Teen Wolf Episode 3.11 "Alpha Pact"

Last week, Jennifer comes out to Derek as the Darach and kidnaps Melissa McCall and Sheriff Stilinski, plus Scott leaves with Deucalion. This week, sacrifices are required to save both of them, plus Chris Argent.

This episode begins at the hospital where Stiles desperately slaps Derek awake. He catches Derek up on events, while outside Isaac, Peter and Cora pull up near the Argents. Peter gaps it (keeping in mind the last time he saw the Argents he got set on fire and killed Kate) as Derek arrives and moves Cora into his own car. Allison asks where everyone is, and Derek gives them typical shot answers. In the waiting area of the ER, Stiles sees an FBI agent whom he recognizes and rolls his eyes at, and begins to completely sass him and rip into him. He denies knowing what’s happened to his Dad and maintains that he was stuck in the elevator the entire time – we then see that someone has painted ARGENT across the elevator doors. In Derek’s loft, said werewolf is keeping vigil at Cora’s bedside, who is dying, while Isaac accuses him of doing nothing. Isaac leaves with a final scathing statement, and Peter approaches Derek, telling him not to take Isaac’s outburst personality, as he is using his anger to “excuse shifting allegiance” from one Alpha to another – Derek to Scott.

At the Argent’s apartment, Chris tries to convince Allison that he’s not going to be the next Guardian taken. He, Allison and Stiles open the map of the telluric currents, trying to figure out where Melissa and the Sheriff are being kept. With some quick deductions, Chris decides that the bank will be a logical starting point. Allison suggests that they get Lydia, Stiles explains about her body-finding abilities. Meanwhile Cora’s breathing is getting worse, and Peter cautions Derek when he takes a large amount of her pain. The Argents pull out a large amount of badass weaponry to prepare, and Isaac arrives to help out. Peter explains to Derek that real wolves often take extreme care of their pack, and the same thing can be done between Derek and Cora. Peter basically explains that Derek can give Cora the ‘spark’ that makes him an Alpha, reverting him to a beta while healing her completely… if the process doesn’t kill him. Derek agrees, and Peter smirks secretly, and now I’m sure that his secret plan is fully in action. Lydia is in her bedroom with her mother, who is explaining how to cover up the strangulation marks around her neck with makeup. Lydia says that she doesn’t want to cover it up, that she doesn’t need to hide the fact that she survived. (WARNING: EPIC CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT). In the vault, Chris pulls a fast one on Allison and Isaac, tazing Isaac and handcuffing Allison. He drops his gun to the ground as Jennifer enters, effectively sacrificing himself.

Lydia is talking to Stiles and is disbelieving that Scott would join the Alpha pack. She realizes that Jennifer was surprised at Lydia being a banshee, and that she’d wanted her dead before realizing that, meaning that she wanted to kill her because of something else she knows. Isaac breaks Allison’s handcuffs and the two of them hug, Allison absolutely distraught. Peter tries to dissuade Derek into giving up his Alpha status (or just looking like he is, at least), but Derek maintains that he doesn’t care about power. Peter wonders if Jennifer planned for Derek to give up his Alpha status to he’d need Jennifer to face Kali and the Alphas. At school, Lydia is annoyed that Aiden hasn’t texted her back (Jennifer probably still has his phone) when Isaac texts Stiles about Allison’s dad. This sends Stiles into a panic attack as he spins out of control. Chris Argent wakes up violently in the Nemeton cellar, and checks for all of his weapons, which Melissa and the Sheriff inform him have all been taking. Jennifer dramatically enters the cellar and villainously monologues about the name Argent and the sacrifices, trying to justify herself. At the school, Lydia manages to get Stiles into the locker room but he still can’t breathe and is hyperventilating – she manages to stop it by kissing him, and at this point I screamed aloud. He held his breath when she kissed him, calming him down (note: this does not work in real life), and he compliments her intelligence again. Lydia says that if she “were really smart she would tell him to sign up to some sessions with the guidance counselor”, and they remember Morrell.

They rush into the guidance office only to find it empty, with a student named Danielle (who I love) waiting for Morrell, noting that she’s never been late. Stiles wonders if she’s missing and pulls out Lydia’s file and her drawing book, both of which contain the exact same image of the tree she’s been drawing. Stiles turns the picture upside down and realizes that it’s the roots of the Nemeton. Stiles and Lydia hurry off to find the Nemeton but Stiles is pulled up by the same FBI agent, and he sends Lydia to Derek since he’s been to the Nemeton before. The agent informs Stiles that his Dad is officially missing, and gets annoyed when he interrogates him and Stiles doesn’t tell him anything, including the whereabouts of Stiles’ “whole little clique” who didn’t show up in school that day. Dr Deaton speaks up from the doorway and says that Stiles can stay with him. Lydia arrives at Derek’s loft and there’s an awkward moment between her and Peter, as they haven’t seen each other since he caused her to go insane and bring him back from the dead. Ms Morrell is running through the woods at night, Kali and the twins in pursuit. Scott and Deucalion discuss the odd behavior of the animals since the Darach arrives, and Scott asks Deucalion if Jennifer scares him, but he is only concerned. At Derek’s loft, Lydia is shocked that neither Derek nor Peter remember where the Nemeton is anymore, as Talia took the memories from both of them as she didn’t want them going back.

Morrell is still running though the woods and arrives in a clearing; she then throws some Mountain Ash above her which falls down into a perfect circle. The twins, Kali, Scott and Deucalion approach, and Deucalion asks how she knew they’d come for her. She knew because Deucalion has always been suspicious of Druids, just like Jennifer. Kali says that they knew Morrell sent the girl who saved Isaac, whose name is revealed to be Braeden. Morrell then tells Kali that it was Deucalion who killed Ennis, and that getting Derek to join the pack will just “pave the way for Scott”. Deucalion pops the top off his cane, revealing the blade, and throws it at her. She falls back and Scott rushes to her side, and Morrell tells Scott about the Nemeton. Inside, Chris is struggling against his ropes, and Melissa teases him and says that they’ve already done it for hours. The Sheriff lets it out that he knows about werewolves, and Chris says that he knew Stilinski knew something was up but wasn’t ready to believe it. The Sheriff then talks about the night his wife, Claudia, died, and that he wasn’t with her but Stiles was, because he was holding the hand of a dying teenage girl trapped in a car crash. He’d missed saying goodbye to his wife because he didn’t believe.

Stiles, Lydia, Allison and Isaac join Deaton at the clinic to work out how to find the Nemeton. Deaton says that there may be a way to do it but it’s dangerous and they’ll need Scott. Stiles and Deaton met Scott in the woods, and he tells them that none of the Alphas know where the Nemeton is located. Stiles asks if Scott will tell the Alphas if they figure it out, and Scott replies that he can’t stop Jennifer without them. Deaton then explains that Scott, Stiles and Allison will be surrogate sacrifices for their parents, meaning that they’ll be dead for a few seconds before he can bring them back. Their deaths will, however, supercharge the Nemeton, which will be a beacon that will attract many other creatures to Beacon Hills (which is probably setting up for next season). However this will take a toll on the trio, leaving them with a “permanent darkness around their hearts”. In the Nemeton, Chris manages to retrieve his ultrasonic emitter from his pocket, and turns it on in the hopes that it’ll draw the wolves to the cellar. In the animal clinic, Deaton fills up three tubs with ice and mistletoe; he then asks if the three of them have brought something personal that belongs to their parents. Stiles has his father’s badge which he’s hammered out flat since Jennifer crushed it, Allison has a silver bullet made by her father to commemorate the end of hunter training, and Scott has a watch, given to Melissa by his father, and she used to joke that it was “the only thing about the marriage that worked”.

Deaton says that each of them will get in and be held underwater until they are dead, but the person holding them under must also be able to pull them back, meaning an emotional attachment. Lydia heads toward Allison but Deaton says that she will be Stiles’ tether (seeing as he’s been in love with her for years), Isaac will be Allison’s (which Scott grudgingly accepts) and Deaton will be Scott’s, as he’s been a surrogate father figure to him. They each slip into the tubs, Allison going with a controlled expression expected of a disciplined hunter, and Stiles informs Scott that his father is in town. It then cuts to the FBI agent we’ve seen all episode, sitting in Scott’s room with tears in his eyes. In the loft, Derek takes Cora’s hand and begins to siphon off her pain, he then howls towards the ceiling as his eyes transform back from red to blue; Peter is excitedly watching in the background (why are you so hot for somebody with so many ulterior motives). In their tubs, Scott, Stiles and Allison are pushed under the water by their tethers – in a few seconds, Scott’s eyes fly open and glow yellow as the scene fades to an annoying “To Be Continued” frame.

If you can’t tell, I adored the character development in the episode and the direction that the plot’s going in, with the first Stydia kiss of the series and Scott’s father back in town, plus Peter’s ulterior motives being unraveled and Derek’s return to being a beta… this is all getting amazingly good. Join me next week for 3.12 Lunar Eclipse!