‘Teen Wolf’ recap: ‘Visionary’

“Visionary,” the eighth episode of Teen Wolf’s third season, introduces the audience to young Derek Hale and a gentler Deucalion through flashbacks.

The episode begins with a 15-year-old Derek running away from hunters in the woods and is saved by a younger version of his uncle Peter. Chris and Gerard Argent are two of the hunters and they kill another young werewolf.

Stiles stops by Derek’s loft to talk to him about everything that’s been happening, but instead finds Cora and Peter. Cora mentions Derek isn’t the same as when she knew him, and Peter comes downstairs to tell Cora and Stiles the story of how Derek’s eye color changed.

In the flashback, Derek meets Paige, a high school cello player at school. She asks him and some other boys to be quiet because they’re interrupting her practice. Derek tries to show off, she ends up going back to the music room. He follows and asks for her name, which she gives after he completes her request and plays the triangle.

At the same time, Scott and Allison visit Gerard for information. He promises to talk if Scott takes away some of his pain. After finding out another body was found, he suggests Dr. Deaton may be the Darach and is trying to fool Scott. Allison starts to leave, saying he doesn’t know anything, thus prompting Gerard to tell them about how Deucalion lost his eyesight.

At the loft, Stiles asks Peter how old he is, and asks Cora the same question. It seems like werewolves have a different way of counting age than humans. Peter continues telling his story, saying he knows everyone because he was Derek’s best friend. However, the flashback shows him creepily following Derek around. Derek and Paige went to the abandoned distillery to make-out. Basically, Peter has always been a creep and Derek’s always hung out in abandoned buildings. Derek hears someone coming and it turns out to be Deucalion, Kali, Ennis, and their packs.

It turns out the werewolf that died in the first few minutes of the show was part of Ennis’s pack, so he wants revenge. They are all waiting for Derek’s mother, Talia Hale to arrive so she can give them advice. Talia is able to shapeshift into a wolf, and is well respected. Deucalion asks Ennis not to be rash and attack the hunters because it will just lead to death on both sides, but he ignores his plea and carves the symbol for vengeance into the wall. Losing a pack member is devastating, and like losing a limb.

Peter says Derek was obsessed with keeping Paige safe, and decided she needed to become a werewolf. Peter lies and says he wasn’t the one to put the idea in Derek’s head, but it’s seen in the flashback that he suggests it as the only way they can be together and for her to be protected.

In another flashback, Chris and Gerard are in a basement and see a druid tree. He then talks about how druids are emissaries to wolf packs, like Deaton is for Derek’s family, and Ms. Morrell for the Alpha pack. He tells the werewolf origin myth about Lycaon, Zeus, and Deucalion. Basically those who disobeyed Zeus, like Lycaon were turned into wolves, and then went to the druids for help on turning back into humans.

Deucalion, Talia, and Deaton talk about what to do about the hunters. Deaton suggests not meeting Gerard, but Deucalion believes it will be peaceful. He tells them the story of the Scorpion and the Frog, while Gerard tells Scott the story of the Scorpion and the Turtle. I don’t know what the significance is of switching a frog to a turtle, but the story warns to be careful and always remember a person’s true nature.

At the high school, Paige is searching for Derek and instead finds Ennis. She runs, but he bites her. It seems Peter told Ennis to bite Paige to fill a spot in his pack. Unfortunately, for some reason the bite isn’t taking. Derek holds her while she’s dying, in pain. She tells him she knew something was different about him, but she didn’t care because she loved him. Derek kills her to spare her anymore pain. His eyes turn cold blue after taking an innocent life. Peter says he’s the one that buried the body. Talia goes to Derek and tells him he’s still beautiful, his eyes are just different now.

Meanwhile, Gerard tells Allison and Scott about meeting Deucalion's pack. He insinuates they attacked him, when actually he was the attacker. He took two electrocuted arrows and jammed them into Deucalion’s eyes, blinding him. Afterward, he goes to Deaton and is left alone with his murderous beta Marco. He is able to see sometimes apparently and can see Marco’s movements and kills him first.

Scott tells Gerard he doesn’t think he told them the whole truth. He threatens him and says he will hurt him if someone gets hurt because of his information.

Stiles tells Cora he doesn’t think they got the whole story because Peter isn’t a reliable narrator. He says he will probably ask Derek about what happened.

In the last scene, Derek is staring at the spiral symbol Ennis carved into the wall.

Quote and Comments:

“Why do I care? Let’s see. Because over the last few weeks my best friend tried to kill himself, his boss nearly got ritually sacrificed, a girl that I have known since I was three was ritually sacrificed. Boyd was killed by Alphas. Do you want me to keep going? Because I can, alright? For like an hour!” (Stiles to Cora)

There are just so many things to talk about in this episode. First off, I think the quote above shows how close Stiles is to breaking down. So much has happened to people he cares about. I also think it’s important to note he blames the Alphas, not Derek for Boyd’s death, like Derek probably does.

Second, both Peter and Gerard are unreliable narrators. Both of them try to paint themselves as the person in the right, but we see Gerard attacking Deucalion’s pack’s when they just want to talk, and Peter encouraging Derek to give the bite to Paige. It’s nice to finally know Peter has always been a manipulative jerk. That said, I’m wondering why Derek trusts him around anyone, as he’s been alone with Stiles and Cora. Speaking of Cora, I want to know more about her, seeing as how we still have no idea where she’s been since the fire.

Third, Paige’s death bothered me. We already know Derek’s had a terrible life (that honestly, keeps getting worse), so why did we need this story? Is it because Paige isn’t really dead? Is she somehow the Darach? She died by the druid tree, and there’s always the tiny possibility that she was immune, like Lydia. If not, then I really see no point for this storyline other than to show more reasons for Derek’s own self hatred, guilt, and pain, of which there is already plenty. On the plus side, Madison McLaughlin and Ian Nelson had great chemistry and did well portraying Paige and young Derek.

Finally, we get the eye color reveal, which was different than I was expecting. Werewolves get vibrant blue eyes when they kill an innocent, which is why Derek and Jackson both had them. Derek, for killing Paige, and Jackson for murdering people as the kanima. Overall, I liked some parts of the episode, but it wasn’t a favorite from this season.

Tune in next Monday for "The Girl Who Knew Too Much" at 10 p.m. on MTV.

Photo Courtesy of MTV