Teen Wolf recap: 'Werewolves of London'

Let’s start at the very beginning, shall we? Because the opening scene of this episode is by far my favorite of the season. I wasn’t sure how the show was going to work Jackson and Ethan back in when their return was first announced, but my curiosity was definitely piqued when they were revealed to be a couple. And within their first moments back on screen, I was reminded of the earlier days of the show and why we loved these characters in the first place.

We find Ethan at his London apartment, angrily calling his boyfriend, who’s late for their anniversary date. Ethan had gotten them tickets to a show…which they missed when his boyfriend didn’t show up. But as it turns out, his boyfriend wasn’t late. He was kidnapped, a fact Ethan learns when two hunters walk into his apartment and shoot him with purple wolfsbane. However, purple wolfsbane only works on wolves. And considering his boyfriend is none other than Jackson, they really should’ve gone with yellow wolfsbane. Remember, Jackson is part werewolf and part kanima.

And as Jackson puts it when he wakes up, “both parts are pissed.” Jackson proceeds to take out both hunters while Ethan complains about the fight destroying his antiques, lamps, and photo wall. But hey, at least Jackson didn’t forget their anniversary. And just like that, they kiss. So if you didn’t realize these two were together, I imagine this scene was only made better by the surprise. But for me, even knowing what was happening, it was still so much fun.

The next time we see them, they’re questioning the hunters. Well, Jackson is. While Jackson talks, Ethan listens to heartbeats to know when people are lying. It’s kind of their thing. Long story short, they realize that the hunters are following orders from Gerard, who’s obviously hanging out in Beacon Hills.

Speaking of Beacon Hills, Scott starts the episode in the hospital waiting room. Need I remind you how the last episode ended? In lots and LOTS of bullets. Turns out Melissa was hurt the worst, which is why Scott is currently listening in on her surgery. In the end, she pulls through, and she’s even awake enough to tell her son, “Don’t run. You fight.”

But in order to fight, Scott’s going to need an army, and seeing as how his dad’s in the hospital, Mason is just out of surgery, and Lydia is also in a hospital bed — they were all shot — he’s going to have to get creative. But as he tells Malia: “No more peace summits, no more running, no more half measures.”

The first person they call to help them? Deucalion! He struts into Scott’s house just in time to tell Malia and Scott that he is a changed man who now lives in a condo. And everyone knows that once you live in a condo, you can no longer fight, right? Or rather, he prefers not to fight. But as he proves when Malia comes at him, he is certainly fast on his feet. Now that he’s learned a new martial art, Malia can’t even land a hand on the guy. In other words, Deucalion has perfected the art of avoiding a fight, literally. However, he does offer his guidance to Scott. And his first tip? Scott needs to lower his standards when it comes to allies. And yes, there is someone even lower than Deucalion…

And that’s Peter! Peter agrees to meet Scott and Malia at Eichen, where we get this great exchange. After Peter asks why Malia is there, she says…

Malia: “I’m here for moral support.”
Peter: “For him or for me?”
Malia: “You’d need to have morals.”

First, Scott tries to appeal to Peter’s ego, but as Peter tells him, there’s no need. Peter’s ego, as always, is “quite healthy.” In fact, it might be healthier than usual, because right now, Peter has a penthouse apartment, a very crowded passport, and two very fancy cars (also, a great new haircut). Peter’s not looking to get involved in a war, especially when Scott’s not ready to win. (Next: The Anuk-Ite finds its second half)

Peter flips on the lights in one of the cells where he’s captured one of Gerard’s men. Handing the guy bullets for his automatic weapon, Peter wants to prove that Scott is still not willing to do what’s necessary to win a war: kill. And Peter’s right. In the end, Scott knocks the guy out, but he doesn’t kill him. And if Scott won’t kill, he needs to surround himself with people who will.

And that’s why Malia tries one last thing to get Peter on their side. Meeting at the school, she puts his claws into the back of her neck so that he can see the Anuk-Ite and understand the fear it’s spreading. But that fear only makes Peter run back to fancy car No. 1. (Fancy car No. 2 belongs to Malia, apparently, but she doesn’t want it.)

While all of this is going down, Stilinski is doing his best to show Monroe the type of monster that Gerard really is, but in the end, his plan backfires when Monroe turns the deputies against Stilinski and pulls an “I’m the captain now” moment at the station. But Stilinski doesn’t leave without the last word. As he tells Monroe, “I never said Gerard wouldn’t beat me. I said he wouldn’t beat Scott.” BOOM.

As for Lydia, she wakes up in the hospital…only it’s frozen over? In another of her visions, she makes her way to the morgue, where Halwyn’s drawer in on fire. Somehow, he leads her to The Primal, a werewolf pack that Scott and Malia were hoping to enlist in their army. However, that plan failed, seeing as how the entire pack is dead — killed via those creepy spider things, which apparently are attacking supernatural beings trying to find a host.

Okay, let me explain: The Anuk-Ite has two faces. One of those faces is Aaron, whom we’ve seen “testing” people to see if they’re supernatural. And if they are supernatural, he sics the spiders on them. If the spiders kill them, they’re not a proper host for the Anuk-Ite’s other half. If they live, the Anuk-Ite takes over their face and leaves behind one of those gross faceless corpses.

And that brings us back to the episode, as Lydia leads Scott and Malia into the woods. Somehow, even though he’s dead, Halwyn guides them until they find the other faceless corpse. We don’t know who it is, but we know the Anuk-Ite has found its second face and that it’s a werewolf. Now, they just have to figure out who it is and stop them from merging with Aaron.

Thankfully, they’ll have some help! Apparently, Gerard’s hunters blew up both of Peter’s very fancy cars, and now the man is out for revenge. But that’s not really why he’s helping, and when Malia calls him out on it, we’re treated to what Peter saw when he went inside Malia’s head: He watched his daughter fall in love with Scott. As he tells her…

Peter: “He’s going to get himself killed. Don’t fall in love with a dead man.”
Malia: “Too late.”

Talk about an adorable father-daughter moment. Also, I’m just so happy Peter’s sticking around. That man always gets the best dialogue, and his presence alone took this episode up at least half a grade for me.

Other things you should know: It was Gabe who shot up Scott’s house, though he told Monroe it was Nolan to keep them from killing his friend. And as for Jackson and Ethan, they end the episode back in Beacon Hills…except the first person they see at the high school is Monroe, so within five minutes of being back in town, they’re being electrocuted. But to be honest, they don’t seem all that worried about it.

There are elements of this episode I really liked: All of the returns worked. I’ve mentioned my love for the Jackson-Ethan scenes, and Peter always improve my mood. Deucalion didn’t do much, but I was happy to see his face. On the other hand, I can’t bring myself to care about the Gabe-Nolan of it all, and Monroe is just fine. But with this episode starting to bring people back together, I’m feeling hopeful.

What did you all think? Hit the comments with your thoughts or find me on Twitter @samhighfill.