Teen Wolf - Finale Recap: Dude, It's Beacon Hills

Episode 24 of Season 3 of Teen Wolf, “The Divine Move,” put an end to this Nogitsune storyline for better or worse. We can only take so much foxy clowning around, you know? The game of Go is apparently a lot like Monopoly in that it never ends. Could Stiles (Dylan O’Brien) survive the pack’s last-ditch effort to off the Japanese spirit? It’s not easy to play a game when the opposing player makes up rules as he goes along, but Scott (Tyler Posey), Lydia (Holland Roden) and Kira (Arden Cho) handled an onslaught of obnoxious Oni and a supernatural blizzard in the middle of their high school pretty damn well, all things considered. Meanwhile, Chris Argent (JR Bourne) and Isaac (Daniel Sharman) bonded through mourning for… What’s her name again? Oh, Allison. Derek (Tyler Hoechlin) rallied the twins, Ethan (Charlie Carver) and Aiden (Max Carver), in an effort to help Scott, Stiles and the rest of the pack fend off the foxy funnyman. Lastly, one giant twist ending brought us way back to the early episodes of Season 3b, to fine memories of more brutal Derek torture and poor Peter losing a finger. Remember all of that? Here is the Recap and Review of the Teen Wolf Season 3 finale, Episode 24, “The Divine Move”!

Episode 24 kicked off with Scott’s pack struggling through police questioning regarding the unfortunate death of Allison Argent. I took a silly crack at Argent in that above introductory paragraph, but seriously, was there any way that Teen Wolf could top losing their female lead during this finale? Allison’s death was covered up as a bizzare Japanese warrior mugging. We know the truth, Allison! RIP, girl. Still, it was interesting to watch her father coach her friends so strictly regarding what to say to the police. I thought for sure that we’d get some major breakdown from Mr. Argent by the close of Episode 24, but alas, mostly he handled his grief as a member in an ancient line of hunters like a soldier mourning a fallen comrade. Luckily, we had Isaac to do some decent bawling for him. It was Isaac who eventually pieced together that Allison’s had managed to actually kill an Oni, and thus, had figured something out that the rest of them had missed. This was all brought to the surface when Isaac attempted to fill Chris Argent in on his daughter’s last words from the privacy of her bedroom in a great heart-to-heart moment. The Argents have a tradition that requires them to bond before battle. If you recall, Allison had just begun forging her silver arrowhead; however, she was able to deduce that her father had previously shattered that Oni’s mask during a past mission of his youth using his own silver bullet. I guess these ceremoniously created silver pieces of ammo aren’t usually intended to be used in battle. Allison screwed tradition over in favor of putting her idea to the test, effectively using one of four forged arrowheads to kill the first Oni before she too was eliminated from this living game of Go. Also, I just want to point out that it was a clever idea to have Isaac and Argent begin to bond. I previously liked that Isaac was an honorary McCall, but if we have to lose Crystal Reed as Allison, we can at least give her dad something cool to do, like raise Isaac.

MTV "Teen Wolf"

Beacon Hills had clearly become a living Go board for this Nogitsune, who continued to masquerade as Stiles’ evil twin all throughout the finale. Kira, her parents and a suffering Stiles took to her home following the death of Allison and began to reason out what the villain’s next move would be. If all else failed, Stiles seemed to think his time was running out, though I personally never though the actual Stiles dying was a good thing in the battle against the Nogitsune even besides the possible trauma of simply losing another member of the pack. At this point, Mrs. Yukimura (Tamlyn Tomita) informed her daughter and her friend that they were in dire need of a “divine move.” Think the Go equivalent of a “Hail Mary” pass in football. Basically, pulling one giant, random, risky move to fool the Nogitsune and win the game in one fell swoop.

MTV "Teen Wolf"

The Nogitsune, meanwhile, began his last sinister scheme. First, we witnessed the complete and utter destruction of an entire floor of the hospital, all in his effort to find Melissa McCall (Melissa Ponzio). I thought it was unintentionally great that Teen Wolf had the Nogitsune slaughter an entire floor of civilians with his Oni to the tune of a creepy cover of “Bad Moon Rising,” only to then flash to Melissa and Agent McCall (Matthew Del Negro) chatting about how Scott was pissed at him from the quiet safety of another floor. Basically, Melissa warned her ex not to skip town and to instead fight to make a relationship with Scott. Scott doesn’t want a worded apology. He wants his father to want to be a part of his life. None of this mattered in the slightest, of course, when the Oni appeared, gashed Melissa’s thigh in the elevator and left Scott’s parents to rot inside. Well, Melissa began to rot. Agent McCall got a little panicked and bloodied up. The Oni, it seemed, had poisoned Scott’s mom. This is where things got interesting, and we began to realize that some supernatural scheme was put into motion. We witnessed the same sort of thing happen to Sheriff Stilinski (Linden Ashby) and Deputy Parrish (Ryan Kelley) down at the station and later to Dr. Deaton (Seth Gilliam) at the animal hospital. So much sneaky strategizing!

Prior to landing on the receiving end of a poisonous Oni slash, Deaton filled Scott and Lydia in on how the power of the Nemeton trunk had previously locked away the Nogitsune. Though the tree itself is now gone, sacred objects were carved from the trunk, like the cylindrical case that held Derek’s mother’s claws. Hmm… How could they squeeze all of that faux Stiles into a tiny wooden jar that could barely hold a few she-wolf nails?

MTV "Teen Wolf"

It’s time to talk about Seppuku, pack! Welcome to Bardo, the land between life and death! Scott, Stiles, Lydia and Kira meandered their way over to Beacon Hills High with one last-ditch plan in mind to undermine the Nogitsune’s murderous mischief; however, upon entering the school, they unknowingly walked right into… a gorgeous snowy Japense-esque garden scene! The Nogitsune made his presence known in the form of the bandaged Reese, not Sinister Stiles. Outside, Derek and the twins dealt with the other form of the Nogitsune, the Dark Stiles, and some more Oni while attempting to get the druid box closer and closer to the enemy. Mostly, everything seemed to point to there being some sort of illusion going on. The Nogitsune was in two places at once, and because we know that he often appeared to Stiles in his subconscious as the bandaged demon version, it was safe to assume the winter scene was somehow an unreality. Well, I guess the beautiful snowfall was enough of a giveaway. Who am I kidding? Seppuku is an ancient samurai ritual that allowed warriors to end their own life with honor via disembowelment. After using his blade to slice his gut from side to side, the samurai’s kaishakunin aka his BFF would do the actual deed by beheading him. This was to prevent, say, falling into dirty enemy hands and such. In this case, the Nogitsune simply wanted to watch Stiles suffer before having Scott kill his best friend. The alternative was to, of course, allow those characters suffering in other locations on the “Go board” to die an agonizing death by poison.

MTV "Teen Wolf"

Just as Stiles was about to man up and end things for the good of the group, he caught a reflection of the scene around him in the pristine blade of the sword in his hand. There, he saw nothing but snowy school grounds. Thus, he was able to reason that this was all, indeed, an illusion. Pleading with his friends to trust him, the group marched through slash after slash of Oni blade before walking unharmed into the actual hallway of their school. The trick had failed, though an angry Nogitsune is still not a force to be messed with. As this part of the pack prepped for one final bout with Dark Stiles, Derek and the twins were joined by Argent and Isaac, complete with Allison’s special silver arrowheads. It was Chris Argent who fired a crossbow from afar, killing Oni after Oni; however, one failed shot required Aiden to manually impale the final ninja with the weapon, a task which he completed… just after landing on the receiving end of a fatal stab of its blade.

Inside, the Nogitsune grew closer and closer to a terrified Lydia and Stiles. That is, until Lydia reminded him that they had one little tiny piece of information from a super mini scroll. To destroy the Nogitsune, they’d simply have to change it. *gulp* Sorry, Dark Stiles! You can’t be a fox and a wolf. That'd just be greedy! From behind, Scott landed an epic werewolf bite to his bicep before Kira impaled the Nogitsune with her sword. As he began to desiccate and turn to dust, he spit up the final fly, which Isaac simply scooped into the wooden Nemeton jar. That was that! So simple! By the way, Kira's abilities turned out to be kind of a dud here, huh? I mean, I get that she reforged the sword a few episodes back with her lightning, but I kind of wish she was a little more importantly involved in this grand ending.

MTV "Teen Wolf"

To close the recap for the Season 3 finale of Teen Wolf, the next day of rest and recuperation was tough for everybody, especially considering that the night prior ended not with the elimination of the Nogitsune but with bidding fond farewells to “bad twin” Aiden. I’m glad Teen Wolf gave the less endearing twin a touching final moment with his brother and pack. At school the next day, Ethan seemed pretty fine, all things considered, though he did decide to skip town after all that effort to fight his way into Scott’s pack. Hmm… I don’t get it. Doesn’t he need this “family” now more than ever? Still, it was great to watch Danny (Keahu Kahuanui) agree that splitting up was for the best. He can’t date a freakin' werewolf! Duh! Of course Danny knows all about Scott McCall and his pack of were-puppies.

Dude, it’s Beacon Hills!

While Kira blabbed on and on and on about how she’s not sure how to help her friends grieve considering the fact that she’s still the new girl, Lydia shared a nice little introductory moment with the new new girl, Malia Tate (Shelly Hennig). They didn’t speak or anything, but the decent eye contact suggested that this is a potential new bestie for our resident banshee. Sorry, Kira! You snooze, you lose. Go play another round of Go with mom! Right, like any of these people will ever want to give that disaster another spin. Meanwhile, Scott stayed home and sobbed on his mom’s shoulder before finding some consolation in Deaton, and Stiles and Derek finally had a solid Season 3 moment! Yes, it was totally cryptic and confusing, but it was required to set up Season 4. Remember all that Derek had been secretly digging up while everyone else dealt with this Japanese demoic nonsense? Well, apparently that organization that tortured Derek and Uncle Peter at the start of this part of Season 3 wasn’t looking for Cora Hale. They were looking for another she-wolf, one that has been giving Derek unending nightmares… Kate Argent. That’s right, a deep enough werewolf slash can also turn one into a she-wolf, apparently. Real, fake or otherwise, Kate Argent is coming back, everybody, and now she has fangs.

What did you think of the Teen Wolf Season 3 finale, Episode 24, “The Divine Move”? Are you ready for more Kate Argent? How about Isaac and Chris bonding? Did you think Kira’s powers were going to be a little more involved in the death of the Nogitsune after all of that buildup? Will you miss Aiden (and possible Ethan)? Do you think we'll get more Derek during Season 4?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of the Teen Wolf Season 3 finale, Episode 24, “The Divine Move”!