Hale vault, then turned the bearer bonds into cash. He made the payments."
Meredith stares at Lydia, almost in awe, as she watches her figure out everything she's been doing for the last ten or so years. "Was it Brunski's idea to fake your death? Did he get nervous because you helped us with the second cipher key?" Meredith shoe-gazes sheepishly and admits that she just wanted to help, and the boys are immediately shocked that Lydia managed to get her to talk after all. "All you've ever wanted to do was help," Lydia responds sympathetically, to which Meredith nods in agreement with a small smile. "Is that why you're here? I know you wouldn't want to be here if you didn't want to talk," Lydia gently presses on, desperate to get the answers that they need. After a moment, Meredith admits that yes, she does want to talk, but only to one person. Who is that person, we all ask? "Peter," Meredith whispers, as Sheriff and Lydia's eyes bug out of their heads. "Peter Hale." OF FUCKING COURSE HE'S INVOLVED. Peter Hale (and Gerard Argent) are basically at fault for 100% of bad things that have happened in Beacon Hills, if you go back far enough.
Stiles and Malia have listened to the tape probably a dozen times in the time since we saw them last, and when we return to them after the break, Stiles is rewinding the tape on Malia's orders. He presses play, and the two listen a little while longer, until they pass the part where Lorraine tells Brunski she's not going anywhere. Malia then recognizes a background noise, and instructs Stiles to play it again and turn up the volume. Malia listens intently as Lorraine brings up the recorder in Brunsky's pocket, and then she hears a very familiar "wub-wub-wub" sound. "It's the record player!" Malia exclaims suddenly, but Stiles never spent any time in Lydia's study while he was at the lake house, so she has no idea what she's talking about until she explains it to him. "So, she escaped from Eichen House to go back to listen to a record player?" Stiles asks in confusion, but Malia reminds him that Lorraine was a banshee, just like Lydia. Stiles points out that Lorraine only ever predicted one death that he knows of, Maddy's, and then after that she spent the rest of her life trying to figure out what she was and how to use her powers.
Malia considers this new information, and suddenly gets a dawning revelation that is usually reserved for Stiles. "Maybe she finally did!" Malia blurts out excitedly. "And, what if this time, it wasn't just one death, it was a lot of deaths?" Stiles immediately picks up what she's putting down, and suggests she could have predicted the deadpool (I'm not sure if he's talking about the list that Lorraine left in a message for Lydia, or the new deadpool-- I'm going to guess the former, though.) "What if all those years ago, Lorraine predicted it," Malia continues. "What if she knew that there was something in the study that could stop it?" Stiles instantly grabs his keys and informs Malia that they're totally leaving for the lake house. WOOO! Go Malia! I don't want to hear anyone saying that she's useless, because that was some seriously amazing detective work on her part.
Back at Argent Arms, Chris has his assault rifle still in hand while he sets up motion sensors around the building to alert them to anyone trying to get in the warehouse. Scott is checking up on the group to make sure that everyone is settled, and gives a warm smile to Kira, who has her katana clutched in her hands. At some point, Derek and Braeden joined them, and Derek has a short discussion with Satomi before he leaves to update Scott on what's up. Scott immediately insists that they're going to be okay (almost as though he's trying to will them to be okay, for everyone's sake), but Derek points out that while they all (with the exception of Lorilee) have claws and fangs, but they're a non-violent, Buddhist pack, so they're hardly fighters. "That's why I called you," Scott replies, but Derek can't help but be a little pessimistic. "Well, try to remember that I don't have claws and fangs anymore, either," he retorts, but Braeden just smirks, shotgun in hand, and adds, "That's why he called me!" God, I love Derek and Braeden together SO MUCH. I hope they last!
"Am I the only one still hoping this is all just a false alarm? I mean, it's possible that we could wait here all night and nothing happens, right?" Kira asks hopefully, but judging by the way everyone else looks at her, no one else is that optimistic, because when does anything ever go the way they want it to go? Braeden asks Scott if Stiles or Lydia have talked to him recently, but all Scott has to report is that Lydia is still trying to get answers from Meredith, and Stiles and Malia are headed for the lake house to investigate. His point is that all three of them are trying to stop the deadpool for good, but Brett, who has been eavesdropping from across the room, calls out, "What if there is no stopping it? What if it doesn't end until we're all dead?" They all stop to think about this possibility for a moment, before Derek decides that it's time for one of his patented pep-talks to get them all ready to fight back if things go sideways tonight. "Then let's send a message!" Derek replies confidently, as Scott and the rest of the gang turns to stare at him curiously. "Let's make tonight PERFECTLY CLEAR to anyone with a copy of that list. It doesn't matter if they're professional assassins, hunters, or an amateur who just picked up a gun. ANYONE who thinks they can hunt and kill us for money is gonna be put on another list-- OUR list. They get to be a name on OUR deadpool." Everyone just stares at him in awe, except for Braeden, who just pumps her shotgun with one hand in confirmation. YAS DEREK! I have never been more attracted to you than I am RIGHT NOW.
(via teenwolf)
Back at the Sheriff's Department, Lydia, Peter, and Sheriff are in the observation room, where they're staring Meredith, sitting alone in the interrogation room with only Jordan there to keep her company/make sure she doesn't try to make a run for it. "Her?" Peter asks skeptically. "THAT'S the girl who stole my money?" Lydia reminds him that that girl is a banshee, and insists that they're more dangerous than he thinks. Hell yes, they are! I hope that is some foreshadowing that Lydia will kill Peter, although as long as he dies, I don't really care who does it. Lydia, Scott, or Derek would be preferable, though. ANYWAY, Peter just snarks that Meredith's "pilot light" went out a long time ago, before turning to the Sheriff and adding, "Not to question the unquestionably sterling reputation of your department, but are you absolutely SURE you got the one?" Sheriff, who is not fond of Peter, for good reason, just snaps at him to go in there and listen to what Meredith has to say to him.
We cut to inside the interrogation room, where Peter has reluctantly agreed to have a little chat with Meredith. He sits across from her at the table and sighs before mustering up every tiny piece of patience he has in him. "Okayyyy, Meredith. Where's my money?" Meredith just gapes at him, puzzled, so Peter adds, "Or, more correctly, what's left of it." Meredith is still so shocked that all she can do is stare, though she does eventually raise a hand to touch Peter's cheek. Peter does NOT like being touched, though, especially by socially awkward banshees who have robbed him of his inheritance money, so he quickly snaps his hand up so he can grip her wrist tightly and pull it away from him. Jordan reaches for his side-arm and orders Peter to let go of her, though he doesn't-- he just pulls her wrist down and sets it on the table before finally freeing her of his grasp. "Why did you do that?" Peter asks quietly, not meeting her eyes as he tries to repress all of the pesky emotions that her touch seems to have brought up. Meredith's eyes are still bugging out of her head when she mutters, "They're all gone!" Lydia and Sheriff, who have been watching and listening to them intently this entire time, are stunned by this interaction, and Lydia quickly realizes that Meredith and Peter had actually met before after all. "The burns!" Meredith continues. "They're all gone!" Peter's eyes widen in alarm when he realizes that once again that he's missing some memories.
Across town at Argent Arms, the Ito and McCall packs (plus Chris and Braeden) are anxiously waiting around the abandoned warehouse for whatever disaster awaits them this evening. Chris is pacing around with his rifle when Satomi quietly joins him, and the two have a very interesting and enlightening conversation. "I remember meeting you," Chris admits softly. "But you weren't a Buddhist back then." Satomi stands her ground, and replies, "And you weren't protecting werewolves. You were hunting them." Instead of responding to that little dig, Chris brings up the Buddhist mantra we've already heard several times this season. "Three things cannot be long hidden; the sun, the moon, the truth." He asks her what that means, so she tells him that it means the truth always comes out eventually. What he meant, though, was what the quote meant to HER, so she gets real with him. "The truth for me is that we-- my kind-- are violent creatures, who eventually will not be able to control our violent impulses. The mantra helps us subdue our nature."
Chris still seems to be struggling a little to reconcile his new Code with his old one-- it's one thing to help the werewolves in Scott's pack, because they aren't killers, they're protectors. Clearly, Satomi's pack is not violent, but Satomi most definitely has a past when it comes to being out of control as a werewolf, so I think it's a lot harder for him to trust them. So, Chris reminds her that werewolves are still violent creatures, but Satomi won't let him get all high-and-mighty on her. "Aren't we all?" Remember when Derek had the nogitsune-fly in him, and he asked Chris how many werewolves/supernaturals he killed? Chris never answered, but I'm sure it's a pretty large number. He may have stuck to the Code, but I'm sure many of those werewolves weren't intending to kill. Werewolves as a whole may have spilled innocent blood, but the hunters' hands aren't exactly clean in this, either. ANYWAY, their discussion is interrupted when one of the motion sensors starts beeping loudly, alerting them to the presence of company in the warehouse. "They're coming," Chris growls, as he strides purposely across the room. BAMF!Chris is my favorite, tbh.
"Meredith, you put EVERYONE, including my nephew AND my daughter on a death list!" Peter rants loudly in the interrogation room. "Don't you think you owe us the slightest explanation as to WHY?" Oh, please, Peter! Like any of us believe that you give one iota of a shit about Derek or Malia outside of what they can offer you in terms of help! I'm not buying it. Meredith just goes quiet for a moment before whispering, "But you said it had to be kept secret!" Peter can barely contain his snark as he shoots Meredith the most hilarious side-eye, before reminding her that's impossible, because, as he's stated before, they've never met before now. Inside observation, Lydia is frowning in confusion as she asks Sheriff what the fuck Peter thinks he's doing. Back in interrogation, Meredith realizes that Peter doesn't remember, and Peter's eyes go dead as he replies, "No. But, maybe you do." He quickly rises to his feet, pushes the table across the room, throws an incoming Jordan against the wall to keep him from interfering, and then wraps one clawed hand around Meredith's neck. Lydia realizes what Peter is about to do one second too late, because by the time she runs into the room and screeches "NO!" Peter has jammed his claws into the back of Meredith's neck so he can see her memories. OH SHIT, FLASHBACK TIME.
... but not quite yet. Back at Argent Arms, two smoke grenades are thrown into the main room, so Braeden instantly orders everyone to get back. Once the smoke grenades ignite, Satomi's pack flees for the back rooms, while Kira and Scott dive across the floor, just barely missing rapid gunfire from outside. Chris and Satomi duck behind a support column for cover before Chris peeks out from around it and begins returning fire. That's when we get a good look at the night's assassins, who seriously look like a black ops combat team. They're all decked out in head-to-toe black ballistics armor, helmets (with cameras built on top for visual confirmation of kills) and night-vision goggles. Their assault weapons all have the same laser sights that the hunters with the cross-bows had the previous evening, and they're shooting indiscriminately at everyone inside the building. DAMN! Chris' eyes are FURIOUS as he continues to shoot back, while Derek and Braeden dive behind a wall to protect them from the gunfire before also returning fire with their own weapons. I cannot believe that Derek is actually fighting in this ridiculously outmatched fight when he doesn't have healing abilities! He is currently both the most loyal and also the most passively suicidal member of this pack, goddammnnnnn.
We cut back to the Sheriff's department, where both Sheriff and Jordan have their own service weapons aimed at Peter's head. Lydia screams at them not to break the connection, because doing so without any knowledge of how to do it could kill both Meredith AND Peter. Jordan asks her what the fuck they're supposed to do, then, but Lydia honestly has no idea. Peter and Meredith are both completely silent, their eyes closed in concentration, as Sheriff, Lydia, and Parrish watch helplessly. After a moment, the men lower their weapons, but Jordan, who is already overwhelmed by all the supernatural stuff he's witnessed in the last two episodes, asks her what the hell Peter's doing to Meredith.
Before Lydia can answer, Meredith gasps slowly and opens her eyes. We flash back to Meredith at Lorraine's lake house, right when the record player causes Meredith's ears to start to bleed as she begins to have a seizure. She's then strapped to a stretcher and wheeled into the emergency room for treatment. Later, she's put into a long-term treatment ward, and we get a quick look at her file, where we get some sort of useful information, though as usual, the prop people seem to have fucked up. It says Meredith was admitted on December 10, 2009 when she was sixteen years old, which would make her about nineteen years old now in present TW universe time. However, it also says that her birthday is November 23, 1998, which would make her fourteen? Ugh. It also says her chief medical complaint is acute insomnia, for whatever reason.
ANYWAY, in this flashback, Dr. Gardner is doing rounds with his interns or something, and explains that Meredith has been non-responsive for weeks, though there are no signs of physical trauma, nor any response to external stimuli (lights in the eyes, needle sticks, etc.) He says it's likely that her condition is likely a result of psychological trauma. In the present day, Sheriff, Lydia, and Jordan just stare at Meredith in shock, not sure what to do, until Meredith starts whispering quietly under her breath. Sheriff can't discern what she's trying to say, and apparently neither can Jordan. Still, he's a clever guy who is especially intrigued by Lydia, so naturally, he remembers that Lydia has super-sonic hearing and asks her if she can understand what she's saying. "I can," Lydia replies quietly. "I can hear perfectly." She listens for another moment or so, and then starts to translate what Meredith is really saying-- it's basically a narration of everything that Peter is seeing in Meredith's memories.
"She was in the hospital," Lydia begins. "The same hospital." Jordan missed out on all the Peter drama, as you know, so he asks with whom she was in the hospital. "Peter," Lydia replies, as we flash back to the long-term care ward where Meredith was being treated after her incident at the lake house. We see Dr. Gardner and his interns moving on to the next bed, where a still very-burned Peter is laying quietly on his bed with his eyes closed. "Here, we have a rather extraordinary case," Dr. Gardner explains to his fellow doctors, as he gestures toward Peter. We get a brief look at his file, too, and manage to get a little bit of information on him as well. There's no admittance date, because that would be too easy, apparently, but it does say he was 38 years old in 2009, which makes him 41 in the present day, which seems to make sense, since that's about the same age as Chris, I think? Maybe give or take a couple years. As expected his chief medical complaint is "4th degree burns," and in the notes, it says, "Patient suffered 4th degree burns into muscle, tendon, bone throughout body. In self-induced coma. No responding to external stimulation." YIKES! I mean, we always knew this, but it just seems way more painful and serious when it's written out like that, you know?"
"A near-fatal burn victim. The interesting part is that typically in a situation like this, the coma is induced medically, as the pain can often be too much for the patient to bear. We're not sure HOW Mr. Hale became comatose, however. His survival is honestly a mystery we're still trying to solve," Dr. Gardner explains to his interns, as Peter's eyes move rapidly underneath his closed eyelids. The doctors file out of the room, leaving Meredith and Peter to rest in their respective beds. In the present day, Lydia translates the banshee whispers for Sheriff and Jordan. "It was right after the fire*," Lydia summarizes. "Meredith could hear him!" Sheriff is understandably confused as to what she means, so Lydia clarifies that she could hear EVERYTHING that Peter was thinking. We flashback to the hospital ward, where Meredith is laying frozen in bed, her eyes open and widened in fear, as Lydia continues her story through voiceover. "She could hear every thought in his head. Like they'd somehow found the same wavelength. And now everything going through his mind was going RIGHT into hers." Sheriff is horrified, naturally, because who the fuck wants to hear everything in Peter's fucked up brain, and asks how long this went on, but Lydia isn't positive, though she figures it was at least weeks, if not months.
*Wait, wasn't the fire in 2003 or 2004? I don't exactly think that five years is considered "right after the fire," but maybe all this confusion is my own fault for expecting Jeff Davis to actually keep a legit timeline on his show.
We flash back to the ward again, where Meredith is still frozen on her back in her bed, and only able to move her head so she could frantically look around the room. Lydia, in voiceover, describes the sensation as being as though Peter were hovering over Meredith's bed and whispering all of his thoughts about the fire into her ear. And man, Peter had a LOT to say, in the most rambling, terrifying fashion, often repeating himself over and over. In flashback we see Peter's form (probably an illusion in her mind, much like he did the same to Lydia back in season 2) slowly crawling over to Meredith's bed to talk to her.
(via teenwolf)
DAMMMMMMMMN, so Peter is even more psychotic than I ever expected. Just, WOW. Also, Ian Bohen deserves some major credit for this scene (and this episode in general, really-- his non-flashback scenes all have some awesome dialogue and funny jokes, too) because he really got just how desperate with rage and grief and pain and vengeance he was. ANYWAY, in the present day, Peter finally has seen all he needs to see, and weakly pulls his claws out of Meredith's spine before he collapses to the floor. It seems to have taken just as much out of Meredith, too, because she can barely hold herself up, and Jordan ultimately has to grab her so she doesn't crack her head on the linoleum. I had forgotten just how out-of-it doing that memory-share thing makes both parties, yikes! Anyway, Sheriff, having heard everything that Peter saw through Lydia's translation, pulls his gun on Peter and aims it right for his head. YAS SHERIFF! Show him who's boss! "It was your idea, and you don't even remember!" Lydia snaps at him, and Peter has absolutely nothing to say for himself, so he just sighs as he slumps against the wall, still weakened from the ritual.
Meanwhile, Stiles and Malia have made it to the lake house, where they have been listening to the record player in the study for god knows how long. The two listen to the wub-wub-wub noises on the blank record, as Malia focuses her hearing in hopes that she can get SOMETHING from it. Stiles, on the other hand, is visibly anxious, and after fidgeting nervously for a moment or two, he eventually loses his patience. "What are doing in this room? It wasn't even made for us! You know? We need someone like Lydia, or Meredith. I mean, we're just sitting here, listening to a stupid record player that plays a record that doesn't even play anything!" Oh, Stiles, you poor, tightly-wound-up soul. He finally flips the record player off and insists that they leave, because according to him, there are plenty of other things they can do that are equally useless to their current life-or-death situation. He's about to head out the door when Malia stops and frowns in confusion. After a moment, she calls out to Stiles, and informs him that she can still hear it. Stiles points out that the record player isn't even on, so Malia figures it must be something else, since she can still clearly hear spinning.
Puzzled, Stiles starts looking around the general area of the record player in hopes of uncovering anything unusual. Behind the table is a black cable that runs through the wall, which must seem suspicious to Stiles somehow, because he immediately moves the table so he can examine it further. He looks over at Malia, who is just as puzzled as he is, so, not knowing what else to do, Stiles yanks on the cord, which is attached to something inside the wall. Apparently, the pack just haven't destroyed the lake house quite enough during the two full moons they spent there (claw marks on the walls, broken windows in the boat house, spilled and stolen wine from Natalie's stash), because Stiles decides to continue to tug on the cord, which cuts through the drywall like a knife through butter. Knocking out walls is kind of Stiles and Malia's thing, isn't it? Once they make that long cut through the wall, the two are easily able to tear the wall down with their hands, revealing those huge, old-fashioned, 1970's-era computers from the flashbacks of Lorraine from last week's episode! Malia is still confused, since she didn't hear any of the story from Lydia, and asks what the machines are. Stiles is just staring at the computers in shock, though, and replies, "The deadpool."
HOLY SHIT. I was NOT expecting this-- it seemed obvious enough that Lorraine had written the code, but I didn't even consider that the code somehow automated the entire deadpool process, from sending out the lists (first to professional assassins, then hunters, and then anyone who could benefit from the extra cash) to sending out the payments and confirming the kills. THIS IS SO BANANAS. I still feel terrible about all the damage to the lake house, though-- didn't Lydia say that they needed every penny they could get from that house? I know they needed to get those computers shut down, and knocking the wall down was the only way, but GEEZ, that's gonna cost a bundle to fix. And selling the house kind of sucks, because I have a feeling that banshee room could be very useful to Lydia in the future.
Meanwhile, the fight is still raging on at Argent Arms, where Kira spins and slices one of the plastic curtains with her katana. Once she's through, she kicks one of the hunters in the chest, which launches him across the room. She confirms that the hunter is down for the count before she turns and leaps back into the fray, where Scott is fully wolfed-out and in the middle of a battle with another hunter. He slashes at the man's torso with his claws before roaring as he throws him around so he can kick him onto the floor. He then knocks the gun out of his hands and jumps on him so he can punch the guy in the face until he's knocked out. YAS KIRA! YAS SCOTT! Defend your territory and your friends! Once he's down, he grunts and hurls himself back toward everyone else. Satomi is staring the hunters down while she spins her spike in her hand, just as Chris, ever the hero, rushes his completely-human ass over so he can cover her with his NON-HEALING BODY as he shoots at the hunters with his own rifle.
LOOK AT THAT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! Even despite the fact that they were both calling each other murderers just a short time ago, CHRIS IS STILL PROTECTING THOSE WHO CANNOT PROTECT THEMSELVES (WITHOUT HELP.) I love it all SO MUCH. Also, I should mention that many of these hunters are shot in the torso/chest and immediately fall to the ground, so it's quite possible that Chris is killing his fellow hunters to protect a hit list full of supernatural creatures. THIS IS SO INTENSE. Also, how are they gonna cover up the dozen or so bodies in full riot gear? Elsewhere, Derek sneaks up behind another hunter and shoulder-checks him so hard that he flies across the room. He finally catches up with Braeden and they spin, back-to-back, so each of them can watch out for the other. "How many are there?" Derek yells over the deafening sound of gunfire while he shoots back at the hunters. "Too many," Braeden yells back, as she reloads her shotgun. The McCall pack is full of brains and badassery, basically.
(via teenwolf)
Back at the Sheriff's station, Sheriff still has his gun aimed at Peter's head, and you can tell he's itching to pull the trigger, especially since he ended up talking himself out of it the last time he pulled his gun on him, after he killed the Mute at the high school. "Are you KIDDING me?" Peter mutters under his breath with a dramatic roll of his eyes. Sheriff tells him to put his hands where he can see them, which does nothing to stop Peter's exasperation. "How the hell was I supposed to remember any of that?" Sheriff gestures at him to shut up and get on his feet, so Lydia reminds him that, hello, she got the entire PLAN from him. Peter's always got an excuse, though. "I was out of my mind!" Peter snaps, as Sheriff and Lydia stare him down. "Do you know what it's like for one of us to be in a coma? Paralyzed, but cognizant? YOU try not going crazy!" Jordan points out that she was listening to HIM, but Peter, without thinking, yells, "She was listening to the ranting and raving of a lunatic!" He realizes that he pretty much just confessed that he was a psychopath, and adds, "A former lunatic. I'm much healthier now." Yeah, I totally buy that. So healthy that he wants to kill a seventeen year old boy!
(via teenwolf)
Still, Peter maintains that he had nothing to do with this, but Sheriff continues to argue that if she was acting on HIS instructions, then how are they supposed to know there isn't more to the story that both of them are hiding. Peter's like, "Stealing my own money? REALLY?" which would be a good argument if he hadn't literally been planning to use every penny, if necessary, to pay for the deadpool. Sheriff agrees with me and reminds him of this fact, but Lydia starts to get a really bad feeling about all of this and tells them to stop fighting. "This is what she wants! It's why she's here!" Peter gives Sheriff a look like, "See! Lydia is backing me up here," which makes me want Lydia to punch him in the face, tbh. "Look around, Sheriff," Lydia argues. "There's three people in here right now, three people STILL on the deadpool. Me, Parrish, and Meredith." Jordan reminds them that Peter ISN'T on the deadpool, because the whole point was that Peter was going to take out all the supernaturals and then start from scratch (possibly because he knows he's got some weird thing that allows him to create weird/unique creatures, like true alphas and werecoyotes and naguals.) Peter insists that they don't want to kill each other, but Sheriff reminds Peter that the only person to whom he's pointing a gun is him.
"Then you better make it a perfect shot, because I don't go down easy," Peter sneers, but Sheriff is no fool, so he pulls back the safety on his service weapon and aims it even closer at Peter's forehead. "Well, I'm willing to bet that a bullet between the eyes doesn't heal real fast, not even for your kind," Sheriff retorts, and Peter quite visibly gets a little scared that Sheriff might actually kill him, so he starts poking at random in hopes of finding a sore spot. Lydia begs them to stop fighting, just as Peter suggests that the police department in Beacon Hills is getting more corrupt by the second. "What are you gonna charge me with, Sheriff? How are you gonna explain this to a judge? Telepathic girl overhears thoughts of comatose WEREWOLF and decides to enact his plans for retribution? Mmm, they're going to be pointing a gun at your head and asking YOU to go quietly." Sheriff is totally pissed, because as repulsive as Peter is, he's totally right, in this instance. Lydia insists that Sheriff has to let him go, and Peter sasses him about how he needs to listen to a banshee and put down his gun so Peter can walk out-- no triggers pulled, no one gets hurt. Sheriff grimaces and looks as though he miiiiight just pull the trigger anyway, but decides at the last minute that Peter is not worth the trouble (now, anyway) and lowers his weapon.
Before Peter can leave, though, Sheriff reminds him that this is the second time he's let Peter leave with his life, and emphasizes that he will NOT be letting Peter do it a third time. Peter doesn't turn around, but he does smirk a bit as he walks away from them. Meredith immediately begins to freak out and yells, "No! It's not finished! It's not finished!" as she struggles to break free from Jordan, who is holding her back by grabbing her arms. YIKES! On one hand, part of me is super proud of Sheriff, because I hate Peter and love that Sheriff isn't afraid of him. On the other hand, I am REALLY worried that Peter is going to try to kill Sheriff or otherwise hurt him, just to make life easier for him, and that would be absolutely devastating. Not to mention the fact that Stiles would literally rip Peter to shreds if he directly or indirectly hurt or killed Sheriff in any way-- we already know just how much Stiles hates/distrusts Peter (and quite rightly so, imo) so he would not hesitate to grab a branch of mountain ash that is wrapped in wolfsbane and rolled in mistletoe to shove up his ass so far that Peter would choke on it.
Over at the lake house, Malia is about to throw a punch at the computers, but Stiles manages to dive in and hold her back before she makes contact with them, thankfully. "You can't just smash it to pieces," Stiles reminds her gently before releasing her wrists. "If this thing is still being used to disseminate the list, then it's probably going to keep going until everyone's dead." Malia asks him what the hell they're supposed to do, then, but Stiles thinks there should be a way to stop it, like with a command or a prompt of some kind. Malia raises her arm again, and though Stiles automatically assumes she's going to try to punch it again, in reality, she's trying to point at the top of the middle machine, which has a keyhole in it. "What about a key?" she asks quietly. YES MALIA! She has figured out so many mysteries this week, I looooooove it so much.
Back at Argent Arms, the warehouse is still full of smoke and the sounds of fighting as their battle against the hunters rages on. Scott has pushed another hunter onto the ground and roars at him, his face covered in blood spatter that may or may not be his own. He sneers and flashes his fangs before getting up to his feet. He gets hit by a stray bullet and sways on his feet as lights flash around him. Scott sees Brett nearby and rushes toward him so he can instruct him to go and tell everyone to hide in the backroom. He gets hit by another two bullets in the process, but he's so fueled on lycanthropy and adrenaline right now that they barely seem to be affected him at all. Scott then goes to look for Kira, but can't seem to find her anywhere, which is worrisome for sure, so he runs into another one of the rooms in hopes of finding her.
Stiles and Malia, knowing that they're way out of their league here, have FaceTime'd Lydia the resident genius banshee to help them out with this whole deadpool machine thing. Stiles points the camera at the computers so Lydia can get a good look at them from the Sheriff's Department, and hopefully suggests that there must be a way to shut it all down. Lydia doesn't know shit about 70's-era computers, though, and tells them as much, so Malia pokes her head over Stiles' shoulder to remind her that neither of them do, either. LOL. I love their friendship! OT3 material right here. What is their ship name, anyway? Stalydia? Anyway, Lydia asks them where the monitor is, but the problem is that there isn't one. "There are buttons, knobs, spindles, no monitor," Stiles responds as he wanders around the room with the camera aimed at his face. Lydia notices something in the background and frowns in confusion before asking him to point the camera on the floor. Stiles is puzzled, but does what he's told, and Lydia is shocked when she realizes that the stain from when she dropped the wine glasses in "The Benefactor" are gone. Stiles doesn't understand how that's even relevant to their current problems, but Lydia explains that she was supposed to use the $500 they gave to Brunski to hire a carpet cleaner to clean up the stain, and since stains don't just disappear, then something must be up.
That's when she realizes that perhaps since the ashes her grandmother left her weren't really HER ashes, and the study isn't really a study, nor is the record player really a record player, that maybe the wine wasn't really wine. That's still kind of confusing me, but I'm not going to question it because this is already WAY too long. Lydia realizes that the wine bottle might have some sort of clue, and insists that he has to find the bottle, which is apparently a 1982 Cote du Rhome. Stiles flails his way downstairs to get the wine, and eventually finds the bottle and brings is back up. He thinks something is inside it, and asks if there's a bottle opener anywhere. Malia's too impatient to fuck with the proper way to open a wine bottle, and simply smashes it against the study's pristine white carpet. Stiles digs through the broken glass and finds a key, and wastes no time scrambling to his feet so he can put the key into the computer system's keyhole. It totally fits into the lock, and he turns back to Malia, his face both relieved and alarmed, since they don't exactly know what will happen if they use the key.
Lorilee has somehow been separated from the rest of her pack, and is slowly wandering around the smoke-filled rooms of the Argent warehouse as she calls out for Brett. Unfortunately for her, trying to find Brett leads a hunter right to her, and even though she's clearly no older than twelve or thirteen, the hunter seems only concerned with the $250,000 paycheck her death will net him. He aims his gun at her, and the laser sight on his rifle points at her right in between her eyes. Poor Lorilee is seriously terrified, but steels herself and closes her eyes as she quickly accepts that her death is imminent. Before the hunter can shoot her, though, he's tackled by Scott fucking McCall, who has come out of nowhere to protect her. She dives out of their way and watches in fear as Scott drags the hunter away and throws him on a nearby table before straddling him and attacking the hell out of him. He slams the hunter's head against the table a couple of times, and takes his helmet off of him so he can see his face as he claws and slashes at his riot gear. This guy seems to be seriously afraid for his life, and though I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to sympathize with him, I just can't. Dude was totally willing to kill a child, and absolutely would have had Scott not shown up when he did.
As Scott roars and swipes at the hunter, a shadow moves across Scott's face, just before his wolf features begin to turn even more wolfish, his claws lengthening into even longer and sharper points than usual. Lorilee is still watching them fight in terror and squeezes her eyes shut, clearly terrified at what she's seeing. The hunter starts spitting up blood and is silently pleading for his life with his eyes, but before Scott gives him any more vicious blows, he starts to hear the sound of buzzing all around him, and stops what he's doing, which allows his face to return to its usual wolf-y form. Chris and Satomi are huddled behind a nearby support beam, and peek around the corner when they hear the gunfire stop. All of a sudden, the hunters all begin to retreat as more and more phones start to buzz around them. Derek still has his Sig Souer P-88 up, but is just as puzzled when the shooting stops.
(via teenwolf)
Scott realizes the hunter's phone is buzzing in his pocket as the hunter holds his hands up in surrender. Scott grabs the phone out of the pocket and looks at the message that he just received, and his face goes cold as he turns the phone toward its owner so he can see for himself what it says. "THE BENEFACTOR: ALL CONTRACTS TERMINATED." The man Scott was fighting breathes a sigh of relief when he realizes he's going to live another day. This hunter, and all the other hunters who survived this attack, should alllllll be thankful that the McCall Pack is way kinder and nicer than they are, because they were 100% okay with killing them, but now they're being allowed to leave with their lives. I am not at all okay with real life violence, and have found myself super ragey the last couple weeks, with all of the cases of harmless people being killed for stupid (and usually racist) reasons, but in this fictional case, I would be totally fine with those assassins being taken out.
Back at the lake house, Stiles and Malia watch in shock as the deadpool computers power down in front of them, and they, too, breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that this all seems to be over. Oh, kids, we all know that this isn't the end, even if the deadpool itself really is finito-- there will always be another threat for them, or another disaster of some kind, and they're going to continue to be fighting to survive, just against other people this time.
Most of the hunters are gone now, aside from the ones who got killed, or the ones who are too injured to move that quickly, and the members of the McCall Pack who were involved in the fight slowly walk back into the main room and survey the damage. Scott is no longer wolfed out, though he is still covered in blood, but Kira seems to have once again made it out completely unscathed, which is SUPER impressive, if you ask me! Kira heals just as fast as the werewolves, it seems, but she's hardly ever injured severely enough to need it. Derek has what looks like the beginnings of a black eye (LOL, bet he's never had to deal with that, before!) but he, too, doesn't seem to have been shot, thankfully! Satomi's pack joins them, having hid and stayed safe during their attack, and Kira asks Scott if it's really over. Scott smiles weakly when he realizes that the deadpool appears to be over for good. Still, I think part of him knows that he almost lost control just then, and even though he did eventually stop himself (which is awesome and a testament to his willpower), he's probably still pretty nervous about how being an alpha is affecting his instincts.
Lydia is still at the Sheriff's Department, and gently places either Jordan or Sheriff's uniform jacket over Meredith's shoulders as the two walk over to the couch in Sheriff's office. Lydia asks her if she's okay, and when Meredith nods, she realizes that she must be, if she was willing to put herself on the deadpool, along with all the other supernaturals. "I had to," Meredith insists quietly, and when Lydia asks why, Meredith says probably the most painful thing in the entire episode. "Because I heard you. I heard you scream in the tunnels at Oak Creek." We flash back to "Insatiable," when Lydia let out the most heartbreaking banshee wail EVER when she felt Allison's death at the hands of the oni. In the present day, Lydia's face is absolutely soul-crushing in how sad she looks to remember that moment. "That's why I knew it was the right time. To-to start over." Lydia almost looks angry when she points out that she decided to start over with Peter, probably because she remembers all of the horrifying and traumatic things he did to Lydia back in season 2, but Meredith seems to have drunk Peter's kool-aid. "He's the alpha!" Meredith argues. "He's always been the alpha! He'll make it right." ICK ICK ICK ICK ICK. That sentence makes my skin crawl.
"It never was [right] with us," Meredith continues. "Too many people die because of us. We're the monsters. Even banshees. Even ME." Lydia and Meredith are both at the verge of tears at this point, but Lydia just shakes her head no and insists that she doesn't believe that. "Not all monsters do monstrous things," Lydia states, which is the most beautiful quote of the series, and is pretty much the thesis statement of this series as a whole. Meredith asks, "Like who?" so Lydia smiles a weak smile and replies, "Like Scott." MY SCYDIA FEELS ARE TOO MUCH RIGHT NOW. Meredith smiles back at her, and gently places her hand on Lydia's cheek, which is almost too much for HER. "Like you," Meredith insists. Suddenly, the gravity of the situation hits her full force (maybe because she remembers that she put Lydia on the list for $20 million dollars, the second-most expensive of all the deadpool) and moans, "Oh god. What have I done?" Some have speculated that Meredith got some kind of banshee feeling when she touched Lydia, which I am desperately hoping isn't the case, because I don't want any of the now "core-four" (Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Derek) to die. :(
(via teenwolf)
Peter apparently headed straight for the sewers when he left the Sheriff's station, because he's now anxiously pacing around in Kate's hideout while Kate leans casually against the wall and watches him curiously. "You look nervous," Kate states obviously, but Peter argues that he's not nervous-- he's actually RATTLED, which is a state of being that he does not enjoy one bit, thank you very much.
What sounds almost like the Darach/Nemeton theme, with that bass line that I just LOVE, starts to play in the background as Peter continues to pace around, not at all comforted by Kate's pep talk. Why is she so friendly to him, anyway? He KILLED her and turned her into a werejaguar. The way they're talking to each other does nothing to convince me that they haven't slept together at least once-- it seems pretty clear that they have had a thing together at some point. Still, I don't get what Kate gets out of this plan of theirs, aside from Peter supposedly helping her learn control. I have a LOT more to say about this, but I'm going to save it for my next post, which is going to be a kind of Season 4 round-up of what happened and what this means for the next two episodes, so keep your eyes peeled for it! ANYWAY, Kate senses Peter's uneasiness and assumes that he's bailing on their plan, but Peter insists that this isn't the case while he catches drips of water in his hand. "Of course not. Not when I'm this close." Kate smiles an evil little smirk, and Peter adds, "Not when I'm this close to killing Scott McCall," as he quickly forms a fist, squirting all of the water in his hand out into the sewer. NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE.
(via teenwolf)
Next week, according to the promo: Kate captures Scott and sends the berserkers after Kira (and presumably the rest of the pack and any allies who may try to rescue Scott, like Chris); Peter tries to convince Malia to kill Kate; Deaton makes a trip down to Mexico? Maybe?
[screencaps via Screencapped]
NOTES/SPECULATION/QUESTIONS:
-We got a lot of mixed parent/kid interactions this week, and I loved it so much! It's already well known on this blog how much I love the dynamic between Chris and Scott/Melissa and Stiles, but I've also realized just how much I've come to love the friendship/joint-detective-thing that Lydia and Sheriff have going on. Maybe it's because partially because Sheriff knows deep-down that Lydia could possibly be his daughter-in-law someday (I love me some Stalia, and you guys know this, but there's still room in my heart for other pairings, including some Stydia too ;)), or maybe it's partially because Lydia can appreciate the Stilinski intelligence and brainstorming skills, but man, I just love it so much! Can't the pack and pack parents just move into a huge boarding house or something and live happily ever after? I want this so damn badly.
I'm going to save the rest of my notes for a follow-up to this post that creates a timeline for Season 4, as well as a timeline for the deadpool and other meta-like discussions about what has happened so far this season, and what that means for the future. Stay tuned, kids! Until then, tell me what you think about "Monstrous!" What are your predictions for the last two episodes of this season? I want to know what's on your mind. :)
We pick up this week late at night/early in the morning at the high school, after the events of last week's "Perishable." It's pouring down rain, for whatever inexplicable reason, and we have just caught up with Lorilee Rohr, who looks to be about twelve years old maximum, and who is one of the names on the deadpool (with a value of $250,000.) She's being chased through the bus bay, and is so frantic to get the hell away from whoever it is that is chasing her that she turns a corner too quickly and accidentally flings herself right at a chain-link fence. She continues to run as a tall, dark figure growls menacingly behind her, and, as with every horror movie ever, she trips in a puddle and falls on her hands and knees on the ground. Before you start to worry that she's being chased by an angry werewolf, the man behind her reveals himself to be that cute twink lacrosse player rival of Liam's, Brett Talbot, who kindly pulls Lorilee to her feet and yells at her to keep going. The two rush past a gap in the row of buses, which leaves them vulnerable long enough for Brett to be should in the shoulder by an arrow, but Brett is so pumped up on adrenaline that he just pulls it out and continues to encourage Lorilee to keep moving.
He barely avoids getting hit by another arrow as he makes sure Lorilee is still ahead of him, and when he turns around, he sees a black-clothed man with a cross-bow approaching him. Brett pushes him into the chain-link fence, and though the guy does get in a few blows with his cross-bow, Brett uses the pain to flash his yellow beta eyes, and the added werewolf strength eventually allows him to overpower him and push the assassin onto the ground before taking off after his packmate. He sees Lorilee running toward the lacrosse field and yells at her to stop for a moment, but she doesn't hear him, forcing him to take off even faster to catch up. Lorilee runs onto the field, and once Brett finally joins her, the stadium lights immediately start to turn on, one by one, startling them. Brett stands protectively in front of the little girl as they stare into the blinding lights, not seeing the red laser sights behind trained right in between Brett's shoulder blades. Still, Brett senses more men coming after them, and seems resigned to his fate of death. When Lorilee asks what's happening, Brett just tells her to close her eyes, which she does.
Brett braces himself when he hears the arrow being fired, but just as it's about to hit him, a katana comes out of nowhere and slices the arrow in half. YASSSS! MY FLAWLESS THUNDER PRINCESS HAS RETURNED. Kira is soaked by the pouring rain as she slices through the air, stopping more arrows before they hit the two wolves, and she quickly yells at them to run while she holds the assassins off for them. After a moment, the arrows stop coming as the assassins apparently decide that they're not properly armed for this kind of battle, while Kira pants and rides out her adrenaline rush, her rain-soaked hair hanging in her face. I'm not sure why they didn't try harder to kill Kira, considering she's worth more than Brett and Lorilee combined four-fold, but whatever, I want her alive! Plus, I'm just happy to see her back and kicking ass, tbh. TITLE CARD!
(via teenwolf)
After the break, we return to Scott's bedroom, where he is changing into non-gasoline-soaked clothes. He grabs his keys and both of his motorbike helmets before he rushes down the stairs, where Liam is waiting for him, still in his lacrosse jersey. Scott hands him one of his helmets and informs him that he just heard from Kira, who has just found Brett. You can tell he's stressed, because he quickly tells Liam that they've got to go join them and heads straight from the door. "More assassins?" Liam asks, and when Scott replies that yeah, probably a lot of assassins, Liam gets totally overwhelmed. "Different than the ones who just tried to set us on fire?" Scott can hear the fear and anxiety in his beta's voice, and stops right in his tracks . Liam sets the bike helmet on the kitchen table, and the sad, scared look on his face just adds to the reminder to Scott that Liam is just a kid who isn't equipped to handle constantly having his life and the life of his friends threatened on a constant basis. "How about I take you home?" Scott says with a sad smile, as he hands him back his helmet. It's clear by Liam's demeanor that he still has a lot on his mind, though.
"I'm not like you," Liam begins, but Scott assures him that though he isn't yet, he will be, thinking that he's talking about the werewolf thing. That's not exactly what Liam meant, though. "I don't mean I'm not strong," Liam argues weakly. "Or I'm never gonna learn how to be in control. I mean... everything else. You and your friends... you're trying to protect everyone! Have you been doing this the whole time? I mean, how are you all still alive?" OUCH OUCH OUCH, MY HEART. Scott's face falls a little bit, before he replies, "Not all of us are." This does nothing to quell Liam's fears, but sometimes you have to know the truth, right? Scott once again hands Liam his helmet, and insists upon taking Liam home. DOUBLE OUCH. That revelation has got to be extra scary for Liam, and extra painful for Scott-- Erica, Boyd, Allison, Aiden, all of whom were his friends, and all of whom died because of the supernatural, just like any of them could do at any moment, at this point. Erica and Boyd were Derek's betas, and Scott saw what their loss did to him, and now, Scott has his own beta, whom he already cares for a LOT, and with all the assassins running around, everyone is in even more danger than they normally are. And, in Liam's case, he was a totally innocent kid, just like Scott was, who was dragged into this without his consent. Now, he's a beta werewolf who is still struggling with his new nature, and who has an eighteen million dollar price on his head. As if being a teenager weren't hard enough as it is.
(via teenwolf)
And that's what really kills me, I think, because Scott really only has a year over Liam when it comes to werewolf/supernatural experience, which isn't that much in the grand scheme of things. In fact, in a way, Liam almost has it easier than Scott did, because 1) he has an alpha who cares, and 2) Scott has had to learn a lot by doing and trial-and-error and has way more knowledge than he did when he was bitten, so Liam gets to go into it with way more answers. But after everything the pack has been through the last twelve months, Scott ultimately learned to force himself to shove down his fears, grief, stress and exhaustion, compartmentalizing it, like Chris and his dad talked about; instead of dealing with his grief and fear and post-traumatic stress, he tries his best to forget about it in favor of focusing all his attention on the pack's survival. It's not just Scott who has grown to become this way, either-- we see Lydia refusing to leave the Sheriff's department in a little while, despite the fact that she was just nearly killed just hours ago, because she'd rather focus on figuring out how to stop the deadpool, and it's the same with Stiles, who will desperately try to get out of the hospital so he can keep researching/brainstorming, too. Not to mention Derek's insistence on fighting against of hunters who not only outnumber them, but also out-arm them, even though he has none of the enhanced healing, senses, strength, and agility that he used to rely on to stay alive. It may not be something they've done from the very start, but it's something ALL of them have begun to do since the deaths of their friends. They've lost enough already, and they refuse to lose anyone else.
And honestly, I think Liam sees this pretty clearly-- not only is he afraid for his own life, and traumatized from the few fights he's already been involved in, but I think he genuinely feels bad for Scott, because it's clear that Scott puts literally EVERYONE in front of himself, pretends that the constant threats to his life and those he loves don't bother him, and refuses to let himself break down because he has to be strong for everyone else. I don't blame Liam for being scared, or wanting to check out of the life-or-death scenarios. He's fifteen, he should be playing lacrosse and flirting with cute fellow students and watching movies and sneaking drinks from his parent's booze stash, not fighting berserkers and evading assassins. In the end, though, I think Scott's influence is going to push him to fight, too, just like it did for Stiles, and Allison, and Lydia, and Derek, and Malia, and Kira, and even Boyd and Erica, to an extent. I LOVE LIAM AND SCOTT SO MUCH, YOU GUYS, I CAN'T EVEN DEAL. Okay, moving on!
Over at the hospital, Stiles is in the room in which he was admitted after his near-death-experience with Brunsky the previous night, and is fighting to get out the door. Unfortunately, Melissa is on duty, as always, and refuses to let him out of the room, no matter how "fine" Stiles claims to be. "Uh-uh!" Melissa replies loudly. "You completely and totally have a concussion, Stiles, lie back down!" Wait, how many concussions has Stiles had at this point? I feel like it's a lot. Anyway, Stiles isn't having Melissa's overprotectiveness, and tries to duck around her, but she insists that Dr. Gardner said Stiles isn't leaving without a CT scan to make sure he's okay. "We still haven't paid for the last one!" Stiles quips humorlessly as he struggles to get past her, but Melissa isn't someone to be trifled with, so she puts her foot down. "No, no, no, no, no, no! Meredith is at the station. Your dad said it COULD take some time, but he will get her to talk." Stiles just sighs and looks down at the floor, but Melissa adds that even IF she let him go, what would he be able to do, anyway? Defeated, Stiles pouts and flings himself over to his bed. After thinking for a moment, he asks her if she can do him a little favor, to which she replies, "Anything!"
STILES: "Can you get me a tape player?"
MELISSA: [confused] "Like cassettes?"
STILES: [sarcastic] "Yes, TAPES."
MELISSA: [rolls her eyes] "Yeah, I'll see what I can do."
STILES: [calls out to her as she leaves] "'Kay, tapes, though!"
MELISSA: [smiles fakely and nods] "Cassettes!"Ha! That was adorable, actually. I love Stiles and Melissa moments. I wish we had some more Melissa and Scott moments, though, tbh-- there has been too much Scott/ADN interaction and none with him and his mother! It's tragic, really. ANYWAY, once Melissa leaves, Stiles reaches into his backpack and pulls out the tape Brunsky played at Eichen House in the previous episode, which is labelled "Lorraine Martin." I'm still creeped out by the fact that Brunsky audio-taped all his murders, tbh. It just really gives me the jeebs for some reason.
Lydia, still wearing the same clothes that she wore the previous day, is pacing around outside of Sheriff's office until he finally comes out, his right arm in a sling from getting shot in the shoulder by Deputy Dickweed. Lydia wastes no time asking him what Meredith had to say, but Sheriff just sighs exhaustedly and replies, "Hard to tell. There were WORDS... I'm not sure there were actual SENTENCES." Lydia rolls her eyes and determines that they've got nothing, to which Sheriff agrees, before grabbing a phone off of one of the desks in the bullpen and informing her that he thinks they need either a psychologist or a medium to help with getting her to talk. I read this awesome serialized fic series once where Coach Finstock was a powerful medium who mistakenly believed he was just some low-level psychic, and it kind of made me wish that Sheriff had called Coach up for some hilariously outrageous assistance. Then again, given how unsympathetically Coach dealt with Meredith's presence in "Insatiable," it's probably a good thing that he didn't, to be honest.
Anyway, Lydia asks if Meredith is even competent enough to be charged with a crime, and Sheriff, who seems to be genuinely pissed that assassins are coming after his kids (I have decided that Sheriff, Melissa and Chris have all essentially adopted the McCall Pack, even Derek, which makes them all their kids whether they're related or not.) gives us a damn fine summation of just how clever Meredith really is. "If Meredith is the Benefactor, then that means she was competent enough to trick Kate into opening the Hale vault, competent to blackmail Brunski into helping her, competent enough to create a hit list AND pay out money for it's completion. This girl is practically a criminal mastermind." Lydia frowns as she and Sheriff turn to look at Meredith through the office window, where she is sitting silently and clearly eavesdropping on their conversation.
Lydia insists that there HAS to be a reason why Meredith would go through all of this trouble just to kill off all the supernaturals in Beacon Hills, but Sheriff points out that he really gives no fucks about "why" she did it unless it tells them how to stop it-- Meredith is in custody, and Brunski is dead, but Scott, Malia and Liam still almost got killed last night, which means that the payments are likely being sent out automatically. I still don't understand how the computer aspect of the deadpool works, and I'm guessing we're not supposed to-- all that matters is that it's all automated to the point that it basically runs itself. And, as Sheriff points out, as long as the assassins are still being paid richly for their kills, they're going to keep pouring into town until every single person on that list is dead. "We don't just need to stop the deadpool..." Lydia realizes aloud. "...We need to stop the money," Sheriff finishes for her. Dun dun dun!
Scott, after having presumably taken Liam home, rushes into Deaton's animal clinic, where Kira leaps toward him so she can hug and kiss him after being separated for a couple days while Kira stayed with her mom in the hospital in Palo Alto. After a moment, the two break away, allowing Scott to make sure that everything with her mother is okay, but Kira assures him that she's healing and doing well. Scott, clearly still feeling bad about all the trauma Liam is struggling with, asks Kira if SHE is okay, but Kira just smiles and replies, "Right now? Very." The two kiss a little bit longer, and when they pull away again, Scott gets down to business. "Did you find him? Did you find Brett?" Kira clarifies that actually, she thinks she found ALL of them, and leads him into the back room, where Lorilee, Brett, and Satomi are standing around the exam table.
Kira informs Satomi that Scott is the person she was telling her about, but Satomi just smiles weakly and replies, "I know who Scott McCall is." How trippy must it be for Satomi to be around Kira when she is literally a carbon copy of Noshiko when they were in Oak Creek together? That would be surreal for sure! Also, I really want Satomi to be an alpha mentor to Scott or something, he could use some good alpha role models. Anyway, Scott seems surprised that she would know who he is, but Lorilee interrupts and asks them if they're safe there. That's when Scott looks around the room to find that there are actually seven or eight total members of Satomi's pack who survived the virus, including Satomi, Brett, and Lorilee, all of whom look like they've been through hell. Alarmed, Scott turns back to Kira and insists that they're going to need a LOT of assistance to help protect both their pack and Satomi's, and Kira nods in agreement. I'm just glad that Satomi still has a pretty large pack, despite everything! There must have literally been a couple dozen people in it before they got hit with the virus.
The scene cuts to a warehouse, where a man in tight jeans and boots knocks down a guard and throws him through the door he's guarding. As the camera pans up, we see that the man is actually none other than Chris Argent, who has an assault rifle in his hands and is slowly slinking into the warehouse. When the guard manages to pull himself to his feet and lunge after Chris, Chris doesn't even take the time to turn around-- he just slams the butt of his rifle into the guy's face and knocks him out cold. While Chris takes a look around, it becomes clear pretty quickly that the place he's is raiding is some kind of hydroponic farm where someone is growing several different varieties of wolfsbane. Why can't anyone in this town grow normal plants, like marijuana or something? Maybe then nobody would be in bad financial straits, because the drug business is recession-proof. ANYWAY , so at first, I thought this was Argent Arms, and maybe it was their own growhouse, but if that's the case, then why would Chris need to knock out the guards? So, now I'm wondering if maybe this isn't where the assassins (specifically the Orphans and the Mute) obtained the wolfsbane they used on their weapons. At the end of the aisle of plants, Chris finds a single (albeit large) yellow wolfsbane plant sitting in a clear glass pot in the middle of the room, the same species that Violet put on Garrett's blade that had neurotoxic effects on both Garrett and Liam. Chris glares at the plant, which makes me both curious and suspicious as to why he ultimately ends up taking it. What are you up to, Chris?
After the break, we return to the Sheriff's Department, where Lydia is dozing outside of Sheriff's office. She quickly awakens when she hears Sheriff come out the door and sit beside her on the bench. "I thought I told you to go home," Sheriff says with a tired sigh, but Lydia just retorts, "I thought I told YOU I wasn't going anywhere!" which a cute smile, which seems to mildly amuse him. She peeks at Meredith through the glass and asks if the psychologist managed to get anything out of her, but Sheriff drolly replies that he should have gone with the medium instead. Thankfully, Parrish chooses that moment to grace them with his presence, although he doesn't have much to report, either.
"We went through everything in Brunski's office," Jordan admits, as Sheriff and Lydia stand to greet him. "And so far, everything amounts to pretty much nothing." He realizes that Lydia is still in the same clothes she was wearing when he rescued her at Eichen House, and adds, "Did you not go home yet?" because he LOOOOVES Lydia, you guys. Lydia insists that she's not leaving until Meredith starts to talk, but Sheriff tries to talk her into going back home and getting some rest until they manage to get something useful out of her. Lydia rolls her eyes and demands that Sheriff let her talk to Meredith, but Sheriff isn't having it, as you can imagine. "No! We've already discussed this," Sheriff declares in frustration, but Jordan, on the other hand, seems pretty partial to the idea, in lieu of better options. "I've gotten through to her before!" Lydia argues. "Just let me try!" Since no man can resist Lydia when she really wants something, Sheriff just sighs in defeat, all, "What the hell."
Over at Beacon Memorial, Melissa knocks on the door of Stiles' room, and he turns from where he's sitting to greet her and ask if she managed to track down a tape player. Unfortunately, she didn't, but she DID find someone who has been looking for Stiles. When she steps out of the doorway, Malia awkwardly steps into the room, and Stiles looks SO happy to see her that Melissa just smiles a cute little smile and shuts the door behind her as she leaves. Stiles greets her with a nervous, "Hey..." before the two just stare at each other for a long moment, neither knowing what exactly to say. "I heard you almost got killed," Malia blurts out, as if to downplay just how much she wanted to see him, but Stiles just retorts that he also heard that SHE almost got killed, as well. Malia ignores him and asks him if he's okay, but Stiles just shrugs it off. "Yeah, Brunski punched me in the face," he replies in a detached voice. "Turns out he was a serial killer." Malia doesn't seem at all surprised by this news, since she's probably been tased/held down/dosed with Haldol by him more times than she could count while she was in Eichen House, and simply says that it makes a lot of sense. When Stiles asks about her experience the previous night, Malia sighs, and informs him that she, Liam, and Scott almost got set on fire, which shocks Stiles so much that he immediately cuts her off and asks her if everyone is okay. "Basically," Malia answers in a detached voice. Stiles then asks her if SHE is okay, but she insists that she's fine, and after another awkward silence, she states that she should probably go.
Disappointed, Stiles responds that she doesn't have to, if she doesn't want to, but she insists that she should probably go, and grabs the doorknob to let herself out. Unfortunately for her, the door is locked, so neither of them are able to leave. Stiles, confused, asks why Melissa would lock the door, and strides over so he can try to open it himself, despite the fact that Malia is (supposed to be) much stronger than he is. "Uhh, hey, Melissa?" Stiles calls out from inside his locked room, but no one seems to be listening to him. Malia offers to break the lock, but Stiles is just like, "How about you not? I already owe this hospital enough money, so..." Malia doesn't understand why Melissa would lock them in a room together, either, but Stiles defends Melissa and suggests that it was just an accident, which leads into a seriously adorable conversation that is both about Melissa and also about Stiles and his major screw-up with regards to Peter and Malia's biological connections.
MALIA: "You don't just accidentally lock a door!"
STILES: "Okay, well, maybe she wasn't thinking, exactly! Or, wasn't thinking it through! You know, people sometimes do things without thinking them through!"
MALIA: [frowns in confusion] "Then she's stupid."
STILES: [indignant] "No! Even smart people can do stupid things! You know? Because they think that they're doing the right thing. And, I don't think we should hold it against her, you know, for the rest of her life! Especially because... she's tried apologizing! Hundreds of times, through texts and voicemails!"
Eliza Hull's "Echoes" starts to play in the background as Malia considers Stiles' words. She takes a step toward him and asks him if "Melissa" is going to keep begging, to which Stiles responds that she might, while he steps closer to her, too. "I don't have much practice in things like forgiveness," Malia admits carefully. "Some things I'm picking up fast, but other things are like..." "... like math?" Stiles finishes for her, to which Malia just growls that she hates math. Stiles slides even closer to her and stares her in the eyes as he asks, "Do you hate me?" Malia sighs, clearly hating this whole talking-about-your-feelings-thing, and confesses, "I LIKE you, Stiles. I like you a lot!" Stiles is THRILLED by this answer, as you can imagine, and smirks before insisting that he can work with that, and they both lunge for each other and start making out, which is super hot and adorable, as usual, because Dylan O'Brien is a professional kisser, you guys. He wraps his arms around Malia's waist and pulls her close to him while they continue to make out for a few long moments. Suddenly, the door pops open, though Melissa is nowhere to be found, and the sound of the lock clicking startles them out of their embrace.
(via teenwolf)
So, the major question in the fandom right now seems to be, did Melissa lock and unlock the door? Or did Stiles? There is a theory that is being analyzed to pieces on Tumblr that Stiles is not actually human (or, at least not TOTALLY human), and that he actually has some kind of magical powers that are starting to manifest themselves; in this case, he wanted to talk to Malia and make up with her, so he somehow used his powers to lock the door until that happened. No one seems to have nailed down for sure whether Stiles was never fully human to begin with, or if this is a side effect from the nogitsune's possession, getting a new body, and the nogitsune being bitten by Scott while the nogitsune and Stiles were still sort of connected. The major points that are being made is that Stiles has done some extraordinary things for a human, including: turning a handful of mountain ash into enough to finish his boundary line in "Raving;" super-strength (holding Malia back while she was unrestrained in "The Benefactor," breaking out of handcuffs while he was possessed in "Echo House" and "De-Void," and somehow breaking one arm out of his restraints in "Perishable"); and generally being able to *believe* things into actually happen.
People are also arguing that Stiles was more strongly affected by the virus in "Weaponized" than the rest of the human students, as he was getting worse when everyone else started to get better, suggesting that he was something different than the werecanids but not completely human. Part of me really likes this idea, because I have always wanted Stiles to be turned into a werewolf, mostly so he could protect himself, so having other powers that could help/strengthen the pack is a-okay to me. On the other hand, I feel like it's way too late in the season for this kind of thing to come into play yet, so if it IS true, I doubt we'll get any build on it anytime soon. Season 5 is going to be twenty episodes, as opposed to twelve, so maybe that'll be a good time to dig in! What do you guys think?
Chris has arrived at Argent Arms, where he's slowly walking through the warehouse, which is still trashed from his and Scott's fight against Kate and the berserkers in "Orphaned." He finally makes it over to one of the major support columns, in which a safe has been built inside. He sets down his duffel bag and his assault rifle so he can use a key and a four-digit code to open the safe. Chris then reaches into the duffel and pulls out the super-rare yellow wolfsbane plant that he stole from the wolfsbane grow-house, which he places inside the safe. OKAY, so did he take the wolfsbane to protect the pack from having it be used against them? It's pretty safe to say that at least some of the assassins were using it, so that would make sense. OR, is he keeping hold of it because he plans to use it himself if he has to? There's still Kate to worry about, and maybe even Peter-- I don't know how much of Stiles' suspicions about Peter Chris has been told about, but I figure Chris and Peter have had some unfinished business for quite a long while, so I would not be at all surprised if he was keeping hold of it in case of emergencies. Who knows! Either way, I'm excited to see what happens with that, seems like it's going to be pretty important here soon!
Anyway, Chris notices a set of wet footprints on the floor leading away from him, and immediately picks up his rifle to investigate. He slowly follows the set of footprints toward one of the plastic-curtained walls, where he sees a shadowy figure heading toward him. After a long, tense moment, Chris is startled when Satomi's steel spike rushes toward him, and is barely able to drop his rifle and hop out of the way before it embeds itself in the support column. Just as he pulls out his trusty 58-E Desert Eagle, Brett lunges toward him, fangs out and growling ferociously. Thankfully, Scott rushes over to them and shouts, "WAIT! Wait! Brett! This is his place, it's HIS!" until Brett finally gives Chris a sheepish look and stands down. Kira, Satomi, and the rest of the pack follow Scott out, and Chris, looking a little annoyed, puts his gun down and points out that if Scott was bringing company with him, he could have called and let him know so he wouldn't accidentally shoot someone. "I-I didn't have anywhere else to take them," Scott admits, clearly feeling the pressure of keeping all of these people alive, just like he promised Chris and Deaton back in "Orphaned." Chris takes a look around at the rest of Satomi's pack, and Satomi (who still has a healing--but still painful looking--gas on her cheek) points out that she knows Chris, because they've met before.
Scott insists that they can trust him, because HE trusts them, but Satomi isn't convinced. "How do we know he's not like the others?" she asks quietly. This piques Chris' interest, and he asks them who they're talking about. Kira informs him that there was a whole group of them, all of whom were wielding cross-bows, who went after Satomi's pack the previous evening. She then hands him one of the arrows she snagged after they took off, which has what looks like either a bat or some kind of bird in flight engraved in the arrowhead, just like the fleur-de-lis and skull the Argents and the Calaveras use on their bullets and arrowheads. New hunter family that will probably be introduced properly next season, I'm guessing? Scott correctly assumes that they're hunters, but Chris insists that if they're killing for profit, they are most certainly NOT hunters, at least not anymore. Brett is still very tense, and asks Chris if the hunters can find them. "They might already know you're here," Chris admits carefully. "Maybe they're waiting for dark." Kira determines that they're not safe there, but Satomi reminds them that they're really not safe ANYWHERE. "We've been trying to get out for days," Satomi confesses, giving Chris a look as she does so. "Everywhere we turn, we find someone new trying to kill us." Chris approaches Scott and quietly reminds them that if these hunters are coming, they'll be coming after him, too, since he's still the most valuable person on the list, but Scott is well aware. "I know. I know Lydia can get the answer from Meredith, she just needs more time." AGH, MY SCOTT/LYDIA FEELS, I LOVE THEM AS FRIENDS SO MUCH. "Well, then that's what she'll get," Chris replies, because Allison believed in Lydia as much as Scott does, if not more, which means that Chris believes in her, too.
Stiles has finally been released from the hospital (or, more likely, Malia helped sneak him out, because I don't think he would have had time to have a CT scan unless Stiles had it between when he asked Melissa for the tape player and when Malia showed up), and he and Malia headed straight for his house, where they dug up a tape player and started to listen to Brunski's "Lorraine Martin" tape. The part that they are listening to is a conversation that Brunski had with Lorraine some amount of time before he killed her. Brunski tells her that she has to go, but Lorraine begs him to listen to her. "Please, listen. There's something I have to do. Something I have to stop." Brunski insists that he has to take her back to Eichen, but Lorraine is not going to take his abusive shit lying down. "No, I don't think you're going to be taking me anywhere," she replies, as Malia and Stiles turn up the volume and listen intently. "I can hear the recorder in your pocket. It's on now, isn't it? You're making a tape, just like you taped the others." CREEPY, BRUNSKI. Also, banshee hearing skills for the win, amirite? Stiles stops the tape, and points out that their exchange couldn't have happened at Eichen House, since Brunski kept insisting that he had to take her back. (Seems like the security at that place has always been bad, because literally EVERYONE seems to have escaped at some point, good lord.) Malia asks him where on earth she could have gone, then, but Stiles assumes that is what they need to figure out.
Over at the Sheriff's office, Sheriff and Jordan are both sitting stone-faced across from Meredith on the couch, while Lydia paces around the office as she tries to piece together all the bits of information she's learned over the last few weeks. "I think I'm getting an idea of how all this happened," Lydia begins. "You used Brunski, right? You knew he'd killed people, and that he would do it again." Sheriff and Jordan watch Lydia curiously as she quietly walks over to Meredith and sits next to her on the couch, her demeanor much more friendly and kind than she has been in the past. It's almost like she somehow understands Meredith now, and knows what she needs to do to make her comfortable enough to give them the answers they need. "He used my grandmother's code for the deadpool," Lydia continues. "He put it online. He took the money from the Hale vault, then turned the bearer bonds into cash. He made the payments."
Meredith stares at Lydia, almost in awe, as she watches her figure out everything she's been doing for the last ten or so years. "Was it Brunski's idea to fake your death? Did he get nervous because you helped us with the second cipher key?" Meredith shoe-gazes sheepishly and admits that she just wanted to help, and the boys are immediately shocked that Lydia managed to get her to talk after all. "All you've ever wanted to do was help," Lydia responds sympathetically, to which Meredith nods in agreement with a small smile. "Is that why you're here? I know you wouldn't want to be here if you didn't want to talk," Lydia gently presses on, desperate to get the answers that they need. After a moment, Meredith admits that yes, she does want to talk, but only to one person. Who is that person, we all ask? "Peter," Meredith whispers, as Sheriff and Lydia's eyes bug out of their heads. "Peter Hale." OF FUCKING COURSE HE'S INVOLVED. Peter Hale (and Gerard Argent) are basically at fault for 100% of bad things that have happened in Beacon Hills, if you go back far enough.
Stiles and Malia have listened to the tape probably a dozen times in the time since we saw them last, and when we return to them after the break, Stiles is rewinding the tape on Malia's orders. He presses play, and the two listen a little while longer, until they pass the part where Lorraine tells Brunski she's not going anywhere. Malia then recognizes a background noise, and instructs Stiles to play it again and turn up the volume. Malia listens intently as Lorraine brings up the recorder in Brunsky's pocket, and then she hears a very familiar "wub-wub-wub" sound. "It's the record player!" Malia exclaims suddenly, but Stiles never spent any time in Lydia's study while he was at the lake house, so she has no idea what she's talking about until she explains it to him. "So, she escaped from Eichen House to go back to listen to a record player?" Stiles asks in confusion, but Malia reminds him that Lorraine was a banshee, just like Lydia. Stiles points out that Lorraine only ever predicted one death that he knows of, Maddy's, and then after that she spent the rest of her life trying to figure out what she was and how to use her powers.
Malia considers this new information, and suddenly gets a dawning revelation that is usually reserved for Stiles. "Maybe she finally did!" Malia blurts out excitedly. "And, what if this time, it wasn't just one death, it was a lot of deaths?" Stiles immediately picks up what she's putting down, and suggests she could have predicted the deadpool (I'm not sure if he's talking about the list that Lorraine left in a message for Lydia, or the new deadpool-- I'm going to guess the former, though.) "What if all those years ago, Lorraine predicted it," Malia continues. "What if she knew that there was something in the study that could stop it?" Stiles instantly grabs his keys and informs Malia that they're totally leaving for the lake house. WOOO! Go Malia! I don't want to hear anyone saying that she's useless, because that was some seriously amazing detective work on her part.
Back at Argent Arms, Chris has his assault rifle still in hand while he sets up motion sensors around the building to alert them to anyone trying to get in the warehouse. Scott is checking up on the group to make sure that everyone is settled, and gives a warm smile to Kira, who has her katana clutched in her hands. At some point, Derek and Braeden joined them, and Derek has a short discussion with Satomi before he leaves to update Scott on what's up. Scott immediately insists that they're going to be okay (almost as though he's trying to will them to be okay, for everyone's sake), but Derek points out that while they all (with the exception of Lorilee) have claws and fangs, but they're a non-violent, Buddhist pack, so they're hardly fighters. "That's why I called you," Scott replies, but Derek can't help but be a little pessimistic. "Well, try to remember that I don't have claws and fangs anymore, either," he retorts, but Braeden just smirks, shotgun in hand, and adds, "That's why he called me!" God, I love Derek and Braeden together SO MUCH. I hope they last!
"Am I the only one still hoping this is all just a false alarm? I mean, it's possible that we could wait here all night and nothing happens, right?" Kira asks hopefully, but judging by the way everyone else looks at her, no one else is that optimistic, because when does anything ever go the way they want it to go? Braeden asks Scott if Stiles or Lydia have talked to him recently, but all Scott has to report is that Lydia is still trying to get answers from Meredith, and Stiles and Malia are headed for the lake house to investigate. His point is that all three of them are trying to stop the deadpool for good, but Brett, who has been eavesdropping from across the room, calls out, "What if there is no stopping it? What if it doesn't end until we're all dead?" They all stop to think about this possibility for a moment, before Derek decides that it's time for one of his patented pep-talks to get them all ready to fight back if things go sideways tonight. "Then let's send a message!" Derek replies confidently, as Scott and the rest of the gang turns to stare at him curiously. "Let's make tonight PERFECTLY CLEAR to anyone with a copy of that list. It doesn't matter if they're professional assassins, hunters, or an amateur who just picked up a gun. ANYONE who thinks they can hunt and kill us for money is gonna be put on another list-- OUR list. They get to be a name on OUR deadpool." Everyone just stares at him in awe, except for Braeden, who just pumps her shotgun with one hand in confirmation. YAS DEREK! I have never been more attracted to you than I am RIGHT NOW.
(via teenwolf)
Back at the Sheriff's Department, Lydia, Peter, and Sheriff are in the observation room, where they're staring Meredith, sitting alone in the interrogation room with only Jordan there to keep her company/make sure she doesn't try to make a run for it. "Her?" Peter asks skeptically. "THAT'S the girl who stole my money?" Lydia reminds him that that girl is a banshee, and insists that they're more dangerous than he thinks. Hell yes, they are! I hope that is some foreshadowing that Lydia will kill Peter, although as long as he dies, I don't really care who does it. Lydia, Scott, or Derek would be preferable, though. ANYWAY, Peter just snarks that Meredith's "pilot light" went out a long time ago, before turning to the Sheriff and adding, "Not to question the unquestionably sterling reputation of your department, but are you absolutely SURE you got the one?" Sheriff, who is not fond of Peter, for good reason, just snaps at him to go in there and listen to what Meredith has to say to him.
We cut to inside the interrogation room, where Peter has reluctantly agreed to have a little chat with Meredith. He sits across from her at the table and sighs before mustering up every tiny piece of patience he has in him. "Okayyyy, Meredith. Where's my money?" Meredith just gapes at him, puzzled, so Peter adds, "Or, more correctly, what's left of it." Meredith is still so shocked that all she can do is stare, though she does eventually raise a hand to touch Peter's cheek. Peter does NOT like being touched, though, especially by socially awkward banshees who have robbed him of his inheritance money, so he quickly snaps his hand up so he can grip her wrist tightly and pull it away from him. Jordan reaches for his side-arm and orders Peter to let go of her, though he doesn't-- he just pulls her wrist down and sets it on the table before finally freeing her of his grasp. "Why did you do that?" Peter asks quietly, not meeting her eyes as he tries to repress all of the pesky emotions that her touch seems to have brought up. Meredith's eyes are still bugging out of her head when she mutters, "They're all gone!" Lydia and Sheriff, who have been watching and listening to them intently this entire time, are stunned by this interaction, and Lydia quickly realizes that Meredith and Peter had actually met before after all. "The burns!" Meredith continues. "They're all gone!" Peter's eyes widen in alarm when he realizes that once again that he's missing some memories.
Across town at Argent Arms, the Ito and McCall packs (plus Chris and Braeden) are anxiously waiting around the abandoned warehouse for whatever disaster awaits them this evening. Chris is pacing around with his rifle when Satomi quietly joins him, and the two have a very interesting and enlightening conversation. "I remember meeting you," Chris admits softly. "But you weren't a Buddhist back then." Satomi stands her ground, and replies, "And you weren't protecting werewolves. You were hunting them." Instead of responding to that little dig, Chris brings up the Buddhist mantra we've already heard several times this season. "Three things cannot be long hidden; the sun, the moon, the truth." He asks her what that means, so she tells him that it means the truth always comes out eventually. What he meant, though, was what the quote meant to HER, so she gets real with him. "The truth for me is that we-- my kind-- are violent creatures, who eventually will not be able to control our violent impulses. The mantra helps us subdue our nature."
Chris still seems to be struggling a little to reconcile his new Code with his old one-- it's one thing to help the werewolves in Scott's pack, because they aren't killers, they're protectors. Clearly, Satomi's pack is not violent, but Satomi most definitely has a past when it comes to being out of control as a werewolf, so I think it's a lot harder for him to trust them. So, Chris reminds her that werewolves are still violent creatures, but Satomi won't let him get all high-and-mighty on her. "Aren't we all?" Remember when Derek had the nogitsune-fly in him, and he asked Chris how many werewolves/supernaturals he killed? Chris never answered, but I'm sure it's a pretty large number. He may have stuck to the Code, but I'm sure many of those werewolves weren't intending to kill. Werewolves as a whole may have spilled innocent blood, but the hunters' hands aren't exactly clean in this, either. ANYWAY, their discussion is interrupted when one of the motion sensors starts beeping loudly, alerting them to the presence of company in the warehouse. "They're coming," Chris growls, as he strides purposely across the room. BAMF!Chris is my favorite, tbh.
"Meredith, you put EVERYONE, including my nephew AND my daughter on a death list!" Peter rants loudly in the interrogation room. "Don't you think you owe us the slightest explanation as to WHY?" Oh, please, Peter! Like any of us believe that you give one iota of a shit about Derek or Malia outside of what they can offer you in terms of help! I'm not buying it. Meredith just goes quiet for a moment before whispering, "But you said it had to be kept secret!" Peter can barely contain his snark as he shoots Meredith the most hilarious side-eye, before reminding her that's impossible, because, as he's stated before, they've never met before now. Inside observation, Lydia is frowning in confusion as she asks Sheriff what the fuck Peter thinks he's doing. Back in interrogation, Meredith realizes that Peter doesn't remember, and Peter's eyes go dead as he replies, "No. But, maybe you do." He quickly rises to his feet, pushes the table across the room, throws an incoming Jordan against the wall to keep him from interfering, and then wraps one clawed hand around Meredith's neck. Lydia realizes what Peter is about to do one second too late, because by the time she runs into the room and screeches "NO!" Peter has jammed his claws into the back of Meredith's neck so he can see her memories. OH SHIT, FLASHBACK TIME.
... but not quite yet. Back at Argent Arms, two smoke grenades are thrown into the main room, so Braeden instantly orders everyone to get back. Once the smoke grenades ignite, Satomi's pack flees for the back rooms, while Kira and Scott dive across the floor, just barely missing rapid gunfire from outside. Chris and Satomi duck behind a support column for cover before Chris peeks out from around it and begins returning fire. That's when we get a good look at the night's assassins, who seriously look like a black ops combat team. They're all decked out in head-to-toe black ballistics armor, helmets (with cameras built on top for visual confirmation of kills) and night-vision goggles. Their assault weapons all have the same laser sights that the hunters with the cross-bows had the previous evening, and they're shooting indiscriminately at everyone inside the building. DAMN! Chris' eyes are FURIOUS as he continues to shoot back, while Derek and Braeden dive behind a wall to protect them from the gunfire before also returning fire with their own weapons. I cannot believe that Derek is actually fighting in this ridiculously outmatched fight when he doesn't have healing abilities! He is currently both the most loyal and also the most passively suicidal member of this pack, goddammnnnnn.
We cut back to the Sheriff's department, where both Sheriff and Jordan have their own service weapons aimed at Peter's head. Lydia screams at them not to break the connection, because doing so without any knowledge of how to do it could kill both Meredith AND Peter. Jordan asks her what the fuck they're supposed to do, then, but Lydia honestly has no idea. Peter and Meredith are both completely silent, their eyes closed in concentration, as Sheriff, Lydia, and Parrish watch helplessly. After a moment, the men lower their weapons, but Jordan, who is already overwhelmed by all the supernatural stuff he's witnessed in the last two episodes, asks her what the hell Peter's doing to Meredith.
Before Lydia can answer, Meredith gasps slowly and opens her eyes. We flash back to Meredith at Lorraine's lake house, right when the record player causes Meredith's ears to start to bleed as she begins to have a seizure. She's then strapped to a stretcher and wheeled into the emergency room for treatment. Later, she's put into a long-term treatment ward, and we get a quick look at her file, where we get some sort of useful information, though as usual, the prop people seem to have fucked up. It says Meredith was admitted on December 10, 2009 when she was sixteen years old, which would make her about nineteen years old now in present TW universe time. However, it also says that her birthday is November 23, 1998, which would make her fourteen? Ugh. It also says her chief medical complaint is acute insomnia, for whatever reason.
ANYWAY, in this flashback, Dr. Gardner is doing rounds with his interns or something, and explains that Meredith has been non-responsive for weeks, though there are no signs of physical trauma, nor any response to external stimuli (lights in the eyes, needle sticks, etc.) He says it's likely that her condition is likely a result of psychological trauma. In the present day, Sheriff, Lydia, and Jordan just stare at Meredith in shock, not sure what to do, until Meredith starts whispering quietly under her breath. Sheriff can't discern what she's trying to say, and apparently neither can Jordan. Still, he's a clever guy who is especially intrigued by Lydia, so naturally, he remembers that Lydia has super-sonic hearing and asks her if she can understand what she's saying. "I can," Lydia replies quietly. "I can hear perfectly." She listens for another moment or so, and then starts to translate what Meredith is really saying-- it's basically a narration of everything that Peter is seeing in Meredith's memories.
"She was in the hospital," Lydia begins. "The same hospital." Jordan missed out on all the Peter drama, as you know, so he asks with whom she was in the hospital. "Peter," Lydia replies, as we flash back to the long-term care ward where Meredith was being treated after her incident at the lake house. We see Dr. Gardner and his interns moving on to the next bed, where a still very-burned Peter is laying quietly on his bed with his eyes closed. "Here, we have a rather extraordinary case," Dr. Gardner explains to his fellow doctors, as he gestures toward Peter. We get a brief look at his file, too, and manage to get a little bit of information on him as well. There's no admittance date, because that would be too easy, apparently, but it does say he was 38 years old in 2009, which makes him 41 in the present day, which seems to make sense, since that's about the same age as Chris, I think? Maybe give or take a couple years. As expected his chief medical complaint is "4th degree burns," and in the notes, it says, "Patient suffered 4th degree burns into muscle, tendon, bone throughout body. In self-induced coma. No responding to external stimulation." YIKES! I mean, we always knew this, but it just seems way more painful and serious when it's written out like that, you know?"
"A near-fatal burn victim. The interesting part is that typically in a situation like this, the coma is induced medically, as the pain can often be too much for the patient to bear. We're not sure HOW Mr. Hale became comatose, however. His survival is honestly a mystery we're still trying to solve," Dr. Gardner explains to his interns, as Peter's eyes move rapidly underneath his closed eyelids. The doctors file out of the room, leaving Meredith and Peter to rest in their respective beds. In the present day, Lydia translates the banshee whispers for Sheriff and Jordan. "It was right after the fire*," Lydia summarizes. "Meredith could hear him!" Sheriff is understandably confused as to what she means, so Lydia clarifies that she could hear EVERYTHING that Peter was thinking. We flashback to the hospital ward, where Meredith is laying frozen in bed, her eyes open and widened in fear, as Lydia continues her story through voiceover. "She could hear every thought in his head. Like they'd somehow found the same wavelength. And now everything going through his mind was going RIGHT into hers." Sheriff is horrified, naturally, because who the fuck wants to hear everything in Peter's fucked up brain, and asks how long this went on, but Lydia isn't positive, though she figures it was at least weeks, if not months.
*Wait, wasn't the fire in 2003 or 2004? I don't exactly think that five years is considered "right after the fire," but maybe all this confusion is my own fault for expecting Jeff Davis to actually keep a legit timeline on his show.
We flash back to the ward again, where Meredith is still frozen on her back in her bed, and only able to move her head so she could frantically look around the room. Lydia, in voiceover, describes the sensation as being as though Peter were hovering over Meredith's bed and whispering all of his thoughts about the fire into her ear. And man, Peter had a LOT to say, in the most rambling, terrifying fashion, often repeating himself over and over. In flashback we see Peter's form (probably an illusion in her mind, much like he did the same to Lydia back in season 2) slowly crawling over to Meredith's bed to talk to her.
PETER: [flashback] "I predicted this. I told Talia, I told her this was going to happen-- something like this was going to happen. I said that they were gonna come for us-- 'The Argents, they're gonna come for us. They're gonna burn us to the ground! (They're gonna burn us to the ground!)' Did she listen? Of course not! [leans close to Meredith's face] Did ANYONE listen? They listened to her. Yes! She said that everything was going to be fine, that we were all perfectly safe. ('Our family's safe!') But, she made us WEAK! (She made us weak.) And what happens to the weakest in the herd? (They get picked off!) They get picked off by the predators! WE used to be the apex predators! Until Talia turned us into SHEEP. But, I'll start over. (Talia turned us into SHEEP.) Like a vengeful god, I will RAZE THIS EARTH TO THE GROUND. (Raze this earth!) I will take out ALL OF THEM! Not just the wolves! The wendigos, the banshees, every shapeshifter... I will obliterate the weak! And I will remake the supernatural of Beacon Hills in my image! I won't have to do any of it myself! Because I'll hire people. Assassins, professional killers. [sneers in disgust] People like the Mute, the Chemist, even... [groans in distaste] someone like the Desert Wolf. I'll use the money in the vault! The bearer bonds, I'll use every penny, if I have to! I'll start with the professionals, and then maybe I'll disseminate the list further. No--no, not a list! A DEADPOOL. Eventually, everyone will want a chance. Anyone can become a killer for the right price, because when it comes down to it, EVERYONE can be CORRUPTED BY MONEY!"
(via teenwolf)
DAMMMMMMMMN, so Peter is even more psychotic than I ever expected. Just, WOW. Also, Ian Bohen deserves some major credit for this scene (and this episode in general, really-- his non-flashback scenes all have some awesome dialogue and funny jokes, too) because he really got just how desperate with rage and grief and pain and vengeance he was. ANYWAY, in the present day, Peter finally has seen all he needs to see, and weakly pulls his claws out of Meredith's spine before he collapses to the floor. It seems to have taken just as much out of Meredith, too, because she can barely hold herself up, and Jordan ultimately has to grab her so she doesn't crack her head on the linoleum. I had forgotten just how out-of-it doing that memory-share thing makes both parties, yikes! Anyway, Sheriff, having heard everything that Peter saw through Lydia's translation, pulls his gun on Peter and aims it right for his head. YAS SHERIFF! Show him who's boss! "It was your idea, and you don't even remember!" Lydia snaps at him, and Peter has absolutely nothing to say for himself, so he just sighs as he slumps against the wall, still weakened from the ritual.
Meanwhile, Stiles and Malia have made it to the lake house, where they have been listening to the record player in the study for god knows how long. The two listen to the wub-wub-wub noises on the blank record, as Malia focuses her hearing in hopes that she can get SOMETHING from it. Stiles, on the other hand, is visibly anxious, and after fidgeting nervously for a moment or two, he eventually loses his patience. "What are doing in this room? It wasn't even made for us! You know? We need someone like Lydia, or Meredith. I mean, we're just sitting here, listening to a stupid record player that plays a record that doesn't even play anything!" Oh, Stiles, you poor, tightly-wound-up soul. He finally flips the record player off and insists that they leave, because according to him, there are plenty of other things they can do that are equally useless to their current life-or-death situation. He's about to head out the door when Malia stops and frowns in confusion. After a moment, she calls out to Stiles, and informs him that she can still hear it. Stiles points out that the record player isn't even on, so Malia figures it must be something else, since she can still clearly hear spinning.
Puzzled, Stiles starts looking around the general area of the record player in hopes of uncovering anything unusual. Behind the table is a black cable that runs through the wall, which must seem suspicious to Stiles somehow, because he immediately moves the table so he can examine it further. He looks over at Malia, who is just as puzzled as he is, so, not knowing what else to do, Stiles yanks on the cord, which is attached to something inside the wall. Apparently, the pack just haven't destroyed the lake house quite enough during the two full moons they spent there (claw marks on the walls, broken windows in the boat house, spilled and stolen wine from Natalie's stash), because Stiles decides to continue to tug on the cord, which cuts through the drywall like a knife through butter. Knocking out walls is kind of Stiles and Malia's thing, isn't it? Once they make that long cut through the wall, the two are easily able to tear the wall down with their hands, revealing those huge, old-fashioned, 1970's-era computers from the flashbacks of Lorraine from last week's episode! Malia is still confused, since she didn't hear any of the story from Lydia, and asks what the machines are. Stiles is just staring at the computers in shock, though, and replies, "The deadpool."
HOLY SHIT. I was NOT expecting this-- it seemed obvious enough that Lorraine had written the code, but I didn't even consider that the code somehow automated the entire deadpool process, from sending out the lists (first to professional assassins, then hunters, and then anyone who could benefit from the extra cash) to sending out the payments and confirming the kills. THIS IS SO BANANAS. I still feel terrible about all the damage to the lake house, though-- didn't Lydia say that they needed every penny they could get from that house? I know they needed to get those computers shut down, and knocking the wall down was the only way, but GEEZ, that's gonna cost a bundle to fix. And selling the house kind of sucks, because I have a feeling that banshee room could be very useful to Lydia in the future.
Meanwhile, the fight is still raging on at Argent Arms, where Kira spins and slices one of the plastic curtains with her katana. Once she's through, she kicks one of the hunters in the chest, which launches him across the room. She confirms that the hunter is down for the count before she turns and leaps back into the fray, where Scott is fully wolfed-out and in the middle of a battle with another hunter. He slashes at the man's torso with his claws before roaring as he throws him around so he can kick him onto the floor. He then knocks the gun out of his hands and jumps on him so he can punch the guy in the face until he's knocked out. YAS KIRA! YAS SCOTT! Defend your territory and your friends! Once he's down, he grunts and hurls himself back toward everyone else. Satomi is staring the hunters down while she spins her spike in her hand, just as Chris, ever the hero, rushes his completely-human ass over so he can cover her with his NON-HEALING BODY as he shoots at the hunters with his own rifle.
LOOK AT THAT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! Even despite the fact that they were both calling each other murderers just a short time ago, CHRIS IS STILL PROTECTING THOSE WHO CANNOT PROTECT THEMSELVES (WITHOUT HELP.) I love it all SO MUCH. Also, I should mention that many of these hunters are shot in the torso/chest and immediately fall to the ground, so it's quite possible that Chris is killing his fellow hunters to protect a hit list full of supernatural creatures. THIS IS SO INTENSE. Also, how are they gonna cover up the dozen or so bodies in full riot gear? Elsewhere, Derek sneaks up behind another hunter and shoulder-checks him so hard that he flies across the room. He finally catches up with Braeden and they spin, back-to-back, so each of them can watch out for the other. "How many are there?" Derek yells over the deafening sound of gunfire while he shoots back at the hunters. "Too many," Braeden yells back, as she reloads her shotgun. The McCall pack is full of brains and badassery, basically.
(via teenwolf)
Back at the Sheriff's station, Sheriff still has his gun aimed at Peter's head, and you can tell he's itching to pull the trigger, especially since he ended up talking himself out of it the last time he pulled his gun on him, after he killed the Mute at the high school. "Are you KIDDING me?" Peter mutters under his breath with a dramatic roll of his eyes. Sheriff tells him to put his hands where he can see them, which does nothing to stop Peter's exasperation. "How the hell was I supposed to remember any of that?" Sheriff gestures at him to shut up and get on his feet, so Lydia reminds him that, hello, she got the entire PLAN from him. Peter's always got an excuse, though. "I was out of my mind!" Peter snaps, as Sheriff and Lydia stare him down. "Do you know what it's like for one of us to be in a coma? Paralyzed, but cognizant? YOU try not going crazy!" Jordan points out that she was listening to HIM, but Peter, without thinking, yells, "She was listening to the ranting and raving of a lunatic!" He realizes that he pretty much just confessed that he was a psychopath, and adds, "A former lunatic. I'm much healthier now." Yeah, I totally buy that. So healthy that he wants to kill a seventeen year old boy!
(via teenwolf)
Still, Peter maintains that he had nothing to do with this, but Sheriff continues to argue that if she was acting on HIS instructions, then how are they supposed to know there isn't more to the story that both of them are hiding. Peter's like, "Stealing my own money? REALLY?" which would be a good argument if he hadn't literally been planning to use every penny, if necessary, to pay for the deadpool. Sheriff agrees with me and reminds him of this fact, but Lydia starts to get a really bad feeling about all of this and tells them to stop fighting. "This is what she wants! It's why she's here!" Peter gives Sheriff a look like, "See! Lydia is backing me up here," which makes me want Lydia to punch him in the face, tbh. "Look around, Sheriff," Lydia argues. "There's three people in here right now, three people STILL on the deadpool. Me, Parrish, and Meredith." Jordan reminds them that Peter ISN'T on the deadpool, because the whole point was that Peter was going to take out all the supernaturals and then start from scratch (possibly because he knows he's got some weird thing that allows him to create weird/unique creatures, like true alphas and werecoyotes and naguals.) Peter insists that they don't want to kill each other, but Sheriff reminds Peter that the only person to whom he's pointing a gun is him.
"Then you better make it a perfect shot, because I don't go down easy," Peter sneers, but Sheriff is no fool, so he pulls back the safety on his service weapon and aims it even closer at Peter's forehead. "Well, I'm willing to bet that a bullet between the eyes doesn't heal real fast, not even for your kind," Sheriff retorts, and Peter quite visibly gets a little scared that Sheriff might actually kill him, so he starts poking at random in hopes of finding a sore spot. Lydia begs them to stop fighting, just as Peter suggests that the police department in Beacon Hills is getting more corrupt by the second. "What are you gonna charge me with, Sheriff? How are you gonna explain this to a judge? Telepathic girl overhears thoughts of comatose WEREWOLF and decides to enact his plans for retribution? Mmm, they're going to be pointing a gun at your head and asking YOU to go quietly." Sheriff is totally pissed, because as repulsive as Peter is, he's totally right, in this instance. Lydia insists that Sheriff has to let him go, and Peter sasses him about how he needs to listen to a banshee and put down his gun so Peter can walk out-- no triggers pulled, no one gets hurt. Sheriff grimaces and looks as though he miiiiight just pull the trigger anyway, but decides at the last minute that Peter is not worth the trouble (now, anyway) and lowers his weapon.
Before Peter can leave, though, Sheriff reminds him that this is the second time he's let Peter leave with his life, and emphasizes that he will NOT be letting Peter do it a third time. Peter doesn't turn around, but he does smirk a bit as he walks away from them. Meredith immediately begins to freak out and yells, "No! It's not finished! It's not finished!" as she struggles to break free from Jordan, who is holding her back by grabbing her arms. YIKES! On one hand, part of me is super proud of Sheriff, because I hate Peter and love that Sheriff isn't afraid of him. On the other hand, I am REALLY worried that Peter is going to try to kill Sheriff or otherwise hurt him, just to make life easier for him, and that would be absolutely devastating. Not to mention the fact that Stiles would literally rip Peter to shreds if he directly or indirectly hurt or killed Sheriff in any way-- we already know just how much Stiles hates/distrusts Peter (and quite rightly so, imo) so he would not hesitate to grab a branch of mountain ash that is wrapped in wolfsbane and rolled in mistletoe to shove up his ass so far that Peter would choke on it.
Over at the lake house, Malia is about to throw a punch at the computers, but Stiles manages to dive in and hold her back before she makes contact with them, thankfully. "You can't just smash it to pieces," Stiles reminds her gently before releasing her wrists. "If this thing is still being used to disseminate the list, then it's probably going to keep going until everyone's dead." Malia asks him what the hell they're supposed to do, then, but Stiles thinks there should be a way to stop it, like with a command or a prompt of some kind. Malia raises her arm again, and though Stiles automatically assumes she's going to try to punch it again, in reality, she's trying to point at the top of the middle machine, which has a keyhole in it. "What about a key?" she asks quietly. YES MALIA! She has figured out so many mysteries this week, I looooooove it so much.
Back at Argent Arms, the warehouse is still full of smoke and the sounds of fighting as their battle against the hunters rages on. Scott has pushed another hunter onto the ground and roars at him, his face covered in blood spatter that may or may not be his own. He sneers and flashes his fangs before getting up to his feet. He gets hit by a stray bullet and sways on his feet as lights flash around him. Scott sees Brett nearby and rushes toward him so he can instruct him to go and tell everyone to hide in the backroom. He gets hit by another two bullets in the process, but he's so fueled on lycanthropy and adrenaline right now that they barely seem to be affected him at all. Scott then goes to look for Kira, but can't seem to find her anywhere, which is worrisome for sure, so he runs into another one of the rooms in hopes of finding her.
Stiles and Malia, knowing that they're way out of their league here, have FaceTime'd Lydia the resident genius banshee to help them out with this whole deadpool machine thing. Stiles points the camera at the computers so Lydia can get a good look at them from the Sheriff's Department, and hopefully suggests that there must be a way to shut it all down. Lydia doesn't know shit about 70's-era computers, though, and tells them as much, so Malia pokes her head over Stiles' shoulder to remind her that neither of them do, either. LOL. I love their friendship! OT3 material right here. What is their ship name, anyway? Stalydia? Anyway, Lydia asks them where the monitor is, but the problem is that there isn't one. "There are buttons, knobs, spindles, no monitor," Stiles responds as he wanders around the room with the camera aimed at his face. Lydia notices something in the background and frowns in confusion before asking him to point the camera on the floor. Stiles is puzzled, but does what he's told, and Lydia is shocked when she realizes that the stain from when she dropped the wine glasses in "The Benefactor" are gone. Stiles doesn't understand how that's even relevant to their current problems, but Lydia explains that she was supposed to use the $500 they gave to Brunski to hire a carpet cleaner to clean up the stain, and since stains don't just disappear, then something must be up.
That's when she realizes that perhaps since the ashes her grandmother left her weren't really HER ashes, and the study isn't really a study, nor is the record player really a record player, that maybe the wine wasn't really wine. That's still kind of confusing me, but I'm not going to question it because this is already WAY too long. Lydia realizes that the wine bottle might have some sort of clue, and insists that he has to find the bottle, which is apparently a 1982 Cote du Rhome. Stiles flails his way downstairs to get the wine, and eventually finds the bottle and brings is back up. He thinks something is inside it, and asks if there's a bottle opener anywhere. Malia's too impatient to fuck with the proper way to open a wine bottle, and simply smashes it against the study's pristine white carpet. Stiles digs through the broken glass and finds a key, and wastes no time scrambling to his feet so he can put the key into the computer system's keyhole. It totally fits into the lock, and he turns back to Malia, his face both relieved and alarmed, since they don't exactly know what will happen if they use the key.
Lorilee has somehow been separated from the rest of her pack, and is slowly wandering around the smoke-filled rooms of the Argent warehouse as she calls out for Brett. Unfortunately for her, trying to find Brett leads a hunter right to her, and even though she's clearly no older than twelve or thirteen, the hunter seems only concerned with the $250,000 paycheck her death will net him. He aims his gun at her, and the laser sight on his rifle points at her right in between her eyes. Poor Lorilee is seriously terrified, but steels herself and closes her eyes as she quickly accepts that her death is imminent. Before the hunter can shoot her, though, he's tackled by Scott fucking McCall, who has come out of nowhere to protect her. She dives out of their way and watches in fear as Scott drags the hunter away and throws him on a nearby table before straddling him and attacking the hell out of him. He slams the hunter's head against the table a couple of times, and takes his helmet off of him so he can see his face as he claws and slashes at his riot gear. This guy seems to be seriously afraid for his life, and though I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to sympathize with him, I just can't. Dude was totally willing to kill a child, and absolutely would have had Scott not shown up when he did.
As Scott roars and swipes at the hunter, a shadow moves across Scott's face, just before his wolf features begin to turn even more wolfish, his claws lengthening into even longer and sharper points than usual. Lorilee is still watching them fight in terror and squeezes her eyes shut, clearly terrified at what she's seeing. The hunter starts spitting up blood and is silently pleading for his life with his eyes, but before Scott gives him any more vicious blows, he starts to hear the sound of buzzing all around him, and stops what he's doing, which allows his face to return to its usual wolf-y form. Chris and Satomi are huddled behind a nearby support beam, and peek around the corner when they hear the gunfire stop. All of a sudden, the hunters all begin to retreat as more and more phones start to buzz around them. Derek still has his Sig Souer P-88 up, but is just as puzzled when the shooting stops.
(via teenwolf)
Scott realizes the hunter's phone is buzzing in his pocket as the hunter holds his hands up in surrender. Scott grabs the phone out of the pocket and looks at the message that he just received, and his face goes cold as he turns the phone toward its owner so he can see for himself what it says. "THE BENEFACTOR: ALL CONTRACTS TERMINATED." The man Scott was fighting breathes a sigh of relief when he realizes he's going to live another day. This hunter, and all the other hunters who survived this attack, should alllllll be thankful that the McCall Pack is way kinder and nicer than they are, because they were 100% okay with killing them, but now they're being allowed to leave with their lives. I am not at all okay with real life violence, and have found myself super ragey the last couple weeks, with all of the cases of harmless people being killed for stupid (and usually racist) reasons, but in this fictional case, I would be totally fine with those assassins being taken out.
Back at the lake house, Stiles and Malia watch in shock as the deadpool computers power down in front of them, and they, too, breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that this all seems to be over. Oh, kids, we all know that this isn't the end, even if the deadpool itself really is finito-- there will always be another threat for them, or another disaster of some kind, and they're going to continue to be fighting to survive, just against other people this time.
Most of the hunters are gone now, aside from the ones who got killed, or the ones who are too injured to move that quickly, and the members of the McCall Pack who were involved in the fight slowly walk back into the main room and survey the damage. Scott is no longer wolfed out, though he is still covered in blood, but Kira seems to have once again made it out completely unscathed, which is SUPER impressive, if you ask me! Kira heals just as fast as the werewolves, it seems, but she's hardly ever injured severely enough to need it. Derek has what looks like the beginnings of a black eye (LOL, bet he's never had to deal with that, before!) but he, too, doesn't seem to have been shot, thankfully! Satomi's pack joins them, having hid and stayed safe during their attack, and Kira asks Scott if it's really over. Scott smiles weakly when he realizes that the deadpool appears to be over for good. Still, I think part of him knows that he almost lost control just then, and even though he did eventually stop himself (which is awesome and a testament to his willpower), he's probably still pretty nervous about how being an alpha is affecting his instincts.
Lydia is still at the Sheriff's Department, and gently places either Jordan or Sheriff's uniform jacket over Meredith's shoulders as the two walk over to the couch in Sheriff's office. Lydia asks her if she's okay, and when Meredith nods, she realizes that she must be, if she was willing to put herself on the deadpool, along with all the other supernaturals. "I had to," Meredith insists quietly, and when Lydia asks why, Meredith says probably the most painful thing in the entire episode. "Because I heard you. I heard you scream in the tunnels at Oak Creek." We flash back to "Insatiable," when Lydia let out the most heartbreaking banshee wail EVER when she felt Allison's death at the hands of the oni. In the present day, Lydia's face is absolutely soul-crushing in how sad she looks to remember that moment. "That's why I knew it was the right time. To-to start over." Lydia almost looks angry when she points out that she decided to start over with Peter, probably because she remembers all of the horrifying and traumatic things he did to Lydia back in season 2, but Meredith seems to have drunk Peter's kool-aid. "He's the alpha!" Meredith argues. "He's always been the alpha! He'll make it right." ICK ICK ICK ICK ICK. That sentence makes my skin crawl.
"It never was [right] with us," Meredith continues. "Too many people die because of us. We're the monsters. Even banshees. Even ME." Lydia and Meredith are both at the verge of tears at this point, but Lydia just shakes her head no and insists that she doesn't believe that. "Not all monsters do monstrous things," Lydia states, which is the most beautiful quote of the series, and is pretty much the thesis statement of this series as a whole. Meredith asks, "Like who?" so Lydia smiles a weak smile and replies, "Like Scott." MY SCYDIA FEELS ARE TOO MUCH RIGHT NOW. Meredith smiles back at her, and gently places her hand on Lydia's cheek, which is almost too much for HER. "Like you," Meredith insists. Suddenly, the gravity of the situation hits her full force (maybe because she remembers that she put Lydia on the list for $20 million dollars, the second-most expensive of all the deadpool) and moans, "Oh god. What have I done?" Some have speculated that Meredith got some kind of banshee feeling when she touched Lydia, which I am desperately hoping isn't the case, because I don't want any of the now "core-four" (Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Derek) to die. :(
(via teenwolf)
Peter apparently headed straight for the sewers when he left the Sheriff's station, because he's now anxiously pacing around in Kate's hideout while Kate leans casually against the wall and watches him curiously. "You look nervous," Kate states obviously, but Peter argues that he's not nervous-- he's actually RATTLED, which is a state of being that he does not enjoy one bit, thank you very much.
KATE: "But it's over! The deadpool's done! And, if you need to be reminded, everything else is going exactly your way."
PETER: "Not exactly my way."
KATE: [rolls eyes] "Maybe every little piece of your game didn't move JUST as predicted, but they still moved perfectly into place."
What sounds almost like the Darach/Nemeton theme, with that bass line that I just LOVE, starts to play in the background as Peter continues to pace around, not at all comforted by Kate's pep talk. Why is she so friendly to him, anyway? He KILLED her and turned her into a werejaguar. The way they're talking to each other does nothing to convince me that they haven't slept together at least once-- it seems pretty clear that they have had a thing together at some point. Still, I don't get what Kate gets out of this plan of theirs, aside from Peter supposedly helping her learn control. I have a LOT more to say about this, but I'm going to save it for my next post, which is going to be a kind of Season 4 round-up of what happened and what this means for the next two episodes, so keep your eyes peeled for it! ANYWAY, Kate senses Peter's uneasiness and assumes that he's bailing on their plan, but Peter insists that this isn't the case while he catches drips of water in his hand. "Of course not. Not when I'm this close." Kate smiles an evil little smirk, and Peter adds, "Not when I'm this close to killing Scott McCall," as he quickly forms a fist, squirting all of the water in his hand out into the sewer. NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE.
(via teenwolf)
Next week, according to the promo: Kate captures Scott and sends the berserkers after Kira (and presumably the rest of the pack and any allies who may try to rescue Scott, like Chris); Peter tries to convince Malia to kill Kate; Deaton makes a trip down to Mexico? Maybe?
[screencaps via Screencapped]
NOTES/SPECULATION/QUESTIONS:
-We got a lot of mixed parent/kid interactions this week, and I loved it so much! It's already well known on this blog how much I love the dynamic between Chris and Scott/Melissa and Stiles, but I've also realized just how much I've come to love the friendship/joint-detective-thing that Lydia and Sheriff have going on. Maybe it's because partially because Sheriff knows deep-down that Lydia could possibly be his daughter-in-law someday (I love me some Stalia, and you guys know this, but there's still room in my heart for other pairings, including some Stydia too ;)), or maybe it's partially because Lydia can appreciate the Stilinski intelligence and brainstorming skills, but man, I just love it so much! Can't the pack and pack parents just move into a huge boarding house or something and live happily ever after? I want this so damn badly.
I'm going to save the rest of my notes for a follow-up to this post that creates a timeline for Season 4, as well as a timeline for the deadpool and other meta-like discussions about what has happened so far this season, and what that means for the future. Stay tuned, kids! Until then, tell me what you think about "Monstrous!" What are your predictions for the last two episodes of this season? I want to know what's on your mind. :)
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