Teen Wolf recap: 'After Images'

This episode might be called “After Images,” but I’m going to call it “Gerard’s School of Hunting Werewolves.” Another slow-paced hour follows Gerard and Monroe as they try to kill Brett — or perhaps more accurately, as they try to find Brett before Scott’s pack does. Oh no, wait. That’s still not right…as they use Brett to lure Scott’s pack into a trap in order to out them to the citizens of Beacon Hills. Whew. I knew we’d get there eventually.

We’ll start there, with Lori showing up at Scott’s house asking for help finding Brett. Scott then gathers Liam and Malia to come with them to the woods. Meanwhile, Lydia, Corey, and Mason are back at the school trying to see if Lydia can initiate a premonition to find him. And it works! Well, sort of. She does have a premonition, but it ends up being about Nolan, not Brett. But we’ll get back to that. For now, let’s stay focused on the Brett situation.

After Lori finds a clue her brother left her, they all head to the tunnels, where they quickly figure out Brett has been poisoned. Realizing they’re running out of time, Liam ignores Scott and Malia and roars to let Brett know they’re coming — only in doing so, he alerts Gerard and Monroe to their whereabouts. Long story short, Scott ends up getting stabbed when Lori hits a trip wire.

While Liam and Lori continue on after Brett, Scott and Malia realize that this hunter has to know these tunnels better than they do, and all signs point to Gerard. And if it’s Gerard, then odds are Liam and Lori are heading into a trap.

Scott tries to find the strength to go after them, but he’s badly hurt, and Malia is having trouble taking his pain, at least until they start talking about Stiles and things get awkward. Malia thinks they should’ve called Stiles, but when Scott reminds her that they almost lost him last time, she makes a comment about how now, she’s going to lose Scott. She tries to recover by saying all of them would lose Scott, but as Scott loses consciousness, he tells her that he thinks Stiles “would be okay…with us.” Malia, now very confused as to what they’re talking about, tries to keep Scott from passing out, and in her panic, she manages to take his pain. With that, he wakes up…but they don’t get to Liam and Lori in time (nor do they finish their confusing conversation).

Liam and Lori eventually find Brett, but when Liam offers to stay behind to fight off the hunters while they get to safety, he realizes there’s no one there. And by the time he gets back to Lori and Brett, it’s too late. They made it to the street only to be hit by a truck. Lori survives, but Brett does not. And the real problem? Liam wolfs out in front of a large group of people…while Gerard and Monroe look on. This was his plan all along. If Gerard wants to build an army to hunt werewolves, then, as he puts it, “The best way to build an army is through fear.” And there’s no doubt that everyone on that road is scared of Liam right now.

Okay, now getting back to Lydia’s premonition: She saw the number 68, which just so happens to be Nolan’s lacrosse number. However, she realizes that a bit too late because Nolan has already outed Corey to the school. How? Well, he stabbed Corey in the hand with a pen and then showed everyone how quickly Corey healed. So just as the citizens of Beacon Hills are turning on Liam, the students of the high school are turning on Corey…and any supernatural being they know of.

The third issue this week is the case of the freaky body that Liam and company found in the locker room last week. You know, the one without a face? It seems the body is at least one cause of the fear spreading through the town because it scares Melissa so much that she needs Argent to hold a gun to its (dead) head in order to find the courage to take a tissue sample. The real kicker? The sample does them no good because this thing doesn’t have any DNA.

One good thing that freaky body does give us, though, is Argent’s admission that he should’ve called Melissa. They both confess they wanted him to. But then, just as they’re about to kiss, Argent says, “I should go.” Melissa’s response? “You don’t have to.” GET IT, MELISSA! I’m 100 percent behind this pairing.

Overall, I’m still struggling a bit with the pace of these episodes. I understand it’s intentional — they’re building tension, playing this season more like a horror movie than a thriller. But that doesn’t mean I think it works 100 percent of the time. It’s also difficult when you try to build tension around the potential death of a character I don’t care much about. Had it been Malia that Gerard was hunting, I think this could’ve been a better hour (not that I wish that on Malia). Also, no offense to Brett.

But what do you all think? Hit the comments with your thoughts or let me know on Twitter @samhighfill.