Teen Wolf recap: 'Raw Talent'

If last week’s premiere laid the groundwork for this season’s “big bad,” then this episode…did some more of that.

We start by catching up with Theo, who has been living out of his car and pissing off cops for a while, it seems. But when one of these creepy new (supernatural?) spiders crawls UNDER his skin — what is this, The Mummy?! — he cuts it out and, for the first time, contemplates calling Scott. Before he can, he looks up to realize his truck is surrounded by what I assume are hunters? I’m not entirely sure. But it’s at least four people with guns…and then they start firing. We’ve seen Theo in other scenes in trailers, so I’m going to say he’s not dead, because that’d be quite a way to go. That being said, what just happened and who attacked him?

Back in the woods, Scott is letting his fear get the best of him when he remembers his days of running from the Argents and starts thinking there are hunters after him. He takes off, and when he finds himself surrounded, he wolfs out and attacks one of the hunters. Only, it’s not a hunter. It’s Stilinski. Turns out those “hunters” were “cops,” and there are currently a lot of them looking at Scott’s red eyes.

Stilinski and Parrish manage to turn the other cops away so Scott can catch them up on the dead Hellhound situation. Scott, however, chooses to leave out the bit about Argent’s bullet. He wants to talk to Argent first, which makes finding him priority No. 1.

With that, Scott and Malia head to Argent’s little underground lair, if you will, where Scott finds boxes of guns. Translation: He definitely hasn’t left town and is likely back in business. Desperate to find him, Scott agrees to hack Argent’s computer. But when Malia, shockingly, turns out not to be a great hacker — her password attempts are “gun,” “lots of guns,” and “hunter” — Scott finds Allison’s bow, and from there, it doesn’t take long for him to realize that Argent’s password is OBVIOUSLY his late daughter’s name.

As for where Scott and Malia actually find Argent, well, let’s just say he’s definitely back in business, and this time, he’s selling a ton of weapons to a Marine…or so he thinks. But when the buyer don’t have all the right answers, Argent realizes something is up. Thankfully – or maybe not — Scott and Malia show up just as the deal goes south, but even with a couple of supernatural teens on his side, Argent doesn’t manage to find out the name of the mysterious buyer before the last guy gets away. (What do you wanna bet the name is Gerard?)

Once that situation’s over, Scott and Malia tell Argent about the dead Hellhound and the bullet with a fleur-de-lis stamped on it. Argent says he hasn’t stamped a bullet since Allison died. And considering that Scott lost the casing in the shoot-out a few seconds ago, the three of them head to the woods to try to find the slug.

And this is where we get our first bit of Scott-Malia flirtation. Malia still wants to know why Scott freaked out the last time they were in the woods, because as she tells him, “I’m worried about you.” And Scott’s grin could very well be the start of him seeing her as more than a friend. They then bond over past hunting experiences.

Malia: “I was hunted by my dad.”
Scott: “I was hunted by my girlfriend’s dad.”
(Next: Lydia saves Parrish’s life)

Before they can talk more, Argent shows up and finds the slug that killed the Hellhound, and it’s made out of silver. Why does that matter? Well, because the whole thing about silver bullets killing werewolves is a myth, and any seasoned hunter (or Teen Wolf fan) would know that. And that means this is a new hunter.

Speaking of said new hunter, guidance counselor Monroe sets her sights on Brett this week. After she witnesses Brett schooling Liam on the lacrosse field, she finds him after practice and stabs him with his own lacrosse stick. “You don’t deserve to have this much power,” she says. And when she watches him heal, she claims no one should be able to do that. Brett is a fighter, so he manages to get away and turn this hunt into a proper game of cat-and-mouse. At one point, he even gets the jump on Monroe in the woods, but just before he’s about to kill her, someone shoots an arrow through his shoulder. Sorry, let me be more specific: Gerard shoots an arrow through his shoulder. Yep, the meanest Argent is back…and he’s decided Monroe has the kind of raw talent he can use.

In other fun lacrosse-related news, a bunch of spiders crawl inside some poor freshman’s helmet, and the end result is some kind of terribly mutilated body that Liam and company find in the showers…but then they find said freshman studying in another classroom? Yeah, it’s as confusing as it is disturbing.

As for Lydia, she wants to investigate another of the sounds she heard in her vision, but when she figures out that it came from the closed unit at Eichen House, Parrish insists he check it out alone. He quickly comes to regret that decision when he meets the old doctor who’s made it his purpose to kill all the supernatural beings in the closed unit. And he gets verrryyy close to killing Parrish in Halwyn’s old cell before Lydia shows up and saves the day.

But considering the doctor was driven by fear, it’s not hard to find the common thread among all these killings. Back at Scott’s house, the pack pieces it all together: the wolves, the rats…it’s all about fear. And people are afraid of the supernatural. And as Scott puts it, “Scared people do things you wouldn’t believe.”

And that’s where we leave things. In general, I love using the idea of fear to turn otherwise kind people into this season’s biggest villains. That being said, this episode was a little slow for me. But now that Theo, Argent, and Gerard are all back, I’m hopeful the action will kick up a bit (and hopefully involve fewer spiders) next week.

What did you think of the episode? Hit the comments with your thoughts or let me know on Twitter @samhighfill.