'Teen Wolf' Recap: "Blitzkrieg" and "Memory Found"

Sabrina Petrafesa ‘18 / Emertainment Monthly Executive Publisher
Spoilers for the Teen Wolf episodes, “Blitzkrieg” and “Memory Found” are within this article. 
The eighth episode of Teen Wolf, “Blitzkrieg,” has a lot going on. Teacher Garrett Douglas (Pete Ploszek) is revealed to be a Nazi who wants to create an army of Ghost Riders; pretty much everyone in Beacon Hills has been taken by the Ghost Riders; Theo Raeken (Cody Christian) is sticking around for good; and Mr. Douglas has hypnotized Jordan Parish (Ryan Kelley) to open the breach to the Train Station, because apparently, only a hellhound can survive that.
Although a lot happens in “Blitzkrieg,” the only performance worth mentioning comes from Linden Ashby in the role of Sheriff Stilinski. He begins to remember his son, Stiles (Dylan O’Brien), when he finds Stiles’ red string for his crime board. Carrying the string around the room brings more and more of it back into existence. When he tries to show his wife, Claudia (Joey Honsa), she is incredibly skeptical—and the second she enters the room, everything disappears. When the sheriff finally realizes Lydia Martin (Holland Roden) was right about Claudia only existing to fill the hole made by his son’s absence, Claudia disappears. Viewers watch Stilinski attempt to remember Stiles throughout the whole episode, and it is both heartbreaking and fantastic. For once, Linden Ashby is able to deliver a performance an actor of his caliber very rarely gets to give on a show like Teen Wolf.

The rest of the episode involves a lot of action, and numerous people being taken by the Ghost Riders. Melissa McCall (Melissa Ponzio), Chris Argent (J. R. Bourne), Hayden Romero (Victoria Moroles), and many others from the supporting cast are among those taken. Only Liam Dunbar (Dylan Sprayberry), Scott McCall (Tyler Posey), Malia Tate (Shelley Hennig), Lydia Martin, Theo Raeken, and Sheriff Stilinski are left in Beacon Hills. We find out that Mr. Douglas, a literal Nazi from World War II, is still alive thanks to the Dread Doctors, and that he wants to create an army of Ghost Riders.
Martin, Tate, and Scott McCall try to open a breach to the train station while attempting to stop Mr. Douglas from doing the same thing. The trio ultimately fails to stop the antagonist, as he uses Parish to open the breach, because hellhounds are literally fireproof.
The end of the episode brings Martin, McCall, Tate, and Sheriff Stilinki together. The Sheriff tells them how he remembers every single thing about his son, and also reveals Stiles’ true first name: “I have a son. His name is Mieczyslaw Stilinski.” Through the Sheriff’s revelation, Scott realizes opening a breach requires that they must remember Stiles—all of him, not just some scattered details.
Episode Grade: A- (Purely for Linden Ashby)

After last episode’s revelation, McCall and Tate attempt to remember Stiles in the most dangerous way possible. They put themselves in a chamber that would kill a hellhound if it got cold enough, while Lydia walks them through their memories using hypnosis; concurrently, Raeken and Dunbar draw all of Beacon Hills’ Ghost Riders toward them. Although this episode doesn’t have a lot going on, it still pulls on heartstrings.
While McCall, Tate, and Martin attempt to gain back their memories of Stiles, Dunbar risks his life to give the trio time to open another breach. Unsurprisingly, Raeken is not exactly excited to be risking his life for people who hate him. Dunbar pulls through as McCall’s beta, inspiring Raeken to be a better person and to put his life in danger to save Dunbar. It was a shocking turn of events for viewers, because Raeken has never shown even an inch of personal growth; maybe this change of heart comes from his sister, who is haunting him Samara-from-The–Ring-style, the most horrifying plot detail in Teen Wolf.
In their attempt to remember Stiles, both McCall and Tate nearly die. This drama seems unnecessary, because when it’s Martin’s turn to remember Stiles, the group uses simple hypnosis on her—and it works. Obviously, Teen Wolf likes to make things difficult for no reason.
Although these scenes play out more life or death than necessary, they do affect viewers’ emotions through the use of flashbacks to previous seasons. When McCall is in the chamber, Martin guides him through his memories using lockers, and each memory is more and more painful to watch. The scene where Stiles willingly steps into a puddle of gasoline, telling McCall that if he dies Stiles will have to go with him, is ultimately the scene that brings back every memory McCall has of Stiles.

For Tate, this moment is through the memory of when Stiles left some of the characters in the Hale vault to go and save everyone—because that’s what Stiles does, save people. Unfortunately for McCall and Tate, they both very nearly die in the chamber, but they do not open a breach to the Train Station to get to Stiles. It is, in fact, up to Martin to open the breach—and oh, boy, if the previous flashbacks don’t make viewers teary, then these ones definitely do.
Both McCall and Tate agree that Martin is the one who had the closest connection to Stiles, and it has to be her memories that open the breach. Indeed they are. Martin’s flashbacks range from her asking, “what the hell is a Stiles?” to the dance where Stiles tells her she’s the smartest girl in the school, to the kiss in the locker room wherein Stiles has a panic attack, to the moments right before Stiles was taken. If “Stydia” wasn’t confirmed before, it definitely is now. Martin’s memories open the breach to the Train Station, and we see a figure walking towards them. The audience has to assume that it is, in fact, Stiles, and that Dylan O’Brien will finally grace our screens again, hopefully for the remainder of the season.
Next episode should bring multiple reunion scenes, and thankfully, a comedic aspect to the show that clearly only O’Brien is capable of bringing to the table. If anything, the next episode will be interesting.
Episode Grade: B