Battlefield

Battlefield is the eleventh episode of Season 2 of Teen Wolf.

Synopsis
Scott plays in the championship lacrosse game and still must find a way to stop Gerard. Allison continues to pursue her vendetta against Derek.

Full Recap
Stiles is restringing the mesh on his lacrosse stick. It has apparently been several days since the events of the last full moon. Stiles is talking to Ms. Morrell about the sensations one experiences while drowning. How hard the body fights, through excruciating pain to avoid opening the mouth under water. This instinct is called voluntary apnea and is so strong that you pass out before breathing in water.

Stiles describes it as peaceful. The counselor asks if he means that he hopes Matt experienced a moment of peace as he died. He does not. She asks if he feels sorry for the 9-year-old Matt who drowned. He explains that the childhood trauma doesn’t give Matt the right kill the kids that hurt him.

He also reveals that investigators found a bunch of pictures of Allison on Matt’s computer. Matt had apparently photoshopped himself into several of the images to make it appear that he and Allison were holding hands and kissing. Based on all this Stiles concludes that Matt was riding the crazy train for a long time.

We also learn during Stiles’ session that his father was reinstated as Sheriff. Stiles says there is a new tension between father and son. He also hasn’t talked to Scott since the night of the full moon. Scott is at home pulling a new shirt from a Macy’s bag. He hears his mother down the hall and rushes out to talk to her. She closes the door to her room and he stands outside and asks her to talk to him. On the other side of the door she looks like she wants to but does not.

Stiles says Scott and Allison are also not speaking and that it is her choice. The death of her mom has hit her hard and she and her father have become closer.

Allison, in her car, fogs up the window to reveal a message Scott has left for her. It says “12:00 PLEASE”. She quickly wipes away the condensation and the message it showed.

Allison, in the basement with Chris, goes over a map of Beacon Hills. There is a grid pattern with several of the grids marked with an X. Only one grid remains in the center of the map. It is marked “Beacon Hills Rail Depot.”

Stiles explains to Ms. Morrell that Jackson hasn’t been himself lately and we see him sitting on his bed, claws extended, hands covered in blood. Stiles says Lydia is now the most normal of the group.

Since Stiles has been obsessively tightening the mesh on his stick throughout their conversation, the Counselor asks if he is nervous about the championship lacrosse game set for tomorrow night. Stiles says no because he never actually plays. But, he adds, due to the fact that one teammate is dead (Matt) and another is missing (Isaac) that might change. Ms. Morrell then turns the conversation to Isaac and the other “runaways” (Erica and Boyd). Stiles tries to change the subject asking her why she doesn’t take notes. She says she does them after each session but then drives the conversation back around to Stiles.

He says he’s not sleeping, is jumpy and suffers from a constant overwhelming fear that something terrible is about to happen. Ms. Morrell diagnoses him with “hypervigilance” which is often a symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder. She describes it as the persistant feeling of being under threat. Stiles says it’s more than a feeling. He describes it as a panic attack, like he can’t breathe. Ms. Morrell brings this back around to the discussion of drowning using this as a metaphor for all the stuff that Stiles is dealing with.

She says Stiles should hold off opening his mouth (don’t give up) until the autonomic reflex to breath kicks in because it will give him more time to fight his way to the surface or get rescued.

Stiles isn’t buying it. He asks what if the pain (of not breathing) gets worse going from agony to hell later on. In answer, she quotes Winston Churchill “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Scott steps out of his shower at home. He hears a hissing sound coming from his bedroom. He enters to find the Kanima clinging to the wall with its tail wrapped around his mother’s throat, suspending her above the floor.

Gerard is sitting in the room too. Scott flicks out his claws but Gerard just laughs since he knows he has the upper hand. The old man says Scott hasn’t been answering his phone so he took a more direct approach to contact Scott. He wants Derek and his pack. Scott says they’re in hiding and he doesn’t know where. Gerard then explains that he plans to use the kanima to get revenge on Derek for the death of Kate.

Gerard and the kanima leave. Mellissa McCall appears terrified. She says she doesn’t understand what’s happening, what that thing was or even what Scott has become. She then begs him to just give Gerard whatever he wants but Scott says he doesn’t know if he can.

Erica and Boyd are walking in the woods at night. They hear what sounds like the howling of wolves. They think it might be werewolves.

The following day, Derek is at home going through some books when Erica and Boyd come in and announce that they are going to leave him. He tries to talk them out of it saying they need an Alpha and a pack. They explain they think they’ve found another pack already because of the noises they heard the night before.

They believe they heard as many as a dozen wolfs howling but Derek explains it might have been only two. An acoustic phenomenon known as the “Beau Geste Effect” creates the auditory illusion that a couple of wolves is actual a couple of dozen. They remain unconvinced and leave him anyway.

At the vet clinic, Dr. Deaton is filling a syringe and Scott is assisting. They hear the bell from the front door and the dogs in the kennel begin to bark furiously. The both enter the lobby to find Isaac standing there. He joins them in the examination room.

Isaac can smell that the dog on the table is very sick and not getting better. Dr. Deaton explains that Scott has this ability as well as part of the werewolves enhanced sense of smell. Saying that their powers can also be used on others, the vet has Isaac lay a hand on the dog and absorb some of its pain. This transference manifests physically as a black liquid filling the veins on his hand and then diluting and dissipating as he absorbs it into his system. Isaac weeps after he realizes what he’s done. Scott says he cried the first time too.

A second after Erica and Boyd leave him, Peter Hale shows up to talk to Derek. After throwing a mirror shard, which Peter catches an inch from his throat, Derek turns to face his uncle. Peter berates him saying “I’m out of commission for a few weeks and suddenly there’s lizard people, geriatric psychopaths and you’re cooking up werewolves out of every self-esteem deprived adolescent in town.”

He then offers his help saying Derek is the only relative he has left and that there is still a lot he can teach. Derek punches him across the room.

Isaac explains to Scott about Boyd and Erica’s plan to leave. Saying he’s seeking out Scott’s advice because he trusts him. Scott says he has no idea what he’s doing most of the time. Isaac says he’ll likely go with the other two and then lets Scott know that Jackson was back at lacrosse practice after the siege at the Sheriff’s station and would be playing in the game that night.

In the locker room, Danny is talking to Jackson but isn’t being heard. He shouts Jackson’s name and the boy seems to snap out of a dream. He then warns Danny to stay away from him on the field. He goes further saying that if he should run toward the goalie that Danny should run the other way as fast as he can. Scott overhears the conversation.

Mrs. McCall has come to the locker room looking for her son. She makes her way through the suited team members as Coach Finstockbegins his pre-game motivational speech, which is a verbatim rendering of the big speech Bill Pullman gives in Independence Day just before the pilots go off to fight the Aliens. Stiles explains this to Mrs. McCall saying the coach does it every year because it is his favorite movie. He ends the speech to cheers from the players. Gerard comes in, Mrs. McCall shrinks back behind Stiles. Gerard says he won’t be happy with a win – he wants them to kill the other team. The coach explains that Scott is benched because he is failing three classes.

Peter and Derek are still fighting. Peter claims he doesn’t want to be the Alpha again saying it wasn’t his finest performance seeing as how it ended in his death. The older wolf turns the tables on him explaining that Derek is only beating on him to relieve himself of his self-loathing and hatred he feels over his complete and utter failure as an Alpha.

Before the game, Stiles and Scott sit on the bench and discuss the potential for death and destruction during the game. Stiles confesses that he feels helpless after having to watch, paralyzed, while Matt cracked his dad’s head open. He says that he and Scott are losing their fight.

Stiles gets to play lacrosse for the first time in an actual game. The coach puts him in for the as-yet-unseen Greenberg because in Finstock’s words, “He sucks. You suck slightly less.” In the stands, Sheriff Stilinski, sitting next to Melissa McCall, sees Stiles enter the game and stands and shouts his happiness in response.

Gerard speaks in a voice he knows only Scott can here. He says when the clock counts down to the end of the game he is going to have Jackson transform into the kanima and kill someone unless Scott gives up Derek’s whereabouts. He specifically threatens Scott’s mother, the Sheriff and Lydia who is just arriving at the game and sits next to Mrs. McCall. He then threatens the Coach, calling him ridiculous.

In the woods, Allison, her father and another hunter are on four wheelers. They are playing wolf howls through speakers attached to the front of the vehicles. This is the howling Boyd and Erica heard the night before and they are cowering behind some trees now hiding from the hunters.

Derek and Peter have stopped fighting. Peter points out that he is not healing as fast as he used to and how this is a result of how much his resurrection sapped his strength. He again says he needs a pack and specifically an Alpha like Derek. He says they both need each other.

Stiles gets off to a slow start getting tackled repeatedly, dropping the ball and generally looking like a clown on the field. The team is losing badly. Isaac shows up which is a surprise to Gerard. He and Scott cook up a plan to disable their own teammates so that coach will be forced to put Scott into the game. The plan works, they disable a couple of players before Jackson takes out Isaac with a tackle and a scratch that leaves him partially paralyzed.

In the woods, the hunters find Boyd and Erica. They run on foot as the hunters pursue on the ATV’s. The vehicles stop and Allison jumps off, shedding her helmet and grabbing her bow. She fires a single shot and takes Erica down with an arrow to the leg.. The injured girl tells Boyd to run on without her. He seems reluctant but does as she asks. Allison catches up to Erica and draws back for the kill shot but Boyd returns and catches it in the nick of time. He is repaid with six arrows to his chest, leg and stomach. Allison has a smile on her face as Boyd growls in pain and Erica begs her to stop.

With Isaac injured, the coach is must either allow Scott to play or forfeit. He chooses the former. Mrs. McCall runs on to the field. She’s sensed that something is up and Scott warns her to just leave. She says she won’t leave and that Scott should forget everything she said earlier while she was cowering in fear. She says if Scott can do something to help then he has to do it.

As Allison is drawing back for her seventh shot, Chris shows up and shoots the bow from her hand. Boyd collapses on the ground as does Erica.

Scott and Stiles both get tackled hard. As Scott is getting up he realizes that Gerard is no longer on the field. He can still hear him as the old man offers to trade Allison for information about Derek.

Allison tells her father that he owes her a new bow. He says she owes him an explanation. She becomes haughty and says that she caught them (Boyd and Erica). Chris says “caught” nearly became “kill” and that is not the way the hunters operate. She is defiant and says her way worked out pretty well. She then throws up her “talk to the” hand and calls Gerard. She leaves a voicemail message. Calling him “Grandpa” she explains that she caught their two runaways.

In the locker room, Isaac is crawling along the floor trying to get away from Gerard and two other hunters. The old man has the large silver sword seen first in Omega. Gerard indicates that he plans to cut Isaac in half, saying the situation would be much more poetic if it were “half-time”.

Peter is deep into conversation with Derek. He explains that, while Derek tried hard to build his pack, he failed and Gerard is winning. Peter then says he knows how to stop Jackson. By “stop” Derek assumes he means kill but Peter corrects him saying he knows how to save Jackson.

Gerard is toying with Isaac, scraping the sword slowly across the floor as he comes nearer. Isaac makes it to his feet using the sink for support. As the old hunter rears back to swing the sword, Isaac smiles. Then Gerard realizes why when he catches a glimpse of Scott, eyes glowing, in the mirror.

The game continues and the coach realizes Scott is missing. During a rather confusing play, the ball rolls directly up to Stiles' feet. All the other players seem to have lost track of it. Stiles scoops it up and, screaming, stutter steps into a run toward the goal. He stops short. With the whole of the opposing team bearing down on him and everyone in the stands yelling for him to shoot, he manages to get the ball past the stunned goalie and into the net. And the crowd goes wild.

In the locker room, Scott takes out all the hunters but Gerard is missing.

Peter says there is a myth saying you can cure a werewolf simply by calling out its Christian name (your first name). He explains that our names in large part define our identity. Derek objects that it is just a myth but Peter says sometimes myths and legends bare a hint of truth. He says our names are a symbol for who we are. The kanima has no identity, which is why it doesn’t seek a pack. It seeks a master to give it purpose. He says the human parallel would be an orphaned child, like Jackson.

Peter explains that Jackson’s identity is being buried underneath the kanima and that Derek can bring him back through his heart. Unfortunately, as Derek points out, Jackson doesn’t have much of a heart. Peter says that is not true and that he actually has a bond with and cares deeply for Lydia. Peter believes she can save him. He then chides Derek for his lack of heart saying this is why he’s always needed Scott more than anyone. He then says “Even somebody as burned and dead on the inside as me knows better than to underestimate the simple yet undeniable power of human love.”

Stiles is scoring machine – putting up an additional two goals in the game’s final minutes. The final score will be 10 to 9 Beacon Hills. He looks in the stands and sees Lydia smiling and cheering for him and Stiles has never looked happier.

Scott makes it back to the field as the clock begins to tick off the final 30 seconds. Jackson stands away from the rest of the team, claws out as the crowd erupts in celebration of the win. Then the lights go out on the field and someone screams. It is chaos as everyone runs about in the dark, terrified. Scott can hear his mother calling and makes his way to her. She says someone is down on the field.

The lights come back up and we see it is Jackson who is down. Lydia, seeing him injured, runs to his side. Mrs. McCall listens for a heartbeat and hears none. She pulls up his jersey to reveal deep puncture wounds to his abdomen. She makes Lydia get down to help her with CPR. Issac and Scott notices that Jackson’s hands are bloody and that he must have inflicted the wound himself.

The Sheriff runs on to the field and realizes that Stiles is nowhere to be seen. He yells for his son.

Soundtrack

 * The Datsuns - "Brain Tonic"
 * Heavy Young Heathens - "Fly Curious"
 * Heavy Young Heathens - " Tall Order"
 * Blue Stahli - "Jet Set"
 * Dj Kentaro feat. Dj Krush -"Kikkake (Auemists Remix)"
 * Woodkid - "Run Boy Run"

Preview
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