Teen Wolf - Recap: Stiles Stilinski Doesn't Need Instruction Labels!
With our favorite Beacon Hills pack struggling with bouts of insanity on this week's Teen Wolf, were they doing “More Bad Than Good” in the fight to find the werecoyote? Yes, a werecoyote.
MTV "Teen Wolf"
Well, that was answered quickly. Sorry for the lack of buildup.
Episode 14 opened with a little more torture for Derek and Peter. As electricity surged through their tethered bodies, we became further clued in to the intentions behind their torturers’ actions. All of the Spanish flying around had me a bit confused right along with Derek, but one thing was made clear; this crew is looking for a very particular “she-wolf.” Are we thinking this is Derek’s sister? Neither would rat out the location of this she-wolf from the start, leading poor Peter to lose a finger in a single slice. For the record, I’d prefer hearing you sing to hearing you scream, Peter. I for one believe that would be a pleasant surprise!
While this story took part in bits and pieces over the course of Episode 14, for the sake of this recap, I’ll handle it all now. Peter and Derek were eventually rescued by none other than the mysterious woman who also stepped in to protect Isaac during the Season 3 premiere. We’d thought her to be dead following a brutal attack by Deucalion’s alpha pack, but slash scars and all, she showed up swinging! Apparently, Deucalion had actually hired her to spring these two from the clutches of this new group of assailants. Derek and Peter refused to leave, however, without first getting what they came for. In another room, the trio came across a chest made of Roman wood, a box carved in mountain ash that contained, well, lots more mountain ash. Their newfound buddy did them the favor and sifted through the sand to uncover a new important artifact. What could it be?
Meanwhile, Sheriff Stilinski (Linden Ashby) came face to face with Scott’s awful father (Matthew Del Negro) in the forest, and Scott and Stiles continued to piece together the story of Malia. Scott, having discovered that Malia is most likely this new werecoyote, should have thought twice before entering his fellow shapeshifter’s dwelling. While Scott crossed paths with Malia, Stiles had discovered the hidden cave that housed many of the girl’s belongings; however, their lingering scent would surely drive Malia away from that specific location for good. The story that came to unfold proved to be more so sad than anything else, as it seemed certain that Malia had been the one to accidentally transform and unknowingly murder her mother and sister during a random full moon.
MTV "Teen Wolf"
The next day, Allison informed the friends regarding the nature of coyotes, most importantly emphasizing their distaste for wolves and their nifty ability to tiptoe. The day at school was marked by too incredibly embarrassing and uncomfortable moments. I’ll let you be the judge of which was worse. First, Kira (Arden Cho) decided to do a couple of hours’ worth of research on this mysterious Tibetan Bardo to help Scott in his quest to buck the insanity. Unfortunately, she’d misplaced the packet that eventually landed in her father’s hands. Kira, never tell your father about “that boy you like,” especially when he’s your shared teacher. Scott wasn’t fazed. It’s not like Scott hasn’t had his own awkward encounters with girls at this school, not that Kira would ever be aware of that considering his newfound smoothness as the teen wolf. Here comes the challenger in the battle for Most Hideously Uncomfortable High School Moment of Episode 14! Before we knew it, Stiles was forced to read in front of the class, yet his complete inability to make out words in the textbook proved to be quite the problem. Stiles’ mind spun out of control as he began to sweat and collapse. Scott, recognizing the effects of Stiles’ crumbling mental state, dragged him to the “nurse” aka the locker room in order to snap him out of this “dream.” Stiles, recalling that one frequently has extra digits in dreams, counted each of his friend’s fingers one by one in order to reel his mind back to reality. This is where we began to reconsider the concept of solving mysteries at this point in time in these kids' lives. Maybe some therapy first? An exorcism? Multiple exorcisms? At least some therapy. Hey, what if instead of Scott, it had been nine-finger Peter with Stiles. That would have been so confusing!
Having scooped up Stiles’ backpack from the empty classroom, Kira inevitably came to encounter the werecoyote within the empty hallways of the school later in the evening. Obviously, a snarling animal is scary, but wouldn’t you have just run back outside or, I don’t know, closed the locker room door and waited it out relatively stress free? I think it’s funny that Teen Wolf had Kira behave like she was already aware that this was a werewolf-type of a creature. Of course, once Malia came smashing through the locker room door window, Kira was appropriately counting her lucky stars that Scott was there in the nick of time to scare the beast away. As it turned out, Stiles had swiped a baby doll from the scene of the crime, a token that certainly meant something to Malia if she was willing to track it down and rip someone to shreds for it. This was also the point in Episode 14 where we became more aware of the unstable state of Malia’s distraught father (Todd Stashwick), as he continuously chose to pop up during Sheriff Stilinski’s investigations, gun in hand. He snatched back his daughter’s doll before leaving school grounds at the Sheriff’s request. Later, we witnessed the man prepping bear traps to catch the animal he’d assumed killed his family following their car wreck.
MTV "Teen Wolf"
With Malia on the loose, Deaton (Seth Gilliam) handed over some powerful horse tranquilizers to Scott and his friends. If Scott could muster up the power, he could assert his alpha dominance and command that Malia, who was quite obviously trapped as a werecoyote since the car accident, transform back into her human form. With the tranquilizers in hand, Isaac, scarf and all, headed over to Allison’s apartment to help walk her through the process of trusting her instincts once again. Of course, this is also the part in Episode 14 where Allison snapped into her own dream state and sat center stage in what was probably the most gruesome scene in Teen Wolf history. Oow, but remember the massive vine of wolfsbane being slowly yanked and ripped from Jackson's back in Season 1? It’s not enough that Allison’s mind zapped back to the morgue. This time, she found herself on an operating table with… all of her insides exposed. Ghoul Kate (Jill Wagner) plucked out her heart, which is apparently good for nothing, before her fellow surgeon-wolves began eating Allison alive organ by organ. Teen Wolf, what a truly horrific scene. Great job! Now, please fire whoever drummed that one up because they’re obviously insanely dangerous in all of their entertaining glory. Allison snapped back to reality to find her tranquilizer gun pointed square between Isaac’s eyes. Close one, Argent!
Meanwhile, the twins, alphas no more, returned during Episode 14 with a little coercing from Lydia. If Scott was to learn the trick to digging deep and using his primal rage to enforce his power among other wolves, he’d need people with alpha experience to help him. Ethan (Charlie Carver) and Aiden (Max Carver) arrived at Derek’s loft just in time to beat the crap out of Scott in an effort to show him just what it took to find that inner strength. Honestly, by the close of this scene, Scott was just looking bloody beyond belief and more defeated than anything; however, we came to learn later on that this was not the case. I guess these twins aren’t so bad after all? Did we already know that? Are we supposed to enjoy them yet, or are we still waiting on them to prove themselves?
The quest to find Malia became an all-out race before we knew it. Sheriff Stilinski was alerted to her father’s use of animal traps throughout the woods after a casual jogger nearly stepped in one. Imagine?! Countless traps had been purchased and laid out to catch this coyote, and once the man realized that the animal had infiltrated his home and stolen back the doll (that damn doll), it seemed the stakes were truly raised. This man was inadvertently out hunting his own daughter, and Stiles’ father knew this very well. Still, as Scott and his friends reconvened in the woods, we became privy to the fact that they’d need to meander the trails carefully for fear of losing a leg in this race to knock Malia unconscious before her own father could murder her dead. (That's one of those sentences that just boggles my mind as I read it back. I can't believe I just wrote that.)
I don’t think I’ve ever felt more suspense during an episode of Teen Wolf than when this group of high school kids was running aimlessly through the forest knowing very well that bear traps laced the trails. (If it had been me hunting down Malia… Nice knowing you, sweetheart!) Before we knew it *CRUSH SNAP* poor Isaac’s leg landed smack in the middle of one of the torture devices, effectively snapping it like a twig. Allison, rushing to his side, also happened to catch a glimpse of Malia and her father in a standoff in the distance. Isaac, though in immense pain, was eventually able to calm her down and guide her to a steady shot that rendered the already unstable man unconscious.
MTV "Teen Wolf"
Meanwhile, Lydia and Stiles continued their own leg (Get it?) of the race to Malia. First, Stiles managed to reason that the doll must have been more important than they’d previously assumed. Looking back on a photo of a photograph he’d snapped, Stiles realized that the doll belonged to her younger sister, and Malia’s entire existence was most likely dedicated to memorializing and honoring the family she’d mistakenly slain. Unfortunately, their victorious revelation was short-lived, as Lydia nearly activated a trap herself.
“And her leg is so small!” – my viewing partner
Lydia, in a state of complete horrific panic, managed to stay as still as possible while she pleaded with Stiles to attempt to read the disarming instructions on the warning label. Stiles, however, couldn’t read a single word! This was a great moment for fans of the Stiles-Lydia pairing. Lydia, realizing that Stiles needed a confidence boost, reminded him that Stiles Stilinski doesn’t read instruction labels. Stiles Stilinski doesn’t need instruction labels. Relying purely on his own intelligence, he disarmed the trap and freed his perpetual crush from her doom.
MTV "Teen Wolf"
MTV "Teen Wolf"
As all of this was transpiring, Scott managed to corner Malia by the site of her car wreck. There, he allowed his confidence to guide him and transformed into the alpha he’d always known he could be, cursed or otherwise, subsequently roaring like we’d never heard McCall roar prior. Malia gave in and transformed back into her naked human body. Before we knew it, Sheriff Stilinski was reintroducing the teenage girl to her father in a great moment of closure.
To close the recap, Episode 14 of Teen Wolf Season 3 ended with some great strides. Stiles regained his ability to actually read through his experience with Lydia, first realizing of this advancement by simply glancing at the car mirror’s warning label. Sheriff Stilinski also secured his job by closing this case. Take that, Agent McCall! Lastly, it’s important to note that someone has been watching over the druid trunk, and after having a freshly grown weed uprooted from its center as though it were a cork keeping in the flood evil, a swarm of fireflies spewed forth from the fissure and formed into the shapes of bodies.
What did you think of Teen Wolf Season 3 Episode 14, “More Bad Than Good”? Will Stiles and Lydia ever actually happen? How about Scott and Kira? Do you think the insanity is purely a residual effect of the sacrifice the three made, or is something else corrupting their minds? How will Malia work her way into this story?
Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Teen Wolf Season 3 Episode 14, “More Bad Than Good”!