Teen Wolf recap: 'Blitzkrieg'

SO. MUCH. JUST. HAPPENED.

Not only did we lose five people we love — five! — but we learned Stiles’ first name! And man, it is a doozy! Let’s get into it.

The hour starts with a flashback to Nazi Germany, and we know it’s Nazi Germany because there are swastikas literally everywhere — on the walls, on maps, on uniforms, on the bottom of drinking glasses … everywhere. There, we see good old Mr. Douglas pitching his great idea to win the war: He wants to use the Wild Hunt to build an army of unstoppable warriors. And when one of his fellow Nazis questions his ability to control said unstoppable army, Mr. Douglas gives a little demonstration. Translation: He whips out his nails and slits the guy’s throat. How’s that for German efficiency?

Meanwhile, back in Beacon Hills, Sheriff Stilinski is finally putting the pieces of the Stiles puzzle together. Standing in Stiles’ room, holding his jersey, he slowly starts to remember his son. First, a box of thumbtacks and some red string appears. (OF COURSE that’s first.) Then, Stilinski slowly starts tacking the string up around the room, and with each tack, another piece of Stiles’ existence falls into place — until Stilinski finds the photo of Stiles with his mother at the hospital. Hold onto that thought; we’ll get back to it in a moment.

While Stilinski worries about remembering his son, Scott and his pack — plus Peter — are trying to come up with a plan to free Stiles from the world’s most boring train station. So far, Scott’s plan involves him (and only him) jumping into the supernatural rift, finding Stiles at the train station, and then biting him. Once Stiles is a werewolf, he’ll be able to survive traveling back through the rift, and once he’s back, he can help them figure out how to save everyone else.

Peter’s not a big fan of the plan, and instead of sticking around to watch them fail, decides to leave them with one final word of wisdom: Run.

Spoiler: They don’t run. Instead, Scott, Malia, and Lydia go looking for the supernatural rift, which has now moved underground (the tunnel scenes just generally look cooler, okay?). But finding the rift was the easy part. Now they have to figure out how to get through it.

That’s where Argent and Melissa come in … sort of. Tracking Mr. Douglas, they find themselves with the dead Ghost Rider from last week. Apparently, eating the Rider’s pineal gland is how Douglas is able to control his whip (and essentially become a Ghost Rider without losing his good looks). And with that piece of knowledge, Douglas shows up and threatens Argent’s life until Melissa agrees to take him to Parrish. It seems this Nazi needs a Hellhound. (There’s a sentence for you.)

Melissa and Argent lead Mr. Douglas to Parrish — who now spends how much time in that chamber? — but when Argent tries to fight back, things go south. First up, Douglas uses the whip on Argent, and Melissa is only a few seconds behind. The Wild Hunt just gained two of Beacon Hills’ best. And by the time Douglas cracks the whip a third time, Parrish wakes up, his green eyes matching the Nazi’s.

While all of this is going down, Mason, Hayden, and Liam are at the sheriff’s station, where they have Theo behind bars because “he’s still Theo.” (It’s a solid point.) They quickly realize Douglas is their only lead on how to fight the Ghost Riders, and guess who knows all about Mr. Douglas? Yep, Theo.

In exchange for information, Theo forces Liam to break Kira’s sword, a.k.a. the thing that can send him back to wherever he was. Liam breaks it and Theo starts talking: Mr. Douglas isn’t your typical werewolf. And no, it’s not because he’s a Nazi. It’s because he’s not actually a werewolf at all. He’s a löwenmensch: Part wolf, part lion. The only downside? He doesn’t have a mane.

NEXT: Stiles’ name is revealed!

Back in the day, Mr. Douglas was part of Hitler’s personal project to use the occult to win the war. In a flashback to 1943, we see Mr. Douglas’ first encounter with the Ghost Riders’ supernatural barrier, when it burned one of his men to death. And when the Ghost Riders made an appearance moments later, Mr. Douglas was able to escape, but only after they whipped him.

By the time Mr. Douglas found the Dread Doctors — in the hopes they would help him — they threw him into a tank. The wound on his back then infected the water, and mixed with whatever fluid was in there, it actually made him stronger. In other words, he spent 70 years getting stronger, and now he has the combined strength of a löwenmensch, a Ghost Rider, and an alpha.

The good news: He could be their ticket for stopping the Ghost Riders. The bad news: He wants to raise his own personal supernatural army.

Having figured out Douglas’ plan, they run off to warn Scott, but when the Ghost Riders show up, they take Mason before Liam can stop them. And just before Liam and Hayden can run, they get ahold of Hayden. Liam tries to fight back, but when another Ghost Rider shows up to the party, Hayden tells him to leave. He can save her on the other side. And so, he leaves and Hayden is taken.

Just before Liam gets to Scott in the tunnels, Douglas shows up with Parrish. Once Parrish opens the rift — it won’t burn him any more than he burns himself — Douglas intends to walk through it. He invites Scott and company to come along, but they’re pretty sure he’s a bad guy. Just then, Liam shows up and confirms it: He’s a Nazi and he wants the Hunt for himself. So yeah, he’s definitely a bad guy.

So, with Scott and company out of the way, Parrish opens the rift and the two of them walk through, leaving Scott and his pack to face off with two Ghost Riders who show up shortly after. Liam and Lydia take off for the bunker while Scott and Malia fight for their lives. And when things aren’t looking good, it’s Peter who shows back up to save the day (and his daughter). Peter gives Scott and Malia the chance to escape before he, once again, is taken by the Ghost Riders.

As for Liam and Lydia, they make it out safely thanks to the fact the Ghost Riders seem scared of Lydia? Whatever it is, they don’t want to harm her and they definitely don’t want to take her.

As the pack gathers back at Scott’s house, Sheriff Stilinski has a heartbreaking realization. Just as he tries to show Claudia Stiles’ room, it once again appears to be empty. It’s then he realizes the only thing that’s changed is her presence. Suddenly, he can’t remember their last anniversary or what they did for Christmas last year. Looking at the picture he found in Stiles’ room, he remembers it was from Claudia’s last good day. He then retells the story of how Stiles fell asleep in his mother’s arms, and the moment Claudia closed her eyes, he knew she was gone.

And once again, Claudia disappears from his life.

Back at Scott’s, Scott tries to call his mom, only to realize she, too, has been taken. They’re the only ones left in Beacon Hills, and just as all hope seems to be lost, Stilinski walks through the door and does the unthinkable: He reveals Stiles’ first name!!!

“I have a son,” he announces. “His name is Mieczyslaw Stilinski.” It’s not easy to pronounce, but what do you want to bet it will play a role in all the madness of the season?!

Stilinski goes on to reveal that Stiles, for good reason, couldn’t pronounce his first name when he was a little kid. The closest he got was “mischief,” which is what Claudia called him. From there, Stilinski remembers the day Stiles got the Jeep, which was the same day he drove it into a ditch and was handed his first role of duct tape. Stilinski then announces — as I sob — “We’re here tonight because my goofball son decided to drag Scott, his greatest friend in the world, into the woods to see a dead body.”

The kicker? After all those memories came flooding back, Stilinski swears he saw Stiles through some sort of rift. In other words, if they can all remember their lives with Stiles in full, they might be able to recreate a supernatural rift. And that’s step one in getting him back (or maybe step two, if you count remembering him at all).

I have to say, I’m liking where this season is headed. By sending so many characters we love to supernatural purgatory, they’re upping the stakes, which means it’s time to make some moves. What did you think? Hit the comments with your thoughts or find me on Twitter @samhighfill.