Teen Wolf: Season 6, Episode 9, “Memory Found,” Aired Jan. 24, 2017
Wow. Just wow.
Going in to the final season we knew early on that we wouldn’t have Stiles and that Scott, Lydia and Malia would have to try to remember him. We also knew that because this is the show’s final season, our yearning for nostalgia would be even higher. We all went into this last seasons with a list of things we wanted and it finally feels like someone is listening.
Like a love letter from the writers to the fandom, this episode delivered a wonderful, gripping tribute to Stiles, the relationships of these beloved characters and the journeys that they have taken together. Not only that, but we saw a villain turn into a hero and a Beta rise to Alpha levels of braveness. It was a damn good hour of television. Let’s break it all down.
Distraction Team. In the police station, Liam is trying to convince Noah that maybe Theo can help them distract the Ghost Riders so Scott can open the rift. Noah says no way, but changes his mind when they realize that all of the cops have been taken. They have taken everyone, but not Theo! Noah doesn’t want to let him out but they really have no choice. The Ghost Riders arrive and Noah, Theo and Liam open the door, ready to fight. But there are way more Ghost Riders than they thought. A Ghost Rider shoots Noah and now he’s gone too. (NO!) Theo and Liam trying to find the key to the cop car was hilarious! Raise your hand if you’d totally watch a spin off of these two!
Chilly Kids. In order to trigger their memories and open a rift (like Noah did), Scott, Lydia and Malia plan to lower Scott’s body temp using the chill chamber that we saw Parrish in. It’s like when they dunked Isaac in the ice bath to remember the vault. It starts working! Scott slips into a trance an remembers the time he kissed Lydia because the full moon was messing with him. And we get out first flashback of them in Season 1! He sees their fight, their hug before Stiles has his scan, the ice bath, Lacrosse and so many more but he has so many memories of Stiles, he is overloaded and can’t focus.
B Squad. In order to keep the Ghost Riders away from Scott, Liam and Theo head to the hospital. Theo is still being Theo and says that he will throw Liam to the Ghost Riders to save himself but Liam doesn’t care because his only objective is to keep them from Scott.
In the hospital, Theo starts to have flashbacks of his time with his sister. They are able to fight off the many Ghost Riders and during the fighting, we start to see a shift in Theo AND Liam. They start working together even though they both said they wouldn’t help the other. And then something very cool happens. Theo the villain becomes Theo the hero. He pushes Liam into the elevator and stays back to fight the Ghost Riders so Liam can get away. (awwwww) But really, I want more of these two.
Sciles Is Everything. Scott is struggling with the memory overload and the girls aren’t sure what to do. Malia fighting back tears while watching Scott in pain is enough to make you cry but just wait, Lydia has an idea. She tells him to imagine himself in the high school and that each locker contains a memory of Stiles.
Scott is still having a hard time making the connection but Malia has an idea. She tells him about how Stiles said that they were more like brothers and it works! Scott walks to the locker and opens it and inside is a road flare, like the one he was holding in “Motel California” in Season 3. They flash back to Stiles telling Scott that they are brothers. (SOB) But they have to pull Scott out because his heart rate dropped. It didn’t work.
Malia’s Turn. It’s too dangerous for Scott to return to the chamber, so Malia goes in. Scott thinks she will do better with the cold anyway. They have a better idea of how to handle this now. Lydia guides Malia through the memories which she is imagining to be a library. Malia looks back at her connections with Stiles in Eichen House, including the time she actually connected her fist to his face. She sees when she was chained up on the full moon, when she was showering in the locker room. Then she looks back at the time in the vault when she was dying and he said he would never leave her behind. It’s such a sweet memory.
Stiles was the first person she cared about. It really shows how far Malia has come since then, especially since you can see how upset she is when Scott was in pain earlier in the episode. #Progress! Stiles may have started as her anchor, but Malia has a whole pack of them now and it’s so wonderful to see her evolution as a character. (And Shelley’s acting is AMAZING in this ep.) The rift starts to open but Malia is getting too cold. They have to get her out.
Lydia’s turn. They realize that it’s not safe for Scott and Malia to go back into the chamber so they decide to hypnotize Lydia to see if that will work. Scott and Malia both agree that Lydia’s connection with Stiles is super strong. So strong that they both saw it in their memories of Stiles. They find a candle and get started. Malia trying to read the induction spell in a calm voice was the best!
Ok, go time. Scott’s voice guides Lydia into her mind where she views her memories on a TV starting with the “What the Hell is a Stiles?” moment from Season 1. She flips to the next channel and sees them at the dance. As she continues to flip, she hears the echos of her memories of Stiles.
The kiss. Lydia hears something and runs to the locker room. There she sees the flashback of the time she kissed Stiles to stop his panic attack. (AHHHH) Watching Lydia watch herself with Stiles made the moment even more powerful because the fandom has always held that moment in such high regard.
Then Lydia (in the now) turns and says “When I kissed him, that’s when it all changed.” Then she sees her and Stiles with the red string, at Eichen House and the last time she saw him before he was taken in the Jeep. She sees him tell her he loves her before he is pulled away and then the candle goes out. Her hypnosis is over and she breaks downs. Then she says “I never said it back.”
Then the rift opens! They go in the hall and we see a figure walking out of the rift. The screen goes to black as we hear Lydia say “Stiles.” OMG. We have to wait to see who that actually was which sucks but still doesn’t diminish the emotional impact of this episode. Can we also stop and take a moment to appreciate the fact that Lydia’s love for Stiles just tore a hole in the fabric of space and time?
What did you think of the episode? Hit the comments and tell us!!!
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Teen Wolf airs Tuesdays on MTV at 9/8c.
(Image: MTV)
