Teen Wolf S05E13: "Codominance"

At some point or another, ALL of us go out to the desert for answers, for the desert is mystical and powerful and it is where all answers can be found. Especially if the questions were, like, "What does a rattlesnake bite feel like" or "Can I die of sunshine?" The desert is where you will discover this info. But sometimes people have more metaphysical or existential concerns, and that is when heavy drugs factor in. Sometimes nothing is more instructive than lying down on a boulder and laughing at the screaming skulls in the sky. Alternatively, one could, uh, take advantage of the belief systems of indigenous peoples and go on a vision quest or something, but that can get expensive and "spirit animal" jokes have been played out for about a decade now. But leave it to Teen Wolf for giving us a new spin on the desert soul-search: SCANTILY CLAD WARRIOR WOMEN. It's frankly shocking that this show had not yet featured skinwalkers crawling up out of the ground before, yet here was Kira, suddenly face to face with a trifecta of female weirdos ready and willing to either murder her or change her life for the better. If only it were that easy for all of us!

"Codominance" was the name of this week's episode, and the title referred to the genetic scenario in which two recessive genes are equally represented in the offspring. In this case, Teen Wolf's two recessive genes were front and center: a martial arts thriller AND a CGI monster movie! And much like last week, the ambition on display here was borderline audacious. Let's talk about it!

We picked up immediately where last week's episode left off: Three extremely dusty warrioresses popped up out of the ground, brushed off any jackalope turds, and then CAME FOR Kira. The fight was just a lot of banging swords against spears, but this skinwalker ended up being my favorite one:

She was so goth! She was like a lady version of the Crow. I liked her immediately and I would like to exchange mixtapes with her someday.

I am not an expert on proper dueling attire, but I felt like this skinwalker could have worn more protective gear. But again I am not an expert on proper dueling attire, please don't ask me if I'm an expert on proper dueling attire because I'm not. I just sometimes get concerned when people are brandishing bare #butts during desert duels. The sand-rashes alone!

Minutes later, Kira was speared in the shoulder and pinned to a boulder! But the three skinwalkers weren't TOO mad at her and they agreed to help Kira get control of her inner kitsune or else just convert her to a skinwalker and make her live with them in their Burning Man community forever. So that was gonna be a real blast either way. But as much as this scene was weird and insane (or perhaps because of that), it was one of my favorite things to ever happen on Teen Wolf and that's the truth. What even WAS all this?

Scott and Liam were not yet at the point where Liam could apologize to Scott for nearly murdering him, but they were definitely at the point where Liam could freely enter Scott's home and creepily wait for him to come out of his bedroom.

Liam tried to tell Scott a bunch of exposition he already knew—the chimeras were still alive, including Hayden—and he begged for the chance to help Scott get the pack back together, but Scott was NOT having it. He wasn't real mean about it, but he made it pretty clear he didn't want to hang out with Liam right now. Domestic drama stuff.

But then a few seconds later Stiles pointed out that if Scott wanted to rebuild his pack, maybe he should start with the only proper werewolf in his pack, the one he'd personally sired. But Scott was like, "Yeah good point but no." Fair enough!

So then Theo and Tracy went to go creep around the high school to hunt for whatever it is Theo's hunting for. That's when they encountered the Dread Doctors again, and Theo immediately began complaining that he REALLY wants his eyes to glow red like a proper alpha.

But they were like, "relax buddy" and then a giant CGI beast walked up holding a severed head and then screamed at everyone!

It honestly screamed so loud that Beacon Hills probably sustained a lot of structural damage and at the very least a lot of cracked stucco! According to Theo, this beast had personally murdered upwards of 500 people, but I would like to also see a spreadsheet of the homeowners insurance premiums it's caused to skyrocket! Anyway, we also learned that yes, it is both a chimera AND a resurrected mythological beast... The human inside of it was merely the vessel needed to bring the beast to life, and according to Theo is probably not even aware that it is the beast. I think the show wants us to turn this into a 'Who's the Beast?' mystery but it is probably too soon to guess, right? (It's Allison. No wait, it's Derek.)

I liked when Kira woke up in a wigwam and her mom told her that it's okay to become a skinwalker, they're no more evil than kitsunes. So either Kira was going to get her powers under control, or she was going to become a permanent resident of the desert. A win-win scenario, especially for fans of exfoliation.

Then Scott and Stiles took a road trip into the Scorch (btw Stiles' Jeep was working again!) and by Scorch I mean a bank of green screens. The green screening in this episode was definitely, uh, fascinating. But it afforded them the chance to do some important reading!

They looked into the "damnatio memoriae" thing from last week (and which was also scrawled on the lockers at school), and we learned that it was a form of ostracism meant to protect a populace from even the thought of something bad, and that it had been famously used against a 16th century child murderer. But even though it seemed like Scott was reading this book aloud, he definitely skipped over the "he would rape them" part, so that was nice of Scott to protect Stiles' delicate sensibilities. But also, uh, if this beast is the same as that guy, he is probably not going to be super fun to deal with. Stay away from these kids!





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