Season 4 of Teen Wolf kicks off a few months (literally, and within the context of the show) following the third season finale as we find Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Kira, and Malia south of the border getting in way over their heads in the hunt for Derek.
They come face to face with Araya, who tortured Derek and Peter last season, and she does the same again to Scott, with an agonized Kira an unwitting accomplice as Lydia can only sit and watch, until Scott realizes Kate Argent is the prize. After Araya gets that name confirmed, she catches them up that Kate was transformed when Peter “killed” her, and although hunter code insisted she suicide, she instead took out several fellow hunters and bolted.
Araya sends the tribe out into the desert with Braeden and instructions on how to find Derek. Stiles Malia, and Kira get sidelined by something on the road, so Scott and Braeden head into an abandoned town and church on their own and recover a much younger Derek in the middle of some sort of transformation. And then they get the hell out of town.
And that’s pretty much the gist of the hour (there were A LOT of commercials) but we had some neat moments to mix it up.
Stiles and Malia are a couple and he keeps having to apologize for her less than human tics, where she’s ready to just bail on the rest of the pack, although she assures Stiles she will never bail on him. She also encourages Kira to loosen up when they’re trying to blend in at the nightclub, and Kira finally does when Malia pulls her into a little dirty dancing. Stiles also benefits when he tries to get Malia to focus on what Scott is saying and the only way she can trigger herself to shut out all the other noise is to kiss him.
When Braeden and Scott take leave of the rest of the group, Kira launches herself at him in an awkward hug and tells him to be safe. Braeden later grills him on why he didn’t kiss her when they could die, and he tries to explain why Kira’s not his girlfriend. Braden hears him out and then tells him he should have kissed her.
Lydia doesn’t get much to do but it’s nice to see her banter with Stiles still intact; they’re together when they make their entrance into the club, even though they’re WAY out of their league and they have a fun vibe when he’s dismantling his car and makes it clear to her that he will never leave his Jeep behind.
So, this was a sort of a filler episode to get the band back together. If previews are any indication, Derek will be Derek again soon enough. Here’s an extended season four sneak peek. Teen Wolf airs Mondays at 10/9c on MTV in the US and 10/7p on MTV Canada.