Master Plan

Master Plan is the twelfth episode of Season 2 of Teen Wolf.

Synopsis
Scott races to uncover Gerard’s master plan following a shocking death on the lacrosse field. Meanwhile, Derek plots to take Gerard down using his own methods.

Full Recap
Jackson is in a black body bag in the back of an ambulance. A clear viscous liquid oozes from a hole near the zipper. The EMT thanks Mrs. McCall for her help and says they can take it from here but she decides she wants to ride in the ambulance too and doesn’t take no for an answer.

A nameless hunter forces Stiles down the steps into the Argent’s basement. He hears something in the darkness and fumbles for the light switch. As the light comes on, he sees Boyd and Erica trussed up and hanging from a support beam by a tangle of electrical wire. Black Gaffer’s tape covers their mouths.

Sheriff Stilinski is trying to investigate the disappearance of his son and Jackson’s death but he can’t focus. In the locker room he asks Scott and Isaac to try calling and emailing him and to contact the sheriff if they hear anything at all. They tell him Stiles is probably just freaked out by all the attention after he scored the winning goal.

Coach Finstock gets a little emotional explaining how much he needs Scott on the field. He explains that, even though he yells a lot, he doesn’t hate the guys on the team, except Greenberg “because, well, he’s Greenberg.” He encourages Scott to improve his grades so he will be eligible to play next season because he needs him on the team. Scott says he will.

Once everyone leaves the locker room, Scott rips the door off Stiles’ locker. He says he and Isaac will track him by scent. Scott takes a shirt to smell and hands Isaac a shoe. Before they can follow this course, Derek and, much to Scott’s surprise, Peter show up.

In the Argent’s basement, Stiles attempts to untie Erica but gets a shock from the obviously electrified wire that binds her. Gerard enters explains that he won’t bother to torture Boyd and Erica because the instinct to protect their Alpha is too strong for them to betray Derek.

Stiles attempts to stand up to Gerard. He explains that Scott will find him by scent because his is a pungent scent “more like a stench” and that Scott could find him “even if I was buried at the bottom of sewer covered in fecal matter and urine”. Gerard compliments Stiles ability to create a vivid picture then paints one of his own of Scott finding Stiles blooded and beaten to a pulp.

Stiles then points out that Gerard is like 90 and says he can kick his ass up and down the room. Gerard replies with a strong backhand across the face. He then punches Stiles senseless.

Scott confronts Derek about Peter’s return. Derek confronts Scott about his conversation with Gerard. Scott’s defense is that Gerard threatened to kill his mom and he had to get close to him. Peter sides with Scott saying that Mrs. McCall is gorgeous. Both Scott and Derek tell him to shut up.

Isaac is wondering about the new guy. Scott gives him the abbreviated version. “That’s Peter, Derek’s uncle. A little while back he tried to kill us all and we set him on fire and Derek slashed his throat.” Scott wonders how he’s alive but Derek deflects the question saying that Peter knows how to stop and perhaps save Jackson. Isaac informs them that Jackson is dead. Peter says Gerard forced Jackson to kill himself.

Chris arrives in Allison’s room and finds her talking to Gerard. Chris confronts him about what happened at the game. Gerard says they won. He explains that he’s talking about Jackson. Chris asks Allison to step aside since one of her friends is dead. She says that’s Derek’s fault too. She blames him for all of it, Kate, her mom and Jackson. Chris asks her what happens is Scott dies too. She questions his motives asking him when he started caring about Scott. He says he cares about her. She throws it back in his face saying he should be proud because she is doing exactly what he wanted her to do. Chris says she is not doing what he wants, she’s doing what Gerard wants. She says she wants to go to bed and reminds him that he owes her a new bow (see Battlefield). He picks up her crossbow and cuts the string. He says he owes her a new one of those now too.

Melissa is in the morgue. She notices the viscous liquid dripping from Jackson’s body bag and decides to investigate. She psyches herself up, unzips the bag, and sees Jackson covered in a clear cocoon from the neck down.

Sheriff Stilinski speaks to someone at the hospital. He is still searching for Stiles. He is explaining that they should call him if his son shows up when Stiles walks into the room. He has a large red welt across his cheek and a split lip. He tells his father that some members of the other team beat him up after the game. He says it was his own fault because he was mouthing off to them about the loss. The Sheriff goes ballistic. He wants descriptions and says he will go to the school and pistol whip “these little bastards”. Stiles manages to calm him down and they embrace.

At Hale House, Peter has hidden a laptop under the stairs. He explains to Derek, Scott and Isaac that he digitized all of the Hale’s assorted lore, records and reference books shortly after he recovered from his coma (see Co-Captain). Scott’s Mom calls. She is freaked out over Jackson’s cocoon and thinks Scott should have a look.

Stiles is lying on his bed. There is a knock at the door. It’s Lydia. She is crying. She says they won’t let her see Jackson and explains that it’s important for her to see him because she has something she has to return to him because he kept asking for it back. She holds up the key to Jackson’s house (see Venomous).

Scott is clueless as he Isaac and his mom examine Jackson’s cocoon. Mrs. McCall is all like “I thought you were going to tell me. Is it bad?” Isaac says it doesn’t look good. Then Jackson twitches on the table and they all freak out a little. Scott asks his mother to zip up the body back. She gives him a look that says, “My son the big bad werewolf expects ME to do this?” She tries to zip up the bag but it gets stuck under his chin and Jackson gnashes with his kanima teeth and she jumps back. Scott is freaking out more repeating the word “zip” over and over. The bag is finally zipped and Jackson moves again inside its black confines.

In his basement, Chris explains to the still trussed up Boyd and Erica that his family has been studying werewolves for a long time and have learned that electricity, properly applied, can retard their werewolf abilities. He says a certain level of current will keep them from transforming, a little more will cause their healing ability to cut out and a little more will stop their enhanced strength. He says such scientific accuracy causes one to wonder where the line between the natural and the supernatural really exists.

The two Betas seem to panic as his hand reaches for the knob that controls the current within their bonds but Chris is reflective. He says the lines between the natural and supernatural blur and you find yourself surprised by which side you end up on. He twists the knob. The prisoners’ faces relax as the electric current eases.

Stiles doesn’t have any normal tissues so he hands Lydia a roll of toilet paper. She grabs Stiles’ phone and says he has 17 missed messages from Scott. She asks if he is ignoring him and Stiles says not really. She then spies a Macy’s bag on the desk and gets up to investigate. There are several pieces of women’s jewelry from Macy’s MStyle Lab collection. Stiles explains that he didn’t know what to get her for her birthday so he bought a whole bunch of stuff, including a 32″ Flatscreen HDTV. He says he plans to return all the items he didn’t give her. Another message comes in on Stiles’ phone and Lydia rushes over too him saying he’ll definitely want to read this one.

Having also received a message from Scott, Derek explains to Peter about Jackson’s cocoon. Peter looks it up on his Apple MacBook pro. He says that it looks like what they’ve seen from Jackson so far is just the Kanima’s Beta shape. Apparently, according to the Hale’s library he is turning into something “bigger and badder” with wings. Derek tells Scott to bring Jackson to them. Scott doesn’t know if there’s time because Jackson is now wiggling an awful lot inside that body bag.

Peter finds an animation of the “bigger” Kanima. Thinking the creature might be less frightening in motion, he plays it on the computer. A loud screech comes from the speakers and Peter quickly closes the laptop. They decide they can’t wait for Scott to make it to Hale House and they’ll instead meet him half way.

At the Argents, Gerard senses Jackson’s resurrection and tells Allison “It’s starting”.

Scott and Isaac carry Jackson in the body back through the hospital parking lot. Scott accidentally drops his head to the pavement just as Chris Argent pulls up.

Derek and Peter race toward the door but Peter pulls up short saying they have to get Lydia. Derek says there is no time and Peter gives an odd little speech about how they are going too fast and racing right into Gerard’s crosshairs. Derek says if he gets the chance, he’s killing Jackson.

Chris says he’s come to help Scott because they have a common enemy. Scott thinks he means Jackson Chris says that’s not their enemy.

Lydia wants to go help Jackson. Stiles doesn’t want her to go because she might get hurt or killed. As he puts it,


 * “I’ll be devastated and if you die I will literally go out of my freaking mind. You see, death doesn’t happen to you Lydia. It happens to everyone around you. Okay? (It happens) to all the people left standing around at your funeral trying to figure out how they’re going to live the rest of their lives now without you in it. Huh? And look at my face! (he gestures to the welt left by Gerard’s beating) Do you actually think this was meant to hurt me?”

Lydia cringes back from him and he realizes that he’s been taking out his frustrations on her in her already fragile state. He apologizes. She turns and with a look of determination says she’ll find Jackson on her own. He calls after her but she is gone.

Chris explains to Scott and Isaac how Gerard has manipulated Allison the same way he did with Kate. He says he is losing his daughter and he knows Scott is losing her too. Scott asks him to trust them to fix it. Chris say he will but insists they take his car because it is faster.

Stiles’ dad comes in after Lydia leaves. He asks if there is “anything there”, meaning is there a chance for a Stiles and Lydia relationship. Stiles says no because she is in love with someone else. The Sheriff sits next to his son and explains that while getting beaten up and Jackson dying has him shaken up, Stiles should be happy about one thing, he single handedly won the game. He says that the game was pretty much over and then Stiles got the ball, started running, and scored and that turned the entire tide of the game. His father says he was a hero. Stiles demurs and denies that he is a hero.

In the Beacon Hills Warehouse District, Chris, Isaac and Scott pull up in the SUV. Isaac points out that Jackson has stopped moving. Derek comes bounding down the street in a werewolf leap/run on all fours. Peter, hiding in the shadows makes a snide comment about how someone certainly enjoys making an entrance. They move Jackson inside one of the warehouses. Scott wants to know why Peter and Lydia are not there. Derek ignores him and begins to unzip the bag. Scott protests that they promised to save him but Derek says they’re now past that.

He unzips the bag and the cocoon is gone. Jackson, in half kanima form, lies still with eyes closed. Derek explains that Gerard has set all of this – Jackson’s self-inflicted wound and death – into motion so that Jackson would become more powerful. Chris disagrees saying if Jackson’s a dog, he’s turning rabid and his father would not allow a rabid dog to live. Gerard agrees, appearing in the doorway he says that anything that dangerous, that out of control is better off dead. Derek draws back his arm to thrust his claws into Jackson’s chest but Jackson moves first, stabbing his claws into Derek’s chest. One handed, he lifts Derek off his feet as he stands up. He then hurls the Alpha into the next room.

Gerard congratulates Scott explaining that he expected Scott to bring Jackson to Derek to save him meaning Gerard could find the Alpha. Allison fires a bolt from her crossbow. Scott ducks and the bolt strikes Isaac. Scott rushes to help Isaac and Chris fires several shots at Jackson. The bullets don’t seem to hurt him but it does trigger his transformation from half to full Kanima form. He whips out his tail, wraps it around Chris’ gun and disarms him. Chris runs away to get into a better defensive position against the creature; he turns armed only with a knife and faces it. Jackson bats him away easily.

Derek confronts the Kanima in his wolf form. Scott and Isaac also wolf out and prepare to do battle. They all get some good shots in but ultimately the Kanima bests them. Scott is thrown into the wall and Derek is clawed and partially paralyzed. Isaac rises to return to the fray but Allison, armed with a knife in each hand, gets in his way. She slashes him in the gut and then spins to stab both knives into his back. Isaac collapses on the floor as she withdraws the knives dripping with his blood. She is heading toward Derek when the Kanima disarms her and grabs her throat.

Gerard walks from the shadows saying “not yet sweetheart”. Suddenly the pieces seem to fall into place, Scott says he’s doing what he came here to do. Gerard has cancer. Scott smelled it on him the night the old man stabbed him outside the hospital (see Abomination). Gerard’s plan was to get Derek in a position where he would have to bite him in order to cure the cancer. He threatens to have the Kanima kill Allison unless Scott helps him. It’s clear he plans to kill Derek once he transforms so that Gerard would be an Alpha. Gerard admits as much and says if Scott helps him he can have Allison. He mocks Derek saying he simply cannot compete with young love. Scott grabs the paralyzed Derek’s head and holds his mouth open while Gerard inserts his arm.

Something is wrong. The bite marks on Gerard’s arm start oozing black goo just as Jackson did when Derek bit him (see Omega). The old man has black goo coming out his eyes and nose now. Scott reveals that once he smelled the cancer he figured out what Gerard was after. He and Dr. Deaton conspired to switch Gerard’s pills with capsules filled with Mountain Ash powder. The effect seems to be that Gerard’s body is violently rejecting the werewolf bite. He spews a torrent of black goo into the air and collapses to the floor. Derek is all like “Why didn’t you tell me?” and Scott says “Because you might be an Alpha but you’re not mine.”

Gerard is incensed. Still spitting black goo, he screams at the Kanima to “kill them all” but once he collapses, the creature loosens its grip on Allison and she elbows it in the face. It throws her to the floor just as Stiles and Lydia come crashing through the wall in his Jeep. Stiles has his eyes closed but he manages to swerve and get a bead on the Kanima, slamming into it at full speed.

The kanima is back up in seconds. He leaps to the hood of the Jeep. Lydia jumps out with Stiles following. She confronts the Kanima, calling him “Jackson”. He draws back a clawed hand as if to strike. Stiles rushes back toward her but Scott holds him back. Lydia stands her ground and presents Jackson’s key. The Kanima stops. He stares at the key and somewhere inside the creature’s mind, Jackson’s memories begin to flood back.

He and Lydia are in bed together. He rolls off her and reaches to the side of the bed. He returns with the key saying that it’s to the front door. She teases him that he is just making her a more accessible midnight booty call. He teases back “midnight, mid-afternoon, mid-morning” he kisses her shoulder and as they cuddle and look contented.

Back in the warehouse, Jackson has transformed back into his half Kanima form. He takes the key from Lydia; his eyes revert to human and he takes several steps back. He spreads his arms and closes his eyes.

Seeing their chance, Peter springs from the shadows and Derek from the floor. Derek plunges his claws into Jackson’s abdomen while Peter gets him from behind. They lift him off the floor between them and Derek slashes up. Jackson coughs and falls to his knees. Lydia rushes forward to catch him and they kneel together. He asks, “do you still...” and she quickly says “I do, I do still love you” several times. He closes his eyes and collapses on her shoulder, dead. The key drops to the floor.

As Lydia lays the dead boy down on the concrete the last trace of Kanima scales vanish from his face is an electric blue haze.

Allison notices Gerard is gone. Lydia stands up and turns away from Jackson. She begins to weep and Stiles starts forward to comfort her but then stops. Jackson’s clawed hand is moving scraping the concrete. Lydia spins around in time to see the wounds on his abdomen heal themselves. His eyes flash open, they are a brilliant blue (see Werewolf Eye Color).

He rises slowly from the floor, his naked form silhouetted in the glare from the Jeep’s headlights. Once he is upright, his head snaps back. He has the heavy brow, long sideburns and sharp teeth of a werewolf. He lets out a deep growl. Then he is suddenly human shaped once again. He and Lydia embrace. Stiles is crying. He tells Scott that Jackson scratched his jeep.

Allison apologizes to Scott. He accepts. She breaks up with him and he says that’s okay because he can wait. Scott says he’ll wait because he knows they’re going to be together. Allison says there’s no such thing as fate. To which Scott replies, there’s no such thing as werewolves. A single tear runs down her cheek and he wipes it away with his thumb. They kiss and Scott leaves as Chris enters her room. Father and daughter embrace.

Boyd and Erica run through the woods. Suddenly a bunch of people with claws surrounds them. The full moon rises overhead and we hear a howl.

Outside the warehouse, Dr. Deaton, dressed in a black leather jacket and black leather gloves, examines a trail of black goo that seems to be left from Gerard’s escape. Ms. Morrell, also sporting a black leather coat and knee high boots and shows up and questions him about getting involved. He says he does what he has to. She says she’s glad because she never liked him being retired anyway. He wonders aloud “whoever said I was retired?”

After daylight, Derek, Isaac and Peter arrive outside Hale House. There is a mark painted on the front door. It is a. Peter explains that this is why Derek was so eager to build his pack and his power. It is the mark of an Alpha Pack, a literal pack of Alpha Werewolves. They have come to Beacon Hills because according to Peter they have taken notice of the new Alpha in the area.

Stiles and Scott head to the lacrosse field. Scott says that he knows Allison will come back to him. Stiles explains that his 10 year plan to make Lydia fall in love with him may now have to stretch to fifteen but the plan is definitely still in motion. Scott suggests that he simply ask her out. Stiles laughs and tells Scott to just get in the goal and help him practice so that he can become team captain. Stiles makes a big deal out of the fact that Scott has promised no werewolf powers during their training. Scott agrees but then his eyes glow yellow as Stiles lobs the first ball toward the goal.

Soundtrack

 * Dan Michaelson - "Breaking Falls"
 * Emma- Lee - "I Could Live With Dying Tonight"
 * Foy Vance - "Midnight Starlet"
 * Alt-J - "Bloodflood"
 * Robot Koch - "Nitesky"
 * Aidan Hawken - "The Argument"
 * Crystal Fighters - "At Home"

Preview
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