Teen Wolf Season 5, Episode 9: "Lies of Omission" Review

HAPPY NEW YEAR, YOU GUYS! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Anywho, I am so sorry about how late this damn post has been. My descent into bluesville had terrible timing, apparently, because then school started at the end of August, so I not only had no motivation to write or do anything, but I also had no time to do it, and basically it's all been a mess. Now that the fall and winter weather has improved my malaise a tiny bit, I'm attempting to hop back on the saddle, but I've decided to make a few changes to the blog and my entries in hopes of making things a little easier on myself in the coming weeks and, in turn, getting my looooong to-do list of blog posts written and posted faster while still giving you guys the discussions I've promised. So, to do this, I'm going to switch from my usual recap format with review material sprinkled throughout to just simply posting reviews-- I'm sure the posts will still end up being novel-length as usual, but at least now I can just put my thoughts down without having to watch the episodes a million more times and transcribe all the dialogue and whatnot. This way, I can just stick with the notes I wrote while I was watching and it'll hopefully save us all some time, here.

I'm really sorry if this is a disappointment, especially considering how much I love writing recaps the old way, because running through everything that happened makes it way easier for me to remember details and formulate theories. Plus, I'm told that they're also good for going back and trying to pick up clues after the fact, but I'm hoping the reviews will still be detailed enough that they'll be worth reading. Though, I admit, these reviews probably are not going to be nearly as enjoyable as they would have been had I actually finished them right after the episodes aired, but since we have less than three two months one week until Season 5B starts, it might be nice to have a refresher on these episodes!

So, once those two posts are finished, I have what was originally meant to be a mid-Season 5A meta post that has now morphed into a Post-Season 5A/Pre-Season 5B meta and speculation post much like the one I did between Season 4 and the start of 5A, and trust me, that baby is gonna be huuuuuge. I'm also working on catching up on the rest of The Originals and The Vampire Diaries reviews from Season 2 and Season 6, respectively, but as usual, they'll probably be taking the backseat while I do Teen Wolf 5B's recaps (which may or may not be the usual format, I haven't decided yet. Damn my over-ambitious intentions conflicting with my depressed mind and exhausted body!) And then, I should hopefully be getting started on reviews for the newest seasons from both of those shows as well, depending on how well my catch-up game goes. I may not have had much energy to actually write these last few months, but that doesn't mean I haven't been spending most of my time thinking about my shows and formulating theories-- I literally have a huge five-subject notebook dedicated to my random ideas and brainstorming-- so there is still plenty to discuss!

Anyway, let's talk about Teen Wolf, since it's been, like, two months more than four months since the half-season ended and we've had plenty of time to think about it, yeah?

I'm currently on my third attempt at structuring this review after flip-flopping between talking about the episode character by character, or by story lines in chronological order, but I think I'm just going to start with the main story lines for the various characters and then go on from there. Also, for the most part, this review is only about "Lies of Omission," but there will also be a few references to what happens in the midseason finale that follows this one. I'm going to assume that everyone reading this will have already finished 5A, but I wanted to warn you guys about the potential for spoilers just in case there's someone who hasn't seen "Status Asthmaticus" yet. So, let's hope third time really is the charm! Let's talk about "Lies of Omission!"


MONOLOGUE

So, before we get into the major plot points (namely, Theo's drama and how he's manipulated Scott, Stiles, and Sheriff, because that was a huuuuge point of contention in the fandom) I wanted to just recap what we learned from Scott's monologue at the beginning of the episode, because I really, really loved getting to see things from his perspective. I mean, I know Scott is literally the titular teen wolf in Teen Wolf, but I often just feel like we don't often get to hear him talk about how he's feeling with people who aren't his mother, you know? He's always so focused on saving everyone and being an unyielding support system for his loved ones that he pushes down his own concerns, plus Stiles, as the resident regular human, acts as the audience avatar in the show, so it's easy for both the show itself and its fandom to only be concerned with things from Stiles' perspective. So, on the one hand, I'm really glad that Scott was able to get these worries off of his chest for once. On the other hand, however, we all know how shady Theo is, so it's not only super sad that Scott is feeling so insecure, lonely, and self-loathing and is getting so little support from the rest of the pack that Theo is the only person he feels like he can talk to, but it's also just scary as fuck, because we've seen Theo collect and file away weaknesses and other secrets he's observed from the pack members all season long, so there's no way this confession isn't going to bite Scott in the ass.

I'm getting ahead of myself, though, so let's run down what he talked about in his monologue to Theo, shall we? As it turns out, So, Scott's first and foremost concern is that his asthma has returned, which is extremely worrisome, given that since it had gone away after he got the bite and he was under the impression that his lycanthropy cured it. So, now he's back to carrying around his new inhaler everywhere he goes and having to use it multiple times a day, just like before he was bitten, to the point that whenever he finds himself in need of a brilliant solution on how to save everyone from the Doctors, he takes out his inhaler in hopes that a hit of it will help give him yet another divine move.

Needless to say, Scott is drowning in guilt, fear, self-doubt, insecurity, self-loathing, and loneliness as a result of everything that is going on, and it's all made worse by the fact that the majority of his own support system has vanished. His girlfriend Kira has been incomunicado since she left town in the previous episode. His mentor and boss, Dr. Deaton, still hasn't returned from his trip (and Scott still has no idea that he's been captured by the Desert Wolf). Lydia is too busy helping Jordan figure out what the fuck is happening to him (which I'll get into more in a bit) to notice how much he's hurting. Liam is still resentful toward Scott for what happened to him and Hayden in "Strange Frequencies" and "Ouroboros," and both Malia and Stiles are avoiding him and each other because of the secrets they're keeping. Stiles is hiding out of secret shame because he's lying to everyone about killing Donovan, worrying about the state of the still-healing wound on his shoulder from where Donovan bit him, and feeling guilty about making his first kill while he was actually in control of himself. Malia, on the other hand, is still obsessing about the Desert Wolf, and is hiding it from everyone because SPOILER ALERT, she plans on killing her, likely to get justice for her adoptive mother and sister, since she had that flashback memory in "A Novel Approach" that revealed that it was actually the Desert Wolf who killed her family (or, at the very least, caused the wreck that killed them-- we're still not really sure of the details on that, but I'll also be addressing that in a bit).

Plus, we've got the whole chimera issue as well. As Scott explains, Sheriff Stilinski has been passing out pamphlets to all of his deputies regarding symptoms to look out for. He hasn't explicitly told them about the chimeras-- it actually seems more like he's trying to pass it off as some kind of mental illness or something, because he included questionnaires on fugue states and blackouts to give to potential suspects. He also passed out lists of all of the genetic chimeras (that is, those people with two sets of DNA due to allogeneic skin grafts or organ transplants) that they're aware of based on medical records from Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital, and of course, Hayden is on the list, much to Deputy Clarke's dismay. Scott also explains that they still haven't told Sheriff or Jordan about what they know about Jordan's recent body-snatchings for two reasons: 1) they don't think Jordan is actually aware of what he's doing, and they are under the impression that he only fights against those who get in his way, and 2) they know that Sheriff will absolutely not stay out of his way, especially given how OTT he's become about applying human laws to the supernatural world of Beacon Hills, so they're trying to keep him out of it out of fear of what he'll do. So, according to Scott, they decided their next move is to find the Nemeton in hopes that by doing so, they'll find the bodies Jordan has been taking. Of course, they last time they found the Nemeton, Scott, Stiles, and Allison had just literally committed suicide to figure out it's location, so they're all obviously concerned about the thought of trying to track it down again.

So, despite the fact that a significant part of the fandom seems to believe that Scott is a horrible person for trusting Theo and for believing what he had to say about Stiles (which, in my opinion, isn't even true, but I'll get into that more in a minute) over Stiles himself, I really just can't blame Scott for doing what he did, because 1) Theo has literally spent the entire season doing nothing but coming up with ways to help the pack in order to convince them to trust him, so Scott has little reason to think he has malicious intentions 2) Theo knew how stressed out, guilty, and overwhelmed Scott felt (and how isolated he's currently feeling as a result of everyone ignoring him), and he intentionally took advantage of it by being the "friend" Scott desperately needed, so of course Scott was going to be so starved for support that he overlooked some hints to Theo's evilness that he probably shouldn't have; and 3) since everyone, including and especially Stiles, was avoiding and ignoring Scott, and Stiles had spent half the season lying about killing Donovan, Scott literally only had one story to go on, and that was Theo's.

It's not as if both Theo and Stiles sat down and each explained their story to Scott, and afterward Scott was like, "Welp, obviously I believe this guy who is practically a stranger over my best friend and brother-in-arms, so go fuck yourself, Stiles." Stiles chose to trust Donovan over Scott when it came to what happened with Donovan and Josh in that he determined that it was better for the situation to remain a secret just between him and this guy he claims he doesn't trust, and then decided to hide it from Scott and everyone else in the pack for Gods know how long (No, seriously, the timeline is so bonkers this season that I've completely lost track of how much time has passed this season so far).

But, I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's get talking about the Theo/Scott/Stiles situation, here.

SCEO, STEO & SKITTLES

Like I said before, Scott has basically been in over his head with regards to the Dread Doctors, the chimeras, and all the related drama that has accompanied it, so Theo takes advantage of this by listening to Scott discuss everything that has been going on, which has also provided Theo with tons of information about things like Scott's recent asthma problems, Hayden and Corey's improved conditions, Kira and Deaton still being mysteriously MIA, etc. So, Theo assures Scott that he's with the pack for the long-haul, conveniently being vague enough about it that Scott doesn't realize that he's not actually included, and Scott, though relieved to get his concerns off of his chest, is still overwhelmed enough that he overlooks Theo's line about how he's counting on things getting worse. SHADY MCSHADERSON ALERT. Scott also disparages his own good name as a True Alpha and suggests that Theo should be disappointed that he found him instead of a better Alpha, which, in Theo's mind, is probably just confirming his belief that he deserves that power and status more than Scott does.

Before Theo goes to school, he makes a quick detour to the Dread Doctors' lab, where he confronts them about Hayden and how her survival is apparently crucial to his plans. The Geneticist, the only lady of the three with awesome stompy boots that I've been coveting all season, drew up a big syringe of that greenish fluid from the tank with the body in it and injected it into the Surgeon's arm, which was really shriveled up and covered in puckered scars that ran up and down its length like Frankenstein's monster or some shit. The fluid ended up magically/miraculously making the arm healthy, muscular, and young-looking again, though the scars still remained, so whatever it is, it has amazing regenerative abilities and is probably going to be very important going forward. Just a guess. :P

We learned quite a bit from their conversation, including that Theo was promised his own pack if he kept Scott (and, by extension, the McCall Pack) from interfering with the Doctors' plans, although the Doctors claimed they promised him nothing, which is partially why Theo needs Hayden to stay alive at least a little longer. The Surgeon spouted off some shit about how Hayden is a failure and that failures ruin the experiment pool, but hd ultimately decided to give Theo until the "perigee syzygy," or the supermoon (which, of course, is in like two days, just in time for the finale) before killing her, because apparently the supermoon will be what tells them how successful their experiments have been? There was also this very hilarious moment when Theo back-talked/yelled at the Surgeon, and all of the Doctors stopped what they were doing and stared at him so hard that he about peed his pants from fear. Theo is a pretty entertaining villain, but it's always nice to see him get knocked down a couple pegs. It's like when you see Peter get all sassy to his captors and then BAM! He gets his finger chopped off by a middle-aged Mexican werewolf hunter.

(via teenwolf)
So, after this conversation, Theo starts putting his contingency plans into place, just to be on the safe side, one of which includes Stiles, who spent the morning trying and failing to help Lydia find the Nemeton (which I will get into more in a bit). Stiles ended up leaving after Lydia decided to bring Parrish in to help and instead went to school to tell Theo about the likelihood that the two will find the bodies and possibly expose their respective murders. This, to me, was just more evidence that Stiles had come to trust Theo a little bit, or at least had started to like him somewhat, because why else would Stiles warn Theo that Josh's body being found would reveal that Theo killed him? Because I mean, if they found Josh, they'd also find Donovan, which would mean both Stiles and Theo would be exposed, so it's not like Stiles gave Theo the heads up to save his own ass, since he did nothing to stop Lydia and Jordan from looking for the Nemeton-- he either wanted Theo to know because he was concerned about what would happen to him, or he wanted Theo to give him advice about how to proceed, neither of which are things you'd do for someone you hate.

And I don't want this to sound like I'm hating on Stiles hardcore here, because I love Stiles and that's not at all what I'm trying to do-- I fully understand why Stiles did what he did, and it makes sense. I just want to make it clear that Scott isn't the only one here to trusted someone he shouldn't have, because over time, Theo literally won over everyone. Hell, in a bit, he'll totally have the always-skeptical Sheriff Stilinski eating out of the palm of his hand, so it's an understandable mistake for them all to have made. I hate that I end up coming off as some Stiles-hater, but since the fandom constantly tears Scott down, I feel like Scott fans end up having to point out Stiles' own flaws in order to defend Scott, and it really pains me to do it. I just want to love all of my characters, damnit!

After Stiles fills Theo in, Theo fake-casually suggests that maybe everyone finding the bodies is a good thing, and shares his theory that Scott might actually be receptive to the information now after what he did to Corey in "Ouroboros" before stating that he's sure that Scott won't hold it against Stiles, of all people. And honestly, this was kind of genius on Theo's part, because it helped to finally convince Stiles that there's no way something like this could cause him to lose Scott as a friend, which, as we've seen literally all season so far, is something that Stiles has been painfully afraid of for quite a while. Manipulating Stiles into doing this was totally necessary to his plan, because as a result of Theo's words, Stiles actually started to believe what Theo was saying, and got it in his head that maybe Scott wouldn't react the way he feared.

So, when Scott confronts him at the end of the episode, Stiles' initial reaction is to be defensive and vague about it all instead of guilty and honest about what is really going on, which leads Stiles to inadvertently and unknowingly confess to doing what Theo had told Scott that he had done to Donovan, not knowing that Scott doesn't actually know the real truth about what happened. Then, Scott gets so shocked about Stiles' confession that he pretty much shoots down any excuse or justification Stiles has for killing Donovan, because he doesn't know that Stiles killed him on accident when defending himself, so it becomes this whole mess of miscommunication that would have never worked like it did if Theo hadn't had this conversation with Stiles. It's really too bad that Theo's plans from here on out get progressively worse and less and less well thought-out, because this right here is some serious scheming. Peter Hale would be impressed. (PS: Where the hell are you, Peter Hale? I can't even believe I'm asking this, because he's hardly my favorite character, but I think his help could definitely be useful right now, especially regarding the impending Desert Wolf drama)

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself again. So, after Theo planted the seeds in Stiles' brain in the library, Theo turns his attention to Scott and meets up with him in AP Bio, where Theo uses the perfect amount of faux-innocence and claims that he needs to talk to Scott about Stiles regarding something he should have told him a long time ago. Of course, this immediately puts Scott on edge with worry, though Corey projectile-vomiting mercury and black blood everywhere distracted and overwhelmed him so much that he literally shut down from the stress of it all and forgot all about the Stiles thing. He wasn't even able to break out of it until Theo pretty much shook him until he snapped out of it and reminded him that they had to follow Corey to the hospital because protecting people is what Scott does, which is yet another small bit of manipulation that makes Theo seem way more honest and trustworthy than he actually is.

It wasn't until the two were driving to the hospital when Scott remembered Theo's earlier statement about needing to talk about Stiles and brought it up. Theo did the whole "Oh, it can wait, obvious we have more important things to worry about"-thing so Scott would be even more intrigued until finally, Scott was like, "No, tell me! We all need to start being honest with each other and talking about important things." Which isn't untrue, and Scott is obviously more sensitive than usual to this because of the pack being so fractured at the moment, but we all know Theo has no intention of telling the truth right now. So, Theo told Scott to open his glove box, which held the bloody wrench Stiles had used as a weapon in "A Novel Approach" when he was fighting Donovan. Then, Theo confessed to having witnessed Stiles killing Donovan after Donovan, who had been turned into a wendigo-lamprey chimera, had attacked and bitten him on the shoulder-- a wound Scott was under the impression was caused by his broken Jeep, since Stiles had lied about that as well.

We know that, in essence, this is technically the truth-- Donovan did go after Stiles, and Stiles did end up killing him-- but we also know that the story Theo told was a much exaggerated version of what happened. The way Theo explained it, he saw Stiles viciously beating Donovan with his wrench until Donovan's skull was smashed to bits, and was much more influenced by anger than it was self-defense, to the point that Stiles didn't stop until Theo pulled him off of Donovan. And Theo is an amazing con-artist, because he knows that this story on its own isn't going to be enough to convince Scott that what he's saying is the truth, so he pretends to back-pedal and suggest that Stiles was probably afraid that Donovan was going to kill his dad, but in a tone of voice that makes it clear that he doesn't believe that it's true. And, naturally, Theo doesn't say anything about the fact that Stiles was acting in self-defense. Still, as I expected, Scott refuses to believe this story at face value and insists that Stiles must have had a reason to do what he did, so Theo turns it up a couple notches and insists he's never seen anyone as angry as Stiles was when he was brutally beating Donovan's skull in with the wrench.

I feel the need to emphasize once again, for the record, that it is pretty clear that even after Theo made his argument, Scott continued to not believe Theo's story, and pretty much immediately after Theo's "confession," they got sucked into the Corey/Dread Doctors thing again at the hospital, which preoccupied Scott so much that he didn't have any time to really think about Stiles killing Donovan and whether or not it was true until he finally got the chance to talk to Stiles about it himself. Personally, I interpreted Scott's reaction/behavior as indicating that he was convinced that Theo had the story all wrong, or hadn't seen everything in order to know what really went down, and it seemed clear that Scott did want to hear Stiles' side. But, like I said before, Theo's earlier conversation with Stiles in the library about how he didn't think Scott would hold Donovan's death against him lured Stiles into a false sense of security, so when Scott finally did get to approach him to see what happened, Stiles reacted defensively and angrily instead of just telling Scott the truth about what happened.

And then, of course, between Stiles' defensive and aggressive reaction and Stiles' comment about how some of them had to get their hands bloody sometimes, Scott was so shocked and horrified that he took it as confirmation that what Theo said was true, and became too overwhelmed (both by what he assumed Stiles did and by the general stress of the Dread Doctors/chimera issues) to want to dig deeper for the details. And like I said earlier, Scott could have definitely asked more questions about Stiles' confrontation with Donovan, but between what he had heard from Theo earlier and Stiles' vague comments, I honestly think he just didn't have it in him to hear the gory details from Stiles himself. And, let's be real here, since Stiles had lied about it all up until this point, how was Scott supposed to trust anything Stiles said about it anyway? I mean, that was the beauty (and the terribleness) of Theo's manipulations-- Stiles' defensive answers just made it seem even more like Stiles was just being a lying liar who lies to cover up his cold-blooded murder rather than a victim of Donovan's revenge-plot against Sheriff Stilinski, so it's no wonder Scott was like "THIS IS TOO MUCH I LITERALLY CANNOT HEAR ANY MORE." And it's also no wonder that Stiles, too, was like, "THIS IS MY NIGHTMARE COME TO LIFE, I LITERALLY CANNOT TELL HIM ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED BECAUSE HE'S JUDGING ME TOO MUCH ALREADY AND I CAN'T BEAR TO SEE HIM LOOK MORE HORRIFIED ABOUT WHAT I DID." 

Seriously, this is all such a terrible misunderstanding from every single angle, and just writing about it makes my heart hurt so badly. I will honestly never forgive Theo for ruining Scott and Stiles' friendship-- I'm sure they'll become friends again eventually, but their relationship will never be the same again-- nor will I ever forgive him for what he does in the midseason finale, either. I know a lot of people want Theo to have a redemption arc, but I just don't think it's possible whatsoever-- he has made his bed, and there isn't anything he can do to make up for what he's done unless he's got a secret time machine somewhere that he can use to go back in time and foil his own plans. Besides, it's obvious that he feels no remorse or guilt for anything he's done, and that extends to what he does in the next episode as well. All he cares about are his own desires, and everyone else is a pawn in his games, their worth determined solely by what they can offer him.

ANYWAY. So, moving on to Skittles' confrontation in the pouring rain-- let me give you the transcript of the conversation for reference to refresh all of our memories about just how this all went down. Keep in mind that Scott only becomes more and more overwhelmed throughout the entire conversation, which is why his replies are short and curt and why he's not asking many questions about what happened; meanwhile, Stiles only becomes more defensive until he finally realizes how fucked he is and starts begging for anything he can do to make up for it.

[Stiles approaches Scott outside the animal clinic in the pouring rain. After a moment, Scott pulls out the wrench Theo gave him and stares at him in fear]

STILES: "Where did you get that?"

SCOTT: [shocked] "This is yours? Why didn't you tell me?"

STILES: "I was going to..."

SCOTT: "No, but why didn't you tell me when it happened?"

STILES: [ashamed] "I couldn't."

SCOTT: [overwhelmed with disbelief] "You killed him? You killed Donovan?"

STILES: "Well, he was going to kill my dad..."

[Scott is stunned speechless that Stiles actually admitted to killing Donovan, and Stiles starts to get defensive]

STILES: "Huh? Was I just supposed to let him?"

SCOTT: "You weren't supposed to do this. None of us are."

[Stiles is hurt that Scott suggested he wanted to do it]

STILES: "You think I had a choice?"

SCOTT: [sighs] "There's always a choice."

STILES: "Yeah, well, I can't do what you can, Scott! I know you wouldn't have done it. You probably would've just figured something out, right?"

SCOTT: I'd try.

[Stiles' voice becomes even angrier]

STILES: "Yeah, because you're Scott McCall! You're the True Alpha! Guess what? All of us can't be True Alphas. Some of us have to make mistakes! Some of us have to get our hands a little bloody sometimes! Some of us are human!"

[Scott, overwhelmed by these words, mistakenly takes this reaction as confirmation that Theo's story was true]

SCOTT: "So you had to kill him?"

STILES: "Scott, he was going to kill my dad..."

SCOTT: "But the way that it happened... There's a point when it's... it's not self-defense anymore!"

[Stiles, not knowing that Scott has the story wrong, becomes even more upset]

STILES: "What are you talking about? I didn't have a choice, Scott!"

[Stiles, not thinking, walks toward Scott and gestures with the wrench, and Scott instinctively flinches in fear and backs away from him, which only makes Stiles more hurt]

STILES: "You don't even believe me, do you?"

SCOTT: "I want to..."

STILES: "Okay. All right, so... So, believe me then. Scott, say you believe me. Say it. Say you believe me."

SCOTT: [sighs] "Stiles... We can't kill people we're trying to save."

[Stiles is still too overwhelmed by fear to process this]

STILES: "...Say you believe me."

SCOTT: "We can't kill people!"

STILES: "Do you believe that?"

[Scott remains silent, and Stiles starts to get desperate]

STILES: "Well, what do I do about this? What do you want me to do? Okay, just be... Scott, just tell me how to fix this, all right? Please, just tell me-- what do you want me to do?"

SCOTT: [sighs] "Don't worry about Malia or Lydia. We'll find them. Maybe..."

[Stiles looks at Scott with hope and fear, and Scott pauses before continuing]

SCOTT: "Maybe you should talk to your dad."

Okay, so I have a shitload to say about this. I've already gotten into most of it, but man, this scene killed me so hard. First of all, I've said this before, and I'll say it again-- I really am not trying to shit on Stiles, because he's upset and hurt and we all say and do things in the heat of the moment that we regret. However, I seriously hate that Stiles threw the fact that Scott is the True Alpha in his face like that, because he made it sound like an insult when it's really incredible that Scott is able to handle the pressure and responsibility that the status comes with in the first place as a person bitten without his consent only 1.5ish years ago. We've seen Scott struggle with his inner wolf from the very beginning, from trying to keep his temper in control so he doesn't wolf-out and kill Stiles or expose himself as a werewolf to anyone else in Season 1, to trying to keep the monster within under control in his fight against Derek's pack, the Argents, and the kanima in Season 2.

When Season 3A started, Scott defied his own werewolf nature by choosing not to kill, even when Deucalion and Jennifer were literally leveraging his loved ones in order to push him to do so, and this has continued on for the last 46 episodes. And it was because he went against what was expected of him as a Beta werewolf and formed his own pack with his most trusted friends, whether human or supernatural, that he was blessed to attain the status of True Alpha, something that only occurs at most once in a century. And even after becoming an Alpha, when the threats only become more and more dangerous and nightmare-inducing, Scott has still managed to maintain his no-kill policy, much to the chagrin of his peers and the fandom at large, and has not earned even a fraction of the respect he deserves for it. So, for Stiles to act like Scott's identity as a True Alpha is a bad thing-- when Scott has shown time after time that he's been in a constant fight against his own lycanthropy in order to use compassion instead of violence to deal with every terrible situation that is thrown his way-- just makes me so damn angry.

That said-- and like I already mentioned at the beginning of this section-- I'm not saying that Scott did everything 100% correctly in this scene, or even in this episode, because he didn't. He could have asked more questions about what happened, or he could have told Stiles everything that Theo told him so they could have figured out the ginormous miscommunication they were having; had they done so, they would have figured out they were being played much, much sooner. On the other hand, Stiles could have also done the same, since he prides himself on being an intelligent detective who always figures things out. He also could have gone to see his dad like Scott suggested, because then Sheriff would be able to tell Stiles about his own confrontation with Theo, and Stiles would have then quickly realized that Theo lied about what happened with Donovan to both Sheriff and Scott and would have put enough pieces together to realize that the object of everyone's anger and betrayal should be Theo himself. Let me repeat that again for the readers in the back-- THEO SHOULD BE THE OBJECT OF THE BRUNT OF OUR ANGER, NOT SCOTT OR STILES.

Basically, mistakes were made on both sides, but at the same time, the fact that they were both so shocked and overwhelmed by their respective bombshells (Scott realizing that Stiles really did kill Donovan, even if it's not like how Theo described it, and Stiles realizing that Scott found out what he had been hiding from him for at least a week) meant that they either were too stunned to think to ask, or they were so overwhelmed that they just really didn't want to know details. I can hardly blame either of them for that, either, because were I in their positions, I would probably have reacted the same way. Then again, if I was in either of their situations, I literally would have died back in Season 1, Episode 1, but that's beside the point.

Also, I saw a lot of hate in the fandom toward Scott about how he flinched when Stiles walked toward him with the wrench out of a reflexive fear that Stiles was going to hurt him with it, and I was really surprised to see just how many people believed that Scott had, like, irreparably damaged Stiles' soul for that reaction. I mean, first of all, it was a reflex, so it's not something he had any conscious control over. Secondly, do you guys remember the last time that Scott and Stiles were in the middle of an intense situation in the pouring rain outside of the animal clinic? It was in Season 3B's "Letharia Vulpina," and Stiles, who was revealed to be possessed by the nogitsune, pretended like he was going to help Scott remove the oni sword that was impaling his torso before instead twisting it so hard that Scott screamed in agony. Scott was literally being tortured by a person who looked exactly like his best friend, and Nogitsune!Stiles leaned toward him and laughed. "You've gotta learn, Scott. You've gotta learn never to trust a fox. Because they're tricksters. They'll fool you. They'll fool everyone." 

(via damonstilinskibelikov)
Sure, Stiles isn't possessed at the moment, and he did what he did out of self-defense, but as far as Scott knows, his best friend has just done something unthinkably brutal that he would never have thought Stiles would do. And considering Theo's Void!Stiles reference in the next episode, I don't think that it's much of a stretch to compare their current situation to when Stiles was possessed by the nogitsune, especially since we know that Scott has basically never truly processed any of his past trauma because he's never had a chance to do so. There is always another disaster that everyone is depending on Scott to fix, and he's always too busy worrying about his pack and the innocent civilians of his town that he would never give the torture he's endured any attention. Can you really blame him for his brain unconsciously going there? I sure can't. You can't help how your mind deals with things, especially after all of the stress of the day. Either way, both Scott and Stiles are in quite the mess, individually and as a relationship, and I fear that it's going to take quite a while for the damage between them to be healed. :(

Anyway, now that I've said literally everything that can be said about these three, let's move onto a slightly happier topic, yeah?

LYDIA AND JORDAN

So, the next major plot-line in this episode has to do with yet another search for the Nemeton in the woods. A lot of people seem to be complaining that they still have difficulty finding it after all this time, but I don't know, you guys-- would you be able to find one single tree stump in a nature preserve that, as we've seen, is fucking huge and only has a few fixed trails/easily identifiable landmarks to help you figure out where you're going? I'm no Girl Scout, and I have literally no sense of direction though, so it's possible that this is just a personal failing on my part and not something super difficult, but still! Lydia and Stiles don't have supernatural senses of smell or tracking abilities, and Lydia has never even been to the Nemeton before, so I get why they struggled with this so much. That said, they really do need to stick one of Chris' GPS devices into the root cellar so they can track it later, because I'm pretty sure that supernatural beacon/power booster/battleground is probably going to be important throughout the rest of the season(s).

ANYWAY, so Lydia and Stiles spent at least an hour together at the beginning of the episode just aimlessly walking around the nature preserve to try to find the Nemeton, because now that they know Jordan's been taking the bodies, they want to find out if his dreams have actually been coming true, since that would mean that all of the bodies he's snatched this season up to this point (Tracy, Donovan, Lucas, Josh) would be on the stump. This did not go well, as you can probably guess-- they used a system to keep track of where they'd been by marking the trees with chalk tally marks, which eventually led them to realize that they weren't actually getting anywhere because they had just passed the same tree for the third time. Naturally, Stiles is like, "Uh, we're looking for dead bodies, and you're a banshee, so... do your thing?" which just annoys Lydia, and understandably so, since we all know that the whole finding-bodies part of her powers are her least favorite thing about it.

So, Lydia just replies that the banshee is having an off day and decides the best thing to do is to just tell Jordan what they think is happening, considering they're laboring under the correct assumption that Jordan has no awareness of what he's been doing, and, as they've all said, it's always better when people know. Of course, as soon as Stiles realizes that if they do find the Nemeton, they'll likely find the bodies of Donovan and Josh-- whom Stiles and Theo killed in self-defense-- as well, Stiles starts acting all cagey about it, which only makes Lydia more suspicious. This forces Stiles to make a snarky comment about how Jordan owes him a new Jeep before he scampers off to warn Theo about what's happening.

Lydia then goes to find Jordan, though she initially only tells him that she's trying to find the Nemeton. Once they're driving through the preserve in his deputy cruiser, Jordan asks Lydia why she never brought him to the Nemeton if it's so important, but Lydia just vaguely explains that it's not easy to find. Jordan suggests putting it in the GPS, but since there's not really anything to put in, Jordan asks her how the fuck they're supposed to find it, since he doesn't remember ever being near a giant tree stump. Lydia's just like, "Oh, you sweet summer child" until Jordan randomly takes a right turn, leading her to realize that Jordan's subconscious is helping to lead the way. Oh, Jordan, I love your supernatural identity and how similar (and yet totally different) it is to Lydia's banshee powers. He's clearly unnerved by this newest display of his abilities, though, especially since he has no idea that he's been stealing bodies, nor does he have any clue what he is.

After Beth's body is found at the school (which we'll get into more in the next sections), Stiles, realizing that Jordan is going to eventually be coming after it, calls Lydia to warn and update her on what's just happened. Of course, she doesn't answer, forcing Stiles to leave her a frantic voicemail instead. "Lydia, for the love of God, answer your phone! There's another dead chimera. So, right now is probably not a great time to be alone with Parrish. If he's coming to get the body, you can't get in his way. Lydia, do not get in his way!"

Meanwhile, after some driving, Jordan and Lydia finally get to the general area of the Nemeton and start looking around, but when Lydia asks him if anything looks familiar to him, his he becomes even more frustrated and insists that everything just looks like the woods to him. Accurate assessment, bb! So, Lydia decides that the best course of action is for him to stop stressing over trying to think about it and instead get him to feel his way to the stump. How the hell does Jordan do that, you ask? Well, apparently, it involves Lydia throwing a punch at him out of nowhere, which he manages to block even despite how startled he was that Lydia started a fight with him. When he asks her what the fuck she's doing, she throws another punch and says she's trying to get him to stop thinking before she spins and roundhouse kicks him, which he blocks yet again.

Jordan's hand-to-hand combat lessons seem to be paying off, because Lydia's fight skills are seriously impressive, and I just know that Allison is watching her from the Otherworld and is beaming in pride. (And now I'm sobbing because I miss Allison SO FUCKING MUCH IT HUUUURTS.) So, Jordan starts getting into it, and they spar for a moment as they slowly move backwards until Jordan suddenly stops, grabs Lydia by the wrists to block her hits as his eyes flare their reddish-orange flame color. As the lovely and super-smart Wendy pointed out in the comments of one of my last recaps, both Jordan and Kira's eyes make the same kind of skittering/rattling noise when they glow that Theo's make, both of which sound very Dread Doctor-y. I'm not sure why this is the case for Jordan, because, judging by what we'll learn in the next episode, he doesn't seem to be a Dread Doctor creation, but I'm hoping we'll find out. The fact that it doesn't make the same ringing noise as the other werecreatures (Scott, Isaac, Derek, Liam, Malia, Kate) is kind of worrisome.

ANYWAY, so Jordan's eyes start to glow as he senses the Nemeton is close by, and Lydia looks super alarmed by this sudden shift. Has she ever seen his eyes glow before? I'm going to go ahead and guess she hasn't, especially since the look on her face is very similar to when Lydia saw Kira's kitsune aura for the first time in "Dreamcatchers." However, as they start walking toward the stump, they see that, just like in Jordan's dreams, it is covered in the partially-charred bodies of the dead chimeras Jordan has been stealing all season, and both Lydia and Jordan's eyes widen in horror at the sight of it. Yeahhhh, guess it's time to tell Jordan what's up, eh?

(via kisapandemonium)
So, after the break, we meet up with them just as Lydia has finished explaining to him what is going on, and he's in the middle of a full-blown freak-out. First, he stammers that he needs to call it in, and then he insists he needs to turn himself in, but when Lydia quite rightly reminds him that that's a terrible idea, he gets very, very frustrated and freaked out. "You just told me I'm the one taking the bodies! I've attacked other law enforcement officers! That's a criminal offense! I shouldn't even be near you!" Oh, Jordan, you white knight, you. Lydia insists that she's not afraid of him, but Jordan is afraid of him, and he's getting all chivalrous about it. That's when Lydia starts to get on the right track about what's happening. She points out that he only seems to do what he's been doing when there's a body, but otherwise, he's still a good guy and a good deputy, which Jordan once again takes as confirmation that he should turn himself in, because that's what a good deputy would do, especially one who has been flipping over Jeeps. attacking colleagues in the middle of fugue states, and covering up the murders of innocent teenagers.

LYDIA: "You're not covering them up. [She suddenly gets an idea] Actually... maybe you are..."

JORDAN: [exasperatedly] "What?"

LYDIA: "It's the same thing we asked Stilinski to do with Tracy. You're not covering up bodies-- you're covering up the supernatural."

JORDAN: "What's the difference?"

LYDIA: "Maybe you're keeping the secret safe. Maybe that's part of what you do."

Jordan points out that he's a Sheriff's deputy, which means following the law, but Lydia argues that he's not just a deputy, nor is he actually one of the bad guys. THANK YOU, LYDIA. Jordan's barely been conscious of what he's doing, and even when he does steal the bodies of the dead chimeras, he treats them very ritualistically and respectfully. And, considering how gung-ho Sheriff has been about treating the supernatural the same as humans, it seems fitting that we have Jordan on the other side, doing his supernatural duty to protect the secret of their existence. Unfortunately, Jordan has been keeping something from Lydia, which he finally confesses to her after four and a half episodes-- at the end of each of his dreams, he carries a new body to the Nemeton and puts it down next to the bodies that are already there. How many bodies, you ask? He doesn't have an exact number, but he's sure it's in the hundreds. YIKES! This gets me wondering, something, though. Are all the bodies chimeras? Are we to assume that the Dread Doctors are going to be making more, or are they also just dead regular supernaturals and regular humans? Either way, that is worrisome as fuck and I am seriously concerned about what 5B holds as a result.

(via teenwolf)
When we meet back up with them, it's at the Sheriff's station, where Sheriff finds Lydia sitting on that bench outside of his office. He's apparently been informed of what's going on with Jordan, at least a little bit, anyway, and he immediately demands to know what the fuck that deputy thinks he's doing. Lydia's answer? Protecting the rest of them from himself. So Sheriff goes back to the holding cells where Jordan has locked himself up, but when he goes to use his keycard to open the door, Jordan immediately stops him before glumly remarking that he now understands why Sheriff kept him on desk duty for six months. Awww, Jordan! Do you guys think Sheriff and Melissa were just worried that something like this would happen with Jordan, or what?

Sheriff argues that they can't just keep him in there, so Jordan briefly outlines the fact that he's just learned that the one taking the bodies, even if he doesn't remember doing it and knows that he has no conscious desire to do so. He then points out that he's dangerous, and since there are two more dead chimeras (Corey and Beth, both of whom I'll get into in the next sections), Sheriff absolutely cannot let him out, lest Jordan snatch their bodies and hurt more people in the process of doing so. Sheriff seems torn about this, but after a moment, he decides Jordan is right and puts his key card away before leaving Jordan alone in the cell. Brutal! However, since we've seen Jordan is strong enough to throw flaming punches and flip over Jeeps, it's pretty likely that Jordan's strong enough to break out of a jail cell if he really wants to right? (And that's totally a rhetorical question, because we all know the answer is "yes.")

Moving on to our favorite baby supes, whom the fandom has been affectionately referring to as the Puptarts!

LIAM AND HAYDEN
You know, I love me some Liam, and I have been saying it since Season Four's "The Benefactor," but he was kind of a little shit in this episode, don't you think? I mean, I get it-- his girlfriend is in danger, the two of them have been kidnapped and tortured by the Dread Doctors, and Theo made it seem as though Scott couldn't be assed to find them after his plan to lure the Doctors into a trap failed miserably, so obviously he's going to be a little resentful toward his Alpha for everything that's happened. But, on the other hand, he's so caught up in what's going on with Hayden that he can't see the big picture, and it's not just Hayden that Scott has to worry about, it's literally everyone in Beacon Hills at this point. And again, I love Hayden, too, and I have been saying all season that I love her relationship with Liam and that I want her to survive Season 5 and join the pack, but that doesn't mean I can't also be annoyed at Liam for his attitude toward Scott. Scott is numero uno in my heart, and I can't help wanting to defend him. I guess I just wish Liam could have seen the bigger picture, you know? But, most of us are slaves to our emotions, myself included, so the fact that he hasn't been able to see past them is hardly surprising. Once again, though, I'm getting way ahead of myself!

So, this whole thing started out after Theo's little conversation with the Dread Doctors about Hayden's fate at the beginning of the episode. Before school, Liam and Hayden meet up in the bus bay for some cute snogging, and when they pull away, Liam does that cute nose-bump thing and assures her that he'll see her in history class second period and at lunch, so they'll meet at the bell. Hayden, overwhelmed by Liam's cuteness, reminds him that the Dread Doctors seem to only come out at night (which isn't exactly true-- they seem to do their mad-scientist routine during the day and then let do their kidnapping and observing of their chimeras at night, but whatever) and tells him that he doesn't have to check up on her every period, but Liam insists that he wants to, which tugs at Hayden's heartstrings enough for her to agree. He assures her that she's going to be okay before he leans in to kiss her again, but when they pull away, Liam is shocked to find his lips are smeared with magic mercury that has begun to drip from Hayden's nose. NOOOO! I refuse for her to be a failure. JE REFUSE. Hayden starts to hyperventilate, and when Liam stares at her worriedly, she insists that he can't tell anyone about this before she runs away.

Then, in the boy's locker room. Scott starts getting wheezy and ducks behind a row of lockers to take a hit from his inhaler, during which time he hears a racing heartbeat nearby and follows it to find a very anxious-looking Liam packing up everything in his locker into a duffle bag. He's super evasive when Scott tries to ask him what he's doing, and once Scott realizes how distant he was being, he tried his best to rebuild things, with little success. He starts with reminding Liam about the full moon tomorrow, which, as I mentioned in the beginning sections, is a supermoon, or perigee-szygy, when the moon is closer to the Earth. Because of this, Scott informs him that he might even be feeling the effects of it as they speak, but Liam, unable to make eye contact with Scott, curtly informs him that he knows what "supermoon" means.

It's clear Scott is hurt by Liam's distrust of him, but he continues to try to get him to warm up by assuring him that he's always here for him. Liam angrily snaps at him in response, assuming that Scott wants to chain him to a tree again like last time, so Scott backtracks and insists he just meant that it's a good idea if they stick together so they can protect each other against all of the threats they're under. Liam's not convinced, though, so he finishes packing up his stuff and looks Scott in the eye before snitting, "We can't protect anyone" and turning to leave.

:( Poor Scott! Poor Liam! They're all just so overwhelmed and exhausted they can't even stand it. Even still, that was a low blow on Liam's part, and even though he had no idea about this at the time, I'm thinking it was this comment that kicked off Scott's desire to get everyone talking again, which made him easily manipulated by Theo with regards to the Stiles and Donovan thing. This is part of the reason why I love this episode so much, despite how upsetting it was-- every character had a part in how this episode ended, and none of these events could have happened without them. Scott's comment about how he's sorry Theo found him instead of a better Alpha, Theo's reassurance that Scott wouldn't be mad at Stiles for killing Donovan, Liam's comment to Scott about them not being able to protect anyone, Theo's lie to Scott and Sheriff about what went down between Stiles and Donovan, etc etc etc.

After news of Corey being sent to the hospital starts to spread around the school, Liam finds Hayden near the staircase and rushes over to check on her. Hayden realizes that Corey also being a failure means that the Dread Doctors will be coming for her next, but Liam argues that the Doctors are coming after all of them, which means that the two of them need to make a run for it. Aw, Liam, I give you an A+ for your good intentions, but you get a D- in terms of execution and the general idea, since as you can probably guess, they don't even make it out of Beacon Hills before they're caught.

So, the two rush over to Sinema, where Hayden breaks into her boss Phil's safe (his combination is 12-34-56, so Hayden's right-- Phil's an idiot) to grab her "paycheck," which is actually just two hundred dollar bills, since she's underage and being paid under the table. Hayden points out how much her sister is gonna freak on her, but Liam insists that they'll come up with a convincing-enough story to placate her later. They decide to just travel as far away as they can get with the money they have, but Hayden starts to worry that she'll go crazy like Tracy did and hurt Liam. Of course, Liam takes it all in stride and promises he'll get over it if that happens before they stupidly start smooching instead of running, so it only takes a few moments before the lights start to flicker, revealing the Dread Doctors have caught up to them. Liam shouts at Hayden to run, which she does as Liam partially wolfs-out and starts futilely fighting one of the Doctors.

Since nothing can ever be that easy, she runs right into another one of the Doctors just as Scott shows up, fully wolfed-out, and joins Liam in the fight, though he fares just as poorly as his smol wolf son. After quite a bit of violence, Scott instructs Liam to go find Hayden and get her out of there while he and Theo, who accompanied Scott there, fight two of the Dread Doctors. Liam rushes down the hall in search of Hayden, only to find her in a headlock by the third Dread Doctor (I've given up on keeping track of who at this point), who holds up that huge syringe gun thing and stabs Hayden in the neck with it, causing Liam to scream the most heart-wrenching scream I've heard since Scott got turned into a berserker in "A Promise To The Dead." As the magic mercury is injected into Hayden's body, her eyes turn completely silver, just like Donovan's did in "Dreamcatchers," before returning to their usual brown and white as the Doctor drops her to the ground.

Meanwhile, Scott and Theo are getting their asses kicked, and Scott gets knocked down so hard that he's dazed for a few moments, which is convenient, because Theo, who has just been grabbed in a choke-hold, quietly gasps, "I need more time." To make it look realistic, the Surgeon once again murmurs that he has until the perigee-syzygy before dropping him onto the floor next to Scott, who was way too out of it to pay attention to, hear or understand any of their brief conversation. The Dread Doctors, having done what they meant to do, leave the building, and Scott and Theo quickly get to their feet when they realize they need to find Hayden pronto. Once they make it to the hallway, they find a frantic Liam kneeling next to a weak-looking, but still alive Hayden, who insists that she's fine despite all the evidence to the contrary. Liam explains that he saw her eyes turn silver, and though Theo remarks that she looks okay enough and suggests that she might heal, Scott looks like he's quite sure it's the opposite. Liam wonders aloud if something is happening to her on the inside that they can't see, so Scott tells them to get to the animal clinic and promises to meet them there.

So, Theo, Hayden, and Liam get loaded up into Theo's truck so he can drive them there, and Liam is holding Hayden in the backseat as she starts to nod off, visibly exhausted by the events of the last few days. Theo insists that Liam keep her awake, since they still don't know what the hell is wrong with her (or, at least, if Theo does know, he's not saying anything), but Hayden weakly protests that she's tired as she closes her eyes and snuggles down in Liam's arms. Liam desperately asks Theo how they're supposed to help her, but Theo claims to have no idea, since while he does know how to treat wolfsbane poisoning (burning it out, as we already know), he knows nothing about overdoses of scientifically modified mercury.

Liam then asks if she's going to heal, which causes Theo to sound more than a little bitter. "The problem is, she's not really like us, Liam. None of them are. They're more like... cheap knockoffs. She might not be as strong as we are, or heal like we do. She's not a real werewolf." If I wasn't already convinced that Theo was a chimera at this point, then this absolutely confirmed it for me, because boy, does he sound like he's got a major inferiority complex when it comes to actual supernatural beings. Of course, this gives Liam the idea that turning Hayden into a real werewolf could help her heal (which we already know from the events of "De-Void" isn't actually an option, because you have to be more or less healthy in order to have a chance of surviving the bite), but Theo, who is clearly intrigued by this idea, reminds him that neither of them have the power to do that. They do know someone who can, though-- Scott, the werewolf who turned Liam in the first place.

After the huge fight with Stiles, Scott goes inside the animal clinic to find Liam with Hayden on the floor, and Theo standing nearby. Hayden looks weak as ever and is having trouble breathing, and Theo informs Scott that she's getting worse and that he's pretty sure she's dying from mercury poisoning. Liam looks up at Scott reminds him of his promise to do anything he could to save her. "If she's a real werewolf, we can save her. You gotta give her the bite." Scott is visibly overwhelmed by this, and of course, when the episode ends with Scott saying, "No," the entire fandom exploded over Scott being some kind of tyrant for not rushing into some potentially terrible plan without thinking it through. Let's be real here, though-- though we've only seen two instances of the bite failing (and only one of those resulted in death, since Gerard Argent is still kicking despite my wishes to the contrary), it's still not a sure thing. And it becomes even less of a sure thing when you take into account that Hayden is currently dying of mercury poisoning and is a scientifically created werewolf/something hybrid with powers they haven't been able to even begin to understand yet.

(via teenwolf)
I feel like the chances of Hayden dying were overwhelmingly high, and I can hardly blame Scott for not wanting to risk it. Sure, you could say that if Hayden was dying anyway, then what does it matter? But Scott has a very rigid no-killing policy, and he doesn't want to be the person who ultimately kills her. Besides, we still don't know for sure what would happen to Scott's powers if he killed someone-- would he stay a True Alpha, or would he become a blue-eyed Beta? I would like to believe that the former is true (for all we know, in "The Girl Who Knew Too Much," Marin Morrell could have just been telling Scott that killing someone would destroy his potential to become a True Alpha in order to keep him from killing her and/or to keep him from doing what Deucalion wanted, or maybe that rule only applies before the Beta rises to their True Alpha status, and then afterward killing was no big deal because an Alpha has to do whatever it takes to protect their pack), but still, nobody knows anything for sure, and if I were in Scott's position, I wouldn't want to do it either. The chances are just way too high that something terrible would happen, and Scott was just put into an impossible position with regards to whether or not he should give Hayden the bite.


MASON AND COREY
Moving on to Mason, Corey, and their burgeoning friendship and possible romance! So, as we saw at the beginning of the episode, Corey is still super salty at Scott, and, by extension, the rest of the pack for Scott invading his memories without warning in "Ouroboros," and pretty much went out of his way to avoid them. Later on, he went to his locker, but when he tried to open the lock, he accidentally broke it off completely, not realizing the extent of his own super-strength. Mason, who was low-key ogling at him from afar, approaches him and remarks that he's getting even stronger. Corey, both alarmed and intrigued, asks Mason how strong he's supposed to get, so Mason gets the bright idea that they should test it out. You guys know what that means! WEIGHT ROOM SCENE!

So, they go into the weight room, where Mason watches as Corey bench-presses more and more weight with ease, much like he watched Liam do in "IED." Once Corey's reached upwards of 400+ lbs, both he and Mason are in awe of just how much he's been able to lift. Corey asks him if this means that he's a successful chimera, but since Mason is still new to the supernatural thing-- even if he's seemingly read tons of books about it in his enthusiasm about the revelation that the supernatural is real-- he has no idea. But, he does prove that my love for Mason has always been well-placed, because he takes up the mantle as President of the Scott McCall Fan Club by suggesting that Scott might know. Corey gives him a skeptical look, so he adds, "I know the last time you saw him wasn't your best day, but he's trying to help... more than most people would." Corey doesn't seem to want to get into it, because instead of replying, he just adds more weights to the bench-press barbell to get ready to lift, which makes Mason chuckle in amusement.

Just as Theo brought up the fact that he needed to tell Scott something about Stiles in AP Bio, they hear the sound of sirens and rush outside to find Corey, covered in black blood and magic mercury, being wheeled into an ambulance on a stretcher while Mason, also covered in the same black and silver stains from where Corey presumably projectile-vomited all over him, starts panicking and saying that he just started bleeding everywhere and he didn't understand. Corey is freaking out even more, though, and when he sees Scott, Theo, and Mason watching him be put into the back of the ambulance, he screams, "Don't let them do it! Don't let them kill me!" That's when Scott pretty much becomes so overwhelmed by stress that he shuts down for a moment until Theo's pleas finally snap him out of it. The two of them then quickly head to the hospital to watch over Corey and protect him from the Dread Doctors, who will surely be coming after him now that it's become clear that he, too, is a failed chimera.

So, after Theo and Scott's discussion of Stiles' involvement in Donovan's death, the two arrive at the hospital to find everything in shambles-- some of the nurses and orderlies are hurt, the lights are flickering, and supplies and furniture have been knocked over onto the floor. Theo assumes the Doctors already beat them to it, but when Scott notices more black blood and magic mercury smeared around, he realizes that it wasn't the Doctors, it was Corey. However, everything goes so fast that we never actually figure out how it was that Corey caused all of this chaos, which sucks, because I'd really like to know more about what kind of chimera he is and what all he can do. We do get a small hint when Theo and Scott rush away to find him, though, because as soon as they're gone, Corey. panting from fear and overexertion, materializes in the hallway, where his body is pressed against the nearby wall, revealing that Corey is at least part chameleon, or something similar. It looks more like he's blending into his surroundings so he can't be seen, but it could be more like he has some kind of power of invisibility, I don't know. I wonder how he learned how to use these abilities so quickly? Are they instinctive? TELL ME EVERYTHING, JEFF DAVIS.

Anyway, so Corey is sneaking around to avoid the Dread Doctors, eventually making it down into the ambulance drop-off area in the basement. When the lights start to flicker, both Corey and Scott/Theo, the latter of whom are still searching the hospital for the former, realize that the Dread Doctors have finally arrived. In the basement, Corey senses the Doctors approaching and presses his arms and back against the outside of a nearby ambulance, blending into it in the hopes that he'll be too well-hidden to be killed. Unfortunately for him, the Dread Doctors are masters of electromagnetic forces, which I'm guessing means they can see things that normal humans can't. So, it takes no time at all for the Surgeon to find Corey and run him through with his sword cane despite him being in chameleon mode. Corey then starts gasping, and the pain causes him to shift back into a visible state as he falls to the ground and clutches his bleeding wound. Naturally, by the time that Scott and Theo finally find him, he's already dead, and they're horrified to find yet another victim of the Dread Doctors' experiments. Scott is way too overwhelmed for words, so Theo once again has to snap him out of it by reminding him that they really need to go find Hayden and make sure they don't get her next. This forces them to reluctantly leave Corey's body behind to be found by the cops as they switch their focus to who they can still save. Farewell, Corey-- we hardly knew ye. Poor Mason can't catch a break where cute gay boys are concerned, can he?


MALIA AND BETH
As I discussed in the monologue section, it's clear that Malia is determined to find her mother, the Desert Wolf, but we really don't get a lot of information on her plans in this episode, nor do we really see much of Malia at all. The majority of her role in this episode involves the newly-revealed chimera, Beth, though what exactly kind of hybrid she is was never explained or shown. So, her part begins in Natalie Martin's regular-level biology class, where she's talking about biological weapons, something that I have a feeling will be relevant in upcoming episodes, since the biology lessons always seem to be-- "One of the more common biological weapons, anthrax, was used by Germany in World War I, and in human experimentation by the Japanese in World War II..." We already know from the last episode that the Dread Doctors had a part in World War II stuff, since Deaton went to Russia and found their lab there that was covered up as some nuclear accident site, and the Japanese and WWII also played a significant role in Season 3B, so I'm very curious to see where this all goes.

Anyway, so Malia is watching Beth, who is anxiously chewing her nails and scrolling on her laptop until Natalie forces her to put it away. Just as Malia is starting to wonder what the hell is up with this girl, Beth's entire index fingernail just pops right off and bleeds black blood everywhere, causing Beth to panic so hard that she rushes out of class without a word. Malia chases after her, stopped briefly by Natalie (which I get into more below), and when she finally gets out into the hall, she finds Beth at her locker and walks over to see if she's okay. Beth immediately starts stammering so nervously it's almost like she's about to have a conniption. "Why are you talking to me? You don't know me. You don't know anything about my condition." When Malia is like, "Uh, what now?" Beth pretty much turns into a stuttering broken record. "My condition. My condition. My condition."

She tries to rush away, but Malia insists that she doesn't want to be alone right now. However, when Malia tries to grab her arm to stop her, Beth uses her considerable strength to shove Malia into the lockers and run away. Malia, in a tiny moment of levity before the drama happens, just groans, "Are you kidding me?" before yanking herself to her feet and rushing after Beth. Of course, it's never that easy, and by the time Malia makes it to the front entrance, she stops dead in her tracks as she sees Beth being held in a headlock by the Pathologist on the other side of the doors. Beth looks at Malia with a pleading expression, but before Malia can even react further, the Pathologist snaps Beth's neck and drops her body onto the floor before he takes off, forcing Malia to once again have to watch the Doctors kill a chimera she was trying to save. When Malia makes it closer to Beth's body, she sees that a puddle of black blood and magic mercury is surrounding her and looks absolutely horrified.

(via maliagifs)
A short time later, a very upset Malia is rushing down the hall when she's stopped by Stiles, who is coming from the opposite direction and who immediately takes her hands in his own and squeezes them comfortingly. When he asks her what is wrong, Malia's response both surprises me and kind of pisses me off, if we're being honest-- "I hate this. I hate losing like this. I'm not like Scott. I can't deal with another body. Another failure." Ummm, what? First of all, since when does Malia have beef with Scott? They seemed fine in the previous episode, and any weirdness between them I initially attributed to Malia's secret plans to off her mother. Secondly, has Malia been reading the anti-Scott tag on Tumblr or something? Because I seriously don't know where this "Scott is an emotionless robot and nothing fazes him" idea came from, since it literally could not be further from the truth. She saw Scott get so upset about Liam and Hayden being taken that he had several severe asthma attacks and did the memory-sharing thing on Corey, something he'd never do without consent in any other situation. She's seen him insist that they save everyone without resorting to murder, she's seen him put himself in harms way to protect everyone else. She knows that Scott cares so much that it literally eats him up inside, so where the hell is this coming from? I'm hoping that she was just upset and speaking without thinking, but I just have this feeling that this tension is going to linger into 5B and I really just don't like it at all.

MISCELLANEOUS
So, here are some random odds and ends that didn't really fit anywhere else, but still seemed important enough to warrant a mention.

SHERIFF STILINSKI
First, Sheriff was on the ball regarding the chimera thing, and so he brought Jordan along with him early in the episode to check their little holding cell in that abandoned house where Belasko attacked Jordan back in "Creatures of the Night." Jordan, after looking around, determined that this place can't be where the Dread Doctors are experimenting on the chimeras and figured that it's actually their equivalent to a military remote field station. Sheriff then decided that they're pretty much wasting their time looking for potential chimeras and that they should be looking for failures instead. It's nice to see Sheriff having good ideas for once this season! Yay, Sheriff! He then got the bright idea to use a UV light to look for mercury stains around the various crime scenes after a chimera attack.

Later that afternoon, back at the station, Sheriff is sitting at his desk when he finds an envelope from Melissa, which has Stiles' library key card in it, along with a note explaining that she found it in the garbage can at the hospital (which is where Stiles ditched it in "Ouroboros" after Sheriff asked him about library access and he got freaked out that his dad was onto him). That causes Sheriff to have two different flashbacks. The first is from the aforementioned "Ouroboros" when Deputy Clarke (whose name is apparently Valerie Clarke instead of Clarke Romero like I've been assuming all season) approached Sheriff to inform him of the fact that she finally finished looking into the "prank call" from "A Novel Approach," when Stiles called 911 on the library's phone (but didn't actually say a word) in hopes that the police would come to check out Donovan's body. As you recall, there were two cards logged around the time of Stiles' call to the 911 dispatcher-- Theo and Stiles. This causes Sheriff to then flash back to his conversation with Stiles at the end of "Parasomnia":

SHERIFF: "You sure this kid's guilty?"

STILES: "Absolutely."

SHERIFF: "Then all you gotta do is wait. If they're really guilty, eventually they make a mistake. They always make a mistake."

So Theo gave Donovan his library key-card to go after Stiles, yeah? But how did Theo know that they would end up in there? Was it just a hunch? I'm so confused! This is probably another one of those things that we're not actually meant to think about too hard, right? Anyway, naturally, this niggles at Sheriff's brain a little, and he realizes that Theo at the very least knows something about what's been going on, if he's not actually as shady as Stiles believes him to be.

So, after Beth's body is found at the school, Sheriff finds Theo in the hallway and asks him where Scott is. When Theo explains that Scott is looking for Liam, who he thinks is with Hayden, Sheriff tells him he wants to speak to him alone and leads him into the empty boys locker room for a little talk. Once they're there, Theo nervously asks him if he needs a lawyer, but Sheriff pretty much says it depends on what he has to say. When he pulls out Stiles' library card and holds it up, Theo immediately realizes that Sheriff is onto them, and decides his only recourse is to pull out the innocent victim routine, complete with a quivering voice and tear-filled eyes.

The story he tells to Sheriff is wildly different than the story he told Scott-- in this version, Stiles wasn't even at the library at all, but Donovan was (I guess he's saying that Donovan used Stiles' card to get in?), and he confronted Theo and demanded that he tell him where Stiles was so he could kill him. He goes on to claim that Donovan wanted to kill Stiles in front of Sheriff, but when Theo didn't tell him where Stiles was, Donovan came after him. Then, Theo basically tells the actual story of what happened but with him in Stiles' place, with Theo trying to defend himself against Donovan. Theo really ups the ante by starting to cry and insisting that he didn't want Donovan to kill him or Stiles, so he tried to evade him by climbing up the scaffolding, which knocked down support beams and impaled him to death. So, he claims to have called 911, but by the time the deputy got there, everything regarding Donovan's death was gone, including his body and even all his blood. "I didn't know what to do," Theo blubbers, acting his damn heart out. "So, I didn't do anything. I'm sorry..." Sheriff is so touched by Theo's supposed heroism in order to protect Stiles and himself that he immediately rushes over to him and gives him a comforting hug, and can't see the smug-ass smirk on Theo's face as he does so. EVERYTHING IS SO TERRIBLE.

STILES
When Stiles and Lydia split up so the latter can go find Jordan and look for the Nemeton, Stiles went to the school to warn Theo about the fact that if Lydia and Jordan ended up indeed finding the stump, it's likely they'd also find Donovan and Josh's bodies and figure out that they were involved in their deaths. During their conversation, though, Stiles has a weird hallucination when he looks over at the place where Donovan died, only instead of seeing Donovan's body, he sees his own. Hallucination!Stiles is impaled through the chest with a long piece of metal, and his eyes are lifeless as magic mercury dribbles from his gaping mouth, and black blood, red blood, and more mercury stains the front of his shirt where his wound is. My question is, is this just a guilt-induced hallucination that Stiles' subconscious made up to torture him with the guilt of Donovan's death, or is there something more going on? Is this foreshadowing that Stiles is gonna end up becoming a chimera or something? Are the Dread Doctors even interested in making more chimeras now? It just seemed really weird, like those times Allison had random hallucinations of her mother after she died, and just like with this hallucination, they were never mentioned or explained, and I'm afraid that the same is going to happen with this.

NATALIE MARTIN
So, during the regular biology class that Natalie teaches, Malia sees the newest chimera, Beth, chewing on her nails until one of her nails literally falls off and starts bleeding black blood. So, she gets freaked out and rushes out of class, but when Malia goes to follow her, she's stopped by Mama Martin, who gives her a significant look and reminds her that only one student can go to the restroom at a time and reminds her that she should probably not skip class due to her recent drop in grades. Ummm, saying that kind of shit in front of a whole class is not only rude, but also unethical as fuck, so way to go, Natalie. Anyway, Malia argues that Beth needs help, but Natalie retorts that she doesn't need it from her, leading Malia to suspect that Natalie knows more than she's letting on. Then, when she flashes her ice-blue eyes at her, Natalie doesn't even flinch, she just says she wants Malia to make it through senior year with passing grades. So, what the hell was that about? Did Lydia fill her in on what's going on with the supernatural world? Has she always known what was up and was just playing dumb? Does she know more than the kids do about the Dread Doctors? In the meta write-up that I have planned after this review and the one for "Status Asthmaticus," I have a theory regarding Lorraine and the connections to the Dread Doctors story line that I'll get into in more detail, but I'm wondering if maybe Lorraine knew what the DDs were doing and maybe mentioned it to Natalie? More on that in the next write-ups!

Okay, amigos, this is it for "Lies of Omission!" The review for "Status Asthmaticus" should be posted soon, followed by the post-5A/pre-5B speculation post that will hopefully be up just in time for the new half-season to start on January 5th! Thank you so much for sticking with me through my disastrous descent into a seasonal-affective-disorder-enhanced depressive episode, and I'm pumped to hear what you guys have to say about the episode, if you still have stuff you want to discuss! Onto the next one!