'Teen Wolf' Season 5, Episode 8 recap: 'Ouroboros'

Crossing a line
In the final scene of last week’s episode, Melissa McCall arrived home to find a woman’s dead body pinned to her kitchen table, with a knife that resembles Kira’s jutting out of her. She calls Sheriff Stilinski to her home asking him to put away his badge, literally and figuratively, before she reveals the body to him. After seeing the body, the Sheriff calls it in, reporting that a homicide has occurred. Sheriff Stilinski is struggling to find a balance between doing his job efficiently, protecting the children, whilst also keeping the supernatural happenings of the town a secret. At his core he believes that nobody should be above the law, and he feels guilty for all the murders and crimes that have gone unpunished under his watch. Miss McCall slaps him for betraying her trust, and she tries to remind him that their situation is not black and white (hello! Chimeras, Werewolves, and Dread Doctors), thus the regular rules/laws do not apply.

Deputy Clark, Hayden’s sister, arrests Kira, who had been wondering the streets in a trance. When they get to the station, Kira’s father confesses to the murder and is taken into custody. Kira asks Scott if he believes that she is innocent, but Scott wavers, replying uncertainly that he does. When she gets home, she takes her mother’s advice and attempts to read The Dread Doctors book backwards in order for the fox in her to understand it. It works: She has a flashback of the day she got back into town (episode 1), during the storm. The Dread Doctors pulled her out of the car and inserted a syringe into her brain, triggering the Kitsune within her.

Things are getting desperate
The Dread Doctors have Liam and Hayden, and they are operating on her, trying to transform her into a “successful” Chimera. When they are done working on her, they take both her and Liam to a basement with an electrified fence around it. Here, they ran into Zach, another experiment. Zach has been changed into a creature with wings on his back. He warns them that other Chimera’s had been kept in that basement before, but had been killed when they became unsuccessful (began bleeding mercury). Zach becomes a failed experiment too, and the Dread Doctors take him away. Hayden and Liam’s relationship is growing, being near death does that to a person. They hold hands, and even share a kiss later in the episode. Their relationship is growing on me, but something about their storyline just seems like a convenient sideshow stealing time away from the real plot. What do you guys think? Are you feeling them?

There seems to be an air of desperation in Beacon Hills. First Kira’s mother attacks Kira in order to coax the Kitsune out, then Stiles lies to Scott and his father about Donovan’s death and being at the library, and now Scott’s behavior. They are all trying to fix things and hold it together, but in their panic, they are making impulsive, uncharacteristic decisions. Scott marches into his house where the rest of the pack is holding Corey, the Chimera they found last week, and sticks his nails into his neck in order access his memories. Lydia points out that Scott could have really hurt Corey, but Scott’s compassion is clouded by his guilt. In Corey’s memories, Scott sees the Dread Doctors dragging Corey into a surgical room inside a chemical treatment plant. He, Malia, and Mason head off to go find them, but Stiles stays behind opting to go talk to his father about the danger surrounding the dead body that Melissa McCall found. While at the chemical plant, Scott experiences another asthma attack, this time it is induced by feelings of guilt as he feels that he is catalyst for all their current problems. Theo and Lydia stay behind to protect Corey, and with some prodding, they finally help Corey remember the basement where he was kept after he was taken from the hospital. Theo goes to the basement and finds Hayden and Liam. After being electrocuted trying to get past the fence, he manages to get through it and rescue them. In a simple yet telling scene back at the house, Theo hugs Scott, Malia, and Mason. It feels as though he is replacing Stiles, and maybe even Scott. He is now the hero that knows everyone's secrets, from Donovan’s death, to Malia having a flashback of the Desert Wolf, something she has yet to mention to anyone else.

Coming and Going
At the morgue, the Sheriff and his deputies, along with Parish, man the dead body with guns. Stiles is also there as he went to warn his father that whoever’s coming for the bodies is dangerous, strong enough to flip a jeep. During the night, Parish attacks. First the sprinklers go off, then a now camouflaged Parish attacks the other deputies. When the steam dissipates, the body is gone, and Parish is back in his uniform like nothing happened. However, Stiles and Lydia know that Parish is guilty because Stiles finds Parish’s burnt name tag at the morgue.

Kira is packing her bags preparing to leave Beacon Hills. She doesn’t want to hurt anybody else, and when Scott looks at her with his other eyes, he sees the fox is becoming even stronger. Something has changed. Scott feels a separation forming between him and his friends, and he blames himself. The episode begins and ends with Dr. Deaton at the chemical plant that is used as a hospital/ storage facility for the Dread Doctors. As he rummages through their things, a woman approaches him, killing his partner. It’s the Desert Wolf. She asks him if he knows anything about her daughter, Malia, and threatens to kill Malia if she finds that she is still alive.

This week’s episode lacked the action of last week’s, but it was interesting nonetheless. It was bookended with scenes that were reminiscent of other pivotal moments of the season: Dr. Deaton arrives at the plant in a hazmat suit, reminiscent of The Dread Doctors. The episode concludes with Kira taking a car ride during a storm and kissing Scott with lights exploding in the background, mirroring the kiss from the very beginning of the season. The reuse of these themes reminds us that the characters are not progressing, just going around in circles. For the first time it feels like the pack might be falling apart.

I'm excited to get to meet the Desert Wolf. She seems like a sexy, ass-kicking, blood thirsty, complicated gal. After this weeks more introspective episode, we need someone to turn up the heat.

See you next week!