Abandoned and betrayed, this week Scott fights those he has learned to trust, while Theo tries to become the pack’s alpha, revealing his true motives and intensions.  This week’s midseason finale is the most emotional episode I have seen of Teen Wolf.

**** Spoilers Below****

Tonight’s episode was intense; I would suggest some binge watching of season five to get the best experience.  My first thought as I was, “shouldn’t a midseason finale surround the Dread Doctors” but tonight’s episode centered on Theo’s manipulations; his lies, and his overall grand plan for what he wanted, Scott’s pack.  Theo used  Liam’s fear of Hayden dying to convince him to kill Scott.  Watching Theo tonight  was bitter sweet, as we all know, I have loathed him since the first episode this season.   I was hoping that the pack would discover that he is a traitor, not that he would reveal it to Scott, to Stiles and Lydia, there was a letdown for me that he bested all of the core pack.

I found it ridiculous that Theo thought he could lead anything.  Yes, he was on his way to getting Malia and Liam to trust him, but how could he think Stiles, Lydia and Kira would follow his lead, especially since he would have had to kill Liam in order to get Scott’s power of an alpha.   The best scene, I thought, was when Theo confronts Stiles, even after their huge fight the episode before, when Stiles hears Theo’s wish of replacing Scott, it was instinctual to protect his best friend.  Was anyone else as pleased as I was that he got in not one, but two great hits on the traitorous chimera…good job, Stiles.

I really didn’t see Hayden’s death coming.  I really thought she was going to be the successful experiment.  I also really felt for Liam during the entire night, he tried so hard; he so wanted to protect Hayden.  Unfortunately, that desperation  allows Theo to control his emotions and use Liam’s fury against Scott, which will bring consequences from that when the hiatus starts up again in January.  He beat Scott pretty good, it was a good thing Mason arrived when he did.  I am sure there will be sides on whether or not Liam would have actually killed him, for my vote, I think, because of his rage Liam, would have killed Scott and regretted it later.  In the moment though, I thought it was pretty clear on his intensions.  Unfortunately, the fight did leave Scott vulnerable to Theo.  The turncoat, angry that Liam didn’t kill Scott, gave him what I am sure he thought would be a death blow.  Scott was beaten, bloodied and left for dead.

Parrish is a hellhound!  I have to admit this is a far cry from my speculations of him being a phoenix at the beginning of this season, at the same time it does create a supernatural connection for him and Lydia.  I am really looking forward to seeing how Parrish is fleshed out more now that the big reveal has happened.  I love watching Parrish and Lydia together, they really do work very well.  The more I see him the more I want to watch and know more about him.  Who knows, maybe a spin off from Teen Wolf?

For as much as I like Malia and Stiles, I think the second half is going to be a turbulent time for them both.  At this point we know the desert wolf story is going to be during the second part of the season.  It was nice with a little confirmation from our supernatural bounty hunter, Braeden.  I have said this, I don’t really care why she gets screen time, I just like when she’s onscreen.  I was really hoping that Derek joined her to help Scott, but I am sure that is coming in 2016.  For now, Braeden warned Malia about her mother.  I am totally excited to watch them team up to hunt the desert wolf; I think they could make a pretty ferocious team.  I know Braeden can kill her, but I am wondering where Malia will end up once she catches up with her mother?

Something that tonight had that I think has been missing for most of this season has been the adults mentoring our young heroes.  I have been saying that I know that this season is about our seniors transiting from teens to young adults, but this season I have been missing Argent, Deaton or even Derek.  Tonight Melissa tries to save Hayden and later does save her son.  More importantly though is her wisdom to Scott about leading his pack. When Scott is defeated and left for dead, when he believes he lost everything including his friends, Melissa reminds him that great leaders lose, but it is what you do next. “When you have nothing to give, give them hope.”  I am hoping this will be a theme running through the next half of the season.

Theo knew that after killing Scott himself, he lost any chance of gaining Scott’s pack, so instead he created his own.  I thought this one was a little strange.  It’s obvious he used something from the Dread Doctors, and without their permission.  Theo resurrected each of the chimera’s the Dread Doctors killed.  I am thinking Theo went rogue from the Dread Doctors instead wanting his own pack of Tracy, Donovan, Cory and Hayden. Lydia is left unconscious after Theo merges with her memories to find, which I am guessing will lead us to the beginning scene of this season’s premiere.  So what about the Dread Doctors?  They left us with two different cliff hangers, what is the creature they created that could throw the high school sign into the building? What is the picture, almost a sigil, at the end of the episode?  What does this represent and how does this affect their end game?  All of these questions and more will be answered when Teen Wolf returns for the second half of their fifth season in January 2016.