Teen Wolf promised the identity of the kanima. And the show delivered! Who is the shape-shifting slime monster? Find out in our Teen Wolf recap!
A Snake, But Not a Monster
“Venomous” begins with poor Jackson, lifting weights with Danny in the locker room. Neither super-strength nor Danny’s love are forthcoming, bringing sadness to our wannabe-werewolf. But maybe Jackson has something else going on? Suddenly a collection of close-ups and sound effects inform the audience that Jackson’s hearing has improved.
Will Jackson be able to lift those weights now?
Nope. But Erica can. With one hand. Ouch.
She can also kidnap Jackson quite handily, dragging him to Derek’s subterranean bus or subway car or whatever that hideout is. Derek is in full-on hot creepy mode, pulling on black rubber gloves while questioning Jackson about his Full Moon activities.
Jackson, of course, denies everything and offers his video of the night. Derek doesn’t need to watch though — he has more direct methods of getting what he wants… That would be some kanima venom on a shard of glass. Reasoning (based on some vast knowledge heretofore unmentioned by Derek or anyone) that a kanima cannot poison itself, Derek’s test consists of dropping venom into Jackson’s mouth.
Kids, don’t try this at home. Venom is bad.
It’s not too great for Jackson, who quickly collapses into a paralyzed heap. Guess he’s not the kanima!
Freakonomics
Thanks to a recanted statement forced out of Jackson, Isaac’s name is cleared and the young werewolf returns to school. Naturally, he is up to no good. Kanima suspicion has now turned to Lydia. Fortunately, Jackson has another brief bout of super-hearing and picks up on the basics of the plan.
The news shocks Stiles and Scott when Jackson takes a break from taunts and actually tells them something in economics class. Stiles, of course, refuses to believe that his beloved Lydia could be a slime monster. Scott isn’t so sure.
As for the hypothetical kanima herself, Lydia is calm and collected, satisfied in her own economic brilliance. Until Peter Hale shows up, that is. The old Alpha suddenly appears at the chalkboard, drawing equations in a circular pattern and causing the whole class to stare at Lydia.
And then it gets worse. Peter charges across the suddenly empty classroom and… Blows some powder in Lydia’s face? OK then…
Reality returns. Lydia awakens at the board, having written “SOMEBODY HELP ME” all over the board. Except that it’s in mirror-writing. Nobody understands it, despite the fact that IT IS TOTALLY EASY TO READ WORDS THAT ARE BACKWARDS!!! Sorry, it bothers me when fictional characters are that stupid.
Anyway, Stiles figures it out. Because he’s Stiles and he’s awesome like that.
Never Eat Anything Made in a Chemistry Lab
Seriously. This is good advice even when venomous kanima slime isn’t involved.
No one at Beacon Hills High School knows basic lab safety (not even the Creepy Chemistry Teacher), which is a good thing for Erica and Isaac’s nefarious plot. Despite the best efforts of Scott, Stiles and Allison (and despite Erica’s rather ridiculous attempts at seduction), Isaac manages to lace a crystal with kanima venom.
And Lydia eats it.
Standard safety issues aside, this does produce results. Absolutely nothing happens to Lydia upon ingestion of the kanima venom. So she must be the monster!
That’s Derek’s conclusion. And, since he’s waiting outside the school to kill Lydia for this, Derek must be dealt with.
Save Lydia!
When it comes to friends, Scott and Company are loyal. Even if one of those friends happens to be an evil and homicidal slime monster. Thus, they can’t let Derek kill Lydia.
The group must split up to save her. Scott goes straight to Derek (via the gargantuan obstacle that is Boyd) and argues for immunity as an explanation for Lydia. Derek doesn’t buy it though. Were such a thing true, it would mean Derek couldn’t kill Lydia. Derek wants to kill Lydia.
Actually, Derek wants Erica and Isaac to kill Lydia. For some reason, the Alpha has a lot of trust in those inefficient delinquents…
Allison, meanwhile, has gone to the French teacher/psychologist to get that bestiary translated. Considering that Allison apparently comes to school with a freaking crossbow in her book-bag, this seems like a waste of talents. But whatever. At least Allison finds out that the kanima is a social creature like the werewolf. It just wants to have a friend!
Because he nearly killed Scott with an arrow earlier, Stiles is relegated to the (wonderful) task of following Lydia around the school. He presumably meets her right outside the psychologist’s office (where Lydia saw nothing but pretty butterflies!), and the pair go to the library. From there, Allison and Jackson are ready with a lie about an off-site study group.
Not that this fools Lydia.
Lacrosse Is Just a Red Herring
Having distracted Derek long enough for the others to get Lydia away, Scott rushes to join them. He forgot about lacrosse. On Teen Wolf, lacrosse always gets in the way. This time, the issue is a ripped set of pads belonging to Danny. Scott has a moment of horrified realization of what this might mean and rushes to question everyone’s favorite person.
So… Danny. Danny is, at this point, in the library and working to find the missing two hours in Jackson’s video. He and Matt(?) have figured out that whoever edited it must have a) knowledge about cameras and b) access to Jackson’s house.
NOTE: It soon becomes clear that virtually everyone had access to Jackson’s house. Thus, this clue is essentially pointless.
By the time Scott arrives, Matt(?) has gone off in search of explanations to the lens flares he keeps seeing in Scott’s photos. It’s good that Matt(?) is gone. It means we can still suspect him of kanima activities!
Lonely Danny is happy to tell Scott that the shredded pads are not his fault. Danny played goalie in the last game, so someone else wore and clawed the gear. As a disappointed Scott returns to his Lydia-salvation plan, Danny finally retrieves the lost footage…
Why does Jackson have glowing eyes? More on that later…
Time to Make a Stand
The “study group” arrives at Scott’s house to barricade themselves inside. Jackson distracts Lydia from questioning this odd behavior by inviting her upstairs for a chat. This leaves Stiles and Allison to stand guard. It’s an important task too — Derek and his puppies show up within minutes to stand in a menacing line outside of the house.
Allison immediately realizes that their best weapon is her cell phone. After alerting Scott to the obvious problem, she considers calling Mr. Argent as well. Stiles realizes that this cannot happen in an episode in which J.R. Bourne does not appear and talks her out of it. After all, Allison is kind of a badass with that crossbow and Stiles is… Um, I’m honestly not too sure what part Stiles was supposed to play in this plan.
It doesn’t matter though. All of that front-door barricading becomes rather pointless when Isaac enters the house through the totally unguarded back door. Oh Stiles… Why aren’t you consistently smart?
Stiles is fairly useless in the fight, but Allison does make it upstairs with her crossbow. Erica appears right behind her, bitchy as usual. Because Erica is something of a foolish girl, she proceeds to taunt Allison. Allison has a crossbow. You don’t taunt the girl with a crossbow!
Not that it seems to matter. Erica easily catches Allison’s arrow, demonstrating that evil werewolf temptresses always win. Except that Erica doesn’t win. Allison suddenly smiles in an awesomely evil way and points out some slime coating the arrow tip. As Erica succumbs to kanima-venom exposure, Allison enjoys her moment of triumph and walks away.
The Kanima Revealed!
Wait, where did Allison get that handy-dandy kanima venom?
Remember, Lydia went upstairs with Jackson… Do we have proof that Lydia is the kanima?
Not so much. Jackson goes into full-on jackass mode the second he gets Lydia alone in the room. He demands his house key (which Lydia has kept lovingly on a chain around her neck) and proceeds to verbally abuse the girl. For some reason, the girl takes it.
Bad choice.
An abrupt headache brings up Jackson’s super-senses again, but he ignores them in favor of messing with Lydia’s head. When Lydia finally admits that she love-hates Jackson despite herself, the two exes embrace for a passionate kiss (poor Stiles!).
True love’s kiss may wake the dead, but true love-hate’s kiss wakes other urges. Unbeknownst to either teen, scales begin to appear.
But not on Lydia. It’s Jackson who’s having some sort of transformation. Ladies and gentlemen, we have our kanima!
Lydia doesn’t get to find out this or anything really, as the kiss is interrupted by the werewolf attack. While Lydia runs and hides in a closet, Jackson collapses to the floor. When we next see that room, Jackson is gone, leaving behind only a little slime on the window frame…
Then There Were Two
Derek and Boyd do not partake in any of the McCall house violence. I guess they thought they didn’t need to? If so, that was a mistake. The motionless bodies of Erica and Isaac come hurtling out of the front door, closely followed by Scott, Stiles and Allison.
Scott’s (oddly cross-eyed) defiance finally clues in Derek to something — Scott is not one of his Betas. And Scott is not an Omega. Instead, Scott is a second Alpha and the leader of his own pack (which I guess consists of Stiles, Allison and maybe Lydia).
But Derek still wants to kill Lydia the Kanima. Imagine his surprise when Lydia, still looking very human, runs out of the house just in time to see the actual kanima (that would be Jackson) escaping.
Where’s a kanima to go? Apparently, the first stop is a lonely road where a car (with an “Imagination is more important than knowledge” bumper sticker) waits. Jackson looks into the window with wonder and touches hands (through the glass) with an unseen driver.
Then Jackson runs away. The car drives off into the night.
There’s another one?!?
Were you surprised that Jackson is the kanima? Who was in the car? Is Scott actually an Alpha? 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.
