Gerard is back! And like a horseman of the apocalypse, Gerard – also known as Colonel Tigh from Battlestar Galactica – is a tiding of what is to come in the future. In this case, it is a return to form. Now this may be wishful thinking, but Teen Wolf is starting to get the idea that the team is better together than they are apart.
Let’s get to it. Gerard Argent his better half and son Chris are tracking the Beast in the sewers. Gerard is the resident expert on the Beast for no other reason than Michael Hogan is a powerhouse. The Argents have a personal connection to the Beast since their ancestor defeated it in the 1700’s. If that isn’t foreshadowing for Crystal Reed’s return to the show, then nothing is. Now the Beast has been resurrected and unleashed on Beacon Hills. These kids need to move the heck out of Beacon Hills. There becomes a point where one too many monster beast werewolves attack the school.
Holland Roden must be so tired of lying in a bed for an entire season. Lucky for her, Meredith continues to teach Lydia at Banshee Charm School. Today’s class will include ninja moves and seeing the future.
Malia has teamed up with Theo to find her mother The Desert Wolf who seems to be holding Scott’s boss Deaton hostage. Luckily the Dread Doctors happen to have a convenient supernatural finding device. Because, of course. This would have come in handy in literally every other scenario, including this one. Malia puts on the spiky goggles to find her mother. The spikes inject into her face and somehow she can hone in on locating her mother by looking through the eyeglasses. She discovers that she and Deaton are in Beacon Hills. Anti-climactic at best. But Braeden is back!
Isn’t the point of fearing the Desert Wolf is that she’s the Desert Wolf? Braeden tells a vague story that the Desert Wolf lost part of her power and uses automatic weapons now. She’s a perfect shot. Which really just means that she’s an assassin. Malia is still out to kill her but Theo is insisting on coming. Why do people keep trusting him? That is the real mystery of the season.
Stiles seems to be the only one who visits Lydia in the hospital. This is a trait that has not changed since season two. Character consistency! Stiles begs her to come back. Somehow these two can be in a scene where only one of them is talking and the other is staring dead-eyed at the ceiling and it just works. Lydia’s mom wants him to leave right when he realizes something shady is going on. Ms. Martin still seems to be under the thrall of the hospital and not realizing that they are drilling into her daughter’s head. Like Lydia told Stiles in season three, he will always be the one to figure it out. And figure it out, he shall.
Malia stalks her mother in an old warehouse and before you can say ‘I told you so’ Theo double-crosses her and Braeden. He shoots Malia, effectively delivering her to her murderous mother, who is the epitome of the stereotypical jealous mother out to get her kid.
She thinks that Malia stole her power after she was born. Killing Malia would give her the power back. Deaton saves Malia by telling the Desert Wolf that she can only get her power back by killing Malia on a full moon. Nice save. Interrupting this beautiful mother daughter fight is The Beast. Malia saves Deaton in a heroic move while her mother hightails it out of here. (No pun intended.)
The Parrish flashback that no one asked for makes an appearance. Gerard and Chris are the ones to make him face the music. By taking a blowtorch to Parrish’s face, Gerard gets him to realize his true nature as a flame retardant hellhound. Grandfathers get into the craziest things. And finally Parrish understands what is wrong with him.
While Malia has been battling her mother, Lydia has been getting an F in Banshee Awareness. The only thing that makes Lydia harness her power is seeing Malia in trouble. Lydia can see this because of banshee powers, which seems to be the convenient crutch of the season. Lydia breaks out of her catatonia, amped up with hardcore banshee powers. While this has been a long time coming, there was no build up. Lydia is suddenly a banshee ninja. It looks awesome but could have used more development.
But it’s okay because the pack is all but reunited. Their next move is to save Lydia. The only kink: blind Deucalion wants Scott’s eyes after he blinded him a couple seasons ago. Oops. Better think about that next time, Scott.
At least this team’s got spirit, yes they do.