Teen Wolf has, over the last four seasons, toed the line between horror and thriller, but the beginning of this episode puts the show firmly in horror movie territory. The setting? A dark, seemingly empty house. The music? Suspenseful. The reveal? An axe murderer that has chopped this random boy’s mother to pieces. Nice carefully chose horror movie tropes, Teen Wolf , and welcome to the horror genre.
Teen Wolf has a remarkable way of tone switching in an episode from dark and horrific to light and humorous. This episode is no different; we may have started with blood, gore, and murder but by the midway mark, we are back to more “normal” teenage problems. Instead of worrying about escaping from bloodthirsty or Nogitsune, there’s Malia attempting to escape the possibly equal horror of getting called up to the board to do a problem in math class, and then there’s Scott, who is worrying about his too-chaste and unplanned first kiss with Kira. You know, totally normal, non-supernatural problems for a change.
It’s a new day in Beacon Hills; the sun is shining and Scott and Stiles are back on the lacrosse field! Side note: who else forgot that they (and most of the other male characters) played lacrosse? Scott and Stiles watch, speechless, as Liam—the new guy—blocks about a million shots. Stiles may have just brought up the fact that they have a ton of bigger problems than lacrosse but a new guy who just happens to be really really good? Well, given this town, and this team’s track record, it’s not exactly a stretch for the boys to be suspicious of Liam and believe he might be hiding some supernatural abilities. As it turns out, the new guy checks out and is (probably) not a werewolf; he simply comes by his goalie skills naturally.
Well if we learned anything from the eight-minute-long, completely necessary lacrosse montage that follows, it’s that Stiles Stilinski uses the word “tushie,” which is a little disturbing but mostly just hilarious. Oh also, Kira is apparently a natural at lacrosse, because of course she is. Hey, since the new kid, Liam, is at the hospital with a possible broken leg, thanks to Scott, maybe Kira will put those newfound skills to use. Would it be less of a blow to Scott if the person who took over for him as captain was his girlfriend? We like to think alpha Scott would be proud.
Meanwhile, Lydia has gone to the house of the murdered family and is joined by deputy Parrish. Lydia hears screaming coming from a cabinet, which, when opened, leads to an incredibly creepy, underground cellar. Parrish describes it as a “game locker” but the hanging bags don’t appear to be animal meat but something a little more sinister, and human.
And after the break, it seems we’ve moved back to horror. Hang on tight and try not to get whiplash from Teen Wolf’s sudden tone shifts, everybody. When mama McCall goes to check on Sean, the boy whose whole family was murdered, she gets a nasty surprise in the form Sean consuming the insides of a dead deputy. Yuck. With razor sharp teeth and white eyes, Sean is definitely a supernatural creature, though his exact species is yet to be determined. He turns on mama McCall, but before he has a chance to devour her too, Scott steps in.
He must take a second too long to make sure his mom is okay because in that time Sean has a chance to catch up to Liam. Scott finds the two on the roof where Sean admits that he’s a wendigo, before taking an axe to the back from the mouth-less, axe-wielding murderer from earlier. And Scott, well, Scott is going to have to deal with the fact that he bit Liam, even if it was to save his life.
Next time on Teen Wolf : will Liam turn into a werewolf or maybe the kanima 2.0? Will Derek ever figure out what Kate did to make his eyes change color? You’ll have to tune in next week to find out!
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