by Chelsea Doyle, Editor

This episode featured something that made me mad, but the rest of the episode was decent so I’m going to get out my grr argh moment first. I hate that Erica was killed. I guess some of the fanbase weren’t into her, and I know the actress was almost on another show so she couldn’t renew her contract. But that fell through and they could’ve easily written her back into the show. I found Erica’s background as epileptic and the freedom being a wolf gave her interesting. I liked her feisty nature and her chemistry with Boyd and Isaac was great. I appreciated that Derek and Isaac were both willing to do a great deal to protect their other pack mates, and I think there was so much more they could’ve done with them. I only hope that Boyd survives next week, but you know what? I doubt it. Classic that the girl and black eye will probably die, amirite? Sigh.

That out of the way, this episode picks up soon after the last one. Stiles and Scott attend a party where a childhood friend of Stiles wants to lose her virginity to him. He’s psyched to lose his own virginity, but when he goes upstairs to get a condom, she’s kidnapped from her home. There’s a scene first with all the wine bottles smashing around her, but it’s clean when he gets down there. Hmm. This plot does not get resolved by the end of the episode so I’m chalking it up to something that will go forward from here. Allison and Lydia wonder about the mark left behind by mysterious lady who died last week. Derek doesn’t think it matters, he’s too busy looking for Erica and Boyd. He even calls in his uncle Peter to go into Isaac’s mind. He sees the alpha leader Deucalion and that they say “they’ll both be dead by the next moon.” That’s a misdirect for later in the episode, and I appreciated it more by the end. But they need more information from Isaac.

They ask the vet to help them with Isaac. They plunge him into icy cold water to nearly kill him and he goes into a trance state. He is clearly disturbed about whatever he witnessed and intentionally forgot it due to the trauma. Remember Isaac is a kid with a lot of trauma, having survived an abusive father. Poor kid. He says he saw Erica dead and that there’s another girl with Boyd now. They think Boyd and the girl, or maybe Erica’s alive after all, are being held there so they can kill each other during the full moon. They know they’re being held in a vault at an abandoned bank. At school, Scott learns from his coach about Risk and Reward. There’s a little silliness with Stiles’ condom falling on the floor and everyone joking with him about it. The Risk and Reward comes in later when Scott and Derek descend on the bank. They plan to break through this special wall to get them out, but Scott’s skeptical of how easy it is. Peter refuses to go with them because he thinks it’s not worth the risk. Derek thinks it is.

Allison is determined to help in her own way, so she sees that the mark resembles the bank logo. She goes there and runs into the school counselor, who is mysterious and tied to the vet somehow. I love those two, I want to know more about them. She saves Allison and tells her to come out when the fighting begins. Allison sees Erica’s dead body; it’s grim. Grrr. It turns out this was all a trap and that Boyd and the other girl were starved for the past three moons by using moonstone. Peter figures this out just in time for Derek and Scott to be warned, but they’re trapped there by the ash thanks to the counselor. The girl is said to be Cora, Derek’s little sister who he thought was dead. Some people think it might be Laura, but no, it’s clearly “Cora” as the name. They fight and Allison comes out just in time to smack aside the ash. Derek is angry because it means the wolves can go wild on the street, but she did it to save them. He tells Scott to share with Allison the full story of what happened to her mother. Dude it’s about time. Also Lydia just screams randomly. WTF was that? I mean seriously what?

They ask the vet to help them with Isaac. They plunge him into icy cold water to nearly kill him and he goes into a trance state. He is clearly disturbed about whatever he witnessed and intentionally forgot it due to the trauma. Remember Isaac is a kid with a lot of trauma, having survived an abusive father. Poor kid. He says he saw Erica dead and that there’s another girl with Boyd now. They think Boyd and the girl, or maybe Erica’s alive after all, are being held there so they can kill each other during the full moon. They know they’re being held in a vault at an abandoned bank. At school, Scott learns from his coach about Risk and Reward. There’s a little silliness with Stiles’ condom falling on the floor and everyone joking with him about it. The Risk and Reward comes in later when Scott and Derek descend on the bank. They plan to break through this special wall to get them out, but Scott’s skeptical of how easy it is. Peter refuses to go with them because he thinks it’s not worth the risk. Derek thinks it is.

Allison is determined to help in her own way, so she sees that the mark resembles the bank logo. She goes there and runs into the school counselor, who is mysterious and tied to the vet somehow. I love those two, I want to know more about them. She saves Allison and tells her to come out when the fighting begins. Allison sees Erica’s dead body; it’s grim. Grrr. It turns out this was all a trap and that Boyd and the other girl were starved for the past three moons by using moonstone. Peter figures this out just in time for Derek and Scott to be warned, but they’re trapped there by the ash thanks to the counselor. The girl is said to be Cora, Derek’s little sister who he thought was dead. Some people think it might be Laura, but no, it’s clearly “Cora” as the name. They fight and Allison comes out just in time to smack aside the ash. Derek is angry because it means the wolves can go wild on the street, but she did it to save them. He tells Scott to share with Allison the full story of what happened to her mother. Dude it’s about time. Also Lydia just screams randomly. WTF was that? I mean seriously what?

Note: The vet’s name is Dr. Deaton and the counselor is Ms. Morrell. I don’t know why I keep missing that. Anyway that’s where it’s ended for now. This was a good one outside of the Erica thing. I’m interested to learn more about Cora Hale. Was the mark on Allison and Lydia only about that? Who was the motorcycle lady in the first place? Where is Stiles’ friend? Guess we’ll have to wait. I’d like to make a comment here that Peter Hale is evil but holy crap is he hilarious. I won’t feel sorry for him when he eventually dies, if he does, but until he does I am enjoying the hell out of his character. This has been a good season so far. They’re being a lot darker and more gruesome already, and they’ve laid off a lot of the teen soap opera drama … for now. Thumbs up.
Rating: – Overall a great episode, outside of Erica’s untimely demise. The storyline was pushed forward with good action and character development and builds the mystery well.

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