'Teen Wolf' Season 5, episode 4 recap: 'Condition Terminal'

Parish, what are you?
The episode begins with Lydia and Parish trying to figure out what Parish is, a foreshadowing that he will play a bigger role this season. So far, the only trick he seems to know is how to modify the face on a playing card with his mind. But Lydia wants to challenge him to do more. Since Parish has survived a fire before, without any scars, she wants to test just how inflammable he is. She puts a lighter to his palm, and the first time, he flinches. After some coaxing from Lydia, they try again, and this time he can withstand the heat, not feeling anything at all, but his mind seems to wonder. He tells Lydia that he had a vision/memory of himself, burnt, walking in the woods, carrying a body to the Nemeton, the sacred tree. Though Parish tells Lydia that he cannot remember anything after putting the body down near the tree, it turns out that he remembers much more than he is letting on: In the rest of the memory, he is on fire, sitting on the tree stump, with numerous burnt bodies strewn around him.

Get well soon Lydia
We then return to where we left things last week. Scott, Stiles, Theo, Liam and Dr. Deaton, arrive at the Sheriff’s station to find Lydia lying on the floor bleeding, as Kira tries to help her. As you may recall, Lydia was stabbed by Tracy (The Kanima). Stiles stands there in shock, unable to look away from her. Though Stiles has seemingly moved on from Lydia with Malia, this moment reminds us of how much he still cares for Lydia. I gotta say, I hope Stiles and Lydia are end game. They deserve their happy ending, plus Stiles adores Lydia (heart eyes emoji) .

Scott and Stiles head downstairs and find a dead Tracy lying on the floor. They momentarily suspect Malia, she has a penchant for suggesting the killing of people, so the suspicions are warranted. Malia defends herself then tells them about “The Doctors” killing Tracy. Dr. Deaton convinces Sheriff Stilinski to let him take Tracy’s body to the animal clinic. After a few tests, he figures out that Tracy had the talons of an eagle, the claws of a werewolf, as well as some traits of a Kanima. Dr. Deaton is also perplexed by the fact that Tracy was able to cross the line of mountain ash, that no supernatural creature should be able to cross, which means that she is not completely supernatural. She is both scientific and supernatural, meaning that the lines are blurring, and if Dr. Deaton it scared, that means that they all should be.

Meanwhile, “The Doctors” kidnap Donovan from his cell and perform an operation on him, changing him into something supernatural. “The Doctors” also seem to be affecting Lydia, as she starts seeing visions of them during her surgery. Because Malia now realizes that they are about to face a world of problems, she decides to postpone the finding of her mother, “The Desert Wolf”.

They need answers
Parish it at Lydia’s bedside when wakes up. She asks him to teach her jujitsu, because she wants to be able to protect herself. I guess that’s where all the karate moves from the premier episode came from.

Theo has been a suspicious figure since his entry this season, and we finally get confirmation that he is working with “The Doctors”. He walks into the room where Donavan is being held, and tells him that he shouldn't waste his new found power attacking Sheriff Stilinski, he tells him that it would be wiser to instead attack someone the Sheriff loves.

At school, Scott, Kira, Stiles, and Malia attempt to use the Bestiary to find out what Tracy is. They figure out that she is a Chimera, something that Scott has just learnt about in his biology class. A Chimera is a mythical creature made of the combined parts of multiple animals, à la Tracy. Scott then heads to the hospital to help one of his mother’s patients, who is in excruciating pain. Miss McCall informs Scott and Kira that the only way the boy could have gotten a scar like that is if he had been stung by a scorpion that was at least ten feet tall, unlikely, meaning, it must have come from something supernatural. After Scott takes the boys pain away, the boy informs Scott that he was bitten by Lucas, a guy he was dating. A guy who was previously shy, but who had suddenly become confident overnight. A guy who was now headed to the club.

Meanwhile, Liam and Mason head to a gay club, with Liam playing Mason’s wingman. Liam can sense that there is something wrong, but can't quite figure out what. Behind the curtains, Liam begins to make out with Lucas, yes that Lucas. As they kiss, Lucas begins to transform into a scorpion, but Brett, who was also at the club, shows up just in time to save Mason and tell him to run. Brett gets scratched by Lucas; however, Liam, Scott, and Kira show up and manage to subdue Lucas. During the fight, Kira almost kills Lucas. She turns into the electrified Kitsune, and for for a brief moment, the human her almost fades away completely, being replaced by the fox. This is concerning because it means that the more she uses her power, the more likely it is that it will consume her. Just when they thought that they could save Lucas, “The Doctors” show up and terminate him, and when Scott asks why, they say that it is because he “failed”. The question remains, what was the task assigned to Lucas? Is Scott the actual target? And exactly who are “The Dread Doctors”, we finally know their name, thanks to Malia, who found their name and image on a book.

The episode concludes with a naked, burning, Parish carrying Lucas’ body to the Nemeton Tree. Lucas who was in the morgue. So I guess Parish is the one stealing and burying all the bodies. In the conclusive scene of the episode, Stiles is attacked by Donovan, who has also been transformed into some sort of supernatural being. Looks like Donovan is following Theo's advise to attack someone Sheriff Stilinski loves.

Amazing episode this week. Great narrative, information on the new characters, and some character growth from Malia.

See you next week!

Image courtesy of MTV