Teen Wolf Episode 3.03 "Fireflies"
Last week, the Beacon Hills wolves discovered that Erica was dead, and that Boyd and Derek’s lost sister Cora were alive and running wild after not having seen the full moon in over four months. This episode, Derek struggled with the decision that if he wasn’t able to catch the two of them, he’d have to kill them.
The episode begins with two siblings catching fireflies, when the younger boy, Billy, is attacked by an enraged Boyd; uncontrollable and feral due to his prolonged transformation. However, he is distracted by the firefly jar that Billy drops, and when he gets back the children are gone. It cuts to Scott on the phone talking to Derek about how he’s lost Boyd; they plan to meet up and it is revealed that Scott was the one who saved the two children. After the ending of last week’s episode, Lydia is lying in her bed and reaches for her painkillers but discovers there aren’t any left and decides to head to the store for more, remarking to herself nonchalantly about “screaming like a lunatic”.
As Derek and Scott try to follow Boyd and Cora’s tracks, they realize that they are working together, and Scott informs Derek about Boyd attempting to hunt small children, to which Derek replies that he’s so out of control that he’ll hunt everyone and anyone. Lydia is texting as she exits her car so it takes her a while to realize that she isn’t at the store, but for some reason has arrived at the pool. She freaks out a little (even though you’d expect that she’d be used to freaky stuff happening to her by now) and sees a body in the water. She mutters please don’t be dead to herself and turns it over with a shaking hand to realize that it is a CPR dummy. She relaxes, and then realizes that her hands are covered in blood; following the blood on the concrete she sees a dead man in the lifeguard stand, throat slashed, and she screams.
Meanwhile Allison is sitting in her car, thinking about what Scott told her in the bank vault via a flashback – he confesses that her mother tried to kill him and he didn’t tell her because he didn’t want her final memories of her mother to be a killer. Derek appears in the background holding Erica’s dead body (excuse me while I sob forever) and looks near to tears. After the flashback, Allison grabs an arrowhead from the glove box of her car. In the forest nearby, girlfriends Caitlin and Emily have set up a romantic date in the woods, a tent with candles hanging around them, as Caitlin wanted to make Emily’s first time special. As they kiss, Emily notices that hundreds of bugs on their tent and she screams, running off into the night before she is overwhelmed by thousands of bugs, and she disappears. Caitlin is screaming for her outside their tent, when Cora appears and begins to stalk her down. Isaac arrives and attempts to subdue Cora, and is thrown into a tree. Scott uses some unnecessary parkour to enter the scene and attacks Cora, followed by Derek, and when he howls, Cora flees. Derek and Isaac give chase while Scott tells Caitlin to get to safety, and then follows them.
Stiles arrives at the pool where Lydia is waiting, who shows him the dead guy and mentions that she’s already called 911, which of course was a stupid decision of her, because everyone knows that when you find a dead body you call Stiles first</sarcasm>. Stiles calls Scott to tell him of the murder, believing Boyd and Cora to be behind it, and notices that the dead boy is wearing a purity ring (are you seeing the pattern yet?). Derek doubts how Boyd and Cora managed to kill someone on the other side of the city, and Scott mentions that they have now killed an innocent, and he and Derek are to blame. Scott wants to get help and manages to convince Derek and Isaac to employ someone who knows how to hunt werewolves – Chris Argent. Sheriff Stilinski arrives in the woods to interview Caitlin, who admits that she saw someone with claws and glowing eyes, and he sends her to the hospital.
Scott attempts to talk to Chris, trying to convince him to help them, and Chris argues back that he watched his father brainwash Allison, and was out of hunting for good, also making the argument that he doesn’t even know Boyd’s surname. Scott takes the time to inform him that Boyd is actually his surname, and that his first name is Vernon. Scott gives in to Chris’ refusal and asks for a lift to his car, and directs him to the pool, where a grieving mother is looking down on the body that Lydia found; Chris changes his mind. In the woods, Chris explains to Derek, Isaac and Scott that they are useless at tracking, and that the only species who can follow tracks properly are humans. However while they talk and discuss tracking, Allison is getting stuff done like a proper badass, setting traps and lures in the woods, cutting herself to allow the scent of her blood to attract Boyd and Cora. The boys decide to lure them to the presumably empty school with some expensive hunter tech, and their plan works, with some more unnecessary parkour from Scott. While this is going on, Stiles escorts Lydia home, and she confesses that she doesn’t remember how she got to the pool, and they realize that the last time something like this happened she was being controlled by Peter in season 2.
Speak of the devil, Peter arrives in the woods with Derek and explains that Deucalion’s plan is for Derek to kill Boyd and Cora, getting rid of baggage so he’ll be easier to lure into the Alpha Pack. In the hospital, Melissa McCall gets Stiles into the hospital to see the body found by the pool and finds three possible causes of death – strangulation, a cut to the throat and a blow to the head – and she points out that the second body had the same wounds. At the school, Boyd and Cora arrive but take to the roof instead of hiding inside the building, and they don’t realize that Ms. Blake, the English teacher, is working late. Back at the hospital, Melissa
takes the sheet off the second corpse to reveal Heather, and tears build inside Stiles’ eyes as he recognizes her – then that wonderful brain of his begins to work through the pain and he makes a connection with the victims and the missing Emily. Cutting back to the school, Allison fires some flash bang arrows to drive them into the building, and Isaac shuts the door behind them. Derek and Scott manages to corral them into the boiler room downstairs, but once they trap them inside, Scott realizes that there are three heartbeats, not two. Conveniently, Ms. Blake is downstairs too, just happening to get supplies that are inconveniently stored in the boiler room. Stiles questions Caitlin about her date with Emily in the hospital. Derek says he’ll go after Ms. Blake, and faces off with Boyd and Cora who nearly tear him to shreds, but he doesn’t fight back and holds them in place so they won’t go after Ms. Blake. Just as it seems that they’ll kill him, the sun comes up, and they collapse. Scott and Isaac take them back home while Derek helps up a frightened and shocked Ms. Blake.
At the hospital, Scott arrives and Stiles explains his theory to him – all of the victims were virgins, and the Sheriff finds Emily’s body tied to the neck by a tree, all of the same wounds on her. Stiles calls this the “threefold death”… a human sacrifice.
This episode was captivating, had fantastic camerawork and although there was more of that Scott McCall parkour, the episode was brilliant and answered previous questions while asking a whole lot more. Erica’s officially dead, and I’m trying not to cry, but hopefully with the introduction of Cora Hale, this new femmewolf will be as badass as our blonde. RIP Erica Reyes, may you always rest in our hearts, for taking control of your life when you had the opportunity and becoming powerful to your potential, you will be missed.