Parasomnia is the 2nd episode of Teen Wolf Season 5.
It is unusual in that it aired on a Tuesday at 9pm instead of the show's regular Monday at 10pm timeslot. The term parasominia covers almost all the abnormal things that can happen to people while they sleep. It can refer to sleep-eating, sleepwalking, nightmares, sleep paralysis, and sleep-aggression or violent acts.
Synopsis
Stiles is suspicious of a new classmate; and Lydia helps a student with night terrors.
Full Recap
Natalie Martin (Susan Walters) is counseling a student named Tracy at Beacon Hills High School. Tracy Stewart (Kelsey Chow) is distracted by visions of a crow pecking against a window and a skylight banging in the rain.
Ms. Martin asks if the girl is getting enough sleep and she admits that she’s not. The teacher explains that circadian rhythms are different for young people in that the teenage body produces a natural sleep chemical called melatonin late into the morning. Meaning a student’s brain is still sleeping long after classes begin.
Tracy explains that she gets night terrors which Martin describes as Parasomnia.
- EDITOR’S NOTE: Parasomnia is actually a catch-all phrase for any sleep disturbance not related to Sleep Apnea. Despite the dramatic name, “Night Terrors” can be mild to severe feelings of great fear upon waking up.
Rough Night For Tracy
Tracy says she usually doesn’t remember what causes her fear but relays a story of one particularly stormy night when she woke to find a crow pecking against the skylight over her bed. Tracy has a silver leaf-shaped necklace hanging on her nightstand.
The crow is gone and as Tracy settles into sleep again, she sees a masked figure (The Surgeon) outside her window. She bolts awake and scrambles to turn on the bedside lamp. When she turns back the figure is gone. She makes her way to the window and checks to make sure it is locked.
She turns off the lamp and tries to go back to sleep but is quickly woken by a breeze blowing in from the now open skylight. The lamp next to her bed no longer works. In the darkness, she climbs up on a chair and attempts to reach the latch for the skylight. Straining, she manages to get it closed and locks the skylight. At that moment, a black-gloved figure grabs the chair leg and yanks it out from under her and she falls.
Back at school, Tracy explains that her father found her on the floor and that the skylight was sealed shut a couple years back for weatherproofing.
Martin takes this to mean that much of what she experienced was just a dream. She explains a theory that one of the biological functions of dreaming is to present the brain with threatening events as a way to rehearse for real-world situations. She diagnoses Tracy with normal anxiety of a form common to seniors in high school.
As Tracy stands to leave, she begins to cough. Eventually, she throws up a torrent of viscous black liquid and black feathers. She asks Ms. Martin if this is part of common anxiety.
The Rules Have Changed
Scott is at work performing an intramuscular injection in the hind leg of a wirehaired mix. Dr. Deaton is overseeing his progress. Scott finishes the injection but removes the needle in a way that hurts the dog. It snaps at him. Deaton chuckles saying the dog is a little one but his teeth are still sharp. Scott apologizes to the dog and returns it to its owner, a little girl (Nadia Buer).
- EDITOR’S NOTE: Nadia Buer, the little girl in this scene, has grown up on the Teen Wolf set. Her mother is costume designer Barbara Vazquez. This is the latest in a long line of instances where the show uses crew members or the children of crew members and producers as characters in the show. This episode also marks the return of Director Tim Andrew ’s daughter Claire Bryétt Andrew reprising her Season 4 role as Sydney.
The little girl, Stephanie, calls Scott “Dr. McCall.” He corrects her that he is not a doctor “yet.”
Deaton is examining the claw from the unnamed creature that attacked Scott at the school. He says it is less like a claw and more like the talon of a harpy eagle. While Scott wonders aloud how a werewolf gets talons, Deaton says the more interesting mystery is how the talons somehow absorbed Scott’s power.
Deaton says the only creature capable of absorbing Scott’s true alpha power would be a beta of his own making, someone like Liam.
Scott wonders if the same would be true of a beta that he did not father but that he allowed into his pack. He’s talking about Theo Raeken. Deaton says normally the answer would be no, but, apparently, the rules of the supernatural are not as rigid as they believed or someone is trying to change the rules.
Stiles Investigates Theo
Stiles is trying to convince his dad to investigate Theo. He says the boy’s family left town when Theo was nine or ten and that his older sister got into an accident when he was eight. The Sheriff doesn’t see why he should investigate Theo just because he is a werewolf. He points out that Stiles’ best friend is a werewolf and he is dating a werecoyote. He says “When the flying monkeys come soaring through this station” he might pay attention to Stiles’ concerns.
Stiles says he senses something different about his father but can’t figure out exactly what it is.
Stiles pushes him again to do a full background check on Theo’s family, the Raekens. The sheriff refuses saying that just because he’s the only one in law enforcement to know about the supernatural doesn’t me he has to do something every time Stiles has a minor suspicion. Stiles realizes that his father is not the only lawman who knows about the supernatural. He turns to Deputy Jordan Parrish.
The background check was mostly fruitless Stiles explains to Malia as they arrive at school. He did find a speeding ticket signed by Theo’s dad. Stiles says speeders are trying to get away from something, but Malia points out that he would have several tickets of his own if his father didn’t get him out of them. Stiles admits he would have 17 speeding tickets without his father’s intervention.
Malia says she understands why Stiles is worried and feels threatened because Theo is really hot with great hair and a perfect body. She offers to torture him for Stiles saying she believes she could take him. Stiles declines but says he has a plan with steps.
Get the story.
Verify the facts.
Find the piece that doesn’t fit.
Catch him in the act.
Theo arrives at school, smiles, and waves at Stiles and Malia.
Malia still doesn’t understand why Stiles is so suspicious. He says he remembers Theo and that this new guy isn’t Theo.
First Day of School
Scott arrives at school is joined by Kira. They embrace and say it’s going to be the best first day ever.
Mason has become obsessed with the Berserkers from Season 4 after his experience with Lydia Martin and Sheriff Stilinski in Smoke and Mirrors. He purchased an old German book for $200 which he says is totally worth it. Liam seems annoyed and uncomfortable with his obsession he lies and says he’s never seen anything like the berserker illustration in the book.
In Mr. Yukimura’s class the only seat available is beside Hayden Romero (Victoria Moroles) a girl Liam apparently knows and does not want to sit beside. He hesitates until the teacher forces him to sit down. He realizes then that Hayden has stuck bubble gum to his chair leaving a gooey pink mass on the seat of his pants.
Scott arrives in Advanced Placement Biology. Kira and Lydia pantomime their confusion about his presence in such a difficult class until Kira finally asks if he is in the right room. Scott is. He shows he is prepared by opening his heavily-highlighted and annotated AP Biology textbook.
The teacher, Mrs. Finch (Michelle Clunie), asks about plasmids which Lydia says are circular, self-replicating DNA molecules often used in cloning proteins. Mrs. Finch asks her what vitamin is absorbed in the stomach via parietal cell production of a glycoprotein. Lydia doesn’t know. The teacher says it is B-12. She asks Scott if he knew the answer. He says he didn’t.
She then asks him about his number one college pick which he says is UC Davis. She says it is the best school on the west coast for biological and physical sciences. Kira seems surprised by Scott’s answer. Mrs. Finch says Scott is in the right class if that’s what he wants.
She asks who else in the room believes they are in the right class and Theo raises his hand near the back of the room. She says there will be a test to help them determine if they should be in the class and they have two weeks to drop it if they decide they shouldn’t be there.
Stiles enlists the aid of Scott to question Theo during free period.
Mason is still droning on at Liam about his supernatural experience. He says he doesn’t believe it all but people around them seem to know things. He singles out Lydia as one of those people who know things. Liam gets frustrated and says Mason should be thinking about other things like the soccer team and how it’s warm out and they’ll probably be practicing with their shirts off. One of the players catches Mason’s eye and smiles. He leaves to watch the soccer team practice.
Liam has changed out of his gum-stained jeans and into his gym shorts. Hayden’s locker is apparently right next to Liam’s. He says he wondered if she was “still pissed off about the sixth grade” but now he’s sure she is. Hayden says she is not pissed off she is “vengeful.”
Daydreams About Night Things
Tracy walks to her locker. As she works the combination lock, she hears the crackle of electricity and a growling noise. She sees a looming shadow but once she opens her locker it all goes away and the hall is once more full of students. The light and her relief last for just a couple of seconds before the lights shut off in the hall and Tracy finds herself once again alone.
One of the lockers nearby begins oozing black liquid which pools on the floor just before the locker’s latch opens by itself and one of the doctors (The Surgeon) climbs out. It crawls sideways along the lockers, defying gravity as it gets closer to her. She tries to convince herself that there is nothing there but the creature keeps coming. We hear Lydia calling Tracy’s name and the doctor phases out and reality phases back in. Lydia puts an arm around the girl and leads her away from the locker which is now punctured by claw marks.
Theo's Backstory
Theo relates the story of how he got bitten to Scott and Stiles.
He claims he was skateboarding in an empty swimming pool (Location: The humpbowl in Winnetka, California) when he fell and his skateboard went flying into the air. He realized he never heard the board come back down and when he looked up, a man with red glowing eyes and claws was standing on the lip of the pool holding the board. He explains that this Alpha werewolf bit him on the side (the same side where Peter Hale bit Scott in Season 1) and that by the time he figured out what was going on, he'd heard that the alpha that bit him had been killed by two of his betas who were also twins.
- EDITOR'S NOTE: This seems to be the same Alpha that Ethan and Aiden killed to attain their Alpha Pack status. (See: The Girl Who Knew Too Much)
He urges Scott to listen to his pulse to tell if he’s lying. Stiles points out that Theo could just know how to steady his pulse so he could lie without detection.
Stiles says Theo would lie because he’s not who he claims to be so Theo relates a story about an asthma attack in 4th grade that sent him to the ER. Before leaving school for the hospital, Theo claims Scott comforted him about how easy the visit would be and how they would make him feel better with oxygen and an intravenous feed of Prednisone.
Stiles rolls his eyes at yet another Theo suck-up-to-Scott story but Scott seems to buy it.
Scott says they have to give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes. Stiles is convinced that he is right, that there is something “off” about Theo. Scott says Lydia is the psychic. Stiles points out that Lydia is not a psychic but a Banshee.
Lydia and Parrish Try To Help
Lydia and her mother are discussing Tracy who is eavesdropping outside the classroom. Her mother is convinced the girl suffers from a sleep disorder but Lydia believes something more is going on and points to the fact that Tracy coughed up feathers. Her mom says night terrors have reportedly caused people to do a lot stranger things than eating their pillows. Lydia wants to take Tracy out of school and talk to her but Natalie refuses saying that if the girl needs help they will get her professional help.
Lydia gets an idea about just which “professional” she can get to help.
Deputy Parrish checks the windows in Tracy’s bedroom and finds them to be secure with no sign of forced entry. Lydia examines a number of drawings of blackbirds and other dark objects decorating the walls.
Parrish finds the skylight is not sealed shut as Tracy believed and on the roof outside he finds a mound of dead and bloodied blackbirds as well as some claw marks.
In drivers’ education class, Mr. Yukimura is teaching Malia. She is heavy on the brakes causing the car to jerk. As she is driving, reality begins to phase out, replaced by a rapidly accelerating wooded scene and the sound of someone screaming. Malia pushes down on the gas accelerating toward a bus and a group of students. She catches herself and slams both feet on the breaks. She stops the car without crashing.
Mr. Yukimura can’t get out of the car fast enough saying the lesson is over for the day and he sees room for improvement in her performance. On the track behind the car, several cones are knocked over and a mannequin crossing guard is lying on the pavement.
Evidence Mounts Against Theo
In the library, Stiles claims to have proof that Theo isn’t who he claims to be. He’s broken into the administrative office and found Theo’s transfer form signed by his father. He says the signature doesn’t match the signature of Mr. Raeken on the traffic ticket from eight years earlier.
He says the “garlands don’t match. The undulations of the sinuous stroke are totally off.” Elsewhere in the signature he finds a “Perfect example of the Criminal Tremor.”
- EDITOR’S NOTE: As you might expect, all of the terms Stiles throws around in this scene are used in Handwriting Analysis. Garlands are the cup-like structures that connect letters in cursive handwriting. A “Sinuous Stroke” indicates the writer is hiding something or attempting to deceive while the “Criminal Tremor” is common in forgery because the person grips the pen too tightly in concentration while writing.
Scott, Kira and Malia are unimpressed by Stiles evidence. He tries convincing them saying that if Theo’s parents are psychotic killers then they shouldn’t trust him. Malia points out that her parents are Peter Hale and the Desert Wolf both known as psychotic killers. Stiles is stymied by this, takes his evidence and walks away saying he doesn’t need anyone. In the next scene, he’s enlisted Liam to help him.
Supernatural Stakeout
Outside Tracy’s house, Parrish says he’s willing to stake out the area at midnight after his shift to see if something is going on. Lydia offers to keep him company but he says she doesn't have to. He says already owes her for digging through a bunch of old literature and mythology while they were trying to figure out more about his supernatural nature. They spent three weeks going over it but didn’t find anything.
Lydia says she’ll bring him coffee later anyway because she only has once class at school the next day. She reveals that she had enough credits to graduate last year. He acquiesces and orders a “Medium Americano, black.”
Stiles and Liam follow Theo to the woods. Liam says they’ve been watching him play video games for 3 hours before tracking him outside.
Liam remembers that he was supposed to meet Mason at school to work out and couldn’t tell him what he was really up to because he’s yet to explain that he is a werewolf. Stiles says he and Scott already gave him their permission to tell Mason and that he has already seen Stilinski blow up a berserker with a land mine so… Liam says it’s not that easy but Stiles says he should because it is always better when they know.
Liam falls in a hole and notices, partially buried in the mud, a silver leaf-shaped necklace like the one seen earlier in Tracy’s bedroom.
They catch up to Theo and find him casting a single lily off a bridge into the water below. Stiles has Liam use his ability to determine emotions from scent, chemosignals, and finds that Theo is grieving . Stiles realizes that this is where Theo’s sister, who got lost in the woods, died of exposure.
Stiles and Liam beat a hasty retreat but Theo catches up with them. He begins again to lay on the charm. Stiles shows him the handwriting samples from his father and says they were signed by two different people. Theo offers to give a DNA sample but Stiles points out he has nothing from fourth grade with which to compare it.
Theo tries charm again saying he came back to Beacon Hills not just for Scott but for Stiles or someone like him. He needs someone good and loyal and willing to go to great lengths to protect his friends. Theo says he is meant to be part of this pack.
Tracy’s dad hammers boards over the skylight in her bedroom. He then leaves saying he has to meet a client at the courthouse. Tracy turns out the light and goes to sleep, the leaf necklace is no longer on her nightstand.
Scott is waiting for Liam and Stiles when they get back to Stiles’ Jeep. Scott realizes immediately that Theo was in the woods to pay respects to his dead sister. Stiles tries to start the jeep but the alternator or electrical system will not cooperate. Stiles asks Liam to get in the drivers’ seat while he checks under the hood.
Scott and Stiles argue with Stiles becoming more and more frustrated by the engine trouble and the conversation.
Scott points out that Stiles hasn’t trusted many of their friends at one time or another. He mentions Derek, Kira and Liam. Stiles points out that he was right about Peter. Stile says Scott probably still thinks there is something in Peter that can be “saved.” Scott says maybe that’s true.
The argument comes to a head when a very calm Scotts asks a very angry Stiles why he can’t trust more and Stiles replies it's because Scott trusts too much. Stiles slams his fist into the front of the Jeep injuring his hand.
Scott takes his friend's hand and draws out the pain and injury. The Jeep suddenly starts.
Parrish, on stake-out in front of Tracy’s house, gets a text from Lydia saying she will be there at midnight. Unseen by the officer, Tracy stands outside his vehicle in the street.
Things Get Weirder
Liam is out of breath as he finally reaches the school gym. Mason is already finished working out and is angry Liam didn’t call. Liam girds himself to tell his friend the truth about his supernatural nature but a black wolf shows up in the parking lot. It chases the boys through the school until Liam turns, bares fangs and growls at it giving Mason a good look at his werewolf face and sending the wolf running away. Mason seems pleased to find out about Liam’s status.
The black wolf runs through the woods, stops on the bridge and transforms into Theo who runs naked through the woods.
Scott and Kira make out in his bedroom. They take a break and discuss how Scott wants to go to UC Davis and become a veterinarian. He says he didn’t tell her because he is worried he is not smart enough to make that happen. Kira says he’ll make it and then takes her top off. She tries to turn off the bedside lamp but the bulb explodes. She giggles.
Parrish drinks his coffee and tells Lydia that no one has entered or left Tracy’s house. Lydia apologizes for wasting his time and he smiles at her and says it wasn’t a total waste.
Tracy wakes to find herself on the floor in The Dread Doctors’ lab. She tries to tell herself it’s all a dream as the Surgeon, the Pathologist, and the Geneticist surround her. They blur like they are phasing in and out of reality.
She speaks to herself, saying she is still sleeping but the Surgeon says she is “awakening” just before the other two grab her arms with clamps. She is forced to the floor and the Surgeon plunges a long-needled syringe device into her neck and injects her with a silvery liquid.
Tracy then remembers her night terrors with more clarity. Apparently, she, not a blackbird, was knocking on the skylight. She also clawed her own locker at school.
The Doctors let her go and she transforms into a werewolf and roars.
Family Time With Theo
Stiles adds Theo Raeken to the transparent Lucite murder board in his bedroom. His father says that usually, they wait until someone does something wrong before finding them guilty. Stiles says Theo is guilty of something. The sheriff says accusations require proof and proof always trumps instinct.
Stiles says he’s figured out what’s different about his father. He’s stopped wearing his wedding ring. Impressed by his instincts and skills of observation, he revisits Stiles feelings about Theo. He says if Stiles is sure he’s guilty then all he must do is wait. Guilty people will eventually make a mistake.
With Stiles copies of the two different signatures in front of them, Theo confronts his parents. They seem terrified of him. He says they were supposed to practice to the point that the signature would be indistinguishable from the original. His father (Kevin Symons) swears he practiced hundreds of times. His mother (Elise Robertson) says she doubts that is true.
Theo says there is one way a false signature can be explained – it’s not easy to write when one is wearing a cast. He produces a hammer, his father places his hand on the table and Theo brings the tool down on top of it.
Soundtrack
- Maja Francis - “Last Days of Dancing”
- Scene: Scott arrives to his last, first day of school.
- Alison Wonderland & SAFIA - “Take It to Reality”
- Scene: Scott joins Lydia and Kira in AP Biology.
- Ruelle - “War of Hearts”
- Scene: Theo skateboarding in an empty pool.
- Bahari - “Wild Ones”
- Scene: Scott heals Stiles’ hand.
- Mansionair - “Hold Me Down”
- Scene: Scott and Kira share a moment in his bedroom.
Episodes List
| ← Season 5 Season 5 Season 6 → | |||
| #01 Creatures of the Night | #06 Required Reading | #11 The Last Chimera | #16 Lie Ability |
| #02 Parasomnia | #07 Strange Frequencies | #12 Damnatio Memoriae | #17 A Credible Threat |
| #03 Dreamcatchers | #08 Ouroboros | #13 Codominance | #18 Maid of Gevaudan |
| #04 Condition Terminal | #09 Lies of Omission | #14 The Sword and the Spirit | #19 The Beast of Beacon Hills |
| #05 A Novel Approach | #10 Status Asthmaticus | #15 Amplification | #20 Apotheosis |
Gallery
