If there’s one thing that I love about the McCall pack, besides their ridiculous good looks and sense of humor, it’s that they are insanely smart and they don’t miss a beat. When something is weird or off, they do whatever possible to figure it out. That’s why I’m not surprised that it’s not taking them long to realize something, rather someone, is missing from their lives. I’m also not surprised by how emotional it is making me.
In last week’s premier Stiles was erased by the Ghost Riders. Now, we’re seeing just how much he means to the rest of the pack and how much he has impacted their lives. While the pack still doesn’t know exactly who is missing or where he went, they realize that he was someone important to them. Very important.
Let’s talk about the episode that has some major call backs to season one and threw one heck of a plot twist at us!
The episode starts with a bunch (and I mean DOZENS) of Ghost Riders riding their horses through the lacrosse field at night. Because that’s normal right? Well, here’s something that’s even more crazy… Scott and Liam were out there practicing and didn’t see anything! So these Ghost Riders are invisible to the naked eye, but Scott sensed something.
They didn’t spend too much time pondering over it though because they had more pressing issues to worry about like practicing lacrosse… at night… on the field at the school where a lot of supernatural chaos has occurred. Totally safe for an alpha and his beta. Anyways, Liam is ready to quit, but Scott says no because he thinks Liam’s back shots sucked. Liam proves him wrong though by making consecutive back shots. So who is it that Scott thought sucked at lacrosse? *cough* Stiles *cough*
Meanwhile there’s a group of students, including Mason and Corey, in the school working on some weird science experience that has to do with magnetizing some sort of putty. We learn that Mason is one smart cookie and Corey really appreciates that he’s trying to help him get a higher GPA. Mason’s pulling 4.9 (is that even real?) while Corey barely has a 2.0. They kiss and the magnetized putty starts going crazy.
Then our favorite lacrosse coach comes in asking them what they hell they’re doing and tells them to scram. While he was escorting Mason and Corey out, he told them to go meet some girls to which they informed him that they were gay and he shouted “Go gays!” – Fun fact: Orny Adams tweeted that this was ad-libed and he wasn’t sure if it made it into the episode, but he’s glad it did.
After Coach leaves, Mason realizes he left his phone in the classroom so he leaves Corey in the hallway to go get it. It’s then that Corey sees a Ghost Rider as he’s gone invisible in order to hide from it. He texts Mason to stay where he is because a Ghost Rider is there, but of course Mason immediately leaves and winds up in the library where we get a terrifying view of a student being hung mid-air by nothing. Well, it’s nothing until Corey comes in grabs Mason and they both go invisible, then they see that the Ghost Riders hanging the student. Seriously MTV, some sort of warning would have been nice. Anyways, the Ghost Riders and the student soon completely disappear, and when Scott and Liam come in to see what all the ruckus is about, Mason and Corey can’t even remember anyone being hanged.
Yet another person erased…
Meanwhile, Malia is hooking up with some random new guy, but it’s clear that it’s somewhat awkward and uncomfortable for both of them afterwards. She even forces him to be the little spoon like she did with Stiles when they were together. This is the start of her realizing that something is off in her life.
Malia’s not the only one having trouble sleeping. Lydia is tossing and turning because she’s hearing a loud train. Her mom comes in worried and says she must have just been having a nightmare, but Lydia claims she wasn’t asleep. Oh… just normal banshee stuff I’m sure. Could it have anything to do with where Stiles has been erased to?
Scott’s also a sleepless (and shirtless) teen feeling like something or someone is missing in his life. He sits up from his bed as he notices a picture on his wall. He walks over to it and studies it, realizing there seemed to be an odd absence in it, as if someone was meant to be sitting between him and Lydia. 🙁
The next day at lacrosse practice Coach and Scott are trying out new team captains since Scott will be graduating soon. Scott is, of course, rooting for his beta, Liam, but he’s sucking pretty bad. Coach has no problem hounding him about it either, even calling him ‘Dumbar’. After practice, Liam meets up with Scott in the locker room and asks if he blew it to which Scott responds that he would have to be trying in order to blow it. Liam states that maybe he shouldn’t be team captain causing Scott to go in to this big speech that ends with these wise words, “Leaders don’t run.”
It was an all-around weird school day for the pack. Scott was drawn to Stiles (without realizing whose it was) locker and tried to break into it, but suspicious, hot new teacher stopped him like a party-pooper. Malia was highlighting away in her textbook, but then highlighted the word “style” in red for some reason. But Lydia’s day was the weirdest day of all. One minute she’s sitting in class minding her own business when she looks to the desk beside her and sees a doctor lady who is just sitting there staring ahead. Then the lady turns to Lydia, opens her mouth and loud train noises come out! After class Lydia tries to follow the woman, but she ends up nearly getting ran over in the parking lot because she was pulled into her own memory of the night Stiles disappeared, but Stiles isn’t there (she does hear his voice though). Thankfully, Malia saved her. I can’t wait to see how these train noises come into play.
After school, Scott takes the blue shard of windshield glass (that Stiles got in the premier) to Deaton to be examined and to see if he knows why it’s tinted blue. He also confided in him about how he feels like something or someone is missing from his life. Deaton told him about a phantom limb syndrome that many military men who lost limbs experience. UGH. Just hit me in the feels, Teen Wolf. Scott feeling like he’s lost a limb because he doesn’t have Stiles in his life is just gut-wrenching.
Anyways, Deaton gave Scott the advice to just go to sleep and let his subconscious do the remembering. So, that’s what Scott did. He went home, went to bed, and then woke up in the woods. Dejavu, anyone? This happened quite a few times to Scott early on in the show, you know, when he had a best friend named Stiles.
Meanwhile, Malia is sleeping in a corner of her room on a single blanket. Reverting back to her coyote days when she slept in her coyote den? Earlier in the episode she nearly lost control on her teacher until Lydia distracted the teacher and told Malia to put her claws away. She ended up calling Lydia to meet her in some sort of basement. When Lydia showed up, Malia was partially chained. She had realized that someone used to help chain her up, but it wasn’t Scott or Lydia. So who could it be? Why is Malia suddenly reverting back to her old ways? Could it be because she no longer has an anchor (Stiles)?
Scott calls Lydia and Malia and has them meet him in the woods. It’s there that they talk about everything that’s going on and feeling weird in their lives. They know that someone is missing from their lives… someone important. Via “Pilot” episode flashbacks (cue my sobbing), Scott remembers that he wasn’t alone in the woods the night he got bit. He couldn’t have been. Someone had to have been with him. Lydia then confesses that whomever it is, “I think I loved him.” (Cue more sobbing!) Scott pulls out the photo from earlier again and they all realize that someone vital is definitely missing.
Ready for the plot twists of all plot twists? I don’t think you are, but here you go anyway.
CLAUDIA STILINSKI IS ALIVE AND WELL! Yup. You read that right, folks. Stiles’ dead mom and Sheriff Stilinski’s dead wife is no longer dead. She’s alive and torturing her husband (it’s still Stilinski) with healthy food, much like their erased son usually does. Honestly? I don’t know how to feel about this. I love seeing Stilinski happy with his wife, but I don’t like the idea that if Stiles never existed, then his mom never would have died to begin with. Please do not insinuate that Stiles is the cause of his mother’s death, Teen Wolf. Just please, don’t. It won’t be cool.
Meanwhile, Mason, Corey and Liam are determined to figure out what happened in the library that night. After a bit of conflict and tension, Liam and Corey put their differences aside and work together because it’s what Mason wants of his best friend and boyfriend. The pair head back to the library and use Corey’s invisibility to find some clues about the Ghost Riders. They ended up finding a blank student ID card by going invisible together (Liam had to hold Corey’s hand in order to do this). They, along with Mason now, scanned it in the library computer system and it still had who it belonged to. Guess those Ghost Riders don’t know how to clean up after themselves as thoroughly as we all thought. Anyways, once they got the name of the kid, they started to remember who he was.
You know what that means?
If people can start remembering the people who were erased, then the erased can be brought back! Yay! Stiles can come back! I’ve desperately missed him in this episode. 🙁
So, they informed Scott, Lydia, and Malia of the new mission and they went to work. Scott and Lydia went to the vet clinic again and since Lydia is the banshee, they thought she would have the best shot at remembering. They thought automatic writing would be their best bet. They hung the blue fragment of broken windshield on the table and it put Lydia into a trance. She went to town and started scribbling on a piece of paper. When she was done, they looked at it and all it said was the word ‘mischief’ over and over again. That is until they look at the bigger picture and see that the repeated word actually spells out ‘STILES’ !! This, of course, was the perfect time to hit us with more season 1 feels by having Lydia say, “What the hell is a Stiles?” again.
Ahhh! Yes! We are on the right track to solving this mystery!
But… what does the word ‘mischief’ have to do with Stiles? And why/how in the world is Claudia back?!
Keep tuning in to find out, Wolfies! 😉
Featured Image: Teen Wolf
GIF Credit: hollvndroden, stilessavedariel, stydiaislove, scottsmccall
