Relics

Relics is the fourth episode of Teen Wolf Season 6.

Synopsis[]

Scott and Liam protect the lacrosse team from an attack by the Ghost Riders while Lydia searches for clues that lead her closer to finding Stiles.

Full Recap[]

Melissa McCall finds Chris Argent in the woods. She's decided that she wants to help in the search for whatever is biting into folks' skulls and eating their pineal gland. Melissa says she's sick of seeing people she cares about getting hurt. She says it's about time she does something too. Chris chastises her to be quiet. They find a couple of bicyclers with their heads caved in. Chris says whatever did it is still close by.

They catch sight of Malia and Argent "wings her" with a bullet and brings her down. She is growling and angry when they get to her.

The Science of Ghost Riders[]

The ceiling of Scott McCall's living room still shows the black mark that appeared during the Ghost Rider attack (last night). Mason explains that it's the point of impact from a lightning strike. Scott suspects that's how the Ghost Rider got past the Mountain Ash and into the house; "he rode the lightning." Cory points out that it's his fault that the other students are "marked" by the riders because he made the one at the party visible. (See Sundowning) Scott promises that they'll protect them all.

In the hospital morgue, Melissa attempts to remove the bullet from Malia's leg. She continues to growl and thrash about. She grabs onto Chris' arm and squeezes to the point of causing him pain. Malia says she was out in the woods because she caught a scent of blood and followed it. Chris says that when a coyote smells a fresh kill, the smell overcomes its senses. The blood drives it crazy. Malia, tired of Melissa digging around in her leg, rips it out herself and hands it back to Chris.

Gwen (Alisha Boe) is tripping out a little bit at school. Hayden shows up and says she’s following her to keep her safe.

Liam reads from a book in the library, "The K Index quantifies disturbances in the horizontal component of Earth's magnetic field." Mason explains that the K index is a scale that meteorologists used to measure thunderstorm activity.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The K Index definition Liam recited is not the same one meteorologists use to measure thunderstorm activity. While both deal with electromagnetism, the weather one also includes variables for temperature and air moisture. The rest of his description focuses on this scale which ranks thunderstorm potential on a K scale of "less than 20" indicating no thunderstorm potential to "above 35" which would indicate numerous thunderstorms.

Mason explains that the average storm has about a thousand lightning strikes. The past three months the average storm over Beacon Hills had about five thousand strikes. They note that the correlation between the K-Index is a way to track the Ghost Riders movements. The K-Index on Mason's computer is at 14 but begins to rise as they watch.

Lydia explains to Scott and Malia that Jake's ID (See Superposition) and Gwen's sister's bracelet are relics that prove they existed. She says these items left behind suggest the Ghost Riders can't erase everything. She says Conservation of Mass within an isolated system remains constant. Scott sees this as a weakness of the Ghost Riders. Malia says a relic could be proof that Stiles existed.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Law of Conservation of Mass says matter can neither be created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction. Simplistically, the amount of matter in the universe cannot change. This suggests the Ghost Riders can erase people (and everything that points to their existence) from the universe only if the total amount of matter left behind is of equal mass. This is not a hard and fast rule of science and, like most things, it falls apart when dealing with high energy levels and at the quantum level.

Liam and Mason argue over what to do with the impending Ghost Rider attack. Liam wants to fight them. Mason says they should hide. Liam suggests getting a lightning rod to attract the Ghost Riders and catch them off guard. Mason suggests they hide underground since the Earth would ground lightning's electrical charge. Scott says they should take everyone to the Argent Bunker because it's underground and lined with Mountain Ash.

Protecting the Players[]

Liam attempts to convince Nathan and the rest of the lacrosse players to skip the game and come to the bunker. He says a supernatural creature is coming to erase his soul. Nathan brushes off the danger saying it was just a man in a hat with a gun. Mason switches tactics and says the guy is coming to shoot Nathan in the head.

Lydia wants to search Sheriff Stilinski's house for relics of Stiles. Noah tells her that he couldn’t sleep the night before and went to retrieve paperwork from the garage and stubbed his toe on a baseball bat. He instinctively yelled a name.

Hayden and Liam get all the students except Gwen into the bunker. Nathan fires off a Taser by mistake. Argent tells him not to touch anything. Liam tells Scott they're missing Gwen and three other players. He has a list of names including Pierce, Fuller, Dunne, Okafur, Flores, Gallaher, Steinbach, Mackey. Corey says they're all lacrosse players. Mason points out they're running out of time. The K-Index app on his phone moves from 37 to a reading of 40. Liam says they have to get them. Scott says he'll go alone, but Liam points out that they all couldn't fight off one Ghost Rider at the party and there’s no telling how many might show up tonight. Scott points out that they're all marked, but that doesn't faze them. Corey says at least he can see them coming. Scott agrees but says if they see them coming everyone should run.

Lydia wanders through the Stilinskis' house. Claudia offers to help but Lydia declines and Claudia leaves the room. Lydia wanders down the hallway and back to the spot she noticed on her last visit. It is midway down the hall. There seems to be air escaping from behind the wallpaper. A man (Ryan Malgarini) appears at the end of the hall and yells "You didn’t see it, did you? It's right in front of your face!" She turns back to the wall, and the man disappears. She begins peeling back the wallpaper but Claudia rushes back in and shouts at Lydia and grabs her arm. Lydia apologizes and flees.

Argent calls Malia to help him babysit the marked students. She says she's not a good babysitter because "coyotes eat their young." Chris tells her a story from his youth about someone losing control and slaughtering an innocent. Chris says he did nothing to stop it. Malia thinks he's talking about a werewolf, but he's talking about Kate Argent. He says if he'd done something she might not be "the monster that she is today." He says the way for Malia to remain human is to get involved.

Nathan finds one of Argent's sonic spikes and triggers it. Malia promptly shuts it off. Nathan complains about being stuck in the bunker. Chris says they'll stay as long as it takes.

Hayden finds Gwen in the locker room. She realizes the girl wants to get taken by the Ghost Riders.

Scott, Corey, Liam, and Mason head for the locker room. Scott says the plan is to convince Okafur, Steinbach, and Wallace that playing tonight is a bad idea. A thought strikes Scott, he turns to Mason and says that with his knowledge of the Ghost Riders he should be able to come up with something that will stop them.

The locker room is almost empty. Most of the players are already on the field. Coach yells for Corey, Liam, and Scott to suit up and get out there. The boys realize they'll not be able to get the players back in the bunker now.

Confirmation Bias[]

Lydia is searching old school records for information on Claudia. Natalie Martin comes in and starts yelling at her about peeling off Claudia's wallpaper. She says she’s known Claudia since high school and she trusts her. Natalie suggests that Lydia has a "confirmation bias" meaning that she's already come to a conclusion and is interpreting information to confirm that conclusion while ignoring evidence that would disprove it. Natalie says Lydia's looking for evidence that what she believes is true because she wants it to be true.

Lydia insists that Stiles is real. Natalie agrees to be an unbiased perspective and gets Lydia to go through everything she knows so far.

Mason Calls for Parrish[]

At the game, Scott says he'll protect Steinbach and Wallace. He says Liam should protect Gwen and says Corey should protect Okafur. He says if Corey sees Ghost Riders he should yell and then get ready to fight.

On the field, Corey, Scott, and Liam keep getting in the way and messing up the other players. The other team, the Bulldogs, keep scoring on the disorganized BHHS team. Lori and Sydney watch the game from the stands just above Mason.

Down in the bunker Jayden (Gabrielle Elyse) begins to freak out. Malia asks for the stun gun but Argent suggests Malia think of a "less seizure-inducing way" to calm her down. Malia promises her that nothing is getting through the door but then realizes Nathan is missing.

Back at the game, Mason sees two players jump towards each other and it reminds him of the painting of the Hellhound and The Beast in the Dread Doctors lair. He then remembers how the Ghost Rider at the McCall House backed down when Jordan Parrish confronted it. He realizes that Parrish might have some control over the riders.

The game continues to go badly and the players begin to fight each other. Tensions are running high and Scott and Liam wonder if it's the Wild Hunt messing with people's heads. They hear lightning and the wind begins to pick up.

Mason tells Hayden to call her sister and get Parrish to the school.

Ghost Riders Attack[]

It begins raining. Three riders are on the field.

Argent explains that if Nathan gets out of the tunnels, he'll break the Mountain Ash seal.

On the field, the Referee calls the game due to the storm. A rider has one of the students and drags him behind his horse until he disappears.

Parrish arrives and Mason explains that the hellhound could stop the riders.

People in the crowd at the game start seeing the riders and run away.

Scott, Liam, and Corey circle up with the marked players in the center of the field. They are quickly surrounded.

The spectators that fled the game are caught by a rider behind the buses. He fires a single shot and they each disappear in a puff of green smoke.

On the field, one of the marked players is shot and disappears. Scott realizes he can now see the riders when he's not holding onto Corey, meaning he is now marked as well. A rider takes aim at Gwen but Liam tackles him and knocks him off his horse. The rider throws him off and shoots another player. Liam says they can't stop them but Scott tells him to protect Gwen, flashing his red eyes and growling at the riders.

Claudia's Medical Records[]

Natalie and Lydia want Melissa to show them Claudia's medical files. Natalie says she is "recently enlightened" and urges Melissa to trust her because "there are lives at stake." The records show she never had a child but did have frontotemporal dementia "10 years ago." Melissa is shocked Claudia is still alive and says it's a miracle.

Malia follows Nathan's scent through the tunnels. She gets close but Nathan continues to run away.

One of the spectators from the game runs into the school followed closely by a ghost rider. He shoots her and she disappears. Mason, Hayden, and Parrish round the corner. Parrish burns brightly as his eyes glow and his hellhound side emerges. The rider shoots him, he glows green, and reverts to human. Hayden growls and runs toward the rider but it disappears in a bolt of lightning.

Gwen and Nathan are Next[]

On the field, Gwen steps forward and taunts the riders. One shoots her and she falls into Scott's arms before disappearing.

Malia and Argent catch up to Nathan who stubbornly refuses to stay in the tunnels. He lifts the grate to reach the surface and a rider grabs him and pulls him up. He disappears in smoke and the riders jump down into the tunnel. Malia growls and Argent opens fire.

Scott is on the phone as Hayden, Mason, Liam, and Corey limb down to the locker room. He says everyone from the bunker is gone and Argent is at the hospital injured. Liam blames himself. Scott says it's not his fault. He takes the blame on himself. Scott says they should have both defended the bunker and tried the thing with the lightning rod as that would have given them a better chance. Liam is still miserable.

Liam is Team Captain[]

He enters the locker room to praise from Coach Finstock. He says the fact that Liam stayed on the field during the storm shows humility and grace. Liam says, "We lost. We lost everything." He's talking about losing all the players and others from the party. Finstock picks up on his despair and rage in his voice but thinks he means the game and continues to praise him. He names Liam team captain and gets the other players to clap for him. As they chant "Liam, Liam, Liam," he straightens his back and a look of resolve comes over his face.

Argent is wheeled through the hall at Beacon Hills Hospital. Melissa says he has blunt force trauma to his temporal bone, broken ribs, and lashes from the rider's whip. Lydia joins Scott and Malia in the hall and updates them that Claudia never had children so Stiles can't be her son. Both Scott and Malia seem ready to give up on the search for Stiles. Lydia says they have to keep trying. Malia says they should focus on defeating the Ghost Riders instead. In the hospital room, Chris reaches out and takes Melissa's hand.

Liam sits in the locker room re-stringing his lacrosse stick. Mason, Liam, and Hayden say they should go. Liam decides he wants to catch a Ghost Rider and tells them to go home. They don't. They follow him out into the parking lot and say they're not leaving him. As they walk through the parking lot, they pass a blue jeep.

Episode List[]

← Season 5 Season 6
#01 Memory Lost	#06 Ghosted	#11 Said the Spider to the Fly	#16 Triggers
#02 Superposition	#07 Heartless	#12 Raw Talent	#17 Werewolves of London
#03 Sundowning	#08 Blitzkrieg	#13 After Images	#18 Genotype
#04 Relics	#09 Memory Found	#14 Face-to-Faceless	#19 Broken Glass
#05 Radio Silence	#10 Riders on the Storm	#15 Pressure Test	#20 The Wolves of War