About Headline Season 4, Episode 9 :

This week on Teen Wolf, the alpha twins continue their redemption tour, Isaac wears the hell out of a suit, Scott and Kira face their fears and the mystery surrounding Stiles is finally solved. Unfortunately, the answer is bad new for Stiles and certainly bad news for everyone else in the Beacon Hills Scooby gang. Going into the second half of season 3, creator Jeff Davis wasn't shy about letting on that the season would center around Japanese mythology. So far, we've gotten little hints and flashes of this mythology, but this week's episode is all Japanese mythology all the time. From kistunes to oni and yakuza, flipping on this episode of Teen Wolf feels like diving into an anime. More important, though, the episode answers two of the major questions raised by this half-season so far. Firstly, we find out Kira's superpower isn't awesome hair and amazing taste in comic book leggings. Instead, she's a kistune, which is a trickster fox in Japanese legend. Like Baskin-Robbins ice cream flavors, apparently there are a lot of different kinds of kistune to choose from. While choosy teens choose "Hipster Filter Kistune," there's another kind that's totally bad news. The nogistune is a much scarier creature, born from chaos and strife. And that, unfortunately, takes us to our second mystery solved. All season, the question of what has been going on with Stiles has grown larger and larger. Last week, Stiles figured out that he might have been the one who left the message to kill Kira. (Kistune competition?) This week, we find out it's because Stiles has been possessed by the nogistune. There's no way this is good news for poor Stiles. This is an extremely exposition heavy episode, targeted at moving the plot forward. In fact, the show even pares down on the cast in order to focus more fully on dumping information. So no Lydia, Peter or Danny this week, and barely any Derek. There are still plenty of good character moments, but the main purpose of the episode is to get us up to speed. Last half-season, we got a whole episode of big D-Wolf lecturing an impaled Derek, so it could have been worse. At least we get Isaac's brief James Bond moment. Things are only likely to get more dark and dangerous from here on out, especially since we know Stiles really is a bad guy. (Or at least possessed by one.) Knowing Stiles' secret will give his story some momentum, and will undoubtedly take the show to some dark and emotional places. Argent's Three Chris Argent lived through the last episode's dramatic closing; no one else can really rock a deep v-neck. Not only is he alive, but Argent is well enough to flashback on his youth as an arms dealer. "One time, Allison, your grandpa sent me to be killed by some yakuza. He said it would build character, so stop complaining about the times I kidnap you and force you to stab your boyfriend." In flashback-land, Argent shoots one of smokey and the demon ninjas in the face, breaking his mask. There was a yakuza member who lived through this ordeal, and they're now off on a mission to find out what he knows about the creatures. So Allison, Argent and Isaac set out to find Takashi, or Silverfinger, using an antique gun once used to shoot a French werewolf. Silverfinger, a James Bond villian name if ever I've heard one, is very skittish and understandably wary of meeting new people. But Argent's antique gun manages to bring him out of hiding. Why do all Argent family bonding sessions involve weapons? Do you think anyone in this family has ever just gone camping without first shooting something in the face? Argent begins to put together the perfect plan, looking at schematics like he's in Ocean's Eleven. "Okay, Isaac, you'll be the pretty boy distraction while Allison will take this Indiana Jones whip and go conquer the kingdom of the crystal skull. Okay? Break on three!" While Isaac has suited up, he's still feeling a little weird about pretending to be a high-class arms dealer. Thankfully, Allison has the exact cure for what ails him: dat ass. The two finally kiss, Allison encourages a butt squeeze and suddenly Isaac is a whole new person. Allison seriously gives the best pep talks. Over on the other side of the car, Chris Argent quietly sobs into his deep v-neck shirt. The plan runs into a few hitches, like werewolves, but eventually thanks to Allison 'Indiana' Argent, they manage to corner Silverfinger. Unfortunately, he doesn't give them much in the way of useful information. Smokey and the demon ninjas are actually called oni, the word for Japanese demons. They're looking for the nogitsune, and the fun tattoos they leave on everyone else is just their way of saying "We cool!" Silverfinger tells them the nogitsune is no joke, and if they find the creature they should kill it. "Even if it's your own daughter," he tells Argent, looking pointedly at Allison. He's really holding a grudge from that whip incident. The Fox and the Hound Because Hallmark still doesn't make a "Sorry I helped kill your friend!" card, the alpha twins are still trying to weasel their way into Scott's pack. This week, they've done away with throwing parties and instead have thrown their whole selves into protecting Scott. They follow him around everywhere, but unfortunately everywhere never leads to the locker room, leaving us with our first nudity-free episode of the season. What purpose do the twins even serve on this show if they keep their shirts on? Evading the twins, Scott and Kira take off and hide out in his house until sunset. There, they bond over being supernatural weirdos and have plenty of really nice moments together. Kira uses a children's book to explain to Scott the mythology of the kitsune, a trickster fox who can create fire or lighting. Even though this season has introduced a fancy new literate Scott, Kira understands picture books are more his speed. She just gets him. The pair almost kiss, but are of course interrupted by Scott's terrible, no good father. While Agent McCall is yelling at them about breaking and entering, the oni materialize and shank him. I've never been so relieved and excited at a stabbing in my whole life. Shut up, Papa McCall. There's a fairly impressive fight with the twins and even Derek in the mix, but the oni are pretty impossible to defeat. Melissa McCall throws down a supernatural barrier, but it'll only hold for so long. Thankfully, Allison gives Scott the information about the oni looking for an evil kitsune and Scott's belief in Kira carries them through to safety. It's one of Scott's first moments as an alpha, or "true alpha," and it's interesting to see Derek and the twins grudgingly defer to him. This is a very different Scott McCall than the goofy kid who we started out with in the pilot. As the episode wraps up, Scott's dad makes it to the hospital (ugh) while Kira realizes she's not an evil fox after all. Sadly, we'll have to wait at least another week to finally see the Scott and Kira kiss we've all been waiting for. Stiles' Dreams Become Nightmares Stiles is still freaking out, even though the numbers he wrote last week on the blackboard are missing when he goes to show Scott. Also missing? The key he spent the entire blacklight party obsessing over. Stiles takes a sick day and goes to visit Melissa at the hospital, who takes down his symptoms and then gives him a tranquilizer. I guess there are real upsides when your best friend's mom is a nurse. Tranqs for all! Mellissa seems to remember something, and beelines for the record room as soon as Stiles is asleep. Once there, she compares Stiles' chart to the chart of his dead mother Claudia, and finds a disturbing amount of overlap. While everyone else is out whipping guns and fighting smoke monsters and getting fun new soul tattoos, Stiles is getting a little shut-eye. But this restful state doesn't last for long. After Stiles wakes he's immediately set upon by the oni, who seemingly identify him as the nogistune. But Stiles turns one of the oni back into its firefly form, while the other two jump into our favorite sidekick. It definitely appears as if Stiles is possessed. Will there be any way to save him? And how long will it take Scott to figure out Stiles isn't just in danger, he is the danger? The Shirtlessness Count Unbelievably, there were exactly zero naked torsos this episode. Teen Wolf, it's like I don't even know you anymore. Beefcake of the Episode: With a nudity-free episode, this prize goes to Isaac for really wearing that suit. Work it, boy! What did you think of the episode? Can you believe Stiles is the nogistune? Or do you think something else is going on with him? Share in the comments! Teen Wolf airs Mondays at 10pm on MTV. Source: BuddyTV | Recap: Teen Wolf Season 3 Episode 17: Silverfinger