Teen Wolf ended the first half of its third season with “Lunar Ellipse,” an episode that finally saw Scott become a "True Alpha" and Peter Hale go back over to the dark side.

“Lunar Ellipse” opened with Stiles (Dylan O'Brien), Scott (Tyler Posey) and Allison (Crystal Reed) emerging from their tubs of ice water. Though they had all traveled to some kind of magical time traveling plane to find their parents together, they were quickly separated. Each character was transported back in time to the very first night in the pilot episode; the night when Allison came to town and Scott got bitten. It was that night that the three of them stumbled into the woods and came upon the tree stump where their parents are being held captive. The three teens awoke from their magical deaths sixteen hours after originally going under, leaving them four hours to find and rescue their parents before the full moon rises and the sacrifices are completed.

Aidan (Charlie Carver), one half of the super-Alpha twins, comes to Lydia (Holland Roden) to ask for help in stopping Kali and his brother, Ethan (Max Carver), from killing Derek (Tyler Hoechlin). She goes with him to Derek’s loft and they convince Derek to run – he’d never make it out of the fight alive, especially considering he’s drained himself of all his power by transferring his Alpha status over to his sister, Cora (Adelaide Kane), to save her life.

Aiden and Lydia try to stall Kali and Ethan, but they don’t need to for long. Miss Blake (Haley Webb) jumps in, and she uses the power from the sacrifices to kill Kali and possibly kill the twins. The two boys appear dead, but it seems Miss Blake only killed their combined alpha, and not each separate half, and the two survived with help from Deaton (Seth Gilliam).

Meanwhile, Scott, Isaac (Daniel Sharman) and Allison headed to Allison’s apartment to get something of her dad’s, and, presumably weapons for Allison in the hopes that Isaac and Scott might be able to catch a scent when they get into the woods. Stiles is supposed to meet them at the woods with something of his father’s. Waiting for them in Mr. Argent’s study is Scott’s FBI dad. He laid out Allison’s dad’s weapons, and he wants answers. There is no father-son reunion, only an attempted interrogation. With the clock ticking, Allison springs into action, distracting the authorities long enough to set off a smoke bomb allowing the three teens to escape.

They head for the woods, but Stiles is nowhere to be found and he’s not answering his phone. On his frantic drive to the woods, Stiles loses control of his beloved Jeep and runs straight into a tree. He’s knocked out in the driver’s seat, bleeding from a gash on his head. The team splits up: Isaac and Allison go find their parents while Scott teams up with Deucalion (Gideon Emery) to fight Miss Blake.

Isaac and Allison find their parents, but Miss Blake is using her powers to create a storm that is making the ground slowly fall on their heads – her plan, as explained by Deucalion when they are finally face to face, is to have the storm going so that her sacrifices are buried alive and die while she fights him. Once all the parents are untied, they all struggle to dodge falling wood and cement while slowly being trapped underground.

Deucalion turns, and for the first time we see him as the Alpha he is – dark, mean, and powerful. Scott stands on the sidelines, unsure of what to do since Derek appeared with Miss Blake. He’s ready to make a deal with her – his protection and life in exchange for the last three sacrifices.

Deucalion knocks Derek to the ground easily, and it’s not long before he has Miss Blake on her knees. But, he doesn’t kill her. Instead, he brings Scott over and tries to force him to do it himself. At first he tries talking Scott into it, but Scott has faith that his friends will save his mother without him needing to kill Miss Blake to stop the magic from killing them underground. When that fails, Deucalion decides to forcefully grab Scott’s arm and aim his claws right for Miss Blake, just as he previously made Derek kill Boyd.

Then, the lunar eclipse hits. Scott, Deucalion and Derek are rendered powerless. This is the 15-minute window Miss Blake has to kill Deucalion. She quickly starts slamming his head into the ground, cracking his skull bit by bit, but Derek distracts her. Deucalion points out that he has never seen what he did to her or what she really looks like. If Miss Blake really is out for revenge, she should make him see what the consequences to his actions are. Miss Blake uses her power to heal Deucalion’s eyesight, and then goes to kill him. Nothing. Miss Blake used up her powers momentarily to heal the very man she wants to kill! And, just like that, the 15 minutes are up.

Derek begs Miss Blake to stop the third sacrifice, but she’s still a woman on a mission, and she stops Derek and Scott from killing her with a circle of mountain ash. Undeterred, Scott tries to reach through the protective circle. He pushes, his eyes turning yellow, and finally, burning red. He is now a True Alpha and breaks through the circle. Derek, Deucalion and Miss Blake all appear shocked, and Scott informs Miss Blake that he doesn’t care if killing her changes the color of his eyes. He’ll kill her if she doesn’t stop the sacrifices. Before he gets the chance, Deucalion steps in and slashes her throat. She collapses on the ground.

Scott and Derek decide to let Deucalion go. They trust him to go back to his ways of peace, they say, but they also leave him with a warning. Even with his eyesight, if they find out he’s up to his old tricks, they will kill him, and he’ll never see them coming.

Deucalion walks away into the night and Scott calls Stiles.

Stiles answers. He made it out of the car and under the nemeton just in time to save the whole thing from crushing the parents, Allison and Isaac with his aluminum baseball bat (the one he carries around for protection). All is good, and Stiles tells Scott to come get them, and that he’s going to need a ladder.

Allison declares her intentions to resume training with her father. She wants them to be prepared for whatever threat comes next, and she wants to be able to save those who can’t protect themselves (Note: can Stiles get in on this training too?). And Scott still has to deal with his absentee dad, who has decided to stick around for a while. Scott doesn’t seem to care for a father-son reunion and slams his door in his face. Finally, Derek skips town with his sister with no return date in sight.

Everybody is saved, and it looks like Scott has managed to defeat two evils: the Alpha Pack and Miss Blake. But, as always, someone evil this way comes. Miss Blake’s body disappeared. There's no telling whether she’s alive or dead. At the end of the episode, she is seen making her way to the nemeton, hoping it will save her life again. She’s stopped by Peter Hale (Ian Bohen), and isn’t the least bit shocked he found her alone. She knows his plan: he wants to kill Scott and take Scott’s Alpha power.

Blissfully unaware of the threat of Peter, Scott returns to his ‘normal’ high school life. Everybody is back at school: Allison and Isaac are flirting, as are the Alpha twins with their respective love interests and Stiles and Scott are still BFFs.

Teen Wolf season three will continue with 3B on MTV January 6.

Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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