Nearly every episode of MTV’s hit series, Teen Wolf delivers moments of horror and terror which often leave viewers watching behind their blankets or through their fingers. Last night’s episode titled “Riddled,” while it didn’t do much to advance the storyline, was filled with high-tension drama and nightmare inducing scenes. The episode also featured Dylan O’Brien’s best performance of the series to date. Let’s go over some of the stuff that went down.
Scott (Tyler Posey) is woken up in the middle of night by a phone call from a frantic Stiles (O’Brien) who tells him that he had been sleep walking again and has ended up somewhere dark and scary. The only pieces of information he can provide about his location is that it smells terrible, his eyes are burning and that he thinks he’s in a basement in an industrial building. The phone calls are short and far between since his phone is close to dying, so trying to get as much information as they can is completely vital.
Stiles uses the light on his phone to look around the basement and hears and sees another presence. The mysterious other person talks in riddles and is very cryptic. His face and hands are completely bandaged up and has large, sharp teeth. He tells Stiles that he is there to help and save him and will only let him free if he can answer one riddle: “Everyone has it, but no one can lose it. What is it?”
Meanwhile, Lydia (Holland Roden) uses her banshee powers and determines that Stiles is in the basement of the Eichen House, a mental health center where shrapnel bomber William Barrow was committed. She, along with Aiden (Max Carver), Scott, and Sheriff Stilinski (Linden Ashby), head over to Eichen House and when they go to the basement, Stiles is nowhere to be found.
Scott’s father, Agent McCall (Matthew Del Negro), talks to Melissa about the possibility that Stiles may not be trapped in a basement, that he may still be asleep and had been asleep the entire time. He explains that some people do the strangest things while sleeping; some have cooked entire meals and even mowed their lawns all while asleep. He tells her that he might have a good idea on where Stiles might be and sure enough, they find him, no banshee powers required. He was able to use the transcript of Scott and Stiles’ phone conversation to figure out that Stiles had wandered through the woods and into Malia’s coyote den and that it was the repellent they had sprayed in there that made his eyes water just like Stiles had mentioned that helped him determine the location.
Stiles undergoes a few tests at the hospital to check to see if he has frontotemporal dementia. A non-curable condition his mother had where areas of your brain start to shrink and the only form of dementia that can hit teenagers. During the MRI, the nogitsune takes over Stiles’ body and he flees the room and has an interesting conversation with Kira’s (Arden Cho) mom, Noshiko (Tamlyn Tomita). “If the oni can’t defeat you, I know someone who will,” she tells the possessed Stiles. She’s totally talking about Kira, right?
BEST BITES
• During one of Stiles’ phone calls, Scott asks why he’s whispering. “Because I think there’s someone in here with me.” It’s a response that sent shivers up our spine and gave us goosebumps. It’s the equivalent to the line from the movie Urban Legend where the gas station attendant shouts to a young woman as she drives away, “THERE’S SOMEONE IN THE BACK SEAT!”
• There was a very touching moment between Scott and Stiles at the hospital right before he got his MRI. Stiles worries that he may have the same condition that killed his mother and Scott assures him that if he does have it, that he will do something about it. The teary-eyed Stiles then gives Scott a hug. They’re more than best friends. They’re like brothers. The scene had us in tears.