Teen Wolf - Recap: 'Beacon Hills Horror Story: Asylum'

Episode 20 of Season 3 of Teen Wolf, “Echo House,” continued to take us down the dark spiral that is this storyline. Teen Wolf is so dark now, pack. I like it so much better! While Stiles (Dylan O’Brien) elected to commit himself to a 72-hour hold at the local terrifying insane asylum, Scott (Tyler Posey) and Allison (Cyrstal Reed) led the quest to find a sacred scroll with information regarding how to snuff out the awful nogitsune. While an unlikely ally aided Stiles in his quest for answers from within the corridors of “Echo House,” the budding bromance between Derek Hale (Tyler Hoechlin) and Allison’s father, Chris Argent (JR Bourne) continued to blossom from within the dank cells of the local jail. Here is the Recap and Review of Season 3 Episode 20 of Teen Wolf, “Echo House”!

Rather than subjecting Beacon Hills to another terrorist attack, Stiles and his father, Sheriff Stilinski (Linden Ashby), chose to lock him up for a few days in the creepy mental hospital we’d come to know as “Echo House.” It was as though the folks running the decrepit place had decorated early for Halloween. That was clear simply from a glance from outside the unwelcoming gates. Remember, Stiles might also be suffering from the same brain atrophy that ended up killing his mother. Two birds with one stone, it seemed. Sheriff Stilinski was certainly sad to sign the paperwork required to officially commit his son, though all of his aggression seemed to be channeled into the fact that he’d foolishly left Stiles’ pillow of choice back home. Should I start bringing my own pillow to hotels?

There was no real welcoming committee for Stiles. The woman running the show was pleasant enough. I guess the Echo House equivalent of the moment of “Surprise!!” at a surprise birthday party is a Monday night suicide by hanging, though. This place is cursed, pack, and Stiles, having suffered through a couple of minutes’ worth of time there was already desperate to get the hell out. If Stiles’ strapped-down roomie was any indication of what else was to come, patients would be more annoying and dorky than antagonistic or criminally insane. We’d later come to learn that most people dwelling in Echo House simply thought of themselves as the second coming of Jesus. I mean, that’s not really so bad to deal with, all things considered.

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Stiles bumped into two unlikely familiar faces within the depths of Echo House. First, you remember Malia (Shelley Hennig) as the beautiful werecoyote Stiles and Scott had previously rescued from a permanent state of transformation. Well, a “hello” in the form of a solid right hook to Stiles’ face certainly wasn’t the reintroduction we thought we’d get from Malia (Hale); however, it was the start of getting to know her personality. Perhaps more importantly, Stiles caught a glimpse of the sign for Self in the basement, the torture chamber from his nightmarish first encounter with the bandaged shadowy nogitsune. Thus, his quest inside of Echo House began! Get… into… the basement! I, for one, was so glad that Teen Wolf decided to make Malia rambunctious and rough-and-tumble rather than meek and skittish. For a girl who grew up as a glorified coyote, she was certainly quite the spittin’ image of a sassy American teenage girl who packed an extra punch.

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Malia joined Stiles in group therapy where everybody was invited to discuss how they personally coped with guilt. The session was orchestrated by… Guidance Counselor Morrell (Bianca Lawson)!? Well, how have you been, self-proclaimed balance-keeper? Honestly, she ended up being a sight for sore eyes once Stiles began exhibiting symptoms of a looming bout with insanity. It was Morrell who pulled Stilinski aside to exam his shock victim-esque wounds, symbols of the containment of the nogitsune. If these bruise-like veiny markings across Stiles' back fully healed, the wolf lichen’s hold on the nogitsune would have worn off. Meaning, Stiles would continue to lose his mind to the grip of the dark fox inside. Also, it was imperative that Stiles not fall asleep. In sleep, the nogitsune can consume him. Thus, Morrell tossed him a bottle of amphetamines. P.S. Stiles – an unfortunate slumber means certain death-by-lethal-injection at the hands of Counselor Morrell. She’s not about to let anything, even Stiles’ life, get in the way of destroying the nogitsune.

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Speaking of people who are willing to put Stiles down if it means destroying the Void kitsune, Chris Argent sat rotting in a cell next to Derek Hale during Episode 20. Recalling the group known as berserkers, Norse warriors who wore bearskins in order to literally embody all the animal possessed through magic, Chris remembered having to eliminate a young boy who accidentally lost his mind to the ritual practice. In the end, he felt no remorse. Yikes! Stiles, hold on to just one little shred of a brain cell, and maybe we’ll be okay. If not, Allison’s pops is coming for you. Later, Chris was visited by the female leader of group that previously tortured Derek and Peter. Apparently, they have some kind of arrangement with the Argents that has been violated. Is she still looking for her she-wolf? Is she out to harm Allison? Malia? We have bigger fish to fry at the moment.

Meanwhile, Allison led the charge to hunt for Silverfingers’, well... finger! Thanks to a tip from the supersonic ears of Derek Hale, Scott’s pack of buddies became privy to the fact that the police were looking to send all of Silverfingers’ belongings into federal storage. Meaning, they’d only have so much time to acquire the finger before it would be locked away for good. Why would they want to steal a dead man’s silver finger, you ask? Well, thanks to some more information from Chris Argent and clarification from Deaton (Seth Gilliam), Scott and Allison learned that a certain scroll existed that contained mystical information regarding the destruction of a nogitsune. Allison, having learned that scrolls come in all different shapes and sizes, knew immediately where to look.

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I loved the scenes in which Lydia (Holland Roden) and Allison attempted to organize Scott, Aiden (Max Carver) and Ethan (Charlie Carver) into an adequate team to take on an armored police vehicle. I thought it was hilarious to watch the ladies alternate between acting like organized crime leaders and high school girls annoyed with their male friends’ incessant need to smash things and fight. Kira (Arden Cho) later insisted on joining in on Scott’s mission. Her ninja-like skills have been coming to her naturally, and what better way to put them to the test than to slice and dice a couple of baddies?

Stiles bumped into Malia in the men’s showers. Apparently, the water in the ladies’ room just doesn’t get hot enough for the girl who used to have a pelt. As it turned out, Malia misses being a coyote. She feels that Scott and Stiles destroyed her wild way of life in favor of dragging her into the uncomfortable real world where things like guilt for accidentally murdering your family exist. For the most part, this was the start of a beautiful “friendship” between the two. I use that term loosely because, naked or otherwise, these two always had great chemistry.

In exchange for a promised introduction to Scott, who might be able to help change her back, Malia agreed to help Stiles get a hold of the key to the basement. She staged an altercation with Oliver, Stiles’ roommate, and once things got physical, the guards were forced to step in, allowing her to swipe the key ring and pass it off to Stiles. Unfortunately for Stiles, the head guard caught him trying to fiddle with the lock and ended up sedating him in solitary confinement. Poor Stiles drifted off towards the clutches of the nogitsune inside of his mind, and all of a sudden, this began to feel a whole lot like Nightmare on Elm St. 3: Dream Warriors. In fact, the subsequent nightmare sequence that found Stiles trapped inside of a locker while the nogitsune lurked around him was very “Freddy Krueger” as well! “Let me in!” Eh, to Stiles and us it sort of seemed like he was always “in.” More riddles! Though he swore this one wasn’t one at all. We’re just dummies, I guess.

Eventually, Malia used her werecoyote super-strength to bust Stiles out of his dream and out of solitary. The two subsequently found another secret way into the basement. There, Stiles spilled the beans on the whole Japanese foxy possession ordeal. Luckily, we didn’t have to sit through the explanation. Instead, we sat through a pretty steamy scene between the two! What started out as Malia’s first kiss turned into “something else” for the both of them. The whole time I was wondering if this was Dark Stiles, but no, just regular Stiles getting lucky. Though, werecoyote, what has it been, like, two weeks since becoming a human being again? Eh, who cares? What a great match!

Viewing Partner: “They couldn’t have put her in a prettier bra? They already have her in asylum sweats. This is TV. They can do that.”

Sadly, the subsequent epiphany Malia had didn’t exactly work similar wonders. The sign for Self carved into the wall actually marked a hidden tomb. The hollow room behind the wall revealed the body of the spirit we now recognize as the nogitsune. Hmm… so he’s from Echo House? The pair didn’t have much time to do anything other than swipe a paper from his pocket before a possessed Oliver showed up spitting out flies with a drill in his hand. While Malia had gained possession of the guard’s keys during their altercation, he’d stolen his taser and sedatives. Before we knew it, both Malia and Stiles were locked down in chairs while the nogitsune worked his magic over Oliver. Well, if there was any way for this released entity to convince Stiles to “let him in,” it was by manipulating Oliver into holding an active drill to Malia’s skull. In the end, Stiles gave in, and Malia was let free, though she remained unaware of Stiles’ full-on possession status.

Meanwhile, the heist on the armored vehicle didn’t necessarily go according to plan. Kincaid, the former employee of Silverfinger who previously handled the fake negotiations with Isaac, acted as the pack’s opposition. Apparently, the tiny little scroll held safely inside of the silver finger was worth about $3 million, and this didn’t seem to be the kind of wolf who’d reason with handing over an easy payday to save a possessed high school boy. There was a bit of a brawl here. Scott and Kira struggled, though I was most concerned with Kincaid’s blow to Allison’s face. Whoa, wolf man, that’s just a regular teenage girl! Sure, she can string a bow, but still… In the end, Ethan and Aiden hopped in to double-team the dude, bringing him to his knees. While they were totally willing to nip the situation in the bud by finishing him off, Scott refused. They’re in this to save Stiles’ life, and Scott wasn’t about to kill someone else in the process.

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To close the recap and review, Episode 20 of Season 3 of Teen Wolf ended with Malia Tate’s release into the wild! Meaning, she strutted out of the gates of Echo House on a quest to find Scott McCall. She’ll most likely act as a messenger for Stiles by relaying his struggles over to his friends. Meanwhile, Deaton managed to translate enough of the Japanese scroll to make out that changing Stiles’ body is the best way to ward off the nogitsune for good. How could they possibly do that? By turning him into another TEEN WOLF!

What did you think of Teen Wolf, Season 3 Episode 20, “Echo House”? Will Stiles become a real, live TEEN WOLF? Does this mean Ethan and Aiden are initiated into Scott's pack? How will Derek and Chris get out of murder charges? Did you like our first real introduction to Malia? Do you like her with Stiles, or are you still rooting for Stiles and Lydia to hit it off officially?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Teen Wolf, Season 3 Episode 20, “Echo House”!