"Has It Been 9 Months Already?"-- A (Ridiculously Late) Teen Wolf Season 4 Wrap-Up/Season 5 Speculation Masterpost

(Blogger's note: for any of you who are following me on Tumblr, I have moved to a new blog that is 99% dedicated to fandoms and 1% social-justice-y/feminism, so if you'd like to keep reading my stuff over there, you can follow me at bisexual-rebekah.)

So, I actually meant to write this like, five,six seven eight months ago, but then I realized that I didn't have much time to catch up on my TVD Season 5-rewatch and decided to make that the priority. Then, naturally, the new seasons of TVD and The Originals started, which ended up taking priority over THAT, and I got ridiculously behind and kind of forgot about this post for a bit until notomys on Tumblr messaged me and reminded me that I totally meant to write this whole big thing and it ended up being forgotten while I have been playing catch-up on actual recaps. So, since we still have another five four three two months ONE MONTH before our blessed and beloved Teen Wolf comes back, I figured, why not just give ourselves a little refresher of the last season and start a discussion about what is to come for the new TWENTY EPISODE season that we're getting this summer? I AM SERIOUSLY SO EXCITED ABOUT IT. So, let's make this (already short) wait a little less excruciating by discussing what we want to happen-- or what we think will happen-- when Season 5 starts up on June 29, yeah?

I kind of waffled around about how I was planning on writing this, and whether I should organize it by character or by story-line, but after months of this sitting in my drafts, along with the new Season 5 trailer and promos (which can be found here, here, here, and here) I've finally decided to start with major storylines that were hinted to in the last half of Season 4 and will likely be moving on to Season 5, and then I will follow by doing minor plots and character-specific storylines that may be separate from the main arcs. Settle in, babies, because we've got some reviewing to do!

For your convenience, here are some of the topics we'll be covering: the Doctors and the plot that was hinted at in the Season 5 trailers, the new supernatural creature this season called the Sluagh, Eichen House/werewolf jail, what's to come for Peter (re: revenge on the pack and being roomies with Dr. Valak) and Kate (re: Chris and the Calaveras), what the fuck kind of creature Jordan Parrish is (with references to meta written by Tumblr bloggers and featuring a special write-up from my dearest friend and fellow TV fanatic Kathleen), questions about possible power advancements for the supernatural kids (Scott and his shapeshifting from "Monstrous," Kira getting a power boost or additional powers from growing her first kitsune tail in "Smoke & Mirrors," what Derek's new full-wolf form means for him, general power control for Lydia, Liam, and Malia, etc), the civilians who may or may not be read into the supernatural situation (Agent Douchenozzle, Mason, Liam's step-dad), and the Desert Wolf, including Braeden's involvement with her, among other things!

Also, before you read further, you should know that THERE ARE TONS OF POTENTIAL SPOILERS based on the footage in the trailers and promos that have been released so far. If spoilers aren't your thing, I would say you should probably not read any farther than the Apollo/Jordan meta written by Kathleen that follows this introduction. Also, keep in mind that the majority of this write-up was written before any of the promos/interviews about Season 5 were released, so I was working on the breadcrumbs that were dropped in Season 4. So, it's very likely that a lot of what we thought would be happening last August/September could end up not being touched on, at least not right away. Anyway, let's get to theorizing!

Okay, so I was originally planning on adding this in next section with the "What the fuck is Jordan Parrish?" meta/speculation, but since it's so good and detailed, I'm actually going to start off with it, and then go back to the supernatural-creature debate later on. So, my dearest soulfriend and fellow supernatural television show addict Kathleen wrote this amazing meta about Jordan Parrish and her belief that he's Apollo from Greek mythology (or, more realistically, that he's styled after him) specifically for this write up, and she did an amazing job! So, any credit regarding this theory should go to her, as I did nothing but do some slight revision and add it to the post.

THE SUN GOD APOLLO AND JORDAN PARRISH, by Kathleen B

"The likelihood of Jeff Davis going this route is probably pretty slim, based on the supernatural creatures he likes to feature in Teen Wolf. But, there are too many things that connect with this theory, so I'd like to explore them. I know there is a whole slew of name meta and related exposition, but just to be thorough, let's start with the easiest thing to analyze: his name.

Jordan: The River Jordan, where John the Baptist was baptized.

Parrish: Surname for Foundlings bought up at the expense of the parish.

Now, this in-and-of itself isn't that helpful, especially in regards to Jordan being Apollo/associated with Apollo, But, rivers in Greek myth were important, as is the fact that we don't know his family history-- he could possibly be an orphan, and if he is, it wouldn't be surprising that he doesn't know what he is, since his biological parents weren't around to tell him.

Secondly, there have been multiple instances of other characters commenting on how he looks so young. This is a trope that has specifically been used with Parrish in the show, and I think it's a big clue as to who/what he is. And, since Apollo is usually depicted as a handsome, beardless youth wearing a wreath of laurel leaves, it sounds a lot like Jordan as well-- it doesn't hurt that he's basically built like a Greek god, abs and all.






















So, Apollo is the Lawgiver and the God of Prophecy. Jordan Parrish has been in the military and is now a deputy sheriff, both of which are professions that are linked to laws. At least, depending on where you are in the world. [Emily's note: AGREED. America's cops aren't exactly known for following the law to the letter, especially not these days.]

"Apollo was a god who had a clear idea of what was right and what was wrong. He believed strongly in law and order. He interpreted the law for mortals and gave the cities their legal institutions, including civic courts so that disputes could be settled without bloodshed. Uncomfortable as Apollo was with chaos and tumult, or even passionate intensity, he was an idealist with a vision of a society that could live peacefully under the rule of fairness and of law."

Jordan's character could have been written based on this description of Apollo. He doesn't want to give Argent back his "lightsaber" in "The Fox and the Wolf" because it could be extremely dangerous. He was in the bomb squad (and forgive my lack of US military terminology and knowledge-- it's not something I want to know about, either, tbh), which to me, seems like one of the most trained and orderly units in chaos and disorder. [Emily's note: Thanks to my experience as a girlfriend to several men in the Navy and the Air Force over the course of my adult life, I can tell those of you who are interested that Parrish's job in the Army is what is known as an EOD technician, otherwise known as Explosive Ordinance Disposal. You're welcome! I can hardly blame Kathleen and her fellow peaceful, pacifistic Canadians for their ignorance though, I'd rather not know either. ;)]

He is constantly referring back to law and rules, but he doesn't act with retribution; instead, he acts with compassion and understanding. For example, when he found Bb!Derek at the Hale house ruins in "117," or when he found Lydia walking through the wendigo family's house in "Muted." In both instances, he speaks with reason and logic and doesn't jump to conclusions when he sees Grown-up!Derek's record come up when scanning Bb!Derek's fingerprints.

It's also been said that Apollo has "swift and merciless punishment of those whose behavior they found insulting or offensive." And, let me remind you that Jordan had no words for Deputy Haige in "Perishable," he just immediately beat him up. Which, after Haige set him on fire, is an understandable reaction-- it fits both the "insulting" and "offensive" categories, to say the very least. Apollo also always speaks the truth, and from what we've seen so far, so does Jordan, making him a foil to Peter, who only tells the truth in the rare instance that it serves him better than lying. This could also shed some additional light on Jordan's loophole/dialogue while talking to Brunski at Eichen House in "Orphaned."

Jordan also has a connection to Lydia-- regardless of whether you believe that it's platonic or if you ship it romantically, the connection is there, and he's aware of it. Apollo had his most influential Oracle at Delphi, where his greatest Seer was Cassandra, whom he gave the gift of sight. When she spurred his sexual advances, he cursed Cassandra during the Trojan War to be able to accurately see the future, but have no one believe her prophetic visions. (Fun fact: Cassandra was also an ancestor of Professor Trelawny in the Harry Potter series.) Does that remind of of anyone? Specifically, a strawberry-blonde-haired, green-eyed teenage girl who was bitten by Alpha!Peter? Everyone who learned Scott was a werewolf accepted it relatively quickly, but with Lydia, she has fought and continues to fight a battle to discover who she truly is and to what extent her powers work. Even now, she struggles to have people believe her as a result of her still not being able to fully control her gifts. Jordan's connection to Seers/frenzied women doesn't stop at Lydia, either-- Meredith, too, has a connection with him, as he was the one who picked her up after she escaped from Eichen House in "IED," and he defended her in both "Orphaned." and "Monstrous,"

“Plato describes the priestesses of Delphi and Dodona as frenzied women, obsessed by "mania" (μανία, "frenzy"), a Greek word he connected with mantis (μάντις, "prophet").[73] Frenzied women like Sibyls from whose lips the god speaks are recorded in the Near East as Mari in the second millennium BC.[74] Although Crete had contacts with Mari from 2000 BC,[75] there is no evidence that the ecstatic prophetic art existed during the Minoan and Mycenean ages. It is more probable that this art was introduced later from Anatolia and regenerated an existing oracular cult that was local to Delphi and dormant in several areas of Greece.[76]”

To expand on this with just a small bite while discussing Jordan's connection to Lydia:

Lydia: Women from Lydia, Greece

Interestingly enough, the name of Apollo's mother, Leto, has Lydian origin.

It's hard to nail down information on Lydia, but it was located near Troy (which, from my quick research, Lydia seems as though it could have been Troy, in my opinion), and Apollo was the Trojan's protector-- or, in the language of my Catholic upbringing, their "patron saint." Jordan isn't at all freaked out at the thought of psychics existing, and he uses an old-school term in "IED," when he refers to Lydia as an "intuitionist," which points to an era long before his time, unless he has somehow been reborn or is a god/immortal.

The order of reveals regarding Jordan is also important, as it is not until AFTER Kate discusses the myth of Artemis (Apollo's twin sister!) and Actaeon to Scott in "A Promise to the Dead" that Jordan's eyes glow red-orange-yellow and flame-like while he was trying to free Chris from the rebar that was impaling him. With this theory, there is also the potential for Jordan to have a twin sister he doesn't know about, and I'd be totally down for this. I've already seen quite a few metas/speculation posts that discuss Jordan being a phoenix (which are good theories, and I see a lot of value in them), but there is also a strong connection between Apollo and phoenixes, which I think is a neat fact.

Apollo also has a connection to ravens: Apollo dispatched a white raven to spy on Cassandra for him. When the raven reported back that she had betrayed his trust, he was displeased and turned the raven's feathers black. Most Greek festivals were celebrated during the full moon, and feasts for Apollo in particular were celebrated on the seventh month, giving him a connection to wolves. Seven is a very significant number, but I don't feel like going into it, so just trust me on this one. There are also other connections Apollo has with important symbols in Teen Wolf:

• [Silver] Bow and Arrow (Allison's arrowheads that were used to kill the Oni, and her bow in general)
• Wolves (Do I have to explain this one?)
• Raven (Tricksters-- Void!Stiles brought up the Raven, the Coyote, and the Fox)
• Snakes/Lizards (Jackson as the kanima)
• The tripod (too many tripods/trios in Teen Wolf to name!)
• Navel stone

It is from the Greek god Apollo that we get the sayings 'Know thyself" and the call to moderation in all things, the Golden Mean, reminding us to do "nothing in excess." This line is significant both because of Deaton's statement to Scott about "regression to the mean" to help Scott get through Allison's death and the chaos that preceded and followed it, as well as Jordan's comment to Jared when he was checking out the bomb threat and mentioned that anyone could look young if they ate healthfully and exercised. 

And, just because there is a lot of Celtic mythology in Teen Wolf, here is a list of Celtic gods of similar character that are often equated to Apollo: 

• Apollo Atepomarus ("the great horseman" or "possessing a great horse"). Apollo was worshipped at Mauvières (Indre). Horses were, in the Celtic world, closely linked to the sun.
• Apollo Belenus ('bright' or 'brilliant'). This epithet was given to Apollo in parts of Gaul, Northern Italy and Noricum (part of modern Austria). Apollo Belenus was a healing and sun god.
• Apollo Cunomaglus ('hound lord'). A title given to Apollo at a shrine in Wiltshire. Apollo Cunomaglus may have been a god of healing. Cunomaglus himself may originally have been an independent healing god.
• Apollo Grannus. Grannus was a healing spring god, later equated with Apollo.
• Apollo Maponus. A god known from inscriptions in Britain. This may be a local fusion of Apollo and Maponus.
• Apollo Moritasgus ('masses of sea water'). An epithet for Apollo at Alesia, where he was worshipped as god of healing and, possibly, of physicians.
• Apollo Vindonnus ('clear light'). Apollo Vindonnus had a temple at Essarois, near Châtillon-sur-Seine in present-day Burgundy. He was a god of healing, especially of the eyes.
• Apollo Virotutis ('benefactor of mankind?'). Apollo Virotutis was worshipped, among other places, at Fins d'Annecy (Haute-Savoie) and at Jublains (Maine-et-Loire).[36][38]

Oh, and since Season 4 introduced us to "the Sun, the Moon, the Truth" mantra, used in both Buddhism and, in this show, by Satomi's pack and Liam to help maintain control over their wolf impulses.

The Sun = Apollo/Jordan Parrish

The Moon = Werewolves/Artemis, Goddess of the Moon/Hunt

The Truth = Jordan Parrish tells the truth! Apollo tells the truth!

This is a bit disorganized, and I apologize. You know when you come across a theory/thesis and then have TOO much information? Well, this is the result of mine, but it's okay, because I'm not being graded. ;)"

(SOURCES: PhoenixArises, GodAndGoddess)

THE DOCTORS-- WHO ARE THEY & WHAT DO THEY WANT?

Okay, back to my own writing (and by that, I mean it's Emily talking now). Anyway, from what can be discerned from the trailer for the first half-dozen episodes of Season 5, the McCall Pack and its allies will be dealing with these scary, oni-esque beings nicknamed "The Doctors," who are decked out in black gear, with robotic-looking arms and hands and who are wearing red-orange tinted goggles. The fandom seems to agree that not only do these beings seem to be like the oni demons from Season 3Bin appearance, they are also likely similar to the oni in that they're only foot soldiers for the real Big Bad-- (or the Medium-Bad, since Teen Wolf sure loves to throw two villains into the mix, making us think that one is the Big Bad and one is a neutral or good guy, only to find out that what was thought to be the Big Bad is really not as bad, or bad at all, compared to the one we thought was the neutral-good person, who is actually the real Big Bad. See: Derek/Peter in Season 1, Jackson/Matt/Gerard in Season 2, the Alpha Pack/Jennifer Blake in 3A, the oni/the Nogitsune in Season 3B, and The Benefactor/Kate/Peter in Season 4)-- the identity of whom is unclear at the moment. But, it does seem like Dr. Valak is involved somehow as well, although I honestly have no solid ideas about how-- Kathleen and I have some educated guesses, but the trailer doesn't give us much to speculate with, honestly.

After quite a few texting sessions with Kathleen, we've come to the conclusion that the Doctors and whoever is pulling their strings are going to be involved in a similar organization to Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "The Initiative." For those who haven't seen Buffy or can't remember it, the Initiative was an organization at UC-Sunnydale that captured supernatural creatures (specifically vampires and demons) to experiment on them for use in the military. The vampires were often implanted with a chip in their brains that caused them immense amounts of pain whenever they would try to feed on or otherwise hurt a human (though other vampires and demons were fair game), and the demons were experimented on for their abilities with the end goal of creating what were referred to as "bio-mechanical demonoids," which were essentially scientifically-engineered human-demon hybrids who were meant to be super-soldiers.

Now, I don't know if the Doctors and their puppeteer(s) are interested in supernaturals from a military standpoint, a medical standpoint, or something different altogether, but experimentation is a natural progression of any story regarding supernatural beings. I mean, if there's anything we've learned from these shows that also applies to real life, it's that humans seriously fear what they don't understand, and will attempt to control it (like the hunters) or to try to use it for their own ends. The Vampire Diaries, too, had their own supernatural experimentation storyline in Season 5, when it was revealed that Damon and Enzo were captured by Augustine Society, who experimented on vampire test subjects in order to research how they could use their healing factor for human medical advancements. Their most recent doctor, Wes Maxfield, had a different approach than his predecessors, and instead used his experimentation to create a serum that, when injected into a vampire, would physiologically change them so that they would to turn into cannibalistic "Augustine Vampires," who would have insatiable cravings for the blood of other vampires instead of humans, with the goal of eventually protecting humans from being their prey and ultimately causing the end of the vampire species entirely. So, with regards to Teen Wolf, it could really go either way. What I'm guessing is going to happen is that the supernaturals that the Doctors find will become test subjects to figure out what makes them "tick" so they can use these magically-created beings to create scientifically-created supernaturals. There was this one shot at the end of the trailer of a man with blue glowing claws, blinding white fangs, and seemed to be completely covered in some black tarry substance, which I'm going to assume is the man-made supernatural in question. 

So, now the question is, who will be affected by this? I think the prime candidates based on the trailers are Lydia and Scott. In the official trailer, Lydia looks as though she's been captured in an Eichen House-like building, and she demonstrates several abilities that she's never been shown to have before-- one is an offensive use of her scream, which causes lightbulbs and windows to explode and even cause humans to be brought to their knees by the sound, and another is what looks like some form of telekinesis, which she uses to create a concussive blast that throws an orderly backward and across the room. I have two theories as to how she got these abilities, which will be discussed further in the power advancements section. The first is that she got additional powers when she turned eighteen, since Lydia's storyline in both "Time of Death" and "Perishable" suggested that banshees typically come into their powers around age eighteen, unless, of course, they have some kind of traumatic injury or incident-- like, say, getting bitten by an Alpha werewolf-- that causes their latent abilities to come out earlier. If this is the case, that would be really awesome, because I've always wanted Lydia to have active powers. My second theory is that she's experimented on by the Doctors and gains extra powers before then subsequently escaping with the help of Scott/Stiles/Kira/Malia/Liam/a combination of pack members, which would also be pretty awesome. I mean, telekinesis doesn't seem like a banshee ability, unless it's a form of sonic blasts from her scream like Banshee from the X-Men, but I'm hardly an expert at Celtic mythology, so what do I know? 

Then, there's the Scott-centric promo that shows him being cut open, having his red human-ish blood replaced by black blood, and his typically Alpha-red werewolf eyes being turned completely black. I don't know if this means that this is exactly what is going to happen to Scott, or if it's just showing that it's a possibility, but I would not be at all surprised if he gets captured in some way. He is a True Alpha, after all, and neither the audience, nor the characters in the show, seem to fully know what kind of powers this entails, so it stands to reason that a doctor who knows about the supernatural would be curious as to how they work. Kathleen also brought up in one of our many TV brainstorming sessions that Theo, the new omega werewolf who seems to have a history with Scott, could have possibly already been experimented on by the Doctors and was able to escape as well, which ultimately will lead them to Scott and the pack. I think this is very much a possibility, and would also make sense given the challenges that Scott/Stiles are expected to face this season. But, that's another thing I will be getting into later on. (Though, I'll say it right now-- I'm pretty sure Stiles' main issue with Theo is going to be jealousy that there's yet ANOTHER Scott-sexual boy around to cut into his own Scott time. He already had to go through it with Isaac, who we all know was, is, and will always be super in love with Scott, and now Liam, who seems to adore his Alpha werewolf dad, so Theo will likely just be the straw that broke the camel's back where Skittles/Sciles is concerned. That's not to say that Theo may or may not actually be shady, or that Stiles doesn't have legitimate reasons to think that he is hiding something-- I'm just thinking that his jealousy will play a huge role in how Stiles behaves toward Theo-- we don't really have enough information yet to say anything definitively, one way or another)

THE NEWEST SUPERNATURAL BEING IN BEACON HILLS-- THE SLUAGH

I'll start this section off with a warning, which is that pretty much ALL I know about the Sluagh and its involvement in this season is that the creature won the contest the Teen Wolf showrunners had last fall where the fans would create an illustration of an existing supernatural creature, or one of their own creation, and then send it in, and whichever was chosen would be in the next season. Otherwise, I have NO idea how it will play a role in the story, whether it's involved with the Doctors plot or if it has its own story or what. Still, I figure we can at least go over the general consensus of what a Sluagh is, right?

From what my limited research has told me, a Sluagh is a Celtic mythological/folkloric spirit. Wikipedia tells me, Sluagh is the Gaelic word for "horde," or "crowd," and generally means a horde of spirits of the restless dead. This could either meant that they had sinned in their lives, or were people who committed acts that were so evil that they were bared from heaven, hell, AND the Otherworld, along with the Celtic deities and the earth itself. Regardless of the source, the general consensus is that they're nearly always destructive and fly in groups coming from the west. They're also known to attempt to enter the house where a person is dying to take their soul away with them, which seems to fit into the medical/Doctor-y theme of the season. Interestingly enough, when I looked up "Sluagh" in Google Images, the first photo is what came up, which got my attention because one of the shots from the trailer had a bunch of dead crows/ravens/blackbirds laying on the ground, very much like what happened in the Season 3A premiere, "Tattoo." The screencap from the trailer is below it-- what are you guys thinking? Maybe the birds have something to do with the Sluagh, or they were inhabited by them? I don't know, I just figured I just mention it in case it's important later.

Meanwhile, Monsteropedia agrees that Sluagh are evil spirits who steal the souls of innocents. They refer to them as being similar to vampires, which I thought was weird, but they're also described as being the Irish folkloric equivalent to the Wild Hunt. In Scottish folklore, the Sluagh are also known as the Fairy Host, and claims that they were part of the fairy Seelie Court before they became sinners and were cast out, leaving them cursed to fly across the sky at midnight to snatch travelers. Either way, they don't sound good at ALL and I'm very concerned about any of the pack members who may come in contact with them-- especially Lydia, considering 1) she is also a Celtic folkloric creature herself that is related to the fae and the Seelie Court, and 2) as a banshee, she is someone with a close connection to death and spirits, as well. YIKES! I am so damn nervous.

EICHEN HOUSE / WEREWOLF JAIL (ft. Peter & Dr. Valak)

So, we learned from "A Promise to the Dead" and "Smoke & Mirrors" that Eichen house has a super-secret wing of supernatural creatures who (presumably) pose a hazard to the human population of Beacon Hills. And, we know of at least a couple of its residents, including Patrick Clark, the sadistic wendigo who was on the deadpool for $250,000, and Dr. Valak, some kind of supernatural expert who either used the ancient practice of trephination to drill a hole in his own head and gave himself extra-sensory perception through his third eye, or was experimented on by somebody else (maybe the Doctors? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS). Valak demonstrated at least one of his abilities by mind-whammying Deaton into falling into some sort of coma, where he had a vision of Kate's berserker factor at La Iglesia and figured what she was planning to do to Scott. Finally, at the end of the season finale, we saw that Dr. Valak has a new roommate in Peter Hale, after Scott totally kicked his ass, allowing him to be yellow wolfsbane'd by Chris and sent away to join the other dangerous supes in werewolf jail. Valak then used his powers a second time to make the usually-unflappable Peter see a vision that was so horrifying that he began screaming hysterically and trying to pound his way out of the room, which is interesting for so many reasons.

Now, the question is, what's to come? There's been quite a bit of speculation on it, most of which seems to focus on Dr. Valak and whether he managed to get Peter as a roommate purposely for whatever plan he is cooking up in there, or if someone else was trying to make that happen for whatever reason. I mean, I suppose it's possible that he's just lonely and bored of reading trashy romance novels and wants some companionship, but someone who's willing to drill a huge hole in his forehead to get yet-undefined psionic powers probably has some malicious intentions, don't you think? Jeff Davis has said in interviews that he's a big fan of the actor who plays Valak, Steven Brand, so I think it's safe to say that we'll be seeing more of him, but in what way? We know that he's intentionally sequestered in the supernatural ward because of his powers; he's rarely ever allowed to have visitors because he can't resist turning them into vegetables; he's locked in a room that has mountain ash built into the floorboards so that he can't escape (along with the rest of the residents, I'm guessing). However, the room we were led to believe he and Peter would be sharing only has one cot, which is the one in which Valak was laying, so was that just a set error, or was it some kind of indication that this was meant to be extra punishment for Peter, or something orchestrated purposely by Valak? I DON'T KNOW, BUT I DESPERATELY WANT TO FIND OUT.

Also, on the topic of Valak, why wasn't he on the deadpool? He seems to be at least a little supernatural, since the mountain ash appears to be keeping him in his room (unless he's just PRETENDING to be affected by it for some reason-- I wouldn't put it past him or this show, to be honest), and he has the ability to put people into coma-like states, so that should qualify him as not-fully-human, right? And the fact that he was in Eichen House and not actively a threat to the populace at large shouldn't make a difference either, because Meredith still put herself and Patrick on the list at the very least, so what gives? Is there a reason for this, or is it just another plot hole? Who knows. If Valak IS behind why Peter got stuck in his room, then what are his motives? Is he planning on using Peter somehow to help him further his own agenda? Does he have something against Peter himself? I NEED ANSWERS.

THE DESERT WOLF

As far as the Desert Wolf is concerned, we really don't have much to go on. We're pretty sure that she's Malia's mother, who had some sort of unholy union with Peter between sixteen and eighteen years ago (though whether or not we should trust Peter when he says he's sure she's Malia's mother is another story entirely, which I'll get into in a minute). And, we know from what Braeden said in the finale that the Desert Wolf was definitely important enough to warrant US Marshals (a federal agent here in the United States who typically hunt down fugitives) to track her down and arrest her. Other than that, though, there's not much to talk about. We don't know her real name, nor do we know what she is, aside from presumably being an assassin of some kind. I feel comfortable assuming that she's probably a werecoyote, since Malia isn't a werewolf like her father, plus her code name is the Desert Wolf, which is another name for coyote, but I suppose it could be possible that she may just be a regular old human who just really likes/identifies with coyotes?

Still, that's not even getting into the hint we touched upon in Season 3B, when the nogitsune told Lydia about the trickster stories involving the fox, the coyote, and the raven. We've had a lot of experience with the trickster-ness of foxes through the nogitsune and Noshiko (and we'll likely see Kira as more of a trickster in this new season-- more on that later), but we've yet to see any coyotes or ravens who could be considered tricksters. Since Malia seems to be firmly and completely on Team Good (much to the chagrin of the fandom, the majority of whom seems dead-set on demonizing her despite the fact that we have no evidence that says she's anything other than a good person) I have a hard time believing we'll be seeing it from her, but the Desert Wolf is a whole different scenario. There was even speculation that the Desert Wolf might be the Coyote god(dess) from Indigenous American mythology-- granted, in their myth, Coyote is a man, but this wouldn't be the first time Jeff Davis changed up the lore, something that I'll say more than once as we get into the Parrish speculation. Also, the Coyote god is also commonly associated with the Raven in the same myth, and since there's so much speculation that Jordan Parrish is a raven, it gives it another connection to the rest of the story.

I do have one thing that's kind of been bothering me since we saw the flashbacks in "Monstrous" that revealed that Peter was behind the deadpool-- when he was talking about how he would disseminate the deadpool, he mentioned three assassins: the Mute, the Chemist, and the Desert Wolf. As we all know, both the Mute and the Chemist ended up being involved in the modern-day iteration of the deadpool (and both ended up getting killed for their trouble), but we never ended up seeing the Desert Wolf. You would think that if she was an assassin, she would have eventually been given the deadpool, right? Meredith heard Peter talking about her, and she pretty much did everything he asked to the letter, so it stands to reason that she would have ended up being informed of it. Considering her own daughter was on the list, wouldn't that warrant a trip to Beacon Hills? Is it possible that she, too, had her memories of Malia and Peter removed by Talia just like she did to Peter? Basically, I'm very confused where she's concerned, and I am dying of anticipation to figure out what her deal is, and what her feelings are going to be about Malia.

I'm also a little suspicious about the fact that Peter claimed that Talia removed his memories of his daughter Malia and her mother, but he still managed to remember the Desert Wolf in his rambling speech to Meredith while they were in the same ward in the hospital. I mean, I'm sure there's a good chance that Talia just removed the memories related to Malia and her conception, rather than making her forget about the Desert Wolf completely, but that still feels risky, because he clearly still knows who she is, and if he somehow ran into her, she could easily spill the beans about the whole thing. (Unless, of course, it's true that Talia messed with her memories as well, which is definitely a possibility.) I guess what I'm most eager to learn is why Talia took his memories in the first place? Was she trying to protect Malia from knowing that her parents are basically a psychopath and an assassin? Was she trying to protect both Malia and Peter from TDW? How did Peter figure out that Talia had taken his memories in the first place? THERE ARE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

THE HUNT FOR KATE

So, after Kate's plan to team up with Peter, sap Derek of his powers, and turn Scott into a berserker (with the intention of either forcing him to lose his True Alpha status by killing one of his packmates OR having his packmates kill him as punishment for his perceived crimes against the Argent family) failed miserably, she had one last showdown with her brother before she ran off, claiming that neither Chris, nor the Calaveras, nor Peter would be able to track her down. Which begs the question-- where does she go from there? She lost all of her berserkers-- Sheriff killed one, Derek killed another, and Scott managed to turn himself back into a werewolf with his bb beta Liam's help-- and since she herself credited the berserkers as the reason she was able to survive after escaping the Calaveras right after she turned, she's going to have a hell of a time on the run without them acting as her bodyguards and personal assassins, I'd imagine. 

If I were Kate, my first move would be to create some more berserkers, but since we've only seen one berserker be made on screen at her berserker factory at La Iglesia, it begs the question-- do they HAVE to be made at the obsidian Temple of Tezcatlipoca? If so, you would think that the Calaveras would have some hunters staking out the place just in case, since Kate said herself that she kept being drawn back to it after she ditched the Calaveras the first time. So, if she does in fact need La Iglesia to make them, then creating a new berserker team to help protect her is going to be pretty difficult, in the case that the Calaveras aren't total idiots and keep the church under surveillance just in case Kate tries to return. Don't get me wrong, I'm well aware that Kate is deadly on her own, due to her rage issues and barely-contained control over her inner jaguar, but she's not indestructible like the berserkers typically are, and without them, she's going to have a much harder time getting around, and will end up having to do her own dirty work instead of forcing them to do it for her. I assume that Tezcatlipoca is still pretty big in Central and South America, so are there maybe some other temples to the jaguar god that she could use to make more berserkers? My google-fu didn't turn up much in terms of actual temples and their locations, but according to Tezcatlipoca's Wikipedia page, there are have been multiple temples to him in history, so maybe there's another one or several that are still around where she can rebuild her werebear army.

It does seem like Kate's learned a few things in terms of living off the grid during her half-year or so on the run, but it would definitely help to have some people backing her up. And we know that Chris is an excellent hunter, one of the best out there, not to mention the fact that the Calaveras are hardly amateurs themselves, so the chances of her being able to evade them forever aren't really in her favor. So, if the Calaveras and Chris end up finding her, what do you guys think will happen? Will Araya and Severo kill her? Will they send her to werewolf jail, too? Since she's a feline shapeshifter and not a canine one, wolfsbane doesn't seem to be nearly as effective against her, but the mountain ash should still be able to keep her trapped, right? Still, her hunter training in addition to her supernatural abilities would probably make her a hard person to catch/imprison, don't you think? TOO MANY QUESTIONS.

WHAT THE FUCK IS JORDAN PARRISH?

As curious as we all are to figure out what our favorite Deputy Dreamy-Eyes, we still don't know THAT much about the extent of his powers, and because of this, there are so many theories about what he could possibly be, ranging from a raven to some sort of angel and everything in between. This section is mostly going to be linking to meta that I've read on Tumblr and summarizing it, since I've read so many different theories at this point that I can't in good conscience claim any of the theories I agree with were actually fully created by me. My personal favorite theory is that he's a barghest, a type of hellhound, which was a meta I read on Tumblr by lostmemoria/lydiasdeputy. I'll be labeling the evidence supporting the theory as PROS and the evidence/folklore/mythology that doesn't fit as CONS, though we know Jeff Davis well enough by now that he's more than willing to tweak (or, more realistically, completely smash the lore and rebuild it from the broken pieces) in order to fit the kind of supernatural creature he wants.

Before we talk about individual theories, though, let's talk about the few things we do know about his powers. First, we know that he was drawn to Beacon Hills because of the Nemeton, which is surely something that is going to come into play at some point. We have seen him doused in gasoline and set on fire, only for him to come out completely unscathed. Whether the charred, burned parts we saw on him were actually his skin that regenerated extremely rapidly and perfectly afterward, or were just the remnants of his uniform, which, of course, didn't have the ability to rapidly heal or resist the fire, is still unknown at this point. (For the record, I'm leaning toward the latter moreso than the former, but it could go either way at this point). We also have no idea whether this is just an incredible healing ability that is specifically related to burns/fire-related injuries or if he can heal from any wound, either.

Also, it's important to note that Jordan screamed as he was being burned-- whether that means he was actually in pain or was just screaming out of fear and confusion remains to be seen, but if he was in pain, then he doesn't have an immunity to fire/burns like a kitsune does with their immunity to lightning. When Kira sucks up the electricity from a wire, it doesn't seem to have any effect on her whatsoever, and Nogitsune!Stiles grabbed onto the charges of a heavy-duty taser with no obvious signs of discomfort as well. However, it's totally possible that Parrish really is "indestructible" (at least to fire) and that he was only screaming because, hello, he was doused in gasoline and set on fire and any person who believes themselves to be a regular-old human is going to assume that they're going to die in a gruesome, painful way. Then there was Lydia and Derek's comment that Parrish's hair and nails should have been gone, since they're essentially dead, which is what is making me lean toward the thought that fire doesn't even hurt Parrish a little bit, it just makes him sooty and burns/melts his clothing.

We also saw Parrish's eyes glow an orange-gold color that resembled the look and movement of actual flames when he was trying to help bend the rebar pinning Chris to the wall of the sewer, (which, in my opinion, don't look THAT similar to Kira/Noshiko's kitsune eyes-- their eyes look more of a glowing orange-gold with pink undertones and a purple limbral ring around the iris rather than a flaming orange-red like his), which to me seems to suggest that he does in fact have some superhuman strength, but it just takes concentration on his part to tap into it. This phenomenon was described by Malia in "Echo House" some time after she had returned to her human form as well, if you recall-- her exact words were, "I broke the lock. When I concentrate, I can be pretty strong," which seems to suggest that it takes actively focusing on it to trigger the ability in people who are born with it unknowingly rather than being bitten or otherwise transformed. (gif via wolftheories)

So, it could be possible that some or all of his powers are something he's come into slowly, especially since we don't know how he became whatever he is in the first place-- if we take his reactions to this revelation at face value, he was never informed by his family that he was supernatural, and it doesn't seem that he was bitten or turned into it at some point in his life like all of the supernaturals who weren't born that way, like Scott, Isaac, Jackson, Liam, etc, so if Parrish displayed any kind of powers in his twenty-four years of life (that we know of, more on that in a bit), he hasn't really consciously acknowledged them. I also don't know if this is actually relevant, but since Jordan was drawn to being an IED specialist while he was in the military, it could be because he subconsciously knew that he was an ideal person for the job due to his abilities. Also, something that Kathleen brought up in her meta has been sticking with me-- since Parrish doesn't seem to have known that he was supernatural until he was torched, it can be assumed that his parents AREN'T supernatural. So, what are the chances that he's adopted like Malia? If so, his biological parents could easily have been the same kind of creature he is, and the fact that he spent his life in the dark about what he is (or has otherwise had some sort of immortality-induced amnesia, depending on what that turns out to be) could mean that his adoptive parents just had no inkling that they had been raising a supernatural being the whole time.

Alright, now that I've talked myself into circles about Parrish's abilities, I want to say one last thing before I dive into the actual theories, kind of like a caveat/full-disclosure kind of thing-- several of the theories about Parrish I've seen in the fandom involve the belief that he is some form of kitsune (most commonly a fire/wild, or time kitsune.) Personally, I am not a fan of these ideas, because Jordan's not Japanese, and the idea of a white American guy with no known Japanese ancestry being a kitsune seems really culturally appropriative and gross to me. That said, knowing Jeff Davis and his penchant for mixing cultures and mythologies in his show while taking tons of ~artistic liberties~ and with little regard for accuracy, it's still likely that Jordan COULD end up being a kitsune despite the issues I just talked about, so I will be briefly outlining the theories about them anyway, despite the fact that I would find the revelation that Jordan was indeed one to be pretty stupid. (And I mean no disrespect to the meta writers who think he may be some sort of kitsune, because they're just speculating with the same information we all have to go on. I just don't personally want him to be one for the aforementioned reasons.)

OKAY, so now that I've written thousands of words on Parrish alone, let's get into it! Lots and lots of gratitude and credit goes to star-spangled-steven for putting together a Parrish meta round-up on Tumblr to help me easily analyze these theories!

PHOENIX (meta, caps, and gifs referenced from freckled-stars)

PROS: The author points out that when Parrish's police car is set on fire by Deputy Dickweed, there almost looks as though there is some kind of fiery bird flying out of the flames as it ignites the gasoline soaking the car and Parrish himself. She points out that, like Fawkes in the Harry Potter series, phoenixes are known for bursting into flames and being reborn in the ashes, either when they're mortally injured or when they've reached "old age" in their current bodies. Judging by the way Jordan looked when he stormed to the Sheriff's station after he was burnt alive, he was indeed reborn from the ashes in a way. Also, phoenixes are known for being immortal, and there have been several comments made by and about Jordan that seems to suggest that he might actually be older than he's letting on, or knows about (referring to psychics as "intuitionists" in "IED," all of the comments made by Jared and Deputy Dickweed about how young he looks for his age, etc), so it's definitely possible that he's way older than he appears and is either hiding it or doesn't remember anything previous to this "life." The author also notes that the phoenix is known for being wise and helpful, both characteristics that Jordan possesses, as we've seen when he has helped Sheriff, Chris, and the McCall pack on multiple occasions.

CONS: While phoenixes are known for being reborn in their ashes after being burst into flames, they typically are reborn in their younger bodies (see Fawkes in Harry Potter, when he explodes into flames and comes back as a baby bird in the ashes), so if Jordan was a phoenix, wouldn't he be reborn into his infant body? Now, being reborn into a baby every time you die isn't exactly convenient for a show about super-hot young adult supernatural creatures, so it's totally possible, like I said before, that JD is tweaking the lore a bit to make it work better with the show. Still, it's enough of a difference from the usual phoenix stories to go on the con column. Also, as notomys pointed out to me in one of our Teen Wolf chats, a phoenix is kind of a fantastical, huge supernatural creature, whereas JD is more about writing lesser known creatures (see: berserkers, wendigos, kitsunes), so it doesn't quite fit the pattern.

RAVEN (meta referenced from legacy-and-ploy here, here, and here)

PROS: The author believes that Jordan is a raven, due to the previous comments made by the Nogitsune in Season 3B regarding "the raven, the coyote, and the fox." We have our fox in Kira, and our coyote in Malia, but we still haven't had a concrete example of the raven, so their theory is that Parrish is the raven in this trickster trio. They then bring up the Pacific Northwest American myth of the raven, which was originally pure white. In the myth, the raven was a thief who was cruel to the other birds and from whom he stole all their belongings, which he brought back to his nest in a pine tree. The raven woke up one morning and saw a small yellow bird and decided he wanted it for his own. When the yellow bird started to cry for help, a woodworm in the tree, who liked the yellow bird because she was kind to him, decided to help her. He waited 'til nightfall when the raven went to sleep and bound its feet together with birch-bark before grabbing lots of moss and twigs and placing it in the branches. The woodworm told the little bird to fly away, because he needed to teach the raven a lesson about being cruel to the other birds, and after the yellow bird left, the woodworm set the tree on fire. The raven yelped for help when he awoke and found his feet bound together and unable to escape, but all of the birds were pretty much like, "Karma's a bitch, yo," and left him to fend for himself. The fire ended up burning through the bark binding the raven's feet, so he could fly away before he was hurt, but his white feathers, which had been a point of pride for him, became stained black by the smoke and soot from the fire. 

This story could be applicable to Parrish in a couple ways: first, because his skin was white before he was set on fire by Haige, and then afterward was stained black with soot (though this wasn't permanent like it was for the raven); and secondly, because Parrish is a police officer and a former soldier who is very loyal and protective of others, he makes it a point to "teach lessons" to those who have done wrong-- think of Parrish calling out Brunski on his drunk driving in front of Stiles and Lydia in "Orphaned," or beating the tar out of Haige after he survived the fire in "Perishable." Besides, being set on fire is not Parrish's first time dealing with flames, as he was an EOD technician in the military and has probably witnessed quite a few firebombs in his time serving in Afghanistan.

There are other characteristics of the raven as well, which the author refers to as "a juxtaposition of opposites" that they believe fit with Parrish's own characterization, at least of what we know of him so far. "Brought light out of the darkness, but is cloaked in midnight black" and "Symbol of dark, brooding sadness and death, and yet brings life and joy," once again fits Jordan, as we've seen him be both lighthearted and deadly serious, and he brings life and joy to his friends, especially when he saves them, but also has a connection to death, between being a soldier/police officer who has been forced to kill people and his association with Lydia, who is literally a harbinger of death. His time as a soldier and a law man has made him very righteous and by-the-book in general, but when the situation calls for it, he's not afraid to "go dark," just as beating up Haige, joining Chris and the Calaveras in fighting against Kate, etc.

Finally, the author brings up the psychopomp aspect of the raven, which could stretch to fit Jordan as well. Since ravens are associated with death, and specifically shepherding the deceased to their final resting place, the author suggests that perhaps the reason why Parrish enlisted in the military/ended up in Afghanistan was to do just that for the dead soldiers and civilians. There is additional lore that describes ravens as being clairvoyant, and the author brings up situations where it seems as though Parrish is getting flashes or moments where he sees or generally has a sense of what is going to happen in the near future, which he either just ignores on purpose or doesn't take seriously that indicate that he has some kind of psychic abilities as well. A specific example that they bring up is his comment, "I only make $40,000 a year! Maybe I should kill myself," in "Orphaned," only episodes before his own partner attempted to kill him, and his general intuitiveness, which is once again connects him to Lydia, who is another person who has been described on more than one occasion as "intuitive."

CONS: Honestly, I don't have much to say to disagree with this theory! All of the theories I talk about in this section I feel are very valid, and even though one could say some of the examples are a bit of a stretch, that could really be said about ANY of the theories, considering how little we know about Jordan. So, this is as good a theory as any, and I think it would be really cool if Parrish ended up being a raven. Personally, I always considered Lydia to be the raven in the trickster trio Void!Stiles mentioned, as ravens are not only huge in Celtic mythology and associated with banshees, but they're also associated with The Morrígan, with whom I am obsessed and whom I have always held a secret desire for Lydia to be in the show. Seriously, The Morrígan is a badass and fits Lydia so well, plus I adore the Kira/Lydia/Malia trio as an OT3, so maybe I'm just biased. But, again, Parrish's connection with Lydia would make him being a raven a totally logical explanation for his supernatural ability, so I'm super into it.

BARGHEST (meta referenced is by lydiasdeputy, formerly lostmemoria)

PROS: As the author points out, a barghest is a monstrous black weredog, often referred to as a "hellhound," which has huge teeth and claws. In the lore, there are three common characteristics of it: eyes that glow orange when excited, an immunity to being harmed by fire, and the fact that it appears at the death of a notable person. In this theory, the author is going on the assumption that Parrish was not actually burned in the fire-- that what looked like blackened, burnt skin was actually the remnants of his uniform clinging to him and then the soot from the burning cruiser. They also bring up his reaction to Haige after being set on fire-- usually, he's very calm and collected, but in this instance, he was so furious that he was almost animalistic, snarling and growling in response to Haige saying, "You were dead" and beating the hell out of him until Sheriff, Stiles, and Lydia finally intervened-- which could be a result of his barghest nature. 

We also saw his eyes glow orange while he was helping free Chris from the rebar that was impaling him and pinning him to the wall behind him, and I would say anger and fear, both of which Jordan was surely feeling when he was trying to help Chris before he died of his wounds, could be considered "excitement," since in medical/physiological terms, excitement is anything that raises the heart rate, induces excretion of stress hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, etc. In terms of appearing at the death of notable people, we've seen Parrish appear when Stiles and Lydia were about to be killed by Brunski, both of whom have connections to him (Stiles as a result of him being the son of Jordan's boss and friend, and Lydia due to his fascination with her because of her abilities), and then again when Chris was in danger of dying at the hands of Peter, who Jordan has hated since they first met. In the same vein, barghests are supposed to be loyal and protective, and I would definitely say that describes Jordan, since he has helped them all out on numerous occasions and has been shown to be super protective (you'd have to be, to be an actual good cop/soldier as opposed to bloodthirsty, power-hungry ones), to the point where he willingly jumped into a huge supernatural fire fight with Kate, the berserkers, Chris, and the Calaveras, after having been read into the supernatural situation for like, two days. Finally-- and this is my own observation that I mentioned to the author on my old account that they seemed to agree with-- Jordan seemed super fascinated by the sight of Derek in his full black-wolf form, and I'm wondering if maybe it wasn't because it triggered some kind of unconscious awareness that Derek is similar to him, since a black werewolf and a black weredog are quite similar. I don't know, it just seemed interesting to me.

CONS: I have no argument whatsoever to this theory, to be honest. If Parrish can't be Apollo, then I want him to be a barghest, because it's similar enough to a werewolf to fit, while being different enough that it is a neat shake-up to the mythology. Crossing my fingers on this one!

NEPHILIM (meta referenced from anvh89)

(Welp, since Google Images only seems to have terrifying monsters when you search for Nephilim, the Supernatural version of angel/human hybrids are about as attractive as it gets. Sorry!)

PROS: This theory begins with why the author disagrees with some of the more popular suggestions in the fandom/TW meta tag on Tumblr, so I'll just briefly summarize it here-- and, once again, these theories are based on the assumption that Jordan WAS burned in the flames, so keep that in mind. Since a phoenix is a bird of death and rebirth, emphasis on the rebirth, and Jordan was set on fire and subsequently walked away in his fully-healed adult body without any sign that he was ever burned, they don't think he's a phoenix, as otherwise he would have been reborn a baby. (Admittedly, trading the adult Jordan in for a baby would probably not add much to a show about stupidly attractive supernatural creatures, so I could understand why Jeff would tweak the mythology if Jordan does end up being a phoenix.) The same goes with a dragon (since most legends say they are immune to fire, as they are able to breathe it themselves) and a raven (since the Pacific Northwest myth states that the raven wasn't harmed by the fire either, it just made the bird's feathers black instead of white), so since Jordan was burned, it didn't fit. Another popular theory (which I didn't get into because this section is already too long) is a djinn, a Persian "genie" that is generally invisible unless it wills itself not to be and that is made of smokeless fire-- a being made of fire wouldn't be harmed by fire, which means it doesn't fit for Jordan either. 

So, with that said, the author has theorized that Jordan is a nephilim, or "the offspring of the sons of God (angels) and the daughters of man," a word that roughly translates to "giant" or "titan." To reference back to what Kathleen said earlier about Jordan's name being a reference to the River Jordan, a very important symbol in Christian mythology that is known as the River of Judgement, it does suggest the potential to have Christian ties. The author then goes into the story of the nephilim, which begins with the fallen angels; specifically Shemhazai, a high-ranking angel who took a rebel faction of angels to earth to teach humans about being righteous. After a few centuries, the angels started to lust after the human women there, and after teaching them how to conjure things and perform magic, the angels began to mate with the women, which produced human/angel hybrid offspring. The nephilim were said to be of giant stature (hence the name) and were nearly always rulers who were revealed to possess exceptionally longer lives than their human counterparts. Since everyone is always talking about how young Parrish looks, plus the fact that he was able to survive being burned alive, this leads the author to believe that Parrish could in fact be a nephilim.

CONS: I actually really like this idea, since I'm obsessed with the Shadowhunter Chronicles series of novels by Cassandra Clare (which include The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, The Bane Chronicles, Tales of Shadowhunter Academy, and the upcoming trilogies The Dark Artifices and The Last Hours, all of which make up this huge, interconnected universe where angel/human hybrids hunt demons and rogue "Downworlders" (warlocks, faeries, vampires and werewolves), plus it has a very Supernatural feel to it. Still, aside from a Buddhist pack of werewolves, religion has played absolutely ZERO role in Teen Wolf thus far, which makes the idea of a literal angel being one of the supernatural species seem pretty unlikely. I mean, I think Parrish is an angel in the hearts of most of the fans of this show, but that's about as close as it will get, but I'm definitely not opposed to this theory should it actually become canon.

FIRE KITSUNE (meta and caps referenced from anchoredtether)

PROS: Firstly, since Jordan's character debuted in Teen Wolf during Season 3B, which was the season that revolved around Japanese mythology, specifically kitsunes. The author's main argument is that, like Kira, Jordan was not at all aware that he was supernatural until he was set on fire by Deputy Dickweed, much in the same way that, aside from the fact that she saw her fox aura in flash photography, Kira had no idea that she was a kitsune until her powers manifested from a fear/survival instinct response and sucked up all of the electricity from the wire Barrow was going to use to electrocute her. She further supports this by pointing out that Stiles wasn't aware that something was going on with Stiles until he completed the surrogate sacrifice ritual with Scott and Allison, causing the darkness that surrounded his heart that drew the nogitsune to him. This suggests that kitsunes, or, at least those who are born to kitsunes or who are possessed by them (the latter of which is known as kitsune-tsuki), awaken their powers when they're exposed to their element, which would be electricity/lightning, fire, and darkness/void for Kira, Jordan, and Stiles, respectively. The author goes on to suggest that Jordan, as a fire kitsune, would be drawn to his element, which is why he became a HDT/bomb squad tech during his time in the Army. Finally, she thinks it was the fire he absorbed in Deputy Dickweed's attempt at murdering him for the deadpool that contributed to the super-human strength he demonstrated when he rescued Chris from being pinned to the wall by Peter. 

CONS: There is the aforementioned fact that Jordan doesn't seem to have any Japanese ancestry, which seems like a bit of an appropriation issue, unless Jeff goes with the generic fox spirit premise that could be attributed to any culture. Also, if Parrish was a kitsune, Scott would have seen his fox aura when he flashed his red eyes at him to reveal that he was a werewolf. Derek seemed to know quite a bit about kitsunes himself, and if he was under the impression that Parrish was a fire kitsune, it seems likely that he would have said something about it when they were reading him into the supernatural situation. 

TIME KITSUNE (meta referenced is from sublimeglass)

PROS: The author acknowledges straight off that this is a bit of a long shot, but she thought that it was an interesting alternative to the fire kitsune/dragon/phoenix theories that had been floating around (though there is obviously nothing wrong with those theories, or anyone who agrees with them!) This theory is also based around the assumption that the fire did indeed burn Parrish, so keep that in mind-- this seems to be the general point of confusion when it comes to theorizing about what the fuck he actually is. Anyway, her guess is that Jordan, whether consciously or unconsciously, turned back time/deaged himself to just before he was set on fire and then ended up managing to escape before Haige could set him ablaze. She thinks this also ties into his comments about having good genes, as well, because he could just be deaging himself when necessary. 

As far as her theory goes, she believes there are three possibilities as to what is happening with him. 1) Parrish is truly twenty-four years old and is just now coming into his powers in full, and did indeed have no idea he was supernatural until just recently. If this is the case, then at the moment, he can only de-age his body by going back in time at the moment, but could possibly grow more in control of this power in the future to the point that he could also send others back, and possibly even back into their old bodies. (Her hope was that this could be done to travel back in time to the 1970s and figure out just what was really going on with Alexander Argent, and I would totally be game to see what happened. 2) Parrish actually does know what he is, but is deliberately hiding it for his own agenda while he goes with the flow, explaining why he was "drawn" to Beacon Hills. 3) Parrish is actually much older than he knows, but can't remember because deaging himself caused him to accidentally wipe some of his memories. If this is the case, then he's either from the future and visiting in a past body, or he's actually very old and just suffered the loss from pushing his body backward in time so he could meet up with the McCall pack and their allies.

CONS: I've already said my piece about why I'm not a big fan of the "Jordan is a kitsune" theories, and time travel seems a little too wacky, even for a show like Teen Wolf. Plus, I'm leaning toward Parrish being immune to fire rather than being hurt and healing from it, so this theory kind of goes against that. I'd be very interested in seeing a time kitsune on the show, and there has been a lot of speculation in the past that Noshiko is a time kitsune (which is a different discussion altogether) but I just don't see it being Jordan. Plus, I have a hard time believing that Jordan has any ulterior motives here, negative or otherwise-- he seemed way too overwhelmed by the revelation of his supernatural status to have a hidden agenda attached to it, unless he's just a really, REALLY good actor. 

There are also about a gazillion other theories, many of which are outlined in this post by sourwolf on Tumblr. I would go into it more, but this section is already as long as the rest of the other sections combined, so I will just leave the link here for you guys to peruse at your leisure if you are as addicted as Kathleen and I are when it comes to Parrish's supernatural identity speculation and theories.

WHAT ABOUT THE CIVILIANS?

We have three still-ignorant characters who seem to be due to be read into the supernatural situation in Beacon Hills: Agent Douchenozzle, Mason, and Liam's step-dad. The first two seem inevitable to me-- ADN made it clear to Scott before he left for San Francisco that he wanted to be let in on the secret, and though I could totally understand him wanting to keep his dad out of it, eventually, it's going to come out, and I think ADN is in much more of a position to be receptive to the news than he would have been when he first showed up. Not to mention that having someone in the FBI to help them out could be a welcome addition to the adult-contingent of the McCall Pack, who are all now either law enforcement/weapons dealers/hunters, medical professionals, and supernatural experts.

Likewise, Mason already proved himself worthy when he saved Scott, Liam, and Malia from getting set on fire by the shady security guards, plus he already got up-close and personal with a berserker, and clearly knows full well that something is up with his best friend Liam, so it would make sense that the gang would feel he had earned an honest explanation as to what has been going on. In my opinion, the more allies the pack has, the better, so I am totally game for them revealing their supernatural identities to those who have either demonstrated that they deserve to know, or whose ignorance are actually putting themselves or the pack in more danger than being truthful about what is really going on. I mean, ADN has shown he's not above digging and digging until he comes up with some answers, so it might be better for all of them if they're just upfront about what is really going on in hopes that he won't take it as badly as figuring it out through another source.

Now, this may just be my own desires for the next season making me biased, but I'm thinking that, just like his Alpha before him, it's only a matter of time before Dr. Geyer starts getting suspicious of his step-son and his friends. I mean, Liam is suddenly super strong/fast/agile to a superhuman degree, he's healing super quickly, he's hanging out with a bunch of juniors who 1) have hilariously bad attendance records at school due to their shenanigans and 2) have a tendency of being present at pretty much every crime scene in Beacon Hills, not to mention the fact that Liam has been, until recently, visibly exhibiting symptoms of acute traumatic stress disorder that involve terrifying hallucinations following his battle with the berserkers. Also, there's that whole impromptu-trip-to-Mexico that caused him to miss school and lacrosse practice, so it's got to be glaringly obvious to any parent with a half-working brain that SOMETHING is up with their kid. When this will start to become a problem for them, I have no idea, but unless the writers plan on making Dr. Geyer a completely oblivious parent like Natalie Martin, or a completely negligent parent like Mr. Tate, Liam is gonna be forced to make a confession at some point. On an only tangentially-related note-- and this should probably go into the Liam blurb, but whatever-- we have yet to meet Liam's mother and biological father. I wonder if we ever will, and what we can expect for them in the case that we do?

One last person I'm kind of on the fence about is Lydia's mom Natalie. She is like almost willfully ignorant, considering everything that Lydia has been through over the last four seasons-- witnessing the Blockbuster employee get his ass murdered by Peter, then getting attacked and nearly killed by Peter again at the winter formal, then the months afterward when she was literally losing her mind after Peter hitched a ride in her brain until she brought him back to life. And that's not even including alllllllll of the instances where Lydia has managed to stumble upon a dead body, that one time that Jennifer Blake tried to strangle/slit her throat to death at a band recital, and that random bit of magical mountain ash manipulation at the lake house. Part of me thinks she HAS to be read into the program eventually, but on the other hand, she doesn't even seem REMOTELY curious about it, so who knows? I would say the aforementioned three characters above would be more likely to be told the truth about everything before Natalie is, but I would be remiss if she didn't get at least a tiny mention.

POWER ADVANCEMENTS

Season 4 showed that our favorite supes are growing stronger and stronger as they gain more control over their abilities, and I have a feeling that Season 5 is going to be diving into that even more. The people I'm specifically sure about are Scott, Kira, Derek, and Lydia (and maaaybe Stiles, if indeed the fandom is onto something about his weirdo abilities-- I'm still on the fence about it, but I could definitely be persuaded), but I'm sure we'll also be seeing some growth in powers for Liam, Malia and obviously Jordan as well. Let's refresh a bit and where this could possibly lead us.

SCOTT MCCALL

In terms of werewolf powers, Scott has been able to achieve a pretty impressive mastery of his abilities, even despite the fact that he's only been a werewolf for a little over a year. By the time Season 3A rolled around, Scott had full control over his inner wolf-- he could stay in his human form on a full moon unless it was necessary to transform, and he could shift in and out quickly and with little effort. It almost looked like he was able to just pull it out of him, and then push it back afterward. Of course, once he finally rose and took his True Alpha potential shortly after the darkness from the surrogate sacrifice settled around his heart, he had some difficulties readjusting to the power surge, but by the time we began Season 4, he was once again totally in control-- Derek taught him how to hone in his senses and track people by scent and sounds, he used his ability to siphon and sense pain to help his loved ones when they were hurt or sick, knew how to use his strength and agility to help him gain the upper hand in a fight, AND was able to break through a mountain ash barrier through sheer strength of will alone. Plus, in "De-Void," he was somehow able to help Stiles force the nogitsune out of his body and create Stiles a whole new unblemished body, something that even Peter himself was not expecting to happen, and something that the fandom hardly ever acknowledges. I mean, that's pretty major, and I get the feeling it was his True Alpha mojo that catalyzed that reaction.

Furthermore, in "Monstrous," we saw Scott transform into an even more wolf-like form than we've ever seen from him: his claws and teeth became longer and sharper, his face darkened into a grayish-black color, and his red eyes became even more pronounced, along with his nose, which became more canine in appearance. It was actually pretty scary, and clearly caused by Scott getting caught up in the fight against the assassins, something that hardly ever happens when Scott fights. So, I think it's safe to assume that the more Scott becomes one with his inner wolf, the greater the power he has access to while he's in wolf form-- we saw a totally similar version of this in "Smoke & Mirrors," when Scott was fighting Peter and finally found his happy place between serenity and anger so he could tap into his power and dodge all of Peter's hits before he could even finish making them. This only seems to be a portion of the abilities that Scott could have if he just embraced his wolfiness wholeheartedly, and I think his final showdown with Peter finally showed him that he can embrace his inner monster without giving into it completely and becoming something like Peter or Deucalion.

So, in the future, I'd like to see more of what Scott can do, if not learn more about true alphas themselves. I mean, we don't even know what to expect at this point, because all we know about True Alphas are that they're very rare and are different from other Alphas because they essentially create their own alpha spark instead of stealing someone else's, or being given it by birthright. I'm also interested in finding out how being a berserker affected him and his abilities, but that's not so much a power advancement as it is general speculation about him.

LYDIA MARTIN

Of all of the supernatural beings to whom we've been introduced over the seasons, Lydia and her actual banshee abilities seem to be the least defined (though we have picked up tiny breadcrumbs of information over the seasons), so it might be easiest to start from the beginning and see what we have learned all this time. There are signs of Lydia being a banshee dating all the way back to Season 1, episode 5 "The Tell," when Lydia saw Peter in his monstrous alpha-werewolf form after he killed the Blockbuster employee who was involved in the Hale fire, and she screamed bloody murder when she saw him and got a short video of it. Then, in the 11th episode in that season, "Formality," when Peter attacked and bit Lydia on the lacrosse field, it seems as though he knew what she was all along, because even though she didn't become a werewolf, she ended up later playing a huge role in his returning to life after the kids killed him. After she was attacked, she coded a couple times as her body fought the bite, but eventually her body healed from it, and she was left with only scars to show that it ever happened. In Season 2, Lydia spent most of the episodes on the verge of a mental breakdown after Peter kept harassing her from beyond the grave. Then, she somehow managed to use some kind of crazy full moon magic in conjunction with Derek's blood/power to bring Peter back to life, and while I'm sure it was the combination of factors that allowed that to happen, I think it can safely be assumed that her banshee abilities were necessary in order to literally resurrect him. Whether or not that could be replicated in the future is unknown, but it seems unlikely (though I won't stop secretly hoping she can use it to bring Allison back. A girl can dream!)

Throughout Seasons 3 and 4, Lydia's powers managed to grow while still remaining mostly passive and undefined. It started with her wailing when Jennifer started her sacrifices to the Nemeton, and then being drawn to the bodies in what I've affectionately been referring to as her "banshee fugue states." By the end of Season 3A, she was already able to start sensing when death was about to happen ("I feel like I'm... standing in a graveyard"), and Season 3B was spent working to focus on her supernaturally-enhanced hearing to get clues about what they're up against, like the sound of flies/electricity to alert her to Barrow in "Galvanize," hearing Stiles' voice calling out for help in the music and figuring out that he was dreaming about Eichen House by plucking the strings on his evidence board in "Riddled." This past season, she was able to start sort of actively using her powers, like when she used the rifle shells the Calaveras left behind in Derek's loft to try to determine whether or now he was still alive, using the banshee study in the lake house to figure out the cipher keys (especially when she tapped into her powers to figure out Derek was the last cipher key), and knowing instinctively that Peter and Kate's plan was to kill Scott.

SO, what's next for her abilities, then? I honestly have no idea, but I would love for her to be able to use her supernatural abilities consciously when needed, because I can only imagine how frustrating it has to be to be a banshee in this universe-- random voices and noises that are up for interpretation, being unconsciously drawn to murder and mayhem, wailing for the dead that more often than not includes her friends and acquaintances. I mean, her powers are necessary and have helped the pack SO MUCH, but she rarely ever gets to just activate it when she needs to, and I feel like it would be so much less stressful for her if she could just have some control over it. At the very least, I'd like her to learn more about banshees so she can know the full extent of her powers. (And let's be real, I'm still holding out hope that Lydia is actually The Morrígan, because that would be SO DAMN BADASS. GIVE IT TO ME, JEFF DAVIS. I maaaaaay have read this fic about Morrígan!Lydia that has basically ruined my life too many times, to be honest)

And then, we've got the new powers we saw her use in the Season 5 trailer, which include an updated and seriously devastating banshee wail that looks as though it deafens anyone in the vicinity and causes lightbulbs and glass to shatter/explode everywhere, and what looks like some sort of telekinesis or concussive blasts that are channeled through her hands that throw a grown man across the room. It almost looks as though she can even sort of control the electricity in the room as well, or at least mess with it? I don't know, that could be external forces, but I'm sticking it in here as a note anyway. As I said in the Doctors section, I have no idea if she gains these powers naturally or because of experimentation, or maybe because she's possessed by a Sluagh or something, but the fact that she has them makes me VERY EXCITED and I hope they stick around, because I want her to have active/offensive powers to allow her to take care of herself, in the words of her ever-wise BFF Allison. [sobs forever] Anyway, check out these gifs that I lovingly borrowed from brogitsune @ Tumblr and tell me what you think.

DEREK HALE

Well, I was going to go into this whole thing, where I asked a bunch of questions regarding Derek's most recent brush with death and what this revelation will mean going forward, like-- did Derek actually die? If so, how did he survive? Is it just the full-shift ability that he gained, or did this come from something else, like some juice from Tezcatlipoca? What does it all meeeeean? However, with all of the talk of Paleyfest going on the last few weeks, it just came out that Tyler Hoechlin is taking time off from Teen Wolf to pursue a movie career, which means that Derek's story is on hold right now indefinitely, making all of these questions more or less irrelevant, at least for the time being, because it seems as though it will be at least half a season before we see him again, possibly longer! SAD FACE FOREVER. While I don't mind shifting the focus back on the high school kids, I'm still really sad that we're not going to be seeing much of Derek (or Chris, Peter, or Kate, apparently), at least not in the first half, anyway. So, where do you guys think Derek is going, then? Is he helping Chris track Kate? Did he go to France to visit Isaac at boarding school? Are he and Braeden hunting the Desert Wolf and having bangathons at their motel rooms? Is he taking a werewolf vacation on the beach? Is he just going to lock himself up in his loft and read history and mythology books until Hoechlin comes back? Tell me your all your hiatus!Derek headcanons, because I want to know.

KIRA YUKIMURA

Now that we've heard some stuff about Season 5 from the Paleyfest interviews, I've decided that the most promising potential story line is Kira and what her recently-gained first tail will mean for her going forward. According to Jeff, it seems as though the tail she just acquired will lead to the awakening of the fox spirit within her, which is going to cause complications for her in this upcoming season. What do you guys think that means? I'm hoping it means that we see growth in her powers, because as much as I love watching Kira rock out and kick ass with her magic katana and glow-stick nunchucks, I feel like it's easy to forget that she's a fucking THUNDER KITSUNE, which means she can create electricity and foxfire. JD has already said in interviews since Kira's introduction that he doesn't want her to become, like, Electro from The Amazing Spiderman or something, which is a legitimate point, but that doesn't mean we need to ignore all these cool powers, either! We've only seen Kira use foxfire or lightning on three occasions-- the first time was just an instinctive reflex when William Barrow tried to shock her with a live wire in "Galvanize;" the second time was when her mom helped her repair the broken magic katana with a bolt of blue lightning in "The Fox & The Wolf;" and the third time was when Kira used her powers to slow Scott's heart rate to near-death levels in "Time of Death." So, hopefully we'll be seeing more of that, and maybe even an advancement of her powers? We already know electricity is bad news bears for were-creatures, so it just seems silly for her to be forgetting about those kinds of abilities when fighting against said villainous were-creatures. Zap 'em and call it a day, girl!

Another thing I'm wondering, though, is if this newly-awakened fox spirit in her will mean her personality will be changing to more of that of a trickster? I mean, we never saw Noshiko get as balls-out as, say, the nogitsune, who was just doing everything he possibly could to cause as much chaos, strife, and pain as possible, but it could definitely be said that Noshiko participated in some shit-stirring of her own while she was in Oak Creek. Stealing stuff off trucks, stealing a baseball from an MP that inevitably broke a window and caused all sorts of trouble, "accidentally" inciting a riot by telling the rest of the internees about Dr. Listen stealing the medicine to sell on the black market. How exactly these kind of urges will cause a problem for Kira is anyone's guess at this point, but I'm hoping she keeps the trickster-ing to enemies rather than friends. Regardless, Jeff says we're learning more about the origins of kitsunes and the different types, and I am so excited. TELL ME EVERYTHING, SHOW. ESPECIALLY WTF KIND OF KITSUNE NOSHIKO IS/WAS AND IF SHE DOES HAVE THAT LAST KAIKEN.

WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH STILES?

One of the major topics of conversation in the fandom lately seems to be, what the fuck is going on with our hyperactive little shit? Is it possible that he might not be 100% human anymore? As much as I'd love Stiles to be supernatural, too, I'm not exactly sure I buy into the theory yet, though it does seem like there are too many (admittedly small and vague) examples of weirdness on his part since he was possessed by the nogitsune for it to be totally a coincidence, but I don't know, guys. Could this just be excused by poor writing/direction/whatever? I'm so conflicted! Anyway, let's talk about  that suggest that things may not exactly be what they seem.

From what I can remember, the first significant sign that something hinky was going on with Stiles was in "Orphaned," when Stiles and Derek had taken Brett to Deaton to treat his yellow wolfsbane poisoning. We already know that by that point, Derek was starting to lose his powers, and was having difficulty holding Brett down with his loss of supernatural strength, so when Stiles made some snarky comment about Derek using his wolf strength, Derek replies, "Yeah, well, I'm not the only one here with wolf strength." When I first watched it, I just took it at face value and figured that Derek was just referring to Brett's werewolf strength to try to take attention away from the fact that he himself was not as strong as usual. However, many people in the Tumblr fandom have pointed out that Stiles' face when Derek says that actually indicates that Stiles was almost afraid that Derek was suspicious of him or something. Like I said earlier, I'm not sure how much I buy into these theories yet, but it does seem kind of shady all the same. (Edited to add: Actually, now that I think about it, I think people were also bringing up "The Benefactor" and "IED"  as an example of Stiles having above-human strength as well, because he was able to easily keep Malia (who has beta-werewolf-level strength) from clawing his eyes out on the full moon after he unlocked her restraints in the former episode, and using only one arm to prevent Coach from snatching his lacrosse stick back from him in class after Stiles realized that the weapon that killed Carrie Hudson was a lacrosse stick with a poisoned blade hidden inside in the latter. So, there's that, too.)

The next example was in "Weaponized," when Scott, Stiles, Malia, and Kira, among the other juniors taking the PSATs, came down with the modified strain of canine distemper. According to the Chemist, the virus initially affected everyone who was exposed to it, but the humans who were infected would get better within a day. However, while we saw humans like Coach and that Sydney girl get better, Stiles stayed sick, though admittedly not as sick as the rest of the werecanines, who were going blind and had werewolf ink dripping out of all of their orifices, and he did eventually end up getting over it. Now, this could be explained by Stiles maybe having some lingering-foxiness from being possessed by the nogitsune, but there are many who believe that Stiles is maybe a little more than human right now, but not close enough to being an actual werecanine to be fully affected by it like Scott, Malia, Kira, and the majority of Satomi's pack were.

This kind of becomes evidenced even more in "Monstrous," when Stiles and Malia get locked in Stiles' hospital room until they literally kiss and make up after Stiles lying to Malia about Peter being her father. I feel like it's still pretty likely that this was just all some ploy by Melissa to get her kids to make up already, but there are quite a few out there who think Stiles somehow had the power to lock the door until he got Malia to listen to his apology. I'm still torn about it, but let's be real-- if Stiles DID have some kind of supernatural/magic powers, that is exactly the kind of stunt he would pull, because Stiles is such a little shit that way. Then at the end of the episode, he seems to demonstrate some superhuman strength again when he holds Malia back easily to prevent her from punching the deadpool computers to bits.

Then, in "Smoke & Mirrors," when Peter, Stiles, Malia, and Liam had just made it inside La Iglesia after Derek had been thoroughly beaten and stabbed by a berserker, Stiles was freaking out about that, plus the fact that no one has heard from Lydia and Mason, and the fact that he is (mostly?) a damn human with no real weapons. So, even though he was literally standing in the ruins of an earthquake-destroyed temple made of obsidian, he still managed to somehow get enough cell signal that his dad could call him JUST when he needed reassurance that things were going to work out and that his loved ones were going to be okay. What are the odds of that being able to happen? Even Peter gave the rest of the kids a look that was like, "One, how did he get service? And two, why the fuck is he choosing to take this call NOW when we've literally just entered the jaguar's den?" I mean, Peter isn't easily freaked out, so that is kind of suspicious, not to mention scary, to be honest, because if Stiles does in fact have some kind of powers, you know Peter is going to be after them eventually, and that's gonna be a disaster.

Again, I don't know if this is actually a thing or if the occasionally overzealous Tumblr fandom (and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible) is just reading too much into things again, but I'm not at all opposed to Stiles having powers-- I'm just trying to maintain expectations here. On the other hand, there are so many examples that it kind of makes you wonder if these are just lazy continuity mistakes or if something else is really going on here, so who knows? Now that we've talked examples, if Stiles does, in fact, have supernatural abilities, then what is he? Druid!Stiles and/or Magic!Stiles has been a majorly popular fanfiction trope for him ever since his little mountain ash experiment in Season 2's "Raving," so if something along those lines were to happen, I honestly wouldn't be surprised. I've also seen several metas that think that Stiles has some kind of reality-warping powers, kind of like Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch in the Marvel comics, which is meant to explain how he was able to lock a door from the outside without touching it while he was inside with Malia in "Monstrous," and being able to get the necessary cell signal to talk to his dad to coordinate some plans in "Smoke & Mirrors." I'm still kind of on the fence about the former, though, because I feel like it's just as likely that Melissa was trying to play matchmaker as a joke or something.

Honestly, I have no idea where JD is going with this, or if this is even a real thing that is happening versus the fandom's collective desire to see Stiles get to be badass on his own terms. Regardless, I have a feeling everyone's going to be looking at him a little closer to see just what the deal with him is, and as I said earlier, I'd be 100% happy if Stiles did turn out to be supernatural/magical in some way.

NEW HUNTER FAMILY?

In "Monstrous," we saw a buuuunch of what the gang assumed to be hunters, or at least former hunters who are now basically mercenaries willing to kill supernaturals for money. They had arrows that, like the Argents and the Calaveras, had a little symbol embossed into the arrowheads. It was kind of hard to tell what the symbol was, but it looked like some kind of winged creature-- a bird, or a bat, maybe. I don't know. I mean, it's totally possible that it means nothing, but since the shotgun shells Derek found and gave to Chris in "Insatiable" that had the fleur-de-lis on it was a major clue that Kate was back, and the rifle casings with the skulls were a major clue about the Calaveras, it stands to reason that the arrowheads are a clue that hunters are coming. Which, on the one hand, is kind of exciting, because it's been a while since we've had some real hunter drama-- the Calaveras actually hunter behavior toward the pack was limited to, like, one episode, and the deadpool was less about hunters and more about assassins, although in essence they're the same. On the other hand, NOOO LEAVE MY PRECIOUS MCCALL PACK ALONE YOU GUYS. IF THE ARGENTS CAN ENDORSE THEM, THEN YOU SHOULD GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE. So, yeah, mixed feelings about this possibility for sure.

WHAT ABOUT DANNY?

So, after Danny was featured an unacceptably small amount of time in Season 3B, everyone in the fandom, myself included, was like, HEY JEFF DAVIS, WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THAT. Then, we saw the promos and the trailers for Season 4 before it started and heard about the Benefactor and the computer programming aspect of it, so naturally, we assumed our favorite sweet dimpled prince and hacker was somehow involved, because how crazy would it be if innocent little Danny was actually a super-villain under everyone's noses? I feel like we would have even just settled for him being more involved in the pack, after we learned at the end of "The Divine Move" that he was actually in the know this whole time (which, not to brag, I had been arguing the whole time.) But, sure enough, Danny didn't show up once-- not to lacrosse practice, not to class, not to the party at Lydia's lake house, nor the bonfire at the school. According to Jeff Davis, he couldn't find a way to fit him into the story-line, which seems like a pretty lame excuse, considering that DANNY IS A HACKER AND THE BENEFACTOR

BUT, rumor has it that Keahu Kahuanui accidentally spilled the beans at a convention or interview or something that he's going to be back this season, and if that's the case, I am SO EXCITED. The cast is already pretty full, which doesn't bode well for him having a lot of screen time, but honestly, at this point, I don't even care, I just want our sweet dimpled prince back on our televisions. Fingers crossed that this is true!

OTHER NOTES

• Just as a refresher, here is the character lineup we should be expecting this season. Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Malia, Kira, and Liam are the main characters who are returning, along with recurring characters Sheriff Stilinski, Parrish, Mason Hewitt (yay, he has a last name now!) Deaton, Melissa, Noshiko, and Ken. Tyler Hoechlin is focusing on his movie career, but according to Jeff Davis, Derek is still going to be on the show, but only in a guest/recurring capacity as opposed to his usual role as a main character. I'm hoping this means they'll do what The Originals showrunners have been doing for Claire Holt as Rebekah, where she's still contributing to the story, even if she doesn't show up again for a while. Regardless, it sounds like we'll be seeing Derek in the back half of the season, along with Peter, Chris, and possibly Kate. Braeden is on the cast list as well, along with Brett. 
• We also have a couple new characters, as well-- Theo Raeken, the omega werewolf who seems to have been friends with Scott back in the day, and a girl named Hayden Romero who is likely a werewolf (or will be soon) as well. So, it seems like the cast is going to be RIDICULOUSLY full this season, which will hopefully be a good thing or a bad thing. 

• Also, this is really only a rumor, and a sketchy one at that, but for some reason Tumblr keeps whispering about Colton Haynes returning as Jackson at some point this season. I don't know if someone has insider info and gossiped to someone who ended spreading it online, or if this is just one of those Telephone-style situations where some blogger saw that Colton left Arrow and made a post about how they hoped he would come back to Teen Wolf, and then more bloggers jumped on it and then eventually "Oh, I hope this means Jackson is coming back!" turned into "Oh my Gods, Colton is totally coming back to Teen Wolf!" when there isn't actually any confirmation anywhere that this is true. So, yeah, I'll believe it when I see it, but I figured I might as well throw that in as a heads-up in case there is any truth to the rumors.

Alright guys, now that I've literally chattered your ears off, it's time for YOU to tell me what you're thinking in the comments! I have been working on this for so long that I'm kind of sick of looking at it, so some fresh opinions will be a great way to help me see things a different way. What storylines are you looking forward to the most? Which characters are you most excited to see? What are you afraid is going to happen? Tell me everything!

[Screencaps from the Season 5 trailer are from this Screencapped album, and all other photos/gifs are from Google unless stated otherwise]