Teen Wolf 2.11 ‘Battlefield’ recap

Last week’s episode of Teen Wolf was, without a doubt, an absolute powerhouse. With Gerard in charge of the kanima, half the police squad murdered, and Scott’s mom aware of his hairy little secret, the penultimate episode of the season couldn’t have been more anticipated.

Holy emotional monologue, Batman! The show started off with a scene between Stiles and the counselor. Clearly, someone took notes from John Watson’s therapy scenes from Sherlock, because this was a really powerful scene. Actually, in a few years, we might be look back on it as THE SCENE that redefined just how good this show could be. Also, it pretty much seals the fate of Dylan O’Brien as being a future award winner. In it, Stiles laments about how overwhelmed his life feels nowadays. He hasn’t spoken with Scott since Matt’s night of terror, and even though his father got his job back as sheriff, things are really starting to wear him down. The counselor gives him a little advice from Winston Churchill. “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” Nice, but, uhh, how’s about Stiles DOESN’T go through hell? Perhaps.

PACK DECISIONS: While Stiles deals with his own issues, all teen wolves (and their twenty-something alpha) have to make some tough decisions. Boyd and Erica decide to ditch Derek’s  pack to find a new alpha after hearing other wolves howling in the woods. On the night they try to escape, however, Allison and her father hunt them down. Allison, in take no prisoners mode, seems to have stopped caring about the werewolves humanity.

As the others choose to leave, Isaac turns to Scott for advice for what he should do, and seems calmed by a few choice words from Deaton (and by learning a new skill in the form of taking pain away from dogs). Meanwhile, Derek deals with the reappearance of Peter, who says he actually wants to help. Derek of course isn’t interested at first, and they fight. When Derek asserts his dominance, Peter tries to appeal to Derek by offering him the trick to save Jackson. According to Peter, the way to stop Jackson’s kanima side is to appeal to his heart, and suggests that Lydia could be the one to do just that, since the pair have a bond.

THE GAME IS AFOOT: The heart of the episode drama comes down the the lacrosse game. Scott believes Gerard will attempt a power play at the game to intimidate him into giving  Derek, so he’s desperate to be on the field in case Jackson kanimas-out. The coach has different feelings, though, and benches Scott, despite the team being down a few players. This means one thing: Stiles is officially going to play.

When the game begins, Mama McCall and Sheriff Stilinski sit together in the stands, so that’s awesome. At the game, Gerard keeps the pressure on Scott, continually threatening to hurt the people he cares about. Then, Isaac shows up, apparently making a choice about his place in the world, and takes out several of his own teammates on the field so that the coach is forced to let Scott on the field. Before he plays, Scott gets a quick pep talk from his mom, who has come to terms with his werewolf state, and tells her son to do whatever he can to help.

When Gerard corners Isaac in the locker rooms, Scott slips off the field to help his friend and stop him from being killed by the hunter. Meanwhile Stiles gets to play hero and actually scores a goal, which means doom must be afoot, because nothing happy can happen to Stiles.  After winning the game, the celebration is cut short by a chaos after Jackson seems to take control of his own fate, defying his master, by stabbing himself in the heart with his kanima claws. Everyone panics, and his fate is left unknown. At the same time, everyone realizes that Stiles has gone missing.

It has been a while since a television show actually left my heart racing, and I think it was the season four finale of Breaking Bad. So, yeah. There is simply so much at stake, and it was paced impeccably, the drama actually a force propelling forward, taking no prisoners. Every bit as emotional and brave as shows like Buffy and Supernatural, Teen Wolf  has officially earned the legacies of its predecessors. I don’t know of a better compliment.

What did you think of  tonight’s episode?