After the fustercluck that was last week’s episode, the residents of Beacon Hills are getting mad and getting physical in A Promise to the Dead. And I think I like it…
Deaton is back, and he’s overcome his insecurity issues to become a BAMF! He saves a girl from being eaten by a wendigo called Patrick (yes, really) and then drags the swivel-eyed cannibal back to Eichen House. Apparently they have a secret monster wing now and I am slightly surprised by this news until I remember that basically the whole town is a secret monster wing.
Deaton wants to talk to inmate, Dr. Valack, an expert in South American mythology who is locked up Hannibal style. Oh good. Maybe he will be able to explain how those Berserkers ended up in Mexico. Apparently the last man who talked with Valack ended up as a patient of Beacon Hills’ primary mental healthcare institute himself, but Deaton is unfazed.
Over at the McCall’s, Melissa has found the holdall stuffed with Peter Hale’s cash, and wants to know why her son has been hiding it all this time. I love this scene so much. Melissa McCall is such a lovable character, and Melissa Ponzio is a great actress. The idea that Scott has become a True Alpha through strength of character is suddenly a lot more believable in the light of this interaction with his mother, his moral compass. The love between then is palpable, and I adore the fact that Scott considered keeping the money to pay for Stiles’ medical bills as well as looking after his own family’s interests. I have missed that sense of closeness between the two boys this season, and it’s nice to see it back.Poor Valack is frustrated because he only gets trashy romance novels to read. He correctly surmises Deaton wants to know about Kate Argent and what she did to Derek Hale. Deaton confesses he wants to help Derek because of a promise he once made to a woman he loved. Le gasp! So Deaton was in love with Talia Hale? At least someone cares about Derek’s predicament, anyway. Valack beckons Deaton closer to gaze into a hole he’s drilled into his forehead. Apparently Deaton has never seen Silence of the Lambs, because he steps right up to the glass to stare into Valack’s third eye, pointedly ignoring the guard’s warning and a pile of well-thumbed Mills & Boons. But instead of bodily fluids, Deaton finds himself taking a dose of unconsciousness to the face.
Scott’s own progeny, Baby Liam is being tormented by hallucinations of Berserkers (although thankfully not haunted printers) and afraid to be left alone. Poor puppy. He tries to persuade Mason to stay the night, but his BFF is perturbed by his odd behaviour, and it’s a lonely, sleepless night for Beacon Hills’ newest werewolf.
The next morning, Malia tries to rouse Stiles. Threats don’t work so she tries a spot of tonsil hockey. Stiles worries that he’s not minty fresh, but Malia doesn’t care and neither would I, to be honest. It must be love. I know this relationship is not a fan favourite, but I think they’re pretty cute.Not much sleeping going on at the loft either, as Derek is in bed with Braeden, looking exquisite in her matching Agent Provocateur underoos. They hear a noise and stalk about looking super-hot with guns, only to find Lydia at the front door looking wet and bedraggled. But this is not a drunken booty call. Lydia is there to do her banshee scream, adding more fuel to Derek’s funeral pyre. I’m seriously worried about the former pack-leader at this point, although it’s possible Braeden is the one living on borrowed time.
Scott returns Peter’s money and Derek is lovely about it, mainly because it transpires he owns the entire building he lives in and has various interests all over the shop. He’s loaded and he looks like that, so Uncle Peter’s bonds are of little consequence to Derek. Mr. Hale will see you now. In fact, Derek even offers to make himself scarce so that Scott can bring Kira to the loft for their first “official date”.
Call me old fashioned, but surely first dates are supposed to involve the cinema, Nandos and awkward nose-bumpy kisses, not bare light bulbs, chains and some industrial chic. Derek’s loft looks like the set of a Nine Inch Nails video. This was never going to be a hearts and flowers kind of affair. Still, they make a show of trying to watch Star Wars for a bit. Scott has never seen Star Wars despite Stiles pleading with him endlessly to watch it, and I get a bit hurt on Stiles’ behalf at this point. Come on, Scott. Would it have killed you to watch a few movies with your brother from another mother, the guy you love most in the world? Also Scott is too thick to understand the numbering of the Star Wars episodes, so they forget the film and get down to business. Hot and heavy business. But just as I’m about to check I am still watching MTV and haven’t switched over to HBO by mistake, Kate Argent and a Berserker interrupt proceedings by smashing through Derek’s window. Rude. Kira and Scott put up a brave fight in a really rather brutal and well-choreographed battle, but Kate has the upper hand.
Chris Argent finds Peter lurking in the sewer like the damn rat that he is. Chris has managed to track his sister with the claw left in Scott’s side as it contained traces of some chemical used in water treatment works. That is some A+ poh-leece work from Papa Argent. Certainly puts most of Beacon Hills’ actual force to shame. Unfortunately for Chris, Peter has Berserker at his disposal, and it’s not long before the hunter finds himself impaled on Peter Hale’s long, hard pole. Ooh-er. Peter has promised Kate he won’t kill her brother, but he does sort molest his face as he pins him to the wall like a butterfly, because Peter Hale is a giant pervert.
Sheriff Stilinski tells his son that Eichen House has dropped their debt because, you know, one of their staff tried to MURDER him. How incredibly decent of them. He wants to take Stiles and Malia out for dinner, and our little she-coyote has to pretend she likes human food.
It’s going to be a big night too because, you guessed it, it’s lacrosse match night! Everyone assumes Scott and Kira are still too busy shagging to play ball, so Coach Finstock leaves the fate of the team to Liam and Stiles. Sadly, Stiles is still woefully bad at lacrosse even though he’s played in more matches than he’s had hot dinners at this point. Peter finds Malia in the bleachers and tells her he’s found the desert wolf, Malia’s mother. He promises to reveal her identity if Malia kills Kate Argent for him. What tangled web are weaving now, Peter? Why can’t he kill Kate himself?
Back at the school, Brett tells Liam he is lucky to have Scott as a leader, and Mason offers an ear any time he’s ready to talk. It’s a sweet scene, reminiscent of first season Scott and Stiles.Lydia goes to Eichen House for Deaton. I kind of feel like there may have been a scene cut somewhere, because we don’t get to see how she wakes him, but Deaton has knowledge of Scott and Kira from Valack’s gross brain-eye, and he calls Stiles to explain that Kate has taken them to Mexico.
Everyone’s favourite deputy, Parrish, finds Chris in the sewer, weakened by loss of blood and ready to give up. Parrish refuses to leave him, telling him he needs to generate adrenaline with either fear or anger, and since he’s not afraid of anything anymore, he should remember Allison and how angry she’d be if she knew what was happening to Scott. It works, and the two men pull together to free Chris.
In the abandoned church in Mexico, Kira is trapped in a charnel house, and Kate tells Scott about the myth of Actaeon, who was turned into a stag by the angry goddess, Artemis, and ripped apart by his own dogs. She puts a bone mask on him, and we fade to black as Scott screams.
This was a real return to form for the show, in my opinion. It had the emotional core, the pacing, the mythology and the horror we’ve been lacking this season. Although Peter is an unconvincing Big Bad, I enjoy his scheming and double crossing. I also enjoyed Kate’s display of cognitive dissonance when she spoke of wanting revenge for the collapse of the great hunter family Argent. Too much time this season was spent on new, disposable characters and the mystery of The Benefactor’s identity, but Teen Wolf is at its best when it focuses on the characters we know and love and delves into the established mythology of Beacon Hills. A double-bill finale next week, and rumours of a shocking demise for one of the characters. I’ve got my black armband ready. Join me in a prayer circle for Derek Hale?
Katie Young 