I hope everyone who celebrated the holiday had a great Fourth of July yesterday! Today, it’s Teen Wolf recap time courtesy of the lovely Leah.

Title Frayed

What Happened? Scott, Stiles, Allison, and Lydia discuss recent events on the way to a cross-country meet while trying to keep a fight from breaking out between Ethan, Boyd, and Isaac, and also figuring out how to get Scott’s wound to heal. As they travel, Scott remembers the events of the past day or two, in which Derek, Scott, Isaac, Boyd, and Cora (with some well-timed help from Allison) took on the Alpha Pack in the first true, all-out fight, in which both Derek and Ennis seemingly fell to their deaths. Meanwhile, we discover that Kali, Aiden, and Morrell have taken Ennis to Deaton, hoping that he can save him. We end the episode with Derek surprising Ms. Blake with his dramatic bloody handprint on her car and her kneeling over his still-breathing body in the high school parking lot.

Favorite Quotes
“That depends. Are you planning on following the bus, or are you planning on mounting it at some point?” (Lydia)

“Why is the default plan always murder? Just once, can’t someone try to come up with something that doesn’t involve killing everyone?”
“You never get tired of being so blandly moral do you?” (Scott and Peter)

“Come on, Scott, put those away. I’d have to be blind, deaf, and quadriplegic for you to be an actual threat.” (Deucalion)

My Thoughts In a way, this episode was one major, connected narrative, in that it told us the events of the past day or two surrounding the Alpha Pack in a creative way through the use of out-of-order time jumps (by showing us bits and pieces of Scott’s memories). Our focus this episode was on the first major confrontation with the Alpha Pack.

First, I want to focus on one of Teen Wolf’s awesome ladies, Allison. In this episode, we see Scott talking to Allison about her staying out of the way of the fighting. Scott has a good point in that Allison would undoubtedly lose to the Alphas in any sort of close-quarters fight. However, she does have a good advantage from a distance with her bow and arrow, and I love that she comes back at the end of the episode and basically saves the whole pack from the Alphas with her archery skills. I also very much enjoyed that at the end of the episode Scott acknowledged that he was wrong and that Allison was essential to the fight; there was no ego at work, just pure appreciation for her skills, and it was really wonderful to see (especially from a male character towards a female character). I have a feeling Allison will be an important part of the fight against the Alpha Pack in the future, and I can’t wait to see her continue being awesome!

I also think one of the important moments in this episode was Allison’s talk with her father about whether they should be involved in the struggle in Beacon Hills. Chris talked about their path as being a situation called “threading the needle”—finding a safe path between two opposing forces. This theme of trying to live in harmony with two worlds has been one that Allison and her father have dealt with this season, and is prevalent throughout the show—it has been a common theme for Scott, especially in the first season when he was trying to find a cure, and for Allison when she’s been trying to navigate being from a hunter family and being in a relationship with Scott at the same time. I think this will be something that Chris will struggle with more than Allison. She isn’t the type of person to stand back and watch while her friends die, even if it puts herself in great danger, and I believe she’ll join in and help Scott and the others when she can. Chris, however, has less of an emotional stake involved in the fighting, as he doesn’t know the teenagers very well except for his daughter, and staying out of the conflict will likely have a bigger draw for him than it does for Allison. I believe that in the end, Chris’s love for his daughter and his desire to do what is right (even though he’s definitely a bit shaky on his moral code) will win out in the end, and he’ll become a reluctant but reliable ally for our group.

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It’s time once again for Leah to share her thoughts on the latest episode of Teen Wolf!

Title Unleashed

What Happened? Scott, Isaac, and Allison deal with the Alpha Pack twins (Ethan and Aiden) when they start to cause trouble at school. Derek and Cora are paid a visit by Deucalion, Kali, and Ennis, who tell Derek that they want him to join them by killing his own pack and thus becoming a more powerful Alpha. Stiles and Lydia continue to investigate the recent murders along with the help of Deaton, and they realize the killings are the work of a druid who has gone down the wrong path.

Favorite Quotes
“I was gonna see if you were okay.”
“Physically or emotionally? Though, I guess that presupposes I was emotionally okay before any of this, and, according to my therapist, that—that’s been debatable for a long time.” (Derek and Ms. Blake)

“Ethan—I always forget—how many bones in the human body?”
“I don’t know; let’s count.”
[Scott arrives and punches Ethan]
“That’s one.” (Aiden, Ethan, and Scott)

“Seriously dude, human sacrifices?”
“Scott, your eyes turn into yellow glowsticks, okay, hair literally grows from your cheeks and then will immediately disappear, and if I were to stab you right now it would just magically heal, but you’re telling me that you’re having trouble grasping human sacrifices?” (Scott and Stiles)

“Okay, good. So look, here’s what I’m thinking. I’m thinking that maybe the murders come in threes; ancient people love things in threes, right? So maybe first it’s three virgins, and then I don’t know, maybe it’s three people who own little dogs.”
“I own a little dog. I am not getting rid of my dog.”
“Just think about getting rid of your little dog.”
“Nope.” (Stiles and Lydia)

My Thoughts The episode this week was pretty emotional for me, as well as being full of important plot details that of course generated a lot of questions, so it took me a little more time to process. In this episode, we took a big step towards understanding what exactly is going on in Beacon Hills and what our characters are up against.

In “Unleashed,” we saw Derek (and Cora) receive a visit from Deucalion, and it looks like the main purpose was to traumatize the two while trying to persuade Derek to join their pack. (Or maybe they were just trying to traumatize me—I kept yelling “Ewww eww eww why?” at my TV screen every time I saw a bit of a close-up of that pole through Derek’s chest. It was one of the most disgusting things I’ve seen on TV. Thanks a lot, MTV. I still love you anyways.)

In order to join the Alpha Pack, however, Derek would have to kill all of his current pack, which each of the alphas currently in the Alpha Pack have already done. In killing their betas, they gained more power since that action results in the addition of the power of the one they killed to their own power. Killing the whole pack gives the Alpha the power of all of his pack combined. This, of course, means that the Alpha Pack is not only dangerous because they’re all Alphas, but because they are all alphas with extra power—super-alphas, I suppose. And according to his speech (which not only caused lightning but also cracked his own sunglasses) Deucalion is the most powerful alpha: “The Demon Wolf.” We’ll see if that comes to mean something significant, or if it’s just our current main antagonist being extremely dramatic. Teen Wolf certainly enjoys its dramatic villains (Gerard, anyone?), and I love them as well.

Another main plotline in this episode was the conflict between Allison, Scott, Isaac, and the Alpha Twins, Ethan and Aiden. I’m really excited for Scott, Isaac, and Allison to become a tag-team of awesomeness, because that scene where they set up Aiden with the motorcycle in the school hallway was genius, hilarious, and one of my favorite scenes of the season so far. The twins’ Alpha form continues to be both disgusting and very cool to me, and I think their sheer power combined with the ability we saw this episode to have at least some strategy in irritating Isaac means that they’ll be difficult to deal with for the rest of the season. The scene with Isaac and Allison locked in the closet quickly turned from cute to heart-wrenching and scary, and I love that both Scott and Allison knew enough not to blame Isaac for his loss of control. In general this episode made me feel ALL the emotions for Isaac, poor kid. He’s quickly becoming one of my favorite characters.

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Today, the lovely Leah is back to share her thoughts on the latest episode of Teen Wolf!

Title Fireflies

What Happened? Derek, Scott, and Isaac chase after Boyd and Cora in an attempt to stop them from hurting innocent people, and, when it becomes clear that they need help, they go to the one person in town they know has experience with trapping werewolves: Chris Argent. Meanwhile, Lydia discovers a body at a nearby pool, and after learning more from Melissa McCall about all the recent attacks, Stiles figures out what all the victims had in common, leading him to the discovery that someone is using Beacon Hills as a resource for their human sacrifices.

Favorite Quotes
“You called the police before you called me?”
“I’m supposed to call you first when I find a dead body?”
“Yes!” (Stiles and Lydia)

“We need help.”
“We have Isaac now.”
“I mean real help.” (Scott and Derek, with Isaac right next to them)

“And—just curious—is there a reason the gun is still pointed at me?”
“Well, there’s probably still some part of me that wants to shoot you.”
“I get that.” (Scott and Chris)

“Let him be the hero of his morally black and white world. The real survivors, you and I, we live in shades of gray.” (Peter)

“What kind of werewolf strangles someone? You know, that’s not very werewolfy.” (Stiles)

My Thoughts This week our main plot was following Derek, Isaac, and Scott as they tried to catch Boyd and Cora before they hurt anyone. I really enjoyed seeing them work together as a team, especially the continuation of Derek and Scott working together instead of the antagonistic relationship they had last season. Also, Isaac and Derek’s interactions in the car while waiting for Scott were hilarious. Isaac is getting to show more and more snark, which I very much appreciate, and I’m hoping these first few episodes are indicative of him having lots of screen time this season!

Receiving help from Chris Argent was not surprising, as we all knew that Chris and Allison were likely going to be back in the hunting game sooner rather than later, despite their agreement to stay out of it. However, it was quite interesting to get to hear more of the techniques used by hunters to trap werewolves. If nothing else, it created a very interesting group dynamic (and a fun scene between Chris and Scott in the parking lot).

They manage to trap Cora and Boyd in the high school where, of course, there is one teacher left in the building. Why in the world Ms. Blake was still at the school grading papers at what must have been somewhere around four or five in the morning (the sun comes up while they’re there!) I have no idea, and why she goes to get a ream of paper from the supply room when she appears to be grading tests I don’t know either. While this was perhaps the most unrealistic part of the episode, I can mostly ignore it with a “because of plot and character reasons” handwave. I’m much more interested in seeing how Ms. Blake reacts to learning about the wide world of werewolves present in her new town, and I’m sure we’ll see more of her reaction in the next episode!

Meanwhile, Lydia and Stiles this week had some detective work to do. Lydia stumbles upon a body at the pool, and we quickly realize she’s going through more horrible mind games, as she had no idea she was going to the pool until she arrived. I really can’t wait to see where they take whatever is happening with her character and watch her be amazing once she has the knowledge of what her powers are. For now, I’m just hoping she finds a way to start figuring out what exactly is going on with her, and, if it’s Peter, find a way to get revenge on him for messing with her mind not just once, but twice. I’m hesitant to believe that it’s actually Peter pulling the strings this time though, as I feel like whatever’s going on with Lydia appears to be something slightly different than last season. Whatever it is, I hope we find out more soon.

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Title Chaos Rising

What Happened? Derek, Isaac, Scott, Stiles, and Peter try to figure out where Boyd and Erica are being kept and how to save them, while Allison researches the symbol that is formed by the bruises on her and Lydia’s arms. Their efforts lead them all to a closed down bank in Beacon Hills, where a showdown occurs that will change things for everyone.

Favorite Quotes
“What do you think you’re gonna do, Derek, you gonna punch through the wall?”
“Yes, Stiles, I’m gonna punch through the wall.”
“Okay, big guy, let’s see it, let’s see that fist. Big old fist. Make it, come on. Get it out there, don’t be scared. Big bad wolf, yeah, look at that.” (Stiles and Derek)

“Do I have to remind you what we’re up against here? A pack of alphas, all of them killers. And if that’s not enough to scare your testicles back into your stomach, try to remember that two of them combine bodies to form one giant alpha.”
“Can someone kill him again please?” (Peter and Stiles)

“I can’t take waiting around like this, you know, it’s nerve-wracking. My nerves are wracked, they’re severely wracked. Wracked.”
“I could beat you unconscious and wake you when it’s over?” (Stiles and Peter)

“Why did they wait for the full moon, huh? Why not just kill them whenever they want to.”
“Maybe they think it’s poetic.”
“They already had three full moons to be poetic.”
“And here you’ve only had one full hour to be so annoying…” (Stiles and Peter)

“They’re the lions. They’re the starved lions and you and Derek just stepped into the colosseum.” (Peter to Scott re: Boyd and Cora)

My Thoughts Wow, was this an intense episode! I really, really enjoyed it. It brought not only the intensity and tension that Teen Wolf is so good at, but it also brought the sass and the funny moments as well as some big twists.

The first main plotline was that of Derek, Scott, Stiles, Peter, and Deaton trying to help Isaac access the memories hidden from him by his encounter with the Alpha Pack, and then all of them (except Deaton and Isaac, who is probably recovering) coming up with a plan to get Erica and Boyd back.

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