'Teen Wolf' Recap: 'Echo House'

Courtesy MTV
BY MELISSA HARKNESS

A Stiles, A Coyote, and A Mental Ward

The nonstop crazy train that Stiles is on hasn’t slowed down one bit after Deaton poisoned the Nogitsune last week. Stiles and Sheriff Stilinski drive up to the gates of Eichen House at dusk. As they wait to be buzzed in, Scott shows up and tries to stop the Sheriff from putting his best friend into the dreary mental institution that gave us such gems as Mr. Barrow. Only Stiles tells him it’s his idea. He then breaks our hearts a little more by asking Scott to never let him leave there if they can’t get rid of the Nogitsune possessing him. Astonished, Scott just watches as the Stilinski’s enter the grounds and prepare to check in. Sadly, this doesn’t turn out to be a dream or hallucination that Stiles is having. He really is having his dad leave him in the institution. 

Only, at the last minute the Sheriff decides that he can’t leave Stiles there; he forgot his pillow. Stiles insists and is led down a long dreary hallway to his room, leaving his father standing forlornly in the entryway. Just to perk things up a bit, one of the patients hangs himself in the stairwell as they pass. Then he thinks he sees the Nogitsune among the onlookers. Oh, yeah, this is going to be a fun visit. When Stiles decides he needs to make a phone call, the nurse assures him that if he doesn’t go in his room quietly she’ll introduce him to the “five-point restraint system." His roommate is currently undergoing this experience and is strapped securely into his bed. Despite that, Oliver seems a cheerful enough fellow.

In the morning, Stiles and his new friend go in search of a phone. Stiles feels an urgent need to tell someone about who he keeps seeing out of the corner of his eye. Much to his frustration, the phones have all been shut down because the patients aren’t allowed to call out after a suicide. That’s terribly convenient. The bright side of his day, is turning around to find Malia the Coyote standing amidst the patients. It would appear that she hasn’t adjusted to being human yet. That’s not surprising since the wolf pack appears to have left her on her own after “saving” her from her coyote form. You understand if she’s not exactly happy to see Stiles, don’t you? Guess who else is at “Echo House?" It’s Ms. Morell from the Alpha Pack debacle. Looks like since she’s not a guidance counselor at Beacon Hills High anymore, she got a job counseling actual mental patients instead of hormonal teenagers. 

After a little group therapy session about the complex nature of guilt in our lives, she catches sight of some interesting marks on the back of Stiles neck. These are actually a good thing; they signify the weakened state of the Nogitsune. Unfortunately, when the marks fade his power will be back at full force. She advises Stiles not to sleep and slips him some amphetamines to help make that happen. She does at least warn him that if the wolf pack can’t cure him by the time the Nogitsune recovers, she’ll have to kill him. That’s the kind of encouragement everyone locked into a mental institution needs to hear.


After Stiles’ earlier run in with Malia, he realizes that he recognizes the basement of Eichen House. He is now obsessed with getting down there to investigate. To that end, he enlists Malia’s help with the enticement that he knows who can help her learn to turn back into a coyote. I assume he means Scott, don’t you? It should perhaps be mentioned, that this conversation happens when he walks in on her showering in the boy’s bathroom. It’s because the water is hotter in there she tells him, and she’s always cold now that she doesn’t have an actual fur coat on anymore. Their plan to steal the Head Orderlies keys go well, until Stiles gets caught because there isn’t a key to the basement. That seems odd doesn’t it? Someone has to have a key. After Malia breaks him out of solitary confinement, they find another way in through the violent patient’s ward. I assume that’s where Mr. Barrow stayed, you know. They don’t find much, except for the kanji symbol on the wall that we already saw a few episodes ago. 

After going through the old file boxes proves boring, Malia decides that making out is more entertaining. From the look on her face, she finally got warm. After the warming activities, she notices something odd about the wall where the mark is scratched. It proves to be an opening to a crawl space behind the wall. Guess who’s inside? The mummified remains of one bandaged up scary Nogitsune. They find an old photo on the corpse, and Stiles recognizes one of the people. Before he can tell us who it is, Oliver shows up. Only he’s not nearly as cheerful as before. He tasers the two and uses his own version of the five-point restraint system to secure them to a chair. It seems the Nogitsune has been influencing him and he wants to practice the lost art of trepanning on Malia and Stiles. Luckily the basement even has a rather modern looking drill lying around for just such a procedure. After a liberal dose of a sedative, Stiles once again has an internal conversation with the the Nogitsune. Stiles demands to be let out, while the Nogitsune demands to be let in.


While Stiles and Malia are in grave danger, the wolf pack is planning a caper, as in a heist. While Papa Argent and Derek sit in jail, Deaton has been investigating how to free Stiles of his unwelcome guest. They decide they need the Shugendo Scroll that Silverfinger had. Folklore says that it contains the way to defeat our evil friend. As luck would have it, he actually kept it on him hidden in his namesake silver finger. The bad news is that the finger in question is being moved to the FBI via armored truck that very night. So, obviously, they decide to hijack the truck and steal it away. The twins are disappointed to find that they aren’t allowed to actually kill anyone. Oh, and Kira has taught herself how to use a sword, so she gets to tag along. Only Kincaid, the very large werewolf that worked for Silverfinger, beats them to it. A wolf fight ensues, where despite being an alpha, Scott finds himself losing. Then the twins jump into the fight, and they manage to bring the big bad wolf down. After getting the tiny little scroll out of the silver finger, Scott lets Kincaid go. This was against the twins advice, of course. After delivering it back to Deaton, it proves to be of little help. All he can make out is that the only way to get the Nogitsune out of Stiles, is for Stiles’ body to change. Scott jumps to the conclusion that this means he need to turn Stiles into a werewolf and the problem is solved. Somehow I think that might prove to be difficult on many levels.


Meanwhile, Stiles wakes up from his nap in the basement. Oliver has the drill all ready for surgery, but the Nogitsune has made his own discovery. He tells Oliver to start with Malia, unless Stiles gives up and lets him in. You know, that Stiles can’t let that happen, so he lets the dark fox in to do his worse, which I imagine is going to be pretty bad. He rewards Oliver for his hard work with a fist to the face. It’s so hard to find an evil overlord these days. It happily results in Malia surviving to leave the facility the next morning. Ms. Morell advises her to see Scott. She smiles as she strolls confidently away flashing the blue eyes that mark her as a killer. We are left to wonder if Evil Stiles remained inside or escaped during the night.

There are only four more episodes this season, and according to the previews it’s going to be a crazy twisted ride you don’t want to miss.


The next episode of ‘Teen Wolf’, ‘The Fox and the Wolf’ airs Monday, March 3 at 10 p.m. ET on MTV.