Visionary is episode eight of MTV's Teen Wolf Season 3 and was seen by 1.783 million people during it's initial broadcast on MTV.
Synopsis
No synopsis provided by network. See video preview below.
Full Recap
- Editors Note: Portions of this episode happen in the past. We know it is sometime prior to the Hale House Fire, more than six years ago, but that is the only indication of just when these events took place. We are told some of the character's ages at the time but the issue is confused by a lack of information about their current ages. The production seems to have left the standing sets unaltered for this episode so computer monitors, signage and other visual cues give no indication of the time period.
In the past, Derek Hale (age 15) runs through a foggy wood. He trips and falls in front of one of the hunters’ ultrasonic emitters, a device which broadcasts a high pitch designed to herd werewolves in a certain direction. More than a dozen hunters are in the woods with flashlights, guns and crossbows.
Young Derek runs into another young man who recognizes him as “a Hale” just before an arrow pierces through the back of the young man’s neck and lodges in his throat. Stunned, Derek just stands there as a hunter takes aim at him with a crossbow. As the shaft flies toward him, his Uncle Peter steps up and grabs it out of the air. Both boys run.
Gerard and Chris Argent, flanked by several other hunters, approach the young man’s dead body. Chris says the dead man “killed two of ours” and orders the hunters to find Peter and Derek but to bring them in alive according to the Hunter’s Code.
Derek and Peter take refuge in the basement of an abandoned house. There is a large tree growing up through the foundation.
In the present at Derek’s Loft, Cora explains to Stiles that her uncle and brother were in the basement hiding for two days. She says “hide and heal” is what werewolves are taught to do when the hunters find them.
Stiles is impatient with Cora’s story. He doesn’t understand how it will help him find Derek in the here and now. He indicates that Derek has not been seen since Boyd’s death. Stiles thinks, since everyone seems to be after Derek, that he should be around to deal with the crisis.
Cora says Derek has changed since she knew him. Peter elaborates saying Derek was once like Scott. Derek was apparently once “unbearably romantic” and “profoundly narcissistic”. Peter says Derek’s experience with a girl changed his personality and the color of his eyes from yellow to blue.
Scott and Allison visit Gerard to find out what he knows about the Alpha Pack. The old man forces Scott to take away some of his pain before he will talk to them.
In the past, a girl named Paige (Madison Blaine McLaughlin) is practicing the cello in the Beacon Hills High School Music Classroom. The noise from a bouncing basketball in the hallway is competing with her metronome and screwing up the steady rhythm.
She steps into the hall where a group of teenage boys and Young Derek Hale are bouncing the ball. She asks them to stop. Derek cockily tells her he will stop if she can take the ball. She makes a few half-hearted attempts at a steal as Derek shows off with trick dribbling. She then just turns around and returns to the Music Room.
Derek follows and apologizes. He asks her name but she refuses to tell him unless he “can play one instrument in this room”. He spends a short amount of time scanning shelves stacked with musical instruments before returning to her with something behind his back.
He produces a triangle and strikes it gently with the metal beater producing a single clear note. She acquiesces and says her name is “Paige.” He offers his name but she says “I know who you are”.
Because a third healer was found dead right after Dr. Deaton was rescued, Gerard hints that Deaton is behind the Darach’s killing spree. He suggests that Deaton staged his kidnapping and, knowing he would survive, had the third victim strung up already. Scott protests saying Deaton would never let anyone innocent die. Gerard says Scott would be surprised how far someone would go to get rid of someone like Deucalion. “Or someone like you?” Allison quips.
Gerard laughs and says the events of Season 2 (See Master Plan) have turned him into a celebrity with his doctors. He is now almost cancer free but no one can figure out why he continues to produce and expel the viscous black fluid from his nose and mouth.
Scott becomes impatient and demands that Gerard tell them how to beat Deucalion. Gerard says “you can’t. I’ve tried.” Allison stands up and heads toward the door saying Gerard has wasted their time. The old man calls for her to wait. Then Gerard offers up the cryptic advice that Deucalion has lost his eyes but that he’s not always blind.
Stiles is confused. According to Peter’s story, Derek was a sophomore when he fell for Paige. Stiles wants to know his age at the time, he also questions Peter’s age back then and now. He gets the cryptic response “not as young as we could have been but not as old as you might think” as Peter avoids the question. He then asks Cora her age. She responds that she is 17 which Stiles finds a satisfyingly direct answer. Then she further confuses and frustrates the topic by saying “17 how you would measure in years.” Stiles drops the question of werewolf ages.
Peter continues his tale of Derek’s whirlwind teenage romance with Paige. Derek had a favorite getaway, an abandoned distillery outside Beacon Hills. While Peter claims Derek told him all this because Peter was his nephew’s closest friend and confidant, we see that he is lying to Stiles. Peter was actually spying on Derek and Paige as they made out in the distillery. The couple’s encounter is cut short when Derek smells blood and hears people approaching. The couple leave the distillery but Peter remains behind and watches as Ennis, Kali and Deucalion arrive with their packs in full.
Ennis is angry. He points to a frayed rope hanging from the ceiling and indicates that it was in that spot that the Argents killed one of his Betas. Kali wants to know why she should care about another’s pack. One of her Betas speaks up and says the Argents don’t discern between packs when they come after a werewolf.
Deucalion points out that the hunters do discern motive. One of Deucalion’s Betas, Marco (Delon de Metz), says that Ennis’ dead Beta was young and naive and killed a hunter. Ennis says it was an accident.
Gerard picks up the tale from that point. He explains to Scott and Allison that each member of the current Alpha Pack had once gathered in Beacon Hills with their own packs in tow to seek guidance and advice from Alpha Talia Hale. Derek’s mother was well known and widely respected in the werewolf community partly because she had the rare ability to fully shape-shift into a full wolf.
Talia explains to Deucalion that vendetta is Ennis’ right and that they are not the only people to adhere to rituals “thousands of years old.” Deucalion says that’s no excuse for not evolving. Ennis has grown tired of the “useless debate”. He yells that the hunters ripped out his Beta’s claws one by one when they tortured him. Deucalion begs him not to become an “historical cliché.” He cautions that a battle between two such powers will never end at “an eye for an eye.” Deucalion believes it will escalate to all-out war if Ennis pursues vendetta against the Argents.
Ennis doesn’t care. He uses his claws to make an enormous spiral, slicing it into a wall of corrugated metal so fast that the metal sparks and heats up to the point that it is glowing.
Peter draws a similar spiral with his finger on the condensation collecting on the window in Derek’s Loft and explains to Stiles that it is their symbol for vendetta. Stiles, referencing Peter’s own revenge fueled killing spree in Season 1, says werewolves take the revenge thing to a whole new level. Cora says it’s not just about revenge. She says losing a member of the pack is more painful than losing a member of your family she says “it’s like you lose a limb”.
Peter then relates how Beacon Hills’ authorities wouldn't let Ennis see the body of his dead Beta. We see a distraught Ennis menacing an orderly at Beacon Hills Hospital. Deputy Stilinski arrives and tries to calm Ennis explaining that they are investigating the death as a homicide. He further explains that no matter how close Ennis was to the deceased, they were not family. Ennis, still angry but also heartbroken, says “he was family to me.”
Peter says he looked at Ennis’ situation and saw profound loss but that Derek saw opportunity to always be with Paige. This is a lie. The truth was the opposite.
In the past, Young Derek sits in class using his heightened senses to listen to Paige play Franz Schubert’s "Ave Maria." He makes his way to the Music Classroom and tries to distract her from her “laser-like focus” on playing by gently brushing his lips along the outside of her ear. It works and she stops playing. They declare their love for one another and kiss.
Peter then claims that Derek lived in constant fear that Paige would find out he was a werewolf but we see, in the past, that this is another lie. It was Peter who went to great lengths to convince Derek that if Paige found out it would end their relationship.
Young Peter wants to know why Paige eats alone during lunch at school. Young Derek threatens to have him banned from campus but Peter says no one would ban him because he’s too good looking. He questions if Paige has any friends. Derek says she does but that she likes to study during lunch and he thinks she doesn't like his friends. Peter says no one should like Derek’s friends calling them “hormonal half-wits.” He then opines that Derek and Paige are perfect for each other. He says “perfect combinations are rare” while opening and eating a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (a bit of product placement and a visual pun since the company often touts their “perfect combination” of peanut butter and chocolate as a selling point.)
Peter then goes on to plant the seed that Derek should turn Paige into a werewolf so she won’t leave him.
Peter continues to lie to Stiles and Cora claiming that he tried to talk Derek out of turning Paige even though we see, in the past, Peter telling Derek to have one of the Alphas in town bite and turn Paige.
Gerard and Chris Argent are examining the basement where Peter and Derek hid from the hunters. They notice the large tree growing out of the foundation and a symbol painted on its trunk.
Chris explains that it is a fivefold knot a Druid symbol and that the blood on the trunk of the tree indicates some sort of sacrifice took place there. He says the basement is a “Nemeton,” a sacred space for ancient druids. According to Chris, druids picked a large, older tree in a grove to represent the center of the world. Many believed that cutting or harming the tree would bring severe problems like fires, plagues, strife, “death and destruction of all kinds” to surrounding villages.
Allison questions Gerard about why her father would know so much about druids. Gerard says “know thy enemy” and goes on to describe the relationship ancient werewolves had with the druids which the wolves called “emissaries.”
He then recounts to the tale of Lycaon, an ancient Greek:
- According to myth, some Greek citizens believed they owed their lives more to Prometheus than to the gods of Olympus. Some followers even took names to honor the titans instead of the gods like Deucalion who is named after the son of Prometheus.
- Lycaon didn’t just refuse to honor the gods, he challenged them. He invited Zeus to a banquet where he tried to serve him the flesh of a human being. Angered, Zeus blew the place apart with his lightning bolts and then punished Lycaon and his sons by turning them into wolves.
Editor’s Note: The story up until this point segues pretty well with the actual real world myth, the next portion seems to be made up specifically as a part of Teen Wolf Mythology
- Lycaon sought out the druids to help turn him back to human. The belief was that the ancient druids knew how to shape shift. They couldn’t make Lycaon and his sons human again but they did teach him how to shift back and forth. And so the druids became important advisers to the packs.
Cora picks up the story explaining that the druid emissaries keep the werewolves connected to humanity but are kept a secret even within the pack. Sometimes only the Alpha knows their identity.
Peter then tells a startled Stiles, that Ms. Morrell is emissary to the Alpha Pack. Stiles wants to know why the werewolves never tell him important things like this. He says he shared a number of really intimate details with Ms. Morrell. Stiles admits that she gave him good advice and Peter says that’s what emissaries do.
Deaton is in conference with Talia and Deucalion at the Animal Clinic. Deucalion wants to approach Gerard about a truce, a call for peace between the Argents and the packs. Talia says Gerard might be the wrong one to approach. Deaton thinks this is because the Argents have a matriarchal leadership structure but Talia says Gerard is the wrong one because he is a “complete psychopath” who “cuts people in half with a broadsword.” Deucalion is surprised that Deaton and Talia have so little faith in people saying he believes Gerard must be worried about the deaths on his own side as well. Deaton then trots out the old story of the Scorpion and the Frog:
- A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion says, "Because if I do, I will die too."
- The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp "Why?"
- Replies the scorpion: "It’s my nature..."
The story is to point out to Deucalion that his faith in humanity won’t matter if he underestimates Gerard’s nature.
Talia then advises that Deucalion meet Gerard on neutral ground and to not walk in alone. Deucalion says “I’m an Alpha. I never walk alone.”
At school, Paige is alone in the darkened hallway. She has a note in her hand which seems to be a request from Derek to meet him at the school.
Instead of her love, Ennis shows up and begins to chase her through the school. Derek sits alone in the locker room bouncing a basketball and listens to Paige whimper and cry.
Cora is surprised that Young Derek would have asked Ennis to turn Paige. Peter says he was the perfect choice since he had just lost a pack member and by doing a favor for Derek, Ennis thought he would gain a place in Talia’s good graces. Stiles says Derek doesn’t remember it was Ennis and Peter says if he does remember he hasn’t said so.
Young Peter was also at the school that night listening to Ennis attack Paige. Derek reaches the point that he can’t stand to listen to Paige’s suffering anymore and rushes to help her. He finds her crawling along the floor of the hall and goes after Ennis to stop him. Ennis easily tosses the young man away then holds him on the floor.
Derek sees that Paige is already bitten and stops fighting.
Gerard relates how Deaton came to arrange the meeting with Deucalion. Gerard says he wasn't surprised and quotes English Poet William Blake who said “When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.”
Scott questions how Gerard knew Deucalion wasn't actually trying to make peace and Gerard says “because I’m not an idiot”. He then relates the ‘Scorpion and Frog’ story too but in his version, which he describes as a “Sanskrit Fable”, he replaces the frog with a turtle but the outcome is the same – It’s my nature.
Gerard says he knows a werewolf's nature and knew that Deucalion’s offer of a peace meeting was a trap. This is a lie.
Gerard was waiting with several hunters when Deucalion arrived at the abandoned distillery with three members of his pack. Gerard says the meeting place is fitting because “distillation is the separating of two substances by pushing them into their individual volatile states.” Picking up on this, Deucalion says volatile is the state he is hoping to avoid.
Gerard then cranks open a valve releasing a white gas into the room from several sources. Both werewolves and humans go down from the effects of the gas. Gerard jabs himself with what appears to be an autoinjector syringe. It is not clear what's in the syringe but it makes him immune to whatever is affecting the others.
When relating the tale to Allison and Scott, Gerard lies and claims Deucalion ambushed him.
What really happened after the release of the gas had them down, Gerard took out a homemade spiked mace. He uses it to beat down his own men as the hunters struggle to get to their feet. Deucalion is shocked not only by the attack but by the fact that Gerard is killing his own men too. Gerard says the hunters with him also believed in peace with werewolves and therefore had to go. He says their deaths will be blamed on Deucalion.
Peter is finishing up the tale of Derek and Paige. He says the bite didn’t take with Paige. He says it should have because she was young and strong but that sometimes it just doesn’t happen.
- Editor’s Note: The “Lacrimosa dies illa” (Sorrowful Day) from Mozart’s “Requiem Mass” plays throughout the following scenes.
Paige was in pain and dying slowly. As Peter skulked in the shadows, Derek held her at the base of the druid tree in the basement of the abandoned house.
Deucalion crawls out of the distillery and rolls over in the dirt as Gerard stalks after him. Deucalion begs the old man not to harm him further saying he had “a vision of peace”. Gerard mocks him saying his vision was “short-sighted”. He then produces two of the hunter’s flash-bang arrows and thrusts them deep into Deucalion’s eyes. They explode, sparks and smoke pour from his damaged eye sockets.
Derek takes away as much of Paige’s pain as he can but she is still suffering terribly. She explains that she knew he was different. She suspected he was a werewolf because she had seen strange things in town and also because of the way he spoke saying he’d “caught a scent.” She knows she is going to die and asks him to end it and he does by gently breaking her neck.
Peter explains that he took Paige’s body to the woods where she would be found and her death attributed to another in a long line of Beacon Hills’ animal attacks. He then tells Stiles that killing an innocent takes a piece of a werewolf’s soul making it a bit darker. This shows up in the eyes, turning Derek’s from a golden yellow to a cold blue.
Doctor Deaton treated Deucalion’s injured eyes as best he could at the animal clinic. He explains that, while the tissue will grow back, his sight will not return. Deucalion lets out a roar of rage and then asks to be left alone. Talia and Dr. Deaton exit but Deucalion’s Beta Marco remains. When the Alpha again asks that he be left alone, Marco attacks him. Deucalion partially transforms and realizes that he can see Marco and turns toward him, attacking quickly and viciously, killing him on the examination table.
Gerard finishes his story telling Scott that Deucalion can see as a wolf. Allison wonders aloud if they can take advantage of that fact. Gerard again asks Scott to take some of his pain. Scott obliges.
Gerard then launches into a speech about doing things differently. What if he hadn't tried to cure his cancer by forcing the bite? He wonders when it became his nature to believe that most things couldn't be asked for but had to be taken.
Scott calls BS on this. He says the whole time Gerard was talking his heartbeat never went up or down. Gerard claims this is because he was telling the truth. Scott says it might be because he is a really good liar. He then threatens Gerard saying that if the old man lied and it gets people hurt, Scott will return and “take away more than your pain.”
- Editor’s Note: The production makes use of another classical piece at the end of the episode. The following scene is done over Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere. The piece was written to be performed during Tenebrae (Shadows or Darkness) services in which candles in the church are extinguished one by one until the final candle is hidden beneath the alter. Then, after a few moments in total darkness which represents the world without Christ, the candle is brought back to represent Christ returned.
Cora questions Stiles look. He feigns ignorance as to what look she is referring. When she says it’s the look that makes her want to punch him, Stiles says she is definitely Derek’s sister.
He then explains that he doesn't believe Peter’s account of the Derek and Paige tragic romance. He explains that they are reading Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in school and that the book’s narrator, Charles Marlow, is an “unreliable narrator” telling the tale from his perspective which may or may not be what actually happened.
Stiles says they didn't get the whole story from Peter and when Cora asks if he plans to ask Derek about the girl he loved but had to kill, Stiles says “if I have to.”
Young Derek is still covered in Paige’s blood and the black goo that seeped out as she rejected the bite. His mother comes to him in the abandoned basement. Talia calls his name and he confesses. She says she knows. He then explains that his eyes are different. She says they are different but “still beautiful just like the rest of you.”
Derek returns to the abandoned distillery as an adult. He once again hears the strains of Schubert’s Ave Maria as he remembers Paige and stares at the Spiral Ennis cut in the wall so many years ago.
Soundtrack
- Onili - "Games"
Scene: Derek taunts Paige with a basketball in the school hallway.
- Bedouin Soundclash - "Brutal Hearts"
Scene: In the music room, Derek tries out a musical instrument.
- Oliver Tank - "The Last Time"
Scene: Paige and Derek having a moment in the distillery.
- Deaf Joe - "Joanna"
Scene: Derek attempts to distract Paige from playing the cello.
Gallery
Video
Video Recap
Video Preview
Episodes List
| ← Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 → | |||
| #01 Tattoo | #07 Currents | #13 Anchors | #19 Letharia Vulpina |
| #02 Chaos Rising | #08 Visionary | #14 More Bad Than Good | #20 Echo House |
| #03 Fireflies | #09 The Girl Who Knew Too Much | #15 Galvanize | #21 The Fox and the Wolf |
| #04 Unleashed | #10 The Overlooked | #16 Illuminated | #22 De-Void |
| #05 Frayed | #11 Alpha Pact | #17 Silverfinger | #23 Insatiable |
| #06 Motel California | #12 Lunar Ellipse | #18 Riddled | #24 The Divine Move |