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Have we ever once heard Chris refer to Gerard as “my father,” or literally anything other than “Gerard?” I think that's pretty telling. (We probably have; I haven't been keeping track. But not often!)
Yeah, this is a lot of the exposition that I half-slept through last time. Actually, this whole season is a little blurry in my memory. I remember establishing that the Oni were looking for something or someone in particular, which is why no one they confront dies – they were checked over and found to be not the target – but I didn't pick up that all this came from a Chris flashback, or who the hell Silverfinger was in the story. So now I know all that! I'm not sure that it adds anything: “the Oni are looking for someone in particular” is still pretty much the takeaway here, but it's still nice to reveal information in an interesting way over the course of an episode, rather than just plonking it down there and wandering off.
Aw, so of course it's very sweet that Kira touches Scott's face and finds it fascinating and lovely – that's kind of a classic scene in this genre, and as long as the actors are even remotely good and have a modicum of chemistry, it really always works for me. But actually, what I almost like better is the way she touches his shoulder when she's getting off the bike. I suppose it's partially for physical support on the dismount, but it came across to me like a very tender, intimate gesture, like she's acknowledging that he's there for support in an appreciative way. Also, this is another really good song! (The internet tells me it's “Silhouette,” by Active Child.) This show has always had a good soundtrack, but I feel like this season and season 4 are especially awesome. They must've gotten a new music director who likes everything I like.
It's...not ominous that someone erased the blackboard, Stiles. It's inconvenient, but it's not ominous.
Huh, I didn't catch the thing about the prank on Coach, either. There are layers to this season! It's a really good idea to watch it while awake! I know that sounds obvious, but honestly, not all shows are improved by that.
Oh, my god, poor Stiles. He just looks so defeated during this hospital sequence. He really wanted to figure out how to manage all this on his own, and he isn't defensive of overly proud about admitting that he's failed at that, he's just...sad about it. And also OW, with the “mom.” I think we're supposed to read that as Stiles' sedative-foggy brain making false connections so that he really is seeing his mother there and not Melissa, but I actually think you could plausibly see it as something he already wanted to do on some level and now has lowered-enough inhibitions to do. I can totally imagine that, especially when he was a little younger, Stiles fantasized about Melissa agreeing to be his mom, too.
So if you are a person who has dirty Catholic school uniform type fantasies (I'M JUST SAYING, YOU MIGHT BE), then I give you Isaac. In return, I would like that AU now, please. (Remember how Victoria headed up a boys' school, which she may or may not have used to recruit hunters? Remember how this show is full of boys? Come onnnnnn, I want this!)
Wait, does Kira know for sure at this point that she's a kitsune, or is she just guessing? I feel like a minute ago she was all, “This just started! I don't know what it is! Am I a demon, maybe?” and now she's giving Scott the Monster Manual. Has she already talked to her mother, or did she jump right to this from “it looked like a fox” and the electricity connection? I wouldn't mind her making the intuitive leap, but it seems like she should be a little more hesitant about suggesting it if she's not sure. You'd look pretty dumb if you were wrong.
They really teased something significant there with McCall's “you know why I really came back,” but...I don't remember that leading to very much. “Can I talk to Scott? You know why I really came back. It's because... like I told you... it's to talk to Scott. So can I?” If I'm not forgetting something significant (and there's like a 48% chance I'm forgetting something significant), then that really should've had a payoff that it never got.
The scariest thing about that ending is not knowing whether Stiles is playing Scott there, or if he's already forgotten. We know that he doesn't remember/isn't controlled by the nogitsune all the time, or else he wouldn't have spent so much effort (and given up kissing!) trying to bust himself in regard to the Barrow mystery. Also, they say later that he has to agree in order for the nogitsune to move in full-time, right? But you also can't blithely assume that if Stiles isn't smiling cruelly while he kills you, it's really Stiles; he's a pretty good liar as a human, and almost certainly exponentially more so as a nogitsune. So the vast majority of things Stiles does during the front half of this season are sort of...up for grabs. Which is super appropriate in-universe for a trickster spirit, and super unsettling as a story device.
Hey, that was a really good episode! And I remembered almost none of it, so it's almost like a brand-new one! I definitely internalized “the Oni are chasing someone possessed by an evil spirit” and “oh, dear, it's almost definitely Stiles,” and that's really entirely it. But it's a well-constructed episode in terms of pulling together action and information from separate locations without any strand feeling superfluous. The advancement of both the major romantic subplots for the season felt organic and appealing. Multiple people got to be and/or look cool. There was action that I could actually make sense out of, even with all the damn lights off again. Very pleased.
