Teen Wolf Review: “Letharia Vulpina” (Season 3, Episode 19)

The thing about Teen Wolf that you should always remember is that it is constantly improving. The series started off strong and has continued to build on that solid foundation over the years. Every episode pushes the limits a bit further and now, this character-driven story has made one of its own the greatest villain yet.

Stiles (Dylan O’Brien) has always been the voice of reason. So what happens when there’s a voice inside of him that can’t be reasoned with? It’s still unclear what the tricky Nogitsune intends to do, or why he chose Stiles as his host, but it’s not looking good for our young friend – or anyone around him. So far he’s been responsible for a string of violent acts that can only be marginally traced back to him. He’s almost killed dozens of innocent bystanders (OK, some of them probably weren’t completely blameless). Yet, Scott (Tyler Posey) and his pack don’t seem to be any closer to figuring out his motives or end-game. When you throw into the mix Kira (Arden Cho) and her new Kitsune powers, the entire situation becomes that much more complicated.

Teen Wolf as a whole just became more complicated too. In the second part of this season there’s been an influx of new characters and mythology and Kira is only one piece of this increasingly complex puzzle. Her mother is obviously another, along with Peter (Ian Bohen) and his coy-wolf love child, Malia (Shelley Hennig), Derek (Tyler Hoechlin) and Argent (JR Bourne) teaming up, and Lydia (Hollan Hoden) and her incredible shrieking powers. How do all these pieces fit together? That’s the question of the hour.

Somehow everything transpiring is linked to Stiles’ and his evil possession.The last time we know of that the Nogitsune took over someone, it ended in the death of his host. Fingers crossed that history doesn’t repeat itself, but fans have seemed to wager that any one of the characters could be convinced to consider Stiles expendable give the right context. If it’s Stiles versus the masses, there won’t be much of a choice. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that though.

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