What They Say:
De-Void – Scott and Lydia combine abilities in an attempt to gain the upper hand. Stilinski’s future will be decided by a review board.
The Review:
While Teen Wolf has done a lot of flashback pieces over its three seasons, the previous episode really surprised in a lot of ways with what it did as we got an extensive WWII era tale about Kira’s mother and what went down that that created the demon that they’re fighting now. With fox spirits, ninjas and more, we got a lot of good stuff in this half of the season but this just took it in another level that worked beautifully and added a new layer to the storyline overall. It also worked to bring Kira and Scott a bit closer together in terms of their animal sides in a way as we get the fox and the wolf working together now to do what’s needed. And that’s all about trying to save Stiles in a way, dealing with what the nogitsune is within him. And that takes us the confrontation that happens at the start here where the group goes to try and deal with him only to find that it’s the nogitsune again, and he’s manipulating the situation well as it pushes Argent and Stilinski against each other in a very tense faceoff.
Interestingly, it all turns in a different way as the ninja spirits that have shown up are there to take the nogitsune, which has it wanting to use Stiles friends to protect him from them. Everything starts to tie back to what Rhys and Kira’s mother did since it’s about trying to stop what she created since it went further and farther than she thought it would. It’s essentially a monster out of her control, hence wanting to bring it all to an end, but the nogtistune has no intention of doing that. And when he has her confronted, he makes it clear just how far he’s going to go and the kinds of tricks up his sleeve in order to bring himself the kind of freedom he’s looking for outside of her original control. It’s a disturbing sequence as the nogitsune essentially guts himself in front of her but it unleashes the flies from within and that sets the stage for the kind of chaos that he wants to put out in the world.
To balance this out, at least a little, we do get some good tender scenes as well that revolves around Scott and Kira. With her being out of sorts after all they learned, they get a little down time before they can move towards helping out Stiles. And rest is important, which leads to them crashing at his place. Kira’s not wanting to sleep along and it’s simple but very appealing in the way they do climb into bed together and just snuggle after all that they’ve learned and dealt with. Not that there aren’t threats to be had as we see one of the flies hanging around there as well, but just that touch of time to nudge their relationship ahead a bit more definitely gives it what it needs. And it’s the kind of thing that the show does well. Unfortunately, it’s also playing out against some less than happy material as we see Isaac getting taken in by one of the flies in his system and it’s using him to get close to Alison now, which will alter the dynamic of the fight a bit. Add similar to others that are getting “infected” as well and you have to love it and hate it at the same time.
With the group slowly but surely being taken under control like this, though not all of them, we see the threatening side that’s coming into it as well such as Isaac talking about how the twins need to be taken down and so forth. It’s seeding things well, especially where we get both of the twins infected as well and not entirely aware of what’s going on as the nogitsune puts all his pieces into play. The struggle to figure out how to save Stiles as this plays out is definitely interesting, especially since Scott is trying to figure out the best approach when Deaton talks about how the scrolls indicates that the body has to be changed to try and save him. And the thought of turning Stiles into a werewolf seems the most obvious, but it has its share of problems as well. It gets even worse when you have Lydia suggesting that Peter may be the one that they need to talk to about it rather than Derek. Which is good, since he’s being controlled and is trying to kill Argent at that time.
The show does a couple of interesting side story things that definitely offers some potential, such as the nogitsune telling Scott’s mother that Stiles knows her secret but never told it to Scott, but is holding that over her head. With the reason for Scott’s father leaving still a mystery, that makes what’s going on with him and Stilinsky so interesting since the sheriff is up for review based on the way the town is going and it’s Scott’s father that manages to save him from losing his job. It’s kind of a surprisingly comical sequence that fits considering what Stilinsky is going through but it also opens things up to be dealt with between Scott and his dad if his dad actually follows through on it. It’s a small piece of the story but well placed here to advance that story a bit while also adding just the right touch of levity amid so many other things going.
Which includes Scott and Lydia going into Stiles’ head to try and rescue him, to bring Stiles out from the trap that the nogitsune has put him in mentally. That allows for some dreamlike and stylish sequences to unfold inside of Stiles’ head which also allows for Lydia to take a bit more of a prominent position within the arc. She’s had good moments to be sure, but has been a bit player overall. This definitely works well when they get to the large white room in Stiles’ head as there’s a good bit of design to it, especially with how she and Scott try to get Stiles to recognize them. She has a bit more of a leader role here than Scott in a way, advising him on the key way to do it, which is fun since Scott’s role is important but he feels secondary for a lot of the episode, pulled along by events more than anything else.
In Summary:
Teen Wolf once again has a surprisingly packed episode where there’s just so much going on that it really keeps moving at a great pace. With a good sized cast and a lot of connections throughout that allows for a lot of manipulation going on, a story that is very straightforward overall lends itself to involving the cast as a whole. Perhaps not in major ways each time, but in ways that keeps them connected and engaged without it coming across as forced. Especially since there is that growing pack mentality to it that works so well. This episode works really well after the flashback episode we had in exploring the origins of what Kira’s mother brought into the world and it also explores more of the bonds of the group, and some of the deals being made that will have some potentially big ramifications.
Grade: B+
