There's Something About Theo 'Teen Wolf' Season 5 Episode 2 Recap

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There's Something About Theo

The latest “Teen Wolf” episode, ‘Parasomnia’ turns the spotlight to the mysterious Theo-- an old friend of Scott and Stiles with a sketchy smirk and a burning passion to join Scott’s pack.

But really, Theo's (Cody Christian) a dick.

Suspicious about Theo’s motives, Stiles gets his sleuth on. Determined to dig up whatever he can to expose Theo for the imposter, or baddie that he is, Stiles urges his dad, Sheriff Stiliniski who is all too familiar with the paranormal goings on of Beacon Hills, to get with the program and arrest Theo’s sorry ass. Or at least, make Stiles’s job to find the mark of the devil on Theo a little easier by looking into his criminal record.

Well, it turns out that aside from a speeding ticket, Theo is in the clear. But Stiles is having none of it. After stealing a document from the school’s administration office with Theo’s father’s signature and comparing it to another paper dated years earlier, Stiles freaks out that the drastically different sigs, are a sign of, “Criminal Slant!”

Uncanny resemblance? 

Scott, Lydia and Malia are unimpressed by Stiles screaming fire, and as Scott oh so humbly keeps saying, they have to give Theo the benefit of the doubt. Theo’s sob story about losing his inhaler in the 4th grade and how a young Scott was there for him and gave him the down low on what would happen in the ER like a precocious little Doogie Howser, warms things up between him and Scott. Then Theo shares how he was bitten. He was sicked by a werewolf while skateboarding in a drained pool. How hipster!  In his typical Clark Kent justice for all fashion, Scott eats Theo’s story right up. He continues to refuse to entertain the idea that people do have ulterior motives, and that hey-- people are out to kill him. D’aww Scott.

Theo isn’t the only one who gets a lot of screentime in ‘Parasomnia’. The episode opens with Tracy, a fellow senior at Beacon Hills, waking up in her bedroom in the middle of the night. Of course with a gaping sky light above her bed and wide windows not covered by any curtains, we know we’re going to be seeing some creepy shit. With stormy weather outside setting the atmosphere, we see a trippy sequence of the gas-masked evildoers trying to get into her room.

Tracy (Kelsey Chow) isn't looking so good.

And in a scene straight out of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, we get a crazed flock of crows that are trying to get in at her. The sky light suddenly bangs open and all goes to hell, before Tracy manages to shut it on her chair that then, poltergeist style, starts to levitate under her feet. Then we cut to a scene where Tracy is at school and spacing out while Lydia’s mom is chatting her up about her grades and the college process.

Tracy anxiously says she’s been having night terrors and they’re getting worse. In a massive explosion of nastiness, she ends up hurling inky black blood all over the desk. With none other than crow feathers sticking out of the pooling blood.

With a few more nightmarish scenes where Tracy relives the horrors that have been plaguing her dreams, we get some trippy snatches of the mad scientist laboratory, the masked creeps, and of course those freaky crows.

Scott's going to have to bring the claws out sooner or thanks. 

Lydia is ready to get all over that, and gets heartthrob Deputy Jordan Parrish to look into the situation. Parrish finds out that Tracy’s sky light ISN’T actually weather-proofed, permanently shut, like Tracy claimed it was, and he sees a massacre of the crows with deep claw marks and splatters of blood scattered over the roof area around the sky light. Ick. He keeps that info on the downlow and instead keeps watch outside Tracy’s house that night. Lydia joins Parrish in his stakeout, bringing him coffee and her bubbly company, and the oh so obvious vibes that she has the feels for the hottie. It’s hard for me to see Lydia as a 19 year old, as I think the show has her written, so her budding relationship with young twenty-something Parrish actually seems age appropriate. I am curious to see how it will unfold as events go on, and if her friends (and hell, her outspoken mom) will have anything to say about it.

Back to operation Theo, Stiles enlists the help...or nose of Liam, and the two track the mystery man in the forest. After Liam falls into a hole, with the camera zooming in on a silver leaf-shaped earring that neither of them notice but is bound to be an Important Item at some point, they catch up with Theo. Huddled on a bridge over a stream, Liam and Stiles watch as Theo plays the part of a grieving brother-- because that was the area his little sister drowned.

Of course, as they’re trying to sneak away, Theo catches them in the act. When Stiles confronts him about the wonky signatures, and Liam watches with a critical eye, Theo gives a shit-eating-grin and brushes it off.

For the next chapter in the Liam The Beta saga, immediately when after he catches up with his BFFL Mason afterwards, they two are chased down by massive black wolf into the hallways of Beacon Hall. Liam goes fierce-werewolf-snarl-face on him in the hallway. Surprise surprise it’s Theo being a huge dick and he shapeshifts back into his smug little self right after he leaves the building. Which means Big Plot Point, Liam’s lycanthropy is now public knowledge for Mason. In typical fashion of the ‘coming out corridor’’s big reveal (Danny and Ethan much?) Mason’s ‘cool man!’ reaction makes me like his character even more. Another pro-pack fella, which because hey, feeling like an outcast is probably nothing new to him as a gay black teen.

With the way Malia swoons over Theo, this may just be the end of Stalia. Please?! 

Shifting to Scott, things are getting steamy between him and Kira. The normally shy Kira pulls off her tee shirt and baring her bra, gets back to the kissing. That is until Scott’s academic goings on cock block the moment. In the middle of the episode Scott was sitting with Kira and Lydia in an AP Bio class much to their puzzlement. It turns out Scott wants to be a vet, as he should be since he has been working as an assistant for Deaton since his freshman year. In another winning men are human! moment, Scott admits his fears that he thinks he might not be smart enough to actually do the deed and get a degree.

That evening Stiles is interrupted while scrawling Theo’s name on his private investigator bedroom mirror. Sheriff Stilinski throws out a reference to one of “Teen Wolf” ‘s catch phrases, ‘You can’t go on instinct alone’ when duh-- it’s about trusting the instinct, which for a matter of fact, Stiles has a damn good track record with.

But this guy is still pro. 

Then we’re back in the little laboratory of horrors and we see Tracy getting shot up with needles and turning into a werewolf. I gotta hope that Tracy won't turn out like lusty lycanthrope Erica who thankfully met her death after just one season. She’s got the makings for being a compelling character-- especially if her night terrors are linked to some other kind of supernatural ability like Lydia’s banshee screams.

In the closing scene it's hammer time with Theo who comes down hard on his imposter father for not nailing the signature imitation (pun intended), while his imposter mom cowers at the table. Home sweet home. Maybe it is too obvious, to show the cards already that Theo is the Big Bad to look at for (or at least ONE of them this season) but Stiles had me sold with Theo being up to no good long before this closing sitch.

Hammer Bro image from mario wikia

Remaining images from MTV, and the IMDB,