So Jackson is the kanima. He’s killing people. Obviously, Scott and friends have to stop this. But how can they stop the paralyzing and maiming and killing without harming Jackson? “Frenemy” is all about searching for a solution.
Hunting the Kanima
This episode of Teen Wolf picks up only a few minutes after last week’s episode ended. Jackson, in lizard form, dashes through the dark and oddly foggy underpasses that indicate the bad side of Beacon Hills. Hot Derek is in hot pursuit, looking to end the kanima’s reign of slimy destruction.
But wait! Who’s this approaching in a newly repaired Jeep? It’s Scott and Stiles, of course!
Scott leaves Stiles to go find a parking spot and heads off into the mist to join in the fight. It’s getting to be pretty crowded under those foggy highways — Mr. Argent and the hunters have shown up as well. Argent empties his gun into Jackson’s kanima form, but even that isn’t enough to halt the monster. The kanima instead throws Mr. Argent into a pillar and runs away…
…Straight into Grandpa Gerard. Lucky for Grandpa, the kanima ceases its attack. Before the paralysis and bloodshed can continue, Scott jumps in (with a frightened and awkward look at Grandpa Gerard) to chase Jackson off into the distance.
Hallelujah, It’s Raining Monsters!
Scott meets up with Stiles behind a shady-looking building. They ruminate briefly on the humanity and killing potential of Jackson as the kanima, and then Stiles is sarcastic. All of this is probably pointless, but it does give the boys time to see Jackson slip into the building from above.
Scott and Stiles must pursue the monster! But a new danger awaits — the building houses Jungle, Beacon Hills’ rather fabulous gay club! And which underage, totally lovable lacrosse player is patronizing Jungle that night? Hello Danny!
You can’t blame the guy for wanting to visit Jungle. This place is awesome! Seriously, there are drag queens (who adore Stiles), many men without their shirts, lasers, employees doing tricks on those Cirque du Soleil silk things…
I would totally visit Jungle.
Alas for the fabulousness, Scott quickly spots Jackson crawling along the ceiling, approaching ever closer to where Danny is grinding with a new hottie. The lasers and the hyperactive smoke machines make tracking a little complicated, however, and the kanima soon drops straight into the crowd of dancing men.
Because this is a fantasy program, I guess we have to accept the fact that no one in the club notices a giant lizard-thing pushing its way across the dance floor. No one seems to see anything at all until gay men — Danny included — begin to drop, paralyzed, to the floor.
Major Episodic Moments in Motor Vehicles
Thanks to a late appearance from Derek inside of Jungle, Jackson suffered a serious injury and ran off. Scott follows the blood trail through the parking lot to Jackson’s unconscious, human and very naked body. Scott and Stiles manage to load the sometimes-kanima into the Jeep before the Sheriff arrives.
A little bit of clever lying from Stiles (who is definitely not gay in his fashion sense, even if the boy has some intense curiosity in that direction) and the Jeep is off to its next adventure. Jackson needs to be put somewhere safe — preferably before he wakes up and starts killing and/or paralyzing people again.
For this week’s random crime Scott and Stiles steal the Beacon Hills paddy wagon. Jackson gets stashed inside, handcuffed, until they figure out a next move. At least Stiles put pants (but not a shirt — we can’t hide those abs!) on the poor boy.
The Argents are driving as well. They discuss the attack on the club and are most interested in the sudden reappearance of Derek Hale — apparently no hunter has seen the new Alpha since the night of Crazy Aunt Kate’s death. The Argents make a plan to somehow lure Derek out using Isaac. I guess we’ll see this in another episode or something.
Mr. Argent has another worry on his mind: He’s still not sure how Grandpa Gerard could be so confident of safety around the kanima. Gerard deflects this curiosity by citing intuition, claiming to know what’s going on and popping a few more of those mystery pills.
It’s kind of obvious that there’s more than Gerard is saying.
The Argents Redefine the Term “Dysfunctional Family”
We know the Argents are a little intense and more than a little psychotic. And we know that Grandpa Gerard has taken over the school. Put those together and add in a few hundred surveillance cameras, and we’ve got a perfect panopticon of a police state in the halls of Beacon Hills High.
This is especially awful for Allison. She has to endure questioning from her dear Grandfather before going to class. And we’re talking about a real interrogation, complete with quotations from The Art of War and a lie-detector test.
Allison is weirded out by this. She is also weirded out by the sudden appearance of cameras throughout the hallways. She is even more weirded out by her new substitute teacher — Mommy Argent.
Class with Mrs. Argent is, naturally, a tense and odd affair. But it gets worse at the end of the school day. Mrs. Argent commends her daughter’s ability to stay strong, even with Scott around. When Allison questions whether this is a healthier choice than, say, going to prom, Mrs. Argent pins the girl in the doorway and threatens murder.
The Argents are one seriously messed up family.
Somebody Really Ought to Tell Lydia Something Soon
Speaking of messed up, Lydia gets to spend much of the episode continuing her slow slide into insanity.
As is the case throughout much of Teen Wolf season 2, Lydia’s life is basically a living hell in “Frenemy.” First of all, the girl (whose ex-boyfriend just kissed her and then turned into a poisonous slime monster) has to listen to Allison rhapsodize about her love for Scott.
Honestly, that’s irritating even to those of us not dealing with recent heartbreak.
Then, Lydia almost loses her dog (who is awesomely named Prada). Fortunatley or unfortunately, Psycho Boy — whose name we do not yet know — has found Prada the Puppy and returned her in his standard, creepy way.
Psycho Boy and Lydia engage in some weird semi-flirtation for a bit. Lydia fends off a kiss and a hand-holding, but her efforts aren’t enough to avoid the gift of a flower. A flower with strings attached — because Psycho Boy will go super psycho if Lydia fails to bring the flower to school tomorrow.
Yeah, that’s normal.
This whole exchange brings up a question: Is Psycho Boy even real? He hasn’t interacted with anyone else on Teen Wolf, he doesn’t have a name, and that whole flower thing seemed reminiscent of the Peter Hale/wolfsbane visions.
Could Lydia have a psychotic, imaginary friend?
Casual Kidnapping and a Little Voyeurism
Jackson is still handcuffed in the police van. Stiles tries to console Jackson throughout this ordeal, explaining about the murderous and lizard-like alter ego. This doesn’t help much.
Leaving Jackson to ponder scales and tails, Stiles steps outside to text Jackson’s family messages of love and safety. This is because Stiles has forgotten that the messages should be from Jackson, a boy who never expresses love to his adopted parents.
The texting stops as soon as Allison shows up with the news that everyone knows Jackson has been kidnapped. A quick check of the van’s police radio confirms that the police are on their way, so Stiles and Allison move their mobile prison elsewhere for the time being.
Scott is meanwhile trying to figure out why Jackson might have wanted to kill Danny at the club. Danny has no clue and is far more interested in his confiscated fake ID than in anything to do with Jackson. He does, however, mention that video (which eventually showed Jackson going all distorted and morphing into the kanima).
Scott tracks the recording to Danny’s car, but the tablet containing it has been taken. Who would go to such lengths to keep Jackson’s secret?
The kids don’t have the answer to this question, but they do have some revelations when Scott joins the group in the woods. Since the kanima is only supposed to kill murderers, they suddenly realize that none of them have been attacked directly. Something else has to be going on.
Stiles, frustrated with the whole thing, advocates just killing Jackson to be done with it. Scott isn’t so sure, since he himself was out of control back in season 1 and therefore empathizes.
Jackson is in the van for all of this. But his super hearing has kicked in again, making the whole conversation audible. It upsets the boy for obvious reasons.
But upset isn’t such a good idea. As Jackson watches in horror, scales begin to appear.
Love, Lizards and Latin
Stiles conveniently takes this moment to go check on Lydia. Allison and Scott remain behind in the car, enjoying closeness and some product placement-laden music. After Scott brings up the notion that Lydia’s immunity might hold a cure for Scott’s own werewolf condition, Allison is moved to express eternal and undying love for Scott.
He likes this. Allison likes this too. They like it so much that they take off their clothes and… Do something. Or maybe they just fall asleep. Teen Wolf isn’t very graphic about these things.
The music and the love-making mean that Scott and Allison are too preoccupied to even think about Jackson. Oops. Back in the van, Jackson is undergoing the absolute slowest transformation ever to occur on television. Seriously, it seems to be taking about five hours.
This must suck for Jackson, as morphing into a kanima consists of head spasms, scales and some screaming.
Having slept/made love/listened to tunes through all of this, our lovebirds only wake up when Stiles returns. And Jackson is long gone by this point.
What choice do the kids have? Faced with another potential murderous rampage, they resolve to tell their parents what’s going on, no matter what the consequences.
That doesn’t work out. Scott and Stiles can’t tell the Sheriff anything, because they find Jackson already in the police station, grinning evilly and standing next to his litigation-happy daddy. Allison gets a scare of another kind when she finds Lydia sitting alone in her dark room.
Lydia just wants to talk, the poor thing. But Allison is too busy. Her excuse is a need to translate that pesky bestiary text from archaic Latin into something comprehensible. Fortunately, Lydia is a genius. Who knows archaic Latin because she got bored with standard Latin at some point.
Lydia does indeed manage to translate the text, and she does a far better job than that French teacher. As it turns out, the text reads that a kanima isn’t seeking a friend at all.
The monster is seeking a master. Someone else is controlling the kanima.
It is so Gerard.
Will Jackson keep killing? Does Gerard have power over the kanima? Will anyone ever bother to talk to Lydia? Leave your comments below!
(Images courtesy of MTV)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include Chuck, Modern Family, Supernatural, Mad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.
