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| Courtesy MTV |
BY MELISSA HARKNESS
Smoke Ninjas vs Kitsune: A Tale As Old As Time
When we left Beacon Hills last week, Mr. Argent had been badly wounded in pursuit of some smoke ninja related business. While, our wolf pack and friends had faced off with the smoke ninjas at a rave. And most importantly, Stiles realized that he is the one who helped Barrow go after Kira.
After the smoke ninjas wipe the dance floor with all of the werewolves except for Scott, he decides to take Kira home on his terribly masculine dirt bike. Love and giggles are in the air. She is all glowy and not in a supernatural kind of way. Scott is also wearing a stupid grin. It gets interrupted by the twins arrival on their own motorcycles. They've assigned themselves to ‘guard Scott’ duty for the day. It’s kind of sweet, if you disregard their desperation to get into the pack. He momentarily loses them to hunt down Stiles to fill him in on what he missed the night before.
Stiles has his own news to share first though. He takes Scott to the Chemistry lab to show him the writing on the chalkboard, only it’s gone. The key has also mysteriously disappeared from his keychain. Scott is not very supportive of his perplexed friend and suggests he go home and get some rest. Instead, he takes himself to the hospital to see a doctor. He unloads his worries onto Melissa, Scott’s mom. In filling out his chart, she decides that he is suffering from sleep deprivation. Drawing up a syringe of medication, she asks Stiles if he trusts her. Of course he trusts her! The shot is a sedative, and he calls her “Mom” as he falls asleep. Aww, poor Stiles! This jogs a memory for Melissa though. She starts looking through some old files and finds one with the exact symptoms that Stiles is exhibiting, with the same diagnoses. She nods to herself, and as she closes the file we get a good look at the patient’s name. It’s “Claudia Stilinski”, Stiles’ dead mother. This doesn't bode well. Of course, I think the story has always been that she died in a car accident.
Allison and Isaac have also been absent from school today. Mr Argent finally filled everyone in on what he was doing the night before. He tells the kids about his previous experience with the smoke ninjas. He was 18 and making a gun deal with the Japanese Yakuza for his dad. Gee, someone really needs to give Gerard the Father of the Century award don’t they? Anyway, the masked ninja guys showed up and pretty much killed everybody trying to get to the guy in charge, who happened to have some wicked looking demonic teeth and glowy eyes himself.
After dispatching Mr. Teeth, they almost turned on another Japanese man. Only Chris interfered by shooting one of the ninjas in the face. It apparently made them go away, and he got that nifty mask souvenir. I guess they really just went away because they got what they showed up for, don’t you think? So, he’s been looking for this other survivor who just happens to be in town. Remind me not to visit Beacon Hills anytime soon, okay? He enlists Allison and Isaac in his scheme to get an audience with the man, who now runs the local chapter of the Japanese Mob. He does this by offering up a really old pistol for sale. Gun collectors are really into that stuff you know. Now Isaac is supposed to play the front man and keep the grunts busy buying the gun, while Chris and Allison sneak in and get to the old man. I think taking your daughter into a den of Japanese gang members won’t really win him any Father Of The Year awards either.
Oh, and here is my one true complaint about this show: Allison is not Buffy Summers on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. Hell, she’s not even Anya, who at least was a demon. She is a 17 year old human girl, who has only been mildly trained as a mighty Werewolf Hunter. Anyway, she helps daddy take down a bunch of highly trained Japanese criminal-warriors. Oh, and they had their own werewolf who was a lot bigger than Isaac.The old wise Japanese man is Silverfinger and he knows a little bit about our smoke ninja friends. They are demons called Oni. But, they seem like good demons who’s job it is to find “Dark Spirits” that are hiding inside people. This Dark Spirit is a type of kitsune. They have been hunting down the supernatural types in town and checking them for this bad kitsune. The mark they have placed on all of the wolves and Lydia is actually a sign that they've passed the test. Silverfinger doesn't know how to stop the Oni, but he leaves Chris with the recommendation to just let them do their job, even if the kitsune is in his own daughter. Well, I think we all know where the bad little kitsune is by now don’t we?
While The Argent’s have been playing with the Japanese Mob, Scott has once again ditched his bodyguards and whisked Kira off to his house to “protect” her. I’m sure he really meant that. While they smile flirtatiously at each other, she pulls out a children’s book on Japanese mythology and shows him what she thinks she is. It’s a kitsune of course, there are multiple types remember. They are generally described as multi-tailed foxes, which makes our teenagers giggle. Scott assures Kira that they will be safe at his house because Deaton installed a supernatural security system; only they need his mom to come home to turn it on. When they hear the front door, it turns out to be his dad, Agent McCall instead. He’s come over to chew Scott out for getting into his office at the Police Station and opening his laptop. He had his own security system, only it involved using the webcam to take a picture of prying eyes snooping in his laptop. Scott is reading him the “you’re not really my father” speech when Melissa gets home. Unfortunately, the sun goes down and the Oni materialize in the shadows of the room. Happily, one of them stabs the Agent. Unhappily, he doesn't die. At this point, Derek, and the twins all burst into the room and they start battling it out with the Oni. Oddly, they make a better showing of themselves this time.
They manage to physically through them outside the house, and Melissa activates the Mountain Ash Security System. Deaton should really sell those on one of those home shopping channels; he could retire from the veterinary job. The Oni are not so easily dissuaded and begin pounding on the magical barrier. When it becomes apparent that they will soon break through, Scott calls Allison. She clues him into the whole test thing, and he convinces Kira to let the Oni have their way with them both. They hold hands as the big old demons grab their heads. Not surprisingly, they both pass and the Oni disappear. Unfortunately, they now rush Agent McCall to the hospital.
At the hospital, Stiles has woken up and is wandering the empty halls when three of the Oni find him. Their masks appear more menacing when they look at poor lonely Stiles. As one reaches out to him, Stiles grabs it’s arm with lightning fast reflexes. He then punches his other hand into the demonic ninjas chest. It evaporates, leaving a little firefly in his hand gasping it’s last little breaths. He then turns to finish the other two off. In the hall, Scott hears some scuffling and barges into the room, to find Stiles all alone. He tells his friend that he’s fine and they walk away, leaving a lone firefly flickering on the floor. Not cool Stiles, not cool.
The next episode of "Teen Wolf," 'Riddled' airs Monday, Feb. 10 at 10 p.m. ET on MTV.