Teen Wolf Episode 315
“Galvanize”
Written By: Eoghan O’Donnell
Directed By: Robert Hall
Original Airdate: 20 January 2014
In This Episode…
The hospital is on lockdown as Agent McCall and a dozen other cops and agents transport a prisoner in for surgery. His name is William Barrow, a clearly insane guy who, about a year ago, walked onto a school bus with a bomb. Five children died, and another lost his legs. Since then, Barrow has repeated continually that, if he is released, he will do it again. Barrow is at the hospital to have shrapnel removed from his chest. Melissa does the pre-op interview, and she just has to ask: why? “I saw their eyes,” he says. “Their eyes glowed.”
During surgery, Barrow’s chest is open - but that is not shrapnel they find in his chest. It is a big, grayish tumor that is pulsating. It explodes, and swarms of flies escape, causing havoc in the operating room. Barrow wakes, attacks the doctors with a stolen scalpel, and runs. Despite the fact that his chest is open, Barrow escapes before the cops arrive. He has stolen an ambulance and holes up in the school - which is now on lockdown.
Despite being on lockdown, the school seems to be operating pretty normally. Classes are still in session; Coach is dealing with a mischief night prank; the twins re-enroll in school and Aidan runs off to hook up with Lydia. But Barrow is hiding out in the school. He uses a staple gun to crudely close up his chest (how he is not in shock I will never understand) then skulks around the school. Melissa sneaks in Barrow’s clothing so that Scott, Isaac, and the twins can catch his scent and hunt him down. They split up into groups and scour the basement with plans to meet up at the boiler room.
Lydia and Stiles are searching upstairs. The cops have left the school after an “eyewitness” places Barrow across town. But Lydia has been hearing a sound like flies all morning, and believes that this is her super-psychic-banshee sense telling her Barrow is nearby. While discussing Barrow with Stiles, it is Lydia who suggests that having the four “kids with glowing eyes” meeting in a boiler room that can easily be rigged to blow up is not the best plan. Stiles pulls the fire alarm to evacuate the school.
Lydia and Stiles go to his house to try to work out where Barrow is and how they can find him. Allison and Isaac are at her house, checking in the Beastiary for anything referencing flies. Scott is invited over to Kira’s house (by her father) for dinner.
Stiles figures out why the werewolves couldn’t track Barrow’s scent, and takes Lydia back to school to show her. He was messing around in the science lab and the chemicals masked his scent. So he was in the school - perhaps he still is - and the two set about checking the lab. Lydia recognizes three atomic element numbers written out of the chalkboard. When Lydia adds their abbreviations, it spells out Kira. Kira is the one that Barrow is after, not the werewolves.
Scott is leaving Kira’s house when he is bashed over the head and knocked unconscious. Stiles and Lydia wake him, and they are all on the same page. Barrow used to be an electrical engineer who worked at a power sub-station not far from there, so the trio take that as their best bet at finding Barrow and Kira.
Sure enough, Barrow has Kira tied up in the power sub-station, torturing her with huge, glowing live wires. So far he hasn’t touched her, it has all been scare tactics. Scott rushes in, insisting that Kira is not the one Barrow wants. He knocks Scott back and returns his attention to Kira. As he gets closer, an electrical storm whips up, knocking Barrow out and causing all the electricity in the room to flow into Kira like a superhero. The whole town is blacked out.
During this blackout, Isaac is locked in Allison’s room, alone - with several ghoulish demons dancing about.
Also: Derek reveals that the cylinder container holds four fangs from his mother, the only parts left after the fire. He makes Peter stab his fingers with the fangs, then transfer whatever he saw or experienced into Derek. All we see is Derek in a dream world, meeting his mother (as a wolf) in front of the nemeton.
Dig It or Bury It?
How weird is it to see Doug Jones as the bad guy? I’m used to seeing him behind lots of prosthetic makeup on screen. When he is not beneath makeup, he is the nicest guy ever. Seriously, I have never met a kinder, gentler soul. So to see him play an insane killer - and play him so well - is a bit jarring. I just wanted to give him a hug.
I wish that more of the episode was focused on Barrow. It started out there, and was really intense and engrossing. That was my favorite storyline. But then, in the middle of this manhunt, Scott goes to a dinner party and jokes about sushi. Allison and Isaac are kinda flirting / kinda working. And we are still only getting slivers of the Derek / Peter storyline. Give us more, or give us nothing!
And are the kids no longer crazy? Have they shut the doors in their minds? That wasn’t a factor in tonight’s episode.
Best. Moment. Ever.
There were a lot of great, funny moments tonight. One of my favorites was between Isaac and Allison. He tries to kiss her, and she pulls away, adamant that she won’t get involved with a werewolf again. Isaac tries to taunt her by taking off his shirt. Allison returns the favor, less in a “I want to rip my clothes off and have sex with you” way and more in a “Let’s see who can hold out longest” kind of way. Of course, her dad chooses now to walk in. He demands that Allison come talk with him in his office - “where I keep my guns.” They go and a moment later, Chris bellows, ANOTHER WEREWOLF?!
Prophecies?
Bad shit goes down at a rave. Which I wish was a more alarming sentence, but let’s be honest: that’s a pretty general descriptor for a rave.