Teen Wolf 3×22 Review: De-Void
What the hell did I just watch? These last few episodes have the feeling of 24, so much so that I expected to hear Kiefer Sutherland’s heavy breathing and the clock pulsing in the background. This episode just felt like it was stalling, and I have a feeling next week will have the same effect. It was an okay episode, but I just want to get to the finale where I feel all the actual important details will be. To me, the pacing has been all wonky this season, which might be why I’m getting this weird cram-one-day-into-three-or-four-episodes-because-that’s-“exciting” vibe. But before I rant any further, let’s see what I can make of “De-Void”.
The thing that intrigued me the most about this episode was this terrible secret between Sheriff Stilinski, Agent McCall, and Melissa. The writers have been hinting at this ever since Agent McCall was introduced, and there has been this thinly veiled tension between the three adults every time they’re on screen together. Agent McCall was not a douche and actually helped the Sheriff keep his job. I loved how the Sheriff was very matter of fact with the review board, saying, “Look, if you’re gonna fire me, then do it already.” He had to stop Argent from putting a bullet in Stiles’ head and was probably panicking, thinking someone else was out there, ready to try again. Ain’t nobody got time for review boards! The fact that Agent McCall was willing to step up to the plate and bat for him was pretty cool. But the conversation between them afterwards was frustratingly vague, the Sheriff urging McCall to tell Scott the truth. In Melissa’s conversation with the nogitsune, it revealed that Stiles had overheard a conversation between her and his dad, and that the reason Melissa hasn’t shared this secret with Scott was because it would cause him to hate her. After both of these conversations, my cousin and I were practically screaming, “TELL US WHAT IT IS!” What could Melissa have done that is so terrible that it would cause her own son to hate her? One of the theories is that Melissa and the Sheriff had an affair and that Scott is the result of that, but for me, that dog don’t hunt. The Sheriff seemed like he was utterly devoted to Claudia. I just can’t see him doing that to her. Maybe it has something to do with the divorce? Maybe he was willing to quit the FBI but for whatever reason, Melissa insisted they divorce and he agreed to take the blame for Scott? This tiny plot point has been pestering me as much as the question of who will die by the end of this season. And I better get an answer! I don’t care if it’s in the last few seconds of the finale. Scott and his dad can be having a heart-to-heart, his dad drops the bomb, and then they roll credits. Just please give me an answer! For once, Davis, just give us a straight freakin’ answer!
The possessions of Derek, Isaac, and the twins felt like white noise, just the nogitsune stirring up the hornet’s nest some more. Like I said in the beginning, this just felt like stalling, dragging things out until the finale. One thing that stuck out to me was Stiles’ chess board. I want to know the significance of the it. Is that Stiles’ way of trying to anticipate what the nogitsune will do next or is it a part of a larger picture? And why is Derek the king? According to Wikipedia, the king is the most important piece in chess, so it seems pretty significant and odd to me that Derek, not his best friend, takes that piece, Scott being merely a pawn. I don’t mean that in a shipping aspect either. There has to be a reason Stiles has those pieces labeled the way that he does. And why are Kate and Jackson still even on the board while Isaac has been removed? Are there any Teen Wolf fans that are chess aficionados as well? What do you make of Stiles’ little game? I feel like it has to be important, otherwise they wouldn’t keep showing it.
The end really took a nose dive into the psychological aspect and a page out of the Inception playbook, as Scott and Lydia decided to go inside Stiles’ mind to free him of the nogitsune. Peter played a part in assisting them and, in the process of helping them, finally learned the identity of his daughter. Malia has been MIA since “Echo House”, and I wonder if she’s going to show in either of the final two episodes. We know she’s looking to return to her coyote form, and Peter always seems to be full of helpful tips. Perhaps it is in that that their bond will be struck? I think that they might wait for an explanation about how Peter and her mom hooked up in the first place, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. When it comes to the Hales, Jeff Davis does not like providing answers, thinking he’s being “clever” in keeping things mysterious. (Hint hint, Jeff…you’re not.) I really liked that they acknowledged that even though Stiles is human, he’s still a part of Scott’s pack. The wolf call was pretty awesome but…that had better not be how they save Stiles. I want Stiles in danger until the last possible moment of this season, with all the hell the writers have put us through and how they have hyped up this possession story arc. And if it is how they saved Stiles, I am going to be so pissed off because that was anticlimactic as all get out! Now I’m not saying that was what happened. The nogitsune still has Stiles’ form, so they have to still be attached somehow. In the preview for next week’s episode, we heard it taunting Lydia that Stiles was dying so there must still be a connection present. I know some fans don’t want it, but I really want them to change Stiles into a werewolf. As we saw in “Riddled”, he already suffered brain damage. It would be beyond ridiculous and not to mention pointless if they just magicked it away just because Stiles is no longer possessed. And what about that stab wound to the gut? Is that on Stiles or his new nogitsune doppelganger? How deep did it go? This spirit has not been easy on Stiles’ body, and that has to take its toll. Just look at the way demons go through bodies on Supernatural. The first Meg was in a ridiculous amount of pain and suffering by the time the demon left her body. I want to see something similar with Stiles. Hell, let Scott giving Stiles the bite be the cliff hanger of this season. Can you imagine how epic that would be?
All and all, this was an okay episode. As I stated in the beginning, the triangle between Melissa and the men was the most interesting part to me and I really hope that it is wrapped up before the season ends. Next week’s episode looks to be filled with a lot more bangs and pows until we can finally reach the finale. So what are your thoughts? Did you enjoy “De-Void” or did it leaving you wanting? What do you think Melissa’s big secret is? What do you think is the significance of the chess board? Whatever your thoughts, comment below and thank you for reading!
Author: Sarah Sue
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I think the brain damage was explained as a Nogitsune trick already. It’s identical to Claudia’s damage, as shown by the Sheriff in a previous episode, which leads me to assume Stiles’ brain is just fine.
same here…the whole ‘brain’ ailment thing was probably a thing to rile up the fans…Lydia said in the episode ‘He’s human but still part of the pack’…don’t think Jeff will mess with the human!Stiles formula anytime soon
I still think that’s the status Davis teased about Stiles losing. Why else would we get this flood of new human cast members? Presumably the Jackson/Danny 2.0 duo is human but will find out about the supernatural element in Beacon Hills. I think with everything that’s happened to Stiles, he can’t go back to being the plucky human sidekick. I just really want to see were!Stiles and it would be even more badass if because of his possession, if/when Scott bit him, he become a werefox.
I can’t help but think it’s more. You can fake brain scans and from what I’ve learned, the nogitsune only has sway over someone if they have one of those fireflies inside them. I think the damage is real, and that’s the trick. “Hey look, I’m going to kill your son the way your wife died.” This thing doesn’t do stuff halfway. It’s all or nothing.
It seems Jeff finally gave the fandom something close to twin Stiles this episode 🙂
really liked Scott and Lydia working as a group..and Allison and Kira, though i wish their action scene was longer
I still don’t buy Malia as Peter’s lost daughter…maybe Lydia is actually Peter’s child from some banshee and that’s what Talia didn’t like and let Lydia stay with human parents…cos letting a ‘possible’ were-coyote/werewolf being raised by normal people is way riskier than allowing human parents raise a banshee child…and Lydia and Peter do share a very strong bond
what is the secret the McCalls and Sheriff hiding? I don’t want Melissa to come out as a bad mom in the end…and Scott better not turn out to be a Hale or something…i wouldn’t be able to accept such a soapy twist
If Scott using his Alpha roar means that Stiles is really saved then the whole thing was just anti-climatic…sigh! I expected more…still am
If the twins do leave this season all i can think of is Danny…poor, poor Danny
Twin Stiles indeed! I feel like myself itching to write more Stilinski!twins fic after watching this episode.
I really liked Kira and Allison kicking total ass together. It was like Buffy and Faith or something. I’ve missed my Ally girl’s hunter scenes. I loved the bit at the beginning where Allison had removed the firing pin or whatever from Chris’ gun and he smiled and said, “That’s why the women are the leaders in our family.” I hope that comes into play next season!
I think that’s what they’re sticking too. Why else would Lydia be comparing the pictures with Allison afterward? And more to the point, why would Talia feed Lydia a fake name in the first place? I guess that plot point is just a soap opera element we have to deal with on the show. I wished they would have completely blown our minds and had Derek be his son. See how that would have effected Sourwolf’s entire outlook.
I can’t help but think this is something between the McCalls and the Sheriff was pulled in as a mediator or something. The vendetta I thought McCall had against the Sheriff turned out to be a stalling tactic because he didn’t know how to approach his son. I want to know what the secret is!
Anticlimactic and then some! We just have to believe Davis and the writers wouldn’t do that to us. Not with the way they have been building up this story arc, there’s no way they would quick-fix-it like that!
I want the twins to leave Beacon Hills. I am so past being done with their characters. Yes, poor poor Danny the plot device. How will he get worked into the story line with Ethan gone? And next season, he’ll have another gay character to contend with.
What I’m most upset about is a) not finding out about the backstory between the McCalls and the Sheriff. I originally feared that Stiles was hinting that Melissa McCall was the victim of domestic abuse but then Stiles said Scott would hate her if he found out. While it could still be that, I doubt Scott would hate his mother for that. I just don’t want Melissa to be portrayed as a victim or a bad person.
b) The creepy sexual tension between Lydia and Peter. I honestly hope that dissipates because it’s so problematic and gross. And at this point in the show, the queer characters given absolutely little to no chemistry while creepy leering Uncle Peter has all this odd moments with Lydia, A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT.
I know that Sterek is most likely never going to happen (which is… ugh, whatever) but this relationship is acceptable to portray? Yuck.
I agree. Melissa is my favorite female character on the show, and I don’t want Davis demonizing her for the sake of her ex-husband’s redemption. But the tone of both conversations made me think that it’s something both parents feel guilty about.
Yeah, the weird tone that is between Lydia and Peter is a bit unsettling. Peter is my favorite villain but even I can see how inappropriate that is. As for Sterek, the chess board feels significant and not in a queer bating kind of way. I don’t interpret it as Davis working towards Sterek at all, but it has to mean something that Derek was the king and not Scott.
both the brain scan and the gut wound have already been explained. the scan was nothing more than a trick from the nogitsune. stiles is not really dying – or at least his body isn’t. the nogitsune is trying to cause pain and strife and it’s using the memory of the beloved dead wife and mother to do that. but it needs stiles body to be fine if it’s to continue possessing him.
the nogitsune is a parasite feeding off a host. this has been made clear at least 3 times that i can think of. 1) kira’s mother confronted it saying ‘don’t think you’re safe just because you’re in that poor boy’ (a host it didn’t think anyone would hurt). 2)deaton translated the scroll to read that should stiles’s body go through a change than the nogitsune can no longer inhabit it. there are changes that don’t include death, but death is a pretty effing big one!!! and 3) the flashback episode. mama yukimara only defeated the nogitsune by stabbing it with her special sword and the nogitsune had to leave the body in firefly form. (please note, reese was still alive when the nogitsune possessed him and only died when it left, as made clear by mama yukimara. it cannot possess a dead body)
the stab wound – as stated by deaton – is already healing supernaturally.
this is a key difference between nogitsunes and demons and why your supernatural/meg comparison is an aweful one! demons inhabit a host body, but they neither harm it NOR heal it!! so long as the host body is unharmed then they will suffer no damage whatsoever when the demon leaves. meg was thrown through a high story window by dean. every bone in her body was broken and she had massive internal damage. the demon didn’t care about that so long as the body could still be utilised, so she kept her alive without healing her.
contrast this with angelic possession – ‘the rapture’ showed us that although jimmy novak had been shot, stabbed and chained to a comet for several months he was aok with not a scrath – because angels heal, where demons don’t.
this latest episode proved to us that nogitsunes heal their hosts in a similar fashion to how wolves heal….because they cannot let the host die while they’re still dependant on it. having 2 stiles complicates matters exponentially, but neither the brain scan nor the gut wound are reasons for him to die.
I rewatched “The Fox and The Wolf” and Rhys was dead when the nogitsune took possession of his body. Mrs. Yukimura said, “Rhys’ screams could be heard throughout Eichen House. He died in agony. The doctor, it seems, had been stealing the morphine.” The Teen Wolf Wikia page even says that he was dead at the time of possession (http://teenwolf.wikia.com/wiki/Noshiko_Yukimura). They only loaded her and Rhys’ bodies on the truck because they thought they were dead. The bodies were being transported to a secret location to be burned. To me, when she said to Stiles, “Don’t think I’ll show mercy on you even if you are possessing an innocent boy”, she was reminding the spirit that she fought her lover’s dead body when it possessed that and she had no problem doing it again.
To me, the comparison between demons and nogitsune isn’t awful at all. The demons on supernatural didn’t go out of their way to injury the body (an exception being the demon from season one “Phantom Traveler” where the demon was crashing airplanes) but nor did they care if injuries happened. I think the supernatural healing was a side effect of the nogitsune feeding off of the strife it was causing. I don’t think it cared either way if Stiles died. And the wound is healing but not fully healed. It could very well come back to bite Stiles in the ass. Either way I don’t think Stiles is out of danger by a long shot and won’t trust anything until the dust is completely settled.
i think they only thought rhys was dead, the same way they only thought kira’s mother was dead when she wasn’t. why else then would it be RHYS who we saw die saying goodbye to her once she had “excised the nogitsune from his body”? she stabbed him with her blade, which caused it to shatter, and forced the nogitsune out of him in the form of a firefly which she captured. after that,rhys spoke to her and THEN he died in her arms. (he was still in agony the whole time)
demons never gave a crap about their host body and never once throughout the entirety of the series can i remember one occasion where the demon actually healed it. think of cas tending to meg’s wounds when she was captured by crowley….if she had the power to heal, then she’d have simply healed herself instead of walking around beaten up. so long as the body remains functional they don’t care. andthere have been /loads/ of times when the demon has actively harmed their host body…..whether as a way of taunting or a way of trying to avoid exorcisism. multitudes of times. meg 1.0 making clear the extent of her injuries, the demon possessing lisa stabbing herself and abaddon insisde collette trying to break all her bones and snapping her neck are just a few notbale examples. in supernatural, the demons make it explicity clear – hosts are just a “meat suit” and nothing more.
the reason why that’s a bad comparison to the nogitsune is, as i said before, because the nogitsune very clearly was actively healing stiles’s body. a demon would never do that. i’m not even sure demons have the power at all to do that (in supernatural the ability to heal seems to be an angel trait). that’s a key difference between the two.
i’m not saying that the nogitsune cares for stiles in any way….but it very clearly needs his body to stay alive if it’s going to waste energy healing him (and we know how draining the act of healing is, so it literally would be wasting precious power. there’s no way in hell it would bother doing that if it wasn’t necessary).
i don’t believe stiles is out of the woods yet by any stretch of the imagination (plot wise at least. realistically stiles isn’t dying, he’ll be back next year) – but i don’t think that either the brain scan (a trick) or the stab wound (which was healing) are the dangers to him. if the nogitsune is killing stiles, then it’s my bet that it’s doing so by draining and feeding off of his life force and spirit. he’s not dying pysically, but spiritually (which ties in to what peter was saying about it NOT being a battle for the body, but one of the mind and spirit). if he were to die that way then it would follow logically that the nogitsune could permanently claim his body for it’s own. but for him to die of a physical ailment before that could happen?? i don’t buy that for a second. it just doesn’t make sense. especially one that’s already had the weight taken out of it. if he were to suddenly get shot in the face by argent, yeah, he’d die. but not from what we’ve seen so far…
I’m not saying that the injuries, real or otherwise, are going to be the things that kill Stiles or that they would kill him before the possession ended. Afterwards is a totally different can of worms. But the show has a history of deliberately misleading its audience, so I refuse to rule anything out until all is said in done. But having Stiles comes out of being possessed by this destructive spirit unscathed is just as ludicrous to me as it is for you to think that Stiles will be killed by something like as simple as a gut stab. And the biggest thing about the nogitsune is that it is a trickster spirit. For all we know, it could have been healing Stiles just to keep the people in the room guessing. These things love chaos, they literally feed off it.
And yes, demons don’t heal their meat suits, but you can’t dismiss the comparison on that basis alone. The demons and notgisune alike love manipulation, pain, and chaos by using people the characters care about. The Yellow Eyed Demon possessed John and taunted Dean, but Dean still wouldn’t kill the thing that murdered his mother and destroyed his life because it was inside his father. In Teen Wolf, the nogitsune taunted Chris then turned things around, saying, “You’re not here to kill me, you’re here to protect me.” Then the Oni showed up. Both of these supernatural beings are parasites, using the host’s body to their own advantage and for their own goals.
On the subject of whether Rhys was dead or alive at the time of possession, we’ll just have to agree to disagree because it’s really up to our own interpretations of the episode. To me, that phrase said at the end didn’t even sound like Rhys, it sounded like the recording of an echo of Rhys’ voice. And remember, having the nogitsune take control of his body wasn’t even the plan. She offered up herself, even though she was dying. She believed Rhys was dead and wanted vengeance for what was done to him and the others. Dead or dying, their bodies were seriously compromised, which says to me that that detail wasn’t a factor on why the notgitsune chose how it did. If it wanted a totally healthy host, it could have possessed one of the soldiers dumping the bodies, but it didn’t. It took Rhys, who, for all intents and purposes, was dead.
Side-note: Reading your last paragraph, the bit about the “battle for mind and spirit” reminds me of the Fred/Illryia arc from Angel. The possession and subsequent destruction of her soul was much quicker, but the effect was still the same: Illryia took control of the body and Fred was gone. I don’t think Davis will go that way, but it was just an interesting parallel.
i think you may have misunderstood me? i don’t think it’s ludicrous that stiles will be harmed somehow in whatever fashion going into the next season (personally i think he’s going to have some trauma to deal with mentally and emotionally as his biggest and longer arching concerns, but he could very likely have a wound or a physicalchange to deal with as well) – i never said that at all. quite the opposite actually….stiles has quite the battle on his hands.
what i’m referring to is this section of your article;
“As we saw in “Riddled”, he already suffered brain damage. It would be beyond ridiculous and not to mention pointless if they just magicked it away just because Stiles is no longer possessed. And what about that stab wound to the gut?”
what i’m saying is that both of these have already been somewhat nullified onscreen – the brain scan was revealed to be a trick, so it wouldn’t be ridiculous or pointless at all for it never to mentioned again now that the wind’s been taken from it’s sail(except in the characters who know this to explain as much to stiles and scott) and deaton confirmed that the stab wound to the gut was already healing. so neither of those things form a real viable threat anymore. (the wound would still need medical attention but it’s very much so manageable now)
you went on to back up that possession could be fatal using the demons of supernatural as your example – and i’m saying that that’s an aweful example because the demons of supernatural NEVER heal their human hosts. we KNOW that the nogitsune has been healing stiles. yes, both are evil and essentially parasites out to make a bit of chaos, but that’s not what you’re talking about here – you’re talking about physical ailments….and the crucial aftermath of the two scenarios is existentially different based on the fact that PHYSICALLY the two parasites treat their hosts completely differently. the nogitsune heals. demons don’t. that’s the difference there and that’s the reason the comparison’s a bad one. where you making it in relevance to their respective INTENTIONS then the point would be moot and have nothing to do with anything…but you weren’t. you were talking about the PHYSICAL detrimental effects of the host’s respective wounds while under possession. what i’m saying is, you can’t compare the two that way because the way in which they treat their host bodies is fundementally the polar opposite. even though the nogitsune stabbed stiles, it’s actively expanding precious power in healing him (which we know from 3a is no easy feat). in all the countless examples of when a demon has harmed their host body, never once have they ever tried to repair the damage. that makes the outcome of the host’s survival post possession HUGELY different. (i apologise for all the capitals btw – i’m not shouting i just don’t know how to do itallics here, so read any capitals as a form of emphasis only)
the illyria/fred comparison is an excellent one!!! i like that a lot. i think it’s much closer to what the nogitsune is attempting to do with stiles. the show’s stated a few times now that it’s not a battle of the body but a battle for the mind (that’s even the tagline in a way – “lose your mind”) and that’s essentially what happened with illyria/fred, only much much quicker (granted illyria was a goddess and basically invincable and iirc it was because her power was far too much for fred to handle)….i don’t think teen wolf’s going to go that way in as much as we’re not losing stiles (plus illyria wasn’t evil she was just ancient and confused and angry,so she became an ally. something the nogitsune would never be), but i certainly think that the nogitsune possessioin mirrors that same ethos – the battle for the mind and spirit…
i forgot to add before, but didn’t she tell nogitsune stiles when he confronted her in the basement about why she chose to mark the wall with the japanese mark for self it was “because he (rhys) died as himself”? it took me a couple of listens when i first watched the episode, but his dying words to her was the french phrase she was trying to teach him earlier in the episode, and the way she held him definitely looked tome like she knew it was really him….
But he could have also died “as himself” in agony from his injuries as a result of being burned alive. I’ve spoken with my friends and other people at The Geekiary, and they’ve also said that they believe that Rhys was dead at the time of the possession. As I said before, on this topic, we will have to agree to disagree.
They may have been nullified, but I won’t completely trust said nullification until the season is over and one. And that’s just me. Davis is a trickster himself and loves luring his viewers into a false sense of security only to rip that out from under them. I will be beyond thrilled if the brain scan and the gut stab are just tricks or non-threatening, but things are too uncertain right now.
And on the physical, yes, that is a bad comparison, but in the course of this debate, I’ve broadened my comparison. Plus I believe that all the strife around the nogitsune is fueling it and giving it power, so healing some stomach wound when it has plenty of power resource doesn’t seem like too much of a threat. I think the “healing” is a side effect of the nogitsune gathering its strength from the chaos around it. This thing doesn’t care if Stiles lives or dies, it just wants chaos. I don’t really think it meant to heal him, that just happened as it was absorbing power.