Teen Wolf Season 4, Episode 8: "Time of Death" Recap/Review
[I apologize in advance for the lateness-- this week has just been exhausting, between having to babysit my dad after he had surgery on Thursday and going out of town on Friday, so this is posted MUCH later than I ever intended. I promise that I'll be back on schedule next week!--Emily]
Alright, so I know I'm always crowing about how every episode of Teen Wolf is the best episode of the season/ever, but seriously, you guys-- "Time of Death" is one of my favorite episodes of this season, if not my favorite. There is just SO much to love about it: there was TONS of Liam, Derek was in a hilariously sassy and playful mood all day and managed to have some hot sex with Braeden (FINALLY!), we got backstory on Malia and Lydia's families, some adorable Scott/Kira moments, a badass mother team-up (MELISSA AND NOSHIKO SHOULD JUST RULE THE WORLD TBH) and Chris defending Scott against Kate! Not to mention all of the drama surrounding Scott's "death" and the implications of the dreams he had while he was out. Basically, this episode is an instant classic, and not only was it entertaining, but visually, it was completely STUNNING, even more so than usual. Episode 8 of a Teen Wolf season can be very hit or miss (for example, season 2's "Raving" was DEFINITELY a hit, while 3A's "Visionary" was not so much) but I absolutely loved this week's episode. It set up quite a bit for the last four episodes, which are always an absolute shit show, so as usual, we are in for a wild ride to the end! I'm both ridiculously nervous/worried AND excited, not to mention how bittersweet it is that we're somehow already 2/3 of the way through the season now? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN SO FAST?
So, yeah, strap on your helmets and seat belts, babies, because this is gonna be a doozy.
Previously, on Teen Wolf: While the junior year contingent of the McCall Pack showed up at school on Saturday morning to take the PSATs, they managed to get themselves infected with a variant of canine distemper, created by an assassin uncleverly referred to as The Chemist, which made the humans all rashy and made the werecanines unable to control their animal sides. While he was sick, Scott inadvertantly revealed that he had grown some vicious looking fangs. Scott also found a duffel bag full of a half a million dollars in cash in Garrett's locker, which also contained a cassette tape with instructions from the Benefactor to the assassins; specifically, the tape emphasized that visual confirmation of the assassination is required by the Benefactor before they can be paid. Lydia tried to use her grandmother's banshee room and a box full of Meredith's personal effects to communicate with Meredith and apologize for her awful behavior before she (allegedly) committed suicide in her room at Eichen House. Included in Meredith's stuff was a picture of her standing in the lake house's banshee room, which means there's definitely a connection between her and Lydia's family. The Chemist held a gun to Stiles' head and threatened to kill him if he didn't tell him where a deathly ill Scott, Kira and Malia were hiding, but Agent Douchenozzle came out of nowhere and saved Stiles by shooting the Chemist in the head. Lydia and Allison figured out, with help from Lydia's banshee powers, that Peter is Malia's biological father, and Scott suggested to Stiles that they needed to tell Malia what they know, though Stiles was sure that the reveal would just push Malia towards Peter, who would ultimately end up manipulating her like he does to everyone. Unfortunately for Stiles, that ended up being a self-fulfilling prophecy, because Malia found the deadpool list (which had her listed as "Malia Hale") in his coat pocket and figured out the truth before the gang had a chance to fill her in themselves, leading to a silent confrontation that indicated that Stiles and Malia's relationship is definitely on the rocks. Which is where we pick up this week!
Our cold open this week is once again in Stiles' room, where he is restlessly tossing and turning in his bed. As the camera pans toward Stiles' pajama-clad body in the bed, we get a pretty good glimpse of the back of Stiles' crime board, which is absolutely COVERED in crime scene photos, print-outs of the deadpool lists, newspaper articles, and other bits of information. Connections between different events/people are connected by lines of red tape, and he's scribbled notes and captions under the various taped-up photos and articles in dry-erase marker. Stiles sighs and turns onto his right side, before groaning and flipping back onto his left side. We get a nice close-up of his glassy, whiskey-colored eyes, before the angle turns, and we see Malia lying next to him on his right, her eyes closed in an attempt to sleep. "Who Will Love Me" by Jerome Holloway starts to play while he stares at her intently and wiggles into a better position. She stirs at the movement around her, and after a moment, she just mumbles, "What?" Stiles reminds her that he always sleeps in the middle of the bed, but she's too tired to move, so she's just like, "Whatever, deal with it." He flips onto his back, and Malia reflexively snuggles into his chest as he wraps his arm around her, but once she's settled, it's clear that he's not comfortable at all, and is now wide awake.
"Yeah, I can't sleep unless I'm in the middle," Stiles admits with a groan, as he sits up and pulls his arm out from under her neck. "Then we spoon," Malia retorts as she turns onto her right side, which is a plan with which Stiles wholeheartedly agrees. At least, in theory-- he cuddles up behind her and wraps one arm around her waist as he puts the other one above Malia's head on the pillow, but it takes all of ten seconds before Stiles' arm starts to go to sleep, and he starts flexing it to start to get the feeling back. Annoyed, Malia just shoves him away from her, so Stiles reluctantly turns so that they're back to back. LOL, I relate to this scene SO MUCH, because I am a huge insomniac, while my boyfriend is in the military and has learned over the years how to literally sleep anywhere at any time, so I'm always just rolling around while he's just like, "OH MY GOD, WOULD YOU STOP ALREADY?" ANYWAY, after a few moments, Stiles starts to get pouty at the lack of contact between them, so he just whines, "Well, I don't like THIS!"
Malia just sighs exasperatedly and deadpans, "I'm gonna kill you," before she sighs and physically flips both of them over so she can grab Stiles' waist with one arm, solidifying the fact that Malia really is ALWAYS the big spoon, and it's the fucking BEST. Stiles seems a little embarrassed at first, but then he realizes how awesome it is, and is like, "I think this is good!" He wiggles a little bit, and smiles such a cute smile as he adds, "Yeah, this is good!" Malia nods sleepily and nuzzles her face into the back of his neck. UNFORTUNATELY, reality smacks Stiles right in the face when he opens his eyes, only to realize that Malia isn't there, and he was just dreaming. NOOOO! He can't sleep because she's not there! UGH WHY CAN NOBODY HAVE NICE THINGS. Stiles sits up, realizes that everything sucks, and throws himself back down upon his pillows in the most angsty fashion as he stares at the ceiling.
Meanwhile, across town, Agent Douchenozzle is sitting at his desk at the Sheriff's station, where he's counting the bullets in the clip of his service weapon before depositing them in an evidence bag, and doing the same for his gun. He pulls out his phone and accesses his audio recording app so he can dictate his notes for his report. "Preliminary notes on firearm discharge incident," he begins, stress evident in his voice. He continues in voiceover as we cut to Scott waiting in the bullpen for him, who is, as usual, eavesdropping on everything his dad is saying. (That's not at all a slight on my bb Scott-- if I had super-hearing, I would do the exact same thing, tbh.) "Assailant armed with sound-suppressor-equipped Walther P88." He flashes back to the Chemist holding the barrel of the gun to Stiles' forehead, as Stiles just stares at him numbly.
ADN finally makes his way out to the bullpen and immediately apologizes for making Scott wait so long when it's so late. Scott just chuckles nervously and reminds him that since it's not like he's going to school tomorrow, being up late is not a big deal. Wow, are they actually canceling school because of this? I mean, Beacon Hills stays in session when they have no electricity! They didn't even bat an eye when a bus driver was horrifically killed on campus in season 1, or when Deputy Tara was killed and placed on top of the school's sign in season 3A, or when a bunch of their teachers mysteriously went missing and/or ended up dead. I guess a whole class of juniors being infected to a smallpox variant is a serious enough threat. ANYWAY, I digress! "Well, unfortunately, I'm gonna have to drive up to San Francisco tonight. Um, I'll need to do a review at the field office, but I'll be back as soon as I can." He waits a beat, and then admits that he might have to miss Scott's first game of the season, but Scott assures him that it's totally okay, but ADN seems to be really, really trying to be more responsible. He insists that missing the game is a big deal to him, and that this time around, he's making sure to keep his promises. Part of me thinks it's too little, too late, but Scott seems to have forgiven him, so I probably should, too. Besides, I AM impressed that he seems to be putting in so much effort to make things right. Am I going to have to stop calling him Agent Douchenozzle? I hope not!
Scott smiles at his dad's attempts to be a good dad, for once, but ultimately becomes distracted when he sees the gun and bullets in his dad's hands and remembers that his dad just killed someone just hours (I'm guessing) ago. Scott has always had a hard time dealing with murder; back in season 1, he was more or less willing to kill Peter because 1) he was completely overwhelmed with being a werewolf and having to hide it from everyone and having to avoid getting killed by hunters or being forced to kill his friends by Peter, and 2) Peter had killed nearly a dozen people, so in his mind it was more or less justified. But then when the time came, he hesitated, and even got kind of upset that Derek had killed him, because in the end, killing wasn't something he could bring himself to do. Then, throughout seasons 2, 3A, and 3B, Scott saw more innocent people and loved ones being killed than most people ever deal with in a lifetime, and that was enough to really solidify his belief that it wasn't right for people to kill each other, even if you really think they deserve it. But, unfortunately for Scott, he lives in a very morally gray world where people are constantly killing others, and it's clear that he's having an internal struggle with himself over the fact that sometime, he may have to kill someone to save someone else, and this is the first glimpse we get that he's clearly been trying not to think about this possibility.
ANYWAY, so ADN notices Scott's apprehension and hesitantly says, "What I did? It was necessary. Justifiable. You know that, right?" And the thing is, Scott DOES know that-- from what we know, had ADN not killed the Chemist, our Stiles would have most likely gotten a bullet in the brain, and we all know that Scott would NEVER be able to handle that. But again, seeing it is just bringing up stuff that Scott clearly does NOT want to even consider, and so he keeps trying to push it down and lock it up so he won't have to think about the possibility that he'll have to do the same thing. However, instead of answering his dad's question, Scott asks his own in answer-- has he killed someone in the line of duty before? ADN confesses that he's killed two other people in the line of duty, and adds that it isn't easy to take another person's life, even if they don't really give you a choice in the matter, just as how the Chemist didn't really give him a choice-- if it's between a killer and an innocent kid, the choice seems pretty obvious. "How do you deal with it?" Scott asks, and I just have to point out how much Tyler Posey has improved as an actor, because his acting in this scene/this episode in general is next-level, especially the way that he clearly seems desperate for answers, but is trying his hardest to make it just seem like curiosity for his dad's sake.
"You look at it logically," ADN admits, after a moment's hesitation. "Without emotion. You... you compartmentalize." Scott asks him how he manages to do THAT, but ADN evades the question, and awkwardly jokes that he used to deal by drinking. Scott's face is seriously heartbreaking, which doesn't escape his dad's notice, so ADN wraps his boy up in a tight hug, which seems to almost startle Scott. I'm guessing it's been a while since he's been hugged by his old man. ADN almost seems embarrassed as he puts away, like he's a little overwhelmed by this heart-to-heart full of serious confessions and whatnot, so he just laughs nervously before he musters up the nerve to bring up something that he's clearly been thinking about since he came back to town. "One other thing..." he begins, and Scott's smile immediately falls when he realizes where his dad is going with this. "When I get back, we have to talk about some stuff." Scott tries to use his best poker face, but he can't help but look wary, which his dad notices. "You and your friends, the way you guys handle things... it doesn't seem to faze you like it should. It's like... you guys know something I don't." Scott is clearly panicking internally, and though he opens his mouth to speak up, nothing comes out, so ADN just plows on. "When I get back, I'd like to be in the know." Scott, who is speechless, just nods in assent, so ADN wraps his arm around him and leads him out of the station so they can go home.
Honestly, the way Agent Douchenozzle going about this shows that he actually did take what Melissa said to heart in "The Divine Move." He's not being aggressive, he's not pushing, he's not demanding-- he's calmly informing his son that he would really like it if they would clue him into what's going on, in such a way that Scott would definitely be more inclined to agree. That's progress, yeah? Besides, it's seriously about time he got read in-- I'm still not that sure what's going on with him, but maybe best case scenario, they have another person in the police/federal agent pool who could help them out? He's seen WAY too much, anyway, and I can't imagine what he thinks must be going on here. First there was the whole fight over Jennifer Blake at the hospital in "The Overlooked," followed by Sheriff, Melissa and Chris being kidnapped and ADN finding an entire arsenal at the Argent Abode; then, there was the whole "Oh shit, Malia is a werecoyote and not actually dead"-thing. Not to mention the Katashi murder (in which Scott's friend Derek and his ex-girlfriend's father were accused of killing him), getting stabbed with a sword by the oni and likely at least HEARING bits and pieces of what the kids were talking about and Scott/Derek/the twins wolfing out to fight them, AND then dealing with the Sheriff's station, animal clinic, and hospital all being attacked by the self-same oni, the latter of which he witnessed with his own eyes, including the fact that his ex-wife was stabbed, nearly died, and then magically healed within the span of several hours. I'm probably leaving out a ton, too, but the point is, he should DEFINITELY be curious. The fact that he hasn't really been until this point is what is making me so suspicious of him.
The next morning, Scott, Stiles, Kira, and Liam (the latter three of whom have each brought their own shiny Macbooks) have met in the McCall dining room to discuss their plan. Kira wonders if three laptops should be enough for what they're planning, but Stiles figures that while it depends on how many cameras there are, it should be fine. "Are we really doing this?" Liam asks anxiously, but Scott is insistent that they are, TONIGHT. Liam reminds them that this is kind of dangerous, with which Stiles wholeheartedly agrees. "Yeah, it's incredibly dangerous, and borderline idiotic!" Then, this hilarious exchange happened that pretty much describes the entirety of this damn series:
HMMM, let's see... there was going out to find a dead body that had been cut in half (which we all know how THAT turned out), breaking into a bank vault, ritually sacrificing themselves via suicide-by-drowning to find the location of a magical tree where their parents were hidden, robbing an armored car to steal a scroll hidden in a prosthetic pinky (and a briefcase with $150,000), traveling to Mexico to infiltrate the home of a well-established family of hunters... shall I go on? No? Okay. Anyway, Liam sighs, still hating this plan, so Scott reminds him that he doesn't have to do this if he feels uncomfortable with it. "I'm not scared!" Liam argues, which earns him a clap on the shoulder, a wink, and a "Then you're borderline idiotic!" from Stiles. Dude, come on, can you stop with the ableist assholery already? Good lord. Stiles then reminds the group that if they do go with this plan, they don't know who will be coming for the pack, but Kira doesn't understand how they know that someone even WILL (or IS) coming for them in the first place.
"Because the tape from Garrett's bag said 'visiual confirmation required,'" Scott explains, and Stiles adds that the Chemist said the same thing, which is that the Benefactor wouldn't pay him until he had proof that Scott, Kira and Malia were dead. "So, the idea is-- what if you kill someone on the deadpool, but you can't send the proof?" Scott finishes, and Kira responds that obviously, the assassin won't be getting paid. "How does that get us any closer to the Benefactor?" Liam asks anxiously. Scott figures that he'll still need to know if the target is really dead, especially if it's someone high on the list, such as a certain true alpha who happens to be worth $25 million. Liam realizes that if he needs visual confirmation, he'll have to come to get it himself, which is the outcome they're hoping for, apparently.
Cut to the hospital, where an ambulance has just arrived with someone on the gurney whose heart has apparently stopped. Someone on the PA system calls for Dr. Geyer to come to the ER, which is apparently the real name of Liam's step-dad, AKA Connor Jordan from TVD. Dr. Geyer immediately runs down the hall of the ER reception and orders the medics to take the man on the stretcher to the trauma room. The man already has the gel sheets on his chest in preparation for the defibrillator, and the doctor wastes no time calling "CLEAR!" and attempting to shock the guy's heart back into rhythm. When the pulse is still flat-lining, Dr. Geyer declares the patient to be suffering from asystole (basically, lack of heartbeat) and warns the staff that he's about to shock him again before doing so. After several unsuccessful tries, Dr. Geyer somberly admits that he's calling it, and declares time of death as 21:02 (or 9:02PM, for you Americans who aren't well-acquainted with military time.) He's clearly upset about losing a patient, and his voice cracks as he asks one of the nurses to page Melissa McCall for him. That's when we see that the man on the stretcher is SCOTT MCCALL, whose face is completely pale. NOOOOOO! TITLE CARD!
When we return, we find Braeden just waking up on Derek's pull-out couch bed. She seems confused, until she sees her shotgun laying against a nearby chair, and notices that Derek is chivalrously sleeping on the couch across the room. She gets out of bed (and of course, is wearing only a tank top over her underwear and bra, because I'm pretty sure it's illegal for her to be anything less than ridiculously sexy at all times) and quietly tip-toes over to the couch and crouches down in front of it. After a moment's hesitation, she slowly reaches over to his body to discreetly lift up his tank top, where she finds a still-unhealed bullet graze from his and Satomi's run-in with the blonde lady-assassin at the hospital in last week's episode. Suddenly, Derek's hands clap over hers, and she lets out an annoyed sigh because, like Derek was last week, she is totally busted. "What're you doing?" Derek asks curiously, so Braeden retorts that she's just "protecting her investment" before changing the subject to the fact that he hasn't healed yet. When she asks him why, he quickly lies and claims that some wounds heal longer, but Braeden ain't no fool, ya'll.
(via posybrien)
"...And some leave scars. But, not for people like you. So, what's going on?" Derek turns into the biggest baby ever and is like, "Maybe I'm just tired," and petulantly flips onto his side, turning away from her. Braeden is seriously concerned about Derek, and seems to have been even before she saw he wasn't healing. Is it possible she figured out that his yellow eyes were part of something bad that was happening to him? Regardless, Braeden asks to see his eyes, and Derek adorably snits, "You just saw them!" because Derek Hale is secretly a petulant teenager. She amends her demand to, "Show me your real eyes," so Derek huffs a frustrated-yet-defeated sigh and turns onto his back so he can show her that his eyes don't even change anymore. Derek becoming a human is kind of doing conflicted things to me, because being a werewolf is Derek's entire identity and that's pretty much the only thing he still has at this point, but he's SO AWESOME when he's trying to learn how to use weapons and fight like a human so it's like WHAT SHOULD I FEEEEEEL? "Okay," Braeden replies. "No, why don't you tell me what's really going on?" I know the majority of the fandom doesn't trust Braeden, but she's really done nothing but help the pack from what we've seen, so I don't get it. I don't know, maybe I'll be eating my words later (I often do when Teen Wolf is involved) but I think Braeden has had multiple opportunities to all of the people in the McCall pack who are on the deadpool except for Liam, and hasn't, so she's probably on Team Good.
Back at the hospital, a bunch of random nurses and doctors are doing report in the hallway when the most heartbreaking, gut-wrenching wail since Lydia's banshee wail when Allison died is heard from the adjacent hall. The random extras immediately rush around the corner, where they find Dr. Geyer trying to console a hysterical Melissa, who screeches, "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SON?!" Dr. Geyer waves the other doctors and nurses away, just as Melissa falls to her knees on the linoleum floor and wails another devastating wail. I know that Scott isn't truly dead, but GOD, I felt that scream in my SOUL. THIS IS ONE OF MILLIONS OF REASONS WHY SCOTT CAN NEVER EVER DIE EVER, YOU GUYS.
We cut to a flashback to what must have been less than a half hour prior, at the McCall house, where Scott is laying nervously on his back on his bed with his denim shirt unbuttoned. Liam (YAY LIAM! Where have you been all my life? I've missed you!) is anxiously pacing back and forth in Scott's room, clearly still having major reservations about their plan. "Are you guys totally sure about this?" Kira adorably turns to her boyfriend and quips, "I think Liam is a little nervous. Maybe you should tell him it's going to be alright." Scott just smiles and repeats that it's going to be alright, but Liam is not convinced. "So, you've done this before, right?" Liam asks Noshiko, who has just been lurking in the corner since the beginning of the scene, but Noshiko just claims she's SEEN it being done before. "Is-is that just as good?" Liam asks with a nervous smile, but Noshiko doesn't mince words when she's like, "Uh, no, and for the record this is one of your shittiest plans yet, you guys." Kira whines that her mom isn't really inspiring confidence, but makes a pretty hilarious point when she adds, "Do you want us to do it without you?"
Clearly, Noshiko would much rather her daughter be supervised while she attempts something that could kill her boyfriend, and after giving Kira a look, she instructs her to put her hand on Scott's chest. Liam grits his teeth as he watches Kira stretch her arm out and nervously aims for her boyfriend's sternum, but before she makes contact, Scott grabs Kira's hands and orders her to stop for a moment. He turns to Noshiko, and asks her what will happen to him while he's sorta-dead for like the third time in the last two seasons. She suggests that it could possibly feel like he's dreaming, but considering the pack's track record with fucked up dreams, Scott isn't really comforted. "Good dreams, or bad?" Noshiko frowns, and simply replies, "I suppose that depends on you." She nods in encouragement to Kira, who places her hand over Scott's heart, shocking him with an intense bolt of foxfire that hits Scott so hard it literally takes his breath away. YESS! I have been wanting Kira to use her foxfire for SO LONG-- she's super badass with her katana, obviously, but sometimes I feel like the show forgets that Kira has other powers, too, you know?
In the present day, Melissa wipes away her tears and tries to compose herself as she enters the hospital's morgue. She stops suddenly and waits a moment before stating, "I still HATE this plan." The camera angle changes, and we see that Noshiko, Kira, Liam, and Stiles are all gathered around Scott's body, which is bone white and is seriously chilling to see. Melissa starts to majorly freak out, because Scott looks like he's legitimately dead, but Noshiko calmly instructs her to give her her hand. Melissa is hesitant at first, but after Stiles (who looks seriously wrecked at the sight of his best friend, by the by) nods at her in encouragement, she does what she's told, and Noshiko sets her hand on Scott's chest. Melissa flinches when she doesn't feel a pulse, but once Noshiko tells her to wait for it, she feels a single heartbeat and immediately relaxes in relief. "Is that enough to keep a werewolf alive?" she asks, as she catches her breath. "Enough for an alpha," Noshiko replies. When Melissa asks how much time they have, Noshiko admits that they only have forty-five minutes.
Naturally, she wants to know what happens after that, but Kira quite obviously evades the topic by assuring her that she will bring Scott back the same way she "killed" him. Of course, Melissa meant what happens after forty-five minutes are up, and Stiles, Liam, and Kira immediately look down at the floor, not wanting to make eye contact because they TOTALLY DIDN'T TELL HER EVERYTHING BEFOREHAND LIKE JERKS. When are these kids going to learn the beauty of full disclosure? SERIOUSLY. You would think they would get it by now. Anyway, after Melissa demands to know what will happen, Noshiko reluctantly confesses that Scott will die if he's not brought back in forty-five minutes. You know, I would really like to know how some random thunder kitsune at some point in Noshiko's nine-hundred-year-long life learned that they could temporarily "kill" a werewolf using foxfire. (I use quotation marks because while Scott isn't technically dead, he's also not really alive, either. Plus, for all intents and purposes of this exercise, Scott is supposed to be dead, so there we go.)
After the break, we meet up with Chris Argent and Stiles in the Argent's basement/armory, where Chris is using another Macbook to message the Benefactor to inform him that he killed Scott. Okay, so sidebar-- I have some questions about this, namely: Why are Chris' messages under the name "G?" I get why the Benefactor is B, obviously, but the G just makes me think that somehow Gerard is involved in all of this. Also, how did Chris know how to contact him? I'm not suspicious of him, really, because Allison would never support him doing such a thing as getting involved with someone who is paying exorbitant amounts of money to kill her friends, but I just don't understand. I guess since Chris is a well-known hunter, they figure that he'd be the most believable as someone who would kill supernaturals for money, but anyone who knows enough about Beacon Hills to know that Kira and Noshiko are here, or that Malia is a Hale, would be someone who knows quite a bit about what's been going down, you know? So, it stands to reason that the Benefactor would know that Chris is basically a member of the adult contingent of the McCall pack, so maybe it's possible part of the reason why we never meet the Benefactor this week is because he knew they were totally fucking with him. SO MANY QUESTIONS.
ANYWAY, Chris types the message, "Scott McCall dead. Payment requested," which earns him some serious sass from Stiles for not making his "assassin-speak" more dramatic. When Chris asks him what more he should have said, Stiles replies, "Well, it was a little dry! You could have said something, like, 'The target has been neutralized!' you know? 'The crow flies at midnight,' that's always cool!" Chris isn't really having Stiles' shit, tbh, but before they can start fighting more, they get a message from the Benefactor that reminds them that visual confirmation is required if they want to get paid. Stiles transcribes a new message from Chris that says that visual confirmation isn't possible, because the police are coming to pick up the body in forty minutes. The Benefactor just repeats the fact that he needs proof, so Chris gets feisty and steals the laptop away from Stiles so he can type, "Number one on the list is dead. I killed him... Wire transfer isn't completed in forty minutes... I'M COMING FOR YOU." Oh, shit! I love it when Chris gets all badass, tbh. Also, the amount of Scott-love coming from Chris, Stiles, and Liam this week makes my heart sing! It's all so wonderful.
Back at the loft, Braeden has just finished cleaning Derek's wound with peroxide and covering it with gauze as she reminds him that he needs to keep it clean so it doesn't get infected. This line immediately made me think of Derek and Peter's conversation in "De-Void," when Derek's wound from the oni's sword wasn't healing, and Peter kept sassing him about putting something on it so it wouldn't get infected. At the time, I thought he was just being an asshole per usual, but now I'm wondering if it wasn't something more-- is it possible that Derek's oni wound not healing as quickly means that this whole process of losing his powers have been going on longer than this season? I still feel like Peter is siphoning Derek's powers, and it's making me really suspicious and worried that this is actually a result of Derek giving up his alpha powers, and the whole thing with Kate de-aging him just sped up the process more. ANYWAY, Braeden jokes that Derek has probably never had to worry about wounds getting infected, which earns her a look from Derek while he puts his shirt back on.
"So, it's everything, then? No glowing eyes? No healing?" Derek replies that yup, his sense of smell, his super speed, and his enhanced hearing are all gone as well. Braeden assumes that means his strength is gone, too, but Derek just retorts, "I can still win a fight!" I buy it, actually. I mean, Derek isn't the BEST fighter out there, but he's still super ripped and muscular, so it's not like he's a TOTAL weakling at this point, even without the majority of his powers. Braeden gives him a look that says she's skeptical, which makes Derek scoff in offense, so she puts her elbow down on the table and suggests he prove it in an arm-wrestling match. She's playing it all flirty, and Derek is TOTALLY into it, so he puts down his own elbow and grasps her hand in his own. She starts to count to three, but Derek is too busy eye-fucking her to notice when she totally jabs him in the ribs with her free hand, allowing her to easily slam his arm down to the table. Derek's hilariously immature response ("Ow! God! You cheated, that's-that's cheating!") while he recovers from his humiliating loss amuses Braeden greatly, so she decides to give him a few pointers on defending yourself as a human. "I won," she purrs. "When you're a human facing off against a supernatural, you need to bend the rules a little bit. I'm going to teach you how to bend." IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE, AM I RIGHT? Bow-chicka-wow-wowww.
(via braedenss)
At the hospital, our resident badass Chris is helping Stiles, Liam and Kira hack into the hospital's security cameras by hooking some kind of device into the wiring up on the roof. Then, he calls Stiles (who is holed up in a vacant hospital room with Kira and Liam and their three laptops) on his product-placement smart-watch-phone thing and instructs him to try to catch the feed. Within seconds, Stiles is able to hit a few keys and brings up, like, twelve different security camera feeds. Wait a minute-- how recent are these security camera additions? Because wouldn't one of them have caught Nogitstiles and the oni slaughtering everyone last season? SIGH. Anyway, the kids are super impressed by Chris' hacker skills, and get to work watching the different feeds while they look for the person who could possibly be the Benefactor.
The screen then goes completely white, which indicates that we are finally ready to see what Scott's been dreaming about while in his near-death state. He's laying prone, and when he opens his eyes, he realizes that he's laying inside one of the steel cubbies in the morgue. And not just any steel cubbie, but the super-long one through which Allison hallucinated Kate crawling back in "Anchors." The coolest thing about Scott's dreamscape in this episode is that it not only takes elements from Allison's darkness-related hallucinations AND Stiles' darkness-induced nightmares, which makes me think that Scott hasn't quite shaken his, especially in the wake of becoming an alpha and losing Allison. I'll be getting into this more later, because I have a SHITLOAD to say about it. ANYWAY, Scott realizes where he is, and flips onto his stomach so he can frantically crawl his naked-ass out of the tunnel. Of course, when he makes his way out, the cubbie turns into one of the lockers at school, just like in Stiles' dreams, and Scott eventually tumbles out of the locker and onto the linoleum floor, totally clothed all of a sudden.
Scott is unnerved in that way that we all are when we're dreaming but we haven't quite figured out why the fuck everything is so weird yet, especially considering the lights are flickering ominously above him, so he slowly starts making his way down the hall to investigate. After a moment, Liam's voice calls out, "Catch!" just as a lacrosse ball is hurled at Scott's head. He catches it easily, but stares at the ball in confusion for a moment before he notices Liam standing a couple yards ahead of him, wearing his lacrosse uniform and pads, and holding his lacrosse stick in his hands. "That's why you're team captain!" Liam chirps with a smile, before turning and running down the adjacent hallway. Scott drops the ball follows after him, eventually ending up in one of the classrooms, though Liam is conspicuously missing, despite the fact that we JUST saw him enter just seconds ago. The shot as he walks down the aisle of desks is awesome-- it's starts out upside down from the ceiling, so we watch the top of Scott's head as he heads for an open Macbook on the teacher's desk at the front of the room. As he walks, the shot slowly spins until everything is finally right-side-up again. The computer is running through code that looks suspiciously similar to the deadpool code Lydia found/cracked, and Scott instinctively types "S C O T T" into the keyword space. When he hits enter, a short deadpool pops up:
Scott looks horrified when he sees the list, and murmurs, "I can't do that! I can't kill them." Suddenly, Liam appears at his right side, and emotionlessly replies, "Someone has to." Scott doesn't understand why it has to be him, but Liam gives him the answer we all knew was coming-- "Because you're the alpha." Scott argues that he's not a murderer, but his beta reminds him that he IS a predator. "No," Scott insists. "We're predators, but we don't have to..." He pauses, confused at the fact that he just completely lost his train of thought, and tries it again. "We don't HAVE to be..." Do you ever have dreams where you're trying to speak but you can't make the words come out, like your brain is forgetting what you're trying to say quicker than you can speak them? Or where you're trying to run from something/someone but your legs feel like they're made of lead and you feel like you're running through cement and so no matter how hard you're working, you're barely moving at all? Both of these things happen to me ALL THE TIME, so when Scott struggles to finish Derek's mother's mantra about werewolves-- "We're predators, but we don't have to be killers"-- I can easily imagine just how he's feeling. Plus, I think it's a sign that his darker side is struggling to gain full control over Scott's actions, even in this dream. The whole "shadow-self" trope is often done, but I love it SO MUCH, and it's being used to excellent effect in Scott's case this season (and Stiles' last season.)
ANYWAY, Liam looks almost disappointed to hear Scott voice his objections against killing the assassins (and to be fair, I honestly would not blame Scott for killing any of those assassins, and since Liam is basically a stand-in for the rational part of his brain that knows killing a mass murderer who is about to kill you and/or your friends is justifiable) and sighs as he looks down at the floor. Scott, angry at the fact that he has all this responsibility on his shoulders, slams the Macbook shut, just as he hears a loud thump, followed by a gasp of pain from Liam. Scott immediately turns around to find the Mute standing next to where Liam is laying supine on the floor, the Mute's tomahawk buried in his back. The Mute forcefully pulls the tomahawk out and turns to stare at Scott for a moment, before raising his finger to where his mouth is supposed to be in a "shhh" gesture. Liam looks absolutely terrified as he reaches his arm out to Scott and pleads for him to help, but Scott is so horrified and shocked that he can only gape as the Mute raises his tomahawk and once again buries it into Liam's back. NOOOOOO! I know this is just a dream, but I don't care-- NO HURTING BB LIAM.
Meanwhile, Malia (who looks amazing in this episode, with tight brown skinny jeans, boots, a flannel shirt, and a jean vest, with her hair in a very pretty loose braid) has returned to the vault in hopes of finding answers about her true family. She walks through the rows of shelves, examining various artifacts and peeking into boxes. She stops for a moment when her phone buzzes, but when she sees that it's Stiles calling her (probably not the first call, either), she considers her options for a moment before she hits ignore and goes back to searching the vault. Eventually, she stumbles upon that large safe with the intricate Celtic knot stamped into the door where the Hale bearer bonds were being held. She grabs onto the handle and jiggles it, but it's locked, naturally, so she focuses on her coyote strength as she pulls on the handle, and after several moments of struggling, she's finally able to break it off and open the door. Inside, the safe is completely empty, save for a single file labelled "Malia Tate - Adoption Records." She picks the file up and stares at it until she hears a noise behind her and turns on her heel, only to find Peter-fucking-Hale creeping out of the shadows. "I've gotta get a better safe," he says in greeting, when he sees the broken lock, but after a moment, he just sighs and gives her a sympathetic smile. UGH PETER.
Over at the hospital, Chris is nervously lurking around the corner of the basement, just outside the morgue. He checks his smart-watch, which has a running timer so that he can keep track of how much time Scott has before he needs to be shocked back to "life." When he sees that they only have twenty-eight more minutes, he anxiously starts to bite his nails as he waits around for the Benefactor to show up.
Outside in the parking lot, Noshiko and Melissa are sitting in Kira's red Toyota, where they, too, are watching out for anyone suspicious who could be the Benefactor. Noshiko sees a man in a dark hoodie and asks Melissa if it could be him, but Melissa answers in the negatory, because apparently the guy is a drug seeker who regularly shows up to the ER with a new self-diagnosis in an attempt to get his fix. Melissa has her own timer running on her phone, as well, and checks it to find that their current time is now twenty-six minutes and forty-five seconds. She sighs, clearly fed up with all the danger and stress that has occurred ever since Melissa was filled in on the supernatural community of Beacon Hills, and finally blurts out, "Why are we doing this? Why are we asking them fight these kinds of fights?" Noshiko just looks at her in sympathy and replies, "Because otherwise, we'd be asking them to run and hide."
(via johannamason)
Wait, wasn't Noshiko the one who who wanted to move back to New York? That's kind of running and hiding. Are they even still planning on moving? What's going on with that? Either way, I still feel really bad for Melissa. I mean, all of the in-the-know parents have it rough, knowing the constant danger their children are in as a result of their connection to the supernatural, but with Scott being the teenage True Alpha of a sizable pack in Beacon Hills, he's going to have way more responsibilities, and as a result, is a much bigger target. She tries her best to help him in any way that she can, but in the end, she's human. Just like Stiles said in Season 2 about himself, Melissa can't do the things the supernaturals can do, and it must be really hard to have to let your only child protect YOU instead of the opposite, you know?
Kira, Liam, and Stiles are each staring intently at the security camera streams on their respective laptops in their current headquarters, when Liam notices that one of the camera feeds has cut out. When he asks Stiles if that's supposed to happen, Stiles starts to get really nervous and responds in the negatory. They realize that it's the rooftop camera, and Stiles reluctantly admits that one of them is going to have to up and check it out. Kira immediately volunteers, but Stiles is wary, because it's very likely that the camera going out was intentional rather than a glitch of some kind. Kira, being the badass that she is, points out that she's going to be bringing her katana for that very reason, and takes off for the roof. As Liam watches her head for the door, he reflexively states that he's coming with her, but Stiles is clearly not thrilled about the possible threats that could be waiting for them. "'Kay, and you're both coming right back!" Stiles shouts after them. "Immediately!" When they don't respond, he just mutters, "Kids," and goes back to monitoring the security cameras.
Okay guys, I am 100% convinced that Liam has a pretty huge crush on Kira-- I mean, we all saw his face when he watched her walk(/fall) down the stairs in "The Benefactor," plus the smile on his face when she invited him to the "party" at Lydia's lake house. This episode just makes me believe it even more; he insisted on coming with her to the roof, helped protect her later when she gets knocked out, and refused to leave her behind when she yelled at him to leave. I'm not saying it's a crush in the way that he's going to try to pursue a relationship with her, but I really do think that he definitely has more than just friendly "you're my alpha's girlfriend which makes us friends" kind of feelings, you know? And I love it, because the two of them seem to have a very sweet friendship. It kind of reminds me a lot of the friendship between Isaac and Allison, back before it turned into a romantic/sexual relationship. And really, Kira seems to feel a lot of affection toward Liam, too, and it warms my heart because I just love Scott, Liam, and Kira so much, and the fact that the three of them are all getting so close just makes me so happy! On the other hand, maybe it's possible that Liam just didn't want to be left alone with Stiles? He has kind of been a dick to him lately. Who knows! Either way, all the amazing friendship/character moments in this episode are just flawless, imo.
Down in the vault, Malia is still clutching onto the file as Peter slowly stalks toward her, and starts circling around her in much the same way he did with Kate when they were both down there. He warns her that he can't allow her to take that file out of the vault, but Malia is not here to put up with any of Peter's bullshit. "Maybe you won't have a choice," Malia retorts, but Peter just looks at her, like, "Aw, that's adorable." Of COURSE, he would love to see that kind of fighting spirit in his offspring. Malia insists that she thinks she could take him, so Peter assumes that Malia has heard rumors of his lack of power since coming back from the dead, though all Malia will say is, "Something like that." Peter stares at her for a moment, before punching through one of the stone support columns next to him, breaking a huge piece of the corner into tiny pieces, to demonstrate just how wrong she is. First of all, this totally seems to support the theory that Peter has been draining Derek's powers, though I'm still not sure exactly HOW he's going about it. Secondly, why would he punch through a SUPPORT COLUMN? Like, does he want the roof to collapse on their heads or something? JFC. Anyway, Peter seems to be satisfied when Malia, whose eyes bugged out a little at his display of strength, hands him the file, but he just smirks. "I said you couldn't LEAVE with it. I didn't say you couldn't READ it."
Welp, it's twenty minutes into the episode, and we're JUST now seeing what Lydia's up to? What's up with that? I feel like she's been so isolated from the pack this season. :/ So, we're meeting up with her at the lake house's boat house, where she's carrying a lantern so she can investigate for clues regarding Meredith's connection to her family. She sets the lantern on a table and starts to look around, and naturally, it only takes a couple seconds before Lydia hears footsteps headed her way, which makes her freeze right in her tracks. I was seriously scared for her, because she's the second-most valuable name on the list, so shouldn't she have someone with her at all times to make sure no one tries to take her out? She doesn't have the same defensive abilities that the werecreatures have, so she should at least have SOMEONE with her who can help her defend herself if necessary. Hell, I don't think ANY of them should be alone until this whole deadpool thing is cleared up. ANYWAY, Lydia quickly grabs the oar that Kira used to knock out Liam, and turns to swing it at her possible assailant, only stopping just before she can whack her very-bewildered mother upside the head.
Lydia immediately asks her what the fuck she thinks she's doing, but Natalie is just, like, "I could ask you the same thing, chica." Lydia insists that she's not doing anything, and puts the oar back on its shelf. That's when she realizes that she never told her mother she was coming here, and asks her if she followed her. Natalie tries to play dumb and lies that she was just getting ready for the open house, but Lydia wastes no time calling her on it, so Natalie confesses that she did indeed follow Lydia there. "Honey, you come up here almost every weekend, sometimes even during the week. And, as far as I can tell, there's not a boy involved, so I really have no clue what you're up to." Lydia vaguely admits that she's just trying to figure out something important, but insists that her mother doesn't need to know every single detail of her life. Natalie agrees that, no, she doesn't, but she does want to help her figure out what she needs to know, if she can. Lydia, having no other leads, sighs and grabs the photo she found of Meredith in the banshee room, and asks her mom if she knows who she is. Natalie gapes when she sees the photo and incredulously asks, "Meredith Walker?" as though she's shocked that Lydia would even know who she is. Does anyone else get the feeling she's hiding something? Because seriously, she seems a little too chill about everything her daughter has been through in the last year or so.
Scott Dreamscape, Round Two! Just like the first dream Scott had, he wakes up in his little cubbie in the hospital morgue, realizes where he is, and crawls his way out. The tunnel turns into one of the lockers at the high school, and Scott pushes his way out of the locker door and tumbles to the floor while the fluorescent lights flicker above him. He picks himself up again and slowly makes his way down the hallway, until Liam calls out, "Catch!" and lobs a lacrosse ball at him. Scott once again stops and catches it, but is shocked to see that his claws and fangs came out without him realizing when he glances confusedly at the ball in his hand. He sees Liam standing in his lacrosse uniform a couple yards down the hall, as Liam smiles and says, "That's why you're the alpha!"
We cut to the locker room, where Scott is leaning against the furthest sink from the door, while Liam watches from behind him. He opens his mouth and examines his fangs in the mirror, which are just as pointy and deadly as they were last week. "There's something different, isn't there?" Liam asks, so Scott admits that he has more fangs than he used to, which he just noticed during the quarantine, and adds that he has no idea why they changed. "Maybe it's part of becoming an alpha," Liam suggests excitedly. "Like you're becoming more of a werewolf." Scott doesn't look as thrilled as Liam is, though, and just replies, "Or more of a monster." Liam argues that maybe it's making him stronger, like he's growing, but is cut off by the sound of a thump. Then, the Mute's robotic voice adds, "Evolving." Scott turns just in time to catch Liam as he falls into his open arms, the Mute's tomahawk buried between his shoulder blades. Scott gapes at the Mute in horror, but the Mute just raises his finger to his non-existent lips once again, before pointing at him with the same finger. God, these dreams would be absolutely HORRIFYING, jfc! Stupid unconscious mind.
In real life, Liam and Kira have just made it up to the roof, where they anxiously look around for any signs of sabotage or the Benefactor, but are stopped in their tracks when one of the transformers explodes in a burst of sparks. GOOD LORD, how many times has that transformer exploded/been tampered with, now? Twice? Three times? I've honestly lost track at this point. Liam figures that someone messed with it somehow, but when they hear a growling sound behind them, Kira turns to find the source of the explosion and the sound-- it's a berserker, who decided to show up and make things a million times more complicated for our heroes. Poor Liam! He hasn't had to deal with a berserker yet, has he? Brutal. Kira whips her sword out of her scabbard and flips in around before getting into a defensive position, just as Liam turns around slowly and glares at the berserker.
Honestly, as much as having to fight to defend yourself can and does suck, I feel like in a way, Liam kind of enjoys it, because it allows him to actually use and tap into the anger he's been working so hard to keep locked down since he's been turned. It finally gives him the opportunity to channel his anger into a mostly good thing (defending himself/his pack/innocent civilians) AND gives him much more strength to work with, as well-- we've seen and heard on multiple occasions that werewolves can use anger to increase their strength and stamina, especially where Derek and Scott are concerned, so I feel like this is very much the case with Liam, too. I dig it! I really just think Liam is a fantastic addition to the pack, now, AND I feel like being a werewolf in such a loving, connected pack of various supernaturals and humans (led by True Angel Scott McCall, of course) has done wonders for him, too. He seems happier, more in control, and a lot more compassionate, almost as though he feels like he has a purpose now that he didn't believe he had before. BASICALLY I LOVE LIAM DUNBAR OKAY. Don't look at me!
Inside the hospital, Chris is walking through the halls of the basement, clearly tense and on guard, considering their mission this evening. He senses someone coming up behind him, so he grabs one of his handguns (I don't know shit about guns, as I've said before, but this doesn't look like his 58-E Desert Eagle, which is made of steel-- this one is black, and I don't recognize it. Any gun aficionados know what he's using?) out of the back of his pants and draws it, only to find that it's just Stiles. Poor Stiles! His reaction to having yet another gun aimed at his head just about gives him a panic attack, especially after the Chemist almost killing him in the same way in last week's episode. Stiles gives Chris this look, like, "EVERYONE NEEDS TO STOP TRYING TO SHOOT ME," so Chris immediately stands down, while Stiles explains that since the power is now out in the entire building, he's lost every single one of the security camera feeds, which means they're essentially blind, unless they stake out the halls themselves. Chris' bright idea is to send the unarmed human to guard Scott's body, and insist that Stiles call him if he gets even the slightest feeling that something bad is going down. He checks the timer on his watch, which reads 18:02, which concerns Stiles enough to give him a loaded look before Chris heads off to track down our elusive Benefactor.
(via prettiestcaptain)
Meanwhile, Braeden is giving Derek some rudimentary weapons and fighting lessons at the loft. She sets a black handgun that looks similar to the one Chris was just carrying onto one of Derek's ancient history books that is laying open on the table. Guess my history-nerd Derek Hale headcanon is pretty much accurate, then! "This is a Sig Sauer P22 9MM," Braeden explains, but Derek is understandably and adorably wary. "I don't like guns," he states for the record, but Braeden argues that it's just because he grew up as a wolf and was never taught to use one. "Or because I've been shot," Derek deadpans in response. "Repeatedly." BAHAHA. No lies detected. I have also lost count of how many times Derek has been shot, because it's been WAY TOO MANY TIMES. Braeden insists that he'll like this gun, and picks it up so she can eject the clip and show him how to load it and unload it. "The legal clip size in California is ten," she continues. "You always want to remember how many shots you fire. Running out of bullets can get you killed. It also makes you look stupid." She puts the clip back in and grabs Derek's arm so she can shove the gun in his hand.
"But, using a gun isn't just about learning how to point and shoot," Braeden wisely points out. When Derek asks her why that is, she informs him that the average human can move 21 feet in 1.5 seconds, which means that if someone has a knife, they can charge at you and "gut you," in Braeden's words, before you even have time to pull the trigger, which is why the key to using guns is putting distance between yourself and your target. Damn! She is such a smart cookie, no wonder Derek is basically drooling over her. Chet Faker's "Gold" begins to play as Braeden circles around Derek and instructs him to try to pull the gun on her. Derek just smirks, because he's sure that he's got what it takes to do it, so he takes a breath and aims the gun at her. Of course, Derek totally overestimated his abilities, because it took her all of a millisecond to grab the gun out of his hand and turn it on him, and Derek's cute little embarrassed "Uhh, that's... soooo, yeah" as she hands the gun back to him makes me die laughing.
She's super amused by Derek's mild humiliation, so she asks him if he wants to try again, which of course he does. He takes another deep breath and tries to pull the gun on her even quicker, but she still disarms him easily. Derek blushes in embarrassment and insists that he wants to try one more time, and Braeden, clearly enjoying herself, just struts closer to him and croons, "I can do this allll day." Derek gives her the sweetest look, and she gets a little distracted staring at his beautiful face, so much so that she's not expecting Derek to launch himself at her and crash his lips against hers. The two make out for a moment until Derek points the gun at Braeden's ribs as he teases her by pulling away so that their lips are just inches apart. "You cheated," Braeden pouts playfully, but Derek just tangles his fingers in her hair and quips, "Learning to bend!" She teases him for a short moment before the two start making out again, and Derek wastes no time demonstrating that he still has SOME strength by picking her up and wrapping her legs around his waist, before turning them and sitting Braeden on his table. Braeden quickly tugs his shirt off as the two continue to go at it, and JFC IS IT HOT IN HERE, OR IS IT JUST ME? Uhhh... I'll be in my bunk.
(via teenwolf)
Back in the vault, Malia is reading her adoption file, which only has two pages and a photo of her right after she was born. According to the birth certificate, which has her little baby footprints stamped on the top, "Baby Malia" was born in Midtown Memorial Hospital. However, I'm pretty sure (or at least HOPING) that the prop people fucked up somehow, because it says that Malia's birthday is November 28, 1998, which means she would be fourteen years old (in the TW universe, where it is still 2012.) That makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever, considering the newspaper article from after Malia was found in the woods said she was eighteen years old. Basically, I'm not sure the prop people pay enough attention to this stuff. The other page, which is the record of her adoption, has barely no important information whatsoever, because this was the file that Peter was reading when the Mute hit him in the chest with his tomahawk in "Muted," so the page is bloody and has a huge hole in it where the tomahawk went through it, which is conveniently where all the important info would be. All we can glean from it is that the adoption was approved.
Needless to say, Malia is not impressed with how little she learned from this file. She sighs and returns the file to the safe, while Peter watches on curiously. "Wanna talk about it?" he asks sarcastically. "See a family counselor?" Malia reminds him that there's nothing in that file, but Peter is slightly offended, given the fact that he spent several thousand dollars getting his hands on that file. Did he hire a private investigator or something? I'm kind of interested in ho Peter gets all this information, tbh, especially considering he always seems to know things he shouldn't. Malia maintains that Peter got ripped off, but Peter is a little done with Malia's attitude towards him. "You know what happens when you only hear one side of a story?" he asks, as he circles around his daughter. "You only heard one side of the story." Malia just raises her eyebrows skeptically, like, "Yeah? And?" ATTA GIRL! Don't let him patronize you!
Over at the hospital, Liam and Kira are still on the roof with the berserker, and Liam has fully-wolfed out in preparation to fight. He whips his claws out and growls ferociously at the berserker before he lunges for it, swiping and clawing at its bone-covered chest. Unfortunately for him, the berserker blocks all of his hits, and ultimately grabs him in a choke-hold before it throws him into the chain-link fence surrounding the transformer. Kira jumps in to fight it while Liam is recovering, and swings her katana around like a goddamn PRO as she slices at it. Seriously, all that sword training Arden Cho went through to play Kira is seriously worth every penny, she looks amazing. I feel like she should probably be STABBING the thing with her sword though, instead of slicing it, because since the berserkers are humans covered in animal bones and skins, the bones give them some serious protection, and her sword doesn't seem to be hurting it at all. She needs to find a spot between the bones and stab it, tbh, though I imagine she's not really inclined to KILL the berserker, even if it's trying to hurt them. Just as Kira is about to hit it with another blow to the chest, the berserker punches her right in temple, causing Kira to fly in the air and land on the ground in a heap.
While Kira is knocked out, she has a flashback dream to what must have been a little while before Kira "killed" Scott with her foxfire, while "Heart To Know" by I Break Horses plays in the background. The two are laying on their sides facing each other on Scott's bed, in what is becoming Scott and Kira's signature shot when they're together in Scott's room. Kira maintains that they have a good plan, and asks him if he's worried. Scott replies that he was just thinking about something, and when she asks what it was, he points out that they're never been on a real date. "There hasn't been time," Kira responds empathetically. Scott smiles a wry smile and suggests that they could make time, but Kira just reminds him that it's kind of unlikely, since once again, people are dying all around them. He just sighs, and concedes that they could go on a real date once all of this deadpool stuff is over, a plan with which Kira is absolutely on board.
She thinks about it for a moment, and says that they could go to a movie, since she hasn't been to a movie in ages, and Scott just smiles at his awesome girlfriend and replies, "That sounds like a plan." Kira repeats that it's a good plan, before she leans over and kisses him softly. I LOVE THEM TOGETHER SO MUCH. Their relationship is so different from Scott's relationship with Allison-- while the latter was all teasing and passion, the former is slow-moving and sweet, though it's clear that they both have seriously deep feelings for each other and would pretty much do anything for each other, just like he felt with Allison. I think they're just what the other one needs right now, you know? Like they said, it's kind of not a good time for romance, since they're constantly under threat of death and trying to save others from the same fate, but they still manage to find little moments for each other anyway. UGH THEY ARE PERFECT.
Kira is ripped from her dream by the sounds of Liam desperately shouting, "Kira! Kira, get up! Kira!" It takes her a few moments to return to consciousness, so Liam frantically grabs her by the wrist and pulls her onto her feet. Finally, she opens her eyes, only to realize that she's still totally on the roof, in the middle of a fight with a berserker who just happened to show up while her boyfriend is on the brink of death and whose limited time is slowly dwindling second by second. Why must EVERYTHING THAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG GO WRONG AT THE SAME TIME? Like, this group can't just have one problem to focus on, they always have to be thrown like, a half dozen equally serious problems that are all ridiculously time sensitive. It is SO STRESSFUL.
Melissa and Noshiko are anxiously making their way through the darkened hallways of the hallway when Noshiko mutters, "I'm guessing that the power doesn't go out very often at this hospital." BAHAHAHAHAHA. That's hilarious. When is this hospital's power NOT going out? Melissa agrees, and retorts, "Only when under attack from supernatural creatures," as the two mamas turn into the room where the kids were monitoring the security cameras, which is totally empty. They stare in confusion at the kids' laptops, where the timer to how much time Scott has left reads "16:14."
Downstairs, Stiles is pacing around the morgue in front of where Scott's body is being stored, as he frantically tries to get a hold of Chris. "Come on, come on, answer the phone! Answer the phone, Argent! Come on, come on! WHY aren't you answering the phone?" Stiles gets his answer a second later, when Chris is thrown through the double doors of the room and tumbles to the floor. "Ahhh! Stiles, run! Stiles, get out of here!" Of course, Stiles is too worried about Chris to do what he's told, and it's not long before Stiles finds out who has been tossing Chris around outside-- Kate fucking Argent, looking fabulous as ever. After the break, Kate just stands dramatically in the doorway, while both Stiles and Chris stand protectively in front of where Scott is being stored. "Get out of the way, Stiles. I'm taking the body."
How did Kate know that Scott was "dead?" How did Peter? I DON'T UNDERSTAND. Stiles, as usual, can't help from sassing the person who is threatening him, and snits that she needs visual confirmation. Kate just sneers back, "Don't worry handsome, I'm not the Benefactor." Chris demands to know why she needs the body then, but Kate's not really in the mood for answering questions, and just replies, "I wish I could tell you." She looks like she's about to go after Stiles to get to Scott, so Chris lunges at her, and though Kate grabs his left arm before he can punch her, he is able to pull out his Desert Eagle and hold it under her chin. "I always forget you carry two," Kate groans in frustration.
Peter and Malia are still in the vault, where Malia is outlining the reasons why she's not inclined to trust or like Peter, regardless of their biological connection. "You murdered people. Not killed-- MURDERED." Peter tries to argue that he had extenuating circumstances, but Malia isn't taking his excuses. "Like what? The fire?" Peter confirms that yes, it was the fire, and though the fire doesn't exactly excuse the things he's done, he does give us a vivid picture as to what his state of mind was in the time between the fire and when he went on his murder-spree. "It nearly burned me alive. Six years in a coma, do you know what that's like for one of us? It's not a pleasant sleep. Imagine being trapped in your body, but still being fully cognizant. Unable to do anything but listen to your own thoughts slowly driving you absolutely and totally insane-- minute by minute, day by day." He insists that while he fully admits that he's done "horrible, terrible things," other people have as well. His main point is that since they're living on a fucking Hellmouth, horrible, terrible things are going to keep happening, especially considering Malia's name is on a deadpool for a not-insignificant amount of money.
Malia wastes no time reminding him that Peter's name is notably absent from the list, and to his credit, Peter doesn't even try to deny that yeah, that definitely makes him look suspicious as hell. Still, he not only insists that he's not the Benefactor, but he also claims that he's actually just looking out for Malia, because he's a guy who lost over a hundred million dollars, several thousand dollars of which he used to get those adoption records to try to help her. In fact, he even says, "How does the bad guy prove that he's not so bad? By doing an act of kindness." What is he trying to do to help his daughter, you ask? Apparently, he's been attempting to find her biological mother. Of course, before you start thinking he's suddenly changed into an altruistic person out of nowhere, he's also got his own motivations-- namely, that Talia took the memory of Malia AND her mother from him, so he has no idea who she is either, and he wants to know. Malia's too curious to resist taking the bait, and asks him what he's learned. Apparently, he's found a woman who MAY be her, though hasn't been able to find out her name. He has, however, managed to find her "particularly interesting alias"-- the Desert Wolf. "Do you know what that means?" Peter asks, and Malia's eyes grow wide as realizes what he's talking about, and she whispers, "Coyote." OMG. Okay, so I'm a little bummed that this means Kate prooooobably isn't Malia's mom like I was hoping, though admittedly, that was a pretty crack theory to begin with. BUT, this also makes a TON of sense, because how else would Malia end up a coyote? Plus, there are some interesting theories floating around that I'll get into more later.
Melissa and Noshiko are still wandering around the hospital, trying to figure out what the fuck is going on, when the lights start flickering again, and people in the adjacent hall begin screaming and shrieking as they run toward the emergency exit. Noshiko and Melissa just glance at each other in confusion, when the reason for all the alarm becomes quite clear-- the other berserker is stomping his way down the hall as it growls, with blood splattered all over the bear skull over its face. Both women are stunned, and Melissa just blurts out, "Ohhh, you still a kitsune?" "Technically," Noshiko replies, before the two women slowly turn around and start running back down the hallway the way they came. The berserker roars and quickly rushes after them. NOO, LEAVE MY FAVORITE PACK MOMS ALONE, OKAY?
(via johannamason)
Back at the lake house, Mama Martin and Lydia are still out in the boat house, where Lydia's mother is pulling an urn out of one of the cabinets. She admits that the urn contains Lydia's grandmother's ashes, and Lydia expositions for our benefit that Grandmama Martin died in Eichen House. "Your father had a difficult relationship with his mother. And after the things she said, and the way she acted..." Lydia correctly assumes that her dad figured she was crazy and had her committed, and when Natalie confesses that Grandmama Martin said that she heard things, Lydia's eyes grow wide, because she realizes that this could quite easily be her fate someday, in the case that she never tells her family what's up, or if her family doesn't believe her if she does. Lydia asks why her grandma would want to keep her ashes in the boathouse, of all places, but Natalie replies that actually, she wanted Lydia to spread them on the lake on her eighteenth birthday. Since Lydia is turning eighteen in a few weeks, Natalie figures that now is as good a time is any. I still don't get why they retconned Lydia's age-- didn't she just turn sixteen on her last birthday, which was only like, less than a year ago? Most juniors are only seventeen at the oldest. UGH.
ANYWAY, she hands the urn to Lydia, who takes it and awkwardly holds it before she bites the bullet and opens the urn. When she looks inside, though, she's completely puzzled, and nervously informs her mother that these are not Grandmama Martin's ashes. Of course, Natalie is like, "Uh, yeah they fucking are, what else would they be?" but when Lydia plunges her hand in the urn and pulls out a handful, she realizes that it's actually MOUNTAIN ASH, though, naturally, Natalie has no idea what that is. Lydia sighs and throws a handful toward the lake, and it makes a perfectly straight line across the doorway of the boat house, which leads to the revelation that THE WHOLE BOATHOUSE IS MADE OF MOUNTAIN ASH, OMG.
(via teenwolf)
Everyone keeps asking on Tumblr how Scott, Lydia, Kira, and Liam managed to get in if the whole building is made of mountain ash, but the reason they were able to is because the boundary wasn't complete. It's like at Scott's house, or the animal clinic-- the baseboards/walls have mountain ash, but it can't be used as a boundary unless it's an unbroken line, like when Stiles made a circle of it around the abandoned warehouse where the rave as in "Raving." That's why if the gate or the door is open in those places, supernaturals can get in just fine. Also, since banshees are known in the lore to be a Celtic supernatural creature, and mountain ash has also been established as being a magical object used by the Celtic druids, I think that's why Lydia was able to handle/activate the ash-- she may be a banshee, but she's also human, too, you know? So it doesn't affect her in the way that it affects the actual shapeshifters. Anyway, despite the fact that Lydia pretty much did magic in front of her, Natalie seems strangely zen about the entire thing. Maybe it's her latent memories from being Carol Lockwood on the Vampire Diaries in a past life that's letting her be so open-minded.
Back at the hospital morgue, Chris still has a gun pointed against Kate's head, and he screams at her to back the fuck off, but Kate just taunts him. "You sure you can pull that trigger fast enough?" Chris insists that he doesn't want to, but Kate maintains that Chris isn't going to kill her. "But I'm not going to let you take his body!" Chris screams desperately. Stiles is completely overwhelmed, and tries to ease the tension by suggesting that they both catch up over some coffee from the vending machine, but the Argents continue fighting as though he had never even spoken. "Listen to me, Kate!" Chris pleads. "We have a plan!" Kate just sneers that if killing Scott was part of his ~plan~, that he's even worse than she is, but Stiles admits that he's telling the truth, and that they're just trying to find the Benefactor. Chris reminds her that she's on the list, and is only beat in value by Scott, Lydia, and Derek, but Kate claims that her name being on the list is the reason why she's trying to figure out who the Benefactor is, too. Chris, desperately trying to protect Scott AND find the Benefactor, begs his sister to take the berserkers and leave, and let them do what they came here to do, so they can all get what they want. Kate seems skeptical, but when she sees the timer on Chris' smart watch ("03:05"), she eventually concedes to his demands.
Up on the roof, Liam is still fully wolfed out as he is once again thrown to the ground, his face covered in bloody scratches, just as an equally bloodied Kira yells at Liam to run and get the hell out of there while she continues to fight it with her katana. Liam's not about to leave Kira up there by herself, though, so he musters up all of his energy to pull himself up to his feet, despite Kira's continued cries to run away. He roars angrily at the berserker and launches himself on top of the hospital's transformer, which he uses to give him the height necessary to leap onto the berserker's head in another really awesome looking shot. YEAH LIAM! GET IT!
And, now we've arrived for part three of Scott's dreamscape! Once again, he wakes up in his morgue cubbie, before crawling his way out of the scary tunnel/locker and onto the floor of the hallway at the school. This time, though, he seems to be expecting everything that is about to happen, but it's much different this time around. Liam's voice still calls out, "Catch!" but instead of being thrown a lacrosse ball, he's thrown the Mute's bloody tomahawk. When Scott looks down, he finds Liam laying prone on the ground, with a bloody wound in his chest. Liam groans in pain and asks him why he did that, just as the lights flicker ominously overhead. The Mute suddenly appears behind him and takes his arm so he can demonstrate how to use the tomahawk to greatest effect. "Let me help you," the Mute says in his robotic voice. "Let me show you how." Scott seems to be struggling against the Mute's grip, as he watches Liam gasping in pain and fear, but when the Mute lets go, Scott raises his arm above his head of his own accord, and Liam freezes in horror as Scott violently hacks at Liam with the tomahawk over and over and over.
We don't see Liam being injured, thankfully, but we DO see Scott's fanged, red-eyed face as it gets splattered with more and more blood, which immediately gets filed into the "hot but scary" category. A lot of people seem to think that this is the beginning of a darkside!Scott arc, and while I'm a little open to the idea, I'm really just thinking that the whole point of these dreams is to prepare Scott (and us) for the fact that Scott is probably going to have to kill someone in the near future. I'll get into that more later, though, because right now, as Scott roars his alpha roar at what must be Liam's mangled corpse by this point, we get flashes of lightning and Kira's worried face overhead as she desperately tries to shock his heart back into rhythm. After what feels like FOREVER, Scott finally awakes with the loudest gasp to find Kira, Chris, and Stiles standing around him, all of whom look extremely relieved that he's fully back in the world of the living.
(via teenwolf)
Kira can't help but gently take his face into her hands and kiss him as he catches his breath, and once he's fully aware of what's going on, he worriedly asks them if their plan worked. For the record, Kira's face is still covered in blood from her fight, and quite frankly, she looks absolutely exhausted, and Chris and Stiles are looking pretty shell-shocked themselves, which seems to be the entire pack's (and their allies') constant state of being at this point. While the three of them don't explicitly say it was a total failure, he can tell by the looks on their faces that it didn't work out, and before he can ask anymore questions, Liam enters the morgue. Though he's no doubt relieved to see his alpha and friend alive and well, he's come bringing bad news-- Kira's mom's been hurt.
Out in the hall, Melissa, whose face and arms are also covered in blood, is holding Noshiko in her arms as she helps her apply pressure to the deep claw wound in Noshiko's side from the berserker with her bare hands. Noshiko is fading fast, but Melissa doesn't take shit from anyone, especially not when they're grievously injured, so she just insists that Noshiko hang on and stay with her until they can get her real medical attention. Suddenly, Dr. Geyer appears and asks Melissa what the fuck happened, but Melissa pretty much just says it doesn't matter and asks for his help getting her off the floor so they can start treating her.
Kate returns to her current lair in the city's sewers, her shotgun slung across her back, and walks toward where Peter is waiting for her under a stream of sewer water. Gross, Peter! You wouldn't want to get your deep-v all dirty, would you? "You were right," Kate states in lieu of a greeting. "He's still alive." Peter looks like he's about to pee his pants in glee as he replies, "Thank GOD." HOW DID HE KNOW SCOTT WAS "DEAD?" HOW DID KATE? So, Peter is basically blatantly planning on fighting Scott with the intention to kill him and take his power, right? And since he was previously a weakling who didn't stand a chance against a true alpha, he had to steal his nephew's werewolf strength in order to give himself the boost he needed? GOD I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.
(via teenwolf)
Stiles has just returned home to his bedroom, where he finds Malia bent over Stiles' desk, staring at the third deadpool list when her name on it. Stiles stops in the doorway and greets her, and when she doesn't respond, he awkwardly asks her where she's been since the quarantine. She freely admits that she went to go talk to Peter, just as Stiles suspected she would before she even found out, and though you can tell that Stiles doesn't want to push her away by being too judgmental or preachy,he can't help but ask her if she thinks that's really a good idea. "If he can help me find my mother, I don't think I care," Malia replies sadly. Stiles gulps nervously and walks toward her as he reminds her that while she may be related to him, she's not LIKE him, but Malia isn't so sure. Did some kind of conversation happen between Malia and Peter off-camera or something? Because I don't get what happened to make her get so down all of a sudden. She walks over to his crime board, which is filling up FAST, and pulls off a piece of tape so she can hang the third deadpool list up next to the rest. "That night I caused the car crash?" she begins, but Stiles cuts her right off and reminds her that it was her first full moon, so it's not her fault she didn't have control. Malia plows on, though, and admits that she didn't tell him everything.
(via maliastate)
God, this scene was so good, and Dylan and Shelley both did SUCH GOOD WORK, oh my god. When Malia admits what she said to her family before she inadvertently killed them, the look on her face, coupled with the way that her nostrils kind of flared as she desperately tried to keep from crying, just like SHATTERED my heart. She grabs the list and tapes it onto the board before quickly rushing out the door, leaving Stiles once again all by himself. UGH I JUST WANT THEM BOTH TO BE HAPPY, IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?
"Sweet Lover" by Justin Nozuka plays as Derek wakes up in his bed after what must have been some seriously exhausting and bendy sex with Braeden, and smiles when he sees her snoozing next to him, all snuggled up against his chest. He gently moves her arm from over his chest so he can get up, and Braeden just rolls over onto her side and goes back to sleep. He saunters over toward the table, where all of Braeden's various handguns, shotguns, and assault rifles are lined up neatly, and he leans against the table and considers his options. His abdomen is still bandaged from when Braeden fixed him up earlier, almost as a reminder that he's gotta start thinking like a human now. As much as I want Derek to be a werewolf, I also want him to be safe, or at the very least ALIVE, so if learning how to use guns and fight from a cash-loving mercenary does that, I'm totally onboard, tbh. Not to mention she seems to make him pretty happy, which makes me happy, so woot!
Over at Scott's house, he's sitting cross-legged on his bed across from Kira, and they're bot holding each other's hands, like they're a drawbridge. He's also wearing a Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital tshirt, which is SUPER adorable to me, for some reason. Kira exposits that Noshiko was taking to a hospital in Palo Alto for more specialized treatment of her injuries, and adds that they even took her there in a helicopter. Scott clearly feels really bad about her mother being hurt, and asks if she's going to be okay, but Kira seems sure that she will, though she does concede that she's worried, since Noshiko doesn't heal the way she used to. Kira admits that she needs to be there with her, especially since her name is still on the deadpool, but Scott agrees wholeheartedly and encourages her to go be with her mom while she heals. He also mentions that he has to go back to the hospital anyway, since Liam's step-dad is quite understandably freaking out about the fact that Scott was legally dead for forty-five minutes before somehow magically coming back to life, and wants to do some tests to make sure he's okay.
GOD WHY DO I HAVE SUCH A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS. I just have this horrible sense that Liam's dad is either somehow going to start being suspicious of Scott (and, by extension, Liam and all of the rest of Scott's friends), since Liam's story seems to be parallel to Scott's when he was first bitten, and Scott had a TON of problems trying to hide everything from Melissa before she found out. There has also been speculation that Liam's dad is an assassin, or the Benefactor, and while I'm not 100% convinced, it seems as likely a theory as anything else, tbh. ANYWAY, Kira assumes that, yeah, Dr. Geyer is probably going to have a lot of questions, and laments the fact that their plan didn't work, because despite the risk, it WAS a good plan. However, Scott's not sure that their mission was a total bust. "Yeah, I've been thinking about that, too," he begins. "And, actually, I think maybe it DID work. Not that I know exactly who the Benefactor is, but we might know a lot more about him, now." Kira reminds him that no one came, and no one got visual confirmation, but Scott figures that's the point-- "THAT'S why it might have worked! Think about it-- who has the power to know when someone is dead, but doesn't need to see the body to know it happened?" Kira thinks about this for a moment, and finally realizes where Scott's going with this: a banshee! OH SHIT. Scott just smiles and points a finger at her proudly, and GOD, WHY ARE THEY SO FUCKING CUTE?
Speaking of banshees, Lydia and Natalie are digging through more of Lydia's grandmother's stuff in the boat house, where Natalie hands Lydia a sheet of paper that apparently has the last thing that Grandmama Martin wrote down before she died. "I don't even know why I kept it, because it's basically nonsense," Natalie mutters. When Lydia unfold the paper, though, her eyes widen in shock, and after a moment, she asks her mother if she knows for sure that her grandmother is dead. "Yes!" Natalie insists, though after Lydia gives her a skeptical look, she add, "I mean, she has to be!" Lydia just sighs, and confesses, "This isn't nonsense... it's a code." When the camera angle turns, we see that Grandmama Martin had written a suspiciously similar code to the one that Lydia accidentally transcribed in one of her banshee fugue states. HOLY SHIT.
Next week, according to the promo: Derek, Braeden, and Parrish team up to discuss the deadpool, while the school has a bonfire. Of course, it wouldn't be a day in Beacon Hills if there weren't more assassins flooding into the area, and it looks like both the pack AND Parrish are targets. NOO!
[screencaps via Screencapped]
Click HERE to read my next recap of Teen Wolf!
NOTES/SPECULATION/QUESTIONS: (DISCUSSION OF PROMOS/TRAILERS BELOW, SO SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT)
-Alright, let's talk about Lydia's grandmother/family. Everyone seems to think that she's the Benefactor, but I honestly don't think that's true. I actually think that if she is still alive, she's being held captive by the Benefactor as a form of insurance to make sure that none of the assassins try to pull a fast one on him by faking someone's death to collect the money. She might have known what was coming, and the fact that Lydia would be a target, hence the vague instructions with the mountain ash and whatnot. Also, from what it sounds like, could banshees come of age at 18, unless their power is activated by, say, oh, getting bitten by a sociopathic, murderous alpha? Also, how long ago did she die? Maybe Lydia hadn't been attacked by Peter yet, and that's why she instructed Lydia to spread her "ashes" on the lake to create a protective fortress in case of emergencies when she turned eighteen? But then again, the mountain ash can only protect her from other supernaturals-- it seems that the majority of the assassins are human, so I'm not sure how that could help her in the case of the deadpool. THERE IS SO MUCH I NEED TO KNOW IMMEDIATELY.
-Speaking of the deadpool, there is a theory floating around based on the promo of this week (which has Lydia admitting that her grandmother wrote the code of the deadpool to Stiles, and showing him another deadpool list with her grandmother's name on it) that suggests that this deadpool is actually something that has been happening once a decade for at least two decades, if not longer. The consensus seems to be that Kate (and possibly Gerard) were assassins in the last deadpool, and that Kate set the Hale fire as a way to take out the entire Hale pack in one sweep. If THAT'S the case, then maybe Grandmama Martin knew that Lydia would be coming of age right around the time when the next deadpool would be getting started, which would kind of explain the mountain ash and whatnot. It seems like kind of a bad time to be selling that lake house, doesn't it? It seems like Lydia's gonna be needing the banshee room to try to get some answers? And maybe it was even Grandma Martin (either alive or dead) who has been helping Lydia and Meredith by giving them the cipher keys.
-I've seen a lot of people who are suspicious of Braeden because of her relationship with Derek, but I'm sorry, I just don't see it. Despite all her talk of only caring about money, and her comments that she would kill Scott if the money was good, all of her actions have completely defied her words. In fact, pretty much everything she's done in the show has been to help the pack, starting with when she risked her life to save Isaac, and then while she was still healing, risked her life AGAIN to warn Scott about the Alpha Pack going after him. Then, the next time we saw her, she was saving Derek (and, reluctantly, Peter), and didn't even give them shit when they refused to leave until they got Talia's claws back. She then was hired by the Calaveras to find Kate in La Iglesia, and even though her job wasn't to save Derek, she still helped them do so. Not to mention the fact that between Scott, Lydia, Kira, and Derek, Braeden could be paid $66 MILLION to kill them, and we have yet to see her even attempt to do so. With all those guns in Derek's apartment, it would have been ridiculously easy to take him out, and yet she hasn't. I mean, I'm not going to say that I'm 100% sure that Braeden is legit, but I just don't think it's likely that she's going to fuck our heroes over.
-Alright, let's talk about Malia's biological mother, yeah? I'm guessing that since Malia is the only werecoyote we've officially met, we haven't actually been introduced to her yet. There really isn't much out there in regards to her identity, but I did read one theory where Malia's mom is Coyote, the trickster god(dess). After learning about "the trickster" stories from the nogitsune (the raven, the coyote, and the fox) and having met several foxes already, it makes sense that we would be learning more about the other two, as well. There are PLENTY of theories as to who the raven could be (the big guesses seem to be Jordan Parrish, Lydia, and Stiles), we haven't heard much in the way of coyotes, probably because the fandom seems to be split on whether they like or hate Malia. Anyway, I think Malia's mother being Coyote would be an amazing addition to the existing mythology, and I'm actually really excited about where this storyline is headed.
-Like I said earlier, I think Scott's dreams in this episode really showed us a lot about what he's clearly been struggling with for a while, possibly since he became an alpha and ritually sacrificed himself with Stiles and Allison to find their parents. I was actually really disappointed when it seemed that the show was dropping the ~darkness around their hearts~ thing, because Deaton made it seem like such a big deal, and then they all just seemed to magically get over it. Now, I'm wondering if maybe they all just got so wrapped up with the nogitsune and the oni that they just once again compartmentalized their darkness so they could deal with it. Now, Allison is dead, Stiles has to deal with all that darkness PLUS the guilt of everything he did and felt while he was possessed, and Scott is once again having heaps and heaps of responsibility being thrust upon him when all he wanted to do was have one semester where he could focus on school and being a normal teenager.
With Scott, he always puts everyone ahead of himself, and he's much more concerned with making sure everyone else is okay than he is thinking/worrying about his own shit. So, now that we're touching on his inner darkness again, everything seems to make more sense-- with everything that has been going on since "Lunar Ellipse," of COURSE Scott is going to be avoiding thinking about the implications of being an alpha and his fears of becoming the same kind of monster that Peter was/is in favor of making sure his pack stays alive. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Scott values their lives ahead of his own, and the only reason why he ever worries about his own survival is because he's afraid that if he WASN'T there, then all of his loved ones (his parents, his friends' parents, his pack) would be even more at risk of being hurt or killed. So, his survival is only important to him in the way that he doesn't want his family and pack to suffer without him, emotionally or physically.
All this said, we already know that dreams are the human mind's way of sorting stuff that we're having difficulty understanding/accepting. This is also why we so often dream of things we DON'T want to think about-- it's like our brains know exactly what we're trying to repress, and they use our dreams to force us to confront it. So, with Scott's first dream, he's being shown a "deadpool" which has the names of four assassins who Scott is supposed to kill. Liam acts as the devil's advocate, by arguing that Scott is the alpha, and as such, it's his responsibility to take out the assassins to protect the rest of the supernaturals in his town. Scott is then shown the potential consequences of doing nothing when Liam is attacked by the Mute right in front of him, while Scott is too shocked and afraid to do anything. The lesson of this dream is basically what Agent Douchenozzle was trying to explain to Scott: it sucks, but sometimes you have to take a life in order to save one, though that doesn't mean that it isn't hard to deal with, or an easy thing to do.
In his second dream, it's very much the same, although it touches a lot more on what Scott's true fear really is involving killing people-- he's afraid that if he does kill someone, he'll start to like it, like Peter, or Deucalion. Remember Derek and Deucalion's conversation all the way back in "Unleashed?" "You want me to kill my own pack?" "No, I want you to kill ONE of them. Do that, and I won't have to ask you to kill the others-- you'll do it on your own." This very much describes Scott's mindset where killing is concerned, because let's face it, Scott's experience with alphas has NOT been pleasant; he's only really had Peter, Derek, and Deucalion/the Alpha Pack as examples. It's why I'm kind of pissed that Deaton didn't introduce Satomi to Scott, because I think she would be an excellent mentor for him, in addition to Derek. ANYWAY, so though Liam once again plays devil's advocate in this dream, suggesting that being an alpha/becoming more of a werewolf could be a good thing, because it could give him the strength he needs to overpower the people gunning for their deaths right now, but Scott continues to worry that it's going to make him more of a monster. Then, once again, Liam is attacked by the Mute, and Scott is too shocked and horrified to stop it.
The third dream perfectly outlines Scott's fear of becoming a bloodthirsty killer. The Mute gives him his tomahawk and shows him how to use it to kill Liam, much in the same way Peter used his alpha-sway over him to try to get Scott to kill his friends/pack in "Night School," and when Deucalion tried to get him to kill Jennifer in "Lunar Ellipse." The Mute's "Let me help you, let me show you how" is suspiciously similar to Deucalion's "Maybe you just need a bit of guidance" in that episode. Then, when the Mute lets go of Scott, he starts hacking away at Liam, getting more and more violent as his face is splattered with blood, and by the end, Scott is smiling and roaring in dominance over Liam's mangled corpse. This is by far his worst fear (and not just with Liam, it could just as easily be Stiles, or Kira, or Lydia, or Malia, or his mother, though Liam is just a little bb beta, so it makes sense that this would be who is threatened in his dreams-- if he really is afraid of turning into Peter, who tried to turn his beta into a weapon to be used against his enemies, or Deucalion, who killed all of his own betas for more power and tried to get Derek and Scott to do the same, then being afraid of killing Liam fits right in with their actions. Still, like I said earlier, I don't think this is a signal that we'll be getting a dark!Scott arc, though I'm not at all opposed to the idea. I think that these dreams are just trying to communicate to him that there is a third option-- he has the power and strength (physically, and character-wise) to take out someone in self-defense/to protect his loved ones if necessary, without succumbing to his dark, monster-y instincts. I mean, Scott is a true alpha BECAUSE he has unbreakable strength of will and virtue, you know? So if anyone can keep himself from turning into a literal monster, it's Scott McCall.
-So, what the fuck is Kate and Peter's plan? It seems pretty obvious that Peter wants to take Scott out and be the alpha again, but what does Kate get out of it? I feel like learning control over her jaguar side isn't enough to make her inclined to work with the guy who killed her, you know? And besides, if Peter is alpha again, won't he technically be KATE'S alpha, since he's the one who created her? That's a terrifying thought. I don't know if pack dynamics change with werejaguars, since they're actually felines, not canines, but having Kate as a "beta" to Peter's alpha is still scary as hell. Honestly, part of me is hoping that Kate's planning on fucking him over somehow/killing him. That'd be a great way to redeem her, don't you think? Because seriously, Peter has overstayed his welcome.
-Alright, so does anyone have any theories about Parrish before this week's episode airs and we finally get our reveal? I still am convinced he's a phoenix, though I do still wonder if he's not some kind of angel/celestial, or maybe a raven. There are still quite a few people who believe that Parrish is also somehow Camden Lahey, since they're both the same age and were in the army, and if he really is a phoenix, then it's possible he was "reborn" after he "died" and just didn't remember. I don't think it's that likely now that Isaac is gone, but I wouldn't be at all disappointed if it ended up being true.
-Speaking of last guesses, any more theories about the Benefactor's true identity? I have read so many compelling arguments for, like, two dozen different characters that I honestly don't think I'll be surprised, regardless of who it ends up being. The big guesses seem to be Gerard, Victoria, Chris, Brunsky, Danny, Lydia's grandmother, Papa Hale, Agent Douchenozzle, Liam's stepdad/Dr. Geyer, Mr. Harris (who's body was never found, so he might not actually be dead), Jennifer Blake, Stiles (still possessed by the nogitsune somehow, natch, since he wouldn't do it voluntarily) and Lydia (being controlled somehow by someone, which seems dumb to me, because why would we recycle that storyline?) I'm interested to hear your theories though, so hit me with your best ones!
Alright, so I know I'm always crowing about how every episode of Teen Wolf is the best episode of the season/ever, but seriously, you guys-- "Time of Death" is one of my favorite episodes of this season, if not my favorite. There is just SO much to love about it: there was TONS of Liam, Derek was in a hilariously sassy and playful mood all day and managed to have some hot sex with Braeden (FINALLY!), we got backstory on Malia and Lydia's families, some adorable Scott/Kira moments, a badass mother team-up (MELISSA AND NOSHIKO SHOULD JUST RULE THE WORLD TBH) and Chris defending Scott against Kate! Not to mention all of the drama surrounding Scott's "death" and the implications of the dreams he had while he was out. Basically, this episode is an instant classic, and not only was it entertaining, but visually, it was completely STUNNING, even more so than usual. Episode 8 of a Teen Wolf season can be very hit or miss (for example, season 2's "Raving" was DEFINITELY a hit, while 3A's "Visionary" was not so much) but I absolutely loved this week's episode. It set up quite a bit for the last four episodes, which are always an absolute shit show, so as usual, we are in for a wild ride to the end! I'm both ridiculously nervous/worried AND excited, not to mention how bittersweet it is that we're somehow already 2/3 of the way through the season now? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN SO FAST?
So, yeah, strap on your helmets and seat belts, babies, because this is gonna be a doozy.
Previously, on Teen Wolf: While the junior year contingent of the McCall Pack showed up at school on Saturday morning to take the PSATs, they managed to get themselves infected with a variant of canine distemper, created by an assassin uncleverly referred to as The Chemist, which made the humans all rashy and made the werecanines unable to control their animal sides. While he was sick, Scott inadvertantly revealed that he had grown some vicious looking fangs. Scott also found a duffel bag full of a half a million dollars in cash in Garrett's locker, which also contained a cassette tape with instructions from the Benefactor to the assassins; specifically, the tape emphasized that visual confirmation of the assassination is required by the Benefactor before they can be paid. Lydia tried to use her grandmother's banshee room and a box full of Meredith's personal effects to communicate with Meredith and apologize for her awful behavior before she (allegedly) committed suicide in her room at Eichen House. Included in Meredith's stuff was a picture of her standing in the lake house's banshee room, which means there's definitely a connection between her and Lydia's family. The Chemist held a gun to Stiles' head and threatened to kill him if he didn't tell him where a deathly ill Scott, Kira and Malia were hiding, but Agent Douchenozzle came out of nowhere and saved Stiles by shooting the Chemist in the head. Lydia and Allison figured out, with help from Lydia's banshee powers, that Peter is Malia's biological father, and Scott suggested to Stiles that they needed to tell Malia what they know, though Stiles was sure that the reveal would just push Malia towards Peter, who would ultimately end up manipulating her like he does to everyone. Unfortunately for Stiles, that ended up being a self-fulfilling prophecy, because Malia found the deadpool list (which had her listed as "Malia Hale") in his coat pocket and figured out the truth before the gang had a chance to fill her in themselves, leading to a silent confrontation that indicated that Stiles and Malia's relationship is definitely on the rocks. Which is where we pick up this week!
Our cold open this week is once again in Stiles' room, where he is restlessly tossing and turning in his bed. As the camera pans toward Stiles' pajama-clad body in the bed, we get a pretty good glimpse of the back of Stiles' crime board, which is absolutely COVERED in crime scene photos, print-outs of the deadpool lists, newspaper articles, and other bits of information. Connections between different events/people are connected by lines of red tape, and he's scribbled notes and captions under the various taped-up photos and articles in dry-erase marker. Stiles sighs and turns onto his right side, before groaning and flipping back onto his left side. We get a nice close-up of his glassy, whiskey-colored eyes, before the angle turns, and we see Malia lying next to him on his right, her eyes closed in an attempt to sleep. "Who Will Love Me" by Jerome Holloway starts to play while he stares at her intently and wiggles into a better position. She stirs at the movement around her, and after a moment, she just mumbles, "What?" Stiles reminds her that he always sleeps in the middle of the bed, but she's too tired to move, so she's just like, "Whatever, deal with it." He flips onto his back, and Malia reflexively snuggles into his chest as he wraps his arm around her, but once she's settled, it's clear that he's not comfortable at all, and is now wide awake.
"Yeah, I can't sleep unless I'm in the middle," Stiles admits with a groan, as he sits up and pulls his arm out from under her neck. "Then we spoon," Malia retorts as she turns onto her right side, which is a plan with which Stiles wholeheartedly agrees. At least, in theory-- he cuddles up behind her and wraps one arm around her waist as he puts the other one above Malia's head on the pillow, but it takes all of ten seconds before Stiles' arm starts to go to sleep, and he starts flexing it to start to get the feeling back. Annoyed, Malia just shoves him away from her, so Stiles reluctantly turns so that they're back to back. LOL, I relate to this scene SO MUCH, because I am a huge insomniac, while my boyfriend is in the military and has learned over the years how to literally sleep anywhere at any time, so I'm always just rolling around while he's just like, "OH MY GOD, WOULD YOU STOP ALREADY?" ANYWAY, after a few moments, Stiles starts to get pouty at the lack of contact between them, so he just whines, "Well, I don't like THIS!"
Malia just sighs exasperatedly and deadpans, "I'm gonna kill you," before she sighs and physically flips both of them over so she can grab Stiles' waist with one arm, solidifying the fact that Malia really is ALWAYS the big spoon, and it's the fucking BEST. Stiles seems a little embarrassed at first, but then he realizes how awesome it is, and is like, "I think this is good!" He wiggles a little bit, and smiles such a cute smile as he adds, "Yeah, this is good!" Malia nods sleepily and nuzzles her face into the back of his neck. UNFORTUNATELY, reality smacks Stiles right in the face when he opens his eyes, only to realize that Malia isn't there, and he was just dreaming. NOOOO! He can't sleep because she's not there! UGH WHY CAN NOBODY HAVE NICE THINGS. Stiles sits up, realizes that everything sucks, and throws himself back down upon his pillows in the most angsty fashion as he stares at the ceiling.
Meanwhile, across town, Agent Douchenozzle is sitting at his desk at the Sheriff's station, where he's counting the bullets in the clip of his service weapon before depositing them in an evidence bag, and doing the same for his gun. He pulls out his phone and accesses his audio recording app so he can dictate his notes for his report. "Preliminary notes on firearm discharge incident," he begins, stress evident in his voice. He continues in voiceover as we cut to Scott waiting in the bullpen for him, who is, as usual, eavesdropping on everything his dad is saying. (That's not at all a slight on my bb Scott-- if I had super-hearing, I would do the exact same thing, tbh.) "Assailant armed with sound-suppressor-equipped Walther P88." He flashes back to the Chemist holding the barrel of the gun to Stiles' forehead, as Stiles just stares at him numbly.
"Having heard the perpetrator's threat and countdown, I made visual confirmation of the weapon pressed to the potential victim's head." In flashback, Stiles' face immediately shifts from cold anger to intense fear when the Chemist made it to two, and just as he's SURE he's about to die, his face is covered in blood splatter when ADN made a flawless headshot and killed the Chemist before he could kill Stiles. "Determining the danger to be imminent, I felt no choice but to respond with the use of deadly force." ADN shuts off his recording, while Scott stands in the hallway and feels so stressed about the fact that he almost died, horrified at the fact that Stiles was nearly killed while he was too incapacitated to protect him, even MORE horrified at the fact that his dad had to kill him to protect him, and guilty about the fact that he's still lying his pants off to his dad about what is going on. Poor bb. :(
ADN finally makes his way out to the bullpen and immediately apologizes for making Scott wait so long when it's so late. Scott just chuckles nervously and reminds him that since it's not like he's going to school tomorrow, being up late is not a big deal. Wow, are they actually canceling school because of this? I mean, Beacon Hills stays in session when they have no electricity! They didn't even bat an eye when a bus driver was horrifically killed on campus in season 1, or when Deputy Tara was killed and placed on top of the school's sign in season 3A, or when a bunch of their teachers mysteriously went missing and/or ended up dead. I guess a whole class of juniors being infected to a smallpox variant is a serious enough threat. ANYWAY, I digress! "Well, unfortunately, I'm gonna have to drive up to San Francisco tonight. Um, I'll need to do a review at the field office, but I'll be back as soon as I can." He waits a beat, and then admits that he might have to miss Scott's first game of the season, but Scott assures him that it's totally okay, but ADN seems to be really, really trying to be more responsible. He insists that missing the game is a big deal to him, and that this time around, he's making sure to keep his promises. Part of me thinks it's too little, too late, but Scott seems to have forgiven him, so I probably should, too. Besides, I AM impressed that he seems to be putting in so much effort to make things right. Am I going to have to stop calling him Agent Douchenozzle? I hope not!
Scott smiles at his dad's attempts to be a good dad, for once, but ultimately becomes distracted when he sees the gun and bullets in his dad's hands and remembers that his dad just killed someone just hours (I'm guessing) ago. Scott has always had a hard time dealing with murder; back in season 1, he was more or less willing to kill Peter because 1) he was completely overwhelmed with being a werewolf and having to hide it from everyone and having to avoid getting killed by hunters or being forced to kill his friends by Peter, and 2) Peter had killed nearly a dozen people, so in his mind it was more or less justified. But then when the time came, he hesitated, and even got kind of upset that Derek had killed him, because in the end, killing wasn't something he could bring himself to do. Then, throughout seasons 2, 3A, and 3B, Scott saw more innocent people and loved ones being killed than most people ever deal with in a lifetime, and that was enough to really solidify his belief that it wasn't right for people to kill each other, even if you really think they deserve it. But, unfortunately for Scott, he lives in a very morally gray world where people are constantly killing others, and it's clear that he's having an internal struggle with himself over the fact that sometime, he may have to kill someone to save someone else, and this is the first glimpse we get that he's clearly been trying not to think about this possibility.
ANYWAY, so ADN notices Scott's apprehension and hesitantly says, "What I did? It was necessary. Justifiable. You know that, right?" And the thing is, Scott DOES know that-- from what we know, had ADN not killed the Chemist, our Stiles would have most likely gotten a bullet in the brain, and we all know that Scott would NEVER be able to handle that. But again, seeing it is just bringing up stuff that Scott clearly does NOT want to even consider, and so he keeps trying to push it down and lock it up so he won't have to think about the possibility that he'll have to do the same thing. However, instead of answering his dad's question, Scott asks his own in answer-- has he killed someone in the line of duty before? ADN confesses that he's killed two other people in the line of duty, and adds that it isn't easy to take another person's life, even if they don't really give you a choice in the matter, just as how the Chemist didn't really give him a choice-- if it's between a killer and an innocent kid, the choice seems pretty obvious. "How do you deal with it?" Scott asks, and I just have to point out how much Tyler Posey has improved as an actor, because his acting in this scene/this episode in general is next-level, especially the way that he clearly seems desperate for answers, but is trying his hardest to make it just seem like curiosity for his dad's sake.
"You look at it logically," ADN admits, after a moment's hesitation. "Without emotion. You... you compartmentalize." Scott asks him how he manages to do THAT, but ADN evades the question, and awkwardly jokes that he used to deal by drinking. Scott's face is seriously heartbreaking, which doesn't escape his dad's notice, so ADN wraps his boy up in a tight hug, which seems to almost startle Scott. I'm guessing it's been a while since he's been hugged by his old man. ADN almost seems embarrassed as he puts away, like he's a little overwhelmed by this heart-to-heart full of serious confessions and whatnot, so he just laughs nervously before he musters up the nerve to bring up something that he's clearly been thinking about since he came back to town. "One other thing..." he begins, and Scott's smile immediately falls when he realizes where his dad is going with this. "When I get back, we have to talk about some stuff." Scott tries to use his best poker face, but he can't help but look wary, which his dad notices. "You and your friends, the way you guys handle things... it doesn't seem to faze you like it should. It's like... you guys know something I don't." Scott is clearly panicking internally, and though he opens his mouth to speak up, nothing comes out, so ADN just plows on. "When I get back, I'd like to be in the know." Scott, who is speechless, just nods in assent, so ADN wraps his arm around him and leads him out of the station so they can go home.
Honestly, the way Agent Douchenozzle going about this shows that he actually did take what Melissa said to heart in "The Divine Move." He's not being aggressive, he's not pushing, he's not demanding-- he's calmly informing his son that he would really like it if they would clue him into what's going on, in such a way that Scott would definitely be more inclined to agree. That's progress, yeah? Besides, it's seriously about time he got read in-- I'm still not that sure what's going on with him, but maybe best case scenario, they have another person in the police/federal agent pool who could help them out? He's seen WAY too much, anyway, and I can't imagine what he thinks must be going on here. First there was the whole fight over Jennifer Blake at the hospital in "The Overlooked," followed by Sheriff, Melissa and Chris being kidnapped and ADN finding an entire arsenal at the Argent Abode; then, there was the whole "Oh shit, Malia is a werecoyote and not actually dead"-thing. Not to mention the Katashi murder (in which Scott's friend Derek and his ex-girlfriend's father were accused of killing him), getting stabbed with a sword by the oni and likely at least HEARING bits and pieces of what the kids were talking about and Scott/Derek/the twins wolfing out to fight them, AND then dealing with the Sheriff's station, animal clinic, and hospital all being attacked by the self-same oni, the latter of which he witnessed with his own eyes, including the fact that his ex-wife was stabbed, nearly died, and then magically healed within the span of several hours. I'm probably leaving out a ton, too, but the point is, he should DEFINITELY be curious. The fact that he hasn't really been until this point is what is making me so suspicious of him.
The next morning, Scott, Stiles, Kira, and Liam (the latter three of whom have each brought their own shiny Macbooks) have met in the McCall dining room to discuss their plan. Kira wonders if three laptops should be enough for what they're planning, but Stiles figures that while it depends on how many cameras there are, it should be fine. "Are we really doing this?" Liam asks anxiously, but Scott is insistent that they are, TONIGHT. Liam reminds them that this is kind of dangerous, with which Stiles wholeheartedly agrees. "Yeah, it's incredibly dangerous, and borderline idiotic!" Then, this hilarious exchange happened that pretty much describes the entirety of this damn series:
LIAM: [wary] "Have you guys done something like this before?"
STILES: "Something dangerous, or something idiotic?"
KIRA: [to Liam] "I think it's yes to both."
HMMM, let's see... there was going out to find a dead body that had been cut in half (which we all know how THAT turned out), breaking into a bank vault, ritually sacrificing themselves via suicide-by-drowning to find the location of a magical tree where their parents were hidden, robbing an armored car to steal a scroll hidden in a prosthetic pinky (and a briefcase with $150,000), traveling to Mexico to infiltrate the home of a well-established family of hunters... shall I go on? No? Okay. Anyway, Liam sighs, still hating this plan, so Scott reminds him that he doesn't have to do this if he feels uncomfortable with it. "I'm not scared!" Liam argues, which earns him a clap on the shoulder, a wink, and a "Then you're borderline idiotic!" from Stiles. Dude, come on, can you stop with the ableist assholery already? Good lord. Stiles then reminds the group that if they do go with this plan, they don't know who will be coming for the pack, but Kira doesn't understand how they know that someone even WILL (or IS) coming for them in the first place.
"Because the tape from Garrett's bag said 'visiual confirmation required,'" Scott explains, and Stiles adds that the Chemist said the same thing, which is that the Benefactor wouldn't pay him until he had proof that Scott, Kira and Malia were dead. "So, the idea is-- what if you kill someone on the deadpool, but you can't send the proof?" Scott finishes, and Kira responds that obviously, the assassin won't be getting paid. "How does that get us any closer to the Benefactor?" Liam asks anxiously. Scott figures that he'll still need to know if the target is really dead, especially if it's someone high on the list, such as a certain true alpha who happens to be worth $25 million. Liam realizes that if he needs visual confirmation, he'll have to come to get it himself, which is the outcome they're hoping for, apparently.
Cut to the hospital, where an ambulance has just arrived with someone on the gurney whose heart has apparently stopped. Someone on the PA system calls for Dr. Geyer to come to the ER, which is apparently the real name of Liam's step-dad, AKA Connor Jordan from TVD. Dr. Geyer immediately runs down the hall of the ER reception and orders the medics to take the man on the stretcher to the trauma room. The man already has the gel sheets on his chest in preparation for the defibrillator, and the doctor wastes no time calling "CLEAR!" and attempting to shock the guy's heart back into rhythm. When the pulse is still flat-lining, Dr. Geyer declares the patient to be suffering from asystole (basically, lack of heartbeat) and warns the staff that he's about to shock him again before doing so. After several unsuccessful tries, Dr. Geyer somberly admits that he's calling it, and declares time of death as 21:02 (or 9:02PM, for you Americans who aren't well-acquainted with military time.) He's clearly upset about losing a patient, and his voice cracks as he asks one of the nurses to page Melissa McCall for him. That's when we see that the man on the stretcher is SCOTT MCCALL, whose face is completely pale. NOOOOOO! TITLE CARD!
When we return, we find Braeden just waking up on Derek's pull-out couch bed. She seems confused, until she sees her shotgun laying against a nearby chair, and notices that Derek is chivalrously sleeping on the couch across the room. She gets out of bed (and of course, is wearing only a tank top over her underwear and bra, because I'm pretty sure it's illegal for her to be anything less than ridiculously sexy at all times) and quietly tip-toes over to the couch and crouches down in front of it. After a moment's hesitation, she slowly reaches over to his body to discreetly lift up his tank top, where she finds a still-unhealed bullet graze from his and Satomi's run-in with the blonde lady-assassin at the hospital in last week's episode. Suddenly, Derek's hands clap over hers, and she lets out an annoyed sigh because, like Derek was last week, she is totally busted. "What're you doing?" Derek asks curiously, so Braeden retorts that she's just "protecting her investment" before changing the subject to the fact that he hasn't healed yet. When she asks him why, he quickly lies and claims that some wounds heal longer, but Braeden ain't no fool, ya'll.
(via posybrien)
"...And some leave scars. But, not for people like you. So, what's going on?" Derek turns into the biggest baby ever and is like, "Maybe I'm just tired," and petulantly flips onto his side, turning away from her. Braeden is seriously concerned about Derek, and seems to have been even before she saw he wasn't healing. Is it possible she figured out that his yellow eyes were part of something bad that was happening to him? Regardless, Braeden asks to see his eyes, and Derek adorably snits, "You just saw them!" because Derek Hale is secretly a petulant teenager. She amends her demand to, "Show me your real eyes," so Derek huffs a frustrated-yet-defeated sigh and turns onto his back so he can show her that his eyes don't even change anymore. Derek becoming a human is kind of doing conflicted things to me, because being a werewolf is Derek's entire identity and that's pretty much the only thing he still has at this point, but he's SO AWESOME when he's trying to learn how to use weapons and fight like a human so it's like WHAT SHOULD I FEEEEEEL? "Okay," Braeden replies. "No, why don't you tell me what's really going on?" I know the majority of the fandom doesn't trust Braeden, but she's really done nothing but help the pack from what we've seen, so I don't get it. I don't know, maybe I'll be eating my words later (I often do when Teen Wolf is involved) but I think Braeden has had multiple opportunities to all of the people in the McCall pack who are on the deadpool except for Liam, and hasn't, so she's probably on Team Good.
Back at the hospital, a bunch of random nurses and doctors are doing report in the hallway when the most heartbreaking, gut-wrenching wail since Lydia's banshee wail when Allison died is heard from the adjacent hall. The random extras immediately rush around the corner, where they find Dr. Geyer trying to console a hysterical Melissa, who screeches, "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SON?!" Dr. Geyer waves the other doctors and nurses away, just as Melissa falls to her knees on the linoleum floor and wails another devastating wail. I know that Scott isn't truly dead, but GOD, I felt that scream in my SOUL. THIS IS ONE OF MILLIONS OF REASONS WHY SCOTT CAN NEVER EVER DIE EVER, YOU GUYS.
We cut to a flashback to what must have been less than a half hour prior, at the McCall house, where Scott is laying nervously on his back on his bed with his denim shirt unbuttoned. Liam (YAY LIAM! Where have you been all my life? I've missed you!) is anxiously pacing back and forth in Scott's room, clearly still having major reservations about their plan. "Are you guys totally sure about this?" Kira adorably turns to her boyfriend and quips, "I think Liam is a little nervous. Maybe you should tell him it's going to be alright." Scott just smiles and repeats that it's going to be alright, but Liam is not convinced. "So, you've done this before, right?" Liam asks Noshiko, who has just been lurking in the corner since the beginning of the scene, but Noshiko just claims she's SEEN it being done before. "Is-is that just as good?" Liam asks with a nervous smile, but Noshiko doesn't mince words when she's like, "Uh, no, and for the record this is one of your shittiest plans yet, you guys." Kira whines that her mom isn't really inspiring confidence, but makes a pretty hilarious point when she adds, "Do you want us to do it without you?"
Clearly, Noshiko would much rather her daughter be supervised while she attempts something that could kill her boyfriend, and after giving Kira a look, she instructs her to put her hand on Scott's chest. Liam grits his teeth as he watches Kira stretch her arm out and nervously aims for her boyfriend's sternum, but before she makes contact, Scott grabs Kira's hands and orders her to stop for a moment. He turns to Noshiko, and asks her what will happen to him while he's sorta-dead for like the third time in the last two seasons. She suggests that it could possibly feel like he's dreaming, but considering the pack's track record with fucked up dreams, Scott isn't really comforted. "Good dreams, or bad?" Noshiko frowns, and simply replies, "I suppose that depends on you." She nods in encouragement to Kira, who places her hand over Scott's heart, shocking him with an intense bolt of foxfire that hits Scott so hard it literally takes his breath away. YESS! I have been wanting Kira to use her foxfire for SO LONG-- she's super badass with her katana, obviously, but sometimes I feel like the show forgets that Kira has other powers, too, you know?
In the present day, Melissa wipes away her tears and tries to compose herself as she enters the hospital's morgue. She stops suddenly and waits a moment before stating, "I still HATE this plan." The camera angle changes, and we see that Noshiko, Kira, Liam, and Stiles are all gathered around Scott's body, which is bone white and is seriously chilling to see. Melissa starts to majorly freak out, because Scott looks like he's legitimately dead, but Noshiko calmly instructs her to give her her hand. Melissa is hesitant at first, but after Stiles (who looks seriously wrecked at the sight of his best friend, by the by) nods at her in encouragement, she does what she's told, and Noshiko sets her hand on Scott's chest. Melissa flinches when she doesn't feel a pulse, but once Noshiko tells her to wait for it, she feels a single heartbeat and immediately relaxes in relief. "Is that enough to keep a werewolf alive?" she asks, as she catches her breath. "Enough for an alpha," Noshiko replies. When Melissa asks how much time they have, Noshiko admits that they only have forty-five minutes.
Naturally, she wants to know what happens after that, but Kira quite obviously evades the topic by assuring her that she will bring Scott back the same way she "killed" him. Of course, Melissa meant what happens after forty-five minutes are up, and Stiles, Liam, and Kira immediately look down at the floor, not wanting to make eye contact because they TOTALLY DIDN'T TELL HER EVERYTHING BEFOREHAND LIKE JERKS. When are these kids going to learn the beauty of full disclosure? SERIOUSLY. You would think they would get it by now. Anyway, after Melissa demands to know what will happen, Noshiko reluctantly confesses that Scott will die if he's not brought back in forty-five minutes. You know, I would really like to know how some random thunder kitsune at some point in Noshiko's nine-hundred-year-long life learned that they could temporarily "kill" a werewolf using foxfire. (I use quotation marks because while Scott isn't technically dead, he's also not really alive, either. Plus, for all intents and purposes of this exercise, Scott is supposed to be dead, so there we go.)
After the break, we meet up with Chris Argent and Stiles in the Argent's basement/armory, where Chris is using another Macbook to message the Benefactor to inform him that he killed Scott. Okay, so sidebar-- I have some questions about this, namely: Why are Chris' messages under the name "G?" I get why the Benefactor is B, obviously, but the G just makes me think that somehow Gerard is involved in all of this. Also, how did Chris know how to contact him? I'm not suspicious of him, really, because Allison would never support him doing such a thing as getting involved with someone who is paying exorbitant amounts of money to kill her friends, but I just don't understand. I guess since Chris is a well-known hunter, they figure that he'd be the most believable as someone who would kill supernaturals for money, but anyone who knows enough about Beacon Hills to know that Kira and Noshiko are here, or that Malia is a Hale, would be someone who knows quite a bit about what's been going down, you know? So, it stands to reason that the Benefactor would know that Chris is basically a member of the adult contingent of the McCall pack, so maybe it's possible part of the reason why we never meet the Benefactor this week is because he knew they were totally fucking with him. SO MANY QUESTIONS.
ANYWAY, Chris types the message, "Scott McCall dead. Payment requested," which earns him some serious sass from Stiles for not making his "assassin-speak" more dramatic. When Chris asks him what more he should have said, Stiles replies, "Well, it was a little dry! You could have said something, like, 'The target has been neutralized!' you know? 'The crow flies at midnight,' that's always cool!" Chris isn't really having Stiles' shit, tbh, but before they can start fighting more, they get a message from the Benefactor that reminds them that visual confirmation is required if they want to get paid. Stiles transcribes a new message from Chris that says that visual confirmation isn't possible, because the police are coming to pick up the body in forty minutes. The Benefactor just repeats the fact that he needs proof, so Chris gets feisty and steals the laptop away from Stiles so he can type, "Number one on the list is dead. I killed him... Wire transfer isn't completed in forty minutes... I'M COMING FOR YOU." Oh, shit! I love it when Chris gets all badass, tbh. Also, the amount of Scott-love coming from Chris, Stiles, and Liam this week makes my heart sing! It's all so wonderful.
Back at the loft, Braeden has just finished cleaning Derek's wound with peroxide and covering it with gauze as she reminds him that he needs to keep it clean so it doesn't get infected. This line immediately made me think of Derek and Peter's conversation in "De-Void," when Derek's wound from the oni's sword wasn't healing, and Peter kept sassing him about putting something on it so it wouldn't get infected. At the time, I thought he was just being an asshole per usual, but now I'm wondering if it wasn't something more-- is it possible that Derek's oni wound not healing as quickly means that this whole process of losing his powers have been going on longer than this season? I still feel like Peter is siphoning Derek's powers, and it's making me really suspicious and worried that this is actually a result of Derek giving up his alpha powers, and the whole thing with Kate de-aging him just sped up the process more. ANYWAY, Braeden jokes that Derek has probably never had to worry about wounds getting infected, which earns her a look from Derek while he puts his shirt back on.
"So, it's everything, then? No glowing eyes? No healing?" Derek replies that yup, his sense of smell, his super speed, and his enhanced hearing are all gone as well. Braeden assumes that means his strength is gone, too, but Derek just retorts, "I can still win a fight!" I buy it, actually. I mean, Derek isn't the BEST fighter out there, but he's still super ripped and muscular, so it's not like he's a TOTAL weakling at this point, even without the majority of his powers. Braeden gives him a look that says she's skeptical, which makes Derek scoff in offense, so she puts her elbow down on the table and suggests he prove it in an arm-wrestling match. She's playing it all flirty, and Derek is TOTALLY into it, so he puts down his own elbow and grasps her hand in his own. She starts to count to three, but Derek is too busy eye-fucking her to notice when she totally jabs him in the ribs with her free hand, allowing her to easily slam his arm down to the table. Derek's hilariously immature response ("Ow! God! You cheated, that's-that's cheating!") while he recovers from his humiliating loss amuses Braeden greatly, so she decides to give him a few pointers on defending yourself as a human. "I won," she purrs. "When you're a human facing off against a supernatural, you need to bend the rules a little bit. I'm going to teach you how to bend." IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE, AM I RIGHT? Bow-chicka-wow-wowww.
(via braedenss)
At the hospital, our resident badass Chris is helping Stiles, Liam and Kira hack into the hospital's security cameras by hooking some kind of device into the wiring up on the roof. Then, he calls Stiles (who is holed up in a vacant hospital room with Kira and Liam and their three laptops) on his product-placement smart-watch-phone thing and instructs him to try to catch the feed. Within seconds, Stiles is able to hit a few keys and brings up, like, twelve different security camera feeds. Wait a minute-- how recent are these security camera additions? Because wouldn't one of them have caught Nogitstiles and the oni slaughtering everyone last season? SIGH. Anyway, the kids are super impressed by Chris' hacker skills, and get to work watching the different feeds while they look for the person who could possibly be the Benefactor.
The screen then goes completely white, which indicates that we are finally ready to see what Scott's been dreaming about while in his near-death state. He's laying prone, and when he opens his eyes, he realizes that he's laying inside one of the steel cubbies in the morgue. And not just any steel cubbie, but the super-long one through which Allison hallucinated Kate crawling back in "Anchors." The coolest thing about Scott's dreamscape in this episode is that it not only takes elements from Allison's darkness-related hallucinations AND Stiles' darkness-induced nightmares, which makes me think that Scott hasn't quite shaken his, especially in the wake of becoming an alpha and losing Allison. I'll be getting into this more later, because I have a SHITLOAD to say about it. ANYWAY, Scott realizes where he is, and flips onto his stomach so he can frantically crawl his naked-ass out of the tunnel. Of course, when he makes his way out, the cubbie turns into one of the lockers at school, just like in Stiles' dreams, and Scott eventually tumbles out of the locker and onto the linoleum floor, totally clothed all of a sudden.
Scott is unnerved in that way that we all are when we're dreaming but we haven't quite figured out why the fuck everything is so weird yet, especially considering the lights are flickering ominously above him, so he slowly starts making his way down the hall to investigate. After a moment, Liam's voice calls out, "Catch!" just as a lacrosse ball is hurled at Scott's head. He catches it easily, but stares at the ball in confusion for a moment before he notices Liam standing a couple yards ahead of him, wearing his lacrosse uniform and pads, and holding his lacrosse stick in his hands. "That's why you're team captain!" Liam chirps with a smile, before turning and running down the adjacent hallway. Scott drops the ball follows after him, eventually ending up in one of the classrooms, though Liam is conspicuously missing, despite the fact that we JUST saw him enter just seconds ago. The shot as he walks down the aisle of desks is awesome-- it's starts out upside down from the ceiling, so we watch the top of Scott's head as he heads for an open Macbook on the teacher's desk at the front of the room. As he walks, the shot slowly spins until everything is finally right-side-up again. The computer is running through code that looks suspiciously similar to the deadpool code Lydia found/cracked, and Scott instinctively types "S C O T T" into the keyword space. When he hits enter, a short deadpool pops up:
THE MUTE
THE ORPHANS
THE CHEMIST
Scott looks horrified when he sees the list, and murmurs, "I can't do that! I can't kill them." Suddenly, Liam appears at his right side, and emotionlessly replies, "Someone has to." Scott doesn't understand why it has to be him, but Liam gives him the answer we all knew was coming-- "Because you're the alpha." Scott argues that he's not a murderer, but his beta reminds him that he IS a predator. "No," Scott insists. "We're predators, but we don't have to..." He pauses, confused at the fact that he just completely lost his train of thought, and tries it again. "We don't HAVE to be..." Do you ever have dreams where you're trying to speak but you can't make the words come out, like your brain is forgetting what you're trying to say quicker than you can speak them? Or where you're trying to run from something/someone but your legs feel like they're made of lead and you feel like you're running through cement and so no matter how hard you're working, you're barely moving at all? Both of these things happen to me ALL THE TIME, so when Scott struggles to finish Derek's mother's mantra about werewolves-- "We're predators, but we don't have to be killers"-- I can easily imagine just how he's feeling. Plus, I think it's a sign that his darker side is struggling to gain full control over Scott's actions, even in this dream. The whole "shadow-self" trope is often done, but I love it SO MUCH, and it's being used to excellent effect in Scott's case this season (and Stiles' last season.)
ANYWAY, Liam looks almost disappointed to hear Scott voice his objections against killing the assassins (and to be fair, I honestly would not blame Scott for killing any of those assassins, and since Liam is basically a stand-in for the rational part of his brain that knows killing a mass murderer who is about to kill you and/or your friends is justifiable) and sighs as he looks down at the floor. Scott, angry at the fact that he has all this responsibility on his shoulders, slams the Macbook shut, just as he hears a loud thump, followed by a gasp of pain from Liam. Scott immediately turns around to find the Mute standing next to where Liam is laying supine on the floor, the Mute's tomahawk buried in his back. The Mute forcefully pulls the tomahawk out and turns to stare at Scott for a moment, before raising his finger to where his mouth is supposed to be in a "shhh" gesture. Liam looks absolutely terrified as he reaches his arm out to Scott and pleads for him to help, but Scott is so horrified and shocked that he can only gape as the Mute raises his tomahawk and once again buries it into Liam's back. NOOOOOO! I know this is just a dream, but I don't care-- NO HURTING BB LIAM.
Meanwhile, Malia (who looks amazing in this episode, with tight brown skinny jeans, boots, a flannel shirt, and a jean vest, with her hair in a very pretty loose braid) has returned to the vault in hopes of finding answers about her true family. She walks through the rows of shelves, examining various artifacts and peeking into boxes. She stops for a moment when her phone buzzes, but when she sees that it's Stiles calling her (probably not the first call, either), she considers her options for a moment before she hits ignore and goes back to searching the vault. Eventually, she stumbles upon that large safe with the intricate Celtic knot stamped into the door where the Hale bearer bonds were being held. She grabs onto the handle and jiggles it, but it's locked, naturally, so she focuses on her coyote strength as she pulls on the handle, and after several moments of struggling, she's finally able to break it off and open the door. Inside, the safe is completely empty, save for a single file labelled "Malia Tate - Adoption Records." She picks the file up and stares at it until she hears a noise behind her and turns on her heel, only to find Peter-fucking-Hale creeping out of the shadows. "I've gotta get a better safe," he says in greeting, when he sees the broken lock, but after a moment, he just sighs and gives her a sympathetic smile. UGH PETER.
Over at the hospital, Chris is nervously lurking around the corner of the basement, just outside the morgue. He checks his smart-watch, which has a running timer so that he can keep track of how much time Scott has before he needs to be shocked back to "life." When he sees that they only have twenty-eight more minutes, he anxiously starts to bite his nails as he waits around for the Benefactor to show up.
Outside in the parking lot, Noshiko and Melissa are sitting in Kira's red Toyota, where they, too, are watching out for anyone suspicious who could be the Benefactor. Noshiko sees a man in a dark hoodie and asks Melissa if it could be him, but Melissa answers in the negatory, because apparently the guy is a drug seeker who regularly shows up to the ER with a new self-diagnosis in an attempt to get his fix. Melissa has her own timer running on her phone, as well, and checks it to find that their current time is now twenty-six minutes and forty-five seconds. She sighs, clearly fed up with all the danger and stress that has occurred ever since Melissa was filled in on the supernatural community of Beacon Hills, and finally blurts out, "Why are we doing this? Why are we asking them fight these kinds of fights?" Noshiko just looks at her in sympathy and replies, "Because otherwise, we'd be asking them to run and hide."
(via johannamason)
Wait, wasn't Noshiko the one who who wanted to move back to New York? That's kind of running and hiding. Are they even still planning on moving? What's going on with that? Either way, I still feel really bad for Melissa. I mean, all of the in-the-know parents have it rough, knowing the constant danger their children are in as a result of their connection to the supernatural, but with Scott being the teenage True Alpha of a sizable pack in Beacon Hills, he's going to have way more responsibilities, and as a result, is a much bigger target. She tries her best to help him in any way that she can, but in the end, she's human. Just like Stiles said in Season 2 about himself, Melissa can't do the things the supernaturals can do, and it must be really hard to have to let your only child protect YOU instead of the opposite, you know?
Kira, Liam, and Stiles are each staring intently at the security camera streams on their respective laptops in their current headquarters, when Liam notices that one of the camera feeds has cut out. When he asks Stiles if that's supposed to happen, Stiles starts to get really nervous and responds in the negatory. They realize that it's the rooftop camera, and Stiles reluctantly admits that one of them is going to have to up and check it out. Kira immediately volunteers, but Stiles is wary, because it's very likely that the camera going out was intentional rather than a glitch of some kind. Kira, being the badass that she is, points out that she's going to be bringing her katana for that very reason, and takes off for the roof. As Liam watches her head for the door, he reflexively states that he's coming with her, but Stiles is clearly not thrilled about the possible threats that could be waiting for them. "'Kay, and you're both coming right back!" Stiles shouts after them. "Immediately!" When they don't respond, he just mutters, "Kids," and goes back to monitoring the security cameras.
Okay guys, I am 100% convinced that Liam has a pretty huge crush on Kira-- I mean, we all saw his face when he watched her walk(/fall) down the stairs in "The Benefactor," plus the smile on his face when she invited him to the "party" at Lydia's lake house. This episode just makes me believe it even more; he insisted on coming with her to the roof, helped protect her later when she gets knocked out, and refused to leave her behind when she yelled at him to leave. I'm not saying it's a crush in the way that he's going to try to pursue a relationship with her, but I really do think that he definitely has more than just friendly "you're my alpha's girlfriend which makes us friends" kind of feelings, you know? And I love it, because the two of them seem to have a very sweet friendship. It kind of reminds me a lot of the friendship between Isaac and Allison, back before it turned into a romantic/sexual relationship. And really, Kira seems to feel a lot of affection toward Liam, too, and it warms my heart because I just love Scott, Liam, and Kira so much, and the fact that the three of them are all getting so close just makes me so happy! On the other hand, maybe it's possible that Liam just didn't want to be left alone with Stiles? He has kind of been a dick to him lately. Who knows! Either way, all the amazing friendship/character moments in this episode are just flawless, imo.
Down in the vault, Malia is still clutching onto the file as Peter slowly stalks toward her, and starts circling around her in much the same way he did with Kate when they were both down there. He warns her that he can't allow her to take that file out of the vault, but Malia is not here to put up with any of Peter's bullshit. "Maybe you won't have a choice," Malia retorts, but Peter just looks at her, like, "Aw, that's adorable." Of COURSE, he would love to see that kind of fighting spirit in his offspring. Malia insists that she thinks she could take him, so Peter assumes that Malia has heard rumors of his lack of power since coming back from the dead, though all Malia will say is, "Something like that." Peter stares at her for a moment, before punching through one of the stone support columns next to him, breaking a huge piece of the corner into tiny pieces, to demonstrate just how wrong she is. First of all, this totally seems to support the theory that Peter has been draining Derek's powers, though I'm still not sure exactly HOW he's going about it. Secondly, why would he punch through a SUPPORT COLUMN? Like, does he want the roof to collapse on their heads or something? JFC. Anyway, Peter seems to be satisfied when Malia, whose eyes bugged out a little at his display of strength, hands him the file, but he just smirks. "I said you couldn't LEAVE with it. I didn't say you couldn't READ it."
Welp, it's twenty minutes into the episode, and we're JUST now seeing what Lydia's up to? What's up with that? I feel like she's been so isolated from the pack this season. :/ So, we're meeting up with her at the lake house's boat house, where she's carrying a lantern so she can investigate for clues regarding Meredith's connection to her family. She sets the lantern on a table and starts to look around, and naturally, it only takes a couple seconds before Lydia hears footsteps headed her way, which makes her freeze right in her tracks. I was seriously scared for her, because she's the second-most valuable name on the list, so shouldn't she have someone with her at all times to make sure no one tries to take her out? She doesn't have the same defensive abilities that the werecreatures have, so she should at least have SOMEONE with her who can help her defend herself if necessary. Hell, I don't think ANY of them should be alone until this whole deadpool thing is cleared up. ANYWAY, Lydia quickly grabs the oar that Kira used to knock out Liam, and turns to swing it at her possible assailant, only stopping just before she can whack her very-bewildered mother upside the head.
Lydia immediately asks her what the fuck she thinks she's doing, but Natalie is just, like, "I could ask you the same thing, chica." Lydia insists that she's not doing anything, and puts the oar back on its shelf. That's when she realizes that she never told her mother she was coming here, and asks her if she followed her. Natalie tries to play dumb and lies that she was just getting ready for the open house, but Lydia wastes no time calling her on it, so Natalie confesses that she did indeed follow Lydia there. "Honey, you come up here almost every weekend, sometimes even during the week. And, as far as I can tell, there's not a boy involved, so I really have no clue what you're up to." Lydia vaguely admits that she's just trying to figure out something important, but insists that her mother doesn't need to know every single detail of her life. Natalie agrees that, no, she doesn't, but she does want to help her figure out what she needs to know, if she can. Lydia, having no other leads, sighs and grabs the photo she found of Meredith in the banshee room, and asks her mom if she knows who she is. Natalie gapes when she sees the photo and incredulously asks, "Meredith Walker?" as though she's shocked that Lydia would even know who she is. Does anyone else get the feeling she's hiding something? Because seriously, she seems a little too chill about everything her daughter has been through in the last year or so.
Scott Dreamscape, Round Two! Just like the first dream Scott had, he wakes up in his little cubbie in the hospital morgue, realizes where he is, and crawls his way out. The tunnel turns into one of the lockers at the high school, and Scott pushes his way out of the locker door and tumbles to the floor while the fluorescent lights flicker above him. He picks himself up again and slowly makes his way down the hallway, until Liam calls out, "Catch!" and lobs a lacrosse ball at him. Scott once again stops and catches it, but is shocked to see that his claws and fangs came out without him realizing when he glances confusedly at the ball in his hand. He sees Liam standing in his lacrosse uniform a couple yards down the hall, as Liam smiles and says, "That's why you're the alpha!"
We cut to the locker room, where Scott is leaning against the furthest sink from the door, while Liam watches from behind him. He opens his mouth and examines his fangs in the mirror, which are just as pointy and deadly as they were last week. "There's something different, isn't there?" Liam asks, so Scott admits that he has more fangs than he used to, which he just noticed during the quarantine, and adds that he has no idea why they changed. "Maybe it's part of becoming an alpha," Liam suggests excitedly. "Like you're becoming more of a werewolf." Scott doesn't look as thrilled as Liam is, though, and just replies, "Or more of a monster." Liam argues that maybe it's making him stronger, like he's growing, but is cut off by the sound of a thump. Then, the Mute's robotic voice adds, "Evolving." Scott turns just in time to catch Liam as he falls into his open arms, the Mute's tomahawk buried between his shoulder blades. Scott gapes at the Mute in horror, but the Mute just raises his finger to his non-existent lips once again, before pointing at him with the same finger. God, these dreams would be absolutely HORRIFYING, jfc! Stupid unconscious mind.
In real life, Liam and Kira have just made it up to the roof, where they anxiously look around for any signs of sabotage or the Benefactor, but are stopped in their tracks when one of the transformers explodes in a burst of sparks. GOOD LORD, how many times has that transformer exploded/been tampered with, now? Twice? Three times? I've honestly lost track at this point. Liam figures that someone messed with it somehow, but when they hear a growling sound behind them, Kira turns to find the source of the explosion and the sound-- it's a berserker, who decided to show up and make things a million times more complicated for our heroes. Poor Liam! He hasn't had to deal with a berserker yet, has he? Brutal. Kira whips her sword out of her scabbard and flips in around before getting into a defensive position, just as Liam turns around slowly and glares at the berserker.
Honestly, as much as having to fight to defend yourself can and does suck, I feel like in a way, Liam kind of enjoys it, because it allows him to actually use and tap into the anger he's been working so hard to keep locked down since he's been turned. It finally gives him the opportunity to channel his anger into a mostly good thing (defending himself/his pack/innocent civilians) AND gives him much more strength to work with, as well-- we've seen and heard on multiple occasions that werewolves can use anger to increase their strength and stamina, especially where Derek and Scott are concerned, so I feel like this is very much the case with Liam, too. I dig it! I really just think Liam is a fantastic addition to the pack, now, AND I feel like being a werewolf in such a loving, connected pack of various supernaturals and humans (led by True Angel Scott McCall, of course) has done wonders for him, too. He seems happier, more in control, and a lot more compassionate, almost as though he feels like he has a purpose now that he didn't believe he had before. BASICALLY I LOVE LIAM DUNBAR OKAY. Don't look at me!
Inside the hospital, Chris is walking through the halls of the basement, clearly tense and on guard, considering their mission this evening. He senses someone coming up behind him, so he grabs one of his handguns (I don't know shit about guns, as I've said before, but this doesn't look like his 58-E Desert Eagle, which is made of steel-- this one is black, and I don't recognize it. Any gun aficionados know what he's using?) out of the back of his pants and draws it, only to find that it's just Stiles. Poor Stiles! His reaction to having yet another gun aimed at his head just about gives him a panic attack, especially after the Chemist almost killing him in the same way in last week's episode. Stiles gives Chris this look, like, "EVERYONE NEEDS TO STOP TRYING TO SHOOT ME," so Chris immediately stands down, while Stiles explains that since the power is now out in the entire building, he's lost every single one of the security camera feeds, which means they're essentially blind, unless they stake out the halls themselves. Chris' bright idea is to send the unarmed human to guard Scott's body, and insist that Stiles call him if he gets even the slightest feeling that something bad is going down. He checks the timer on his watch, which reads 18:02, which concerns Stiles enough to give him a loaded look before Chris heads off to track down our elusive Benefactor.
(via prettiestcaptain)
Meanwhile, Braeden is giving Derek some rudimentary weapons and fighting lessons at the loft. She sets a black handgun that looks similar to the one Chris was just carrying onto one of Derek's ancient history books that is laying open on the table. Guess my history-nerd Derek Hale headcanon is pretty much accurate, then! "This is a Sig Sauer P22 9MM," Braeden explains, but Derek is understandably and adorably wary. "I don't like guns," he states for the record, but Braeden argues that it's just because he grew up as a wolf and was never taught to use one. "Or because I've been shot," Derek deadpans in response. "Repeatedly." BAHAHA. No lies detected. I have also lost count of how many times Derek has been shot, because it's been WAY TOO MANY TIMES. Braeden insists that he'll like this gun, and picks it up so she can eject the clip and show him how to load it and unload it. "The legal clip size in California is ten," she continues. "You always want to remember how many shots you fire. Running out of bullets can get you killed. It also makes you look stupid." She puts the clip back in and grabs Derek's arm so she can shove the gun in his hand.
"But, using a gun isn't just about learning how to point and shoot," Braeden wisely points out. When Derek asks her why that is, she informs him that the average human can move 21 feet in 1.5 seconds, which means that if someone has a knife, they can charge at you and "gut you," in Braeden's words, before you even have time to pull the trigger, which is why the key to using guns is putting distance between yourself and your target. Damn! She is such a smart cookie, no wonder Derek is basically drooling over her. Chet Faker's "Gold" begins to play as Braeden circles around Derek and instructs him to try to pull the gun on her. Derek just smirks, because he's sure that he's got what it takes to do it, so he takes a breath and aims the gun at her. Of course, Derek totally overestimated his abilities, because it took her all of a millisecond to grab the gun out of his hand and turn it on him, and Derek's cute little embarrassed "Uhh, that's... soooo, yeah" as she hands the gun back to him makes me die laughing.
She's super amused by Derek's mild humiliation, so she asks him if he wants to try again, which of course he does. He takes another deep breath and tries to pull the gun on her even quicker, but she still disarms him easily. Derek blushes in embarrassment and insists that he wants to try one more time, and Braeden, clearly enjoying herself, just struts closer to him and croons, "I can do this allll day." Derek gives her the sweetest look, and she gets a little distracted staring at his beautiful face, so much so that she's not expecting Derek to launch himself at her and crash his lips against hers. The two make out for a moment until Derek points the gun at Braeden's ribs as he teases her by pulling away so that their lips are just inches apart. "You cheated," Braeden pouts playfully, but Derek just tangles his fingers in her hair and quips, "Learning to bend!" She teases him for a short moment before the two start making out again, and Derek wastes no time demonstrating that he still has SOME strength by picking her up and wrapping her legs around his waist, before turning them and sitting Braeden on his table. Braeden quickly tugs his shirt off as the two continue to go at it, and JFC IS IT HOT IN HERE, OR IS IT JUST ME? Uhhh... I'll be in my bunk.
(via teenwolf)
Back in the vault, Malia is reading her adoption file, which only has two pages and a photo of her right after she was born. According to the birth certificate, which has her little baby footprints stamped on the top, "Baby Malia" was born in Midtown Memorial Hospital. However, I'm pretty sure (or at least HOPING) that the prop people fucked up somehow, because it says that Malia's birthday is November 28, 1998, which means she would be fourteen years old (in the TW universe, where it is still 2012.) That makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever, considering the newspaper article from after Malia was found in the woods said she was eighteen years old. Basically, I'm not sure the prop people pay enough attention to this stuff. The other page, which is the record of her adoption, has barely no important information whatsoever, because this was the file that Peter was reading when the Mute hit him in the chest with his tomahawk in "Muted," so the page is bloody and has a huge hole in it where the tomahawk went through it, which is conveniently where all the important info would be. All we can glean from it is that the adoption was approved.
Needless to say, Malia is not impressed with how little she learned from this file. She sighs and returns the file to the safe, while Peter watches on curiously. "Wanna talk about it?" he asks sarcastically. "See a family counselor?" Malia reminds him that there's nothing in that file, but Peter is slightly offended, given the fact that he spent several thousand dollars getting his hands on that file. Did he hire a private investigator or something? I'm kind of interested in ho Peter gets all this information, tbh, especially considering he always seems to know things he shouldn't. Malia maintains that Peter got ripped off, but Peter is a little done with Malia's attitude towards him. "You know what happens when you only hear one side of a story?" he asks, as he circles around his daughter. "You only heard one side of the story." Malia just raises her eyebrows skeptically, like, "Yeah? And?" ATTA GIRL! Don't let him patronize you!
Over at the hospital, Liam and Kira are still on the roof with the berserker, and Liam has fully-wolfed out in preparation to fight. He whips his claws out and growls ferociously at the berserker before he lunges for it, swiping and clawing at its bone-covered chest. Unfortunately for him, the berserker blocks all of his hits, and ultimately grabs him in a choke-hold before it throws him into the chain-link fence surrounding the transformer. Kira jumps in to fight it while Liam is recovering, and swings her katana around like a goddamn PRO as she slices at it. Seriously, all that sword training Arden Cho went through to play Kira is seriously worth every penny, she looks amazing. I feel like she should probably be STABBING the thing with her sword though, instead of slicing it, because since the berserkers are humans covered in animal bones and skins, the bones give them some serious protection, and her sword doesn't seem to be hurting it at all. She needs to find a spot between the bones and stab it, tbh, though I imagine she's not really inclined to KILL the berserker, even if it's trying to hurt them. Just as Kira is about to hit it with another blow to the chest, the berserker punches her right in temple, causing Kira to fly in the air and land on the ground in a heap.
While Kira is knocked out, she has a flashback dream to what must have been a little while before Kira "killed" Scott with her foxfire, while "Heart To Know" by I Break Horses plays in the background. The two are laying on their sides facing each other on Scott's bed, in what is becoming Scott and Kira's signature shot when they're together in Scott's room. Kira maintains that they have a good plan, and asks him if he's worried. Scott replies that he was just thinking about something, and when she asks what it was, he points out that they're never been on a real date. "There hasn't been time," Kira responds empathetically. Scott smiles a wry smile and suggests that they could make time, but Kira just reminds him that it's kind of unlikely, since once again, people are dying all around them. He just sighs, and concedes that they could go on a real date once all of this deadpool stuff is over, a plan with which Kira is absolutely on board.
She thinks about it for a moment, and says that they could go to a movie, since she hasn't been to a movie in ages, and Scott just smiles at his awesome girlfriend and replies, "That sounds like a plan." Kira repeats that it's a good plan, before she leans over and kisses him softly. I LOVE THEM TOGETHER SO MUCH. Their relationship is so different from Scott's relationship with Allison-- while the latter was all teasing and passion, the former is slow-moving and sweet, though it's clear that they both have seriously deep feelings for each other and would pretty much do anything for each other, just like he felt with Allison. I think they're just what the other one needs right now, you know? Like they said, it's kind of not a good time for romance, since they're constantly under threat of death and trying to save others from the same fate, but they still manage to find little moments for each other anyway. UGH THEY ARE PERFECT.
Kira is ripped from her dream by the sounds of Liam desperately shouting, "Kira! Kira, get up! Kira!" It takes her a few moments to return to consciousness, so Liam frantically grabs her by the wrist and pulls her onto her feet. Finally, she opens her eyes, only to realize that she's still totally on the roof, in the middle of a fight with a berserker who just happened to show up while her boyfriend is on the brink of death and whose limited time is slowly dwindling second by second. Why must EVERYTHING THAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG GO WRONG AT THE SAME TIME? Like, this group can't just have one problem to focus on, they always have to be thrown like, a half dozen equally serious problems that are all ridiculously time sensitive. It is SO STRESSFUL.
Melissa and Noshiko are anxiously making their way through the darkened hallways of the hallway when Noshiko mutters, "I'm guessing that the power doesn't go out very often at this hospital." BAHAHAHAHAHA. That's hilarious. When is this hospital's power NOT going out? Melissa agrees, and retorts, "Only when under attack from supernatural creatures," as the two mamas turn into the room where the kids were monitoring the security cameras, which is totally empty. They stare in confusion at the kids' laptops, where the timer to how much time Scott has left reads "16:14."
Downstairs, Stiles is pacing around the morgue in front of where Scott's body is being stored, as he frantically tries to get a hold of Chris. "Come on, come on, answer the phone! Answer the phone, Argent! Come on, come on! WHY aren't you answering the phone?" Stiles gets his answer a second later, when Chris is thrown through the double doors of the room and tumbles to the floor. "Ahhh! Stiles, run! Stiles, get out of here!" Of course, Stiles is too worried about Chris to do what he's told, and it's not long before Stiles finds out who has been tossing Chris around outside-- Kate fucking Argent, looking fabulous as ever. After the break, Kate just stands dramatically in the doorway, while both Stiles and Chris stand protectively in front of where Scott is being stored. "Get out of the way, Stiles. I'm taking the body."
Peter and Malia are still in the vault, where Malia is outlining the reasons why she's not inclined to trust or like Peter, regardless of their biological connection. "You murdered people. Not killed-- MURDERED." Peter tries to argue that he had extenuating circumstances, but Malia isn't taking his excuses. "Like what? The fire?" Peter confirms that yes, it was the fire, and though the fire doesn't exactly excuse the things he's done, he does give us a vivid picture as to what his state of mind was in the time between the fire and when he went on his murder-spree. "It nearly burned me alive. Six years in a coma, do you know what that's like for one of us? It's not a pleasant sleep. Imagine being trapped in your body, but still being fully cognizant. Unable to do anything but listen to your own thoughts slowly driving you absolutely and totally insane-- minute by minute, day by day." He insists that while he fully admits that he's done "horrible, terrible things," other people have as well. His main point is that since they're living on a fucking Hellmouth, horrible, terrible things are going to keep happening, especially considering Malia's name is on a deadpool for a not-insignificant amount of money.
Malia wastes no time reminding him that Peter's name is notably absent from the list, and to his credit, Peter doesn't even try to deny that yeah, that definitely makes him look suspicious as hell. Still, he not only insists that he's not the Benefactor, but he also claims that he's actually just looking out for Malia, because he's a guy who lost over a hundred million dollars, several thousand dollars of which he used to get those adoption records to try to help her. In fact, he even says, "How does the bad guy prove that he's not so bad? By doing an act of kindness." What is he trying to do to help his daughter, you ask? Apparently, he's been attempting to find her biological mother. Of course, before you start thinking he's suddenly changed into an altruistic person out of nowhere, he's also got his own motivations-- namely, that Talia took the memory of Malia AND her mother from him, so he has no idea who she is either, and he wants to know. Malia's too curious to resist taking the bait, and asks him what he's learned. Apparently, he's found a woman who MAY be her, though hasn't been able to find out her name. He has, however, managed to find her "particularly interesting alias"-- the Desert Wolf. "Do you know what that means?" Peter asks, and Malia's eyes grow wide as realizes what he's talking about, and she whispers, "Coyote." OMG. Okay, so I'm a little bummed that this means Kate prooooobably isn't Malia's mom like I was hoping, though admittedly, that was a pretty crack theory to begin with. BUT, this also makes a TON of sense, because how else would Malia end up a coyote? Plus, there are some interesting theories floating around that I'll get into more later.
Melissa and Noshiko are still wandering around the hospital, trying to figure out what the fuck is going on, when the lights start flickering again, and people in the adjacent hall begin screaming and shrieking as they run toward the emergency exit. Noshiko and Melissa just glance at each other in confusion, when the reason for all the alarm becomes quite clear-- the other berserker is stomping his way down the hall as it growls, with blood splattered all over the bear skull over its face. Both women are stunned, and Melissa just blurts out, "Ohhh, you still a kitsune?" "Technically," Noshiko replies, before the two women slowly turn around and start running back down the hallway the way they came. The berserker roars and quickly rushes after them. NOO, LEAVE MY FAVORITE PACK MOMS ALONE, OKAY?
(via johannamason)
Back at the lake house, Mama Martin and Lydia are still out in the boat house, where Lydia's mother is pulling an urn out of one of the cabinets. She admits that the urn contains Lydia's grandmother's ashes, and Lydia expositions for our benefit that Grandmama Martin died in Eichen House. "Your father had a difficult relationship with his mother. And after the things she said, and the way she acted..." Lydia correctly assumes that her dad figured she was crazy and had her committed, and when Natalie confesses that Grandmama Martin said that she heard things, Lydia's eyes grow wide, because she realizes that this could quite easily be her fate someday, in the case that she never tells her family what's up, or if her family doesn't believe her if she does. Lydia asks why her grandma would want to keep her ashes in the boathouse, of all places, but Natalie replies that actually, she wanted Lydia to spread them on the lake on her eighteenth birthday. Since Lydia is turning eighteen in a few weeks, Natalie figures that now is as good a time is any. I still don't get why they retconned Lydia's age-- didn't she just turn sixteen on her last birthday, which was only like, less than a year ago? Most juniors are only seventeen at the oldest. UGH.
ANYWAY, she hands the urn to Lydia, who takes it and awkwardly holds it before she bites the bullet and opens the urn. When she looks inside, though, she's completely puzzled, and nervously informs her mother that these are not Grandmama Martin's ashes. Of course, Natalie is like, "Uh, yeah they fucking are, what else would they be?" but when Lydia plunges her hand in the urn and pulls out a handful, she realizes that it's actually MOUNTAIN ASH, though, naturally, Natalie has no idea what that is. Lydia sighs and throws a handful toward the lake, and it makes a perfectly straight line across the doorway of the boat house, which leads to the revelation that THE WHOLE BOATHOUSE IS MADE OF MOUNTAIN ASH, OMG.
(via teenwolf)
Everyone keeps asking on Tumblr how Scott, Lydia, Kira, and Liam managed to get in if the whole building is made of mountain ash, but the reason they were able to is because the boundary wasn't complete. It's like at Scott's house, or the animal clinic-- the baseboards/walls have mountain ash, but it can't be used as a boundary unless it's an unbroken line, like when Stiles made a circle of it around the abandoned warehouse where the rave as in "Raving." That's why if the gate or the door is open in those places, supernaturals can get in just fine. Also, since banshees are known in the lore to be a Celtic supernatural creature, and mountain ash has also been established as being a magical object used by the Celtic druids, I think that's why Lydia was able to handle/activate the ash-- she may be a banshee, but she's also human, too, you know? So it doesn't affect her in the way that it affects the actual shapeshifters. Anyway, despite the fact that Lydia pretty much did magic in front of her, Natalie seems strangely zen about the entire thing. Maybe it's her latent memories from being Carol Lockwood on the Vampire Diaries in a past life that's letting her be so open-minded.
Back at the hospital morgue, Chris still has a gun pointed against Kate's head, and he screams at her to back the fuck off, but Kate just taunts him. "You sure you can pull that trigger fast enough?" Chris insists that he doesn't want to, but Kate maintains that Chris isn't going to kill her. "But I'm not going to let you take his body!" Chris screams desperately. Stiles is completely overwhelmed, and tries to ease the tension by suggesting that they both catch up over some coffee from the vending machine, but the Argents continue fighting as though he had never even spoken. "Listen to me, Kate!" Chris pleads. "We have a plan!" Kate just sneers that if killing Scott was part of his ~plan~, that he's even worse than she is, but Stiles admits that he's telling the truth, and that they're just trying to find the Benefactor. Chris reminds her that she's on the list, and is only beat in value by Scott, Lydia, and Derek, but Kate claims that her name being on the list is the reason why she's trying to figure out who the Benefactor is, too. Chris, desperately trying to protect Scott AND find the Benefactor, begs his sister to take the berserkers and leave, and let them do what they came here to do, so they can all get what they want. Kate seems skeptical, but when she sees the timer on Chris' smart watch ("03:05"), she eventually concedes to his demands.
Up on the roof, Liam is still fully wolfed out as he is once again thrown to the ground, his face covered in bloody scratches, just as an equally bloodied Kira yells at Liam to run and get the hell out of there while she continues to fight it with her katana. Liam's not about to leave Kira up there by herself, though, so he musters up all of his energy to pull himself up to his feet, despite Kira's continued cries to run away. He roars angrily at the berserker and launches himself on top of the hospital's transformer, which he uses to give him the height necessary to leap onto the berserker's head in another really awesome looking shot. YEAH LIAM! GET IT!
And, now we've arrived for part three of Scott's dreamscape! Once again, he wakes up in his morgue cubbie, before crawling his way out of the scary tunnel/locker and onto the floor of the hallway at the school. This time, though, he seems to be expecting everything that is about to happen, but it's much different this time around. Liam's voice still calls out, "Catch!" but instead of being thrown a lacrosse ball, he's thrown the Mute's bloody tomahawk. When Scott looks down, he finds Liam laying prone on the ground, with a bloody wound in his chest. Liam groans in pain and asks him why he did that, just as the lights flicker ominously overhead. The Mute suddenly appears behind him and takes his arm so he can demonstrate how to use the tomahawk to greatest effect. "Let me help you," the Mute says in his robotic voice. "Let me show you how." Scott seems to be struggling against the Mute's grip, as he watches Liam gasping in pain and fear, but when the Mute lets go, Scott raises his arm above his head of his own accord, and Liam freezes in horror as Scott violently hacks at Liam with the tomahawk over and over and over.
(via teenwolf)
Kira can't help but gently take his face into her hands and kiss him as he catches his breath, and once he's fully aware of what's going on, he worriedly asks them if their plan worked. For the record, Kira's face is still covered in blood from her fight, and quite frankly, she looks absolutely exhausted, and Chris and Stiles are looking pretty shell-shocked themselves, which seems to be the entire pack's (and their allies') constant state of being at this point. While the three of them don't explicitly say it was a total failure, he can tell by the looks on their faces that it didn't work out, and before he can ask anymore questions, Liam enters the morgue. Though he's no doubt relieved to see his alpha and friend alive and well, he's come bringing bad news-- Kira's mom's been hurt.
Out in the hall, Melissa, whose face and arms are also covered in blood, is holding Noshiko in her arms as she helps her apply pressure to the deep claw wound in Noshiko's side from the berserker with her bare hands. Noshiko is fading fast, but Melissa doesn't take shit from anyone, especially not when they're grievously injured, so she just insists that Noshiko hang on and stay with her until they can get her real medical attention. Suddenly, Dr. Geyer appears and asks Melissa what the fuck happened, but Melissa pretty much just says it doesn't matter and asks for his help getting her off the floor so they can start treating her.
Kate returns to her current lair in the city's sewers, her shotgun slung across her back, and walks toward where Peter is waiting for her under a stream of sewer water. Gross, Peter! You wouldn't want to get your deep-v all dirty, would you? "You were right," Kate states in lieu of a greeting. "He's still alive." Peter looks like he's about to pee his pants in glee as he replies, "Thank GOD." HOW DID HE KNOW SCOTT WAS "DEAD?" HOW DID KATE? So, Peter is basically blatantly planning on fighting Scott with the intention to kill him and take his power, right? And since he was previously a weakling who didn't stand a chance against a true alpha, he had to steal his nephew's werewolf strength in order to give himself the boost he needed? GOD I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.
(via teenwolf)
Stiles has just returned home to his bedroom, where he finds Malia bent over Stiles' desk, staring at the third deadpool list when her name on it. Stiles stops in the doorway and greets her, and when she doesn't respond, he awkwardly asks her where she's been since the quarantine. She freely admits that she went to go talk to Peter, just as Stiles suspected she would before she even found out, and though you can tell that Stiles doesn't want to push her away by being too judgmental or preachy,he can't help but ask her if she thinks that's really a good idea. "If he can help me find my mother, I don't think I care," Malia replies sadly. Stiles gulps nervously and walks toward her as he reminds her that while she may be related to him, she's not LIKE him, but Malia isn't so sure. Did some kind of conversation happen between Malia and Peter off-camera or something? Because I don't get what happened to make her get so down all of a sudden. She walks over to his crime board, which is filling up FAST, and pulls off a piece of tape so she can hang the third deadpool list up next to the rest. "That night I caused the car crash?" she begins, but Stiles cuts her right off and reminds her that it was her first full moon, so it's not her fault she didn't have control. Malia plows on, though, and admits that she didn't tell him everything.
MALIA: "Right before we got into the car, my mother-- my ADOPTIVE mother, I guess-- we got into a huge fight. I don't even remember what it was about, but I remember what I said."
STILES: [sympathetic] "Malia..."
MALIA: "I said, 'I wish you were all dead.'" [she blinks back tears]
STILES: [rushes toward her] "Killing doesn't run in a family!"
MALIA: [sighs] "Maybe it does in mine."
(via maliastate)
God, this scene was so good, and Dylan and Shelley both did SUCH GOOD WORK, oh my god. When Malia admits what she said to her family before she inadvertently killed them, the look on her face, coupled with the way that her nostrils kind of flared as she desperately tried to keep from crying, just like SHATTERED my heart. She grabs the list and tapes it onto the board before quickly rushing out the door, leaving Stiles once again all by himself. UGH I JUST WANT THEM BOTH TO BE HAPPY, IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?
"Sweet Lover" by Justin Nozuka plays as Derek wakes up in his bed after what must have been some seriously exhausting and bendy sex with Braeden, and smiles when he sees her snoozing next to him, all snuggled up against his chest. He gently moves her arm from over his chest so he can get up, and Braeden just rolls over onto her side and goes back to sleep. He saunters over toward the table, where all of Braeden's various handguns, shotguns, and assault rifles are lined up neatly, and he leans against the table and considers his options. His abdomen is still bandaged from when Braeden fixed him up earlier, almost as a reminder that he's gotta start thinking like a human now. As much as I want Derek to be a werewolf, I also want him to be safe, or at the very least ALIVE, so if learning how to use guns and fight from a cash-loving mercenary does that, I'm totally onboard, tbh. Not to mention she seems to make him pretty happy, which makes me happy, so woot!
Over at Scott's house, he's sitting cross-legged on his bed across from Kira, and they're bot holding each other's hands, like they're a drawbridge. He's also wearing a Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital tshirt, which is SUPER adorable to me, for some reason. Kira exposits that Noshiko was taking to a hospital in Palo Alto for more specialized treatment of her injuries, and adds that they even took her there in a helicopter. Scott clearly feels really bad about her mother being hurt, and asks if she's going to be okay, but Kira seems sure that she will, though she does concede that she's worried, since Noshiko doesn't heal the way she used to. Kira admits that she needs to be there with her, especially since her name is still on the deadpool, but Scott agrees wholeheartedly and encourages her to go be with her mom while she heals. He also mentions that he has to go back to the hospital anyway, since Liam's step-dad is quite understandably freaking out about the fact that Scott was legally dead for forty-five minutes before somehow magically coming back to life, and wants to do some tests to make sure he's okay.
GOD WHY DO I HAVE SUCH A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS. I just have this horrible sense that Liam's dad is either somehow going to start being suspicious of Scott (and, by extension, Liam and all of the rest of Scott's friends), since Liam's story seems to be parallel to Scott's when he was first bitten, and Scott had a TON of problems trying to hide everything from Melissa before she found out. There has also been speculation that Liam's dad is an assassin, or the Benefactor, and while I'm not 100% convinced, it seems as likely a theory as anything else, tbh. ANYWAY, Kira assumes that, yeah, Dr. Geyer is probably going to have a lot of questions, and laments the fact that their plan didn't work, because despite the risk, it WAS a good plan. However, Scott's not sure that their mission was a total bust. "Yeah, I've been thinking about that, too," he begins. "And, actually, I think maybe it DID work. Not that I know exactly who the Benefactor is, but we might know a lot more about him, now." Kira reminds him that no one came, and no one got visual confirmation, but Scott figures that's the point-- "THAT'S why it might have worked! Think about it-- who has the power to know when someone is dead, but doesn't need to see the body to know it happened?" Kira thinks about this for a moment, and finally realizes where Scott's going with this: a banshee! OH SHIT. Scott just smiles and points a finger at her proudly, and GOD, WHY ARE THEY SO FUCKING CUTE?
Speaking of banshees, Lydia and Natalie are digging through more of Lydia's grandmother's stuff in the boat house, where Natalie hands Lydia a sheet of paper that apparently has the last thing that Grandmama Martin wrote down before she died. "I don't even know why I kept it, because it's basically nonsense," Natalie mutters. When Lydia unfold the paper, though, her eyes widen in shock, and after a moment, she asks her mother if she knows for sure that her grandmother is dead. "Yes!" Natalie insists, though after Lydia gives her a skeptical look, she add, "I mean, she has to be!" Lydia just sighs, and confesses, "This isn't nonsense... it's a code." When the camera angle turns, we see that Grandmama Martin had written a suspiciously similar code to the one that Lydia accidentally transcribed in one of her banshee fugue states. HOLY SHIT.
Next week, according to the promo: Derek, Braeden, and Parrish team up to discuss the deadpool, while the school has a bonfire. Of course, it wouldn't be a day in Beacon Hills if there weren't more assassins flooding into the area, and it looks like both the pack AND Parrish are targets. NOO!
[screencaps via Screencapped]
Click HERE to read my next recap of Teen Wolf!
NOTES/SPECULATION/QUESTIONS: (DISCUSSION OF PROMOS/TRAILERS BELOW, SO SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT)
-Alright, let's talk about Lydia's grandmother/family. Everyone seems to think that she's the Benefactor, but I honestly don't think that's true. I actually think that if she is still alive, she's being held captive by the Benefactor as a form of insurance to make sure that none of the assassins try to pull a fast one on him by faking someone's death to collect the money. She might have known what was coming, and the fact that Lydia would be a target, hence the vague instructions with the mountain ash and whatnot. Also, from what it sounds like, could banshees come of age at 18, unless their power is activated by, say, oh, getting bitten by a sociopathic, murderous alpha? Also, how long ago did she die? Maybe Lydia hadn't been attacked by Peter yet, and that's why she instructed Lydia to spread her "ashes" on the lake to create a protective fortress in case of emergencies when she turned eighteen? But then again, the mountain ash can only protect her from other supernaturals-- it seems that the majority of the assassins are human, so I'm not sure how that could help her in the case of the deadpool. THERE IS SO MUCH I NEED TO KNOW IMMEDIATELY.
-Speaking of the deadpool, there is a theory floating around based on the promo of this week (which has Lydia admitting that her grandmother wrote the code of the deadpool to Stiles, and showing him another deadpool list with her grandmother's name on it) that suggests that this deadpool is actually something that has been happening once a decade for at least two decades, if not longer. The consensus seems to be that Kate (and possibly Gerard) were assassins in the last deadpool, and that Kate set the Hale fire as a way to take out the entire Hale pack in one sweep. If THAT'S the case, then maybe Grandmama Martin knew that Lydia would be coming of age right around the time when the next deadpool would be getting started, which would kind of explain the mountain ash and whatnot. It seems like kind of a bad time to be selling that lake house, doesn't it? It seems like Lydia's gonna be needing the banshee room to try to get some answers? And maybe it was even Grandma Martin (either alive or dead) who has been helping Lydia and Meredith by giving them the cipher keys.
-I've seen a lot of people who are suspicious of Braeden because of her relationship with Derek, but I'm sorry, I just don't see it. Despite all her talk of only caring about money, and her comments that she would kill Scott if the money was good, all of her actions have completely defied her words. In fact, pretty much everything she's done in the show has been to help the pack, starting with when she risked her life to save Isaac, and then while she was still healing, risked her life AGAIN to warn Scott about the Alpha Pack going after him. Then, the next time we saw her, she was saving Derek (and, reluctantly, Peter), and didn't even give them shit when they refused to leave until they got Talia's claws back. She then was hired by the Calaveras to find Kate in La Iglesia, and even though her job wasn't to save Derek, she still helped them do so. Not to mention the fact that between Scott, Lydia, Kira, and Derek, Braeden could be paid $66 MILLION to kill them, and we have yet to see her even attempt to do so. With all those guns in Derek's apartment, it would have been ridiculously easy to take him out, and yet she hasn't. I mean, I'm not going to say that I'm 100% sure that Braeden is legit, but I just don't think it's likely that she's going to fuck our heroes over.
-Alright, let's talk about Malia's biological mother, yeah? I'm guessing that since Malia is the only werecoyote we've officially met, we haven't actually been introduced to her yet. There really isn't much out there in regards to her identity, but I did read one theory where Malia's mom is Coyote, the trickster god(dess). After learning about "the trickster" stories from the nogitsune (the raven, the coyote, and the fox) and having met several foxes already, it makes sense that we would be learning more about the other two, as well. There are PLENTY of theories as to who the raven could be (the big guesses seem to be Jordan Parrish, Lydia, and Stiles), we haven't heard much in the way of coyotes, probably because the fandom seems to be split on whether they like or hate Malia. Anyway, I think Malia's mother being Coyote would be an amazing addition to the existing mythology, and I'm actually really excited about where this storyline is headed.
-Like I said earlier, I think Scott's dreams in this episode really showed us a lot about what he's clearly been struggling with for a while, possibly since he became an alpha and ritually sacrificed himself with Stiles and Allison to find their parents. I was actually really disappointed when it seemed that the show was dropping the ~darkness around their hearts~ thing, because Deaton made it seem like such a big deal, and then they all just seemed to magically get over it. Now, I'm wondering if maybe they all just got so wrapped up with the nogitsune and the oni that they just once again compartmentalized their darkness so they could deal with it. Now, Allison is dead, Stiles has to deal with all that darkness PLUS the guilt of everything he did and felt while he was possessed, and Scott is once again having heaps and heaps of responsibility being thrust upon him when all he wanted to do was have one semester where he could focus on school and being a normal teenager.
With Scott, he always puts everyone ahead of himself, and he's much more concerned with making sure everyone else is okay than he is thinking/worrying about his own shit. So, now that we're touching on his inner darkness again, everything seems to make more sense-- with everything that has been going on since "Lunar Ellipse," of COURSE Scott is going to be avoiding thinking about the implications of being an alpha and his fears of becoming the same kind of monster that Peter was/is in favor of making sure his pack stays alive. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Scott values their lives ahead of his own, and the only reason why he ever worries about his own survival is because he's afraid that if he WASN'T there, then all of his loved ones (his parents, his friends' parents, his pack) would be even more at risk of being hurt or killed. So, his survival is only important to him in the way that he doesn't want his family and pack to suffer without him, emotionally or physically.
All this said, we already know that dreams are the human mind's way of sorting stuff that we're having difficulty understanding/accepting. This is also why we so often dream of things we DON'T want to think about-- it's like our brains know exactly what we're trying to repress, and they use our dreams to force us to confront it. So, with Scott's first dream, he's being shown a "deadpool" which has the names of four assassins who Scott is supposed to kill. Liam acts as the devil's advocate, by arguing that Scott is the alpha, and as such, it's his responsibility to take out the assassins to protect the rest of the supernaturals in his town. Scott is then shown the potential consequences of doing nothing when Liam is attacked by the Mute right in front of him, while Scott is too shocked and afraid to do anything. The lesson of this dream is basically what Agent Douchenozzle was trying to explain to Scott: it sucks, but sometimes you have to take a life in order to save one, though that doesn't mean that it isn't hard to deal with, or an easy thing to do.
In his second dream, it's very much the same, although it touches a lot more on what Scott's true fear really is involving killing people-- he's afraid that if he does kill someone, he'll start to like it, like Peter, or Deucalion. Remember Derek and Deucalion's conversation all the way back in "Unleashed?" "You want me to kill my own pack?" "No, I want you to kill ONE of them. Do that, and I won't have to ask you to kill the others-- you'll do it on your own." This very much describes Scott's mindset where killing is concerned, because let's face it, Scott's experience with alphas has NOT been pleasant; he's only really had Peter, Derek, and Deucalion/the Alpha Pack as examples. It's why I'm kind of pissed that Deaton didn't introduce Satomi to Scott, because I think she would be an excellent mentor for him, in addition to Derek. ANYWAY, so though Liam once again plays devil's advocate in this dream, suggesting that being an alpha/becoming more of a werewolf could be a good thing, because it could give him the strength he needs to overpower the people gunning for their deaths right now, but Scott continues to worry that it's going to make him more of a monster. Then, once again, Liam is attacked by the Mute, and Scott is too shocked and horrified to stop it.
The third dream perfectly outlines Scott's fear of becoming a bloodthirsty killer. The Mute gives him his tomahawk and shows him how to use it to kill Liam, much in the same way Peter used his alpha-sway over him to try to get Scott to kill his friends/pack in "Night School," and when Deucalion tried to get him to kill Jennifer in "Lunar Ellipse." The Mute's "Let me help you, let me show you how" is suspiciously similar to Deucalion's "Maybe you just need a bit of guidance" in that episode. Then, when the Mute lets go of Scott, he starts hacking away at Liam, getting more and more violent as his face is splattered with blood, and by the end, Scott is smiling and roaring in dominance over Liam's mangled corpse. This is by far his worst fear (and not just with Liam, it could just as easily be Stiles, or Kira, or Lydia, or Malia, or his mother, though Liam is just a little bb beta, so it makes sense that this would be who is threatened in his dreams-- if he really is afraid of turning into Peter, who tried to turn his beta into a weapon to be used against his enemies, or Deucalion, who killed all of his own betas for more power and tried to get Derek and Scott to do the same, then being afraid of killing Liam fits right in with their actions. Still, like I said earlier, I don't think this is a signal that we'll be getting a dark!Scott arc, though I'm not at all opposed to the idea. I think that these dreams are just trying to communicate to him that there is a third option-- he has the power and strength (physically, and character-wise) to take out someone in self-defense/to protect his loved ones if necessary, without succumbing to his dark, monster-y instincts. I mean, Scott is a true alpha BECAUSE he has unbreakable strength of will and virtue, you know? So if anyone can keep himself from turning into a literal monster, it's Scott McCall.
-So, what the fuck is Kate and Peter's plan? It seems pretty obvious that Peter wants to take Scott out and be the alpha again, but what does Kate get out of it? I feel like learning control over her jaguar side isn't enough to make her inclined to work with the guy who killed her, you know? And besides, if Peter is alpha again, won't he technically be KATE'S alpha, since he's the one who created her? That's a terrifying thought. I don't know if pack dynamics change with werejaguars, since they're actually felines, not canines, but having Kate as a "beta" to Peter's alpha is still scary as hell. Honestly, part of me is hoping that Kate's planning on fucking him over somehow/killing him. That'd be a great way to redeem her, don't you think? Because seriously, Peter has overstayed his welcome.
-Alright, so does anyone have any theories about Parrish before this week's episode airs and we finally get our reveal? I still am convinced he's a phoenix, though I do still wonder if he's not some kind of angel/celestial, or maybe a raven. There are still quite a few people who believe that Parrish is also somehow Camden Lahey, since they're both the same age and were in the army, and if he really is a phoenix, then it's possible he was "reborn" after he "died" and just didn't remember. I don't think it's that likely now that Isaac is gone, but I wouldn't be at all disappointed if it ended up being true.
-Speaking of last guesses, any more theories about the Benefactor's true identity? I have read so many compelling arguments for, like, two dozen different characters that I honestly don't think I'll be surprised, regardless of who it ends up being. The big guesses seem to be Gerard, Victoria, Chris, Brunsky, Danny, Lydia's grandmother, Papa Hale, Agent Douchenozzle, Liam's stepdad/Dr. Geyer, Mr. Harris (who's body was never found, so he might not actually be dead), Jennifer Blake, Stiles (still possessed by the nogitsune somehow, natch, since he wouldn't do it voluntarily) and Lydia (being controlled somehow by someone, which seems dumb to me, because why would we recycle that storyline?) I'm interested to hear your theories though, so hit me with your best ones!
Comments
Post a Comment